
A few more thoughts about Around the Purple World in a Few Days, aka unofficial Prince Week, as fans came to Minneapolis and Chanhassen to commemorate the second anniversary of his passing:
Live wire Liv: Liv Warfield was on fire for two nights at the Dakota Jazz Club. Her fabulously funky 2½-hour performance late Saturday was the closest we’ve come to replicating a late-night Prince jam as she and a parade of guests (NPG Horns, Donna Grantis, Shelby J, Xavier Taplin, Cora Dunham) rocked the house until closing.
Two of the many highlights were long medleys, one of which included Prince tunes, Sly Stone signatures and even “When the Saints Go Marching In” with some Fats Domino-inspired piano from Taplin. Leave it to playful saxophonist Adrian Crutchfield to improvise by banging a drum stick on a small metal pail in which French fries are served at the Dakota.
Funk masters: Big props to the Funk Soldiers, the new moniker for the group that backed “Prince: Live on the Big Screen” on Friday at Target Center. On Saturday, the Funk Soldiers settled into more familiar territory at Paisley Park as part of Celebration 2018. The difference is there was no Prince on video and Shelby J and Kip Blackshire handled lead vocals. Also, the funky group, led by drummer Kirk Johnson, did not repeat one song from the hits-heavy Target Center show.
There were enough familiar pieces (“Girls & Boys,” “Paisley Park,” “Black Sweat,” “Alphabet Street”) to please casual fans but the lesser known nuggets (“Big City,” “Chelsea Rodgers,” “All the Critics Love U in New York”) thrilled the hard-core Purple people. The Funk Soldiers are seriously good; they should become a touring endeavor. Real music by real musicians.
Guitar star: I’ve already raved about ex-3rdEyeGirl guitarist Donna Grantis and her jazz-rock fusion group at the Dakota on Wednesday. If you missed it, here’s the link to the full review.
The beat: At the four-day Celebration 2018, there were panel discussions focusing on various aspects of Prince’s career. At a panel on dance, fans got to ask questions instead of a moderator doing all the interrogating. Dancer Maya McClean explained Prince’s analysis of dance as “black people are behind the beat, white people are on the beat and you’re ahead of the beat.” She attributed it to having extensive training in salsa dancing.
Follow in mom’s dance steps? Someone asked dancer Mayte Garcia if her daughter, Gia, 5, who was sitting next to Mom with her face in a book, liked dancing. Gia piped up: “No.”