Day 1: Prince Celebration 2025 Kickoff: Live Correspondence From First Avenue Minneapolis!

Streamed live on Jun 5, 2025  Freakapotamus Podcast

Join us TONIGHT as we report live from the 2025 annual Prince Celebration Kickoff Events from First Avenue!

Also: Call in to share your Celebration stories! It’s gonna be a purple party yall!

#princerogersnelson #princeandtherevolution #prince #purplerain #firstavenue #minneapolis #princecelebration #1999 #randb #randbmusic #soulmusic #funkmusic #purplearmy #purpleyoda #morrisday #morrisdayandthetime #vanity6 #denisematthews #jeromebenton #paisleypark  #youtuber #contentcreator #podcaster #podcast
#influencer

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:09

Welcome to the free compartments podcast. You ready for someone to be funk? Solomon Prince? Let's go. Now, your host, the real Russell.

SPEAKER_08 0:43

Check, check. There we go. All right. Welcome back, everybody, once again, to the Freak Epotamus Podcast. How's everybody tonight? On this Thursday, Friday Eve, first day of Prince Celebration 2025. Hope you are well. Hope you are in a purple mood tonight. Tonight kicks off. Or actually, today kicks off the first day of Prince Celebration 2025. Thanks, guys. Those of you who are joining in tonight. Got uh a bit of bad news. It's not extremely bad news, but uh I was gonna have several correspondents uh chiming in tonight to give us a live feed of what's happening at uh First Avenue tonight as they uh do the kickoff there. Uh event starts at 8 o'clock, but most of my correspondents uh have informed me that they are uh laid birds and they're probably not gonna get to the uh the venue until later on in the show around 9 or 10 Minneapolis time. Now I am on the East Coast, the Minneapolis is an hour behind me, and so I will try to hang out as long as I can. Um we shall see. I may have some stragglers uh that will chime in late. I may have some people that will jump in early. It's just uh one of those things when you go live, you don't know what's gonna happen. So I'm hoping for the best. I'm hoping folks that uh will show up, and I will actually have uh some correspondence join us tonight to show us uh what's going on there at First Avenue for those of us who can't be there like myself, but I promised you a podcast tonight, and I I'm here delivering and I think uh in lieu of uh the news that my correspondents may be late tonight and I may miss them, may not, uh I wanted to put together something special. So until my correspondence get here, if they make it, I will give you guys some unreleased prints material tonight. That should be a lot of fun um to make up for what I promised, but I I'm hoping they'll come through for me and I can uh fulfill that promise still. We shall see. But anyway, uh those of you who could not join us here last night, last night was a lot of fun. We had uh, as far as my correspondence from last night, we had Tanya, Tanya D. Harris. She reported live from the uh Purple Genealogy event that uh took place in Minneapolis last night around 8. Uh Martin Kimber was there and performed. Uh Minneapolis Mateo was there. Um let's see, she introduced us to the mayor of Minneapolis. Uh she put uh Damon Damon Dixon Damon Dickerson on. We saw we talked to Martin Kimber for a bit. We uh saw uh Mr. Christopher from uh the Funkatopia and Lots of Purple Family uh that were there having a good time last night. So if you weren't here, make sure you go over to YouTube or uh check out Facebook because uh it's up and you can see it for yourself. Those of you who were there and got interviewed by telling you you can see yourself uh by checking out YouTube. The stream that happened last night is on YouTube as well as Facebook right now. So tonight uh for those of you who um missed the show last night, I did a little dedication uh to Pepe Willie who passed away this week. Um I talked a little bit about Pepe again, uh rest in peace, Pepe, and condolences to Pepe's family, friends. Um I also talked about the events that are happening uh this weekend at uh 2025 Prince Celebration. I'll