Wheelistically @ Claire.NU » Prince

Macro Day: Gold

Claire — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 18:14:15 +0000

This week’s Macro Day Challenge: GOLD

All That Glitters… Ain’t Gold
Click the image to view the full-size versions at Flickr.

Today’s challenge attempt was inspired by Gold: the epic closing track from one of my favourite Prince albums, The Gold Experience.

All Original Words and Pictures are Copyright © 2012, Claire.NU. All rights reserved.
This feed and its content are for personal, non-commercial use only. The author of the content does not allow the content to be published on any other website or feed. If this content is not coming directly from Claire.NU, then the website publishing it is currently violating copyright laws. (Digital Fingerprint: 3121claire117nu1800n1e9w19fu687nk99 ).

The Bit With The Second Musical Monday…

Claire — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 17:22:33 +0000

On the car front, things have gone from bad to worse.

Remember the courtesy car that we were stuck with? Well as of Saturday, that has now broken down and won’t go in gear. We’ve had the AA out, they can’t fix it. So, now it’s just a matter of waiting for the Easter holiday to be over so that we can kick some ass with the people at the garage. This entire process has been a pain in the arse from start to finish. The point of having a courtesy car is to minimise inconvenience, but given that our courtesy car was unsuitable for my wheelchair and now doesn’t even get K from A to B, it’s been more trouble than it’s worth.

And that’s before we even get to the bit where the garage originally only did half of the repair job and every time we spoke to them, they tried to charge us the £300 excess fee again and actually argued with us every. mortal. time. when we told them that we’ve paid it already so no, we’re not going to pay it again.

I’ll be buggered if we’re ever going with this garage again. It’s like skinning your forehead on gravel and then daubing it with vinegar.

To cheer myself up, I’m doing Musical Monday (a la 0ddness)

This is a performance of The Ride by Prince and The N.P.G. taken from an Aftershow Party in London during 1994. The guitar solo(s) in this Fucking. Rock. Amen. Press play, turn your headphones up and blow your ears off. And that’s an order.

The Bit Where I Said Goodbye To Funky London…

Claire — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 21:29:30 +0000

PRINCE — The Earth Tour — Friday 21st September 2007, The O2 Arena, London.

This post has taken me a few days to write as I’ve barely been able to move.

Why? Because on Friday I partied like it was 1999 at the final night of Prince’s 21 nights in London. I think it was the most I’ve moved in about 10 years. No wait, that’s a dirty rotten lie — it was the most I have moved ever.

The layout of the O2 and the fact the Prince played “in the round” meant that everyone got a good view and we were lucky in that every time our view had been fantastic. On the first 2 occasions that we visited the O2, I’d been sat to the right of the Symbol Stage, at the front of the Lower Tier in Block 101 (see pink star on seating plan), on a wheelchair ramp directly at stage level. (Pro: Close enough to see facial expressions etc of people on stage/more intimate atmosphere. Con: Didn’t get a sense of the shape and size of stage/only a segmented view of the show.)

However this time, we were seated directly facing the “point” of the Symbol Stage, at the back of the Lower Tier in Block 105 (see green star on seating plan), on a ramp above stage level. (Pro: Far enough away to get a sense of the shape/size of the stage and an overall view of the show and crowd. Con: Lacked intimacy.)

There had been talk online of people taking purple glow sticks as a visual show of appreciation to Prince for the momentous 21 Nights, so I made sure to order mine from so that they would arrive in good time. During the ordering process, the form asks the reason for the order and my response provoked this friendly message on my packing slip — how sweet!

Word must have gotten out to O2 staff/Prince management as they decided to give out complimentary purple sticks to everyone as they went in along with instruction to “Snap ‘N Shake” at the start of the show as the first 2 songs were to be televised live on Sky News. You see that footage? One of those glow sticks is me! I was on telly!

Looking out into a black sea awash with dancing electric purple energy, the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. We definitely made the right choice seating-wise as I’ve never felt anything like it, it was so moving to be cocooned in something so beautiful and on such a huge scale, the sense of anticipation produced by the stunning visual effect was immense.

And, as of what was to come… It was out. of. this. world. The atmosphere was truly awe-inspiring.

Setlist

{Full Band}

I Feel For U
Controversy inc. Housequake chant
Somewhere Here On Earth
Cream
U Got The Look
Musicology inc. Funky London Chants
Chelsea Rogers
Sexy Dancer w/ Le Freak lyrics
A Love Bizarre
Pass The Peas

{Solo Piano Set}

Diamonds and Pearls (1 verse)
The Beautiful Ones
Little Red Corvette
I Would Die 4 U
Under The Cherry Moon (instrumental)
Sometimes It Snows In April

{Full Band}

Purple Rain
Take Me With You
Guitar
Kiss
Let’s Go Crazy

Encore

1999
Nothing Compares 2 U

{Synth Set}
Sign O The Times
When Doves Cry (1 verse)
Darling Nikki (intro)
I Wanna Be Your Lover
Erotic City (sample)
Alphabet St.
DMSR (1 verse)
Delirious (1 verse)
Gett Off Houstyle (sample)
The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker (sample)
Irresistible Bitch (1 verse sung)
The Most Beautiful Girl In The World (1 chorus)
Raspberry Beret

Surprise Encore

When U Were Mine
Girls and Boys

The night began with Prince arriving as we’d become accustomed through the middle of the stage amid dry ice, but this time the suspense was heightened with “thunder”. From then on, the crowd were on a sing-along high and taken on a roller-coaster ride through one Hit after another.

Prince seemed to be soaking up the atmosphere, speaking warmly about his time in London and of the historic 21 Nights as though they were like “imaging perfection or paradise”. Coming up for breath before Kiss, he spoke out again to the crowd: “This is confusing. The quicker I go through these hits, the sooner I’ll be gone… I ain’t tryin’ to go nowhere. I love it in London.”

Early on in the set, some friendly, drunken old man with stale beer-and-fag breath took to trying to chat me up by giving me his glow stick as a token of his undying affection and gesturing towards me, dedicating shouted lyrics in my general direction through the duration I Feel For U and U Got The Look. I smiled sweetly and graciously accepted his glow stick (it seemed rude not to) and then having given him a few more seconds grace, turned my attention back in to the dapper, doe-eyed, funky, fuzzy little man that I’d come to see in the hopes that eventually the weird man would get bored and go away. It sounds harsh I know, but come on — Prince was standing in front of me and this guy was behind me, which way did you think I was going to face? I think in the end Security ushered him away as he was illegitimately clogging the wheelchair area. Oh, well.

