Funky Funko Update!

So a year ago I questioned the funkiness of the Prince Funko set and whether I would support them. Was there ever any doubt?

I grabbed all four of them! I guess they could've done worse. Well, until next time, peace and stay funky!

Funky Funko?

Funko, the company that brings you vinyl figurines and bobbleheads based on the latest in pop culture, is apparently looking to bathe in the purple rain.  Sometime this fall, they are set to release their version of Prince-inspired figurines.  So far they have shown four designs with versions appearing to be based on the 1999 era(?), Purple Rain era, Raspberry Beret and the 3rd Eye Girl era. Now, I have a tendency to be biased when it comes to all things Prince and rush out and collect all I can, but I am still not sure I how I feel about these.Take a look.

I am not too sure that Funko got the funk right on these but to each his own I guess. What do you think? If you want to check out the website, you can you find the Pop Rocks - Prince here.

Until next time, Love4OneAnother, Love4EachOther, Lover4UsAll!  Peace!

4 U

Time is inching ever so closer to September and the time for me to attend the 4 U Symphonic Celebration here in the Music City.  Back at the end of last year, I had tickets to see the Music of Prince with the Nashville Symphony but then, just weeks before the show, we received an email from the symphony saying that the show as cancelled at the request of the Estate.  Needless to say, I was less than enthused.  The estate is not releasing any music. They are not releasing any video. They are not giving the fans what they want or need. All they are doing is in-fighting and now they are cheating me out of a moment to enjoy the wondrous music of Prince played by a symphony. What the hell? The email said that the Estate was planning their own musical tribute. Yeah, right! We shall see.  Well, I guess I was wrong to doubt the email, because here we are with 4U.  Here is how it is described on the official website which can be found here:

ABOUT THE TOUR

Live Nation Urban and TCG Entertainment are proud to present the first and only official Estate approved symphonic presentation of Prince’s music, titled 4U: A Symphonic Celebration of Prince. 4U will present the music of Prince like never before, with a full orchestra. In addition, each show will feature a live band who will perform collectively with the orchestra. 4U will draw from Prince’s singular and extensive music catalog, highlighting many of his greatest hits alongside lesser known gems. Live Nation and TCG Entertainment are working in partnership with acclaimed drummer and creative Questlove to curate the set list and arrangements to be played by the symphony.

The 2018 tour will include shows in both the United States and Europe, starting in early September and running through November 2018. Additional dates will be announced for 2019 at a later date.

What is the show?
4U: A Symphonic Celebration of Prince highlights the music of Prince like never before, with a full symphony orchestra. The show will draw from Prince’s extensive music catalog and will feature many of the hits that captivated generations of fans, alongside lesser known gems — all interpreted and performed via a world class symphony orchestra.

Is there a band?
Yes, in addition to the symphony orchestra, the production will include a live band who will perform collectively with the symphony — together creating a truly unique opportunity to experience Prince’s iconic music. This show is not “impersonating” Prince, but is instead “celebrating” Prince and his boundless creative output. 

What is in the show?
Complementing the live musicians, 4U: A Symphonic Celebration of Prince will feature state-of-the-art production elements, as well as photo and video content provided by The Prince Estate.

What does “official” mean?
4U: A Symphonic Celebration of Prince is officially endorsed by the Estate of Prince Rogers Nelson. This is the only approved Prince symphonic show in the world.

Needless to say, I am really excited to see this show. I am not sure what I expect, but just to share purple music with my fellow purple family is a therapeutic experience in and of itself.  I'll make sure that I come back and give a recap of my symphonic experience after the show. Until then, peace & B-wild!!!!!!!!

There's A War Going On!

The war will go on and on and on
If U do not wish 2 be in the war U should leave now

We are about 2 challenge what U believe
If U do not wish 2 be challenged U should leave now
Saturday morning awaits

Dig up purple people, I've got something on my mind.  I've spoken about retrospeculation before and that's what I'm doing right now.  Flash backward to 1998 at Paisley Park.  Prince was performing live and the crowd was listening to what would later be released as The War.  Now in this 45 minute sonic adventure (26 minutes would later be edited and released), Prince asks if we would be willing to let the government place a microchip in our neck. He talks of an underground metropolis, a paradise where there is plenty of food, clean air and no worries.  But the admission is letting the government place a microchip in your neck.  Seemingly to track and control your every movement.  Would you go? "Would U stay on top of the chip and await your fate?"