go over those again real quick for you. Uh today they're doing the kickoff at uh at First Avenue, and I think that event starts at 8 p.m. uh Minneapolis time. Uh maybe some of you guys are going early. Uh we got uh tomorrow night, which is Friday, we got the um we got the the concert, Paisley Park Soundstage, Morris Day in the Time, Mr. Jesse Johnson, and happy late birthday to Jesse Johnson. I think his birthday was on June 1st, so happy birthday to Mr. Jesse Johnson, one of the baddest in the game to ever do it, greatest guitar that ever lived, greatest guitarist that ever lived in my book, and of course the original family slated to perform tomorrow night at Paisley Park uh 7 p.m. And we've got um we've got a couple of uh unknown artists you may want to check out Jada Nicole, Johnny Venus, and all those acts on one stage. And I think I was told that the ticket prices were around a hundred bucks or so, not bad for all those acts on one bill. Um so if you are able to attend an event, it's gonna be a blast. I I hate that I can't be there, like I said last night. The family is one of my favorite uh French Protege bands, protege van bands, can't talk tonight. So, yeah, I'm definitely missing out, but I know you guys will enjoy it, and I can't wait to see any of the footage that leaks out. Uh let's see what else is happening. And we've got uh Saturday, we've got the block party happening down at the new mural across from First Avenue. Uh let's see. Starts at 5 p.m., lasts until 1 a.m. Hopefully uh that day I will jump back on. Definitely because it's Prince's birthday. How can you not do something special? So I'm gonna jump back on that day, uh somewhere between maybe five and seven, something like that, maybe eight. Um, I'll make an announcement later as far as the time goes, but hopefully I'll have some correspondence for that as well. And maybe this time I can get them there early enough uh so that some of you guys that uh turn in early will be able to check out what's going on in real time down at the mural uh by first avenue for the block party. Uh let's see what else we got going on. Thanks to DJ Link of Paris who stopped by last night and joined in on the on the live stream. She is actually DJing tonight at First Avenue, and I think she uh starts DJing around eleven o'clock. Minneapolis time. Which will be 12 midnight my time, so I probably will not be on. Um some of my correspondents are trying to report back and give us a live feed of Link of Paris. But just so you know, this is what she put out on her social media as far as where she's gonna be uh over the weekend. So last night, let's see, well no, tonight actually, she's teaming up with uh the amazing Jake Jake Rudd for a celebration opening party uh transmission collab at First Avenue that's gonna be uh 11 o'clock p.m. I was told. On Sunday, June 8th, she'll be DJing at G DJing at Paisley Park. And uh she says tickets to First Avenue are available to buy separately, and the link is in her bio on her social media platforms, most likely Instagram, I think. Um celebration pass is needed for Sunday at Paisley Park. Umkatopia made an announcement a couple days ago about parking uh for the concert that's gonna be at Paisley Park uh tomorrow night with the time and the family and Jesse Johnson says that there's gonna be no parking there actually. And if you uh need need are are going to the concert, you're probably gonna need to take a lift or an Uber because uh parking is gonna be scarce there. Alright. I think I've covered all the announcements. Oh man. So anyway, I'm just gonna kick it off here as we wait for correspondents to show up, whether they're gonna show or not. And we're just gonna vibe out. I'm gonna give you some some unreleased music. Which I think you'll love. Some of you may have heard some of these tracks before, some not. We're gonna kick it off here, and I'll come back, talk to you in a few probably talk throughout. I'm always commentating on everything, but that's just what I do. Alright, let's kick it off with some prints tonight. Celebration has begun, y'all.

