Died at his estate at the age of 57.

No details as to how but he had the flu pretty bad a few days ago

Sad if true.
One of the greatest rock artists ever.

Local police and news have not reported any names yet. Just that someone died at paisley park.
It may well prove true though.

The Artist formerly known as living?

Most likely true. Carver CO. SO won't make it official until next of kin notified & after M.E. makes his/her appearance.
Probably traffic jams at Paisley Park on Hwy 5 - 12 miles away.

lmao... never cared for that midgets music.

Now he truly is formerly known as Prince

How? As I recall, he only had a couple of hits back in the 80's.

Jason Kamerud from the CCSO has made the announcement - so it is official.
Now to determine foul play, natural causes or caught in a women's bathroom?

It's official.
RIP Prince, the best Minnesotan artist ever.

Well, I won't deny playing Purple Rain while getting down to business a time or two.

Ultimately, Tom Jones did KISS 100% better.

He was just here last weekend for a show. Wow!

It'll teach him to get his flu vaccine next year.

Oh well, he could jam!

Another Campfire classic!

No. Huge catalog of hits/original compositions.

Yeah - like him or not, the boy had talent.. RIP

Is this what it sounds like when the doves cry?





Clark

I just lost my spleen

The only ones feeling the loss are liberals.

Prince was a Republican, Christian and against gay marriage. You suck at guessing.

You need the healing waters of Lake Minnetonka.





Dave

A was a great musician.

He had way more than a couple. This graphic lists but a few.

https://www.graphiq.com/wlp/iQRx8zLS4YJ

I stand corrected.

He was a saint.

Next $100 bill nominee?

I'd still be hard pressed to name one of his songs though.

A couple of hits??? Dood, you really should get out more.

I get it, probably not your kind of music. I couldn't tell you ANYTHING about Country music...

He has sold close to 40 million records.

Game, blouses.

Never said he was a saint, just that you don't know sheit from Shinola

Lol...ever hear of Bob Dylan?

Prince's music sucked IMO but he seemed like a decent guy and he was very talented.

Well like him or not, he seriously had the Midas Touch in the '80's...

And he was a highly under-rated guitarist; boy could wail.

TFF.




Dave

What is it with this year 2016? Lemmy (late 2015 though) Bowie, Glen Frey, Keith Emerson,Merle Haggard now Prince. The year isn't a quarter old yet...

pancakes

I like how Cobain handled it.

Record your best works, then blow your head off.

Fin.




Dave

Dylan was born here and lived here until he was in his late teens when he moved to NYC where he has lived ever sense. He is a New Yorker.
Prince was born here, lived here and died here. He did a lot of good for the state.

Check out 'Soaked In Bleach'. Courtney Love probably did it.

Dylan has lived in Malibu for decades.

I guess if you like the nasal voice of a chain smoker singing lyrics that sort-of rhyme and don't make much sense otherwise, combined with 10th grade band level guitar and keyboards, then yeah. Dylan was better.




I was born much, much after Dylan was kicking out hit songs. Thus, I don't have to suffer the cultural delusions fabricated by a bunch of hippies down at Haight-Ashbury that he is some sort of great musical talent. Objectivity is nice.

Not that I listen to Prince either, but I can decipher good musical talent from bad.

Blasphemy!

No, Cobain enjoyed wayyy to much fame before his death. Bradley Nowell had the right idea. Record the hit album, then OD before its release so you never know WTF happened to it.

I feel exactly the same as you regarding Dylan. No talent old hippie.

Double blasphemy!!

oh no what are we going to do?

Friend of mine went to school with him.
Has one of of princes gold records on his wall.

manlicker will probably jump off of a bridge when Zamfir croaks

LOL

We'll pray that he can maintain a sense of calm acceptance...

Will flags be flown at half staff?

Bob Dylan sucks. HORRIBLE f'n music.

Unless he is the greatest songwriter and musician of the 20th century - which he was. You may not like him but he truly is the most incredible talent. Now Beethoven, THAT guy sucked (and still does). Right?

Triple blasphemy!!!

Guys, let's not fight during this time of mourning.

It is a time for reflection.




Clark

As I reflect on this loss, I find that I felt worse for that azz shot bear.

He died too young, he will be missed.

Sorry he died but I never liked his Music never understood all the Greatness when there where much better singers out there IMO. Dylan sucked ass well I think if you got stoned enough he might sound good and might make sense maybe I never tried.

