By Peggy Black, morningmessages.com
Tumbled Blue Topaz ~ Healing and Metaphysical Properties
thanks to reikiwithfriends.wordpress.com/2016/04/21/tumbled-blue-topaz/
http://www.healingcrystals.com
These Tumbled Blue Topaz from India “Extra” grade crystals have a beautiful clear blue color. Blue Topaz crystals help to provide emotional support, repel negativity, and to cultivating the knowledge that “all is as it should be”. Topaz can be used as an aid to meditation and relaxation, and has been used as a protective amulet against psychic attacks and household accidents. The vibrant energy of these Blue Topaz crystals make them excellent aids when one needs to see their place in the universe and to understand the big picture regarding a particular issue.
This Blue Topaz helps to activate the Throat and Third Eye Chakras, and can help attune to higher realms. In addition, Blue Topaz is said to help you recognize your own truth, so you can see if you are indeed on your true path. If you discover that you are off your purpose, Blue Topaz can help you focus your desire to learn.
Guidance from the Universe of the Creator, by the Fairy Kingdom ~ Natalie Glasson, OMNA
By Natalie Glasson, www.omna.org,
The universe of the Creator is vast akin to an ocean and yet it is beyond the limitations of an ocean. Both have the freedom to move, expand and express themselves beautifully. While the waves of the ocean crash against the shore, the universe of the Creator is composed of rhythmic waves. The rhythmic waves of the universe create the energetic body of the universe while expressing its constant transition phases. While the waves of the universe are rhythmic they cannot be predicted creating unique energy expressions. Blossoming of light and energy erupts in beautiful rhythmic patterns of colour and sacred geometry throughout the entire universe of the Creator.
To witness such a display is to witness the Creator in action. When an eruption of light and colour occurs it is a calming and vibrational uplifting process which inspires a similar eruption of light from within the witness. In that moment the Creator is speaking, sending a direct message of inspirational truth, connecting with all who are observing. Eruptions of light cannot be timed within the universe of the Creator as they are unique. The universe of the Creator exists within and around all beings whether they are on the Earth or the inner planes. On the inner planes it is far easier to recognise the constant vibration of the universe of the Creator like a blanket of light embracing you completely, holding wisdom and understanding of all levels of the Creator. However, the universe of the Creator exists within and around you when you exist upon the Earth and communicates with you constantly, often without your awareness.
The beautiful eruptions of light are created because the Creator is constantly and lovingly observing you and all who inhabit the universe of the Creator; the expanse of all that is the Creator. This observation creates unique blossoming of truth, love and guidance in response to you. Some souls say that it is akin to a vision of guidance which appears before them, other souls say it is like a clearing to receive clarity within their beings. Many souls experience an enhanced connection of unity with the Creator which at that moment creates a transformation within their beings. Some souls say that the eruptions from the universe of the Creator are simply the Creator reflecting the transformational shifts occurring within the soul or souls who are observing the expression. We the Fairy Kingdom believe that all of these understandings are true. Each soul has a unique expression and witnesses a unique expression from the Creator.
For those upon the inner planes this is an everyday occurrence while for those upon the Earth it may seem unreal that the Creator’s universe, which is all that is the Creator is in constant observation and communication with you, creating expressions to support you along your spiritual pathway. However, it is the truth, not only are your guides constantly observing and communicating with you, the universe of the Creator which is akin to a large ocean and the fabric of life is also supporting you. If you are unaware or unconscious of the presence of the universe of the Creator around and also flowing through you then it is most likely that you will be oblivious to the eruptions of light which occur before you and within you inspiring your inner light to grow expansively. When you begin to become conscious and aware of the universe of the Creator, connecting into this energy daily you begin to recognise with greater understanding and knowingness the current of the universe of the Creator moving through you and your reality. The current of the universe of the Creator can also be recognised as life force energy. With this understanding we understand that the many levels of the Creator’s universe are present within your breath and can be activated and experienced further through your breathing. While the universe of the Creator seeps into your being and from your being, it is your breathing which creates a conscious connection between your soul and all that is the Creator’s universe while you are in human form. This signifies that the Creator’s eruptions of light can occur in your surrounding areas, upon your breath and within your being, even simultaneously.