Now take a look around at the world we live in today.  We have people starving around the world, hatred grows everyday and our leaders haven't got the first clue how to lead.  We have designed our computers to get smarter and smarter so that now they are designing themselves using their own languages that they have invented.  The original computer programmers no longer know what they are even saying because they can't understand the language.  Our world has become interconnected and solely reliant on the internet so that if you take down even a small section of it, corporations come to a grinding halt.  AI is the wave of the future and the future is now but is the human race ready for the next step? Are we ready for super intelligent hybrids? Humans with computer enhanced brains or worse, computers that are sentient? Then comes a company like Three Square Market who is wanting to install RFID microchips in it's employees.  That's right, this company wants to place chips into its employees saying that it will allow them easier access to the building, logging onto their computers and even making purchases in the break room.  Could it also be used to track employee movement? Can it be tracked outside of work? After all, you have essentially lo-jacked your employee.  What's to stop you (or some nefarious group) from using this for other means? 

So after nearly 20 years, it seems that Prince was nearly right.  Except, instead of the government micro-chipping us, it's the private sector but I am quite sure there is some government interest.   So what would you do? "Would U stay on top of the chip and await your fate?" Would you let them lo-jack you? Before you answer, listen what Prince had to say on the subject of computers:

So there you have it world. At least that's my take on it.  It's up to you to make up your mind and free yourself but the war will go on and on!  Until next time.....peace and be wild!

Prince Day #2

Open Book?

So there are plenty of books out there about Prince, from bios to picture books. Here are two that I picked up recently.

The Most Beautiful - My Life with Prince by Mayte Garcia

Gold Experience - Following Prince in the 90's by Jim Walsh

So check them out!

Candles 4 Prince

Thank you to Cindy for the candles and the Pythian Princess for everything else! To my Purple Family, remember, "Hold on 2 Ur soul! We got a long way 2 go!"

Will the Digital Haze prevail in 2017?

"You take the blue pill, the story ends.

You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. 

You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes."

As we begin the new year, there are so many questions about where the world is heading. Fake news, political hacking, scandals and pseudo-reality TV wash over us like never-ending tidal waves from a tsunami and threaten to drown us in a wasteland of lethargic human-like robots.  Sometimes we need to unplug from the digital world and clear out the noise in our heads.  Let the haze abate so that we can clearly see the real world and not the matrix that has been programmed for us.  Back in the old NPGMC days, Prince shared an essay entitled The Digital Haze. I thought I would share that here.

The Digital Haze

If u have ever found urself staring endlessly at the screen, without purpose, feeling strangely empty-headed — u r not alone. Millions of people worldwide r feeling xactly the same way u do, and u know it.

It used 2 b that the screen in front of which u felt that way was the TV screen. “Tele-vision” — such a promising medium, full of wonderful, educational, cultural, artistic potential… And what do we have now? We do have the 500 channels that the technocrats kept promising us. And we’ll soon get high-definition, theater-like TV as well, no doubt.

But all the technological advances in the world cannot hide the fact that the screen we r staring at is an empty screen — a screen blurting out a constant stream of pointless, meaningless images stuffed down r gaping throats. Television has slowly but surely turned us in2 hallucinated dummies. The average IQ of the TV-fed population might have increased by a few points, but anyone who has set foot in a classroom recently knows very well that this is not the kind of intelligence that ENLIGHTENS or uplifts anyone.

TV has definitely become the “supreme time waster” (George Gilder), the ad-impacted wall of universal banality, gratuitous violence, unbearable silliness, and beyond-embarrassing innuendo against which any remnants of lucidity will inevitably come crashing and fade away.

The Real Virtuality

In this brand new millennium, however, r lives r just as full of computer monitors as they r of TV screens. And, un4tunately, much in the same way TV has more or less wasted all its potential, it seems that the computer — this potentially amazing tool which was supposed 2 bring us “interactivity,” 2 xpand r horizons far beyond the limited, 2-dimensional world of TV — is quickly following the same path.