I've been singing "Nikki" in his honor for the last hour. The secretaries have asked me to kindly stop.

Quadruple blasphemy!!

If there's any chance they could knee cap you, I ask you to continue.

He released 4 albums in the last 18 months.

I suspect he knew he was departing this life.

[bleep] please, they all worship the ground I walk on.

Great musician, I liked his music. He made it on his talent without the race pimping that you get out of 99% of the other black artists. We need more like him.

RIP

Dude could play guitar.

you sign their checks, doncha?

Maybe you should sing "Puzzy Control" instead?

I had not even thought of that.

Yes he could!!

Man was legend. R.I.P.

I remember going to his shows at First Ave in the early 80's before he became popular

Hell of a talent and decent humble guy.

Back in the early 80's a cute, redheaded big boobed cheerleader "friend" who was in high school, my first year of college tell me, "if you want to get laid, take your girl to a Prince concert...she'll be so horny it'll blow your mind."

Oh really?

He's in town next month, wanna go?

i wanted to hate him but he was good and his music was really unique.

The guy was a fuggin' weirdo! seems the weirder one is the better rock star you were when yer dead.

My condolences to the family.

Minnesota claimed Bob Zimmerman, but he never claimed Minnesota....

He blew out of state the day after graduating Hibbing High...

Knew a guy who worked with him out at Paisley Park...

Their studio did quite a bit of other work besides just Prince's stuff....

and evidently he paid his employees very very well, with exceptional benefits...

Guy I knew in the late 80s there in Chaska, had relocated from San Francisco for the job.... he was making well over 6 figures, in spite of looking like one of the sign holders at the parking lot entrance to Walmart....

Not true. He went the University of Minnesota and starting honing his musical skills. He then left for NYC for a spell, came back to Minneapolis for awhile and THEN went back to NYC to start his professional career.

My first wife's older brother graduated Hibbing High with him and knew him well....told me he left town the day after graduating.. showed me the dumpy house where he lived.... John had been over there many times...

but after he left, no one in Hibbing heard a darn thing from him.... Hibbing even wanted to do a Dylan was here kind of tour for attracting potential tourism into town....

Dylan's staff responded to it, with a basic... I don't think so...

Dylan couldn't hold Townes Van Zandt's guitar strap...

And actually - right now I'd put Jason Isbell above Dylan too for ability to craft lyrics that tell a story.

Dylan - congrats, you're top 5 at best.

The only guy from MN to perform decent in a Superbowl.

Holy fugk that was funny.




Travis

Dylan hated Hibbing and still disses it on occasion. It gave rise to his best song IMO, 'Girl From The North Country'.

But he was a student at the U of M until he was 20.

Saw him in at small venue Mpls in the 70s. He wandered around the place talking to folks. Cool lil dude.

From what I know, he was not pretentious at all and was all about the music.

I did not listen to his music often but always felt good knowing it was there. As others have mentioned, he could play guitar.

Bummer.

Yeah a flash in the pan... could only muster 80 million + in album sales, multiple Grammys, etc. As well writing hits for other artists and was capable of playing every instrument on a record.

Yeah for sure I loved his music; great imagination/creativity.

The guy was multi talented, musically. I very much enjoyed most of his stuff.......my son and I found common ground here.

Some of the songs he wrote for other artists

1. 'Nothing Compares 2 U' - Sinead O'Connor

2. 'Manic Monday' - The Bangles

3. 'When you were mine' - Cyndi Lauper

4. 'How come you don't call me anymore?' - Alicia Keys

5. 'Jungle Love' - The Time

6. 'Stand Back' - Stevie Nicks

7. 'I feel for you' - Chaka Kahn

8. 'The Glamorous Life' - Sheila E

9. 'Round and Round' - Tevin Campbell

10. 'Pray' - MC Hammer

11. 'Love Song' - Madonna

Now that's funny!

How the [bleep] could anyone claim to understand one work old Mumblin' Bob ever said. My God, Ozzie talks better than Dillon ever did!

He sure could.

About 3:25 in he starts in.

Heresy!!

I really liked most of his music and he was a great musician

Prince was treated for a drug overdose 6 days before his death ... multiple sources tell TMZ.

