Interview With Prince The Tour's Captain Randy

Streamed live on Mar 7, 2024  Freakapotamus Podcast

If you're going to be in the Minneapolis area and looking for the best Prince tour in Minnesota, be sure to check out Prince The Tour with your host, Captain Randy! #prince #princerogersnelson #minnesota  #princehistory #todayinprincehistory #hisroyalbadness #princestagram #purplerain #thepurpleone #twitter #purplearmy #paisleypark #love #npg #princefan #princetour #legend #purpleyoda #purplefamily #princeismusic #thebeautifulone #icon #minneapolis  #princeforever #minneapolistours #musicologylive #princenelson #lovesexytour #princefans #princeliveson

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:25

What's up everybody and welcome back once again to the Freakopotamus podcast. How's everybody doing today? Everybody's in the mood for some prints, I hope. I know I am. Got a special one for you here today. Today, I've got Captain Randy of Prince the Tour. And I'm gonna do an interview with him. See how things are going up in Minneapolis. Captain Randy, are you with me?

SPEAKER_00 0:50

The real Russell.

SPEAKER_03 0:52

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_00 0:54

Full circle, haven't we, pal?

SPEAKER_03 0:56

Yes, sir. How are you today, sir?

SPEAKER_00 0:58

Oh man, thanks so much for reaching out. It's great to hear your voice, man. I remember you, and I remember that tour day. We took a VIP tour of Prince La La Land, didn't we?

SPEAKER_03 1:10

Yes, we sure did. And that was very exciting. I had never been to Minneapolis before in my life. And when we scheduled the tour, you know, I was super, super hyped and so glad that we hooked up. That was an incredible tour. I'll never forget it. I'll never forget Minneapolis.

SPEAKER_00 1:30

That's great. I hear that a lot. And Minneapolis uh is very underrated. Um, a lot of people think we're flyover land here. But uh tell you what, we're a major league market, and uh there's a lot going on in the Twin Cities, Minneapolis and St. Paul. Yeah, with uh probably heard of it, the Mall of America, Mall of America, the Mall of America, and of course Paisley Park, and uh so we're not ever, ever really low on content. Um, and we are 12 months out of the year, believe it or not. We do do a lot of tours in the winter time, and uh, people have never seen snow before, so it's a perfect time to come to the Twin Cities, shop Paisley Park, see some incredible nature, see a ton of lakes, and enjoy yourself and do the driving.

SPEAKER_03 2:25

Okay, yeah, I can't remember which month we were there. Uh, it was definitely not winter month. Um, I'm thinking probably spring, I think it was.

SPEAKER_00 2:35

If I recall, we went down to Henderson. I do remember that to go see the uh the site for which Apollonia had gotten naked in the movie Purple Rain. Do you remember? Do you remember going down there?

SPEAKER_03 2:49

I do remember going down there. In fact, let's let's take a look at some footage that I took while we were there, and you can kind of briefly tell us what's going on. Okay. All right. So here we are in Henderson. What are we looking at here?

SPEAKER_00 3:06

Oh, sure. Well, that's that's um that's about 45 minutes south of Minneapolis, and it looks like it's kind of like beautiful greenery, so we're definitely in the summer months, right? All right, and uh this is the area for which Apollonia, the shot of Apollonia in the movie Purple Rain was shot, and it was down on the Minnesota River, and that's the viaduct, the train bridge. That remember the motorcycle scene with Prince in Apollonia, of course. He rode the motorcycle under that bridge right there. And I'm explaining to you and your group that uh what had transpired that day, and you can see it clear as day. You can see the background, and a lot of people can see the imagery of Apollonia in the movie. It's hard to get through that. Well, I hear you, right? Yeah, uh, but yeah, it's it's actually the spot where the film was shot with Apollonia diving into the water, and then look beyond Apollonia, you'll see the riverbank cutout of the sandy riverbanks and the current of the river for which it's cut out the bank. Now I know he says that ain't Lake Minnetonka, that was just a reference to that's where the other people had gotten purified.

SPEAKER_03 4:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 4:31

So she thought that was Lake Minnetonka, and but he says, Whoa, whoa, whoa. She dove in, he says that's not Lake Minnetonka. And she got all this, I remember, right? Because she was naked, right? Right, and uh so but Lake Minnetonka definitely gets a lot of love because of that certain scene, and nowadays we do take a lot of people to Lake Minnetonka if they wish to go get purified in the water because it's about 20 minutes straight west of downtown Minneapolis.