We r not talking about the infamous “world wide wait” here — the constant waiting 4 ur computer 2 do whatever u asked it 2 do. No, technological advances will soon take care of that. We won’t have 2 wait 4 much longer. We will soon all get “instant access.” That’s not the problem.

The problem is — instant access 2 what? If current trends r any indication, we won’t have access 2 much more than a slightly “enhanced” replica of the collective hallucination that TV has ended up creating. U might b able 2 participate in pseudo-“polls” and “surveys” (which no one xcept 4 the FIFA ever really takes in2 account), u might b able 2 fill out “feedback forms” and subscribe 2 “mailing lists”… However, whatever ignorance the traditional moguls don’t manage 2 impose on u themselves thru those “official” vehicles is soon perpetrated by the anarchy of confusing voices and endless inarticulate babble that disguises itself under fancy labels such as “web forums” or “newsgroups.”

Who is still able 2 use the word “news” without quotation marks 2 describe any of the mainstream services labelled as such? Does anyone really believe that what is called “news,” be it on TV, on the radio, in the morning papers or on the Net, is actually anything new?

A politician who campaigns against clear-cutting or rampant urbanization and actually gets elected — that would b news.

A new record that sells millions of copies without over-the-top promotion, thru the sheer quality of its music — that would b news.

A major movie without sex or violence that still manages 2 b both erotic and cathartic — that would b news.

A profit-making multinational that puts its workers ahead of its shareholders — that would b news.

A health report that covers a scientific achievement that actually brings relief to long-suffering patients, rather than the promise of potential relief 10 years down the road if all further tests are conclusive and not 2 many rats or monkeys die in the process — that would b news.

A half-hour news program that devotes 20 percent of its airing time — that would b a full 6 minutes — 2 addressing issues directly affecting 20 percent of the population — that’s how many still live in poverty in the US — that would b news.

But what u r watching on TV, hearing on the radio or accessing on the web isn’t news. It’s a collective ILLUSION that poses as the “real world” and has made us all 4get what the real real world looks like. It’s a “virtual reality” that has become more real than the actual reality, that occupies r minds much more than the actual reality ever manages 2 do. It’s a constant stream of immediately 4gettable and immediately 4gotten “content” based on a meaningless, mind-numbing “cult of the next” (designer Michael Graves). “Give us something other than what u gave us yesterday” is the one and only philosophy upon which the little bit of thinking that happens 2 go on in the minds of r “decision-makers” is solely based.

Music or Plastic?

It becomes even sadder when u look at what this whole system has done 2 music — or what now passes 4 music in these computerized days… The use of the computer continues 2 further blur the line between real talent and plastic. In order 2 produce something “new,” u just need 2 push the same buttons in a different order. Just like any other field subjected 2 the joint forces of technology and capitalism, music is becoming more and more of a “product” and less and less of an art.

Is there any denying this objective, palpable, observable decline? How many real music lovers actually listen 2 anything in the Top 40? Or, as Chuck D. puts it, does real art matter much “2 the masses that see hip hop as something similar 2 fast food fries”?

The computer, un4tunately, has become the tool of choice in this decline. Drum machines, digital synthesizers, music software, digital recording equipment — those were tools that, once again, were supposed 2 xpand r musical horizons, 2 take us in2 new realms of endless sonic possibilities…

Instead, they've turned out 2 b mostly the right tools in the wrong hands. Rather than being used 4 sonic xploration, they r being used as a cheaper SUBSTITUTE 4 the real thing, a faster, more “cost-effective” way of producing product.

Mind-Opening vs Mind-Numbing

Real drummers don’t play every note perfectly. They go with the flow, so 2 speak, they strive 2 squeeze as much tightness as possible out of their interaction with the other instruments in the band. They create a 4m of anticipation, of MUSICAL AWARENESS both in their fellow players and in the listener. They keep the listener aware of the xploratory nature of their playing. It’s the same with all instruments. And when u put them 2GETHER, when that funky guitar lick falls xactly where the drummer wanted it 2 fall, where he had created SPACE 4 it, between the pumping bass and the keyboard chord — and that’s not necessarily xactly on the beat — then it all makes musical sense, it all GELS — and the resulting jelly is a xhilarating, mind-opening xperience 4 both the players and the audience.

