Minneapolis, Prince, 3rd Eye Girl and a Police Officer!

I grew up with a rather eclectic exposure to music. I am the youngest of four kids, so I listened to all varieties of music in my formative years. When my older brother would go out with his friends, I would sneak into his room, and play his vinyl records. My favorite, were the 45 rpm records because then I could really listen to an assortment before he came back home! His collection was bountiful, but my favorite of his was The Scorpions, The Rolling Stones, Sly and the Family Stone, Genesis, Queen, David Bowie, Springsteen. Then there was the taste of my sister, more than 15 years older than I am, that influenced me. These, being the likes of Lionel Ritchie, Pat Benatar, Joni Mitchell, The Police, and Cheap Trick. Like I said, eclectic!

I found my own likes, by the time I was 10, but there came that pivotal moment when I discovered Prince. Wow. I was blown away and in love forever! I went through my hard rock, heavy metal phase for a while, being the rocker chick that I am! My tastes narrowed to some favorites, still to this day in The Doors, Van Morrison, U2 and Aerosmith. But the one constant was Prince.

After finally seeing Prince for the first time in his Welcome to Canada tour, my view on attending concerts changed. You can read about that here if you like, in my post "Prince, You Still Rock My World". Then, not even a year later, I travelled to Chicago to see him again, and you can read about that here if you so desire, in my post "Prince Welcome 2Chicago, My Personal Review"! Needless to say, I was hooked! Recently I went to see Bon Jovi with a friend. I do love me some Bon Jovi, his music is classic and he sounds great live. Here is the thing though. I have seen him twice, the first time, in an outdoor venue, and it was a blast! The second time was with a friend who ADORES him. During the concert I waited and waited. What was I waiting for? That mind-blowing feeling that comes over you, when you are feeling the music with your heart, transported to a place that is for a moment in time, nameless. I waited for that moment to resonate in my soul, dancing, clapping and lost in time. I danced, and clapped and had a great time, but the rest never happened. Seeing Prince live, ruined me for everyone else!

First Avenue, where Purple Rain was filmed!

I have to tell you though, on May 25^{th, 2013} at the Myth in Minnesota when Prince and his new band 3^rd Eye Girl took the stage, I was in seventh heaven! My new found twitter friend that I met up with, well he knew the first 3-4 songs that Prince was going to play. ("Let's Go Crazy", followed by "Endorphin machine, and "Screwdriver")  I’m glad I wasn’t that aware of his previous set list from the other shows on this tour. I read them, but didn’t memorize them, and so it was a nice surprise for me when he began his fourth song, “She’s Always in my Hair”. You see, I had this little dream come true, and somehow ended up with a special wrist band that got me up close, right at the stage. I could touch the stage. So when he began with “She’s Always in My Hair”, I think my eyes actually glazed over, for the first of several times that night, and I was misplaced. I was lost in pure emotion and pure feeling of enjoying the moment, etching it in my brain, to hold close in a place I can recall again and again if I like.

When Prince had Bobby Z, his drummer from the Revolution days, come on, applause erupted, with such an explosion of gratitude and love. Prince moved to the keyboard for this song, and I know many of my Prince friends will disagree with me here, but sometimes for this song, that is exactly where I like him. Especially this night, with Bobby Z on drums, with kind, caring, loving words spoken to Bobby, it would just not have had the same effect if he was on guitar. When you see Prince play guitar on this song, he himself seems to get lost and transported to his own place. I think being on the keys, allowed Prince to be present and speak his heart, giving us a glimpse of something that his fans don’t often see, the personal part of him.

This was not a concert of “hits” and I knew it wouldn’t be, which is one of the reasons I really wanted to see him and 3^rd Eye Girl on this tour. This band he has is on fire! Donna Grantis, his guitarist, is remarkable. She tears it up on that guitar; you can feel her passion and is the epitome of my version of a true rocker chic! And she’s Canadian, so of course I am proud of her success based on her citizenship right away! There were times, I fought between looking at Prince and her, and I love to look at Prince! I loved that there was not a whole team of backup singers and dancers to distract my attention from the amazing band he has, but I did miss seeing Prince take control of the stage with his dance moves, jumping off the piano, showing us his sexy ass and all the rest that comes with his larger venue performances! He certainly did have control of the stage in that super conductor way that he has though, queuing his band when need be.

 He continued the rest of the show with Free, I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man, Guitar, Plectrum Electrum, Fixurlifeup, I Like it There (Oh my gosh, I didn’t think I could find him sexier!), So Far So Pleased, The Max and Laydown. I may be missing something, but those are the ones I know!

The bouncer in the VIP area mentioned to my friend that Prince will likely pass him the guitar during the performance. That didn’t happen because maybe we were not in the right spot at that moment in time, but he did get to touch it, and that was a highlight for him I know! The same bouncer also told us when Prince left the stage that he would not be back again, and that he looked very pissed off at something. I am not sure that was true, and I wish he never would have said it, because in my mind it was a perfect night, and I hope nothing annoyed him enough to walk off the stage abruptly, but alas, the night was over.

