My Love is Forever: Natasha White-Smallwood

 Dyes Got the Answers 2 Ur ?s is celebrating 35 years since the release of Prince's first studio album “For You,” with a series of stories featuring readers who have been fans from the very beginning.

Courtesy of Natasha White-Smallwood

  It all started when Warner Brothers Records released “For You,”on April 7, 1978, with the album's first single, “Soft and Wet” being released approximately two months later. The album was not a runaway success, reaching only #163 on the U.S. Billboard Pop Charts and #21 on the U.S. Billboard Soul Charts.     Yet, Prince wrote, produced and recorded the entire album, (except “Soft and Wet,” where Chris Moon received credit for co-writing the lyrics,) and laid the groundwork for his legendary career, according to the Web site princevault.com.

  Natasha White-Smallwood, 49, of San Francisco, became a Prince fan in the summer of 1978, when she was 14 years old. She has an Associate's Degree in Fashion Merchandising and worked in retail and fashion for 16 years. She recently did a telephone interview with K Nicola Dyes where she reflected on being a Prince fan for nearly 35 years, including how his music has impacted her life, her favorite concert moments and meeting her favorite artist at the "wreka stow" at the very beginning of his career:

"I was a Prince fan before Prince was really Prince! When he was trying to get it going..."

  ?: Can you remember the first time you ever heard Prince sing? Tell me how it made you feel?

  NW: I am a loyal, old, patient, back-in-the-day “wrecka stow” fan... How it all started was hearing "Soft and Wet" on the radio (in June 1978), not knowing who was singing that song and being intrigued...Truly intrigued because it something different, new, fresh; (it) didn't sound like everything else. It was (the) falsetto, a hell of a falsetto. And whose name is Prince? Who names their son Prince?

  Then, (I heard) the "tell me that you that love me girl" (part of the song) and his (natural speaking) voice was so deep. He wasn't your average run-of-the-mill brother in the record industry. It wasn't like Cameo or George Clinton and all those folks on stage (at the time) who I always loved. It like somebody from the old school like David Bowie, Little Richard and who was that who he said influenced him... “Narcotic,” you know who I'm talking about...Ike Turner!

  He was like a one-man show. He couldn't do that on stage, of course,...but, knowing him, he would have tried. You had all these groups: The Jacksons; The Sylvers; The Commodores; The Bar-Kays. There were so many groups at that time it was ridiculous.

  When you heard “Soft and Wet” that was the jam, that was the summer jam. He was old school, just like his dad was from the old school. (I was) just joyed that I could hear something new and different. I didn't catch the name for a long time. But, finally I heard them say Prince, (I thought) "Who the hell is that?" I had never heard that name before...

  ?: Have you ever met Prince? If so, tell me a little bit about it.

  NW: [W]hen I heard he was going to be at that record store, (the now closed Evan's House of Music in San Francisco), I broke my neck trying to get there-- so much so I forgot my camera! I was like “I am going down there to see him.” (I) had gone to see George Clinton and Cameo (at that record store). I finally found out (the record signing) was on a Saturday (and I) didn't have to be down there worrying about running into a whole bunch of people because nobody knew who he was ...

  I cleaned my room really fast, ate my breakfast and couldn't keep my breakfast down. I don't know why I was nervous, I didn't even know this man. It was like a first date. That was almost what it felt like. I was only 14. My cousin was late and I was afraid he was going to leave...and I forgot my camera...and she didn't even remind me. She was taking all long to get there...I wish I would have brought my mother...

Courtesy of Princevault.com

  (When we got there) I saw this man with this corduroy jacket and the hugest Afro you think you've ever seen. He had his back to us, so we still had to walk around (the table) to see what he looks like...Then I saw his face and I was like “damn, he is fine!” You have to remember that I only 14. That's almost hot mama time. It's as true as I am telling you. I (was) standing in awe.

  He had the crease in the corduroys, you know you banging when you got the crease in the corduroys! He was looking nice and succulent, like fine wine, fine champagne, you know, like the finer things.

  He was signing autographs. He was putting his name on the ("Soft and Wet") 45s. He was giving those away and he was giving away the (For You) album cover with nothing in it. He's sitting, doing his thing, sitting there smiling. I was standing there salivating...I'm almost salivating at the mouth just talking about it.

