No. 331: Prince

No. 331: "Prince" by Tom Wills, May 2016

I bought my first Prince album, "1999," in 1982, during my heady college days.  I was more into new wave music at the time, but the double album with the phallic symbol looked intriguing, and Warner Brothers had it specially priced at $9, so what the heck. Brought it back to the apartment and spun those four sides with the "Prince Eye" photo on the label -- repeatedly.

Didn't really know what to make of it.  It wasn't black music, nor white. It was kind of new wave, but not really.  There were soul elements, and jazz too.  And the guitars were heavy metal.  It was loud, but you could dance to it.
It was what we now know as "Prince music."
And the brother played everything himself, although other musicians popped in here and there for flavoring.

I bought a lot more Prince vinyl, and then CDs.  I stuck with him even when he gave up his name for a while, adopting The Symbol and becoming "The Artist Formerly Known As."  I endured his rapping phase, his "buncha songs about God" phase, his sex maniac stuff, and his side band stuff (The Time was the best of the bunch).
The brother was prolific.

And now, in 2016, he is dead. A surprising death. No one in the general public saw it coming.
Perhaps his inner circle knew of demons and troubles, but Prince guarded his privacy well behind the walls of his Paisley Park estate. And yet days before his death, he opened the gates for a party and urged those in attendance not to waste their prayers just yet.

Perhaps some sordid detail of his death will come forward, perhaps not.
We may be disappointed, or even surprised again. And he wouldn't be the first of many great artists to go out under bad circumstances.
James Brown comes to mind, and like Prince, his music will remain timeless.

Sad as I was, I made a point of playing back my Prince music as a I drew him.
It turns out that not everything The Purple One did was genius, but much of it is.  And if it's not genius, it's downright catchy, provocative and even funny.
It had been a while since I'd visited, I'll admit. But I always knew he was there.
Still is.

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