Originally Posted by axlgod:
“I think the reason the documentary is incomplete is because after Kevin 'left', Prince tried a few other directors but no-one really wanted to go near it, apparently he wanted to use the footage as a recruitment film for jerhovah witness'.
it's cool that you got to paisley park tho', - was it really as nuts as Kevin makes out?”
i've never heard anything before about someone else "directing it". kevin wasn't exactly directing anything as he was just standing silently whilst they filmed what was going on
the general idea was more that prince wanted to show his interest in JW, rather than make a recruitment film
i've been to paisley a few times, and in that week he was playing his new and at that time unreleased album in the studio whilst we were given lyric books (before we heard it), then we had a session where we were invited to speak on the mic (and be filmed) with our thoughts on the album. and as the lyrics were obvious and loud about JW people had very strong opinions. after that session prince would take a few people to the atrium area (it has a pyramid skylight and at the time his $750,000 piano was sitting there - that's where he recorded the one night alone album, mostly in one takes, and the dove cage is on the first floor overlooking the area). the atrium is just past the reception through the main doorway. so people just gathered around the piano whilst prince basically preached to people without anyone hardly getting a word in edgeways. he'd ask peoples opinions and if they were in agreement with prince he'd let them roll, if not he'd cut them short. these sessions went on from about 2 to nearly 4 hours daily. people would just disappear and then when they turned up hours later they'd explain they were stuck listing to prince preach to them
separately to that, in that week i ended up in studio b with prince and the time, plus terry lewis (not jimmy jam who left the time with terry, although since rejoined) and mani who became prince's second wife and a couple of his producers. this was after erykah badu did a gig in the studio and prince went mad at her for saying "shit" onstage. she wasn't happy. as i was watching erykah prince was standing right next to me. he has this habit of creeping up beside people to stand next to them to see how long it takes them to notice he's there, then when he's rumbled he goes away. so when you spot him you just ignore him and pretend you haven't noticed

play him at his own game. so anways something else happened that i can't mention and myself and the 2 girls i was with ended up in the studio chatting to prince from about 4am to 6am. i say chatted, but prince basically did most of the talking. when he gets talking he doesn't shut up. he has a reputation for being shy and quiet, but in the right circles at the right time when he is comfortable he really makes up for the times he doesn't talk. so we were talking about movies and music (and not about bloody jesus h christ superstar thank god). then we eventually got out of there at 6am. and the thing about paisley is you are there during the day and it's all bright and sunny and then you go back in the evening for gigs and it's all bright and sunny and then you come back out at about 4am to 6am and it's bright and sunny again. it's only dark when you are inside, so you never see darkness, only sunshine. anyways it turns out the other girls i was with had taken the car back to the hotel and left us so prince's main bodyguard drove us back to the hotel (his name was mentioned in the kevin smith videos) showing off by driving like a f-ing lunatic at top speed in his sportscar. at least he had training for hi speed driving etc. anyways i did him a favour in london a few months later by arranging an afterparty venue for prince, and he turned up with his dj and it was pretty cool
another time at paisley we had a pajama party and the air conditioning packed in as it was so hot. temperatures were about 100 degrees each time i was there in june. so prince called the local cinema and rented the whole place for us after hours and we left the studio in a big convoy of cars following prince in his limo, and cuz the girls managed to get our car parked in the private staff car park out car was right after princes. so at 2am we had this convoy of cars driving in the middle of the night to the cinema a few miles away for a private screening of minority report (prince said he didn't understand it) whilst wearing pajamas. and you should have seen what some of the women were wearing, no shame at all. they were dressed like they were going to shag prince that night, like the window of victorias secret. and the fatter the girls, the less shame. seriously some of them girls were BIG and were walking about in negligees and stuff. it was the prince equivilent of MJ inviting the kiddies to neverland to drink the jesus juice and sleep in his bed
and as it's roasting hot and just a crazy place and you are walking about and bumping into people like george clinton and not only jet lagged but partying all night till dawn and sleeping during the day and never seeing darkness, you feel stoned through tiredness. there is no alcohol in the studio, so you just drink water, but you don't need food or booze or anything, you just walk about in this kinda half daze half dream, except it's all really happening
so when you hear that prince wants a giraffe at 2am and you have to get it, that's what you do.he likes to go bowling and do regular stuff, but has to rent out the whole place to do it. and whilst it's perhaps tiring for him to have to go to those lengths to do what most people take for granted, to be let into that world for a bit and experience it is pretty amazing. few people get that experience, especially not with such an important and famous superstar
we got to see where the music was recorded, we got to see his instruments and cars and i got my photo taken on his motorcycle and played with the drum machine that features so heavily on the early music and playing with the water pistol guitar from purple rain (right at the end of the movie), and danced onstage with prince. we saw alicia keys perform there before she had a record out, we saw macy gray play a surprise gig on prince's birthday. i discussed a tv show i was at with one of his band members and prince came down and stuck the video of the show on the big screens. crazy mad stuff like that
anyways, prince is about to open the doors on a secret last minute gig in amsterdam due to the oslo gigs being postponed...