Check out this new forum

Hmmmm.....seems there is a new house where all the purple people can hang.  Check out Claire's new site 'til the Dawn.  It is still in beta but is open for registration.  It looks promising and has a nice format.  All we need now is to get people signed up and let the fun begin.  So I hope to see you there and give me a shout over there when you sign up.

http://tilthedawn.org/forums/

Troubles and Tour Updates

For those of you still looking for the Emporium Remastered links, be patient.  I am having trouble upping them to my normal service so I am going to try and use a different site.  I will update the Emporium post as soon as the links are available.  

And now, for something completely different.  Seems Prince has a added a date or two to his Welcome to Australia Tour.  

You can find out the latest tour info here: http://princetour.com.au/

Emporium Remastered (Updated)

Fulfilling a request for a purple friend, here is Sabotage's Emporium Remastered. This three disc set documents l and the NPG's two aftershows played at London's Club Emporium on March 22nd and 23rd, 1995 during l’s The Ultimate Live Experience Tour.  I actually enjoy this release a lot and l is in a playful mood with the crowd.  I still die laughing when l tells the crowd, "London, what I need you all to do...besides throw them cameras down...this ain't a photo session motherfucker!" Hmmmm...it sounds funnier when you hear it on the CD.  At least I think it does, but then again, maybe that's just my sick sense of humor.  Anyway, instead of trying to give a review of the CDs, I decided to post the actual reviews of the shows as published in Issue 21 of Uptown Magazine.  

London, Emporium, 22 March (am)

The Emporium show was announced after the last Wembley Arena concert. There was a guest list at the NPG shop in London and the idea was that fans had to be on the list to get into the Emporium. It didn’t work out that way since many people went directly to Emporium, from Wembley Arena, and they were allowed in as well. The doors opened at 11 pm, but it took another two hours before l’s crew arrived. Admission was £20. The stage was very low and really small, more like a cordoned off section of the dance floor, with l and The NPG surrounded on three sides by the audience. This resulted in poor visibility at times, but it definitely heightened the atmosphere. The lighting was so subdued that even when people did get a clear vantage point, l was partially hidden by mysterious shadows. Occasionally a spotlight would sweep over him.

“You know we’d rather do this show than be at the hotel, so we’re just gonna jam until they kick us out, cool?” l said, hitting the stage at 2:45 am. He had a plastic bag with lollipops and one copy of the Exodus CD. He handed out some lollipops to fans close to the stage before he started reading the titles on the CD, “It’s funky, wait, wait, wait. Check the titles, check the titles: ‘Get Wild,’ ‘New Power Soul,’ ‘Count The Days,’ ‘The Good Life,’ ‘Cherry, Cherry,’ ‘Return Of The Bump Squad.’ Wait a minute, Michael B., you better cue up ‘Big Fun.’ It’s all good. Check it out, it’ll be out next Monday.” The pre-recorded drum beat of “Big Fun” started, “Turn that loop up, sample left and right, turn it up.” l started to sing the first verse live to the loop, then the band came in, including Eric Leeds on sax, who received cheers of recognition as he came onstage. Eric did an extended solo and then the whole band jammed for a long time, while l was backstage.

“Somebody clap your hands, somebody clap your hands, come on.” The band went into “Race,” which included a bit of “Controversy” before l called out “the roof is on fire” chant, “We don’t need no water, let the motherfucker burn! What the fuck is happening? Sax solo in the house.” Eric and band included some snatches from “Girls and Boys.” Next was “Super Hero,” to which l added a tremendous scatting break, and Eric had just begun a sax solo when l said, “Are you ready?” He let the band fly for a while, then said to the fans, “Y’all like funky music? Y’all like funky music? Then check this out.” The band continued the “Super Hero’ jam until l called out, “NPG!” Then Morris began his organ intro to “Dark.” l yelled, “Bring the lights up, sexy!” Eric once again played a sax solo.

Taking everyone by surprise, Stacy Francis, who was unannounced and unidentified by most in the crowd, came onstage and started singing “Sweet Thing.” Stacy’s voice was very strong and brought the crowd to cheers. She traded licks with l on guitar, who aped her vocal scatting. Without a word she was gone, and the band went right into another cover, “My Mind’s Made Up.” Without stopping for breath, S launched into “Skin Tight,” which was followed by “Funky Stuff.” The set closed at 3:30 am.

