Last night I was granted a ticket to see Prince in concert at the Forum in Los Angeles.
I’ve never seen Prince in anything other than videos and in film. So it was a great opportunity to experience the man live. I’ve heard the stories. I’ve got lots of his music. I’ve even stood next to him at music functions (rather, towered over him). But I’ve never experienced one of his shows live.
Prince Rocks!
Not only has he written an insane amount of music, but his ability to work a crowd is awesome. I picked up a few ideas that I’ll incorporate into my own performing. No doubt.
There were moments last night as I was watching this man move and do his thing where I was thinking, if only I wrote music like that I could do that while performing too. However, the music I write requires something different. Thus any ideas to be incorporated will get a twist on them in order to work.
Do to the depth of his catalog he is very much able to play for many hours. And he did. If you go to see him, make sure you don’t get up and leave after the first encore. I think there were four encores last night. Each one was a slightly different phase of his career.
Unfortunately I fear for posting a Prince song on my blog as he is notorious for policing the net for his material. I understand it. I really do. At some point, who knows, maybe I would for myself. Though I know the task is daunting and at this point, I don’t have the means. But I will someday – whether or not I follow through on it, will be a different story and a bridge I’ll cross at that time.
Today, I’m dealing with the licensing of a couple of songs for a movie. Plus I’m still uploading tracks for the beta testing of a system. When done I think in all it will be over 23 gigs of material. That’s a lot of music.
I suppose I need to be a little narcissistic here. I’ll post the song Hero Unexpected. This particular remix version is by a friend of mine Chris Carter (not the dude from the X-Files). I was really surprised when I heard this version. I had no idea what to expect from Chris when he wanted to do the remix. I was bowled over by the change of key and tempo. Hell, the whole style. I remember being at a music function where someone asked what my music was like and I turned to Chris to describe it. He responded with saying that Jody has a great sense of melody and rhythm – he’s one of the most melodic musicians I’ve ever heard. That was a very nice compliment. I’d never thought about myself in that sense. I write what I write.
Which is probably what Prince does. Writes what he writes. Knows when he hears something great and simplifies it. That’s the key, simple and rhythmic.
Hero Unexpected isn’t necessarily simple in any of it’s incarnations. But it’s not overly complex either. Well layered with simple parts. Enjoy this version and if you love it. Go grab it. I’ll love you for it.