May 2016 Your Opinion Matters My Year on the Road With Prince


he decided I was going to do the honors. Never mind that interviewing Prince


meant


hand-scribbling notes, attempting to


capture his


transcendent funk poetry because his paranoid


refused to let me record anything electronically.


We made magic during our brief time together. He did what he did best. He


mesmerized Photo by: Jed Jacobsohn


BY HARRIETTE COLE I first saw Prince as an audience


member, back in 1981, when I was on a first date. My proper Bermudian beau and I had dressed in our Sunday best. We awkwardly sat front and center in orchestra seats watching this superhuman little being gyrate across the stage performing music that defied anything I had heard before. When the Purple One jumped to the highest pillar of his stage, grabbed a guitar and ejaculated light into the audience, I thought I was going to turn purple myself. Barely 20 years old and far more naive than my tender age belied, I dared not look at my date for fear that he might imagine that any such thing


might happen with us! Fast-forward through an


immeasurable period of time, and I was living my umpteenth life, as creative


director and editor-in-chief


of Ebony magazine. Our team had worked hard to secure an interview and photo shoot with Prince, just ’cause. We wanted to know how his mind was ticking at that time. We knew that whatever he was thinking was worth knowing, and so we stalked him until he agreed to let us photograph and interview


him. Our connector was


Tavis Smiley, his unlikely ace. Tavis was slated to do the interview. After Prince and I met and immediately dove deep into


talking about God, spirituality, the cosmos and politics,


us with his sense of self, with his


specificity, with his good manners, with his musical artistry, with all that made Prince, Prince. He liked us, the Ebony team, and kept us with him well into the night, even performing, with a few band members on his soundstage, some songs he had been working out only hours earlier.


If that wasn’t enough, after I left Ebony and reopened my own business, I got a call from Prince’s manager wanting to know what I was doing and if I would be interested in doing some work with them. Huh? He invited me to join the Welcome 2 America tour to


a–


www.hamptonroadsmessenger.com


The Hampton Roads Messenger 3


featuring them. An easy yes. There was Maceo Parker (James Brown’s No. 1 man), Esperanza Spalding (before her Grammy), Cassandra Wilson (whom I knew from my Essence days), Chaka Khan (who couldn’t have been more forthcoming), Mary J. Blige (my former client), Mint Condition (his homeboys), and the list goes on.


I relished intimate moments with these legends, but mostly I enjoyed being with Prince. He was brilliant, beyond definition. His mind worked differently from anyone I’ve met. He often spoke in riddles. Well-read puzzles that called upon the listener/ participant to think bigger thoughts. People describe him as shy. Not. He was the freest spirit I have ever met. He was private, fiercely so. But in his controlled personal space he enjoyed soaring the clouds of history, music, racial tension, black life, and the future of our people. He loved challenging people on their beliefs, especially


religious ones. He was


unafraid to discuss any topic, and generally he had far more insight on any topic than anyone else in the room.


The greatest lesson I learned from Prince was that anything good is


possible now. Prince did not


interview the opening acts, with the intention of creating a publication


clock time the way that others do. His sense of now was often literally now. Like when we were already on the Welcome 2 America tour and he decided to host 21 nights of concerts at the Forum in Los Angeles with all $25 tickets so that the folks could afford to attend. He damn near drove the promoter LiveNation crazy with this impossible requirement,


even


firing them for a spell. He put his high-heeled foot down and said it


PRINCE PAGE 15


PORTSMOUTH PAVILION AND FESTIVAL PARK · PRESENTED BY PLANET FITNESS 26th ANNUAL


FRIDAY, MAY 27


Opening Ceremony 5:30 - 6 pm


BLAQUE Velvet Band 6:15 - 7:15 pm


Rajazz, 7:30 - 8:45 pm Strictly Bizzness, 9 - 11 pm


SATURDAY, MAY 28


Sharron (Female Clarinetist) Noon - 12:30 pm


Heritage Tour, Noon & 2 pm


Children’s activities Noon - 5 pm


Stan Howard, 12:30 - 1 pm Good Life Band, 1:30 - 3 pm Fuzz Band, 3:30 - 5 pm


Tidewater Drive Band 5:30 - 7 pm


UmojaFestPortsmouth.com · 393-5111


Mint Condition* 7:30 pm | Portsmouth Pavilion


· · · · · *ticketed event · · · · ·


National Artists Kem &


“UNITY SUNDAY” MAY 29


Eric Taylor, 2 - 3 pm Heritage Tour, 2 & 4 pm


Children’s activities 2 - 5 pm


Phalishia Johnson, 3 - 4 pm


Jo’sef Haynes & Unified, Maurice Yancey & One Accord, Anthony Mcgahee & Praise Motivated,


Desmond Harrison 4 - 6 pm


National Gospel Recording Artist Patrick Riddick & D’vyne Worship 6 - 7 pm


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