SPEAKER_03 5:03

Okay. Nice. So do um at that time you you definitely included uh Henry Henderson on your tours. Are you do you include that now?

SPEAKER_00 5:13

Or you know what, things have changed. As uh Bob Dylan once said, times they are a changing, right? All right, that's no different with our tours. Now they've taken the Prince statue and the bench and a lot of memorabilia that was very, very well done in downtown Henderson because of the river, because of the Apollonia scene, and they've now moved it another half hour, 40 minutes south of Henderson, straight south, to a town called New Ulm, Minnesota, and that's where the Minnesota rock and roll, or I should say I'm sorry, the Minnesota Hall of Fame, Music Hall of Fame is, and now that's where everything is proudly staged, is inside the Hall of Fame. Oh, awesome in New Ulm. So we don't go down there in the same day tour. Um, that was just recently done, you know, in the within the last months to year, and uh it's just too far for us. Even Henderson was a drive, if you recall correct. Yes, it was, but it was worth it, it was just on the edge. But now that it's another half hour to 40 minutes further south, uh, it just isn't our our uh mold of a three-hour tour, if you will. Okay, and uh so that would be a different event, a different tour to go all the way to to New Alm to see that stuff of prints, but definitely worth it. But it's just a definitely worth it.

SPEAKER_03 6:49

I feel really privileged that I was able to get to see the statue before all that took place.

SPEAKER_00 6:55

Yeah, it was really a great statue, too. Do you do you agree?

SPEAKER_03 7:00

Oh, yeah, I mean it was spot on. I mean it was amazing. I think it it was a statue of Prince in that uh Raven to the Joy Fantastic era, I think it was like the early 2000s with the long hair.

SPEAKER_00 7:16

Correct, yeah, it was a nice statue, and they had the height, they look you know, the height was right there, and yeah, you know, it was fantastic. They did a wonderful job on that statue, right?

SPEAKER_03 7:28

So originally it was there in Henderson outside, and then didn't they move it into the antique store as well?

SPEAKER_00 7:36

They did, yeah. There was uh there's an antique boutique store in downtown Henderson, beautiful, charming, quaint boutique store owned by some very lovely people, and it's called Heart, Heart of Henderson. Heart of Henderson is the name of it, and uh they really partnered with the people that took care of the the garden and the statue and the mural and all that was staged beautifully, and how that looks like Mayberry RFD, doesn't that kind of make it fitting? Yes, it does, and uh it was just a wonderful little place, but then you know things changed. I guess there was a a building owner that didn't want some of the hustle around his new asset, so he probably asked people to kind of think of a different area for which to stage everything, and I think he did by moving it to the hall of fame is perfect, perfect, yeah. Yeah, and it's inside, climate controlled, you know, the statue won't get weathered, and uh people know that when it is open for business that you're gonna have a you know temperature and a weather controlled facility for which to enjoy your day. Right.

SPEAKER_03 8:51

So, didn't they hold some other events in Henderson as well regarding Prince?

SPEAKER_00 8:55

Like an annual uh yeah, they would do um a celebration of sort um of their own and uh bring in some of the prince's old, you know, Jesse would come in and Jerome and some of the uh some of the old cats would come in and they would party like it's 99 and you know on Friday night and Saturday night, and and it's also a biker town because it's right along the Minnesota River, so it's just beautiful rolling hills, Russ, if you recall, correct?

SPEAKER_02 9:26

Right.

SPEAKER_00 9:27

And uh just it's just an event down there, and they did really well with that. They just they just did uh some great marketing and getting some fabulous talent. Yeah, all those guys, you know, the whole town just embraced it because it brought you know, it brought people from all over the world, Russell. Yeah, yeah, truly all over the world to that little bitty town of Henderson.

SPEAKER_03 9:52

I'm wondering if Prince Prince actually chose that location to film those scenes or somebody else.

SPEAKER_00 9:59

A cinematographer, from what I understood, a local cinematographer from the area kind of knew of it to be kind of that um that romantic spot where kids we used to go to maybe make out and watch the the the whale races. Remember Happy Days and Richie Cunningham? Yeah, and that was kind of their little spot as kids by by the river, and you know, little paths to go down by the viaduct there, and then also to every time a train would come by and toot its horn, that's a great time to what make out. There you go, right? How romantic is that, right?

