Saturday, August 29, 2009

Prince and Rumi - That Kind of Day

“Outside ideas of Rightness and Wrongness, there is a field. I’ll meet you there." ~ Rumi

I was reading a rather contentious email thread for a group I subscribe to and one of the posters had the Rumi quote in their signature.  I really liked it, so here we are. :)

So now, for a complete non sequitur:

A couple of weeks ago, I read something about a "Purple Rain" Sing-A-Long. As "Purple Rain" is one of the top 10 most perfect albums ever, and as it was popular when I was in high school and therefore burned into my psyche for all eternity, I was quite excited by the thought.  I immediately searched for a "Purple Rain" Sing-A-Long in Portland, because, although you may not know it, Portland is quite the Sing-A-Long town.  I have participated in the "West Side Story", "Grease", "Wizard of Oz" and "Once More With Feeling" (Buffy, Season 6 musical episode) Sing-A-Longs and had a GREAT time.  I love to sing and I particularly love to sing when no one else in the audience is all that great of a singer, either, so there is little judgement on either part. 

Alas, I could not find a "Purple Rain" Sing-A-Long and have yet to hear of one coming.  This year marks the 25th (!!!) Anniversary of the movie and there was a Sing-A-Long in NYC, but apparently, we are a little too granola or something and couldn't wrap our mind around an evening of singing "Let's Go Crazy" or "I Would Die 4 U".  It is disappointing to say the least.

When I was 17 and the movie first came out on video (I will share my "Purple Rain" inaugural viewing at a later date), we would go up to the local (meaning locally-owned) video store where I alternated between renting "West Side Story" and "Purple Rain". The owner could not understand a girl who watched the same movies over and over again.  Finally, when my mother asked to buy a copy of "West Side Story" for $80 (that was a lot of money for something like that), he had to Special Order it.  He thought she was insane.  He told her the only people who buy videos are video store owners. He did not yet know the future of video was in sales, not rental. After the zillionth time I walked up to the counter with "my movie", he said he would order another one if I wanted to buy the used copy - that way he could sell it to me for cheap.  Of course, it was BETA (the superior format). And, of course, I took him up on his offer.  It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. 

Anyway, I put "Purple Rain" in tonight to listen to as I was messing around online.  The music certainly stands the test of time.  And Prince still exudes a marvelous naughty aura.  The movie isn't the greatest, but it is a cult classic.  

Maybe I should organize my own "Purple Rain" Sing-A-Long.

2 comments:

  1. A "Purple Rain" sing-along?! While I have never seen the movie (stop looking at me like that), I would SO be ALL OVER a sing-along for that movie! 80's music forEVER!

    Now, excuse me, I'm off to rifle through my CD's and locate the album...

    ReplyDelete
  2. I wonder how much it would cost to rent a McMenamins theatre for an evening to watch...

    ReplyDelete

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