Happy Earth Day 2009

Silverlake/Echo Park - Earth Day eve 2009 - another lucky day on planet earth....

Thank you Prince for Conga and Nokia 3 28 09

There's been so much written about the 3 Prince shows downtown at L.A. Live on March 28th that even tho it's late in the game....I just can't help but put in my 2 cents.  I was at 2 of the 3 shows (Conga and the late Nokia gig) and from this girl's perspective - they were a smashing success. Conga rocked so hard the earth moved - seriously, Hendrix, Led Zep or Nirvana had nothing on them...and then part of what I liked about Nokia (which some complained about) was that it went in a totally opposite direction.  It was moody, romantic....very ethereal and I was personally struck by how Prince took us on a completely different journey than where we'd just been at Conga.  I took a breath and went willingly into his jazzier mood - others resisted and I think missed the point.  The arrangements were sparse and he let the other band members take the spotlight quite a bit....I actually stood all the way at the back of the room and sort of let the show come to me - and come to me it did.

Prince is such the consummate instrumentalist/producer/ songwriter - it's easy to forget how extraordinary a singer he is - but in this more sparse setting - with him frequently alone at the mic, sans guitar - I was reminded that if he'd only been a singer - he'd still have been a superstar.  With a stunning appearance of Chaka Kahn for an oh-so-brief and tender rendition of "Sweet Thing" (with him momentarily back on some tasty guitar) he then went on to "The Beautiful Ones" and "Nothing Compares 2 U" in the final set...there isn't much else to say for any Prince fans reading this....you know how good it was...pure joy...and love...so glad I was there.