SPEAKER_03 10:42

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 10:43

So, and you've been there. What a great little place for you know young people to to have a date night, right?

SPEAKER_03 10:51

Exactly. Let's show uh some more footage right here. This is also in Henderson. You can kind of tell us what's going on here. I know what's going on, but uh I'll let you oh that's the big call right there.

SPEAKER_00 11:11

That's where Prince and Apollonia had their motorcycle ride in the movie from that uh area of that dirt road, and that took them all the way to the bridge, the viaduct for which you showed on this little clip here underneath that bridge deck to led to the river where Apollonia politely and uh gracefully got naked.

SPEAKER_03 11:36

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Very, very cool stuff.

SPEAKER_00 11:41

What we do is we we we reenact that refs, as you know, to the actual sound, the the the song itself, right?

SPEAKER_03 11:49

Right, yeah, we did. We did. It was felt I felt like I was in the movie actually. It was good, pretty pretty cool experience.

SPEAKER_00 11:56

Yeah, that's what it was about, man. All about experiences and memories, and we did that with many, many, many people over the the years that we had access to that area, and uh and you captured it in video, which is brilliant on your part, and right, it's uh it's a it's something you'll never forget.

SPEAKER_03 12:18

Right. So so what inspired you to begin your Minneapolis print site fan tour?

SPEAKER_00 12:22

Well, I uh that's a great question. And number one, um you know, it's just I've always been in the entertainment industry my whole adult life, and uh, you know, had a corporate job, but I also had a part-time job, as we call them way back in the day. And uh now the kids call it a side hustle, right?

SPEAKER_01 12:45

Right.

SPEAKER_00 12:46

Well, what I did is I started a uh a mobile disc jockey business, and I would do weddings, corporate parties, Christmas parties, bar mitzvahs, bod mitzvahs, and pole barn dances, and uh did a lot of things for money back then just by spinning music and make people smile and getting people just to let loose and have a good time.

unknown 13:12

Right.

SPEAKER_00 13:12

Well, then I had an opportunity. A friend of mine uh asked me if I'd ever be interested in doing some club work, and uh said, you know, I'd be interested, but I you know he said you'd have to audition for it. So I auditioned for this club in Minneapolis and doggone it. I I got I was blessed to to be chosen. Wow, and so when you're downtown Minneapolis at a club back in the early 80s, mid-80s, what are you playing when people from afar from all over the world come to town? You gotta play the Minneapolis sound and you gotta play prints. So reading the crowd every night's different as you probably everywhere when you're a downtown club DJ, and uh, of course, I'd play a little bit of everything Michael and you know all the great tunes that you play now on your show. Um, it's a lot of prints, and that's what people wanted. So we're let's go crazy, baby. I'm a star, you know, Nikki. You gotta throw some Nikki in there later at night.

SPEAKER_03 14:15

Yeah. I could imagine though, the pride of Minneapolis right during the height of the Minneapolis Sound. I could imagine how proud folks were that lived in Minneapolis at that time.

SPEAKER_00 14:31

Russ, I'll Russell. I'll tell you, it was it was not only a lot of pride, I was honored. I was just honored to represent. And uh, you know, people when they come to the Twin Cities in Minneapolis, you know, that's part of the vibe. It's kind of like going to D Town and hearing some Motown, right? And uh you want to hear some country if you go to Nashville, if we go to Minneapolis, hook up some Prince or some Alexander O'Neill or some time, you know what I mean? Uh a lot of that good old music. So um Bob Dylan. Well, that's hard to dance to.

SPEAKER_03 15:11

It's hard to dance to, yeah. Just threw that in there because I know he's from Minneapolis as well, correct?

SPEAKER_00 15:17

There's a bad mural of Dylan downtown as you've seen it. Yeah, it's a great mural, it's a kaleidoscope-looking mural if you Google it. It's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 15:28

Yeah, speaking of murals, you you took us to see quite a few murals. Can you talk about that a little bit?

SPEAKER_00 15:33

Yeah, sure. There's a number of really cool murals, and since you've been here, there's even more that they had.

SPEAKER_03 15:40

But uh yeah, I saw the one um directly across from First Avenue.

SPEAKER_00 15:46

Yeah, yeah. The uh um I forget which one you're referring to, but the hundred-foot tall mural and forty-foot wide was just uh just dedicated about 2022, June of 2022.

