"Beginning Endlessly"- Continuing the Journey

So, it’s December 31, 2011. I have yet to reach my goal of meeting and interviewing Prince, but I think I’ve achieved a lot. You can check out details of my progress here. To summarize, I have expanded my book through my work in graduate school at the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University. There’s a lot more to be done, but I’ve added a solid amount based on extensive research on Prince’s media coverage and my interview with Gayle Chapman (I will incorporate what I’ve learned from chatting with Howard Bloom, shortly).

I have yet to secure a book publisher, but in all honesty, I haven’t devoted much time to that. Although going to school, contributing to Billboard and working have kept me away from that task, those experiences have helped me establish credibility as a journalist—something that I hope will help me secure more Prince-related interviews.

With that said, I am revising my goal to further expand my book and to meet the legendary musician in roughly two years, or on "a purple day in December" 2012. Here are just a few of my objectives for the New Year:

1. Redesign website—I am by no means a web design expert; I am learning with everyone else. However, I plan to make some changes to the site and attach it to my personal website with my other articles.
   
   
2. Incorporate more interactive media. I’ve dabbled in this with the Google Map , Twitter chat and audio of my radio interview , but I’d love to take it to the next level to connect more with readers and Prince fans.
   
   
3. Secure more interviews (obviously).
   
   
4. Get in touch with Tavis Smiley. Prince fans will know that the artist is a good friend of the media personality. Ebony magazine secured an interview with Prince with the help of Tavis Smiley, so it’s worth a try!
   
   
5. Turn in 160 pages of the book to my Master’s Professional Project committee at Ohio University.
   
   
6. Devote more time to research potential agents and book
   publishers.
   
   
7. Blog, Blog, Blog! That goes without saying. No more sporadic posts! It’s going to be tough because I always have so many things going on, but nothing worth having is ever easy.
   
   

See you in the New Year!

"Ol' Skool Company" - Interview with Howard Bloom

Here is my long-overdue post about my interview with Howard Bloom, Prince’s press agent during the 1980s. We chatted for about five hours at a coffee shop in Brooklyn last summer. It was amazing!

Bloom was a source for Alex Hahn's “Possessed: The Rise and Fall of Prince.” It was great to confirm Hahn’s information, and get more in-depth details. “I’m giving you a slightly broader context than I probably was able to give Alex at the time,” Bloom said.

While Hahn provides a general view of Prince’s life and career, I am obviously focusing on Prince’s spiritual journey. Therefore, I kept my line of questioning on that topic. When describing Prince’s “Purple Rain” tour, during which the artist had conversations with God onstage, Hahn quotes Bloom as saying, “Prince had been rebelling against God and morality, and now God and morality were taking him over.”

Through my interview, I learned that Bloom did not necessarily mean “God” in the literal sense, but more as a representation of Prince’s conscience, or more mature self. “In the metamorphoses from adolescence to adulthood, you go from rebelling against your father to becoming your father,” Bloom said. “And who represents the father? Who’s a convenient way to personalize the voice of the father inside of you? God.”

Bloom didn’t deny that Prince may have had a certain spiritual power in mind, but he couldn’t confirm it, especially since Prince never discussed spirituality with him. “My guess is that he was not ideological about any specific religion at all…It would take him some time before he found some specific [religion].”

I did ask him if he saw any evidence of Prince dabbling in the occult, which is a rumor among some fans. “I never saw any signs of it in any way whatsoever,” Bloom said.

He did learn enough about Prince to coach the artist on how to talk to the media, a process he compares to “Dumbo” the elephant using “magic feathers” to fly. “I gave Prince a whole bunch of magic feathers,” Bloom said. “And with those magic feathers, Prince was able to do interviews for three years, much as they went against his nature.” Although Prince began opening up about his spirituality to the media in the mid-1980s, Bloom said he did not prep the artist for that.

Just as I had done in my interview with Gayle Chapman, I asked Bloom if he was surprised that Prince is a Jehovah’s Witness. While Chapman said “No,” Bloom said “Yes,” and offered an equally intriguing response.

Overall, my interview with Bloom will be a valuable part of the book. He has prompted me to think about Prince’s spiritual journey in different ways, and he has been a great resource for my research on Prince's relationship with the media. He also articulated how I feel about the power of musicians:

If people really get into you, they're not going to get into you just because of one little piece of music...they're going to get into you because you stand for something, you liberate something in their life, you validate something that doesn't have a voice outside of you in their lives...And they're going to read stories about you...And who you are is going to give them permission to be a self they couldn't have been without you.

What Prince believes is not the important thing—it’s the story of how he overcame his internal struggles to achieve peace that is inspiring, and that is why I want to tell it.

Thanks for reading!