We, the Fairy Kingdom wish to encourage you to be observant of and connect into the energies, consciousness, light and vibrations of the universe of the Creator. While being consciously aware of your breathing, we invite you to state each affirmation on one breath. Begin by inhaling and internally state the first affirmation on your exhalation. Then internally state the second affirmation of on your inhalation, with the third on your exhalation. Begin the cycle again with an inhalation, then internally state the first affirmation on the exhalation. Continue with the practice.
‘I am one with the universe of the Creator,
I observe the universe of the Creator,
The universe of the Creator communicates truth to me.’
We encourage you to experience this practice until you feel yourself shifting into an expansive and peaceful consciousness where you are focusing within and maybe even focusing beyond your physical body. We then invite you to complete the cycle of united affirmations and breathing allowing yourself to return to a natural breathing pattern.
Let yourself be conscious, alter and aware of the universe of the Creator as an energy vibration and light which surrounds you completely and flows through you. Through this awareness you may come to recognise that you are one with the universe of the Creator. Please be aware of any colours, sensations and inspiration which may form as you consciously connect with the universe of the Creator.
Please affirm three time out loud: ‘I am consciously connected with the universe of the Creator.’
Simply take time to be observant of the universe of the Creator within and around you. Visions may dawn, light explosions of colours, clarity, sensations, guidance or a unique experience to you. The Creator is waiting to speak with you, to share a message, respond to you and to reflect the truth which exists within your being. It is as if the Creator is communicating with you through the fabric of all the dimensions, through light frequencies and levels of energy creating a unique expression to support you. Remember the universe of the Creator is composed of all aspects of the Creator such as Ascended Masters, Goddess Beings, Star Beings and so forth. When the universe of the Creator responds to you it is all aspects of the Creator and all the consciousness they hold communicating as one with you. It is not only the core of the Creator; it is everything that the Creator is existing in unison at that moment. It is a very powerful process to experience all aspects of the Creator existing in unison and being completely present with you at that moment to support and serve you.
The energy, wisdom and consciousness of the universe of the Creator is immensely powerful because of its expansiveness. This means that any healing you receive is expansive, any guidance you receive is expansive and any alignment you receive will be expansive. The experience itself will create that which you wish expansively and beyond limitations of any form while also promoting a deeper connection with the expansive Creator energy which naturally exists within your being.
Even with your simple awareness of and focus upon the presence of the Creator’s universe around and flowing through you, you will be able to access the richness available to you. In truth you can receive anything you wish to receive, there are no limitations only the limitations you accept and hold in your mind. You will also be able to develop your familiarity with the expansive energy of the Creator within your being, moving through deeper levels of expansion to experience greater synthesis with the Creator. Your enhanced unison with the Creator will fuel, revitalise and empower your current reality, body and spiritual evolution. Expansion exists within any and all aspects of your body and being, it is waiting to be discovered. Within expansion you will recognise all that you seek, love, peace, truth and so much more.
Take some time to allow the universe of the Creator to guide, inspire and reflect the truth within your being for you to observe. With practice you will notice and recognise the universe of the Creator erupting with beauty and love into your consciousness inspiring and guiding you forth.
Let yourself be ready to receive guidance from the source of expansion. This will mean that you will learn to dissolve and move beyond the limitations and boundaries of your current reality and evolutions, experiencing every moment as expansively generous, fulfilling and nurturing.
We encourage you to explore, with your trust, faith and fearlessness you will discover the truth of the Creator and its presence flowing through you and all around your being.
We are the Fairy Kingdom, Our Consciousness United.
More from the Fairy Consciouness
Natalie Glasson channels a Free Weekly Channeled Message of Wisdom from Ascended Masters, Archangel, Angels and Celestial Beings to share guidance for the ascension and spiritual development of humanity.
You are welcome to share Natalie’s Messages but please respect Natalie’s work by including ‘Natalie Glasson www.omna.org,’ Thank you.
Subscribe now to her newsletter to receive each free weekly message in your email box. Click Here
An Update on the Shift in Consciousness – Mars & Pluto Retrogrades
http://lightworkers.org/channeling/220309/update-shift-consciousness-mars-pluto-retrogrades
An Update on the Shift in Consciousness – Mars & Pluto Retrogrades
Many opportunities for magnificent manifestations of the lives that we desire within the Promised Land lie right before us.