We broke the story ... Prince's private jet made an emergency landing in Moline, Illinois last Friday, hours after he performed in Atlanta. At the time his reps said he was battling the flu ... something we questioned because his plane was only 48 minutes from home before the unscheduled landing.

Multiple sources in Moline tell us, Prince was rushed to a hospital and doctors gave him a "save shot" ... typically administered to counteract the effects of an opiate.

Our sources further say doctors advised Prince to stay in the hospital for 24 hours. His people demanded a private room, and when they were told that wasn't possible ... Prince and co. decided to bail. The singer was released 3 hours after arriving and flew home.

We're told when Prince left he "was not doing well."

We know authorities in Minnesota are trying to get the hospital records from Moline to help determine cause of death.

We have made more than a dozen attempts to reach Prince's reps for comment, but they went radio silent.


Read more: http://www.tmz.com/2016/04/21/prince-treated-drug-overdose-dead/#ixzz46Vqq7EPP

How about you and your friends against me, and the revolution?

If I were a betting man , I bet HIV had something to do with it

There's that loving christian spirit
I suspect he was a better man than you appear to be

Game, bitches.



Clark

He was from MN. Not Mizzurah.



Dave

Sounds like an opiate OD.

Probably heroin.

can't help your choice of hero's suck

I can't help you live in Mizzourah.



Dave

Everyone to his own, but my opinion is not much, if anything, was lost.

Could it be you just wrote your own epitaph?

You'd think that these musicians/actors would learn from the deaths of others (John Belushi/Jerry Garcia/et al) that the opiate wins in the end. Somebody tell me of a lifelong user pushing 70+?????

If your referring to me.

If the shoe fits...

That's fugkin' funny.



Dave

Keith Richards. Nothing can kill Keith Richards, I'm not even sure he's really alive.

His body's going to make one heck of a science project when he finally goes.

Keith Richards is 167 years young, invented and patented heroin as well as it's methods of consumption, perfected heroin use, cigarette smoking and possibly sex.

Yep. Truth

That's true. He defies nature. I hope he donates his body to science.

Bummed about the news. Prince was a genius in so many ways. I wasn't ever a huge fan, but I was lucky enough to see him in the round in Minneapolis on a three night stint. I had always heard he was a killer guitar player, but I had no idea he was as good as he was. Open invite to Paisley Park for the after party.

The crazy thing was, everyone that bought a ticket got his latest CD. Turns out the cost was worked into the ticket and Prince was number one in album sales that year.

Pure Genius.

Isbell and Ryan Bingham are great

Love Van Zandt.

Love Isbell.

But neither of them changed the game like Dylan did.

Their music is more pleasant on the ear, but less influential. Weird how art actually works.

Not a big fan, but the dude could shred on the guitar. He surrounded himself with some quality personnel; Sheena Easton, Shelia E, et al.



His drummer was better looking than Ringo.

I saw a couple of videos of performances last night. I had not realized how outstanding a guitarist he was. Check that George Harrison tribute, where he put Tom Petty and others in the shade –– to the great joy of Harrison's son.

Also, his was probably the best Super Bowl halftime show ever. He was certainly an extraordinary showman. Check that on out on YouTube.

A hunnert years ago (1986) I was a graduate teaching assistant at a certain World Class University in Texas. One student, in the Corps of Cadets, would drag himself in on occasion so hungover that he could barely function.

On one such occasion he remarks to me....

Ya know, I would worry about all this, but look at Keith Richards, he's still alive....

And that was a hunnert years ago, and Richards was already a zombie even back then

Birdwatcher

Eric Clapton was asked what it was like to be the greatest guitar player in the world. He said he didn't know, you would have to ask Prince. And yes, Bob Dylan SUCKS.

The drug side of it really surprises me

I'm sure more of the story will come out.

Maybe Prince just didn't want to go quietly into the night so he took the Hunter S. Thompson route?

His drummer was better looking than Ringo.
Only just a little bit.
And all from the neck down.

Ringo might have been a lousy drummer but he was a helluva conductor...
if ya like trains.

Elvis, Michael Jackson, Prince, tremendous talents brought down by the scourge of drugs.

The amount of people on this website trying to be funny for attention is pathetic .
I'm no huge Prince fan -but reading the majority of the comments which are typical of threads like this -it's no wonder so many good people leave this website .

