When Prince Was Purple

a few hours ago i heard that prince died this morning. he was 57. i never saw him in concert, but he created more original music than anyone else that i heard in the 1980’s. this afternoon i started recording two radio stations that i knew would be playing his music nonstop (they are still playing it as i write this). here are some memories i have of prince: a radio announcer once said he resembled little richard, but in appearance only since his music sounded NOTHING like “long tall sally,” and then there was that time that i saw tom geeding dance to a prince song– delirious. when i worked for a few months at mighty melt in joplin, there was a PA system that we used to call out orders, and we’d say stuff like “number 34 your maxi melt and broccoli spud is ready,” but when there were no customers we would get on that same PA system and start singing when doves cry.