The night was filled with crowd participation and Prince and the band seemed to be giving it their all with Prince throwing some of the slickest dance moves I’ve seen this tour and The Twinz actually managing to synchronise their choreography (Hell, it only took 21 shows to get it right…). One of the biggest and most welcome surprises of the night was the return of the legendary Maceo Parker! It was great to see Maceo given the spotlight on Controversy, Musicology and Pass The Peas, in particular. (If my memory serves me right)

I won’t run through the show track by track as the set list overlaps in many places with the other 2 shows I saw on the 7th August and 16th September, but some of my own personal highlights and memorable moments included: hearing Chelsea Rodgers (a Planet Earth track that I’d been dying to hear live) with Prince on vocals and the NPG rocking the horns, the classic Prince/Sheila E track (though sadly no Sheila that night) A Love Bizarre, The Beautiful Ones (with screams), a memorable Purple Rain that began initially on piano before swelling to include the whole band and a stonking When U Were Mine during the surprise encore.

I did my best to absorb of much of that purple energy as I could, singing every syllable to every single song until I was hoarse and waving my glow sticks like a maniac (almost smacking K in the face at one point in a series of moves that shall be better known as “crazy white girl combat dancing”) until I was convinced my arms were actually going to fall off and that I’d have to carry them back to the car in my lap.

We met a really lovely couple whilst were were there, too (S and his wife, D — both dressed “to the 9’s” in purple). D and I traded “Prince Notes and Anecdotes” on collectibles, favourite songs/albums/tours and how gorgeous we thought Prince’s arse was etc before the show began, whilst K and D’s husband exchanged world-weary and knowing looks at our Fan Girl clucking, squee-ing and high-fives. It turns out that D’s all-time favourite Prince track was Darling Nikki. Cue us turning to one another, regressing to that of a pair of 12 year olds and screaming at one another when Prince threw us a sample of it on synth. (No lyrics again obviously, for religious reasons.)

For one of the first encores, the Twinz were carried back on stage atop the black box that had previously been used to transport Prince on and off stage. (It’s used to secretly and safely move Prince through the crowd so that he doesn’t get mobbed and is disguised to look like equipment) and they then sprayed the number “21” on the back of Prince’s jacket with red paint (!) “I got mo’ hits than this number on my back!”

And, despite a bit of a hoo-hah with some inebriated knobs lobbing glow sticks from up in the Gods, we were fortunate enough to even be treated to a rather impromptu surprise third and final encore long after the lights went up and the band had left the stage! “If y’all ain’t going home, I ain’t going home”… If only he wasn’t going home…

I can’t believe it’s over, I could cry — I did cry. I bawled all the way through Purple Rain and sobbed when Prince uttered the line during Sometimes it Snows in April: “as much as I wanna stay, all good things, they say, never last.”

You can stay, mate. We don’t mind, honest — we’re not exactly kicking you out, are we? You could’ve done 31 nights and we’d have still come to party with you, that much I promise. Stay! I’ll take the couch, I don’t mind — you can be my house guest. K’s a good cook, she’ll feed you up — you always look like you could do with a few good dinners down you — you’ve damn near danced yourself away. Stay. We’ll look after you… Please?

Check out this link on 3121 for another morsel of blinding footage from the tour!

Concert footage © Sky News.
Photo © The Org’s magictree. Used with kind permission.
Setlist courtesy of HQ.
Modified seating plan originally from Viagogo.

The Bit Where I Returned To Funky London…

Claire — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 10:13:51 +0000

This is my first “back post” of many.… So, onto my second Purple Night in London…

PRINCE — The Earth Tour — Sunday 16th September 2007, The O2 Arena, London.

Unlike the gig on the 7th August (where my Mum and Step-Dad came along with us), K and I were brave and went alone, embarking on our first ever bit of Scary London Driving. We decided to go early and make a day of it, but “The Dome” isn’t quite yet finished so there wasn’t as much to do as we’d originally envisaged other than eat, drink and eat some more.

On the upside, being there early meant we were fortunate enough to sit just on the other side of the arena wall and listen to some of the sound check *Squee!* We got to hear Somewhere Here on Earth on keys and Money Don’t Matter 2nite (full band).

Oh. My. Life. That man’s falsetto is just devastating, I just stopped in my tracks mid-sentence — he was faultless — and that was just the sound check. At first, K just thought they were playing his songs in the pavilion, it was only when you could hear Prince stop and re-check the mic etc. that she realised it wasn’t a record.

I did the Fan Girl thing and raided the merchandise stall once again… Two more T-Shirts, another stash of Cinnamon Girl incense and a Mr. Goodnight pillowcase. Yes, you read that right — I’ve got Prince’s beautiful face on my PILLOW — “awake” on one side and “asleep” on the other! Now, is this, or is this not, a new level in Fan Girlness?!

Then, after about 20 bathroom trips (I was determined to wring my bladder out to dry so that I didn’t have to miss even a nanosecond of the show) and a wait that seemed like forever, we headed to our seats.

Well, Prince kept to his promise. He said that no two shows would be the same and he wasn’t wrong. Sunday night had a completely different atmosphere and set list. Gone was the bright, funky party of the 7th August and here in its place was a soft purple Blues and Gospel jam on guitar and keys and an “Old, old skool” sampler set on synth.

There has been several times when I’ve seen a band for more than one show during a particular tour and save for a slight change in crowd/band energy and a spot of ad-lib, it’s always been pretty much same thing, different hat. I loved the way that I got to see him again a second time, but the experience felt just as new as the first. If it wasn’t for the stage setup, you just would not believe it was the same tour.