Not only have we, as lightworkers, successfully re-organized the grid’s alignment with Gaia so that all are beginning to wake up quickly now, as the veils are being seen through in the clarity of consciousness that is flowing in all directions, but the certitude with which the LOVE and LIGHT will guide the way through the reactions, as those who are waking up see the illusion for what it is, assures us inside that the Divine Plan will not only anchors now but provide safe and clear pathways for resurrection, soul alignment and re-creation at this magnificent time not only in the acceleration of the Shift in Consciousness, but also of the Holy Promised Land as Heaven is recreated in Cities of Light on Planet Earth.
There are two significant astrological events that have occurred in the last couple of days that I would like to comment on within this context.
1. Mars Retrograde for 10 weeks on April 17th until June 29th – Personal Lives
As Mars goes retrograde now, there is a time of some re-sorting of our lives and who we chose to create with vibrationally.
Over the last weeks, in 2016 we have been preparing for this 10 week time of re-setting by jumping timelines, clearing karma, clearing genetic and mass consciousness agreements, and being guided by our souls on how best to prepare for mass consciousness awakening and holographic realignments into Freedom and Truth.
Each of us has a very specific vibrational template and platform we have landed upon based on the choices we have made and the quantum leaps we have taken.
Now a sifting, a sorting process begins, to bring our human selves into alignment with these new platforms and vibrations and to call to us the soul family and Divine Plan co-creators who we are working with EXCITEDLY in the higher planes for many projects and adventures!
You KNOW in your heart of what I speak. Your MULTIDIMENSIONAL self knows the gatherings, the celebrations with Metatron, with the Archangels, with the Ascended Masters in parties and excited plans as we bring the Ascension into present time on the planet, our beloved Gaia.
Gaia herself, is poised, in great and grand excitement to liberate humanity from the tetherings of survival, lack and struggle.
Inner Earth Crystals begin to alight.
The Golden Glows of Atlantis and Lemuria and the unlimited potentials of Higher Consciousness will be seen not only glowing within the radiance of those who hold Light Bodies and Adam Kadmon templates, but will be seen in the refined areas where LightWorkers who match vibrationally gather to create communities of LIGHT, CITIES OF LIGHT, in the new vibrations of the Promised Land.
This is the time, known since before the Fall, known of yore, of the resurrection of TRUTH and of FREEDOM.
The process means that many will need to make conscious quickly what we have taken months to clear, to keep up with the Ascension vibrations of Gaia.
They will be guided and assisted.
We will be their guides in form as well. Not really to tell or to instruct unless we are asked or someone attends a workshop or class we are offering, but to LEAD BY EXAMPLE: TO BE THE LIGHT, TO BE THE LOVE.
This grand time now unfolds, so that by the time Mars goes direct, by the end of June, we will be ready to take magnificent new steps in revealing who we are and have always been.
No longer is there a need to do this alone.
No longer is there a need to struggle.
No longer is there a need for any waiting.
Your soul family will align with you in ease.
As so it shall be. And so it is.
2. Pluto Retrograde for 5 months on April 18th until September 26th, 2016 – Collective Lives
The world is waking up now.
Pluto’s retrograde is a time for humanity as a whole to catch up to the vibrational fields that Gaia is vibrating in now, in syncopation with the Grid of Light, as we have successfully anchored the tipping point where massive celebrations are under way in the Higher Planes.
This 5 month period will potentially see great events of mass awakening, revelations and re-settings for many at community and collective, national and international levels, as information sets come forward that reveal TRUTH.
This means that for the collective, that do not necessarily have the tools to consciously manage the release of energy from their fields, there might be some elements of confusion and fear.
This is where YOU come in.
As you reset over the next 10 weeks while Mars is in retrograde, you are preparing to SHOW yourself, to LIGHT the way, and to REASSURE that all is well and part of the DIVINE PLAN.
Each will choose their own rate of waking up and consciousness raising.
Each will be guided.
There is no right or wrong way.
There is only a movement, a return to LOVE and to LIGHT.
Some will be angry. Some will want to blame. Some will not want to hear.
