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Xenophobia: Celebration 2002 (Sort of updated 7/15)
{{{Full coverage of the event: before, during and after. Check back often! Last updated: morning of June 25th, 2002 Click the headline above to read the article...}}} OK, disclaimer: this won't really be "full" coverage during the week, I'm going to mostly discuss MY experiences, which is not "full" coverage. But there's a lot more discussion, setlists, etc., going on in the discussion forums, so check there too... the Celebration 2002 forum is a must-read companion to this article...
Thanks for visiting the Xenophobia, Prince: A Celebration 2002 pages. prince.org will cover the event here, offering summaries of each day's activities, pictures, and more, updated daily during the event.
(Newest stuff at the top...)
Note: July 15th...
Well, I haven't updated the rest of my report, in large part because I was sooo tired from the events, and then I went on vacation immediately after the Celebration, as well. I'll try to recollect the rest of the experience, including the awesome Meet and Greet, the BBQ, and more, and update this later. In the meantime please read the newer feature, Harold Lewis' detailed, awesome report, including full setlists. Harold is the man! (And check out a future issue of Uptown for his even longer report!) I'm also hoping to get up, this week, MANY of the pictures I took, and others have sent me. I'm working hard on this, so... we'll hopefully have it available soon. Thanks so much to everyone who wrote all the kind words about my update efforts, as sketchy as they are
-Ben
June 24th
Missed the discussion this morning with Tavist Smiley and a VP from BET... plus musician workshop with Maceo (who was apparently quite longwinded about his own personal history, but fairly interesting.) It's hot, hot, hot and humid today! Ended up spending 3+ hours at Axel's eating late lunch with a couple Bay Area friends, chatting, which was really nice... it's almost feeling like "vacation" now which was really part of the point, to me. (Now if only it'd stop raining all time lately!)
I did want to make sure I got to the Park in time for Norah Jones' set, since I'm feeling her CD. Due to unforseen misplacement of a critical item, we didn't actually arrive until 8:30, about 30 minutes into Norah's set. She played about 3 more of her own songs, and then one by The Band. Her band seemed only OK, but her voice is really pretty live... as expected, she was incredibly mellow and laid-back, which was probably why Paisley was set up with folding chairs. The chairs made for a nice change, and everyone could see, you didn't get as hot as you did standing up, and it was in general quite comfortable. We all wondered how this would work when Prince came out and rocked the house, though.
Around 10:50, Prince came onstage to a standing ovation. A solitary spotlight on him on a stool in the center of the stage with an acoustic guitar. Everyone finally sat down back in their seat, and Prince did it... he continued the (relatively) laid-back vibe with a phat acoustic set. Starting out with "Don't Play Me" (which sequed into an older song by someone else, familiar but I couldn't quite recognize it), and then many others. Kirky played congas (bongos?) in accompaniment, while the rest of the band sat in darkness watching. I didn't write a setlist, but it included, acoustically: Peach, A Case of U, The Truth, oh... many more! This part lasted about an hour, and was just amazing... to hear the Truth tracks live, acoustic, was a special treat. I didn't think I'd ever see that happen! Prince was obviously digging this, and was in a great mood, joking around and improvising a lot. Everything was videotaped from a camera about halfway back into the audience, too, so maybe we'll get some NPGMC QuickTime movies...? That would be awesome.
After the acoustic set, there was a brief intermission, and at one point Prince came into the VIP section close to me (I was in the regular-people section right next to VIP) and quickly said hello to who I think were his stepfather and half-brother. Also in VIP section were some of the NPGMC staff (Sam and Chris), John Blackwell (during Norah Jones' set) and his wife, Victor Wooten and his brothers/band(?), and apparently, Speech from Arrested Development.
After intermission, we got a set that started completely jazzy, with "Take the A-Train" intermixed with "Strollin'", and each band member (Maceo, Greg Boyer, Rhonda, John Blackwell, and Renato) taking solos. Good stuff. Prince then progressed into a series of hits on the keyboards, much like the second part of many of the shows from the ONA tour, although in a somewhat more relaxed manner. At the end, we got "Xenophobia" (complete with chant: Xe...... Xeno-phobia! wanna bust! Do it til I wanna bust!" [Hmm, well, it was something like that!]) and then a "new song", if it really was a "song", with Prince rapping... called "Prince and The Band". The gist of this was anti-big-media companies, and pro-musician/love of music. It really was the jam, and while thin on "plot", the groove was totally infectious.
