So Lionel’s finally gone. I guess he took my one week ultimatum to heart. He left on Saturday morning. I kinda felt bad, but it felt good to lay out on the couch in my underwear and not have to worry about sharing it with anyone. My brother doesn’t count. His ass can sit on the floor. His goodwill gesture when he left was an offer to have him sing at my wedding for free if I ever get married…………………………… yeah right dude, I can’t wait to kick you out my house, but somewhere 3-5 years from now I’m going to call you out the blue and ask you to sing at my wedding? WTF was he thinking??!!! I don’t even know if! the boy can sing!!
Apparently he went to stay with someone else which in my opinion he could’ve done weeks ago, but I guess he figured he would stay until we asked him to leave. Triflin’ ass.
I had to go to a funeral on Saturday morning. It was my grandfather’s ‘sister’, but she had a different last name. You know how there are always people at your family reunion that are either there every year, or are there only once and you’re not ever sure how you are related…. Then your great aunt or something says, “This is your cousin!” Every time I go over to my aunt’s house I meet a new cousin!
At the funeral I couldn’t help but notice that all of the people I KNOW are family were sitting in the back off to the left while all the people I had never seen in my life were sitting in the ‘immediate family’ section up front on the right. So being the inquisitive person I am I ask, “Who are all of those people and why aren’t we sitting up there? I thought this was grandpa’s sister?” So my aunt so graciously says to me, “Well, let’s just say that your great grandfather was a ‘rolling stone’”
Oooo KAY!!! So I left that one alone. It was good to see my ‘real’ cousins though.
I went to both Prince concerts this weekend, Saturday & Sunday. As much as I love Prince, and I do really love Prince, all the way back to Controversy… if you’re going to put your show forth as the ‘Rainbow Children’ show (that’s the name of the new album), then either explain the concept better and go all the way with it musically or do the hits show. The new album is VERY jazzy, with some prince funk thrown into the mix. The show started off jazzy and rather tame by live prince standards, but it was absolutely amazing. We could’ve been in some small smoky jazz club somewhere in an alley. He didn’t even touch the mike until about 20-30 minutes into the show.
People were mad, people wanted to hear the hits and when his first words were, “How many people came to hear Purple Rain?” ….lots of cheers then he said, “This is not that type of party. It is 2002, not 1984, y’all might as well go home now!” I get hyped thinking I’m finally going to see Prince being Prince and doing whatever the hell he wants. But he ended up settling and did eventually cater to the crowd. I guess you have to do that since people pay $125 a seat.
He made a speech about how bad the radio is, then did his version of what his radio station would sound like and he played “Starfish and Coffee”, “Love Rollercoaster” by the Ohio Players, “Didn’t Cha Know” by Erykah Badu, “Soul Sacrifice” by Santana, and a Stevie Wonder track whose name slips me at the moment. It was really unbelievable.
Obscure references to the scriptures aside, which taken out of context appear muddled and confusing, his balance of race, sex, politics, romance, God, and love do actually represent the balance that most people I know try to cope with since I don’t know many preachers, and they probably deal with the same issues. So instead of presenting himself as a Godlike rockstar which he has done in the past, he was much more cool, talking to audience members, bringing the ushers on stage to dance, etc… then I’ve seen him in the past.
No DAT’s no backup singers, a stellar band that included James Brown’s horn player, the incredible Maceo Parker made the musicianship amazing as usual and reminded me why after all these years, I’ve stuck with Prince. If he would eliminate all the weirdness like the name change and record contract stuff and just focus on the music, people would see that he is truly one of the greatest musicians of all time. For real.
I still have NEVER seen anyone who can do Blues, Rock, Funk, Jazz, R&B, Ballads, Ragtime, Classical Piano and even a bit of Opera all in three hours and pull every single genre off successfully. If you get the chance, run, don’t walk to get tickets to this show when it comes to your town.
Maybe I should quit my job and become a music critic huh?
-c
CD of the moment: Prince – “Lovesexy”
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