Yet, in YOUR stability, in YOUR certainty, in YOUR graciousness, in your exemplification of LIGHT and of LOVE, you show the way, beloved LEADER and WAYSHOWER in form.
I honor you for your presence in reading this missive.
I honor you for your presence on this planet at this auspicious time of Ascension from a fallen consciousness, in Form, as has never been experienced before.
And I honor you for your BEAUTY, your GRACE, your LOVE and your LIGHT.
Thank you for being here.
Thank you for making difference.
Every one you touch in your life is affected by you.
This is OUR time.
As Pluto goes direct again by late September 2016, much will have changed.
The past will begin to seem as a dream that evanesces and melts away.
A new arising, a new dispensation, a new world dawns.
And so it is.
Many blessings,
Shariq Mahbub
www.goldsunhealing.com
www.facebook.com/shariqgold
Channelled by : Shariq
R.I.P. PRINCE ~ WE LOVE YOU! WE’LL MISS YOU!! ~:~:~:~ The gift of Purple Rain from Prince ~:~:~:~ and more……
~:~:~:~
R.I.P. PRINCE ~ WE LOVE YOU! WE’LL MISS YOU!! ~:~:~:~
In Honor of Prince, I’m titling my recent painting “Purple Rain” – Goldenlight, www.thegoldenlightchannel.
~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~
Prince Amazing Guitar Solos:
~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~
https://twitter.com/NASA/status/723233728747724800/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc^tfw
A purple nebula, in honor of Prince, who passed away today. https://t.co/7buFWWExMw pic.twitter.com/ONQDwSQwVa
— NASA (@NASA) April 21, 2016
~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~
~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~
Published on Apr 21, 2016
R.I.P Prince an amazing guitar player! Your music will never be forgotten!
~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~
http://lightworkers.org/channeling/220273/gift-purple-rain-prince
The gift of Purple Rain from Prince
21 April 2016 – 7:03pm | petra
Purple Rain
The purple rain has fallen and cleared the earth of many illnesses that are within each human body.
The purple rain is like a shower of light falling on earth in a way no one will ever see or feel but will heal in ways you cannot imagine.
My life has been full of purple rain and with my death I give you the last of what is needed to give humanity a chance on really moving from the disconnection they feel into the purple light they need at times to receive their inner awareness.
Time has filled my life with this purple rain and given me the amazing gift that was already within me but amplified through me as life continuous on without me.
This is the time where I say goodbye and move on through this purple rain into my own realization of being, not to be heard from again, but as I have received this gift it is now yours to follow through.
Your own realization within will be supported not by calling upon me, but calling upon all that is within you to support you and now this includes the purple rain.
The purple rain is all those frequencies you are afraid to find within you yet are part of you as you realize the God within you that is you.
I leave you showered with the Purple Rain that is from within your own source.
Prince
April 21, 2016
Petra Margolis
www.ascendedmasters.org
Copyright ©2016 All Rights Reserved
This message may be posted.
~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~
~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~
12 Wildest Prince Moments ~ Rolling Stone (who has temporarily changed the color of their online logo to purple in honor of Prince)
~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~
Breaking News
Prince: In Memoriam
In honor of Prince, an early look at next week’s cover, “Purple Rain”: https://t.co/lF0Nwyd7q8 pic.twitter.com/myN15OxsCO
— The New Yorker (@NewYorker) April 21, 2016
~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~
Chris Rock Looks Back at ‘Purple Rain’: ’30 Years Later, There’s Nothing Remotely Close’
10/24/2014 by Chris Rock
source: http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6296625/chris-rock-prince-purple-rain-1984-30th-anniversary
Prince performing on the Purple Rain tour in 1984.
Richard E. Aaron/MPTV
“When Purple Rain came out, I was a DJ with guys on my block, playing block parties. That summer, the big thing was Run-D.M.C. — Born in the USA, blah blah blah, the streets were playing “Sucker MCs” and “It’s Like That.” I remember “When Doves Cry” mixed into “It’s Like That” perfectly, and even at a block party, when all we wanted to hear was hip-hop, “When Doves Cry” was so hardcore, such an amazing record. “Take Me With U” is probably my favorite on the album, it’s just a beautiful song. But those drums on “When Doves Cry?” With no bass? And the lyric was not corny at all. It makes all the sense in the world, and it makes no sense. You can’t write a song like that now — music today has no metaphors, it’s all literal. Now they would make you say, “When love dies” or something.