"Do I Believe in God?" - Rolling Stone Journalists' Thoughts on Prince's Spirituality

A few months ago, I interviewed several Rolling Stone writers for my academic research paper, An Analysis of Rolling Stone's Coverage of Prince. Although that project was not about Prince's spirituality, I did ask some of the journalists a few questions about the subject.

As I've said before, I am covering the media's reaction to Prince's spirituality in depth in the book (see "Prince and the Media," Part I and Part II). As I promised earlier, I am sharing some of what I learned from Rolling Stone writers Anthony DeCurtis, David Browne and Tom Moon:

On journalists' perception of Prince's spirituality in the 1980s and 1990s:

It seems that they really didn't know what to think, especially given Prince's mixed messages in his music and his reluctance to open up to the media.

"For me, it was always a little muddled," said David Browne, who reviewed Lovesexy for Rolling Stone. "It was like he was grappling with it, like how sexual or how spiritual to get, back and forth."

Although the overall message may have been confusing, journalists and fans alike seemed to enjoy Prince's combination of the sacred and profane in his music. Browne appreciated that mixture in Lovesexy, and DeCurtis said that that aspect of Prince's music makes him comparable to other artists in rock: "The other kind of connections between spirituality and sexuality that he was playing around with...in many ways has been true in rock and roll going back to Little Richard."

Do journalists think that Prince is genuine in his Jehovah's Witness faith?

"As far as his spiritual thinking, I think he very ardently believes whatever he very ardently believes that minute," DeCurtis said.

Because Browne and Moon have not followed Prince very closely in recent years, they couldn't really give an opinion, but Moon brought up a good point: "I think he’s one of those people that because he was such a risqué figure for so long, it was easy to sort of say, ‘Oh now he’s just doing this sort of transcendant-seeking, God-seeking sort of atone[ment].'" I really think that is a popular view, and one of my goals is to show that Prince's "God-seeking" is not new at all.

Moon also wanted to know if Prince has actually renounced his old vulgar content. In my opinion, at this point in my research, I wouldn't say he has renounced it, but that he is a different person, more mature and in a different mindset, spiritually. I don't think he is condemning who he was at all.

There will be a lot more from my discussions with those and other Rolling Stone journalists (Robert McNamara, Jim Henke, etc.) and the questions that were raised will be addressed further in the book.

Thanks for reading!

“Is Everybody Ready? Here We Go!” – Updates

Hey purple hippies and other curious readers! I have been gone for quite some time, but I have some great updates for you! Coincidentally, I’m more than halfway past my “meet-Prince-in-one-year-goal.” So, I thought I’d reveal what I’ve been up to and assess my progress:

• My “Rolling Stone Coverage of Prince” was not accepted by AEJMC, but only because the panel felt that the research belonged in a different type of outlet (i.e. consumer magazine or pop culture academic journal). I am going to pursue publication elsewhere, and then make it available to my blog readers in the future.

• I finished my coursework for my graduate degree in journalism and I am working at Billboard magazine in NYC this summer! I have been fortunate enough to interview a lot of artists and get stories published online and in the magazine. While I haven’t done a Prince story, I’ve been able to network with people who can help me with my goals for the Prince book (I did, however, contribute a blurb on Prince and Andy Allo's cover of "Love is a Losing Game" to Billboard's article on Amy Winehouse tributes - R.I.P. Amy!!).

• I’ve completed another interview for my book! I spoke with Prince’s former press agent, Howard Bloom, for many hours here in New York. Readers of Alex Hahn’s “Possessed: the Rise and Fall of Prince” will remember that Bloom was quoted a few times. I have verified the things that he said to Hahn and found out a lot of information relevant to my topic. I will share some of that info in a later blog post, similar to the one about Gayle Chapman.

• I’ve FINALLY created an Excel sheet of the Prince affiliates whom I want to interview. I’ve contacted most of them, and I’m hoping to cross Larry Graham and Dez Dickerson off the list soon.

I’m ok with my progress thus far. It’s been difficult being in graduate school and working during this process. I’m happy that I’ve spoken with Gayle Chapman, Howard Bloom and several Rolling Stone writers so far. I would like to have more interviews under my belt, but I hope to achieve that in the next couple months.

I’m also really looking forward to connecting more with my readers and other Prince fans. I’ve enjoyed the interactive things I’ve done such as the Google Map and Twitter chat. I hope to do more.

I will be submitting a new chunk of my book to Ohio University as my Master’s Professional Project to officially get my degree. One of my requirements is to research other popular artists with spiritual journeys, such as Little Richard, Marvin Gaye and Bob Dylan. I’m actually looking forward to that. If you have any suggestions about other artists to check out, please let me know!