Someone has passed away and MANY think it's a time to try and be funny ? A bunch of you old grey haired guys should try to grow up before you die of old age .

I was never much of a fan of his music, and thought he was just some weird pop star hung up on his own sexuality. But when you look deeper, and I did, you find pure genius. Multi-level genius. Master of anything musical, master of production, master of his own brand, hell...even master of his own name.

Truly one of a kind.

The guy was a great musician and performer. Also battled some chronic health issues. He had epilepsy, according to one report.

He was married in the 90's, and he & his wife had a boy who died a few days after birth, due to a rare disorder. They lost another kid due to miscarriage.

Also had to be rushed to the hospital last week with a bad bout of the flu, then apparently checked himself out against orders, to keep playing concerts.

I didn't follow his career that closely, but I never heard of him being associated with drug or alcohol abuse. At 57, he may have simply not taken sufficient care of himself, and died of a heat attack, or other complications.

when he was in the hospital the other day he given a drug to counteract the effects of an opiate overdose, and checked out because he couldn't get a private room.

He had a bad hip, so maybe he got himself hooked on oxy and it spiraled out of control. Who knows...

He wouldn't let drugs or alcohol in to Paisley Park as a general rule, not even tobacco.

It's tough to say what killed him at this point.

Edit: I don't believe it was the flu.

I recall at one point Boy George called him "a midget dumped in a vat of pubic hair" But then Boy George sure lived in a glass house his own self.

Never did care much for his music and IMHO Morris Day and the Time absolutely stole the Purple Rain movie with their on-screen stage perfomances.

I will say that I can measure how fast life passes with his song "1999". That song came out in '82, when I was in Africa and 1999 seemed far in the future.

Sure was a surprise how fast it was 1999 already tho, and now 1999 is growing small in the rear-view mirror.

Also, his half-time show at the Super Bowl was one of the few actually worth seeing.

And geeze, something I weren't aware of until today, his guitar solo on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" 2006 (skip to 3:25)



So, a guy in a position to totally sleaze and decadent his life away becomes a Jehova's Witness instead.

If it were addiction that killed him, I expect better men than me have fallen that way.

RIP Prince Rogers Nelson.

Birdwatcher

+1

25 year Dilauded habit

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...rug-dealer-reveals-extent-addiction.html

To a reasonable extent I can accept the great "performer" comments flowing here (the flash and shock, the moves, the androgynous makeup/clothes/action, etc.)

However, the great "musician" aspect seems way overstated. With the help of others (including his father) he did write a number of the things he performed. and as performed by others. On some takes he did play more than one of the instruments in the recordings (I think primarily guitar, percussion and keyboard) but a good bit of that was rather elemental. Certainly not top-drawer stuff. Some say that "he played any instrument" - but that is a falsehood.

Actually, the most accurate claim might be that, given those captivated by his props and actions, he well-represented the changing artistic tastes (diminishing), the acceptance and even acclaim of musical mediocrity, and the increasing acceptance of vulgarity and crassness in our culture.

Hmmm....you have a point.

nah

he was a helluva musician. There is no shortage of well respected people in the music industry who put this man on ah pedestal for both his showmanship and his passion to make music.

I read a Billy Gibbons interview saying he couldn't touch what Prince did in the opening of When Doves Cry.

Most don't understand depression.
I've been there...often.

It's not a good place.

Here's an unplugged session, I find it preferable to all that shredding...

Was it creative writing you taught?

I didn't care for his music. But I will admit I've been surprised at his claimed guitar talent. I personally think Glenn Fry was much more talented. But hey, I'm just a southern redneck so what do I know.

+1

You are getting nowhere quoting others of that stripe - people in the "music industry" primarily are interested in the $$ value (there, "taste" again) and if they praise his "showmanship and passion" they are merely reinforcing what I said. Tons of folks do not understand the difference between "showmanship" and "musicianship"

Thanks, Birdwatcher, for that sample. It's right there. He starts by repeating the same memorized 16 bar segment and breaks to charm the audience - then moves on to other memorized stuff from his own repertoire.

He plays just fine, but I can hear the same things played just as well by buskers on streetcorners in SF or in storefronts in Boston or in the underground in Montreal - or even out here in the mountains once in a while. Great musicians read/hear/think/interact instantaneously and create simultaneously with other musicians, etc., etc. He was a very successful performer. May he RIP.