How is a machine ever going 2 b able 2 recreate that? The best effect that a drum machine, playing uni4mly, xactly, directly on the beat can hope 2 have on the listener is some kind of numbing effect, some 4m of HYPNOSIS that doesn’t require awareness, but surrender.

This hypnotic value, in itself, can of course b used, on occasion, 2 convey some sort of “message” or 2 evoke some specific kind of mood. Also, skilled drummers with their own xisting mastery of the instrument might find ways 2 complement their drumming thru clever, innovative use of drum machines.

However, when computerized music machines r used — like they r in most cases these days — as a substitute 4 the real thing, then they can’t really hope 2 b much more than an ERSATZ, a desperately dull imitation. In the sadly very real world of “virtual” music, instead of being an instrument, instead of just being a vehicle 2 xpress the creativity of the musician, the computer is quickly becoming the musician itself. When all it takes 2 “play” a song is 2 just press a button once and then listen 2 the machine play and sing the entire song 4 u, can it really still b called art? When one single half-baked, half-original musical idea is stretched through endless, repetitive looping over 5 boring minutes, is it still really a song?

R scientists still know very little about how r brains operate, but we wouldn’t b surprised if science one day demonstrated that live instrument playing and musical machines affect 2 completely different areas of the mind. Intuitively, we would say that machines pretty much shut down what live instruments manage 2 open, that is, the part of r selves that can b TOUCHED, that can b MOVED — in other words, r HEARTS and SOULS.

Tainted Water

The drumming machine is a perfect xample of what the computer will never even come close 2 recreating — let alone actually CREATING. We have no doubt that further technical “improvements” will enable the people using those machines 2 achieve a seemingly more accurate imitation of the real thing, but it is and will remain an imitation.

And it makes perfect sense, really.

Most machines r created by engineers, not by artists. Engineers can spend all their lives trying 2 get their machines 2 reproduce what they think is human thought or creativity as closely as possible — without ever asking themselves WHY on earth they would even want 2 achieve a thing. It’s silly, no?

And most machines r used by merchants, not artists. Which brings us 2 another point. By the time u get 2 hear a certain piece of music on the air, it has already gone thru half a dozen MATRIXES:

• the artist
• the manager
• the record company
• the visual medium (what song would make a good video)
• the program director
• and the DJ (who says whether or not he likes the song)

As u can c, when a program director says, “I can play whatever I want,” he means 2 say, “I can play whatever I choose from what I am GIVEN.” And what he is given is something that has already gone thru a xtensive selection process that has little 2 do with music.

The worst matrix of all is the artists themselves, un4tunately, becuz most let all the other matrixes have a pernicious influence on them and their “artistic choices.”

The end result is that, by the time the water finally reaches us, it’s so dirty that we gag.

The problem with machines is that they r, here again, used 2 make the matrixes even more “efficient.” Where, in the past, an artist could still faintly hope 2 find, by chance, a human ear able 2 abstract itself from all that jive and let its instinct speak — now we have machines crunching numbers and spitting out “market surveys” and “profit estimates.” Everything is becoming more and more computer-assisted, automated, and the real victims r the artists, with their quickly disappearing freedom of thought, freedom of choice.

The Greatest?

Lest we 4get, the music lover himself is caught in his own web of matrixes. From the record stores at which he is able 2 shop, 2 the radio stations that r available 2 him, 2 the selection of music 2 which he is xposed thru the various media outlets 2 which he has access, 2 his own internal conflicts between what he FEELS that he likes and he THINKS that he should like, between the responsibility he has 2 compensate the artists 4 their work and his reluctance 2 give most of his money away 2 record companies which r basically xploiting the artists he likes — the music lover is faced, on his own smaller scale, with the same type of struggle that faces the artist.

And, here again, at this point in time, the computer is mostly being used 2 enhance xisting structures and make them more effective, more profitable. There is a battle going on right now, as we speak, between the obsolete structures that traditional companies and media outlets r trying 2 impose on the digital world, and the FREEDOM afforded by this same digital world 2 its individual members.

