As much as the black paint and the giant video screen, Prince rumors are a permanent part of the facade at First Avenue. So even the club's staff was skeptical when it first heard that our town's Biggest Bad Ass planned to attend the Current's fifth anniversary party last night.
Lo and behold, a week after he gave the Vikings a push with his hastily recorded "Purple and Gold" fight anthem (now as hastily a thing of the past), Prince cheered on another hard-charging home team. He didn't perform or anything. But just by showing up at the Current party for about a half-hour, he gave the hip public radio station the Twin Cities version of a papal blessing. It was believed to be his first time in the club since his late-night jam on 7/7/07. Local Prince sightings have been numerous this fall and winter, as he's reportedly been recording out at Paisley Park a lot.
His visit last night was curiously timed to Mason Jennings' solo acoustic set (and not to the Revolution-copping synth-pop duo Lookbook or the night's lone African American act, P.O.S., who came before and after Jennings, respectively). He watched from the DJ booth/owners box on the second floor, and people who saw him there said he indeed appeared to be digging Mason's act. The Current's program director Jim McGuinn was ushered into the box and got to chat with him. A Twin Cities newcomer from Philadelphia, McGuinn admitted afterward he was nervous and greatly honored, but he didn't fully understand how rare Prince's apperances at First Ave actually are these days.
Word is one of Prince's personal reps had made contact with the Current about a month earlier and passed along the singer's thumbs up, and that led to talk of last night's party. This all makes pretty good sense when you consider the station (89.3 FM) has given his music more airplay than any other hometown station has in probably about two decades, except for maybe small community station KMOJ.
So mark your calendar: January 2015, Prince headlines the Current's 10th anniversary party. Or maybe he'll at least hang out for a full hour that night.
(Look for a wrapup of the local acts who did perform at last night's party later today, when I wake up.)
