THE NIGHT I DANCED ON STAGE WITH PRINCE




At around 5PM on Monday March 20th, one day after returning from an almost unspeakable week in Shaqapulco, Flexico, I received, simultaneously, an email from the NPGMC (New Power Generation Music Club) and my friend Shawn Pelofsky (www.shawnpelofsky.com), telling me that Prince was going to be at Tower Records on Sunset Blvd. TONIGHT at midnight. A concert celebrating the release of his new album 3121 perhaps? I think so. Most of you know I am a die hard Prince fan. I would be seeing this show.

As many of you know, I recently quit my job at UTA to move onto a prominent entertainment law firm to prepare for law school. I am in my final days at UTA and my boss was out of the office and my replacement was rolling calls. I begin rolling my own calls in the office next door.

First I called a friend at William Morris who works for Prince's agent. No luck. I then called Cliff Hoffman, manager of eleven50 in Atlanta, a club I used to DJ at and did a lot of promoting at. He didn't call me back until it was too late, but Cliff, if you're reading this, thank you for calling back and giving me a glowing recommendation for my new job!

Why didn't I just go to Tower and wait in line? There were some conflicts. First, I was still at work. Second, it was raining and I had rode my bike to work. Third, I had dinner plans with my parents and sister and Whitney and certainly wouldn't have missed that for the world. What to do, what to do? I called Tower Records and discreetly asked, "Is it true?" The female voice on the other end replied, "Yes." I asked, "Do I have a chance?" She replied, "Yes. We are giving out wristbands, come asap."

I was calling and texting with Shawn. She was trying to get me to go wait with her. I told her I had plans. She said, "Fuck it, I am going and I will try to get you one."

Now, here's where it got interestingly ironic. Before going to Acapulco, I went out and purchased 150 plastic wristbands in 15 different colors just in case I would need them. Wristbands have helped me get into the Playboy Mansion amongst other things. Always a good thing to have. However, my final morning in Acapulco, my friends decided to decorate one drunken housemate in all 150 wristbands, including all my purple ones which, you guessed it, was the color Prince had chosen. Party City closes at 7PM.

My wristband friend Gene was in South Beach. What to do?

Shawn had acquired a wristband and was told to return to Tower at 11:30PM. Dinner was at 8. What to do?

I finished dinner at Il Fornaio, which was AWESOME and hilarious, at around 9:15 and went back to my apartment with my parents. They played with Brady for a bit and then Shawn called and said she was in Beverly Hills and asked what I planned to do. I said, "Let's go to Kinko's and color copy the bracelet on gloss photo paper." She said, "Time is running out but meet me at Kinkos on Wilshire and Elm."

I showed up and told the gentleman what I needed. $3 later, I had an exact duplicate of the bracelet sans holes and plastic clip. I cut it down to size, colored the holes black and had a Kinkos employee tape it on my wrist. I said, "Sir, you will remember this for the rest of your life."

Coincidentally, as he was taping it on my wrist, Prince's "Kiss" came on the Muzak. I knew I was golden. The manager asked me if I was trying to get into some hot party. I told him, "If a private Prince concert is a hot party, then yes" and I bid him goodnight.

I raced to Tower on Sunset, parked my car a few blocks away, paid $2 for parking and began walking. There was a bracelet line and a non bracelet line. I got in the bracelet line and waited patiently. At aboout 11:45 they started letting bracelets in. I was wearing a long sleeved black cashmere sweater which I strategically placed UNDER the purple bracelet so as not to give away there were not actually any holes in the bracelet and turned it away from where the bracelet WOULD have connected. As the line moved, they told us to keep our wrists up in the air until we walked inside. Two sets of security guards inspected the bracelets and I was inside. At most, 40 people were inside. I moved quickly toward the elaborate stage and lighting set up and waited in a light fog of anticipation. I was in.

A smoking hot DJ, whom I later asked for her number, began playing some new Prince from his 3121 album and within minutes, Prince was in the building and the excitment grew. He was wearing a white Sgt. Pepper-esque jacket, black pants, heels and a white fedora. Typical.

His band took the stage, did a 10 minute instrumental warm up and then Prince went into a 15 song set that included his new single Black Sweat and ended with Purple Rain and Let's Go Crazy. During an extended rendition of Play That Funky Music White Boy, where he grabbed a funky white boy from the audience to perform the lyrics, Prince's dancers and DJ began calling people from the audience up to dance on stage. Prince's DJ called me up but the security guard didn't see her and she was already looking toward the center of the stage when he denied me. I tried desperately to get her attention for 2 minutes until I caught her eye and she gave the signal. I immediately approached her and asked for her number. She said "no" so I proceeded to dance on stage like a funky white boy.

I really don't know what else to say. Top 5 best nights of my life. Funny that 3 of them involve Prince concerts.

Goodnight.