A Look Back at 1984: Full Coverage
There’s not a bad record on Purple Rain. Thriller is allegedly the best album of all time, and that has at least two bad songs on it. There’s no “Baby Be Mine” on Purple Rain.
Prince Returning to ‘Saturday Night Live’ in November
I remember seeing the movie two or three times the first day it came out. It was mind-boggling. Prince was funny. He was really cool — he’s one of the last guys with a real mystique. We were all like, “Where the fuck is Minneapolis? Who are these guys?” I saw the Purple Rain tour from the last row of the arena. It was one of my first concerts. We all wore purple. I forget which girl I went with, but I didn’t get laid. Anyway, I’ve been lucky to sit in the last row and to sit on stage with the guy. He’s the best there is. Thirty years later, there’s nothing remotely close.” – As told to Alan Light
An edited version of this story appeared in the Nov. 1 issue of Billboard.
~~~~
Prince is dead at 57. The prolific songwriter and performer’s decades of music transcended and remade funk, rock and R&B.
Your Prince Memories and Tributes
We’ve rounded up some of the many, many comments you’ve left and responses you’ve sent us over the last day.
‘Prince Was Our True Artist’: Readers Share Their Memories
Times readers react to the death of Prince.
Remembering Prince, on the Front Page
Prince’s death was major news across Europe, where newspapers rushed to create front pages that paid tribute, often in hues of purple, to the musician.
Sheriff Releases Transcript of 911 Call From Prince’s Home
The sheriff’s office in Carver County, Minn., where Prince was found dead in his home on Thursday, has released a transcript of the 911 call made by an unidentified man and woman from the musician’s home, known as Paisley Park.
A copy of the transcript was posted online by Minnesota Public Radio.
The call was made at 9:43 a.m., and the transcript reveals that the caller was in considerable distress.
Man: We have someone who is unconscious.
Emily Colestock, sheriff’s office dispatcher: O.K., what’s the address?
Man: Um, we’re at Prince’s house.
Ms. Colestock: O.K., does anybody know the address? Is there any mail around that you could look at?
Man: Yeah, yeah, O.K., hold on.
Ms. Colestock: O.K., your cellphone’s not going to tell me where you’re at, so I need you to find me an address.
Man: Yeah, we have, um, yeah, we have, um, so yeah, um, the person is dead here.
Ms. Colestock: O.K., get me the address please.
Man: O.K., O.K., I’m working on it.
Ms. Colestock: Concentrate on that.
Man: And the people are just distraught.
Ms. Colestock: I understand they are distraught, but…
Man: I’m working on it, I’m working on it.
Eventually, the man and the woman supplied the address for Paisley Park: 7801 Audubon Road, in Chanhassen, Minn.
When emergency workers arrived, it was too late.
“You can cancel anybody going to Audubon,” an ambulance dispatcher told the sheriff’s office, in a separate call. “Confirmed D.O.A.”
NASA Joins Those Honoring Prince
NASA posted a photograph of a purple nebula in memory of Prince, to pay its respects to the genre-defying singer, songwriter and producer.
Broadway Shows Pay Tribute
The cast of “The Color Purple” led the audience in a sing-along of “Purple Rain” on Thursday night.
Members of the audience clapped and waved their arms in time to the refrains.
And at “Hamilton,” the cast led the audience in a cheering, dancing rendition of Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy.”
Prince’s Death Is a Surprise to Those Who Saw Him Recently
“Wait a few days before you waste any prayers.”
That was Prince’s reassurance to fans gathered for a dance party on Saturday night at his Paisley Park complex in Chanhassen, Minn., after reports that he had suffered a health scare during a flight on Friday.
This famously private performer warned the hometown crowd to not always trust the media, soothing them at least for the moment. A representative insisted he had only had the flu.
Days later, Prince was dead at 57, discovered not breathing after an emergency call at 9:43 a.m. on Thursday in an elevator at Paisley Park, a complex that houses his estate and studio. His death shocked not only the legions of fans who had somewhat selfishly thought him to be otherworldly and invincible but also those who had seen him out and about in recent days: Prince was seen riding his bike, hosting a party and visiting a local record store and jazz club. Read More
Prince’s Death Is a Surprise to Those Who Saw Him Recently
Fans in Minneapolis reported seeing the musician around the city just days before his death.