Set List
{Band Only ‘We’re warming it up y’all’ with Shelby J. on vox}

Chelsea Rodgers
Misty Blue
Baby Love

{Prince on stage with guitar in a white/silver suit}

1999
I Feel For U
Controversy (Housequake chant)
Somewhere Here On Earth
If I Was Ur Girlfriend
Musicology
The ? Of U / The One

What A Wonderful World / Your Song [Renato & Mike Philly]
Little Red Corvette — 2 lines spoken

{Prince Piano set — wearing Koko shirt}

Adore
Insatiable
Money Don’t Matter 2 Night
Dear Mr Man (almost gospel style)
I Would Die 4 U
Little Red Corvette
Under The Cherry Moon (instrumental)
Love Is A Losing Game

{Prince back on guitar}

Cream
U Got The Look
Take Me With U
Guitar
Whole Lotta Love
Kiss
Purple Rain

Encore

Instrumental Intro
Nothing Compares 2 U

{Prince on Synth}

D.M.S.R. (fills only)
Sign ‘O’ The Times (Two Verses)
D.M.S.R. (fills only)
When Doves Cry (Two Verses)
Alphabet St (’til Yeah, Yeah, Yeah)
Irresistible Bitch (no lyrics)
Darling Nikki (no lyrics)
Pop Life (First Verse)
I Wanna Be Ur Lover (Edit)
The Most Beautiful Girl In The World (First Verse)
Raspberry Beret (Two Verses)

Kisses and kudos to HQ and The Org for help with the setlist

The night kicked off with Shelby J and the NPG warming up the crowd in lieu of a separate support band. The new tune Chelsea Rodgers is fantastic live and despite the lack of Prince vocals, Shelby really did it justice. She’s got an amazingly powerful voice and definitely deserves credit as an artist in her own right — Shelby J’s no backing singer!

Prince rose up centre stage through dry ice amid the opening of 1999 — a treat given that in prior years, he’d claimed to have permanently “retired” it. Wearing a metallic white/silver suit (no bum-huggers tonight — he was keeping it “loose”), he blazed through the first section on guitar, slowing down only for Somewhere Here On Earth where he called a leggy brunette up onto the stage and serenaded her as she perched on a stool fanning herself in a mock fluster.

Prince: “Are you having fun tonight, London?“
Crowd: Cheers/Applause
Prince eyeing leggy brunette: “Not as much fun as I’m about to have!”

I was in raptures as I got treated to a repeat performance of If I Was Ur Girlfriend. I can never hear that song enough and the crowd and atmosphere really picked up at this point.

One of the night’s highlights for me was The ? Of U/The One. I was so surprised to hear The One — it seems that since Prince became Prince again, classic tracks have been largely and sadly absent. So, to hear a song that was an old NPG track from the early 1990’s (and the highlight of the largely dubious New Power Soul album) was a very welcome surprise. This particular rendition was an extended funk-face-ridden “bluesy jam” on guitar that Prince seemed to really get into. The two tracks enveloped and segued in and out of one another until the funk just got too much to handle and he had to get someone to take the guitar away from him as it was making him “get all ugly in the face” as he put it. I still maintain that no amount of funk could ever make a face that pretty “get all ugly”, but I digress!

Renato and Mike Phillips’ What A Wonderful World / Your Song medley was beautiful, with the crowd even taking on the lyrics to Elton John’s Your Song during Renato’s part on keys. Philly continued as ever to completely blow me away on sax, if he ever does a solo UK tour, I’m going to be first in line for tickets. Honestly, check this bloke out on iTunes or something — I mean it.

Prince reappeared on stage for the piano segment, in a black and white “Koko” shirt, dark trousers and black, jaunty Fedora and began with Adore, which sounds just as beautifully moving in his legendary seductive falsetto live as I had imagined it would be. It was a nice touch given that it seemed to be in acknowledgement (by way of a point and nod) of those up in Block 110 waving an over-sized colourful banner reading: “Please Sing ADORE”.

Insatiable had an alternative melody and saw him aptly “erase the naughty bits“¹ , whilst Money Don’t Matter 2nite made its crowd-pleasing debut appearance on this tour and got everyone singing along.

Prince seemed happy to meddle and noodle around on piano, improvising new verses to Dear Mr. Man apparently on the spot, which was delivered to almost gospel keys in a spoken style that gradually got funkier as it went along. I Would Die 4 U was emotive and exhilarating as I participated, complete with all the actions from the Purple Rain movie, with gay abandon and didn’t care who was watching! (If you have no idea what I’m talking about, go rent the film; the acting is a bit cack, but I promise the music makes up for everything!)

The second big highlight for me was Prince making his guitar sing on a blistering cover of Led Zeppelin’s Whole Lotta Love. You have to hear this to believe it, fucking stunning! I am so, so pleased I got to witness this cover live, it rocked so hard it hurt. I was seated next to a really friendly, chatty Brummie old skool rocker who had made the trek down from Birmingham with his wife, son and father (in-law?), his face was a picture when Whole Lotta Love struck up!

We were treated to a bit of a sing-along with Kiss, the epic Purple Rain and the classic Nothing Compares 2 U (which I will always maintain sweeps the floor with Sinead O’Connor’s version — he never should have given that song to her, in my opinion.)

The third and final highlight was the medley on synth and the surprises held within.

Prince returned to the spiral after the encore, his hair youthfully pushed from his face in a wide black head band, evidently refreshed and infinitely more playful. Toying with the more die-hard crowd, he’d would tease us with a few beats of a classic sample before taunting “Y’all ain’t ready for Sign O’ The Times” or “Y’all don’t know my old, old skool!”

Shockingly, given that Prince is now a devout Jehovah’s Witness and has proclaimed to never again to perform his more explicit or controversially adult material, both Irresistible Bitch and the infamous Darling Nikki made an appearance. Opting against singing lyrics about masturbating in a hotel lobby with a magazine, Prince instead cocked a raised eyebrow and wagged his finger jokingly at an almost disbelieving and very amused audience. Classic!

Several times it looked as though Prince was drawing the medley to a close, but every time he went to shift his wait from his stool, the crowd went absolutely ballistic. This guy was not getting away that easily! Twice he relented and would placate us with another tune and even warned at one point “But, y’all gone miss yo’ train. Ya gonna have to all sleep here tonight with me!… Gonna stay up all night?… I’ll sit here all night!” (as if we’d protest!)

The Most Beautiful Girl In The World was the icing on the cake for me. The release of this song signified the point in my life that I really got into Prince’s music in a big way. This in many ways seemed such a personal song, that spoke so specifically about a certain point in his life (i.e. his marriage to first wife, Mayte), that I never even imagined I’d get to hear it live over 10 years later, despite it serving as his first and only UK #1 chart hit. It might have only been the first verse, but to me it was the world.

Thank you to K for allowing me to experience once again a night filled with beautiful music and beautiful people.