   He hands me the record and I'm holding his hand, touching his hand. And I said “can I have a kiss?” and he just looked at me like “girl what is wrong with you?” But, he just smiled. He put his hand down to finish signing something and I just gave him a peck on the cheek. (After leaving the table), my cousin was like "what is wrong with you?" I was like "I didn't kiss him on the mouth!"  I had to go for know for what I know. I was just mad at her that I didn't bring my camera. He didn't say yes, he didn't say no. I knew I had to do it, because I knew that I would never have the opportunity again. I knew he was going to blow up. I just knew it. It took a minute, it took a couple minutes...

  Rick James might have snuck a couple songs in that summer, but, I couldn't tell you what songs. (I said) “whatever Rick James, I have to go see what this dude (Prince) is doing.” It's funny that they toured together...

  ?: How many times have you seen Prince in concert? When was the first time? The last time?

  NW: I would say at least 25 times. First concert was at (Bill Graham's) Civic Auditorium (in San Francisco) in February 1982 with The Time...that was thirty years ago. (I was) ecstatic because we were up front, we were drunk, we were high, we were groovin'. (We got the tickets from) some off -brand radio station. The man was asking the silliest questions: where was (Prince) from, when was (Prince) born? But, I was like that's okay, we're gonna get all your tickets.

  We went (to the concert) on two nights. It was hell of a lot of us and we (were) all the in front. We all kind of bumrushed the front of that stage. It was general admission, we had (those) tickets and you couldn't tell us nothing. Prince fans from way back...(there) were seven of us. We only got two tickets for the first night. Then we told (friends and family) to call. He was only supposed to be there one night (but, a second night was added). People were buying his tickets fast back then.

  (The last time I saw him in concert was) 2004 in San Jose (at the HP Pavillion). [H]e looked like an ant, because I had jacked-up seats. I remember him dancing saying he didn't have no booty. I remember that. That was hilarious to me.

  ?: What is your favorite Prince song and album? What is your least favorite?

  NW: I have to pick one album and one song? Can we (say) old Prince album and song and newer Prince album and song?

  (The album) 1999... I want to say For You...because that had a lot of good of songs on it, too. This is difficult. Damn...you know how many songs that man has? 

  Okay can I have five? Can I have five on it? (starts singing "I Got 5 on It" by The Luniz): "For You," "It's Gonna Be Lonely," "Automatic," "Do U Lie?," "The Dance," man that song...I know I'm forgetting some, but, I'm just gonna go with (those songs).

  You know, I don't I like (the songs) "Cream" and "Diamonds and Pearls," but, I really don't like "Sometimes it Snows in April"...it (sounds like) an old dude in the woods in Minnesota with the bears.

  My least favorite album? You know what album I don't like? Planet Earth. I only bought it just to have it. I tried--I really, really tried--but, I just couldn't get into it.

Courtesy of digitalbusstop.com

  ?: What's your favorite Prince movie?

  NW: Under the Cherry Moon. Why? Because it's different. It's not the greatest movie, of course. I liked Purple Rain, who didn't? (But), everybody was trying to jump on Prince's you-know-what. I think he did a pretty good job (in Under the Cherry Moon), not knowing what the hell he was doing. I see movies today that are not better than that and they ragged on him so bad. And that music was impeccable...except that one song ("Sometimes it Snows in April").

  ?: Who is your favorite protegee/ associated artist? Why?

  NW: Sheila E... She's one of the most talented ones. She never wanted to sing and she did pretty good to get out there and do that.

  ?: Was there anything that Prince has done that, as a fan, you did not understand?

  NW: He's a strange being...But, when he signed that contract (with Warner Brothers Records) and kind of reneged on it...Then he changed his name to his symbol and I thought that was kind of crazy. But, then I thought about it and that was smart. He was still able to do his music and not be obligated to them (Warner Brothers Records).

  The main thing I didn't understand that was why he was getting all these non-talented females (to record albums)...but, then I realized he was trying to get the booty. He was trying to get some tail. He has done some strange things that we don't understand...

  ?: How is being a Prince fan is important to your everyday life? How has it influenced your everyday activities?

  NW: (Prince's work) makes me skeptical about some of these (artists) that are out today... (it's) not real music. I have always been into music. My mother was a musician, and my brother was a musician. My son is (also) into music.

  (Prince's) music has brought me into my whole entire youth through today... He had a song for everything...he had a song to lift you up or let you “boo hoo”. My personal opinion is that he helped me through a lot with his music and his music has always been impeccable to me. He has enlightened my life with his music. His music has always been a great soundtrack to me.

