I was on yet another conference call when I saw the news that Prince had passed away. As any self-respecting social media veteran would do, I immediately googled for verification. After AP verification, I sat in stunned silence. 2016 has been a bitch and a half calling folks home all kinds of early, unexpectedly, unrepentantly. Damn.
I'll leave the posts and articles about his musical impact and genius to others. Instead of going in about the brilliant, mysterious and mystical life and music of Prince - let me share a few moments from my life and how his music improved it.
5. Raspberry Beret - For some reason, in high school, a girlfriend and I started signing everything with our "Prince" names. I was Razz for Raspberry Beret and she was Tambor for Tambourine. I was the new girl at that public school coming from an all girls private school. Having some one call me Razz instead of "that bougie b*tch*"was transformative.
4. Erotic City - A really cute guy asked me what the words were to this song. (Yes, I was naive) I wrote them out and passed them to him in study hall. The teacher captured the note and wanted me to read it out loud in front of the class. I refused. They called my Dad. He left his office, drove across town, read the note, looked at me (with a LOOK) and then at the boy and asked the principal, "Shouldn't the boy who asked her to do this be punished or do we not equal apply fault at this school?" It was one of BougieDad's many mic drop moments. Also, that boy later came to UT and we dated for a minute. It was a nice footnote.
3. 1999 - It was New Year's Eve 1999, me and two gal pals all had man drama and decided to spend our last day on earth (remember the Y2K scare?) together huddled up on my sofa with snacks and adult beverages. I don't remember what channel we were watching but Prince came out and performed 1999. When we all survived the night we made resolutions based on Prince lyrics that actually still hold up to this day.
2. Purple Rain - The Fan Club or the Grounding? Which story to re-tell? Okay, when I was living in the Bay Area I dated a banker who was President of the Bay Area Prince Fan Club. (don't judge me though looking back I've had terrible luck with finance guys, moving on)
Dude was already well on his way to a cut card. The death knell? He picked me up for a date wearing lavender velveteen leggings tucked into high heel boots. No. Only Prince sir. Only Prince. Later found out he was trying to redirect funds from other bank accounts into his. He served some time so... saved by the Prince leggings.
1. Adore - Um, actually - I can't tell this story here. It's not NC-17. But was epic. Really, really epic.
It goes without saying that his ambassadorship of all things purple has made my life the explosion of aubergine excellence that it is. Thank you Prince for the music and the memories. You will be missed. Any Prince music moments to share?