SPEAKER_03 16:07

Right. I think that's the one I'm referring to, like the yeah, the hundred-foot one.

SPEAKER_00 16:11

Yeah, oh, you saw that.

SPEAKER_03 16:14

I didn't get to see it, I saw like pictures and video. I'm dying to be there in person to see it.

SPEAKER_00 16:19

Oh gosh, it is gorgeous. Um, an artist by the name of Harrow, H-I-E-R-O out of Miami, Florida, did that piece. Okay, and he sent pieces and and uh murals all over the world, and uh it's kitty corner first, man, and it is just outstanding. And uh at the same time, they dedicated that whole city block to Prince Rogers Nelson Way, right? And then, of course, you saw the Prince Star, the Revolution, and all hundreds of other stars that are uh displayed what on the exterior walls, the hollowed walls of nightclubs. So, yeah, here we go.

SPEAKER_03 17:03

Let's let's take a look at that real quick. There's probably about yeah, you you were just talking about First Avenue and the stars on the wall there. I just thought I'd throw up some footage right here.

SPEAKER_00 17:16

As we're doing this footage, um folks don't know that that building, Rust, and I know we talked about this, but that building right there used to be the original Greyhound bus depot. Wow, that was a bus depot. That's where people from hundreds of miles away would come to to be dropped off in downtown Minneapolis. There's the Prince Star. All right, it's just iconic. People from all over the world come to get that for their Christmas card.

SPEAKER_03 17:43

Oh, yeah. I've seen tons and tons of pictures with that.

SPEAKER_00 17:47

Oh, so many great memories. Ray Charles is on there, yeah. And that used to be the Greyhound Bus Depot, and then they built a new one, and then the city took over that building, and then somebody bought it from the city and turned it into a discotech back in the Saturday night fever days, and they turned it into a discotech. Wow, kind of like our version of Studio 54, right? Right, and uh, so every it was huge, it was just hopping, but I was a young buck back then. But on Sunday night, they dedicated it to team night, Russell. And uh, yes, Captain Randy would go down there with my my uh mullet and my kitchen permed hair, and my angel flight pants, my silk shirt, and my puka shells, and my elevator shoes. And I was already 6'3, now it was 6'6, right? Right, and uh going out there and dancing and trying to think I had some Danny Tereo moves and just living the dream on that lit-up dance floor, just like uh the movie, and it was fantastic. Oh, I can imagine it was amazing, and then Disco ran its course, and then uh they turned it into a rock club called Sam's, and then uh that ran its course, and then a new uh outfit bought it, um, turned it into First Avenue nightclub right there, and then they were at the right place and the right time when Prince came knocking to do a little movie called Purple Rain.

SPEAKER_03 19:24

Little movie called Purple Rain. So, this is also included in the tour, correct? First Avenue?

SPEAKER_00 19:29

Absolutely. That's that's probably our main stop right there. Awesome. Yeah, that's what people want to see. They just go nuts over that area right there.

SPEAKER_03 19:39

Yeah, there's uh here I am. This is this is a spot that I wanted to take a picture when I was there because I remember Morris Day had taken a picture in this same spot, so I that's a great I had to do it.

SPEAKER_00 19:53

You did, and you got that's a great shot. Look at the sky, like just a crystal clear day for y'all.

SPEAKER_03 20:00

Oh, yeah, yeah, it was fantastic. Let's see. All right, so approximately when did you start the tour? When did it all begin for you?

SPEAKER_00 20:13

Well, it's funny, you know. After uh I've been in the tourism industry quite a while, and I used to do boat tours, wine tours, uh, Minneapolis tours, and um April 21st of uh 2000. Well, we all know the day. 2016 when Prince passed away, and uh you know, it just shocked the world like it always does. Right. And uh a couple weeks after that, uh a media company in downtown Minneapolis reached out and said, Captain Randy, we know you do tours and you're close to Carver County in Chanhassan. Um, you ever but thought about doing a prints tour? And I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, you know, and uh shocked me. I'm still in shock, you know, at the time when I got when I got the call.

SPEAKER_03 21:13

Right.