And, thank you ultimately, to Prince and the NPG for sharing with us all and for giving a performance that at times would render me awe-struck and motionless at what I was seeing and hearing. During Take Me With U, my new Brummie friend turned to me in all the genuine excitement of a kid at Christmas and exclaimed “Now I know why you keep coming back — he’s amazing!”

I couldn’t have put it better myself.

EDIT: It turns out Brian May (!) was at the gig too — you can check out his thoughts on it over on his blog post entitled AN ARTIST ROCKS

see lyrics for in-joke [back]

The Bit With Music…

Claire — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 09:01:21 +0000

Over these last few years my Prince audio collection has expanded considerably.

Not only have I finally managed to acquire every “officially” released Prince album, but my collection now also includes various singles, B-sides, remixes, rare out of print side-projects, shelved never-released projects, NPGMC exclusive downloads and studio out-takes, demos and unreleased version tracks spanning over 30 years. For this, I would like to thank NPGMC, Amazon, iTunes, eBay and various top-secret sources.

I believe very strongly in financially supporting the artists that I love. As a result, I actively and avidly go to great lengths to pay (sometimes extortionate amounts) in order to legally obtain the original and legitimate releases as opposed to downloading them illegally/free of charge. I have never obtained music through dubious peer-to-peer file exchange services and have instead preferred to spend years sourcing the genuine articles, including rare out of print material, and will continue to until I deem my collection complete.

However, when it comes to out-takes and unreleased/shelved projects, technically there is no “legitimate” way to acquire such things. So what’s a fam¹ to do?

Between 1998 and 2004 I amassed quite a collection of Placebo bootlegs (sadly no studio out-takes, just the odd demo and plenty of live recordings), but for many years I steered clear of bootlegged material of the purple persuasion, figuring that Prince’s back catalogue was so vast that I’d never need to resort to it. However, having stumbled upon a valuable digital treasure chest of gems this past fortnight, I have found the allure of unheard material too much to resist.

I know bootleg material raises many questions regarding ethics: Should we be listening to material the artist never intended to be heard en masse? Should we be part of the “demand” for this dubious “supply”? Can we call ourselves true fans if we partake in a practise that violates the rights of the artist?

Let it be known at this point, that I do not pay for bootlegged material. I do not agree in others earning financial profit from illegitimately acquired material when the artist receives no recompense for its existence. In my book, gifting and trading amongst hardcore fams is one thing, forking out untold sums to scalpers is quite another.

Ethics and morals aside, I would like to address some of the many reasons why fans/fams, real true supporters of an artist, want, enjoy and actively seek out unreleased material. I’m not talking about the garbled and distorted crunch of crowd-recorded live gigs, I’m talking about original mixes, versions, sketches, scraps and skeletons of studio recorded songs that were never pressed, or by the time they were, had been drastically reworked beyond recognition.

Artists often refer to their creations almost as if they were their children. But to me, what separates music from other art forms is the pervasive way in which it soon emotionally and psychologically “belongs” to the listener almost as much as it does the artist. Songs, in many ways, develop as much (if not more) of a deep personal meaning to those that consume them as to those that created them. We attach ourselves to them and grow to depend on them. They speak to us and become the soundtrack to our lives as we hang our memories, emotions, relationships and entire eras of our lives upon them. For many they are self-medicating, a therapy, a hope, a comfort, a crutch, a voice telling them that they’re not alone in what they’re feeling, an escape. Many a music fan when asked what they would say to their favourite artist, if given the opportunity, replies with a story of gratitude that often contains the phrase “Without X artist, I wouldn’t be here/have met my partner/achieved Y/inspired or encouraged to do Z etc”.

Would you call yourself a die-hard fan of a particular artist? You would? Good. I invite you to think of that particular artist. Now, imagine hearing your favourite song by that artist, the way that song makes you feel, the way each instrument carries you on an emotional journey, the way it inspires you to move or recall a memory of a place, time or person particular to that very song. Great, isn’t it?

Now, imagine what it would be like to hear that song for the first time all over again. But this time, it’s not the radio edit. Or the beloved 12″ you treasure on vinyl. It’s not the version that you snuggle up to like a favourite comfy fleece or fluffy blanket, coddled toastily in the safeness of its familiarity. Instead, you hear the song in the way(s) the artist first conceived it. The raw emotion before any tinkering, toying or trickery has taken place. You hear arrangements and lyrics in their infant form prior to (re)mixing, rearranging and (re)editing. You’re given the opportunity to attempt to get a clearer sense of the artist’s original intentions, to grasp a truer sense of the emotions contained therein and a chance to witness the journey travelled in order to accomplish the song in the form that you’ve held so dear.

I have listened to one of my most favourite songs almost daily for years. Sometimes, I would listen to it so carefully, so intently, peeling apart the layers of sound, separating every instrument, every sample so that I would still manage to hear something new that I’d never heard on it before. Why? Because I love hearing songs in new ways. I love live versions, jam versions, demo versions, acoustic versions, epic 14-and-a-half-minute-with-a-stonking-guitar-solo versions. I love hearing a song as it was first recorded, spat through the immediacy of the emotions that originally fuelled it and then hearing it again, sometimes many years later, sang wistfully with the benefit of hindsight, regret or remembrance. It’s amazing how a sense of reflection alters the delivery and can totally transform the meaning of a song.

Having now dipped my virgin ears into the waters of the aural delights, for me, there is no going back. I and no doubt many others like me, wish that there was a legitimate way to hear songs in this way. To be flies on the wall during the creative process, to paw at the rudimentary pages of a sketchbook after having seen gaped in awe at the finished masterpiece. All the while, actively and financially supporting the work without resorting to covert measures to get our sneaky fix.

Some would argue that unreleased recordings better serve voyeuristic tendencies as opposed to accurately offering a listener clarity or enlightenment. Perhaps there are parts of the process that are best not “seen” and to witness them would be to destroy the mystique, which would ultimately detract from the enjoyment of the piece in its ultimate form.

All I know is when I hear those songs in their state of undress, just for that short while, I am privileged enough to feel a fraction closer to the creator(s) of the sounds that shape my world.

As selfish as that experience is, my life would be a darker place without it.

The term “fam” is short for “family” and is the preferred term, when referring to a Prince Fan, as Prince has voiced his dislike of the word “fan” due to it being derived from the word “fanatic” [back]

The Bit With Sophie Alien-Bextor…

Claire — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 10:12:36 +0000

There are many things that I read in the daily ‘papers that get on my tits. More often than not, I choose not to write about them as I steadfastly believe in the old adage that today’s newspaper is tomorrow’s chip paper. Simply, the less said about the utter cobblers printed, the better.