I know one of these wrist bands allowed me
 in the VIP section. And free
drinks, but I was NOT leaving my spot to get anything!



I need to say this, I really do. I have always wanted to see Prince in a smaller venue, thought I would NEVER have a chance to see him play live while I stood at the foot of a stage. But this night, I got both. Being that close, and watching him, I have been trying for two weeks to put into words, but they have not really come to me yet. I was so close that I could see the fabric of his clothes, the individual tassels on his vest. I could see his face, his makeup, and his hands. I am sure there were moments I stopped dancing just to look at him, I was so in awe. Then something happened. I saw him, and I saw for the first time that he was just him. Just Prince, in all his genius and his success, and his fame, I was seeing him as a man.  I had to wonder, with as private as he is, as eclectic as he is, and as brilliant as he is, perhaps it’s because his ego has taken pause and he feels just like that, he is just him, just a man doing what he loves to do?

A few months ago, I wrote down a few of my goals, for the year, and for the upcoming 5 years. Now laugh if you will, but one of those things I put on my short list, was to see Prince in a small venue (I was thinking more like the Dakota shows he did), and to be right AT the front of the stage. It happened, perhaps I should make a new list, and on that list one of the things should be to meet Prince? Actually meeting him would mean nothing to me, I don’t care so much to shake someone’s hand and engage in a small greeting. It doesn’t do anything for me. But dinner or a conversation....oh a girl can dream can’t she?

I think Prince need me to come to Paisley Park and build him a flower garden!

I do have a bit of a creepy, funny bit to my visit to see Prince live in his hometown. I figured since I drove the 8 hour drive to get there, I may as well drive by his recording studio, Paisley Park, just for the photo opportunity! As we parked our vehicle illegally and rather creepily by his gate entrance to quickly run around to the front to snap a photo, the police were driving by, swung around and came to check what was going on. Luckily he was nice, and said he was just checking why the vehicle was there. I assured him I was not doing any harm, just wanted to take a picture, and we would be on our way. I thought later that I should have asked him if I could take his photo, all I got was a shot of his car in the side view mirror. My daughter did the whole hand to forehead slap thing, and I told her we would do the same if say BEP or

Sorry Mr. Police officer, Sorry Prince!

Shania Twain or someone she really liked lived in a city we drove all the way to visit.

Ahh, good times, good memories, lovely feelings! Thanks Prince and 3^rd Eye Girl for a great weekend I will never forget!

Thanks for stopping by!

Tannis

My Gaping Hole

I love visiting a new city or town, and feeling the vibe of life being lived by others. I like to imagine myself there, my life as it would be, if that city was my home. Minneapolis this past weekend was the perfect place to imagine my life being transported. One day before leaving from Minneapolis, back to my home city, I became implausibly sad. I took some time to let the feeling settle inside me, and spent many hours during sightseeing, shopping, and driving, to consider why.

The trip was great; a good time was had by all. Minneapolis is a very pretty city, and I liked it more than I thought I would. I also may have found a new favorite paper store! I actually didn’t really wonder before we left, if I would like it or not. I was quite focused on the concert I was going there for, Prince of course. A small 3000 person show in his home town! (That has to be a separate blog post though!) What did I care if I would like the city or not. I was going to see Prince in concert for the 3^rd time in 2 years!

But something happened, in the light of day. I looked around and saw that in some ways, it was a city much like my own. In some ways, it was a larger scale of the small mountainside town of Peachland that I fell in love with last year.  I could feel, within me, a gaping hole. Something missing...something not found...something I long for, need, crave?

 

There was a very pretty area that we went to on our second last day, the Lake Calhoun area. When we got there, my breath caught in my throat. Not because of its beauty. I have seen beautiful places before, in my ever favorite Rocky Mountains, the beaches of Hawaii, Jamaica, the forest and trees in our camping region, the soft silence and untouched beauty of the area I tree planted in as an 18 year old. I have seen many beautiful places, and that was not what caused my breath to be caught.

My daughter was with me the day I proclaimed that I loved Peachland so much I wanted to move there. She was with me in the water when she asked me, was it my dream to live there? She heard my reply that I was meant to live near beauty.

This day, in Minneapolis, as I stepped out of my vehicle, I looked at her and told her I had that same feeling that I had that day in Peachland.

I was meant to live near beauty.

Thanks for stopping by!

Tannis

Nobody gets into a Bathroom Stall with my Baby!

photo courtesy of Photo Bucket

Today, my daughter came home with another bullying story. It’s not the first time someone did her wrong, and it won’t be the last! I listened to her long winded story of what happened...the girl was bugging her....wouldn’t shut up....told her to just leave me alone, go away...she said that nobody liked her....climbed over the top of the bathroom stall...

Wait, she what!? Yes I had heard it right, this mean, obtrusive bully, climbed over the top of the bathroom stall when my daughter went in there to get away from her.

