New meme alert: "Say something about Prince"

A new Prince meme randomly popped up on the Internet today. Our favorite comments include "Prince was in the movie 'Fargo,'" and "I still don’t understand what it’s supposed to sound like when doves cry." Go ahead, you know you want to contribute.

Via topherchris
Submitted by @marrina

Prince says he won't release new recordings until crackdown on piracy takes place

In a piece published yesterday in The Guardian, Prince claimed that he's not going to put out any more recorded material until stricter laws are in place regarding digital rights for musicians. Yeah, he hasn't exactly released anything great for a couple of decades, but we guess 2010's "Hot Summer" was kind of okay.

Via Pitchfork via Ryan Paul Plewacki
Submitted by @jahnapeloquin

Meme Of The Day

This.
Via Stuff About Minneapolis.
Submitted by @marrina.

53 things you might not know about Prince

In honor of Prince's 53rd birthday, City Pages' Gimme Noise just posted a great list of "53 things you might not know about Prince."


Our favorites:

1. In 1985, Prince owned a white T-bird and could often be seen driving it around North Minneapolis.

6. Prince was called "Skipper" when he was a little boy.

8. When Prince's alias was the unpronounceable symbol, some staffers at Paisley Park just referred to him as "the dude."

28. Spaghetti and orange juice was Prince's favorite meal during his early years with the Revolution.

48. Prince was just blocks away from the site of John Lennon's murder when it happened.

Read the rest here.

Via @gimme_noise

Submitted by @jahnapeloquin

Prince kicks Kim Kardashian on the stage

Prince told Kim Kardashian to get off stage. Like a boss. Embarrassing!

According to The Hollywood Gossip:

During his concert in Madison Square Garden last night, the iconic artist invited Karadashian to dance with him on stage. Without a script, personality or any sense of spontaneity, however, the talentless reality star simply froze. It didn't take long for Prince to give her the boot, as you can watch here:



Later in the evening - likely after E! flew in writers to tell her exactly how to act - Prince gave Kim a mulligan. She proudly Tweeted about the successful follow-up:

"Went up on stage AGAIN! This time I redeemed myself! We all danced while Prince played the piano! Wow! What a night!"

UPDATED: Gawker has a higher-res (but non-embeddable) video HERE.

Via Tom and Lorenzo on Facebook

Submitted by @jahnapeloquin

Awesome Photo of the Day

Raspberry Beret Lost, Found, Claimed by Prince

Photo by lavidalibre , taken somewhere in Bernal Heights, San Francisco.

Submitted by @marrina.

Prince makes surprise appearance on "The View"

In another one of Prince's unusual promotional techniques, Prince makes a surprise appearance on The View today to give away tickets to his upcoming Madison Square Garden gig.

Watch below, but be prepared for the usual View ladies' squawking.

Via Gimme Noise on Facebook

Submitted by @jahnapeloquin

And in other Gayngs-related news...

In case there are still those who believe a Prince impostor was at the Gayngs concert a few months ago, here's the proof the Purple One was indeed there. Pitchfork just posted a Gayngs concert video with this description:

"Recorded at a prom themed Minneapolis release party in May, this performance clip for slow jam mavens Gayngs' "The Last Prom on Earth" is highlighted by a special appearance from none other than Prince himself. While the clip captures the Purple One nodding his bowler cap in the wings with a guitar slung around his shoulder (pictured above), he doesn't actually come up to play with the band. Which is a shame, because this song is ripe for a "Purple Rain"-style solo."

Here's the video:


Via Pitchfork.

BONUS: Be sure to check out deets on the Gayngs/Har Mar Superstar cover of George Michael's "One More Try" that we posted about last night.

Submitted by @marrina

Gaga Goes to Eden

As one of the local Twitterers just said: REALLY?

Update: We got a confirmation: Gaga was indeed at D'Amico last night. Also, Prince gets takeout 2-3 times a week. That's your random Prince fact of the day.

Submitted by @marrina.

Prince at GAYNGS!

Yes, people, it's true: the Purple One casually strolled into First Ave Friday night to check out Gayngs who were having a fantastic time entertaining delighted fans in tuxedos and prom dresses. Prince, according to several witnesses, had a guitar around his neck and was (possibly) thinking about playing, but decided not to. " They don't need me up there" were his words, to be exact. How much do we love this guy?? For the skeptics, we have collected some photo evidence as well. Check out these 3 photos of Prince that our new BFF Claire took backstage at First Avenue:




LOL/OMG offers congratulations to Gayngs for putting on a fantastic show. And of course, big props to Prince for acknowledging and supporting local talent. We heart you.

Photo credits: Claire Molepske

UPDATE: We just got 2 more backstage photos of Prince!
Via: Hard-Up Photography Facebook page

Submitted by @marrina.

Prince at GAYNGS?

This is a totally unconfirmed rumor -- as are all Prince-related rumors -- but we got a Facebook message from a reliable cohort that the Purple One may be making a cameo at the Gayngs show tonight. No word on whether he's going to perform or just stand there looking cool. Perhaps he'll just have a minion shoot a cloud of purple smoke into the mainroom and call it a day. Or not. But we're crossing our fingers!

submitted by @letoilemagazine

New Prince track debuts to mixed reactions

This morning 89.3 The Current unveiled the brand new Prince song that everyone's been buzzing about. Mixed reactions on the internetz abound. City Pages, for instance, was left "cringing" and "horrified" while a message board commenters quipped, "Sounds like he was listening to the "Footloose" soundtrack when he wrote this... not "groundbreaking" sound at all..." and ""Prince must be getting a really high score on this round of Rock Band." Also, Pitchfork posted the song on their site and said it was" characteristically batshit."