Let’s take the xample of music charts, and more specifically of those “lists” that keep popping up out of nowhere and pretend 2 classify, rate, prioritize music 4 us. “The 100 Best Albums Of All Time,” “The 100 Greatest Guitarists,” “The 100 Greatest Guitar Solos,” “The Best of The Year 2000”… We’ve seen them all, we know how meaningless they r, and yet it seems that they r becoming the automatic escape mechanism 4 uninspired journalists and “pundits” who have run out of ways 2 talk — or more specifically not talk — about music, and r desperate 2 fill their columns or the cover of their magazines b4 the next deadline.

Does any music lover actually recognize themselves in those lists? We have nothing against people xpressing their own personal preferences… But they should at the very least b presented as such. Instead, the compilers of those lists claim 2 have consulted “music xperts,” 2 have conducted scientific polls among artists and 2 have established the ultimate, definitive, undisputable truth… until next month’s list, of course.

Revolver better than Songs In The Key Of Life? “Taxman,” “Yellow Submarine” and “Doctor Robert” better than “Love’s In Need Of Love Today,” “I Wish” and “Pastime Paradise”? If u could ask Paul McCartney, what do u think he would answer?

It’s a real competition out there. Each web site needs 2 have its own “Best Of,” or so it seems. Soon enough, we will get computer-generated lists: “Based on comprehensive scientific analysis of the digitally sampled sound waves of 10,000 recordings, our supercomputer has established that the Beatles were indeed better than the Rolling Stones and that the 100 Best Albums Of All Time are…”

Here again, instead of being put 2 good use, the computer, the Internet r merely used 2 amplify, 2 worsen an xisting source of wasted talk. It would b easy 2 just ignore the proliferation of such lists, if they didn’t play such a part in perpetuating the status quo that empowers the producers and the customers 2 the detriment of the artists and the music lovers.

It would be easy 2 ignore such lists if they were not such a typical symptom of the widespread tendency 2 avoid discussing the REAL ISSUES.

The Real ?s

Indeed, as every1 can c, music is fast becoming a prime xample of the fundamental issues that r “digital world” is raising — issues such as:

Where is the soul in a computer-induced world?

If the world we create is driven by computers, where do we live?

Can true artistic talent still survive against this mass of pseudo-art?

Will those who use the computer survive against those who let it use them?

Can and will true art live on?

Is true art still feasible, still realistic in 2day’s mind-numbing, computer-aided digital haze?

U b the judge.

From Bad 2 Worse

Computers rn’t bad in themselves, of course. It’s just that they r 2 often used by the xisting system 2 make everything that’s already bad even worse. Computers calculating what would please us. Computers guessing what we want. Y do we ever need 2 b TOLD what we want? Y do we ever buy music based on what we r told rather than what we HEAR? No one seems 2 dare 2 take the time 2 xplore music at his/her own pace. Let the computer do the xploring 4 u and find something “new” 4 u. Fast food fries indeed.

Real music by real artists 4 real music lovers is being relegated 2 the margins. Those margins might b somewhat stronger thanks 2 some of those new technologies (such as digital distribution), but they r still margins — and there is little sign of a 4thcoming, wide-ranging revolution that would really reverse the balance.

The NPG proposes 2 reverse the trend. NPG Online Ltd. wants u 2 use ur computer 2 make a difference. R site eliminates the matrixes. Xplore the music. Choose ur way. Let others b used. Tell us what u want. Say goodbye 2 the hype. Open ur mind. FEEL the music.

Like Prince once said, "The war will go on and on! You best leave now!" Is it the microchip in your neck? Is it a brave, new world? The choice is yours! Wake up, children! Dance the dance electric and Free Urself! 

So now the question remains, do you take the red pill or do you take the blue pill? 

A Tribute 4 the Fans

There have been countless tributes to Prince since his untimely death. Some were very good and some were...well...not so good (Madonna anyone?).  But this video in my opinion is one of the best tributes I have seen.

Olga Nunes Tribute to Prince

So Olga Nunes shared this wonderful tribute to Prince titled This Is What It Sound Like.  It is a great cover of When Doves Cry and I have watched this over and over.