  ?: What is the most unique piece of memorabilia you own or have owned in the past?

  NW: My damn 45 (record) that (Prince) signed! I don't think, I know for a fact, that someone lifted it from me, someone took it from my home, (sometime) between 1980 and 1983. I still have all my buttons that I had when Purple Rain came out and a (7-inch) purple vinyl of ("When Doves Cry" backed with) "17 Days". And one picture I actually took (of Prince onstage) myself when he was in concert in 1982.

  ?: How have your family and friends responded to your love for Prince?

 NW: My mother was always supportive of everything. I even dragged my poor mother to a Prince concert in 1993. We had a ball...We were ushers, got paid and we got to see Prince. My brother worked for Bill Graham Presents and we did security for the Lovesexy concert at the Oakland Coliseum. I met Stevie Wonder, Pete Escovedo and Narada Michael Walden... That show was awesome.

Courtesy of Billboard.com

  ?: Why do you think you're still a Prince fan after nearly 35 years?

  NW: The love of him and his music, from the first time to right now today. I don't think his (current) albums are as good as they could be. (But), the point I'm making, is he's is a phenomenal musician. Point blank. Period.

  ?: What are you hoping for as a Prince fan in 2013?

  NW: To see him get groove his on and that I can I get my groove on with him... (with) a great seat. I want to see him this year and this my 5-0 (50^th birthday)... I need to see him righteously...You know, that old school feeling. You know that song...(singing "You've Lost that Loving Feeling," by The Righteous Brothers)... that old Prince feeling...I need that in my life...

  ?: What message do you have for new fans who might have just discovered Prince?

  NW: You have tuned in to one of the greatest artists of all time. Be patient and love him for who he is. 

Stay beautiful, Kristi

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Lead photo: Natasha White-Smallwood.

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Movie Star: Original videos featuring Beautiful Nights' Marcus Scott

  Check out these cool videos produced by Willie Adams, aka DJ Spooky Electronica. They both highlight Beautiful Nights' own Marcus Scott, promoting his featured appearance at Purple Funk SF's New Year's Eve Party on Dec. 31, 2012 at Rassela's Jazz Club & Restaurant in San Francisco:

Stay beautiful, Kristi

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Life o' the Party: Beautiful Nights Goes 2 Hollywood

 
  Beautiful Nights is going back to Cali.

  Marcus Scott, of the Beautiful Nights Facebook Page and Prince parties, based in Chicago, is headed to Southern California next week to assist with "Welcome 2 Paisley Park in LA," a HEAD party hosted by Myles Gullette, better known as DJ Myles Matisse, at 9 p.m. Jan. 26, at the Palms Bar, 8572 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood. This is a 21 and over event and there is a $10 cover charge.

  The night will include music and videos by Prince, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and associated artists and there will be several giveaways courtesy of internet radio station lodoun247.com, which specializes in hip hop and R&B. Matisse also said he will decorate the space "from floor to ceiling" with Prince and Minneapolis Sound-related album covers, photos and his own original paintings which will give the club a visual flair that is missing from many other Prince parties. There will also be a "Princely" drink menu, where the cocktails will be named after songs from the night's featured artists.

  Partygoers will also get to see some very special surprise guests connected to the world of Prince, he added.
  "Just expect the best, most complete experience that you've ever had at a Prince party," he said. "One full of funk and the Minneapolis sound. Expect to have your senses rocked in every way."

Courtesy of Myles Matisse

  Matisse, the self-described "producer/host/dj/vj/designer" of the HEAD Prince parties has hosted between 15 and 20 events at the Palms Bar since 2008. Maneca Lightner, best known as the model on three album covers for Prince's jazz-based Madhouse project, even hosted one of the parties.

  However, the parties have had modest turnouts-- about 75 people attended to the party Lightner hosted -- and approximately 25 people went to the last party in December 2011. He said the LA Prince fans are a tight-knit group and that the word of mouth on his parties rarely spreads outside this community. He tried other methods -- such as handing out approximately 400 flyers outside the Los Angeles Forum during Prince's last stint there in 2011-- but, attendance did not significantly increase.