As the band left, the DJ from the previous night started to spin, mostly Prince tunes. This was great except everyone really wanted to dance, and now the floor was filled with folding chairs... but the determined folks just danced in the aisles, anyway. Tonight's show really seemed to have a magical vibe about it, stressing incredible musicianship and love for the music and the crowd. Thank you Prince!
As we left Paisley, it was raining like crazy... they're doing construction out on Audubon Road, too, so it was muddy, and as I ran to get the car, a couple walking under a umbrella said "please don't splash us!" I'm not sure if that was directed at me or someone else, but they didn't seem like they'd actually be too upset with a little mud on their shoes after what they'd just witnessed inside Paisley! I know I wasn't... but I was thankful for the 4-wheel drive on the rental car, as I'd parked up on grass alongside the road
Creative parking y'all... it's the only way to survive the Celebration!
June 23rd (later)
Well, I actually missed most of the Paisley activities today, the morning stuff because I was basically, asleep, and then working on the flyers for the prince.org Meet-and-Greet on Wednesday (download the flyer here). Bobby (of the Dream Factory) and some of his crew were at the Kinko's same time as I was, getting the flyers for their yearly BBQ together... scheduled for Thursday 11a at Lake Ann Park (near Paisley).
VJill and I then went to dinner with some friends in Uptown, at a really amazing place called ChinoLatino, sort of a fusion Asian-Latin place... sounds weird, but was fantastic food. If you come out this way, go there! All the food was spectacular... check out the R-rated dessert called "Hot Monkey Love": it's a deep-friend Snickers bar with two scoops of vanilla ice-cream, strategically arranged on the plate.
OK, I know, enough about stuff that has absolutely nothing to do with the Celebration
We didn't get to the park until about 11:30p, and really missed out tonight... apparently not only was Victor Wooten and his band incredible, but the early part of Prince's set that we missed, included a SOTT-style band entrance, and SOTT performed live (I'd have loved to see this.) Plus, a whole bunch of other rarely-performed tracks. I'm bummin'. I still got to see the end, which was similar to the LA aftershows (although 'Peach' got some Bible references this time?!) I guess you'll have to read up in the Celebration 2002 forum for details about tonight. I'm sure someone will post a detailed setlist to make me cry
After the performances, the DJ started to spin, a baldheaded whiteguy, and damn, he was good. I hear he was spinning last year at the Celebration too, and sucked. Could be, but he's been studing his turntablism since last year if so! A good mix of R&B/rap and oldschool had the crowd bumping for about 45 minutes... but I for one wish it had continued for a couple more hours!
June 23rd (5:00am)
Just a quick update. You may think this is restating the obvious, but Prince is the bomb diggity bomb. And Sheila too. I'm way tired and need to get to bed, but here's my thoughts right now:
- Sheila should host the Celebration next year and play 7 nights herself
- The AC might have died at Paisley, but that the Park did everything humanly possible to make it right (nice job, y'all!), and that the everyone behaved like adults, really shows just how much love there can be in the community... and how much everyone appreciates Prince & his staff's efforts.
- I think we might have found out a clue to the meaning of the name 'Xenophobia'... something about coming together to RID the world of Xenophobia... if we're all one family, we won't have fear of outsiders, since we're all the same...? Sounds good to me.
- Prince let us use his Blockbuster card... he took everyone yes, everyone to see a movie! 5 screens of exclusive NPGMC viewing of Minority Report (which is a great flick IMO). Ain't no late fees when you rent out the whole theatre, yo.
- I've come out of aftershows, etc., late before, but never when the sun was coming up... but it sure enough is now. Let's do it all over again tomorrow!!
Well, the hotel breakfast opens in 2 hrs. I gotta go to sleep!
June 22nd (8:00pm)
For breakfast it was off to Perkins with a couple of BayNPG folks, Adige and Geneva... Perkins is not exactly great food, but it's close to the Park, open 24 hours, and an institution for Prince fans visiting the area; where else can you grab pancakes at 4:30am when Paisley finally kicks you out? It was edible-but-not-great as usual, but we just wanted get outta there and to Paisley, because Bobby (of the Dream Factory) had called to say Sheila E. was giving a workshop at 2pm...
