They were shooting the Love 4 One Another special that would eventually air on VH-1.
In the televised edit there's a very brief section of Dave Chappelle doing a few jokes.
I just remember that he was a lot looser and had maybe 5-10 minutes with the people in the room.
We were crammed in there between the tracks for the camera dolly and the stage, which butted up against the 15-or-20 foot high dual doors with the symbol painted on them.
Dave stepped up to the mic to cheers, but we were tired and we'd been in there for 2-3 hours already.
He asked "so, what do y'all do here in Minneapolis to have fun?"
Some of the ladies in the front row seemed to have divided into two camps on either side of the amorphous blob of us directly in front of the stage.
One of them replied "we go to see Prince!"
And before Dave could reply, the bunch of women on the other side - well several of them took offense and one shouted "HIS NAME AIN'T PRINCE NO' MO'!" You can imagine the guts-deep place her shout originated from. She was a full-figured woman and she really meant what she said.
There was no reply from the dippy woman who'd had the audacity to use his given name in that time span. It served to illustrate that there are casual fans looking to hear Purple Rain again for the hundredth time and there are people who actually keep up on things and know he wasn't using that name at the time.
Dave looked surprised at the animosity. His eyes got big, he backed away in an exaggerated dramatic fashion, and he immediately tried to calm down the situation. I can't recall his words specifically but something to the effect of "let's not lose our minds or anything...y'all need to calm down!"
Another awkward moment or two, just a few beats, and then he went onto the next part of his routine at the time. I just know there was a bunch before the fade-in on the televised version of Love 4 One Another.
I doubt we'll ever see it unless somebody remasters all the SD resolution video in the infamous vault.
I just always laugh thinking of it. Knowing as it happened, in that flicker of a moment, that it would never be broadcast, never be shown at the time. I laughed, as many of us did.
It called attention to the name change and details being managed in a straight-faced fashion. Including any of that moment would have needed skillful editing to not just draw attention to the issue and invite the "symbolina" level of social reference all too common at the time.
In the televised version of Love 4 One Another the whole Chappelle bit isn't more than 3 minutes, but I'll never forget it. Maybe someday we'll see an expanded version of some of these forgotten masterpieces.
I know that The Beautiful Experience, The Undertaker, The Sacrifice of Victor, Love 4 One Another, and many other video productions were difficult or impossible to appreciate for the average music listener and video viewer at the time they were created for television.
They deserve wider exposure, wider appreciation than they've gotten up to this point in the timeline.
+++
Footnote:
NONE of the graphics, memories, recollections or words used on this blog are intended to imply consent or participation by the copyright holders. This is fair use, illustrating important historic events with images found in the wild on public websites.
All rights belong to the original creators of these products and no attempt has been made to elude this basic fact.
If you're wondering why I need to specify this, go search (the wayback machine if you need it) for an arstechnica story "Prince sues fans", PFU Prince Fans United, or a sued-out-of-existence former blogger known as dabang319.
Even mentioning that blogger's name could bring down the ban-hammer, that's what Prince fans had to accept in the 2000s. The threat of legal entanglements not unlike what was intended to deter users from the original incarnation of napster.
Go ahead and think I'm being melodramatic and emo all you want. I watched it happen at the time with slack-jawed disbelief, thinking to myself "yeah, why aim at only one foot if you're gonna shoot yourself? Why not aim at BOTH feet?!?"
A year ago Art Official Age had worked its slow-burn magic on me and I swung back hardcore into Prince fandom. I was collecting everything I could get my hands on, wondering how on earth he went and made himself LESS popular - at least in mainstream American culture, utterly voluntarily, while getting ever increasingly BETTER at what he did?!?
I remain in awe, Brother Nelson. I hope you and your guitar are every kind of happy U always made us.
This feeling will never end. Even after my bones are dust. I will carry all these memories around in my head and heart now and in whatever I have after that.
I sincerely hope I can help preserve these things I have grown to so enjoy.
I hope that I do not end up on the receiving end of a C&D order just for being enthusiastic and using the internet how it's DESIGNED to be used.
No comments:
Post a Comment