Prince Celebration 2019 Recap: The Legacy Lives On
Prince Celebration 2019 Recap: The Legacy Lives On But What About The Future? - Page 2
How do you capture a 37-year legacy in four days? The answer is you don’t. But at the annual Prince Celebration this year, there is an effort to make sure that Prince’s legacy is remembered, celebrated and secured for the future.
Yet there are challenges. The heirs continue to battle with the bank overseeing Prince’s estate. The ‘new’ releases that have been put out by the estate, supervised by entertainment advisor Troy Carter have been met with some criticism by fans who have been circulating and collecting bootlegs for years.
Although there is a documentary coming via director Ava DuVernay, no release date has been announced. Even the Celebration, after 3 years, has its critics, including fans that say the expense of the event don’t match what’s being offered.
But at Prince’s Paisley Park complex where he worked, lived and died in 2016, the focus is on the music he made and the musicians, fans and other artists he inspired. This year’s Celebration included performances and panels by former Time guitarist Jesse Johnson, The Revolution featuring Mint Condition’s frontman Stokley Williams, the Funk Soldiers, including Kirk Johnson and Renato Neto, photographer Jeff Katz, a Graffiti Bridge panel featuring its star, Ingrid Chavez, and Prince’s former manager Bob Cavallo.
The Celebration, depending on your ticket, includes a VIP tour of Paisley Park, including Studios A and B where Prince spent much of his recording time and “Prince: Live On the Big Screen” – a video compilation of two of Prince’s performances with the NPG Band in front of a live audience held this year at The Armory.
The Celebration always includes a host of parties and concerts not officially sanctioned by the Estate and this year included an all-night Pancake Party at Perkins in Chanhassen; a show with the NPG (there are several configurations of NPG as the band changed personnel over time, this one featured rapper Tony M., keyboardist Morris Hayes and guitarist Levi Seacer, Jr.; a panel featuring the writers of several Prince books that Prince protegé Tamar also joined, a performance by Chavez and a cocktail reception with Jerome Benton. Former NPG keyboardist Tommy Barbarella and frequent Prince collaborator, saxophonist Eric Leeds, also performed at separate events.
Here’s what worked…and what didn’t.
JESSE JOHNSON
Jesse Johnson was the subject of some fan ire when a recording of him saying he’d never perform at the Celebration was released…after he’d signed on to perform at the Celebration this year. During his panel, Johnson acknowledged that he’d been estranged from Prince for some time. The two were once close and Johnson recounted times when the two lived and partied together. He is the co-writer on “Jungle Love” but said Prince used to laugh at his early attempts to create songs.
Johnson said he and Prince clashed over Prince’s control of the Time’s music and image as well as money. He told a story of the time that he made Prince laugh when he scoffed at Prince saying he never watched Hendrix. Johnson also shared Prince showing him a bankbook in the early years with a $12M balance. Johnson, who choked up at times, said he loved Prince and Morris [Day] as much as “3 straight men could love each other” but said Prince deliberately used his fame to try to sabotage Johnson’s solo career.
Johnson also acknowledged Prince’s love for children, including Jesse’s, who said his kids remember how loving Prince was to them. Johnson choked up while considering that Prince’s son, Ahmir, did not live long enough for him to be a father.
Johnson’senergetic performance, including his hits “Be Your Man” and “Can You Help Me” made it understandable why Prince felt threatened by his guitar prowess and maybe also, Johnson’s collection of bedazzled guitars.
Check out Page 2 for more including Prince’s “live” concert and who else was at Celebration.
PRINCE: LIVE ON THE BIG SCREEN
The “Prince Live On The Big Screen” ‘concert’ is two concerts – “Welcome to America” and “Musicology” edited together to look surprisingly like one show, similar to what is done with Elvis shows at Graceland (which also operates Paisley Park). Last year, “Prince: Live On The Big Screen” was at the Target Center; this year at the much smaller Armory. About 3,000 fans, including those who had it included with their Celebration ticket, attended.
One lineup of former NPG musicians including Shelby J. and the NPG Horns, played along to the shows, with Shelby singing live during “Nothing Compares to You” and the group playing a song they used to warm up with and inviting folks on stage to dance. It’s bittersweet for some, but both years, fans have dressed up and partied like it was an actual Prince concert from back in the day. Seeing what looked like a 12-year-old watch the show, mesmerized, means that some are passing the legacy on to the next generation.
UNRELEASED CONCERT FOOTAGE:
Each year at Celebration, there are Prince concerts shown that are not available to the public and have never been, though some portions of certain concerts have surfaced via YouTube, only to disappear. Over the three years, footage from the first “Piano and a Microphone” tour (done at Paisley Park on 1/21/16); the “Nude” tour in Japan; the “Musicology” tour from Staples Center; a Manchester, England show with 3rd Eye Girl; the “Purple Rain” tour and the “21 Nights” shows at the O2 in London have been played. These concerts are golden and there are more, as Prince recorded everything. Why these are not being cleaned up digitally and packaged for sale, I have no idea, but each year they are among the highlights of the Celebration.
PANELS:
The Revolution has been to Paisley Park before, but they have not run out of memories. This year, Wendy talked about 3 of Prince’s many personalities: “Fred Sanford,” “Marilyn Monroe” and “Stevie,” who was apparently the chill one. The Funk Soldiers panel included keyboardist Renato Neto, who said he deliberately messed up at times so Prince would let him do more takes when they were recording, and Kirk Johnson, still a controversial former collaborator, who talked about all the things he did for Prince -including supervising repairs around Paisley Park and being dancer, bodyguard, road manager, assistant, drummer and more over three decades.
First-timers to the Celebration were photographer Jeff Katz, who shared his stories shooting with Prince, and Bob Cavallo, Prince’s former manager. He talked about how hard Purple Rain was to get made and that it was once attached to Richard Pryor’s film company until the deal fell through. Every year you learn something new about Prince that makes him even more of a fascinating figure.
PERFORMANCES:
Music is obviously the reason everyone came to love Prince in the first place and his multiple bands are still cookin’ with fish grease. All the performances were stellar, and Stokley Williams with the Revolution is a genius idea. Stokley and Mint Condition worked and toured with Prince and Stokley has both the showmanship and the chops to perform in his stead.
Click to see how the Celebration needs to evolve if it wants to survive into the future.