No. Taught music writing and music in general - starting in 1962 and still going. What was your teaching field?

Agree, it's not all but the forum has it's fair share of the clueless. The Campfire forum is like a dirty toilet. Gross at times.

He was really something else.

Prince seemed to have some talent, with which he made a living. People liked what he did enough to pay him. He made money as a musician and lived a duplicitous life. If Minnesota legislators want to honor his memory by making the state flag purple, well, that's Minnesota. And that's the influence of media on our world. There's several other truly great music composers and musicians who deserved much better than a purple flag. But that's America in these days.

That was actually pretty enjoyable. Thanks for posting it Birdwatcher.

++

Ya, never been a fan of the man or his music but looking now I'm finding some decent work.

In that concert, imagine the good memories for those young ladies in that they actually got to sing his songs while he played the instrumentals for them.

That was nicely done on his part.

Birdwatcher

Again, never been a Prince fan here, didn't know anything about him.

But speaking of spontaneous innovation, I was surprised to read amid all this stuff coming out that Prince frequented a local jazz club often enough that they reserved a private box for him. Last time he was there being a few days before his death.

I don't know enough about music to know how much spontaneity went into it, but I already posted his virtuoso performance at the George Harrison gig (Prince steps up at 3:35)...

[video:youtube]]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SFNW5F8K9Y[/video]

I get the impression of a guy holding back and playing WITH his fellow musicians and not over them.


...and then there's this, Prince s/ Lenny Kravitz on "American Woman", I wish there was a cleaner copy.



Once again looks to me like a guy carefully holding himself back until the end. But I ain't a trained musician.

I will say it seems like those guys collectively took that song to a whole new level over the original.

On the bigger picture, I got no problem with Minneapolis celebrating the guy as a native son. Heck, weren't he more talented than Elvis?

JMHO,
Birdwatcher

Prince came along later in my Music Career just before I got out of the industry. What made him popular at the time was the Innovative unique style of his music for that particular time. He probably didn't do it all by himself but it was innovative for the time and created quite a stir.

Birdwatcher - thanks again. I appreciate your posting those examples. I don't claim to know the overall scope of his work (I just might) but the items posted reinforce my personal analysis/opinion.

Strip way his outfit and behavior on "My guitar" and what do you have? A guy in an "all-star" lineup running along through simple chord changes in the key of A minor and, when it was his "turn", laying out some stereotypical wailing lines that go nowhere in particular - while gyrating - even down to the floor. An interesting "performance".

The thing on "American Woman" is nicely done for what it is - a very basic/simple riff on one chord (C minor) with a subtonic thrown in for interest. He sings and plays along, but in the solo work Kravitz plays circles around what Prince gave. Any possible heavy musical lifting there is done by the remainder of the group - especially nice work by the horns (which hardly are shown) while the dude slithers around in his blue sequins. Once again, a good "performance". Give the guy credit for what he was and what he invented in style. But then?? Maybe ask a truly great musician somewhere what he/she thinks.

Well now, that makes your assessment here even all the more inconvenient.

Wonderful technical analysis.

And completely, utterly, unquestioningly missing the point that music isn't math, it isn't science, isn't the sum of the parts. Prince was an artist. When he played, he connected with the audience and gave them joy. None of the analysis is relevant to the meaning of music: connecting the performer to his audience. Prince may not have been displaying technical virtuosity, but people wanted to hear him play. That makes him an artist, a performer as well as a musician.

add: Many folks see it as "inconvenient" when someone disagrees with their personal opinion (no matter how inexpert that opinion might be), and they often feel very inconvenienced when they are given evidence that they don't wish to accept. If one has not had the opportunity to learn and know "great", one simply is ignorant of the fact - it's not a sin.

Dutch: More than once I have said that he was great as a performer - which is what you have described - the connection with the "audience", etc. - and people wanted to hear him perform.

What don't you get about the difference?? Some people "love to hear" these no-talent rap artists too and they do "connect" with their audiences. Does that make them "musicians" and their useless sounds "great music"? I think not.

I didn't miss any point at all - some folks say he was a great musician. My purpose is not to burst any bubbles, but I was not talking about performers playing to the varied tastes of audiences. I was talking about learned, versatile, well-schooled musicianship.