Head over to her page here to read more about the video and to also find out how to order a copy of the print used in the video.  The artist who painted it has made it available and I have already ordered mine so grab it now while you can.

Another Photoshop

Just more Photoshop experimenting!

I just can’t believe all the things people say

I just can’t believe all the things people say

Controversy

So who was the real Prince? That's the question it seems that Billy Jack Bitch keeps asking every day on the latest edition of the Menda City News. Go to the market and all you see is trash mags promising you a look inside the secret world of Prince.  But what do they know? Not a damn thing! Their articles are filled with sensational suppositions and half-thought out conspiracy theories. He was a pill-popping drug addict! He was dying of cancer! He was dying of AIDS! He was murdered because he fought for his master tapes! He was a funkified alien who was recalled to the Mothership by Dr. Funkenstein! All these reasons for his death have been reported by the so-called media since that fateful day in April.  Well, maybe not the Dr. Funkenstein recall to the Mothership.  I just threw that in there but it's just as plausible as any of the mind-numbing pabulum spewed by these sound-bite social-media-swilling journalists.  So I repeat my initial question, who was the real Prince?

How did I get in this predicament?
How did I get in this jam?
The person that they accuse me of being of
That's not the one I really am

Prince was many things to all of us.  He was not just a musician, producer, writer, composer, performer and singer.  He was the Partyman.  He was Camille, Joey Coco, Alexander Nevermind and Spooky Electric.  He was Jamie Starr! He was funk, rock, soul, jazz, rhythm and blues and pop! He was a showman like none of us had ever seen.  You could not go to a Prince show and walk away feeling cheated.  No. You walked away exhausted, exhilarated, ecstatic, and overwhelmed.  You walked away knowing that you just witnessed the greatest show you had ever seen (at least until your next Prince show). When you went to a Prince show, you saw the New Power Generation come alive.  You became part of the Rainbow Children. You were a member of the Purple Army. There were no blacks, whites, Latinos, Asians or any other ethnicities at a Prince concert.  There was just the human race colored purple and we came together for at least one night to party like it was 1999!!!! I have met so many wonderful people over the years through the Prince community on line and at concerts all because of our love for Prince.  But where do we go from here?

Surrender all ye sad of heart

Today hold back no tears

The past is gone when we can

Start conquering our fears

I know some of you are still having a hard time accepting that Prince is gone and I understand that.  We are all sort of lost now.  We are all like the Strays of the World and it's okay to let the tears flow but eventually we must move on to the next chapter of our lives. That doesn't mean we forget Prince.  How could anyone forget him? It just means that we take him forward with us.  The memories he gave us.  The music, oh man, the music! There is so much music and since his death, I have opened the minds of several new fans to musical genius that was Prince.  No....the musical genius that IS Prince! For as long as he lives in our hearts and minds, he is still alive! He merely transformed! He transcended to a higher plane of existence!

Using a special code he accessed his mind

In search of the reason why

In passion and fashion he began travelin’ time

3rd eye, 3rd eye, 3rd eye

On Twitter, I have seen many people keep saying that they hope that this is all just a dream. Maybe it all is just a dream.  Maybe Prince was just a dream.  I mean, how could one man be that talented and that prolific and not be a dream.  But, I know it's not a dream. That's why I am thankful I have these great friends and purple family to lean on to help me get through this. By talking to them, I am able to sort through all the crazy stories and remember that those wild accusations are not who the real Prince was! Quite simply he was.......PRINCE!!!!

Hollyrock ain’t all it seems

Don’t get too serious,

it’s just a dream

Don’t forget your friends,

they’re all you’ve got

Listen to the story of a man

I am not

Sorry for rambling but I needed to say some of this to get it off my chest! Thanks for listening.... uh ...reading. 

 

Playing with Photoshop

I was just experimenting with Photoshop.

 

I think they turned out pretty well.

Nothing Compares 2 Tributes

Here are 2 tributes to Prince.  The first is by fDeluxe, better known as The Family, as they recently re-recorded their Prince-penned song Nothing Compares 2 U as a tribute to the late singer.


And here is the Dixie Chicks performing Nothing Compares 2 U in Horsens, Denmark on 04/22/16, the day after Prince died.

What can I say, both will bring tears to your eyes!