However, there is something that I’ve been stewing on for days and it needs an outlet.

An Open Letter To Sophie Alien-Bextor:

According to the ‘review’ you gave on behalf of The Daily Telegraph, it appears that you and I both attended the Prince concert on Tuesday 7th August 2007 at the O2.

Despite us being at the very same show, the night I will recount in years to come as one of the most enjoyable and awe-inspiring of my life, you will choose to remember as “disappointing”.

I will admit to feeling a little sorry for you, firstly because not only do you clearly not have the capacity to realise when you’re in the presence of something far greater than yourself, but you also lack the gumption to then shut up and enjoy it for the privilege that it is.

Secondly, you have my sympathy because you obviously went into this blind, like a lamb to the slaughter. Prince fans are an impassioned bunch who are often very adeptly and sometimes even expertly educated in the life, times and music of Prince. They are not fair-weathered friends; when it comes to the Prince Xperience, they know what they’re talking about. And they eat silly bints like you for breakfast.

I will recount your article here for the benefit of my readership, complete with my personal commentary.

Prince at the O2: Concert 4 — Where were the songs I knew?

Sophie Ellis Bextor is left a little cold by Prince at the O2

Even though I was really young when Prince first became a star, I have always been a massive fan. I still listen to albums like Purple Rain.

See, you had me there with “massive fan”. I was intrigued, impressed almost. We Prince fans seek out kindred spirits on our purple journey. For a moment, I nearly got excited thinking that there was someone in the public eye that would triumphantly declare their adoration for the likes of N.E.W.S., Rave In2 The Joy Fantastic or Kamasutra. See? You nearly had me, but then you went and spoilt it all with how you listen to Purple sodding Rain.

A dusty old Purple Rain LP in the loft does not a Prince fan make.

You’re a “massive fan”, are you? I have listened to the man’s music on a daily basis for years, subsequently owning around 40+ Prince albums and yet I still tread carefully when referring to how “massive” a fan I am. Why? Because doing do so would be unfair to other fans that have quite literally given the last 30-odd years of their life to the enjoyment and pursuit of Prince’s music.

I hadn’t even been born when the first strains of Purple Rain thundered through popular culture and like you, Tuesday’s Purple gig was my first. It doesn’t seem just to put myself in the same bracket as those that have supported the man with their life savings and quite literally followed him from continent to continent. Already you riled a considerable portion of the community with your empty and disrespectful claim.

But my reaction to the gig was mixed. There is no doubt of his talent. Sitting down at the piano, or playing his guitar, he was amazing. He has the most incredible voice. Prince’s destiny was clearly mapped out from the start: he was born to perform.

Yes, yes, the standard crawly bum-lick. “Oh, he’s such a Genius, with a level of talent in his pinky finger that could outstrip that in my entire body”. Yes love, we know. That’s why we were there.

But when I go to gigs I want to hear the hits, the songs I know, so on that level I thought it was disappointing. He plays lots of songs you don’t know, and even worse he does these little medleys where he sits at the piano for 20 minutes and plays a few bars of a hit before switching to another. That felt like a token gesture.

Head? I would like you to meet my friend, Desk… Repeatedly.

Look love, I will try to make this as quick and as painless as possible because your level of ignorance is outstanding. A total of 30 songs were played that night. Thirty. Yes, a portion were abbreviated and/or re-worked but nevertheless, of those 30 songs, a total of EIGHTEEN of them can be found on one solitary hits compilation. Namely, The Hits/B-Sides (released in 1993) which I purchased for the paltry sum of £4.99 several years ago. So, do you mean to tell me that you are such a “massive” fan that in the 14 years since the release of that particular Greatest Hits compilation, you couldn’t manage to fork out a fiver?

Wow. It must be fans like you that keep Prince in the lifestyle to which he’s become accustomed. Your contribution alone must be enough to maintain his shoe habit; keeping him in the scores of custom-designed boots that he has hand-made on the premises every month.

Already, you have pissed on your chips and the Prince community at large has lost interest. Why? Because if you were such a “massive fan” you would easily have known every word to every song he played that night. Like. I. Did. There were no obscure 45 minute jazz versions of NPGMC download-only tracks, no out-takes, barely even a popular B-Side. He played the hits.

It was a two hour set for Pity’s sake, what did you want him to do? Play the radio edits of Purple Rain and 1999 on a loop? If you can’t even recognise the hits when you hear them love, then I no longer feel sorry for you. I feel sorry for the heartbroken real fan that had to miss out because you took up what would have been their ticket.

Perhaps he was trying to please people by at least giving them a taste of more songs they knew, but it also seemed like a way for him not to have to play his back catalogue.

I agree, to a point. It did seem like he was trying to please everyone. From the anthemic renditions of Purple Rain and Kiss for the mainstream crowd and the beautifully emotive How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore on piano for the fans, to the outright jam that was Pass The Peas/Give It To Me Baby/Play That Funky Music/I Feel For U for those that just wanted to get their ‘Funky London’ on. There was something for everyone. Or, so I thought.

But not play his back catalogue? Have you taken leave of all your senses?

Given that the show was billed as part of ‘The Earth Tour’ in promotion of his latest studio creation Planet Earth, you could quite legitimately expect Prince to make no more that a cursory nod towards his past accomplishments and dominate the set with brand new tracks hot from the studio. This is the case for many other artists, after all. However, only two songs from Planet Earth were played during the whole show.

2 brand new songs out of a set of 30? And you are trying to suggest that he was dodging his back catalogue? Were you not feeling well that day, or do you always make such wildly ridiculous and totally unfounded claims?

As a performer, I think that having songs people love and know the words to and can sing along to is a gift, and I can’t relate to any performer who doesn’t appreciate that. Prince did play Purple Rain in its entirety, though, and halfway through he said, “I love this song”, so maybe he feels the same as me.

But he also kept doing these half-hour funk jams where he would get the crowd up on stage, which is not my bag.

As much as I could never speak on behalf of a man I have never met, it is my personal belief that Prince surely appreciates people’s deep affection for his past work. However, I have always gotten the impression (from statements he has made in interviews), that he places a higher value on the ability to grow freely as an artist. His personal journey through life and music has a much greater significance than any contrived Sing-A-Long. There are just some things that you don’t stand in the way of and one of them is giving an artist you love the room to express themselves freely.