And, you might be surprised to realize that a musician does not need an audience in order to create music - great music - so connecting to some particular loving audience is not an important factor in the creation. Also, by the way, music does involve math - and science as well at times - and combined with those and many other aspects (sum of the parts) it can be a supreme art. Everything people think is "music" is not artistic, and all beloved music performers are not great musicians.

Most get it already wordy cc prof, Prince ain't no Glenn Miller.

Good add - it's sometimes enjoyable to exercise the "creative writing" component. I've been through this xty x times with students.

Prince was in addition to being a self taught and extremely talented musician, one of the most prolific song writers in history. The list of number one hits from other artists on Prince written songs is mind boggling. Further he was responsible for a ton of artists who went on to become successful in their own rights.

On those accomplishments, his record stands above reproach. As for his personal trial, tribulations, and accomplishments, that is between him and his maker.

Flat amazing the range of different folks here speaking well of the guy (yerself, for example ). I gotta say it restores my faith in the 'Fire somewhat: People giving credit where credit is due, even to a skinny little dude jumping around in sequinned outfits playing hit songs most of us don't care for.

I've learned more about him in the past few days than I ever thought about before, most of it surprisingly good.

The gist seems to be he was a decent guy who treated others better'n he had to.

We should all do so well.

Birdwatcher

He wasn't completely self-taught, both his parents were professional piano players.

His dad played for the Prince Rogers Trio, the group he was named after.

Prince said that there was a piano in the house and his dad wouldn't let him touch it because he "wasn't as good as dad". So when his dad left Prince set out to get as good as his dad and show him.

I reading that Prince loved to eat pancakes.
We had that in common.

Prince's demise was most likely a result of depression.
So many uber overacheivers suffer this condition.

Tremendous athletes, artists, performers live it.

A feeling of inadequacy, lack of self esteem and self worth pushes them to the extreme for social acceptance...btdt...

Whatever plant his arse and get on with the election hahahhaha

"He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches." George Bernard Shaw

In other words, how many SB half-time shows have you done?

Personally I didn't care for him or his music and for sure won't miss him, just another over paid idiot who let drugs dictate his life and do him in.

Your utterances make you seem like an ignorant idiot - although you may not be such. GBS was simply a wiseguy at times. Do you not realize that many excellent musicians also are excellent teachers - always has been the case. If you beleive otherwise, try to grow up and get some knowledge.

And, your trying to rate a "musician" by how many Super Bowl performances he does comes across as ignorant too. How many SB shows have been done by Itzhak Perleman, or Stan Getz, or Nelson Riddle, or Georg Szell or (on and on and on). Successful appeal to lower-taste masses does not make one a musician. And, could Prince teach well??

I've played many jobs with high level musicians (show, jazz, rock, symphonic) where the on-the-spot demands were such that a fad "performer" like Prince could not cut the work, and have played and conducted performances where he would have been lost in the genre. And, believe it or not, some of these shows have been in packed stadiums at NFL games. But, that proved nothing about the musicianship of those of us performing.

He deserves his due as a very successful performer in a certain niche. If the current fuss about Prince (may he RIP) doesn't sum to anything else, it provides a grim picture of the degree to which discernment and taste have sunk in this culture during the past 25 years or so. His writings and performances were designed to appeal to the base aspects - and he was very successful.

I never thought much of the man or his music, but how many of you will be leaving behind an estate worth over 300 million?

He did something very right.

I don't know a whole lot about music or musicians but I'd say this young teenage girl could probably hang with the best, Prince included.

You, obviously, have never had the privilege and honor of hearing CCCC play.

He not only can teach, the man can PLAY!

Being selected out of Pop culture music to play at a football game doesn't make one a great musician, it just means you have connections and a modicum of talent/skills.

Prince was a great writer and good musician.

Ed

^^^^^^^

I agree, creation and presentation are two totally separate parts of musical expression. And all rhythmic tempos and musical timings are based in mathematics. as well as the notes of any scale are represented in science based on reoccurring audible wave lengths in varying octave's.

But the beauty of music is that none of that hast be taken into account to simply listen to and enjoy what appeals to you.

But in the end, the study of music is still called Musical "Theory" for a reason.

Prince was so majorly shy and insecure that he invented a persona of mystery that made him appear weird. The dude had loads of talent, he found faith, was a showman extraordinaire, and was vulnerable to addiction. I think we will find in the end, the addiction did him in. Not the first in the music business. Hank Williams, Billy Holiday, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Keith Moon, Brian Jone, John Entwistle etc, etc.