A Musical Prodigy
Prince got his first taste of stardom in 1979, after his single “I Wanna Be Your Lover” became a hit. But he had already spent much of his life immersed in music.
Prince’s father, John Nelson, played piano in a jazz trio that also featured his mother, Mattie Shaw. In a 1984 interview with the Minneapolis newspaper, The Star Tribune, Ms. Shaw said that from the time her son was a toddler, he was obsessed.
“He could hear music even from a very early age,” she said. “When he was 3 or 4, we’d go to the department store and he’d jump on the radio, the organ, any type of instrument there was.”
According to a 1983 profile in Rolling Stone, Mr. Nelson gave his son an instrument of his own — a piano — when he was 7. He otherwise relied on improvised equipment, such as a box filled with newspapers, which served as a makeshift drum set.
When he was 13, his father bought him an electric guitar. He learned to play keyboards and the saxophone. He never developed the ability to read music, and did not seem to need to.
He drew inspiration from an array of musicians from various genres. His sound reflected the influence of black artists, such as James Brown and Sly and the Family Stone, as well as bands like Fleetwood Mac and Carlos Santana’s band, Santana.
“Half the musicians I knew only listened to one type of music,” he told Rolling Stone. “That wasn’t good enough for me.”
Prince formed several different groups in his adolescence, including a band called Champagne. He first started to work in a studio with that band, learning how to record and produce his own music. He learned so much that, after being signed to Warner Brothers at the age of 18, the label trusted him to self-produce his 1978 debut album, “For You.”
At that point, he was still about a year away from stardom, but the label had already shown its faith in him. According to Rolling Stone, before Prince had even recorded a note for the label, it signed him to a three-album deal.
Video: The Prince of Infectious Pop
Video: By JOHN WOO, ROBIN STEIN and YOUSUR AL-HLOU
Prince sold more than 100 million records, won seven Grammys and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004. Here’s a look at the lengthy career of the ambitious musician, who died at 57.
A Stop on the Subway
On Twitter, fans of Prince were posting photos of the sign for the Prince Street subway station in Manhattan, with some alterations.
With ‘Dear 2016,’ Music Fans Lament a Bad Year
After spending winter mourning the deaths of high-profile musicians, including David Bowie and Glenn Frey, legions of fans declared that they’d had enough with 2016.
On social media, they railed against the year’s bad news as they grieved for Prince, the latest music legend to die this year. Their messages ranged from wheedling to angry and were tagged “Dear 2016,” a phrase that trended on Twitter by Thursday afternoon.
Many commenters simply castigated the year, and one made the point that Denise Matthews, the singer, model and actress known as Vanity who toured with Prince in the 1980s, also died recently.
Others begged 2016 to spare celebrities who were still alive, like Betty White, Bruce Springsteen, Robert Plant and Stevie Nicks.
Many noted other recently deceased musicians like Maurice White, Ian Fraser Kilmister, known as Lemmy, and Phife Dawg, often conveying their emotions with strong language, emojis or a GIF of an obscene gesture aimed at 2016. The sentiment was echoed by the website Vice in a widely circulated post.
One commenter took the opportunity to express frustration with the seemingly interminable presidential contest.
And another asked why so many musicians had died, providing a possible answer in the process.
Near Prince’s Home, Fans Recall How ‘He Stretched the Boundaries’
Video: By REUTERS and THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hundreds of fans and mourners gathered across the street from Prince’s blocked-off complex here, some wedging purple bouquets into the fence, some crying, others taking selfies.
“I lost my virginity” while listening to Prince, said John Ford, 44, a history teacher from nearby Edina. “He brought the world together with music. Black and white people rocked to Prince together.”
Mr. Ford, who was with his wife and 3-year-old son on a hill across from Prince’s studio, said the musician taught him how spirituality and sexuality interrelate, a revelation for someone raised in the Bible Belt.
“I never wore heels, but I could,” he said. “He stretched the boundaries.”