SPEAKER_00 21:14

And I said, gosh, guys, and they said, I said, well, uh what's going on? And they said, well, we have a lot of people coming into Minneapolis that want to see Minneapolis's and Prince's Minneapolis. Not just Paisley Park and inside the museum, and it wasn't a museum at that time, as you know, it took a little time to become a museum, right? But people wanted to see, you know, the kids' house in the movie Purple Rain. They wanted to see First Avenue nightclub, they wanted to see the they wanted to see the Schmidt Music Wall Mural for which Prince was a teenager, where he was uh did a photo shoot. They uh they wanted to see Prince's home in North Minneapolis where him and Tyka grew up. They wanted to see excuse me. They wanted to see Electric Vetus Record Store. And uh they wanted to see everything. And I'm like, well, I I born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota. You know, I know Minneapolis like the back of my hand. Um I would just have to kind of dial in a three-hour tour for people that wanted to go see stuff outside of Paisley Park.

SPEAKER_02 22:33

Right.

SPEAKER_00 22:34

So we uh we started our first tour on his birthday, June 7th.

SPEAKER_03 22:41

What better day to start a tour?

SPEAKER_00 22:43

Yep, that was the first tour we ever did. I thought, what a great way to do it. Exactly. 54 people in a motor coach sold out to her. Oh wow. We yep, and uh it was just crazy how what had happened. We took a little mini tour before that, um, but we advertised this one, and uh it was just it was amazing, and uh that one we did do the Lake Minatonka stop as well as all the other stops I just talked about, right? And it turned into a five-hour tour because it was a lot of people that hurt up and you know, very emotional.

SPEAKER_01 23:26

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 23:27

A lot of emotion going on, and you know, a lot of people you know, staying prayers and you know, just doing their reflection of life, and you know, it's just it was it was an incredible day. So, yes, uh June 7th, 2016, on his birthday, is when we did our very first uh Prince tour.

SPEAKER_03 23:47

Awesome, monumental today, monumental day to start a tour.

SPEAKER_00 23:51

And you know, his his favorite number is what seven. Seven. There you go. June seventh, seven.

SPEAKER_03 24:00

Yeah, and and so your tour actually begins at the Mall of America. Is there any significance behind that?

SPEAKER_00 24:06

Yeah, there is. Um just a little trivia here. Um I pitch this to people all the time because they don't know, but the mall of America and Russell, I don't even know if we've talked about this, but the Mall of America brings in more people annually than Las Vegas, Nevada.

SPEAKER_03 24:27

Oh well, I can imagine.

SPEAKER_00 24:30

Las Vegas, Nevada brings in an average of 38 million people a year. Wow. If you take two Disneylands, California plus Niagara Falls, plus the Grand Canyon combined, still doesn't beat the Mall of America. The Mall of America, and this is its uh just going into its 31st year now of the existence. The mall of American brings in on average before the pandemic. You ever heard of the pandemic?

SPEAKER_03 25:06

I think I think so, yes.

SPEAKER_00 25:10

Before the pandemic um brings an average of 40 million people per year. There's 550 stores in South South America, there's 56 hotels within an eight-mile radius of the mountain, and out of those hotels, there's three shuttles that go to the front door, right? Right, what a great place to pick up and drop off for us.

SPEAKER_03 25:37

Wow, like a like a like a theme park, pretty much is it's incredible. We were inside of it, and I I was overwhelmed. And what really blew me away was the fact that there was a a theme park inside the mall, right in the middle, yeah, right in the middle.

SPEAKER_00 25:55

It's just amazing what they did there. And uh, what's funny is there's never empty retail stores unless they're just transitioning, and when you because everybody wants a piece of that 40 million people, right? Right, restaurants, all that stuff are always busy, and of course, the busy season is our tour season, right? So it's a great spot for us to start our tours and to drop off our tours because of this this uh the significance the you know being so accommodating for tourism, because uh then people can just be right there and get a free shuttle from their hotel, free parking, they don't have to worry about anything, everything's just transportation. So we start there, and then we'll uh then what we do is then we go to uh on our route, then we go to the first stop, is where it all began. That's the kids' house in the movie Purple Rain.

SPEAKER_03 26:52

Yeah, let's let's throw that back up one more time here.

SPEAKER_00 26:58

That's 3420 Snelling Avenue. There we go, right there. Yep, still the house today.

SPEAKER_03 27:07

That was incredible to see.

SPEAKER_00 27:08

It wasn't it fun, like the Christmas house, right?

SPEAKER_03 27:12

Oh, yeah. Christmas story. I definitely played back the scenes in my head as I was there.