After a short break, l was back onstage. “I’d like to do a medley of one of my heroes, Carlos Santana,” he announced before starting the Santana medley. “Thank you. We’ll be back tomorrow night, same time, same channel,” l said in conclusion. “Peace. We outta here.” After much applause, l replied, “Thank you again! This’s the kinda parties I like. Peace. We outta here.” Still more applause and cheering and chants of “we want more” arose from the crowd. After a short time, l returned and said, “Mayte say we can’t leave till we hit ‘Get Wild.’ Since the masked man ain’t here, I’m gonna do his part. I learned it in about five minutes, it ain’t that hard. Check it out.”

As usual, “Get Wild” featured most of the band members getting wild on their respective instruments, including Eric Leeds on the sax. When Mayte jumped into the crowd, l yelled, “Save the baby! Save the baby!” The jam included the “Get Satisfied” chant and, still as part of “Get Wild,” they started to play “Funky Design.” The band continued jamming until l said, “We wanna thank y’all for coming out tonight. Same time, same funky place, same, same nasty house, the Emporium Glam Slam. Tomorrow night we’ll be here and it’ll be all good, it’ll be all nice.” There was more jamming, then the band started “Feel Good,” which is basically the “Johnny” groove with different lyrics. The audience chanted the “N-P-G, in the motherfuckin’ house” line many times until l finally called out, “Shit, on the one!” and it was over at 4:15 am.

London, Emporium, 23 March (am)

Much like the previous night, the doors opened at 11 pm and the admission was £20. l, Sonny, Morris and Michael strolled onstage at 2:15 am. The concert started with a drum solo by Michael that led into “The Ride.” They continued with a blues/rock set, “Poor Goo,” “Honky Tonk Women,” “Bambi,” “Zannalee,” and “The Undertaker.” After playing “Honky Tonk Women,” l said, “One time I opened for The Rolling Stones. I got booed off the stage. Perhaps I should have played that shit.” Tommy joined the band for “Zannalee,” while Eric Leeds came onstage for “The Undertaker.” During the latter song, l talked about how he didn’t know how much people in Britain understood about the struggles of his people in America, but tonight was all about trying to help them understand. He added that there was a very bad gun problem in the States and that “The Undertaker” deals with that subject. Next was a funky up-tempo jam which spotlighted Eric on sax. The tempo was slowed down for “Johnny,” which had everyone taking part in the “N-P-G, in the motherfuckin’ house” chant. Then followed another fast funk jam, which became “Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine” when l added his scratchy guitar part and began singing.

“Don’t you move Eric. We wanna show you off right now! Give me that C Vegas, fellas” l said before Eric Leeds was showcased on sax, performing an instrumental mini-set consisting of “Asswhuppin’ In A Trunk” and “17,” after which l asked, “Can I get Eric to do one for the female persuasion in the house? Eric, for the girls, could you play ‘The Most Beautiful Girl In The World’?” With Eric playing sax, the audience took over most of the vocals, causing l to say, “London, you’re too sweet.” “I Believe In You” followed and then came a slow version of “Days Of Wild” (including “Hair”) which was stretched out to 15 minutes and featured a lot of audience participation.

After a five-minute break, Michael started the drum intro for “Funky.” At one point during the song, l’s microphone was snatched by a girl in the VIP section. “London, I want y’all to join my band. All you background singers, let’s go,” l said before ripping into “Glam Slam Boogie.” A girl from the crowd was invited up onstage and she did a really wild dance, which probably inspired the impromptu version of “Sexy MF” that followed. The audience sang the main part of the song, which seemed unrehearsed since l was calling out the chord changes. “Fuck Prince! That’s not what’s up! I’m gonna play something funkier than that,” l said before “P Control.” Four girls danced onstage during the song. Unfortunately, l dropped the microphone, so he could not sing the last verse of the song. He just went back to the backstage area, playing his guitar until technician Marc Pfafflin was able to fix the microphone. A jam centered around “Funky Design” followed. Towards the end, l said, “Now, next Monday, in your favourite record store, The New Power Generation is dropping a new CD on ya. Check it out! The CD is a little different than the others. We put this one out, d’ya understand? We’re runnin’ this shit!” Eric included some sax lines from “11” into the jam, which closed the concert at 4:25 am.

So there you have it, Salome.  Well, the reviews anyway and as soon as you can grab the files, you can have the music too.  So grab them in FLAC with artwork here (all four parts are needed):   Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 4

Prince announces Welcome 2 Australia tour

MEDIA RELEASE

Released Thursday 12 April

Sydney 11 May Allphones Arena

Melbourne 14 May Rod Laver Arena

Brisbane 18 May Entertainment Centre

Note – there is no public pre sale

All tickets on sale Monday 16 April at 9am - Ticketek

“Number 1 show of the year.” LA Weekly 22/12/2011

Prince, one of music’s most iconic superstars and true rock’n’roll royalty, will tour Australia in May 2012 performing his greatest hits.