SPEAKER_00 11:02

Welcome to the new power generation. The reason why my voice is so clear is because there's no smack in my brain.

SPEAKER_08 11:20

I've thrown up the call-in number. Phone lines are open. Anybody wants to call in, talk about their celebration experiences. Gonna try this again tonight. We just want to talk about some prints, any concerts that you've attended, any memories you have of prints. That's fine too. Call in, share your stories, I'm all ears. This is another version.

SPEAKER_04 12:56

All right, Joe!

SPEAKER_08 14:06

Jam out. That's what we're gonna do. We're gonna jam out. As I was explaining earlier, I was expecting some correspondence to chime in with us tonight. But um, I think they're gonna show up too late for us. We shall see. So to make up for that, I promised the podcast gotta deliver. So, in lieu of that, I'm gonna give you guys some unreleased music tonight. Alright. Pause it right there for a second. But anyway, I just want to uh I was in Minneapolis a few years ago and I went down to uh First Avenue. It was closed that day. Downtown was empty that day, and uh I uh prior to I saw a picture of Morris Day uh standing in the middle of the crosswalk at uh in front of First Avenue, and I said to myself, I gotta take a picture in the same spot. So that's why I did. And this is what we got. Where is it? My bad. There we go. It's yours truly. In front of St. uh First Avenue, same spot as Morris Day. I thought I thought that was pretty cool. I don't know why I showed that, but I just thought I would. Just for kicks. And um this is what I did as well that day. I was like, you you gotta you gotta capture this.

SPEAKER_01 16:34

What she told me then got me so hot, I too that we could slide. Get off.

SPEAKER_08 16:41

I'm so stupid. Anyway, I had to do it, y'all. I had to do it. I was in uh I was in Purple Heaven that day. Can't wait to get back to Minneapolis and be a part of the whole celebration thing, man. Anyway, let's get back to some music real quick as I continue to wait it out and see if my correspondence will show up tonight. I've actually reached out uh on social media to see if I could uh in incorporate more uh people that are willing to be correspondence tonight at the last minute, but I haven't heard back, so we shall see what happens. If you know anybody that's going to uh First Avenue for the kickoff tonight, chime in. I can get them the link if they're willing to you know give us some live uh feedback, live reports and live video of what's going on. I will be more than happy to send them a link to join in. So we shall play it by air tonight, see what happens. Let's keep it moving. Throw back up the call-in number, those guys who want to call in tonight. Uh perfectly fine. You want to share your print stories, your celebration stories.

unknown 18:09

It's playtime.

SPEAKER_08 18:10

Let's do it.

unknown 18:14

It's playtime.

SPEAKER_08 18:15

This is called playtime on release.

unknown 18:19

It's playtime, baby.

SPEAKER_08 18:29

What's up, lady cab driver? Welcome, thanks for joining tonight. Missed you last night. It was a blast. Everything was perfect last night, I think. We had uh Tanya D. Harris reporting live from uh Purple Genealogy event.

SPEAKER_06 18:52

C O O L.

SPEAKER_08 18:59

C O O L. It's the word of the night, apparently. Bad circumstances tonight. I wish things would have been uh on the up and up as far as my correspondence coming in early enough to give us something, show us something for those folks that can't be there this year, like like you and I. Would have been awesome, but as Ray Charles says, we gonna make it do what it do, baby.

SPEAKER_05 19:55

You don't have to delay the way it should be mommy to be party has begun, y'all.

SPEAKER_08 20:24

Day one, celebration twenty twenty-five. Kicked off today. Little sad I can't be there. If it weren't for the fact I'm gonna have to be in Fort Lauderdale next week, I probably would have been there this this year, but definitely next year. Marking the 10th anniversary of our brother's passing. Gotta be there. So if you're asking, am I going next year? That's a definite yes. Let's keep it moving. This is called the good now.

SPEAKER_07 22:46

Good evening, Russell. I'm hoping to get to go next year, not feeling this year, but I'm glad you're sharing this live stream with us in the comfort of our homes.