SPEAKER_00 27:18

Yeah, that's it. And people love that. People love that's just a great place to start, and uh and the how the background of that, um, without getting too detailed, is uh it was available in 2014, it was on the market through Coldwell Banker. Prince made an offer on it, it was on listed for$110,000, and Prince offered about$7,000 more than the asking price. Wow, he wasn't known, he went incognito on the phone, they didn't know it was him. You can imagine the look on the closer and the uh realtor's face when it showed up for that closing.

SPEAKER_03 28:04

Wait, what he did he did this right before his passing, correct?

SPEAKER_00 28:08

At a year and a half, yeah, year and a half year and a half, okay. And uh so the property is uh in the estate's name. Um yeah, and uh new power NPG New Power Generation's under that uh label, and uh it it needs some love, it needs some work, but uh it's sure great that it's still available to see and share to everybody. Okay, but I have a couple thoughts on what they should do with it.

SPEAKER_03 28:40

Yeah, can you talk about the childhood home that's also on the tour? I think I think this is the home that's near Andre Simone's home in that area, yeah, on the north side. Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:52

The house you're looking at, the kids' house, is you're looking at South Minneapolis.

SPEAKER_01 28:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 28:59

The other house is North Minneapolis, where he, of course, went to school. Andre lived about five blocks away on Russell Avenue. And uh Prince and Andre, of course, are good buddies, and you know, like probably you and I and a lot of uh you know, millions of other people growing up, you always have a second, right? Kind of hanging out with friends and raiding the cookie jars and right out in the backyard, and that's what Prince and Andre did. They were just buddies.

SPEAKER_03 29:31

So the home they were talking about, is this the home that he left to go live with Andre Simone?

SPEAKER_00 29:38

That's just the movie. He never wrestled, and that's a great, great question. The house we're looking at right now is just significant to the movie.

SPEAKER_03 29:48

Yeah, yeah, I was referring to um the one which is now Tika's house. Is that the house that he left?

SPEAKER_00 29:53

Uh yeah, that was his childhood home growing up, yep. Okay, in the core growing up years with mom and dad.

SPEAKER_01 30:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 30:03

And there's actually a picture that I have on my Facebook page of Tyka and Prince and mom and dad on the front step of that home when they were kids, okay, little kids, and then of course, uh Tyka lived there until probably 2021. And uh she moved to Dallas, Texas.

SPEAKER_03 30:27

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 30:28

And so we're lived in the the the family home in North Minneapolis, is where uh they lived, and nobody lives there today, so both homes are under the NPG studio's name. Gotcha, and uh so under that estate. So I don't know what they're gonna do with each of the properties in the future. But uh I have a couple thoughts on it, but you gotta get on my tour and I'll share them with you.

SPEAKER_03 30:59

Yeah, I don't want to tell too much. I just remember a couple of the stories that you were telling us about um certain stops that we made in that particular home. You're telling us that um that Prince bought that home for Tyka to live in.

SPEAKER_00 31:12

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, it was in their names, and of course, he didn't need the home. So he offered it to Tyka because she did, I guess at the time, needed a home, needed a place to live. So Prince just said, Yeah, you go ahead and live here. Cool. And uh, so it's uh sits empty today, it has for about two years, so you know, as of us talking today in uh 2024, um, it still sits empty, and I don't know what the future holds for it, but it does need some work. But it's just interesting to go by where Prince grew up, kind of like the Jackson home in Gary, Indiana.

SPEAKER_02 31:52

Right.

SPEAKER_00 31:53

With all the you know, the kids that lived over in that little bitty house and Gary and the Jackson family, right? Kind of the same type of scenario here with Tyker and Prince and Mom and Dad.

SPEAKER_03 32:06

Awesome, yeah. Okay, I'm gonna go ahead and throw up this picture right here, talking about this award, Minnesota's best.

SPEAKER_00 32:13

Oh, holy Hannah. Where did you get that?

SPEAKER_03 32:19

Some guy named Captain Randy.

SPEAKER_00 32:21

A little research on us, huh?