So, we get to the Park and it is HOT. Not like "wow, it's hot out", but like DAYUM GET ME SOME FRIGGIN WATER hot. It hit 90 degrees in MPLS today according to the news, and it's humid too. The Paisley food vendors found very little takers for the pizza and corn on the cob, but a lot of enthusiasm for the bottled water (thankfully still ice-cold) and smoothies ($5 but worth it.) Anyhow, we got to look around a little more today; the big performance hall was closed, but Studio B (I think it is) was open with live ONA tracks playing, and the little room off of the studio was open for lounging in the blacklight. (VJill jokingly calls it the "mackin'-on-Carmen" room!) The first room on the left down the hall (from the entrance) has been turned into the "Paisley Museum", which has a great display of Prince's guitars hanging on the wall (just out of reach) with materials from the corresponding era beneath: lyrics to songs, pictures, etc. It's really cool--get a close-up look at the older one-eyed bass, the well-worn gold Symbol guitar, even the purple keyboard held-like-a-guitar thing. The touring version of the "whale" piano is the room's centerpiece. Definitely worth checking out! Just off the back of this room is the "get your picture taken with the Graffiti Bridge motorcycle" room... yes, you can sit up on it, and a Paisley employee will take your picture for $5. I guess it's like posing with Mickey at Disneyland, or a painted donkey in Tijuana. Weird, touristy, but well, you know you want to do it
Scheduled for 2:30, was a musician workshop with Sheila E. Needless to say, this was a highly-anticipated event, and since it was to be held in the smaller performance hall (uh, the old garage) at Paisley, there were a ton of people getting in. Like all the crowds so far, everyone seemed to be polite and pretty respectful of others--but it WAS hot. I can't imagine what the electricity bill at Paisley will be like this month for all the AC! Anyhow, it didn't get started until around 3:30, but it gave me some time to catch up with Mary, from Cleveland. She's an older-than-most diehard fan who, on top of being just the nicest person you'll ever meet, has probably the most impressive collection of Prince stuff I've ever seen. It was great to talk to her again, and as I've said before, this is what makes the Celebration so great to me, it's connecting with everyone--those I've known but haven't seen in a while, and all the new people I'm just meeting now. Strange that something called "Xenophobia" should feel like a big family reunion, but it does somewhat!
When Sheila did come on out and start, she was very confident and straight-forward; she talked a little bit about herself, and then started describing and demonstrating some percussion techniques. There's always something mesmerizing about watching her play, and today was no exception. Even with all the "house lights" on, and it being the middle of the day, and hot, the magic wasn't lessened. After a bit of drum theory, people started asking questions... and it became clear most people wanted a Sheila E. history lesson more than a drumming demo! Sheila politely obliged us, and talked about playing with Brooks and Dunne at the Country Music Awards, about how she learned to play percussion (when her father wanted her to play violin!), about meeting and coming to work with Prince, about her solo career, about the difficulties of improper technique (such as the injuries she's endured from playing in uncomfortable/difficult ways), and of her faith and charity efforts with the Li'l Angel Bunny Foundation. One interesting comment was about the stresses of being the lead performer in a tour, and dealing with everyone on tour: she said that you end up picking people that aren't necessarily the best musicians, but those that you know you'll be able to work with, and give their best. She said it seems the most talented musicians often come with the most "baggage", which can make being on the road difficult, especially when she was "in charge" as the headliner. The talk was quite insightful, and as is usual for Sheila, she stayed after (at about 4:30) to sign autographs and shake fans' hands. As always, a class act, and the talk/workshop definitely got everyone hyped for later tonight when she'll be playing in the big room at Paisley.
Oh, so speaking of the event name, "Xenophobia", VJill explained to me what she thinks it means, and I agree it's probably the "right" or at least, intended, meaning. Since this year only NPGMC Members were sold tickets, the concept is that it's for "members only" or "not for foreigners"... now I realize that's not exactly fear of foreigners, but it seems to fit. Maybe there's a better explanation (perhaps even an official one I missed), but hey, that's what I'm going on. Send me your thoughts on this, if you disagree or have some other insight.
Everyone scattered to get some food and a little rest before the sure-to-be-jam later tonight, and we stocked the fridge in our room with food from Byerly's, a local market. Wow, that place is great. Beats the heck out of a "regular" grocery store, and even Molly Stone's in California. If anyone from Byerly's markets reads this, please open a few stores in Northern California, preferably on the Peninsula near my place! We got a bunch of really excellent-looking prepared foods, since I get sick of restaurant food pretty quickly. Basked in the air conditioning for a while, and now I'm getting ready to head out to the Park again... more info later!
June 22nd (early AM)
We didn't catch all of Maceo's set, but the last 90+ minutes were quite entertaining. Not being too versed on his work myself, I won't try to give a setlist or details, but will say he had 8 others onstage with him, and the sound was amazing. I was really impressed with just how good everything sounded inside Paisley's large soundstage. I remember seeing shows there back in '97 and thinking how clear and vibrant the sound was, and it is even better now. So much better (in my opinion, anyhow) than seeing acts at a large public venue. Not to say the sound techs don't do a great job on the road (I honestly don't know either way), but the sound "in his house" is great. Every word and note is clear. It's so much more enjoyable when you can understand and hear every little comment and nuance in an artist's performance!
