Paul Revere by Cyrus Dallin, North End, Boston

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Thursday, April 21, 2016

Prince Rogers Nelson (June 7, 1958 – April 21, 2016)



"Dearly Beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called life." --Prince


Prince was of my children's generation, but I enjoyed his music as much as they did. Remember the Sony Walkman? When I was a runner, I'd put a Prince tape into the Walkman, tie my running shoes, and hit the road listening and running to his songs.

Prince was a creative trailblazer and magnetic pop star. You couldn't stand still to his music. He left this world way too young. R.I.P.


"Prince sold over 100 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling artists of all time. He won seven Grammy Awards, a Golden Globe, and an Academy Award. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, the first year of his eligibility. 


Rolling Stone has ranked Prince at number 27 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time." --Wikipedia




Here are some of my favorites that I ran and danced to during the '80s:











 One of the best Super Bowl half time shows. 



 (Because of copyright issues, I can't embed it. In fact, there's very little available on YouTube that can be embedded because of copyright issues.)



We here in Massachusetts have a very cool governor:



Charlie Baker to honor Prince by lighting Zakim Bridge purple Thursday night

7 comments:

Dave Miller said...

One of the best and in my opinion, the most creative of his generation.

Hands down, I felt he was way better than MJ.

I am happy I was able to see him perform live one night in the "Fabulous Forum" in Los Angeles...

He will be missed.

Shaw Kenawe said...



Oh I agree, Dave, about Prince and MJ. My daughter saw him perform live many times. He was her favorite, and thanks to her and my son, I counted him as one of my favorites as well.

I even crocheted myself a raspberry beret!

Lady Pinkbottom said...



I happen to have liked a lot of Prince’s music, but not enough to own any, and I admired his courage to record ‘new sounding’ stuff AND to protect young talent from the big record company rules…he fought hard for that. So yes, I feel like I'm with it for liking him -- him being a minority and all that. Meanwhile Obama gave Prince a very long and glowing tribute but said only two or three sentences when Antonin Scalia died? That's outrageous! He should have praised Scalia more -- Obama should respond to every death the way I think is proper for him -- it doesn't matter that Scalia and Obama were complete opposites and probably dislike each other immensely. What matters is what I think Obama should say and do when anyone dies. Especially Prince! What a disgrace!

Dave Miller said...

Lady... A nice summation of today's post at what Ducky calls the Mother Ship...

Shaw Kenawe said...



Lady Pinkbottom, we hear you and we understand your outrage at Obama for not doing what you think he ought to do on every occasion that scandalizes and disgusts you. Have you tried writing to the White House to tell the person in charge of protocol exactly what rules and regs the president should follow every time a famous person dies?


Dave, "Lady Pinkbottom" is a parody persona I've been informed, and as long as he/she behaves, can spoof whomever he/she likes. No viciousness or smearing allowed. Silliness is welcome.

Ducky's here said...

I have to admit that I really didn't take to his music at all.

He pretty much took Marc Bolan and added synths as far as I can tell but your mileage
may vary.

Being a film guy I know his efforts in film were laughable and I may have generalized to his music.
I get a little cynical about these celebrity deaths.
I remember when Bergman and Antonioni died on the same day and there wasn't a ripple outside film circles. I can imagine the eulogies when a hack like Tarantino moves on.

Pierre Boulez died not long ago and there was absolutely no notice. This going on about Prince seems
indulgent.

Shaw Kenawe said...


It's cultural and generational, Ducky. My connection to Prince was through my children and, as I've noted, my running music. When those icons you mentioned died, there was no social media and our love affair with celebs wasn't as exaggerated as it is today. Prince was a talented musician in his genre, and he had millions of fans around the world who love that sort of music. Musicians who appreciate rock guitar virtuosity all agree he was among the best.

This death celeb cult started, I believe, when Princess Di died, and the Brits and a lot of the world lost their minds over it.

This will be the norm for a long time to come.

PS. I attended a concert years ago conducted by Maestro Boulez.