SPEAKER_08 22:56

Absolutely, that's what I'm here for. That's what I do, that's what I will continue to do tonight. I tried to promise uh some live footage of the events in real time happening down at First Avenue tonight. I'm hoping that my correspondence will show up. As I mentioned earlier, all of them said that they uh are not gonna be there early. And uh we're on two different two different time zones, so it makes a difference. And if they get here too late, I probably uh will not be on, but hopefully they will show up while I am still here and we can see some live action as it's happening right now down at first avenue. If you know of anybody that's going to first avenue that'd be willing to show us some live stuff, I will certainly be glad to send them a link. I did some last minute begging on social media to see if anybody would come through, but I don't know. You would think with the amount of people that attend these events someone would be willing or someone would uh respond, but it's you know, it is what it is. That's the joys of doing live live streams. You don't know what's gonna happen from minute to minute. So we're just gonna make it work. I promise I would come through anyway. And now we've got dead dead air. Here we go. This makes me think about all the stuff that's in that vault. Some acoustic stuff. Sounds like a young prince doing acoustic stuff. Those of you who are musicians will understand this, but this sounds like this is what we used to do back in the day. Because I'm a musician as well, and so when back in the back in the day, we couldn't afford to go into a studio, so to layer vocals and layer tracks, we would bounce between two uh tape recorders, and we would record our first track, and then we would play it on this tape player and record the second track on the next tape player, and keep doing that back and forth, and we would have like a full what eight-track song at the end of the night, low budget style. That's what this sounds like. So this has gotta be some early prints, like out of the stupid. Maybe he was at home on his couch, and he was like, I gotta record this. So he used like some low budget stuff for the time. Harmony sees Don't You Wanna Ride, I think it's the name of this one. Where my correspondence is I want for my two people, and I'm running on the home. How could one person be so funky on acoustic guitar? We aren't at uh we aren't at First Avenue right now, but we we're definitely celebrating. Gotta do what you gotta do. But we get it done. Outside of purple family road. We're gonna have a purple party wherever we are. That's all him. There's one dude doing the harmonies and the guitar. Perfectly.

SPEAKER_07 30:00

Thanks for joining, Cheryl. Appreciate you.

SPEAKER_08 30:07

Right. Alright, I think most of us might know this one. This is Wouldn't You Love to Love Me? Ended up on the Tatra Seville album. This is Princess Version. Got my own fault happening over here.

unknown 30:46

I don't really like me.

SPEAKER_08 31:07

Thanks everybody for joining today. I'm hoping to have some live correspondence for you guys at some point before this is all said and done tonight. But if not, we're gonna make it work now. Again, the phone lines are open. Share any print stories you have, any celebration stories you have. I know some of you guys have been to celebration multiple times. I would love to hear about it. I have not been once. I've been to Minneapolis once, Daisy once, but not the celebration. I would love to hear other stories. Especially stories from the time period that Prince was there hosting the celebrations back in the uh early two thousands. I'm wondering what Taja Seville is up to these days. Whatever became of Taja. Just handpicked by Prince means out of nowhere. Like I was saying last night, Prince handpicked everybody. He had a vision for everybody. He chose who he chose for these protege groups for a reason. He could have picked anybody, but he chose who he chose for a reason. Had a vision, and it all worked out. All right. This one was re-released. Later in Princess Career, this is the first the first version. That was done back in the uh early eighties. This is Mr. Lovable. Early version. Had a little negative news in the beginning of the show that my correspondence uh informed me that they wouldn't be at any of the live events until later on tonight. I'm hoping I will still be on when they show up. If not, I uh had to deliver a podcast. And uh to make up for that, I'm just playing some unreleased music for you guys tonight. My personal vault. What's up, most strength? People coming in, appreciate you stopping by. Hi, I have someone. She is on her way. What's up, Tanya? Oh, Tanya always comes through, man. Tanya always comes through. Tanya, did you give me a correspondent tonight? I don't want anyone to see what we're gonna do.

SPEAKER_01 38:46

And you better shut the door.

unknown 38:57

I can't hear you saying.

SPEAKER_08 38:59

I will send you the link, uh Tanya, to give to your person and give me 10 seconds. Dan Daly, this song is called Extra Lovable. There are two versions. This is the early version. French later released uh a newer version. Hang tight, folks, while I take care of some business. Thanks so much, Tonya, for doing the footwork for me while I'm doing this live. Tomorrow, June 7th, Prince Day, tell everyone to send their local radio stations to play some jams. Uh jams. Play some jams, not just the old stuff and not just the purple rain stuff, right? Exactly.

SPEAKER_07 41:47

Exactly, not just the purple rain era stuff.

SPEAKER_05 42:22

So are you guys feeling the unreleased stuff tonight?

SPEAKER_08 42:26

I had to I had to make it right. I had to come through in a big way. I didn't think I was gonna have any correspondence tonight. They backed out. They didn't back out, they they uh they're gonna be a little late. Are you asking for the YouTube link to this show right now? If you go to my post on uh on Facebook, the the the the direct YouTube link is there.

SPEAKER_07 44:04

Let's see if I can get that to you real quick.