He gave the mainstream what they asked for, he played the game and sang Little Red Corvette. To begrudge him the opportunity to improvise and/or play other material that he clearly enjoys would not only be out-rightly selfish, but detrimental to the show. The energy that night was electric purely and simply because the artists and musicians kept their enthusiasm fresh and the performance vibrant by adding some variety to the mix.

Expecting a gifted artist to perform in a puppet-like fashion, doing the same thing in the same order, 21 nights running, is diabolical. I would rather bear witness to a beautiful and truly inspired 25 minute extended version of Last December than sway cynically to a jaded and robotic Purple Rain any day.

He would sing things like “Say ‘Funky London!’ ” and try to get the crowd to call it back to him. But I’m a west London girl — I couldn’t bring myself to do that. It was too cheesy.

Stop swishing those cotton buds in your ears, it’s buggering up your hearing. It’s: HEY! Funk-ay Luuun-duun!

Funky London isn’t about where you’re from, I’m an Essex Girl and I still chanted with the best of them. To me, Funky London is like Uptown: a Prince-driven, funk-filled fantasy where we all go to party and have a good time. It’s not about your social standing and being too up your own arse to join in, it’s about the music. With Prince, it’s always all about the music, you should know that. Funky London is what happens when Prince comes to town. Maybe you should have taken that rod out of your arse and come down on the wheelchair ramp with me, then you’d have seen what Funky London was actually about.

Cheesy? Having spent the “dizzying heights” of your career lip-synching your way through all two of your mediocre pseudo-Disco Pop “hits”, whilst dressed in little more than your underwear down at G-A-Y, you’d know all about that, wouldn’t you?

On the plus side, he had two really sexy dancers — identical twins — who pulled off an amazing move where they played their legs like guitars. I’m going to try that down the disco. And he was very attractive, too. I just wished I’d heard more of the songs I love.

I think the fact that you can go and watch one of the World’s greatest living musical legends perform live and yet have more to say about the flaming backing dancers says more about you than it ever will about that night’s show.

You talk of parts of the show being cheesy and then go on to describe one of the most contrived and clichéd elements of the dance routines as a highlight. I don’t know what “disco” you go to, but oh, to be a fly on that wall…

I’m not disillusioned. I welcome and will readily listen to justified and constructive criticisms of Prince’s art and public image. To be honest, any Prince fan will tell you that enduring this sort of bollocks is part of the territory. What gets to me is the fact that every negative claim you have made is based on falsehoods and could deliberately mislead any concert-going public that hasn’t yet seen any shows for themselves.

I’m a firm believer in getting out of a live performance what you put in. I got a great show because I put in the time and the energy. I spent months saving to buy every CD I could get my hands on, I learnt the songs, I loved the songs. That man’s music fills my every waking day. I got a great show because I rocked my heart out in the audience. I got a great show because I respected every one of those musicians on that stage for the talented artists that they are. There wasn’t one mention of those other musicians in your review. Why? I bet you wouldn’t know who Maceo Parker was if you knocked him down in the street.

It was very well publicised from the offset that Prince’s band were reportedly rehearsing around 150 songs and that the setlist would vary every night. I didn’t have to worry about what songs they’d play on my night, because I already had a fairly decent working knowledge of his released material.

But, how did you expect to hear songs you knew when you clearly don’t know any of the songs to begin with? Exactly what songs of his do you love? You put nothing in, you get nothing out. I bet you couldn’t name his last 3 albums.

No, one of them wasn’t Diamonds & Pearls. Shall I help you? Musicology, 3121 and Planet Earth.

I know this is just your ‘review’, but it’s also a piece of journalistic reporting published in a national newspaper. Where’s your research? Where’s your evidence to back up your ropey claims of there being “no hits”?

Next time, do us all a favour and stick to what you know, eh love?

Thanking you from the very bottom of my arsehole,
Claire

The Bit With Funky London…

Claire — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 15:59:12 +0000

PRINCE — The Earth Tour — Tuesday 7th August 2007, The O2 Arena, London.

Heeeey Funk-ay Luuun-duuun, Heeeey Funk-ay Luuun-duuun!!! Repeat ad infinitum.

Where have I been? Funky London, that’s where! See? I even have souvenirs!

Click image to see larger version and notes over at Flickr

It’s not like normal London, it’s a Prince-ified London where Grupo Fantasma, a dapper and jauntily attired “Latin funk, salsa and cumbia band from Austin, Texas” kick off the night in style. I heart Gilbert the trumpet player, that big guy can dance!

I was never brought up with and have never really listened to Hispanic/Latin American-influenced music at all. It isn’t that I don’t like it or enjoy it, it’s just that exposure to it is somewhat limited when you’re English, with a very English heritage and you live in the Essex countryside. Despite my inherent disadvantage, I thought Grupo Fantasma (who opened for Prince on Tuesday night) were fantastic.

Most, if not all of it was in Spanish so I didn’t understand a single word, but I had such a great time listening that I bought some of their songs on iTunes the next morning. If you ever want great Summertime music that’s going to make you feel good, check out Grupo Fantasma.

Prince Set List

{Prince Solo on Guitar}

Little Red Corvette (Edit)
Raspberry Beret (Edit)
I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man (Edit)
Alphabet Street (Edit)
Sometimes It Snows In April (joined by Renato on keys)

{Band Join Prince on Stage}

Cream
U Got The Look
Musicology (inc. Freaks On This Side and Hey Funky London crowd chant)
Pass The Peas
Give It To Me Baby intro
Play That Funky Music (audience member on vox)
I Feel For U
Controversy
Housequake (Edit)

Wonderful World (sax solo)

{Prince Solo Piano/Keyboard Medley on the spiral of the symbol}

Somewhere Here On Earth (Edit)
Diamonds & Pearls (Edit)
Beautiful Ones
How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore
Condition Of The Heart (Edit)
Do Me Baby (Edit)
I Wanna Be Ur Lover (all at the piano but with band)

{Band Join Prince on Stage}

If I Was Ur Girlfriend
Black Sweat
Kiss
Purple Rain

Encore 1

Let’s Go Crazy
Take Me With You
Guitar

Encore 2

Get On The Boat (With Grupo Fantasma)

Kisses and kudos to HQ and The Org for help with the setlist

At around 9PM on Tuesday night, I was sat merely feet away from Prince. I mean it, literally a few feet. The seats directly in front of me were the VIP seats that cost several hundred pounds. My seat cost just £31.21.

