ICONS

April 21, 2016

The lead today is sad.  Prince, the Purple Rain iconic musician is dead.  Television news was on the scene as Minneapolis police cars were seen going into and out of Paisley Park Studios, the production complex that Prince built for himself to record in, as well as a space for other productions.  It is interesting to me how we all find personal connections to tragedies like this.  I'm not sure that it's to bolster the ego or just feel closer to a broader story.   In fact, I have the story of being hired to come to Minneapolis to work in a commercial for Armor and spent three days there doing the first commercial shot in Prince's new facility.  It was huge.   I remember a special drum room that was completely isolated from the rest of the studio.  

That trip to Paisley Park remains very memorable. The death of an iconic rock star is something, that as it dominates the television news today will shake out in comparison with other famous musicians who have left us.  This one is sad as the man left a huge mark on the music scene.  At five feet two, the androgynous young man carved a wide swath that leaves fans shaken because of his relatively young age and that he had hosted a party only a few days ago to assure friends that the flu like symptoms he'd been having were not an issue.

What I got from my trip to Paisley Park was the opportunity to experience Minneapolis in a broader sense.  The Guthrie Theatre was presenting The Misanthrope and Frank Gehry had a retrospective at The Walker Art Museum.  I recall that even the street people in the park between The Walker and the Embassy Suites Hotel were clean and friendly.  Only one man was crazy enough to mumble to himself incoherently and curse a building and kick it for good measure. 

Claes Oldenburg's Spoonbridge and Cherry were a highlight, too. 

Spoonbridge and Cherry / Claes Oldenburg

Oldenburg is pals with Gehry and as my interest in contemporary art expanded, that connection felt wonderful to me. 

The deaths of well known people will always trump the passing of those whose names are not as familiar.  "Chyna" a woman wrestler has also passed away and the TV news shows unflattering video of her drinking a green concoction and shoots video of her balcony in an apartment building in the South Bay.  Saddest of all is the imminent death of Steve Julian, local playwright and familiar voice to us here in the LA area.  This impending death is more personal and feels totally different in scope.  A memorial for Bill Martin is coming up, too.  You'd recognize his face in the face of "Harry" the Bigfoot in "Harry and the Hendersons." Bill wrote the screenplay with the director, William Dear.  He leaves his son, Ben, whose mother is my friend, Vanessa Gilbert.

Life goes on. And, then.  It doesn't?  We really have no idea. One take on death that I like is presented by Alan Watts, the foremost proponent of Zen in the West.  He says that being dead is like things were like before we were born.  I can relate to that.

Prince, Chyna, Bill... I hope that 'resting in peace' has nothing to do with being dead.  Here's to something much more fun. 

April 21, 2016 (which might be Carolyn's birthday!?)

michaelsheehan