SPEAKER_08 44:16

Oh, I'm not gonna. Let me see.

SPEAKER_05 44:41

Just to go once you have to get a water understood.

SPEAKER_08 44:54

Alright, uh, Miss Cherry Moon, I just tagged you over on FB. And uh you'll see the link there. Anyway, this unreleased family track is called Misunderstood. Yes, Minneapolis is definitely awesome. Raspberry Beret, please. Are you looking to hear some Raspberry Beret tonight? Send some text for some check in around 10 every 15 minutes. Yeah, most people that I've talked to uh said they won't be able to check in until around 10 Minneapolis time, which would be 11 my time. And it's only 9.19 right now my time, so that's two hours from now. Thank you so much, Mr. Mo. Vlad wants to hear some Raspberry Beret. I don't have that on my playlist, but I can probably get it on for you. See, I gotta be careful though. I can't play the original Raspberry Beret, it has to be like a live version or some other version because YouTube will block everything. If I play something that's not a live version, if it's like the original version, they will mute everything and this will be a whole waste of time. So we're gonna keep it moving with some unreleased stuff. Until our correspondents join in. Somebody's gotta be up in there. Yeah, I know, I know they don't start until late. It's the time zone difference that's kind of messing things up, but it is what it is. Uh-uh, I'm you're on the line of podcast, but let's talk about some prints. You you you give you give me some print stories. You're on the live right now, brother.

SPEAKER_03 50:56

I remember claiming my son prints.

SPEAKER_08 51:02

Okay, when was that, bro?

SPEAKER_03 51:04

That was nineteen ninety six.

SPEAKER_08 51:10

Yeah. You know, nineteen ninety-six was uh the jam of the year concert uh tour was going on, emancipation album was happening.

SPEAKER_03 51:20

Yeah, man. I'm a true Chris fan of his music, his life. He's going too soon. But guess what? They don't make music like they used to.

SPEAKER_08 51:33

You're right. And the reason I'm doing this podcast, brother, is because uh Saturday is his birthday, and every year this time, uh they have an annual celebration where nothing but Prince fans show up, and it's nothing but Prince fans under one bubble, man, at Paisley Park, and they're having parties, block parties, and concerts all over Minneapolis, man. That's why I'm doing this right now. Just want to let you know you all you call at the right time, bro. I gotta introduce the people to you. This is my boy George. Go way back, he's like a brother to me. So, everybody, this is George.

SPEAKER_03 52:10

Look, man, must love to you and your podcast. All the British friends out there. We just gotta keep using our spirit alive, keep on pushing.

SPEAKER_08 52:20

Exactly, man. Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 52:30

Must love to the British friends and supporters. Keep on pushing, out of the five thousand.

SPEAKER_08 52:35

Alright, I'll holler at you later, bro. Thanks for calling, man. Later, later. Later. Alright, that was perfect timing. Unexpected, but perfect timing. Yeah, that's my boy George. He knows what I do. Knows what I do. Just caught him off guard. He wasn't expecting that.

SPEAKER_07 53:07

Oh man. Yeah, that dude's like a brother to me.