SPEAKER_03 32:24

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:26

So kind, thank you. Um, no, we uh we're very proud of that award. It's our local uh newspaper media outlet that does uh annual voting on uh different categories, like other cities do in their in their towns. And we were we were blessed with the award last year to uh to be recognized as a top tour business in the Twin Cities metropolitan area, Minnesota. And uh you know, we have a very unique tour, and it's uh you know, we're very blessed to be able to share, you know, Prince and the Twin Cities of Minneapolis with people all over the world and uh show off uh show off the area, and you know, Russell, if I may, there's a couple things I just want to share about Minneapolis, and sure. Number one, it's it's a you know, people I say, Captain Randy, your city is so clean. It is, it's a very clean city, and Saint Paul is very clean as well. Very clean. I'm very proud to say that. Number two, your city is so green. Well, from you know, 30,000 feet, when you fly in, you know, from afar, you're gonna notice all the bodies of water because we have close to 12,000 lakes here, right? Right, and so you can get a lot of greenery with the water, so yeah, we are very green and you know, beautiful. I call it a resort state. If you want to get away and rent a cabin or you know, just Minnesota Rocks, man, it's just it's just beautiful, fresh air, for sure, for sure.

SPEAKER_02 33:59

And I loved it.

SPEAKER_00 34:01

What I'm very, very proud to say is Captain Randy, your city is so friendly.

SPEAKER_03 34:08

Very, I was gonna say that.

SPEAKER_00 34:10

Yep, or just uh, you know, and not to say anywhere everyone else lives is you know, horrible, but I hear that all the time. You you know, the Midwest values just people are so friendly, and you know, for the most part, we are everybody's friendly here, and you know, and uh people need directions, or if you want a good place to eat, or if you want to find a good happy hour, just ask somebody, and I'll tell you what, nobody will steer you around. We got some great places to go.

SPEAKER_03 34:39

Yeah, and if you want to uh grab a juicy Lucy, did you have one? Yes, yes, sir.

SPEAKER_00 34:48

Uh be careful of that first bite, right?

SPEAKER_03 34:51

Be careful with the first bite.

SPEAKER_00 34:53

Yeah, definitely back off, back off. Yeah, what did you think of the juicy Lucy? You gotta do a little review here, Bubba.

SPEAKER_03 35:02

Oh, yeah, it was different. If you don't know what a juicy Lucy is, it's a local Minneapolis cuisine, and basically it's it's it's a cheeseburger, but the cheese is not on top of the patty, the cheese is inside of the patty, like stuffing. It's like a pie. Yeah, and it lives up to its name. Definitely be careful when you take the first bite.

SPEAKER_00 35:27

It's searing hot, searing hot. And you know, it's funny you say that. I'm so glad you were had the opportunity to go there because the uh it was amazing. Um, Guy Fierian um diners drives the dives, right? Triple D. They've they've done a show there, and so it's world-renowned. A lot of people have gone to uh Matt's Barack Obama.

SPEAKER_03 35:53

I think I remember his picture on the wall there.

SPEAKER_00 35:55

Yeah, Barack and his uh his uh entourage, they were there when they were visiting Minneapolis on one of their business trips. They stopped in there for lunch and they got Barack all over the walls, and and it's just a dive bar, man. But it's one of them.

SPEAKER_03 36:11

What what's the name of the place again?

SPEAKER_00 36:12

It's called Matt's Bar.

SPEAKER_03 36:14

Matt's there. You go.

SPEAKER_00 36:15

Okay, M-A-T-T-S. Matt's bar in South Minneapolis. It's just a dive bar, but it's just historical as heck. And people, when they do their due diligence, they always ask me, Where's Matt's bar and that juicy Lucy?

SPEAKER_03 36:30

Oh, yeah, you gotta go there. That place was super busy. I would imagine it stays busy.

SPEAKER_00 36:35

They do over, and you've been to many local dive bars, I'm sure, in your lifetime, Russell, like I have. There's number one, nothing like a dive bar food menu, right?

SPEAKER_03 36:45

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 36:46

And number two, um, they serve what I've heard, and you probably research this, but I think it's close to 500 juicy Lucy's a day.

unknown 36:57

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 36:58

On a small little grill behind the bar. Yeah, that's a little place. So thanks for sharing that.

SPEAKER_03 37:07

Yeah, absolutely. I definitely that that was the last thing that I asked on the tour. Okay, we're starving now. What is Minneapolis known for? And there you have it.

SPEAKER_00 37:16

Yeah, did I share that with you?

SPEAKER_03 37:18

You did.

SPEAKER_00 37:19

Cool. I'm glad. I'm glad you took me up on that.

SPEAKER_03 37:23

Yes, sir. So, folks, if you're ever in Minneapolis, if you've never been to Minneapolis, make sure you definitely hit up Captain Randy, one of the best Prince tours in town, and you do other tours as well, right? Can you talk about those?

