Paisley Park, where Prince lived and worked, will welcome back a select 1,400 fans Wednesday to mark the fifth anniversary of his death from inside his creative sanctuary. The sprawling studio’s atrium will be opened to those who rushed for one of the free reservations, while other fans can leave flowers and mementos in front of a statue erected outside the front doors in the shape of his famous purple Love Symbol. Prince Fans Head To Paisley Park Five Years After Death
This is the first time the urn has returned to the atrium for display to the public.
Compared to his massive discography, extensive collection of live bootlegs, and vaults full of tantalizingly unknowable gems, Prince’s career on film is heartbreakingly short: ‘Purple Rain’, ‘Under the Cherry Moon‘, ‘Sign O’ the Times‘, and ‘Graffiti Bridge’. We celebrate his legacy in filmmaking and storytelling through visual music. RIP #PrinceRogersNelson
Purple Rain 1984
A victim of his own anger, the Kid (Prince) is a Minneapolis musician on the rise with his band, the Revolution, escaping a tumultuous home life through music. While trying to avoid making the same mistakes as his truculent father (Clarence Williams III), the Kid navigates the club scene and a rocky relationship with a captivating singer, Apollonia (Apollonia Kotero). But another musician, Morris (Morris Day), looks to steal the Kid’s spotlight — and his girl. Prince Fans Head To Paisley Park Five Years After Death
Graffiti Bridge 1990
The Kid and Morris Day are still competitors and each runs a club of his own. They make a bet about who writes the best song and the Kid’s club is on the line. It’s full of Grade-A rock ‘n’ roll, rousingly well performed. It moves, it swings, it jumps and vibrates. It’s a musical . Prince’s stirring 1984 debut “Purple Rain”–to which “Graffiti Bridge” is a sequel–fusing the new rock-video techniques with a story line, was part archetypal backstage musical, part pastiche ‘60s psycho-drama and part quasi-autobiographical fairy tale.
Under the Cherry Moon 1986
Two con artist brothers attempt to swindle a soon-to-be wealthy heiress but things get complicated when one falls in love with her. Under the Cherry Moon, Prince’s follow-up to his wildly successful Purple Rain, showing Prince as a lusty young stud learning to love. And while that may sound different from Rain, Prince’s moves were all the same. The boyish banter. The lean, petite frame. The hyper-sexual body language. That stare. That hair. That lip biting, oh how he dared! The only difference was that, with his second feature, Prince had all the confidence and creative control to be as bad as he wanted to be, and he coated his quintessence in pristine cinematography and glittery costumes that would make Edith Head gasp.
SIGN “O” THE TIMES – 1987
Highlights from Prince‘s 1987 European concert tour, including selections from the rock star’s album of the same title. Sign “O” The Times is a concert film, with all of the usual conventions of the modern rock concert film: the towering percussion section, the synchronized backup singers, the sweating superstar in sexual pantomime and, of course, the standard shot of the star leaning forward to tantalize his fans as the first row of the audience surges forward in orgiastic bliss. He intercuts the concert footage with what look like glimpses of a dramatic story, in which sex, intrigue and a sense of danger are laid on heavily, although no coherent narrative emerges. These shots symbolize a night world of rock clubs, seedy saloons, hookers and players and johns. They burst out onto the stage in several musical numbers, including one steamy duet between Prince and Cat Glover, rumored to be his current squeeze. Prince also shares the stage with various visitors, drop-ins and guest stars, notably Sheena Easton. But the person who literally steals the show is Sheila E., who plays percussion and then climbs down from the drums for a solo and a duet.