Anyhow, Maceo started a little after 9, and finished around 11:30. Near the end, his son Corey rapped/sang, and he was pretty good, if you like his sort of style. I think his CD was on sale in the store area, as well. Around 12:30 Prince came onstage with essentially the ONA band, and played a mix of the ONA tour show and the "aftershow" set (a la Los Angeles). Prince got into this whole "let's give this place a new name... you surrender to me, I'll surrender to you... let's call it Surrendertown." I'm not sure what he was going on about, but he seemed to be enjoying himself tearing up a bluesy version of Alphabet St., and doing the whole ONA "WNPG" thing, so, whatever. If you didn't catch the ONA tour, you got the Reader's Digest version of it after Maceo's set tonight.
Shout out to the many org'ers/local club folks I met in person finally... Zeinabau, NuPowerSoul, Love4OneAnother, Violett, Aaron, Moonbeam, Derek (NPNY), and others. Great to meet everyone!
June 21st (7:19p)
Well, we got here! The weather has been terrible around Mpls, and was storming really badly as we descended to the airport. We were lucky enough to actually have our flight arrive on-time, but we hear lots of others weren't so lucky... flights have been delayed, even canceled! Anyhow, VJill and I headed to the AmericInn for some much-needed washing up (after being up all night packing, organizing, etc.) and quickly found out We Were Not Alone. Definitely a lot of Xeno visitors running around! But more on that later. Speaking of "organization", we barely met the maximum limit for checked baggage, we brought so many prince.org goodies! Some free stuff ("survival guide" flyer, balloons, stickers), and some new goodies to buy (including awesome lanyards [the things you wear around your neck and attach your laminates to], and new men's longsleeved shirts; and yes, we've got all the other prince.org t-shirts here, so just find us if you want to pick one up!)
Compare the weather:
| San Fran | Minneapolis |
 |  |
We hooked up right away with our old friend Terry "Big T", the co-founder of the BayNPG group (he was a big part of making my and Jill's move to California pleasant, 5 years ago.) We dropped by the Park to pick up our "tickets" and then go grab something to eat. We didn't check out the goings-on at Paisley since it was fairly dead by then, it was rainy, and muddy, and ... you get the picture.
Speaking of the tickets... maybe someone will get to Kinko's and post a scan, but they're laminates similar to the previous years' BUT with one change: there's a strip down the right side with each day's date on it. Possibly they'll be "punching" the days as you attend? Maybe just a design element. Anyhow, as usual, they look pretty cool. When you check in, you get the pass (laminate), a simple lanyard (I highly recommend you upgrade to a prince.org one
) and a sheet listing the same basic info from the npgmusicclub site about the schedule. The last-minute switch from the Orpheum to Paisley for tonight's show (and probably the Wednesday as well) got major press coverage here, too... I didn't see it myself but the Star-Trib made a big deal out of it, apparently. (I'd give details, but just try finding a copy of these things to buy in a city full of Prince fans, late in the day--ain't gonna happen.)
So we headed over to Appleby's for some old-fashioned middle-America greasy meal (not Greazy Meal
) [btw, I don't recommend the Fish and Chips, what was I thinking?] and the place started to fill up closer to 5pm... lots of fans. We spoke briefly with Kathy (of LovesexyDC) and a couple of her friends on the way out (I apologize for missing your names--didn't want to interrupt your meal too much!) Apparently their flight had been delayed, and that a lot of the East coast flights (at least) were having difficulty.
Back at the hotel, Vjill passed out some more of the "Xenophobia Survival Guides" prince.org had made up... (if you want one, just find us, we'll hook ya up.) What's really cool is that the manager of the AmericInn even started handing them out to arriving guests! Anyhow, we then ran into Lisgha from Chicago, Delores and Bastich from Spain, DJ LeFreak from Belgium, Howard and Yvonne from New York, GreekMedusa and starboy126 from Houston, and Tim and Pauline (UK?). Everyone was so cool, we had a blast just talking about the Celebration, comparing notes and rumors, and getting to know each other just a little bit. Honestly, I'm totally jazzed about meeting everyone, probably as much or more so than I am to go to the shows! Is that crazy? I don't think so--the Prince fan (and prince.org) community is full of awesome people, and it's fantastic to finally meet people I've only seen online.