Don’t you just love priority booking?

When Prince was crawling seductively and playfully along the floor, not only was I on the verge of collapse but I could look him in the eyes. That’s how close I was.

The show was performed “in the round” with the stage in the shape of the symbol. I think the drum kit and keys were inside the hollowed-out circular part, whilst Marva King (backing vocals) and the Hornz section lined the circle edge. The Twinz strutted and gyrated across the breath of the symbol (excuse all this ‘z’ business, flaming Princebonics!) and Prince was all over that stage like a rash so that everyone got a good taste.

Playing “in the round” meant that Prince had his work cut out making sure to face every different direction at some point during the show, often sprinting from one end of the stage to the other mid-song so that no-one was left staring at his back for too long. Not that I minded, I was treated to brilliant views of him shaking his bum on many a happy occasion! He regularly graced the section of the stage closest to me with some wicked dance moves and even interacted with the fans quite a bit with some high-fives, blown kisses, cheeky grins and knowing nods to those he recognised from previous nights. (Which, included a suited-and-booted guy in VIP that danced like a drunk Dad at a wedding all night until the back of his suit jacket was sodden).

I was sat to the side with the spiral “limb”. I know this only going by the seating plan as from where we were seated, we couldn’t get a sense on the stage size or the actual shape visually as we were too close to get an overall view. Not that I’m complaining, you understand, just explaining.

It was mesmerising, truly out of this world. I have never been to a show like it. It wasn’t so much a gig, but more like a huge party. It was So. Much. Fun. Prince was so into it, smiling, dancing and bouncing around the stage with so much energy, he put most performers half his age to shame. And can I just say: That Man Rocks On The Guitar, Amen.

Just seeing the band itself was amazing, to finally see all of these people that I’d heard so much about. And from what I could hear from where I was sitting, they were faultless all night. Cora on drums, Josh on bass (?) [I couldn’t see for sure as he was on the other side of the stage and so too was Hayes on keys?], Greg Boyer on trombone, a lovely gentleman on trumpet whose name escapes me and Renato Nato also on keys. Mr Mike Phillips was on sax and was looking so sharp in his white suit, he was in my eye line all night, playing up to the crowd. And, here’s where it gets really good: MACEO PARKER was there!

For those of you that don’t know who Maceo Parker is, shame on you. No, really I mean it. Shame. On. You.

The show began with Prince rising up through the middle of the stage surrounded by dry ice and then launching into a five-song solo segment with him stood on his own with nothing but his guitar. Fan-bloody-tastic. Prince was then joined by Renato for a beautifully haunting rendition of Sometimes It Snows in April.

In Alphabet Street, he gave us all a giggle and took us to Manchester instead of Tenesee. To be honest, he could have taken me to a grotty chalet in Bognor Regis and I’d have still been in my element!

The band then scaled the stairs from beneath the stage to take their positions and set the roof alight with the brightest and funkiest set ever. Prince and the band were On. Fire. People were dancing in the aisles, those in seating rushed to their feet for the nearest available floor space and no one sat down all night. Well, except maybe me. But if you think I was just sitting there politely doing the shoulder shuffle, you are very much mistaken!

A funk-drenched Musicology morphed into chants of Freaks On This Side and then ~~Hey Funky London~~ Heeeey Funk-ay Luuun-duuun!!!. At this point, things got just “too funky” as he segued into The J.B.‘s/James Brown cover Pass The Peas and toyed fleetingly with Rick James’ Give It To Me Baby.

During the party, the band pulled some audience members up on stage for a bit of a wiggle. Cynics speculate that a few may have been “planted” but to be honest, I don’t really care and it doesn’t really matter. A few of the ladies thought very highly of themselves, but served to do little more than make themselves look a bit daft. A blonde got the raw end of Prince’s cheeky sense of humour as she stood shaking her stuff to rapturous applause, not realising that the reason that everyone was cheering was because Prince was standing directly behind her imitating her and taking the piss. It was all in good humour though, more mischief than malice. There was a solitary white bloke (that couldn’t dance) that was pulled up from the audience, who then took to doing all the vocals on Play That Funky Music when Prince passed him the mic! The party was in full swing until the house was brought down with the aptly named Housequake. There are no words to describe it, you just had to be there. Jumping up and down. (If you know the song, you know what I mean.)

Prince spent the night with his head wrapped in a black Do-Rag — I think the heat and sweat must play havoc with his hair as it appeared to expand further and further out of the top of the rag as the night wore on. He began the night in an “Old Skool Prince” white ruffled shirt, black cropped jacket, tight bum-hugging trousers and heels. But, at this point in the show, Prince exited to change his clobber into a low-necked, sleeveless, black top and matching wristbands (the bum-huggers stayed throughout the night. Joy!).

The pace was taken down a few notches with a stunning — no, mind-blowing Sax solo of What a Wonderful World that earned Mike Philly (?) [it was very dark, but I think it was too tall to be Maceo] a standing ovation. He held that note for what seemed like an AGE. I don’t know where that bloke got his lungs, but they don’t half serve him well!

A keyboard was set up on the spiral “limb” for Prince as he returned for a solo medley on keys, he played some of my most beloved ballads, whilst bathed in a purple spotlight. The medley included: the achingly beautiful Somewhere Here on Earth from the new album, the delicious How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore and Do Me, Baby and a spine-tingling, full length, tear-your-heart-out rendition of The Beautiful Ones.

The band rejoined Prince for the full-out, elongated, horn-filled, funk-fest that was I Wanna Be Ur Lover. Classic! I then got my wish. I got to see Prince play my favourite song live, right in front of me. He played If I Was Ur Girlfriend, complete with “side-to-side” audience participation. It was the one song that I really, really wanted to experience and I got to hear/see it! I feel so incredible lucky.

Kiss name-checked Big Brother as opposed to Dynasty and Purple Rain was every bit like you imagine it to be live. Awe-inspiring. It also contained my favourite quote of the night when Prince interrupted mid-lyric to exclaim: “I love this song!”