As for meeting Prince...he's in New York from time to time, so you never know! I feel closer!

I’m excited! I have a lot to share with you and I’m sorry for the wait. I hope you’ll stick around!

"Around the World in a Day" - Prince's Spiritual Landmarks

I thought it would be fun to provide a brief, visual summary of Prince's spiritual journey using Google Maps. In the map below, I've highlighted some relevant key landmarks in Prince's life and career and provided the story behind each one. I've included some links to other Prince biographies, articles and a couple cool videos.

As I did with the Twitter Chat (and all of my previous blog entries), I'm sharing this post with Prince fans and friends on Facebook, Twitter and fan sites Prince.org and Princefams.com.

Please share your thoughts via those sites or in the comments section below. Are there other locations that should be on the map? If so, let me know, and I'll add them!


View Prince's Spiritual Landmarks in a larger map

"Interactive" - Prince Twitter Chat

My book is based on my own research and interviews, but I like to hear the thoughts of Prince fans and others who will be interested in reading the final version. After all, I was motivated to write it because it seems that people are not completely clear on Prince's spiritual evolution, which has, no doubt, impacted his music.

On April 18, I decided to conduct a Twitter Chat on Prince and spirituality. I advertised on Facebook, Prince.org, Princefams.com and my Twitter account, of course.

*Click on screen shots for better quality*



Here are the six questions (roughly two were asked each day) and some responses:

1) What are your thoughts on Prince as a spiritual artist?



2) Thoughts on Prince's decision to eliminate "Darling Nikki," etc. and profanity
from shows?





3) Anyone see the Purple Rain Tour in person? Your opinion on the "Conversations with God" segment?

4) Anyone see the One Nite Alone Tour in person? Inspirational or too preachy?

5) Thoughts on the Rainbow Children album? Inspirational? Confusing?



6) Which Prince song has inspired you the most, and why?



You can view the entire discussion on my "Twitter favorites."

Although the discussion wasn't as extensive as it could have been, it did reinforce something: the messages in Prince's songs are inspirational to others. I really believe that the story that I'm trying to tell will do the same. I think anyone's triumph over his or her own internal struggles and realization of spiritual clarity--no matter what that spiritual clarity is--can be inspirational to others. You don't have to be of a specific faith to appreciate it.

I certainly want to keep hearing from all of you! Continue tweeting #prince and #princespiritual, or feel free to leave comments below! In fact, I'd love to see more answers to the questions (no one answered #3 and #4).

Thanks!

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"Willing and Able" - Prince Paper Submitted to AEJMC

Ok, so I was gone even longer this time, but for good reason. As I mentioned earlier, I was working on a 25-page research paper, An Analysis of Rolling Stone's Coverage of Prince, 1978-2004.

It is completed, and I have submitted it to the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC). Every year, AEJMC holds a conference to discuss the latest mass communications research. If I am selected to present in August (in St. Louis), it will be a great honor and boost to my credibility as a Prince scholar. I will find out in May!

How did I write the paper?

I looked at EVERY Prince-related Rolling Stone article from 1978 to April 23, 2004, when he told Entertainment Weekly, “It took me four albums to get on the cover of Rolling Stone, now it takes artists only one. There should be rules for that kind of thing!”

I also had the honor of talking to five Rolling Stone writers who covered Prince: Anthony DeCurtis, Jim Henke, Tom Moon, David Browne and Robert McNamara.

What did I find?

Prince actually landed his first Rolling Stone cover after the release of his fifth album, 1999. The magazine was beginning to cover African American artists again, and making a shift from featuring aging legends to embracing the new, cutting-edge artists popular with the youth culture. Meanwhile, the magazine was paying increasing attention to him as he recorded, toured, built an audience, and finally had an outstanding commercial success. After that, it could justify putting him on the cover—not only was he a fresh talent, but he would be able to sell magazines.

By contrast, today's music industry has changed to churn out more abrupt successes, and the magazine is often a reflection of that.

Overall, Prince has had a dynamic relationship with Rolling Stone. The magazine built him up to the status of its old heroes, Bob Dylan, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones during the 1980s and then criticized him for "mediocre" work in the 1990s.

Although Prince disagreed, the magazine appeared neutral regarding his struggle with Warner Bros.

Prince would eventually land the cover of Rolling Stone later in 2004 on May 27. His induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and successful tour reminded everyone of what he had accomplished.

I will post a link to the entire paper once I hear back from AEJMC, and, hopefully, develop a website of my music writing.

What about journalists' thoughts on Prince's spirituality?

I had some interesting disucssions with the Rolling Stone writers on that subject. Bits from those talks will be in one of the next few posts.

Happy to be back! Stay with me!