SPEAKER_08 53:15

Would do anything for me, so how about I call him back and tell him tell him to get me some correspondence right now. That I know he can't do. And I think he was kind of put on the spot. Yeah, I saw Prince on TV in 96. You know how many times Prince has been on TV before and since 96? But you know, he tried. Yeah. He's still in 96. That's what I'm saying. You know how many times Prince has been on TV before then and since then? But he had something. He had something to share. He was put on the spot. I give him credit for trying. If I were to say, name some tracks off of uh emancipation, he'd be silent. Emancipation? What's that? I know Purple Rain. I don't know any emancipation. Yes, sir. Absolutely. You are welcome, sir. I had to come through whether or not I had correspondence or not. I promised to show. Here I am. Had to deliver. Same goes for people that don't associate Prince of Purple Brain. I'm like, okay, I'll talk to you later. Yeah. Joint to joint. Joint to joint. Style. Style is like hailing the cat. Style is like Mite in the shout. Style is like Ollie's Jack. Speaking of the Emancipation album, I mentioned last night that that whole Jam of the Year tour, I must have seen Prince live on that tour about six or seven times, different states, different parts of the country. And every show was different. Remember towards the end of the tour, you started talking about Star O'S. Remember that? He got with Larry Graham, and Larry Graham schooled him on some stuff. And then we started learning about Star O'Shutter. Savion Glover Chap Dancing, I'm Jimmy Johnson. Yeah. He revealed that on Oprah that time. I was like, wow. That Oprah interview was amazing, man. I still go back and watch that one. Lots of footage of Paisley in that one. He had the baby room and everything ready to go, man. Oh, I hate things turned out the way they turned out. If things would have turned out differently, we would have Prince Amate's son still with us. Who knows what he would have done? He would have been in his twenties by now. Who knows? Amir was his name. Was it Gregory? That passed and he did that interview they did. It was it Gregory or Amir. Yes, we would have an ear, sure. I kind of remember reading in my taste book that his name was Amir. Was his name Gregory as well? Amir, that's what I was thinking, uh, Tanya. I mean I I I heard Gregory at some point, and then in the book it stated Amir. Gregory on the breath certificate? Okay. Gregory on the breath certificate and minimal book. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 59:30

Is that your phone?

SPEAKER_08 59:33

Maybe that's something that they decided later. Yeah, perhaps they were trying to keep everything in private. They didn't want to reveal his actual name, so they used Boy Gregory, my guess. This is called Rebirth of the Flesh. From the new the unreleased Camille albums. So apparently the correspondent, the backup correspondent that's supposed to be joining just on her way to First Avenue. Great show. See, I hang out here for about 30 more minutes if I can. Hopefully I don't run out of music. Good night, Mr. Dan. I appreciate you joining, sir. Have a great night. Peace. Much love to you, buddy. Okay, I got pretty good bit left on my playlist for tonight. I think I'm good for another 30 minutes or so.

unknown 1:01:36

Come on.

SPEAKER_08 1:01:38

Thanks, everybody, who decided to join tonight. And I put it out there like I was gonna have something special. But it still is something special. We're celebrating our boys. It is the first day of celebration. Let's kick it off. It has begun. The Exodus has begun. I hope to come through full circle for you. Prince celebration is always special. Like I said earlier, no matter where you're at, you can celebrate some prints. Whether you're in your car, you're in the bathroom, brushing your cheek, whether you're at home on your sofa, whether you're in your backyard garden, put on some prince music, it's a celebration. As long as we continue to play Prince music, we keep his legacy alive. This one's called Boyfriend. I assume that he uh wrote this from some for someone else.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:58

I will not take responsibility for the way you see that tonight. Don't ask a lie. You won't be having fun. When I just see a queen just to do perfection, cause I just don't know the fight.

SPEAKER_08 1:04:59

My boy George calling in. First thing I say, you're on a live podcast, don't cuss. He's a cusser. I gotta I gotta fix him first. I know it's gonna come out of his mouth.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:18

Man, what your motherfucking ass doing?

unknown 1:05:21

Wow.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:23

The deepest mark of magic. My name upon your wall. Oh human must be tragic. But the bestest of the mark, I am so easy to wait and fight responsible.

SPEAKER_08 1:06:02

Yeah, George is hilarious, man. We've told him for years he should be a stand-up comedian, man, because he's just that dude. Just it just comes out. I mean, no script, no nothing. It's just off the top of his head. He's just naturally funny. I mean, you need to be on stage somewhere doing stand-up. I gotta get him on a show one night, just non-prince related, just just to talk to him live, and you guys will get a kick out of him. And the three of us, him, my brother-in-law, and myself. We uh we get stupid sometimes.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:44

Where are you?

SPEAKER_05 1:06:45

Ladies and gentlemen.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:01

Okay, cool. Yeah, do that.

SPEAKER_08 1:07:04

I always welcome call-ins, man. I love to hear people's stories.

SPEAKER_07 1:07:09

Give people the opportunity to share their stories.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:12

Next game, something that was a taste for singing.