She is an unbelievable talented 16 year old!

Ed

Doesn't mean jack shít.

There's LOTSA guitar players out there than can perfectly play a Hendrix or Page or whatever guitar part. However, there is only one and will only ever be one Hendrix.

There is much more to being a musician than being able to copy someone else's work.

Props to Prince.

If nothing else, you are a master of 'damning with faint praise'.

Your students must adore you.

Can CCCC be found on Youtube?

have to agree, when they can compose their own , it takes it to a different level.

I think the most telling tribute is, some very accomplished guitarists, like Eric Clapton and Billy Gibbons, had great respect for Prince.

A few years ago Gibbons was out late at night for a meal, and bumped into Prince, who already had a table at the restaurant. They talked guitar for a couple of hours:

Billy Gibbons' chance meeting with Prince

I'm no musician or guitar player but this is pretty impressive to me. Prince starts about the 3:20 mark.

Men, guitar legends across the industry, across genres, are expressing their respect, if not admiration for Prince's musicality as well as skill.

On the other hand, an Ivory Tower professor tut-tuts his ability dismissively.

Girls are weeping, and Prince left a 300 million estate.

I think the tut-tut from academia can safely be discounted as random noise.... and that's as charitable as I'm going to get today.

Once Prince composition I've always liked, sung by a shave-headed Irish chick...



Birdwatcher

" Chris Stapleton Nothing Compares 2U live at Berkeley April 23, 2016"

Perv alert

And I suspect the knowledgeable "students" enjoyed correcting you (sensei) easily enough on the "exercise" from the start and found it most satisfactory.

Dutch, seems that you don't know a tut tut from a toot toot - but do know how to twist another's words in your tower of babble. Is that charitable enough?

Don Ross writes his own stuff. Just about everything he does is a combination of lead and rhythm, with a hint of bass every now and then. But it's not just that he can play his music, although that's pretty amazing. It's that it's good music.

I don't know how somebody hold this much music in his head, much less be able to bring it out of an acoustic guitar.

The only finger on either hand that sets idle is his left thumb.

No,..I take that back. I see him reaching over the neck and using his left thumb too.

Focus, pudding to be served shortly...

My students have corrected me many times - I learn a lot from them.

Hasty pudding, no doubt.

Based on your authoritative musings here - not nearly yet enough.

How could you possibly have even a clue regarding the sufficiency of a stranger's learning? Or are you merely trying to act like a smartass?

Every day is a new opportunity and I believe in lifelong learning - so may yet get to some learned state. But, already have realized that in this thread you are willing to speak like a presumptuous snot to those who hold applicable knowledge and aren't afraid to opine against the common grain. Nice that you affirm the authority.

BRAVEHEART in the midst!!

As stated, clueless and now doused mightily with both pretense & martyrdom.

Seems like it ain't very often you browse into a popular performer's background and find so much of interest.

I was looking up the origins of the song "Nothing Compares 2U". I have no idea as to the nature of Prince's personal life, but one does get the sense of the women in his life, including two wives, leaving HIM, which seems odd for a guy with a 80 million dollar fortune, these same women afterwards saying what a great guy he was (maybe a reclusive Jehovah's Witness was too much to live with I dunno). We know that Prince did write songs to the women in his life.

So I was wondering which woman might have inspired that one.

Dunno, but I did find mention of this guy in connection with that period, apparently a musician of whom even CCCC might approve. Pretty cool I think that Prince would collaborate with a Jazz and Latin music Great thirty years his senior. An obscure White guy from Michigan yet, that even the likes of a Herbie Hancock would state "I wouldn't be me without Clare Fischer".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clare_Fischer#Early_life_and_education

This thread seems to be devolving into a "Prince sucked" vs. "No he didn't" deal.

I'm gonna throw out Clare Fischer as evidence that whatever the limits of Prince's actual musical abilities may or may not have been (I honestly have no idea), he did at least have the brains and the interest to reach out to others in the field.

So put this in the "No he didn't" column.

Birdwatcher

May I step into this debate and point out a factor that makes a difference in perspective when discussing how one listens to Music?

Most are just listeners who may or may not like what they are hearing and be done with it. There is no more continued critical thought about whether a piece could have been better or improved on.

