6 posts tagged “prince”
Rumor has it that one Bruce Springsteen is on deck to be the halftime performer at Super Bowl XLIII. Despite my love of both professional football and rock music, I have a long history of not caring about the Super Bowl halftime show. Maybe that's because I'm not sure football and music should go together; maybe it's because the halftime shows used to suck ass. I just know I missed seeing Janet Jackson's bare breast on live television because I couldn't be bothered to pretend to care about halftime.
But the NFL seems to have gotten their shit together in the years since the wardrobe malfunction. Sure, Paul McCartney is a bit of a dud, but the Rolling Stones would have been cool enough in any year when I wasn't a complete nervous wreck throughout the game. Springsteen is slightly less awesome than Prince (who will go down as the greatest halftime performer in history), but a whole lot more awesome than Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. And I like Tom Petty.
Much speculation will no doubt ensue in the next six months as to the Boss' potential set list. There are the sort of tangential football titles - "Cover Me" and "Tougher Than the Rest" come to mind - but I don't see either of those realistically making the cut. No, it's a safe bet we're going see a couple of songs with "born" in the title. And there will probably be one newer one ("Radio Nowhere") sandwiched in the middle. Me, I'd like to see the song nobody expects.
Two (okay, technically three) artists whose work I enjoy and respect immensely originally hail from Minnesota. It's possible you are not aware of their roots, though, because they don't come across as total doofuses. Most of the time. They have their moments, though, and while I won't say the frequency of those moments has anything at all to do with their current disposition toward their birth state.... uh, I don't know how finish that sentence. Two videos which came to my attention yesterday prove illustrative.
For all his brilliance, Prince sure can be a humorless douche. He covered "Creep" at Coachella a few weeks ago, and his nonchalance and blistering guitar solos simultaneously upstage and undermine the second most earnest and self-important band of our generation. So it's highly ironic that he - the man who once sued his label for more artist control and appeared in public with the word "slave" on his face - is now dispatching an army of lawyers to scour the internets and delete videos of a song that doesn't belong to him. But then, this is your typical Type-A, stressed-out, take-no-prisoners Midwestern attitude. Prince still lives in Minneapolis.
Joel and Ethan Coen, on the other hand, really seem to know how to live. They left Minnesota at their earliest opportunity for the more down-to-earth environs of New York City and they never looked back. After an unprecedented run of nine consecutive masterpieces to begin their career, they slacked off for a bit. They released some mainstream Hollywood fare, did the occasional script doctoring, and basically chilled the fuck out for about three years. It's all good. They decided to resume their careers last year and did so with a grim multiple Academy Award winner which was one of the best in the year's strong field. Now they're following up with what appears to be another typical coastal slacker comedy. The redband trailer for the upcoming Burn After Reading simply exudes New York cool, with Brad Pitt hamming it up like a jackass, a cheap butt sex joke, and a few swears.
In conclusion, despite Prince's doofus Midwestern tendencies, he's still a genius. I accept him for who he his and respect and enjoy his music just as much as I respect enjoy the films of the Coens. I just wish he'd come to his senses, take a page from the Coens' book, and get the hell out of the flyovers. And fast. There's no question that's a decision he wouldn't regret.
As we entered the theater, Emma informed Daby and me that we were about to see one of the worst films ever made. Two hours later, I believe we witnessed a masterpiece. And the strangest thing is: we're both right.
To state that "Purple Rain" is a bipolar film is an understatement. Much of the time - probably most of the time - it's laughably terrible, as the guffaws echoing throughout the theater would attest. (A kind gentleman immediately behind me actually requested forcefully that the audience please stop chuckling at about the halfway point.) Daby's suggestion that virtually everyone involved with the production of the film missed the day in film school that they were to be taught how to successfully do their future jobs has a ring of truth to it. Prince, starring as "the Kid," is not much for delivery of lines, but fortunately for him there's not to much of that. One would think he would have learned how to stare believably and meaningfully off into the middle distance, however, once he learned that would be half his role. But hey - at least he got the ventriloquism down.
All is redeemed, however, by the performance pieces. I've heard all the songs on the soundtrack dozens of times, and the hits at least in the hundreds. And never have any of those songs been as urgent and electric and alive for me as they were on the silver screen. They were so powerful, in fact, that they rendered the basic premise of the movie - that the Kid is just trying to make his break into show business; that no one is interested in hearing his songs - even more inane. Emma and Soo and I saw Prince live in concert a few years back, and in many ways this film was better. It's easily the best music video that's ever been made, not least because it's a video for the whole damn album.