SPEAKER_08 1:07:21

Speaking of which, the phone lines are open for anybody who wants to call in before I end this thing later on and uh share your friend's storage or celebration stories. Experiences. I can't stand it, it'll do you no harm. Hey, hey, hey, wonder what's going on in First Avenue right now.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:54

Some five woman sticking round. Hopefully we shall see.

SPEAKER_08 1:08:10

I feel like Ryan Seapress, big heart.

unknown 1:08:15

No other man.

SPEAKER_08 1:08:16

841 Minneapolis time. Gotta be something going on. It's not quiet in there, I can guarantee you am. People aren't just sitting around, standing around. Not at First Avenue. For people that don't know, First Avenue is a legendary venue. Uh a lot of Purple Rain was filmed there. Prince has played there multiple times before and after Purple Rain. Many, many, many other artists have played there. Well-known artists have come through Minneapolis and played there. If you've never been there, there are stars, stars on the outer walls that uh tell you all the artists that have played there over the years. Get a chance to go to Minneapolis, make sure you go to First Avenue and check that out. Legendary was originally a bus station way back in the day. Then it was something else. I think it was a place called Sands. Then it became First Avenue. And right now, I know there's something going on inside of that building right now. We wanna know. We wanna see for ourselves.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:18

If not, we're still vibing.

SPEAKER_08 1:11:38

All right, y'all. Here we go. Emotional bump. It's open. Trying to stay under the YouTube radar tonight. Giving you something special. Waiting and anticipating some live footage from First Avenue tonight. If you say it enough, words are powerful, man. Speak it into existence. It's gonna happen. I got about 15, maybe 20, 30 minutes. Make it happen.

unknown 1:12:44

I counted 2002.

SPEAKER_08 1:12:51

I'm not advising my correspondent that's on the way to Paisley Park. Warning in red lights, but give it some gas. But do the speed limit. They want you there safely.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:17

I want you to century. Putting away like a mother was a shadow.

SPEAKER_08 1:13:28

Oh I think she has arrived, guys. One second. Let's pause it right here. Let's pause it right here.

SPEAKER_06 1:13:45

Hello. Hello.

SPEAKER_07 1:14:04

The area.

SPEAKER_08 1:14:05

Can you hear me? I tell you. I told you we would come through. There she is, and she came through. He is here. You just can't hear me. Like you couldn't hear me last night. What? He's inside of First Avenue. Came through. You came through.

SPEAKER_06 1:14:38

I knew if I hung out just a little bit longer, it was gonna happen. Hello, key area.

SPEAKER_07 1:14:51

Okay, she's not done doing what we talk about.

SPEAKER_08 1:15:04

Yeah, it's hard to hear. Um ear buzz would be really helpful, but you know, it's unplanned, so I can understand. You may not have any withering time. But it looks like they're having a blast in this. See, I knew something was happening. You couldn't tell me nothing wasn't happening on the first album, remember.

SPEAKER_05 1:15:36

Sorry about that.

SPEAKER_07 1:16:35

All right, Mr. Sasha, thanks for joining. Hope everything goes away at all. Stay tuned if you can.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:42

If you can't get it, you're not gonna be able to get it.

SPEAKER_07 1:17:55

Hey, thank you for doing this. Can you hear me?

SPEAKER_08 1:18:00

It's kinda hard to hear in here, but then I get to someplace where she can actually hear. Hopefully. Okay, so looks like she's maybe upstairs. How do you guys remember Tony M and Damon and M dancing? Probably from that area. What's up? Can you hear me?

SPEAKER_04 1:18:43

It's pretty loud. I really can't hear her.

SPEAKER_08 1:18:46

Okay, yeah, yeah. I know it's loud in there. What's the vibe like? And can you hear me?

SPEAKER_03 1:18:51

Oh god.

SPEAKER_08 1:18:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_07 1:18:56

Just don't take me in the restroom.

SPEAKER_08 1:19:01

I don't need to see all that. Hey, can you hear me now?

SPEAKER_02 1:19:09

Yeah, I can hear you now.

SPEAKER_08 1:19:10

Are we in the restroom?

SPEAKER_02 1:19:12

Yeah, I had to. This is the only place. But look, the stalls are over there. They're not anywhere near here.

