ontheone

Photo by Sara Savoy So - a bit like Inception or Pulp Fiction or one of those films that goes out of sequence - I'm going to have to skip ahead a little bit in the story of my visit to Minneapolis, because something amazing just happened.... I just had the most incredible afternoon and evening for lots of reasons..  I was planning an easy day of relaxing and writing when I got an invite from Sara to join her on a trip to her sister's place and we would take in the spot where Take Me With You was filmed and try and find "the lake" where Prince convinced Apollonia to purify herself in the waters of Lake Minnetonka. I drove up to Sara's place about midday where I was greeted by her enthusiastic dogs and I had a good old look through Sara's amazing vinyl collection while she got ready.  We were a little on edge that something might happen that night but nothing had been announced so it was seeming less and less likely. Photo by Sara Savoy Photo

Minneapolis from the sky  On my 9 hour flight to Minneapolis from London, I sat next to a lady who was born and raised in Minnesota.  We got chatting about why we were travelling, she told me she had just been over to Ireland to visit family and it was a bitter sweet experience as her grandmother was quite old now.  When I told her that I was making my journey in the hope of seeing Prince she laughed. Lake Calhoun from the sky A peer of Prince (she was around the same age) and a teacher in North Minneapolis most of her life, she had the view that Prince thought a lot of himself and mentioned the whole name changing thing and that he should do more for charity, especially to help the schools of North Minneapolis, which she was very passionate about and said need a lot of help.  Her school had been doing really well in a deprived area and the school had been shutdown because the local council wanted the land to build new offices.  We talked a lot about these issues and it was

I'm setting out on what a lot of Prince fans might consider the journey of a lifetime.  Certainly for me it's been a dream for a very long time.  I remember hearing about the celebrations at Paisley Park many years ago, when Prince through the gates of The Park open to fans for days on end with a festival of gigs by Prince and artists that he'd worked with or admired.  I wished I could've been there and looked back thinking - how did I miss that?? This year has been a great year to be a Prince fan in London.  We've been treated to two tours - one in small venues with all of the excitement of last minute announcements and then a stadium tour.  Two new albums and a glimpse of even more exciting music yet to come from NPG Quartet and other Prince and 3rd Eye Girl projects. Its easy to let the idea of a trip like this stay a dream.  I'm writing this as a kind of diary but also to share my experiences and maybe as you read this you might be moved to make your dre