SPEAKER_00 37:36

Yeah, thanks. We do uh we do Minneapolis tours, we can make up tours. I do a lot of five-star, four-star, three-star hotel VIP tours. It's some people are here for a stadium tour, a sports sports tour. Um, they want to see Minneapolis in St. Paul, they want to see the capital of uh St. Paul, you know, which is our state capital of Minneapolis or Minnesota. And uh they want to see, you know, they want to go on a dive bar tour. Um, I know this town, I know the Twin Cities, like I said earlier, like the back of my hand. Um, it's your three hours. We can go four hours, five hours, but you know, we can take a wine tour, we can take a boat ride. Um, I actually have, and you that's why you refer to me as Captain Randy, Russell. Is I have my master boat captain's license, and uh it's just like you know, having fun, you know, because Russell, I think we talked about if I just said hi Russell, I'm Randy, you'd forget my name by lunchtime, right? Right. But if I'm Captain Randy, it's fun.

SPEAKER_03 38:42

That's all I know you by Captain Randy.

SPEAKER_00 38:45

Steamboat Willie was taken, so I came up with and uh yeah, we do other tours. If you go to the tourmsp.com, the tourmsp.com, um, you'll see our tours on there, and we are really booking out now, like you mentioned earlier today. Um uh the celebrations coming up. You're coming to town, possibly.

SPEAKER_03 39:09

Possibly, I'm hoping so.

SPEAKER_00 39:12

Yeah, so there's a lot to do here, guys. There's uh it's an amazing city, it's an amazing area. It's just it's just it's just well, Russell. You were here. How did you have time?

SPEAKER_03 39:28

Oh, I had an outstanding time. I I was so looking forward to it, and I was so excited. In fact, I think I told you earlier that uh we were scheduled to come to Minneapolis right before the pandemic, like a week out, and the announcement of the pandemic took place and everything shut down. So we didn't get to go, and we were so disappointed. But like I think it was a year later, it had it finally happened for us.

SPEAKER_00 39:55

Yeah. And folks, since uh Russell Sensi been here, we've got a lot of new restaurants popping up. Um, it seems like the mojo of the Twin Cities is coming back. Um, there's a lot of uh restaurant tours that are really tapping into the area, um, Minneapolis market, but especially the North Loop, which is the warehouse district. It's kind of up where Target Center, Target Field, First Avenue Nightclub is. Uh, there's a new hotel, there's a new Four Seasons hotel up there on Hennepin Avenue. That's by the Bob Dylan mural.

SPEAKER_01 40:31

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 40:32

Um, the North Loop's got outstanding restaurants, new restaurants up there. And uh, it's just it's a great vibe right now. Things are starting to rock and roll, man. And it's just uh get on the put it on the books, come on up and see us, book a tour with uh with the tourmsp.com. That'd be me, that'd be us, and uh let's go see some stuff, man. Let's go make some memories, right, Russell?

SPEAKER_03 40:57

Awesome. So, where can people find you on social media?

SPEAKER_00 41:00

Yeah, social media. Um, if you go to Prince the Tour, Prince the Tour, Minneapolis, you'll see a picture of one of our tours with probably I don't know, 15 to 20 people all dressed in purple, um, on the cover of uh of our media of our uh Facebook page, Prince the Tour Minneapolis on Facebook. And we got ratings on there, reviews. I'm not sure if we're over 120 or so reviews now. I'm not even sure what it's up to, but uh that's our report card. That's all people want to see, you know, if they want to invest the time and their money, and uh, you know, just come on in and I'll show you a great time, guys, and I'll structure it to you.

SPEAKER_03 41:47

Well, I highly recommend it. We had an outstanding time, I will never forget it, and I'm looking forward to returning to Minneapolis this June, and we'll definitely hit you up maybe for a different type of tour. But anyway, I thank you so much, Captain Randy, for being here today and sharing your story and what you do. And I'm looking forward to it.

SPEAKER_00 42:10

So let's get that too, right?

SPEAKER_03 42:13

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_00 42:14

No, I appreciate you. God bless you and your family, and thanks for uh looking me up on what's do this again.

SPEAKER_03 42:21

All right, outstanding. All right, folks, with that said, we're gonna get out of here. Thanks again to Captain Randy, and I will see you guys on the next episode. Peace.