The MPR DJs had a different perspective, with Jill Rielly saying "When I heard "Cause and Effect" for the first time, the term "rock anthem" instantly came to mind. The new song will delight your senses and melt your face." and Steve Seel chimed in, "The tune is like a little mini-symphony of Prince-ness. It's got a few different sections, some that have that classic funky, sexy, sinewy Prince and some with his more rockish tendencies ... come to think of it, that makes it all classic Prince. Except the rock-y parts might be the hardest he's ever rocked, which is pretty notable in and of itself."

Is this a classic case of purple ass-kissery? Honestly, we'd probably kiss Prince's ass too if he was showing up to our parties and giving us exclusives. Personally, we don't think the song is all bad...some cheesy parts to be sure (crowd cheering interludes for one), but hey, it's PRINCE. He's earned the right to throw crowd cheering into his tracks.

If we were Prince's publicist, however, we'd suggest a couple things.

1. Stop taking yourself so seriously.

2. find some people who will tell you the truth when you're in the production process.

3. Channel '80s Prince.

4. Write a rock opera (while channeling '80s Prince) and debut it at 1st Avenue.

5. Hire us as your publicist.

What do U think of the new Prince track?

We want Prince to paint us a picture, naked, with extra fog.

Here are some local tweeps reactions:

Submitted by @letoilemagazine

Sneak preview of new Prince song!

As we reported earlier in the week, Prince gave the Current an opportunity to play his new song "Cause and Effect" before anybody else. The song's official premiere is scheduled for Friday morning at 7am, but peeps from the Current have decided to give us a teensy sneak-listen to a snippet of the new song on their site today. Prince can still jam on the guitar like no other!

Check it out here and let us know what you think!


Submitted by @marrina.

MPR set to world premiere a new Prince tune this Friday...and it's not a Vikings fight song!

MPR tweeted some fun news this morning! Apparently, his royal purpleness is set to debut a brand new track on 89.3 the Current on Friday morning at 7am!

The Current dishes, "The song is called "Cause and Effect," and it's a rocker - filled with virtuosic guitar work, explosive drum breaks, a poppy chorus, trademark shrieks and whoops, some intriguing lyrics ("if I had the chance to do it all again / I wouldn't change a thing except my next of kin") and a call to mankind ("you need compassion"). Opening with Prince's classic pop smarts, the last minute of the tune swerves into a propulsive minor key guitar/strings/drum workout like we haven't heard from him in years."

Yet another reason to love Prince AND the Current. We can't wait to hear it, though the odds of us being awake at 7am on Friday morning are relatively slim, honestly. Thank god for mp3s, eh?

We wish he'd bring back the assless chaps. Can MPR arrange this?

Submitted by @letoilemagazine

PRINCE IS NOW ON TWITTER

AS SOME OF YOU MAY HAVE NOTICED (in all caps no less) THAT PRINCE IS NOW ON TWITTER.

We speculate that the majority of loud "ADD PRINCE! RETWEET! I NEED MY FANS SUPPORT" updates coming from @PRINCE_OFFICIAL are the work of a marketing minion. The demanding tweets are peppered in with normal, lowercase, more Prince-like musings such as "I've never known a musician who regretted being one. Whatever deceptions life may have in store, music itself is not going to let you down." and "All the sounds of the earth are like music."

Hopefully after he has enough followers (could Prince ever have enough followers?) The yelling will stop and we'll get to enjoy some interesting insight into the purple one's daily life.

UPDATE: Peeps are speculating that this acct may be a fake! 1. He's not "verified" and 2. it links to a fan site, not to his real site (a subscription site). Hassertime notes in our comments section that it sometimes takes awhile for them to get verified, but we're kind of skeptz anyway!

UPDATE 2: Gimme Noise reports that the @PRINCE_OFFICIAL is indeed a fake...and probably run from a basement by someone named "Barry."

We still love this picture from the LoveSexy album cover, btw

OMG! Prince rumored to appear at First Avenue

OMG! We just heard from a little birdie (i.e., on good authority) that none other than Prince is rumored to make an appearance at tonight's five-year birthday show thrown by our friends at 89.3 The Current. The sold-out show will feature a stellar lineup of some of our favorite local acts - Solid Gold, P.O.S., Lookbook, Mason Jennings, and The Twilight Hours.

UPDATE: One of our tipsters just got word from a "Radio DJ who will remain nameless" that the MPR crew just got a call from Prince's handler asking about set times for tonight!!!

UPDATE: Prince totally showed up at 1st Ave last night! @Gimme_Noise reported via Twitter that The Current's Jim McGuinn said Prince wanted to come out to show his support for the station. He unfortunately didn't perform, but he did give starstruck fans something to tweet about, that's for sure!


It may be a long shot, but The Purple One sure has been making the rounds lately, and First Avenue is like his second home, so we're crossing our fingers that it's true! We scored tickets, so we'll be Twittering our findings tonight.

Submitted by @jahnapeloquin

Prince writes Vikings fight song...for real!

We got tipped off by Robyne Robinson that she's got a Prince exclusive tonight on the 9pm news on Fox 9! Apparently, after much Twitter banter on the subject over the weekend (Prince was spotted in a skybox at the Metrodome during last Sunday's game), the Purple One has actually done the deed and whipped up a ditty dedicated to the Vikes.

Robyne, a good friend of Prince, has the exclusive and you can only find out more and hear the song by tuning in at 9pm to Fox 9 News!

UPDATE: Here's the song/video...what do you think?

Prince in the skybox at the Metrodome

Submitted by @letoilemagazine