Prince descended back through the centre of the stage to get changed into a fitted black, open-necked shirt for the encore(s) and brought back The Twinz to ramp-up the party spirit. Let’s Go Crazy included a stonking guitar solo similar to the one in his performance at The Brit Awards 2006 and the recent single Guitar worked phenomenally better in a live setting than on record.

The night ended on a high with the evening’s final encore: Get On The Boat. Grupo Fantasma returned to the stage, this time in crisp white suits to match Prince’s band, to add some killer horns and beef-up the percussion. It was great to see all of the artists and musicians of the night ending the show together, everyone gave such a fantastic and energetic performance.

There really is nothing else like this show, if you haven’t got your tickets yet, I suggest you start begging, borrowing and stealing. Seriously.

K has teased and mocked me for years about my love of Prince’s music and readily admitted that she dreaded this show during the months leading to it. In between screaming like a Fan Girl and drooling over Prince’s arse, I had sneaky-peeks over at K during the show and her little face was just awe-struck. Upon leaving, guess who’s idea it was to get more tickets for future dates? And, no. It wasn’t mine.

I think we have a little convert on our hands. Oh, and tickets on order for two more shows!

There are no more words. Only memories of the music and if there was a way I could bottle them and share them with you, it would blow your mind.

The Bit Where I Resurfaced… (Partially Private)

Claire — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 18:29:17 +0000

No, nothing drastic has happened. In fact, In the nicest sort of way, nothing has been happening much here at all. Collected here are the odds and ends of little titbits that have happened since I posted last (in no particular order):

Our lives have settled into a rather tranquil routine — I’ve even started doing my physio programme again for the first time in at least 18 months; a fact that I’m writing here in the hopes that by recording it for all to see, I may even stick to the programme this time.

A section of this post is “partially private”. Please log in or see this post in order to read the rest.

If you’re already logged in, just ignore this notice and carry on reading…

In other news, I am in the process of writing a piece for my A171 ECA. The weeks seem to be running away from me of late, I can’t believe that my fiction writing course ends this week, I am so nervous. My story is in its very early stages and although I’m confident I will be “finished” enough in order to submit, I really don’t know how good it will be. What if it’s crap? What if I’ve juggled this course for the last 12 weeks and yet I’m still not sufficiently prepared for when I begin my full-scale Creative Writing course [A215]?

To help me prepare, I’ve ordered this book to read in order to build on and reinforce what I’ve already learnt during A171, but I have no idea how I’m going to tackle the poetry aspect that will be coming up. The only time I’ve ever written poetry is during school for a compulsory piece of GCSE coursework and I can’t say that I thought much to it, and that’s putting it mildly!

A week ago today, Planet Earth was given away with The Mail on Sunday. I’ve still not listened to the album in its entirety yet (my usual practise with Prince albums). I like to listen to new music in chunks, pick out my instant favourites first then, once they’re familiar, progress onto the “growers”. Instant faves include “Guitar”, “Future Baby Mama”, “Mr Goodnight” and “Chelsea Rodgers”: a track that I just cannot wait to hear live. I intend to try out the other 6 tracks in an order dictated by recommendations from The Org.

I owe a lot to The Org in terms of my collection and the order in which it has evolved, earmarking recommended or deeply discussed songs for future reference. I don’t tend to let opinions regarding taste sway me (for example, there are many songs that I covertly adore whilst the general consensus is one of strong distaste). However, lengthy discussions (good or bad), or the description of a particular guitar or drum solo is often enough to intrigue me into going out and buying based on curiosity alone, without even having heard 5 seconds of the track.

Do any of you have any “rituals” when listening to new music?
How are you all, have I missed much in my absence?

The Bit Where I Did Prince Links…

Claire — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 19:04:08 +0000

I don’t normally “do links” because for the most part I think they are boring, but I’m working on my photography exam at the moment. This means I can’t write. Not a sausage. And they say women can multi-task. I say bollocks.

Aside from photography, this is what’s keeping me busy this week:

Prince’s new single Guitar is available from iTunes and O2. The iTunes track costs the usual 79p, but in an offer in association with O2, you can get it for FREE over in the Blueroom for this week only, if you are an O2 customer!

Another track from Prince’s up and coming Planet Earth album, entitled Future Baby Mama, is being plugged to death on various US radio stations.

Prince’s camp have turned this to their advantage and have put a “bootleg” version of the song, ripped directly from Atlanta’s Grown Folks radio station, up on Prince’s Official site.

~~Listen to it over here~~. Future Baby Mama is utterly gorgeous and velvety smooth, Princely seduction at its best. I’ve had it on a loop. ALL. DAY. [EDIT 03/07/07: link removed by 3121.com]

It is also worth noting that Planet Earth (the afore-mentioned new Prince album) has been pulled from UK vendors as of today and is no longer available for pre-order. Current speculation is that in addition to it being given away free during the 21 Nights tour, it will also be given away FREE with the Mail On Sunday

The Bit Where I Returned…

Claire — Sat, 19 May 2007 17:16:18 +0000

Remember me?

No, I’ve not succumbed to the Bubonic Plague, passed on from the pigmy goats via K’s gammy hand, I’ve simply fallen victim to a rather punishing academic schedule of my own making. May I never attempt to juggle 3 courses concurrently ever again. I am stupid, stupid, stupid.

Therefore, as the last shreds of energy ebb from my exhausted body, I give you this last week in bits:

K and I celebrated our 6th year anniversary with a trip to our suitably dire and piss-ridden local cinema in order to see a gory sequel of a film about a zombie-like virus, which was then followed by a visit to the local Harvester where we ate from the “Early Bird” menu because I am hideously ~~cheap~~ overdrawn. Who said romance was dead, eh?
I came this close to being buried alive under my workload as I slaved away at the ECA for the horrendously elongated tedium that was T175. I hope this explains my Net-wide absence. Thank goodness that mess is now over.
K got a starting date for her job!
I have become totally, completely addicted to the US animated comedy series American Dad. So. Bloody. Funny. It. Hurts. Roger the effeminate alien rocks my world. I can’t wait for the second series to come out on DVD later this month!
To ease the pain of afore-mentioned ECA, I now have some fabulous, new Prince-related reading material (in the form of 2 Little Green Parcels of Joy) courtesy of the lovely Vixx of Furious Angel fame!

My apologies to Vixx for not acknowledging her tokens of generosity sooner, but as I said, the ECA was a total pig. Thank you Vixx for making me feel better — I love my books and have started reading them already!