Friday, February 09, 2007

Spotlight Music

Loney, Dear
Since this song made NPR’s song of the day, I can’t stop listening to it, so I thought I’d share.



Prince
I was looking forward to Prince headlining the Superbowl halftime show. The Halftime show usually sucks, and is ridiculous in its meaningless pomposity. However, I thought since Prince is simultaneously a marvel and joke, maybe he’s a perfect fit for the Superbowl.
Although the only Prince I own are covers, Prince has fascinated for years. As someone once described Prince, his [Prince) best work, falls somewhere between a stupid human trick and a miracle. That’s Prince. He’s now a happily married Jehovah Witness who doesn’t perform songs like “Darling Nikki,” anymore. He gives press interviews in a room which has been draped with purple silks and tie-dyes, lighted by candles and lined with couches. He tells the press about the room decorations; "They do this everywhere we go," he says, sweeping a hand around the place. "Makes it feel like home."
The more you read and watch him, the more you realize that Charlie Murphy’s recollection of a basketball playing, pancake making Prince, and the brilliant Fred Armisen SNL sketch has a firm, firm base in reality.
Now about the show. First off, that suit? First time I was drooling over a man's suit and shirt combination. Come to think of it, I hear Prince and I are the same size. The vocals and guitar were live, but the band was prerecorded (I read it somewhere). The band, the screaming fans, prince's looks at the camera...totally all came together. The music selection for a ten minute show was great too. The covers, "watchtower"--totally fitting considering how much Hendrix influenced Prince (yes, I'm aware all along the watch tower is Dylan's song--but Hendrix made it his own). The cover of Foo's best of you was fitting, and a wry nod to the Foo who had a hit with their cover of "Darling Nikki." To sum it up, Prince--best performance at Super Bowl Halftime that I can recall.

Foo Fighters Darling Nikki mp3
Ripped MP3 of part of the Superbowl show

Sherpa's Mix Freebie---
I ended up making a mix cd last week of the best of the mp3s I downloaded from "rock/indy" mp3 blogs and burned four copies. The contents of the cd is a surprise. But the first four people to e-mail me (my address is on my profile page) get the cd. A valentine's gift from me to you. I'll take care of shipping costs.

Here's a link to my profile

Update:

The lucky recipients are Dainon, Rae, Ok Mike and Jenny. If you haven't given me your address (even though you live in town) send it my way.

10 comments:

Anon For Everything said...

I saw Prince in concert twice. He is amazing. I was in his fan club at the time and he reserved the first 10 rows of every concert for members of his fan club, so at one show I was in the 1st row and the other show I was in the 9th row. It was an amazing, amazing experience.

ADDollhouse said...

Prince is one of those that I would only mock... were he not so INCREDIBLY TALENTED. I think he's amazing, personally. *blush*

Anonymous said...

Do you have any more mixed CDs left? You can bring one to my b-day party next week and shipping is free!

Joy said...

you're #4

I can't make it to your birthday party at this point...but I'll get the CD to you.

Unknown said...

it was so perfect at the Super Bowl how it was raining and Prince was there singing purple rain. Kinda cheesy, but this is Prince we're dealing with so it was kinda funny, too

Trude said...

I love prince always have. His favourite colour is my favourite colour.

I remember vividly the first time I experienced a prince video "1999" - had me floored, and I have been an avid fan ever since .. excentricity suits him .. without it he'd just be another popster ..

I never got to see the halftime show, coz errr NFL is not a thing over here. But I scoured the internet and found it online .. What I saw was exactly what I would expect, right down to that funky marching band on the field.

Prince rates as high as Elvis, but on a different level, in my books.

Dainon. said...

I've seen the Prince from the 8th row. It was the year he was talking about retiring all of his biggest hits, so we got to hear 'em all. The thing that does separate (and will continue to separate) Prince from the rest is that he doesn't just write amazing songs (for himself and others ... "Nothing Compares 2 U", hello!) and play Amazing guitar (!!) and sing amazingly well ... the man has more ability in his wee lil pinky finger to perform than most musicians will ever be able to in their entire lifetimes/careers. The man is what legends are made of.

Kristy Mouti said...

At first when I realize that he was covering the Foo Fighters at half-time, I thought it was kind of strange choice (and although I LOVE Prince, I was slightly offended).

As I read your blog and you mentioned that all you had in your collection of was Prince covers, immediately the FF cover of Darling Nikki came to mind. I think you are dead on about it being a "wry nod."

Kristy Mouti said...

P.S. My first slow dance ever was to Purple Rain. Yes, I'm that old.

tom sheepandgoats said...

I didn't know Prince was playing the Superbowl til halftime came. He easily bested the older guys (McCartney and Stones) who've played in prior years.