Terrie Verduzco, a 52-year-old nurse from Lakeville, described Prince’s music as a permission slip to explore her wilder side as a college student. She recalled nights at First Avenue, a music venue in Minneapolis where she donned strange get-ups, including a garbage bag and a pink rain coat.
“It was my let-loose phase — let loose and be crazy, that’s what you could do at First Avenue,” she said.
Obama: ‘Prince Did It All’
President Obama issued a statement about Prince’s death, praising him as a “creative icon” who left an indelible imprint on the sound and trajectory of popular music.
“As one of the most gifted and prolific musicians of our time, Prince did it all,” Mr. Obama said in a statement issued by the White House while he was on board Air Force One traveling to London. “Funk. R&B. Rock and roll. He was a virtuoso instrumentalist, a brilliant bandleader, and an electrifying performer.”
Mr. Obama was a fan. Last year, he and Michelle Obama, the first lady, threw a secret party at the White House where Prince performed for about 500 guests including dozens of celebrities and lobbyists, an event that later drew criticism because it was not made public.
The White House refused to confirm Prince’s presence, but attendees took to Twitter to gush about it. In his post, Rev. Al Sharpton said Prince and Stevie Wonder had performed on keyboards together at the party, which was held in the ornate East Room.
“Unbelievable experience,” he wrote.
The Prince Symbol: Or, When Prince Wasn’t Prince, and Why
Prince was a fitting stage name for would-be musical royalty, and Prince Rogers Nelson started and finished out his career performing under his Christian name. But though it’s clumsy, it’s not incorrect to refer to him as the artist formerly known as “the artist formerly known as Prince.”
Prince adapted a glyph that he called “the love symbol” (Ƭ̵̬̊) in September 1993, almost a year after he had released an album under the same title. The symbol, which mashes together the traditional male and female symbols, was often mocked at the time, as many saw it as an empty or incomprehensible gesture.
But the name change was a way for Prince to signal his displeasure with his label, Warner Brothers, which had grown frustrated with his prolificacy, and was unwilling to release much of the music he created. In the biography, “Prince: Inside the Music and the Masks,” Ronin Ro explained that the name change allowed Prince to gain some measure of artistic and commercial independence.
“As Ƭ̵̬̊, he could release new stuff on a smaller label. It’d be a dream come true, to finally release as much music as he created,” Mr. Ro writes, in an excerpt provided by Vanity Fair.
He did manage to release much of his music independently through the rest of the decade, after breaking his two-decade contract with Warner Brothers in 1996. But the name “Prince” was still tied up with the label until the millennium ended. In 2000, months after the link to Warner Brothers expired, Prince announced that he was once again Prince.
Frank Ocean Remembers Prince as ‘a Vanguard and Genius’
The singer Frank Ocean responded to Prince’s death on his Tumblr, calling Prince “a vanguard and genius by every metric I know of.”
Mr. Ocean wrote, “He learned early on how little value to assign to someone else’s opinion of you. An infectious sentiment that seemed soaked into his clothes, his hair, his walk, his guitar and his primal scream.”
Mr. Ocean has covered “When You Were Mine,” from 1980’s “Dirty Mind,” at live shows, and called that song his favorite of all time. He also talked about Prince’s impact on his identity:
“He made me feel more comfortable with how I identify sexually simply by his display of freedom from and irreverence for obviously archaic ideas like gender conformity, etc. He moved me to be more daring and intuitive with my own work by his demonstration — his denial of the prevailing model.”
That Was Quick. Snapchat Adds a ‘Purple Rain’ Filter
(For those unfamiliar with Snapchat, the filter superimposes purple rain droplets over photos taken with the app.)
Prince’s ‘Sublime’ Last Show in Atlanta
Prince’s last time playing for fans was a pair of intimate back-to-back shows last Thursday at the Fox Theater in Atlanta, part of his “Piano & a Microphone” tour.
A review in the Atlanta Journal Constitution described the atmosphere as rapturous.
Prince played stripped-down versions of his songs, sitting solo at a purple baby grand piano, where he showed that he is “as nimble behind a keyboard as he is with a guitar strapped across his chest,” wrote the reviewer, Melissa Ruggieri.