But to an accomplished Musician it is completely different in perspective when listening to a piece or how it is arranged. Artists with true improvisation skills and talent are helplessly by nature very extreme critics of each other.

They have to be very critical to become accomplished and proficient at their craft. They tend be perfectionists and critic about everything produced...And most especially their own abilities and personal work.

Musicians tend to spend countless hours, days and sometimes weeks on one piece to get it as absolutely perfect as possible in order to benefit and improve their own skills has earned the right to judge their peers Work or Skills past or present.

It's just a part of the trade and the nature of the beast as an artist perpetually improves and advances his own skills. Without this discernment of self and others all music would be fairly dull and all sound the same.

There would never be innovation.

With skilled musicians there will never be a "good as it is going to get" situation. Everything is always scrutinized in this perpetual motivation in perfecting their own skills. Themselves most of all...

So as an accomplished musician myself, I completely understand the scrutiny shared by CCCC. This is natural and normal in this particular cultural art. And as a teacher of this art it is his JOB to pick arrangements or styles apart and share his critics of them.

I liked Prince. I remember early on he dressed up like a bug.

Bugout4x4 - you are both discerning and kind. It is gratifying to see straightforward comments from a fellow who is highly knowledgeable on the subject and knows how to write. I neither wish nor need defense - and am thinking that few, if any, were able to learn much from what I offered. I think there is a good chance that they will learn from your post. Thanks for that.

Take a hint add - read the thread and analyze - get some knowledge. I noted the opinions of others regarding the guy's musicanship, did some gentle analysis and offered a counter opinion. Just doing business in the correct way. Gave him credit as a performer and, unlike others, said nothing about his personal life, possible drug abuse, etc., etc..

You soon got snarky with me, personally. Does that elevate you in your own mind? When you get nasty to a person - even a calm person - sooner or later he/she is going to give you a couple of jabs to the nose, a left to the gut and a right to the jaw. It's your payoff.

You have soiled yourself here. Now, go clean yourself up. Done with you in this case.

My pleasure...just explaining the difference in scope of discernment between Listeners and Artists is much broader than most realize. Rather than just comparing artists within a particular Genre we tend to compare all artists in all genres as a whole. Guitar players don't share this much, but sometimes the genre they choose to personally express is often limited to their own skill level even though they enjoy most genres.

But in secret every one of them would die for the ability and skill level it would take to keep up with the likes of masters like Paco De Lucia no matter what their chosen genre happens to be.

Players like Paco actually set the bar for the term "Good guitar player", Masters like this can literally adjust the sound their own fingerprints produce as they caress the strings.

You have only the intention to be dismissive to defend your perceived superiority, yet you claim you wish to be charitable? How small.....

I don't much care for Prince's music, but I recognize an artist who created novel, innovative and passionate music. Few, vanishingly few, artists create a style, if not a genre. Prince came close.

You didn't just point out a few minor things as a criticism, you took it upon yourself to diminish an artist (for reasons you will probably never allow yourself to realize) by trying to redefine an artists through petty criticism on minor technical details. Skillfully, honed by many years of practice, you tried using your seniority and status in an attempt to devalue the whole of the artists' contribution.

You may have established for yourself that you are a better technical musician than Prince was.

You just don't even rate on the same scale as an artist.

Dutch, you too are soiling yourself. I said zero about the level of my own artistry or technical ablity. And, I did nothing whatsoever to to diminish that performer as an "artist" - actually gave him his due as a performer. If he puts his stuff out there for sale, he is open to critique - and only he can diminish his worth as an "artist".

I merely replied to opinions about his musicianship as stated by some, expressed disagreement, and used some acute analysis to support my point. It appears that you don't like or appreciate keen critical analysis of stuff with which you are comfortable. That's fine, but it doesn't change reality.

Meanwhile, you started with the personal attacks and - silly you - presume that you have the intellectual power to calculate and state the motivation and intent of a person you do not even know. You simply don't have it.

Finally, you have no idea where I, and maybe any other musician on here, rates as an "artist" - or as a performer. Limitations in taste do not enable that - you simply don't have it. When you learn to step outside of your own likes and dislikes and critique work on the basis of reality, and when you learn to disagree without resorting to ad hominem attacks on folks you don't even know, your comments may take on meaning and weight. If you can't do that, open mouth and insert foot.

Now, go clean up. Done with you on this one.