SPEAKER_08 1:19:22

Okay. All right. Thank you for doing this at last minute. I appreciate it so much.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 1:19:30

Yeah, thanks to Tanya as well for tracking you down.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:36

Yeah, I'm sorry. What'd you say?

SPEAKER_08 1:19:38

I said thanks to Tanya as well for tracking you down.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:41

Oh yeah, for sure. And shout out to Tanya.

SPEAKER_08 1:19:45

Yeah, yeah. What's the vibe like in there? Is it pretty crowded right now or is it gonna get crowded later, you think?

SPEAKER_02 1:19:51

It's not that crowded in here, but it's very loud downstairs.

SPEAKER_08 1:19:56

Okay, so they're they're having a party regardless, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:19:59

Yeah. And you can see like the people, some people were on the dance floor, some people were kind of like sitting on the side.

SPEAKER_08 1:20:07

Yeah. Okay. What about the vibe outside? Is there a crowd outside or no?

SPEAKER_01 1:20:14

No, it's not too crowded outside.

SPEAKER_08 1:20:16

Okay. Okay, so everybody, this is the uh the one and only First Avenue, and uh the kickoff party is happening there. I think the kickoff party lasts till like 12 or 1 or something like that.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:31

I think it goes to one.

SPEAKER_08 1:20:33

To one? I think DJ Lincoln Pierce is gonna Lincoln Pierce is gonna show up at 11?

SPEAKER_02 1:20:38

Yeah, something like that.

SPEAKER_08 1:20:40

Okay. Any live bands tonight there?

SPEAKER_02 1:20:45

Yep. I'm sorry, could you repeat that?

SPEAKER_08 1:20:48

Do you know if there's gonna be any live bands performing there tonight?

SPEAKER_02 1:20:52

I don't think they're gonna perform tonight.

SPEAKER_08 1:20:54

Oh, okay. Just just a party. Tomorrow night. Okay, gotcha.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:02

Cool, cool.

SPEAKER_08 1:21:04

All right, well, I appreciate it. I thank you so much, Ki area. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:08

Yeah, thank you. Alright.

SPEAKER_08 1:21:10

Yeah, I don't know if she told you the name on the podcast, but it's called the Freak Ephotomist Podcast, okay?

SPEAKER_02 1:21:16

Okay, thank you.

SPEAKER_08 1:21:18

Thank you. Have a good night. Alright. There you have it. We came through, Tanya came through, Caria came through. Made it happen. Wow. Looks like uh things are getting started there. Not too busy right now, but busy enough at the party regardless. I'm super excited about uh what what lies ahead in the next few days. Um as I said earlier, I'm gonna try to come back on Saturday, which is Prince's birthday, and hopefully I can have uh some correspondence helping me out uh for the block party down at the mural, which is across the street from First Avenue, actually. So we shall see how that works out. But on that note, since that happened, I don't think I'm gonna play any more music tonight. I played enough, but I just wanted to hang out long enough to get you some live footage from First Avenue tonight, as I promised. And I think it's just the dance order. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's what it looks like. Appreciate that. Anyway. I will try to see you guys again on Saturday. Uh I'm gonna try to jump on probably let's see. Seven o'clock Minneapolis time, eight o'clock my time. Maybe I'll wait till about nine p.m. I don't know, I'll make a decision and I'll make an announcement about what time I'm gonna jump on because I don't want to be too early for fear that something like this could happen again. So I'm gonna try to push it back as far as I can because I know I'm an hour um ahead of Minneapolis here on the East Coast. But once again, everybody, I thank you guys for joining. I'm glad I was able to come through. I'm glad Tony was able to come through in here as well. So if you uh want to follow me on all of my platforms, I'd appreciate it. Tell a friend, tell anybody that's and a fan of RB music, soul, funk, new soul, who I saw, all of that. Tell them about me. Um uh over on YouTube, over on uh TikTok, uh Instagram, and as well I have uh a Facebook group all over the handle podcast. So on that note, thank you guys so much for joining. Hope you enjoyed it. I will see you on Saturday. As I always say, live love and dream y'all.