The Atlanta shows had been scheduled a week earlier, but were postponed because of a bout with the flu, which was evident in his speaking voice, Ms. Ruggieri wrote. But, she added, “when Prince sang, he sounded sublime.”
Another reviewer at Paste magazine captured the grateful mood of his fans, some of whom paid $1,000 a seat to be at the sold-out performances.
“And, ultimately, Prince can do and play whatever he wants,” wrote the reviewer, Bonnie Stiernberg wrote. “He’s Prince, and he’s here blessing us with his presence. Especially for a show that almost wasn’t, every song feels like a gift.”
How The Times Has Covered Prince
The New York Times has been covering Prince for 35 years.
In 1981, Stephen Holden wrote one of the first reviews of Prince for the paper. He saw the rising star at a sold-out concert at the Ritz, noting that “four months ago, when Prince played the same club, it was half-empty.” He added: “With his sassy grace and precocious musicality, he is heir to the defiant rock-and-roll tradition of Elvis Presley, Mick Jagger and Jimi Hendrix.”
Later that year, Robert Palmer wrote the newspaper’s first large-scale feature on Prince, focusing on how he challenged sexual and racial stereotypes. “One suspects that as time goes on, more and more American pop will reflect a similarly biracial orientation,” he wrote. “If that’s so, Prince’s black-white synthesis isn’t just a picture of what could be, it’s a prophecy.”
Prince was a fully-fledged superstar by 1984, the year he released the album and film “Purple Rain.” Michiko Kakutani compared Prince to Michael Jackson, the other King of Pop. And Mr. Palmer raved about the new album. “The hard-hitting lyrics give his ‘Purple Rain’ album a highly charged text to work from,” he wrote, “and the music feels equally intense and equally liberated, the best of Prince’s career.”
In 1996, our music critic Jon Pareles scored an interview with the reclusive star, in which Prince talked about his family, his rapid songwriting process and his spirituality. “Sometimes I stand in awe of what I do myself,” Prince said. “I feel like a regular person, but I listen to this and wonder, where did it come from? I believe definitely in the higher power that gave me this talent.”
The pair touched upon spirituality again in a 2004 interview in Minneapolis, shortly after Prince was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. “I always knew I had a relationship with God,” Prince said. “But I wasn’t sure God had a relationship with me.”
In 2007, Kelefa Sanneh reviewed Prince’s Super Bowl halftime show, writing: “His performance last night at Super Bowl XLI will surely go down as one of the most thrilling halftime shows ever; certainly the most unpredictable, and perhaps the best.”
Last September, Prince released the first part of his final album, “HitNRun.” Jon Pareles’s review praised Prince’s never-ending experimentation and innovation, calling it “a proud display of quirks and an effort to come to terms with the possibilities of electronic dance music and all its gizmos.”
~:~:~:~:~:~:~
Friends and Fans Remember Prince
The New Yorker magazine
excerpt from http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/remembering-prince
“…As a kid in the mid-eighties, the color palette of my imagination was washed-out and dull. And then, one day, there was radiance. It was the audacity of all that purple that first drew me to Prince, the pure hubris of a man with an unusual name draping himself in an unloved color. Purple not just as a color, I would soon discover, but purple as a philosophy and worldview, as a shade of night they didn’t want you to know about. The sky was blue, red was the color of passion and rage, trees and money were green, but what was purple? Purple was mystery. It was erotic, whatever that meant. Purple was imperious and arrogant, neither masculine nor feminine. Purple as a shade of black. Before I knew the word “transgressive,” I knew what it felt like to sit with a stranger’s weirdness, and reckon with inscrutability by basking in it.
The representative, late-career Prince anecdote involves him showing up, laying waste to all in his vicinity, whether onstage or on the basketball court, and then vanishing. The thing about Prince was always the sheer effortlessness of his swagger. He arrived in my imagination fully formed, as a figure so certain of who he was and what his music was supposed to sound like, that I felt compelled to believe in him and his purple inertia, even if it at first confused me. That color baffled me, until I grew to love it myself, and it prepared me for everything else: a symbol that couldn’t be pronounced, the thinness of the line separating one person’s body from another, a path that you made by flying.”
—Hua Hsu
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 213
- 214
- 215
- 216
- 217
- …
- 233
- Next Page »
You must be logged in to post a comment.