I asked her next, “Did she put her hands on you?”

My daughter looked at me, she knows I can be fierce, and she put her head down and said no. I asked her again, wondering if her body language was showing tell tale signs of a lie. “Tell me now, the truth, did she put her hands on you? Did she poke you, push you, or did she shove you?” A mutual friend of my daughter and the bully had to actually drag this girl out of the bathroom, in order for the situation to stop. This girl did not put her hands on my daughter, but at this point, it didn’t matter.

I put on my shoes, told her to do the same and I asked her where this girl was right now! Possibly she was at the neighbors (the mutual friend) or at the school yard. We went to the neighbors, as I knocked on the door and rang the doorbell, to no answer; I could feel my anger growing.

As I said, when it comes to my girl, I can be fierce!

We walked to the school yard, and she was not there.

I took a breath, and took a cue from my daughter. My adrenaline was pumping, and I could see it got her pumping too. I knew I needed to calm down, and hopefully, I wouldn’t really find this girl. Instead I decided to walk into the school, to tell the principle.

As it turns out, this bully was being suspended, for what I know to be the 3^rd or 4^th time this school year. We told the principle what happened, we told him what she said, and I remembered to include the part about her wishing my daughter would die in a hole. Who says that? A few girls have bothered my unassuming daughter before. I have talked her through it, done and said all the things I believed to be right. This time though was different. Nobody, I mean nobody, gets into a bathroom stall with my baby!

When I was a teenager, a fair share of girls hated me. They didn’t like my long “spaghetti hair” (as they affectionately called it). One time, I even got chased out of one of the boys houses because one girl found out I was there hanging out.  They didn’t want me to hang out with any of the guys; they didn’t want their boyfriends talking to me. They seemed to wish I had never come to their school.  I wish back then I had someone to protect me, to stand up for me. I wish I could have been better at standing up for myself. I know firsthand how mean and cruel girls can be. I won’t be able to protect my daughter from all of them, but I can damn well try!

On the walk back home, my daughter thanked me for standing up for her, and for talking to the principal, and for all of the things I told her. One of the things I told her was that if anyone ever shoved her, she was to use all her strength and shove them back. Her response was a wide eyes, “mom, then I will get expelled and I will get into trouble!” To which I replied, “Honey, I already home school you part time, you can come to my school and you won’t get in trouble from me for standing up for yourself, EVER.”

Did I tell her the wrong thing? I know violence doesn’t solve anything and “violence begets violence”, but really, if someone cornered you, and punched you in the face, would you smile at them? I don’t think so!

Thanks for stopping by!

Tannis

Doing the Doggie Paddle

Today I feel like a child learning to swim. The only thing I can manage today is the doggie paddle.

Today, this kid doing the doggie paddle is getting so tired from being over exerted, is ready to stop, and can’t breathe. Today I feel the fear inside that kid, who wonders, what will happen if my arms stop paddling, if my legs stop kicking, if my head goes under water? Will I drown, will I find my strength to keep going. Will vim and vigor kick in at the last moment?

I will be off to yoga in less than an hour and I will hear the words of my yoga instructor telling me to clear my mind, connect with my breath; let the stress of the day go. I may hit “publish” today to this post; maybe it will be in a day or two. Whenever it is, I hope that I no longer feel like I am treading water for survival, I hope I am gliding, arms stretched, sun on my face, head under water, then head up again, breathing with ease.

Today, while I am trying to connect with my breath, will I be thinking of the weight of last week upon my shoulders? When I close my eyes, will I see the look on my daughter’s face, when the arguments of the day became too much for her and she slid down her locker to the school hall floor to have a good cry? Will I remember her disappointment in not attending the spring concert because we just could not get past the day’s events... the prior week’s events... the meltdowns... the frustrations? Maybe I will connect with the hard pit in my stomach, the lump in my throat or the guilt in my heart.

Perhaps writing these words will be enough, and in the days ahead I can refocus. Find that vim and vigor.

Last night we went to the library. My books of choice were, Organizing the Disorganized Child, The Homeschooling Handbook, and Solve Your Childs School Related Problems. Not exactly easy reading, is it? I know I won’t possibly get them all read in the time I have them on loan from the library. I know I will not possibly be able to retain all of the information in the pages of these books. I know that chapters will go unread, of things we have tried, milestones we have achieved, accomplishments met, things still yet out of reach. I will look at the book on my bedside table, the one I wish I was reading, and the one I wish I could get lost in.

Another day, perhaps.

Treading water, doing the doggie paddle, sometimes it’s the best we can do, and that is ok.                   

I am about to hit the “publish” button on my blog, and all the while thinking....I said I wouldn’t do it. I would not vent on my blog, I would not be negative, and I would not use my blog as a “friend” when I thought none would understand. But you know what? Sometimes, when all you can do to keep your head above water is flail your arms and kick your feet, survival instinct has to kick in, and you just have to do whatever it takes to endure. Because if you don’t, you just won’t survive it!

Thanks for stopping by!

Tannis