In summer 2013, most mornings I woke up to “Purple Rain” already in my head, and there it would stay for hours. It even seeped into my work life: I made a practice online course during Xyleme training about myself called “Stef: The Magic, The Miracle,” and included an interactive true/false quiz question that wondered if Prince only wants to see you dancing in the purple rain. (A “False” answer resulted in a response saying that the student needed to be more attentive to Prince’s needs.)
Texting every day with JC, who was 3K+ miles away in California, aided in the song’s enduring stickiness: He’s a huge Prince fan and was the one who facilitated my first viewing of Purple Rain. Several times a week we’d have PRT: Purple Rain Time, when we’d listen to the Purple Rain soundtrack at the same time (“We’re going to be experts at this album.”). I would email him pressing questions such as the following:
JC had also said if he had a Prince cover band, he’d call it The Dirty Minds. I’d call mine Cream. Oh, shit, no, I wouldn’t—that band exists already. Oh, me.
A local musician put together a Prince tribute band for a one-night show that summer. I couldn’t find anyone to go with me, but I had to go: “Purple Rain” was the anthem then. I found a seat at the bar and probably had a gin and ginger ale, my staple drink, while exchanging a few pleasantries here and there with the people around me. The band was phenomenal. I don’t remember most of the songs they played, but I DO know that they closed their first set with my jam, and everyone in the bar singing along with the “OOOH OOOH OOH OOOHs!” at the end was so blissfully unifying. God, how perfect is that song to sway to??
Honey Bear texted me the sad news on April 21, 2016 while I was at work. My manager wandered over to check on me and I told her I was distracted because Prince died, and she’s like, “WHAT?!?!” which was the exact reaction I had. I don’t liken this to 9/11 or the JFK assassination, but it’s been on my mind a lot. It doesn’t quite seem real yet. (I also still haven’t come to the terms about Heath Ledger.) I’m moved by the outpouring of emotion people have had for Prince.
And here is my humble contribution—resurrecting a post from my eight-year-old, deeply neglected blog Movies Abridged. I give you the condensed version of Purple Rain!
MOVIES ABRIDGED: PURPLE RAIN
PRINCE, a pouting, miserable, talented wretch, performs at MORRIS DAY’s nightclub. APOLLONIA checks him out.
APOLLONIA
Yum.APOLLONIA and PRINCE go on a date and he makes her dive in the freezing lake wearing only her underwear and taunts her with the idea of leaving her stranded in the woods by driving away on his motorcycle. She falls in love with him. PRINCE goes home, where his dad is beating his mom again. Then APOLLONIA buys PRINCE a guitar. He slaps her. They break up. PRINCE humps the stage to “Darling Nikki.” APOLLONIA joins a singing group of unattractive ladies in lingerie. PRINCE is displeased. WENDY and LISA approach him.
WENDY and LISA
Play our song!PRINCE
No!PRINCE rides home on his motorcycle and his dad is in the hospital from a self-inflicted gun wound. PRINCE goes to the club, dedicates “The Beautiful Ones” to APOLLONIA, plays WENDY and LISA’s song after all, and performs “Purple Rain.”
THE END
Me getting all up in Prince’s bidness at Madame Tussauds. He’s sick of my shit.
Question of the Week: What’s your favorite Prince jam?
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1 Comment on "A HappiMess Tribute to Prince -OR!- “Purple Rain,” Abridged"
Wow this is great. Good pictures and nice memories. Happy you got to take a picture with him :D. Would he appreciate your abridged story? Yes, you have him in your memories. He would appreciate it.