Everyone grabbed cameras, and we all took some pictures.
 |  |
| DJ takes a picture | Posers |
Since DJLeFreak is a "pro", it was funny, we're all here with our little disposable cameras, and little digital point and shoots, and he pulls out this awesome Nikon SLR with the big lens, etc. I guess we know whose pictures will likely turn out the best
We're going to try and hook up with some of our California Bay-Area friends tonight and go to the show a little later, say 9:30p, so I'll try to update again afterward. I'm psyched!
Update: I just found out the NPN/NPNY folks haven't arrived yet! I hope they make it in soon... I'm sending "positive airplane vibes" in your direction, guys!
Also, Big T says the line down at Paisley is HUGE! He had to park opposite the Kingdom Hall (3? blocks away). Sigh. Parking's gonna really be a bitch this week.
-Ben
June 19
Are you excited yet? We are! Starting to get the bags packed with prince.org goodies (and lots of clothes!) We've just heard about the "slumber party" even Saturday night, apparently at Paisley. This ought to be interesting, to say the least!
June 13/Introduction
XENOPHOBIA: CELEBRATION 2002
Frequently Asked Questions / The Basics
What is it?
For each of the last two years, Prince has put on a weeklong concert series and special other events at Paisley Park, his studio just outside Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. This year, the title of the event is "Xenophobia", which means "a fear of foreigners or strangers" according to the dictionary. Why this year's event is called this, we don't yet know... but hope to find out!
When and where is it going down?
It's scheduled to begin Friday, June 21st, and end Thursday, June 27th, 2002.
The events will mostly be held at Paisley Park, in Chanhassen, MN, about 15 minutes outside Minneapolis. The address to the studios is 7801 Audubon Road, Chanhassen MN USA, 55317-8201.
Some of the concert events will take place at the Orpheum theater in downtown Minneapolis, to accomodate more people than the studio can. The Orpheum is located at 910 N. Hennepin, and can be reached by phone at (612) 339-7007, or visit their site at www.state-orpheum.com.
What's planned?
Apparently each day there will be events planned, such as guest speakers and musician workshops. The exact schedule for the daily events isn't yet known (as of 6/13). There will be nightly concerts, and the schedule is as follows:
| Friday 6/21 | Maceo Parker |
| Saturday 6/22 | Sheila E. |
| Sunday 6/23 | Victor Wooten |
| Monday 6/24 | Norah Jones |
| Tuesday 6/25 | Bernard Allison |
| Wednesday 6/26 | Musiq [formerly Musiq Soulchild] |
| Thursday 6/27 | Rachelle Ferrell |
In addition, various fans and fan groups have organized different events to keep everyone entertained, such as BBQs, picnics, and possibly some friendly sporting events. We'll keep both this page and the June 2002 event calendar page updated with the latest.
How much are tickets and where do I get them?
Passes to the entire weeklong event were sold online for $250 each to fan club ("New Power Generation Music Club" or "NPGMC") members starting in May. We don't know how many passes were available, but theorize upwards of 650 (based on the capacity of Paisley Park's large performance hall). Full-week passes have been sold out as of about June 8th. The official fan site is www.npgmusicclub.com.
Since selling out the weeklong passes, the NPGMC has mentioned that "day passes" available to the public during the event would likely be offered to at least the day-time happenings. Most likely, at least a couple of the nighttime concerts will have publicly-available tickets, also. No prices have been published yet. Unfortunately, if you don't have a weeklong pass yet, you aren't likely to get one, but you could always try for some of the daily tickets. It's unknown yet where these tickets will be sold, but for events not at Paisley Park, the venue ticket offices and possibly TicketMaster are likely candidates.
Who's going?
Lots and lots of fans, and typically more than a few celebrities will stop by. The whole week is a great place to meet other fans from all over the world. At least 250 prince.org visitors have indicated they're going, so it's gonna be a party for sure!
I'm going, but could use more info on hotels, restaurants, etc. Can you help me?
Well, the NewPowerNetwork can! They've put together a pretty comprehensive "Celebration 2002 NPN Info Guide", conveniently available for your reference in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format. You can download it from this link, or directly from their site. The NPN is a coalition of over 20 fan groups from around the world.
How can I hook up with other fans while I'm there?
Well, all the hotels in and around Chanhassen will be full of fans, so it won't be too difficult to find them! However, you might want to make yourself a "laminate" to wear. Since the passes/tickets are typically in the "laminate" (think backstage pass) format that everyone wears around their necks, it's become a tradition for fans to make their own laminates to reflect where they're from, and who they are, and wear it around their neck alongside their pass.
This year, prince.org makes it even easier to create your own custom laminates -- we've got a handly little tool that lets you specify the design and then just print out a perfectly-sized single page ready for cutting and laminating. It's called our laminate maker and is free for all prince.org members. Try it out!