But the biggest compliments today are reserved for the host venue. It's borderline criminal that I had not been to the American Film Institute's Silver Theater before last night. Emma said it looked like I got a little choked up gazing for the first time upon the vast and lush enormity of the Silver Theater's recently refurbished auditorium, and she's right. The Silver Theater is everything movie-going should be and almost never is any more. I field a lot of accusations of being a neo-Luddite around these parts, but I defy anyone to explain how the soulless multiplex could possibly be superior to this temple for film. I spent two hours in pleasant slouchiness watching a Totally Awesome Film of the 80's blissfully unburdened by the teeming throng of the mouth-breathing horde. I daresay I shall be returning soon. Probably in just a couple of weeks for "Ferris Bueller's Day Off."
With some trepidation, I ventured downtown after work with Emma and Yo Han for a Chuck Klosterman book signing/Q & A. I expected - more than a little bit, actually - that he would come off as a smarmy, self-satisfied douchebag, but I am pleased to report he was pretty much like I thought he'd be when I first started reading his work. Which is to say he seems like a reasonably cool and dorky guy with whom it would be enjoyable to have a few or ten beers. I might have over-thought things just a little bit. Or maybe he could be a colossal prick after all but has learned how to mitigate his prickish tendencies in order to move product.
I had a few questions at the ready but figuring most of his fans for music fiends, they were both sports questions. As it happened, most of the questions were sports questions, so I didn't ask them. Plus I'm a neurotic jackass who doesn't like to be the center of attention in a crowd of strangers. That also might have had something to do with it. All in all, it was a surprisingly more pleasant evening than I had expected. I just might join Daby and Nikki, who were unable to make it this evening, when they go tomorrow. Sure, he'll probably read the same piece, but the questions will be different. Who knows, maybe somebody will actually ask a question on the topic he writes about most. And then I can get in my sports questions.
And in the interest of padding this post, following is the best passage from his new book that I read on the way home. If you read it out loud and "talk like Poindexter" when you do so, you'll probably come pretty close to what Chuck Klosterman actually sounds like.
"Raspberet Beret," the best Prince song ever recorded, is followed by the Bangles' "Manic Monday," the best prince song ever recorded by somebody else. Prince supposedly gave "Manic Monday" to Susanna Hoffs in the hope that she would sleep with him. If I were Prince, that's all I would ever do - I'd write airtight singles for every female musician I ever met. As far as I can tell, the reason you write great songs is to become a rock star, and the reason you become a rock star is to have sex with beautiful, famous women. Why not cut out the middleman? Prince is a genius.
ten years from now, football fans will be discussing only two things about last night's super bowl: the rain and the halftime show. almost two months ago i expressed my excitement at the selection of one prince rogers nelson to perform in what is typically a dud venue. the last noteworthy super bowl halftime was three years ago, and that's only because janet jackson's boob was broadcast for the world to see. most years, this is the arena - so to speak - of aging classic rockers intended to appeal to aging baby-boomers (paul mccartney, the rolling stones) or bland "straight ahead rock and roll" types intended to appeal to boring people (U2). so you can imagine my glee when it was announced that an artist - THE Artist, in fact - would entertain me.
prince is one of few musicians who have earned my unmitigated respect and admiration. johnny cash is another. i can't think of a third. that's not to say that i like everything they've done; it's more that their work i do like is so goddamn good that i'd be a heel for ever second guessing them. they have proven themselves time and again to be above reproach. sure, i might have preferred last night to see and/or hear 'little red corvette' or 'i could never take the place of your man,' but except few a few fake lightening bolts at the beginning of the perfomance, there's nothing i can complain about. i don't normally look forward to the super bowl halftime show. this year, it was unquestionably the best part of the whole endeavor.
i love football. i love music. it's rare - believe me - that i get to talk about both of them at the same time. what you have just seen if you watched the video above is CBS' announcement of prince as this year's super bowl halftime entertainment. and i couldn't be more pleased. yes, he'll be neutered; those of you hoping to see him perform "darling nikki" are living in a dream world. but this should still be nothing short of stellar.
i had the distinct pleasure of seeing prince perform on the 'musicology' tour, and i've never (and i mean never - and i'd like to think i have seen my fair share of shows) seen a, yes, artist make it look so easy. watch the video again, and note the casualness with which he slings that guitar around at the end. he plays the thing with the same casual ease. it's inspiring. and with so little energy devoted to actually playing his instruments, he (and i assume his group will just take this over) can focus on the show. i can't recall the last time a super bowl halftime act actually had me excited. given that the steelers most likely aren't going to be in the game, this may be the best argument there is to actually watch.