This will be only the 3^rd time Prince has toured Australia.  He last performed here in 2003.

Prolific, influential and innovative, Prince is one of the most private of all music super stars.

He lets his music speak for itself – and it does.

Singles such as Purple Rain, 1999, Controversy, When Doves Cry, Diamonds and Pearls, Nothing Compares 2 U, Kiss, Little Red Corvette, Cream and Raspberry Beret are songs deeply etched into the hearts of a generation and seamlessly tie together pop, funk, folk, and rock.

His recorded catalogue is vast, diverse and massively popular.  He has sold over one-hundred million albums, with ten platinum albums and over thirty top ten singles to his credit.  From thirty-three nominations he has won seven Grammy Awards, and his songs for movies have earned him a Golden Globe (The Song of the Heart from Happy Feet) and an Academy Award (Purple Rain).

While his second album Prince went platinum, but it was the album 1999 that was the real breakthrough for Prince.  It sold over three million albums.

This success, however, was nothing compared to the success of Purple Rain.  This album made him a superstar, selling over ten million copies in the US alone and topping the charts for a phenomenal twenty-four weeks.

Since then he has boldly experimented with sounds and styles, writing and producing with great diversity and ambition.  He has written hits for and mentored the careers of other artists, and founded his own recording studio and label.

But what propels him into the upper echelons of greatness – and Rolling Stone include him in its list of the Greatest Artists of All Time - are his legendary stage shows.  His concerts are flamboyant and thrilling, and he matches brilliant musicianship with cutting edge presentation.

Prince will be bring his huge full scale arena production to Australia which will include ground breaking technology in a complete 360 degree stage (in the round).

Notoriously reclusive and reserved in media interviews, Prince takes to the stage with sex-appeal and charisma that can reach the far corners of the even the largest arena.

From moments of great intimacy to exuberant solos, he is a live performer rare in his ability to hold each and every member of the audience enthralled.

“We have tickets starting from only $99 so that everyone can see this legendary superstar performer, Prince” - Garry Van Egmond. 

This tour of Australia is destined to be one of the greatest concert events in years – the Prince’s multiple concerts at Madison Square Garden sold out in 30 minutes, and his 21 night stand at the 20,000 seat O2 Arena in London set new box office records.

Note - there is no public pre sale.

All tickets on sale - Monday 16 April at 9am – Ticketek.

The tour is presented by Van Egmond Group and Chugg Entertainment.

www.princetour.com.au

facebook/princew2aus

Motherless Child in a Purple House

Bouncing around one of my hard drives and I came across the Septimo performance again. I hadn't listened to it in a while and then I remembered I had the vid on DVD.  So I fired it up and watched.  Again, I was mesmerized by P's rendition of Motherless Child. 

After watching that, for some reason I wanted to see his Purple House from the Rave 2000 DVD.

Ok, I could do without Kip Blackshire but what can I do? I would love to see a show with music like this.  You know how he did the Nokia show with the jazz vibe?  I want a bluesy rock show like these two songs. Maybe throw in an updated version of If I Had A Harem, Telemarketer's Blues, 12:01, The Ride and maybe even the Beggin' Woman Blues from the 21 Nights in London.  He could even throw in the song 5 Women.  I know, it's a purple dream but then again, it's my blog.  LOL!!!!!

 

NO - 1 Greater

And in case you missed it, here are the final seconds.....

There's Something Living In My Limousine

Frozen by the forward speed,
I'm running from the outside world,
Making tracks from zone to zone,
Nowhere left to call my own,
Always burning up the miles,
Real events just pass me by,
Locked inside my limousine,
See my face behind the screen ...

Something living ...
There's something living,
Living in my limousine.

In an attempt to fulfill a request for a little monster over at another site, here is 1981's Quit Dreaming and Get on the Beam from Be-Bop Deluxe founder Bill Nelson.  I have to say that my favorite songs from this are UHF, There's Something Living In My Limousine and Do You Dream in Colour? It's funny how I can still listen to some of the stuff I used to listen to 30 years ago.

You can find it here in MP3: http://minus.com/mbadBVNu8d/1f

If you aren't familiar with Nelson, here is an example of his early 80's electro-pop:

Its Just Around The Corner....

I know, the post title is misleading since you probably thought this was a Prince post.  Sorry for that but it was the first thing to pop into my head.  But as you can see below, the season two premiere of Game of Thrones on HBO is just around the corner!  Yeah, I am a little excited! 

Also, sorry I have been away so long but a lot of things have been happening in my purple universe and I haven't really had time to post much.  I'll try to explain my absence in a future post and also try to starting posting regularly again.   Until then, peace and be wild!!!!!!