Courtesy of Myles Matisse

   Tamiko Umoren, originally from Chicago and now an LA resident, is an acquaintance of Matisse and Scott's friend. She was the one who first suggested bringing the two of them together to help increase attendance at the HEAD parties. She said she got the idea after attending the first Beautiful Nights party last November in Chicago and Purple Funk SF's New Year's Eve party in San Francisco a little more than a month later. After seeing the crowd's response whenever Scott walked into a room, she approached him at the party in San Francisco to see if he would want to work on future HEAD party. He said he would.
  She sent Matisse a Facebook message to gauge his interest and he also agreed. Scott, in turn, got in touch with him to discuss helping with promotion,-- including increased advertising on the Beautiful Nights and Purple Funk SF Facebook pages-- and bringing in special guests. The collaboration quickly grew from there.

Courtesy of Myles Matisse

 "I figured it's gonna be a perfect match. Why not give it a shot?" Umoren, who has been a Prince fan since she was 7 years old, said. "(Scott) and (Matisse) made it happen. Needless to say, on (January) 26, I think we're going to turn it out."
  However, Scott said he wanted to make it clear that he was brought in to assist and that he will not "take over" the night's events. He even compared their team effort to a Chicago Bulls combination of the 1990s: with Matisse being Michael Jordan to Scott's Scottie Pippen.

  He added that there have already been results from the increased promotion: there will be people coming in from Chicago, the San Francisco Bay Area and other places just to attend the party.

  "It's already getting a lot of buzz and I'm just doing my part," Scott said. "It'll leave room from a lot of great parties in the future."

Courtesy of Marcus Scott

  Matisse, originally from Kentucky, said he heard Prince for the first time in 1981, while he was attending a baptist private school, and he has been a DJ since 1984. He attended Eastern Kentucky University, where he hosted a campus radio show devoted mostly to Prince and associated artists, before dropping out a year and a half later to join the Army.

  In 1986 he began to DJ at military clubs and civilian bars. During his stint in the military he moved to Germany and began DJ work there in 1988. He later moved back to the United States where he spent some time in Texas, before attending Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Ill. to study theater (with a minor in film studies) in the early 1990s. While there, he also produced 10 episodes of "The Max,"--named after Prince's 1992 song-- for the campus TV station that featured music videos and, again, was largely dedicated to Prince and associated artists.

  "I don't know any other artist who has such a passion for music and has such a large musical family that he has touched," Matisse said.

  He said he moved to California in 1995 to pursue work in acting, film production, writing and as a DJ. Once there, he was able to secure work filiming concerts and live comedy shows. He said he became inspired to start the HEAD parties a few years later after he went to events that claimed to be "Prince parties," but, by the end of the night would be playing songs by completely unrelated artists. He said he wanted to create a place for himself and other fans that "sticks 100 percent with Prince, (Jimmy) Jam and (Terry) Lewis and related music" and he also wanted to appeal to the dedicated fans by playing concert footage and unreleased songs at the parties.

Courtesy of Myles Matisse

  Matisse said that now with the collaboration of HEAD and Beautiful Nights he hopes he gets the chance to share his vision with even more people: old fans, new fans and people who may have "forgotten" about the Minneapolis Sound.

  "Just expect to have a beautiful night, a wonderful night, a Princely night," he said. "Ultimately, it's a night that would make Prince or anybody (associated with) the Minneapolis Sound happy."

  Tickets will only be available at the door. Also, all guests will receive one raffle ticket for the night's giveaways at entry and additional raffle tickets will be available for $1.00 each.

Stay beautiful, Kristi

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Lead photo courtesy of Marcus Scott.

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Pop Life: Troy Gua talks 2 Beautiful Nights

  K Nicola sat down for an interview late last year with Seattle Artist Troy Gua, best known as the creator of Le Petit Prince. Check out the very first video interview on "Dyes Got the Answers 2 Ur ?s," produced and edited by Elke Hatuala, where Gua discusses upcoming projects, popular culture as an art subject and how Prince inspires his work. Also, stay tuned for a special bonus after the final credits:

Stay beautiful, Kristi

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Musicology: An in-depth interview with Morris Mills

   Morris Mills will make a night of beautiful music this Friday.

  He will be celebrating the release of his second album “Beautified” in the next month with a concert at 11 p.m. Jan. 4 at the Hard Rock Cafe, 63 W. Ontario St., Chicago. The cover is $10.   He will play mostly original material, but, he will perform two Prince songs: “I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man” and “Purple Rain”. The album will be available on internet outlets like Spotify, iTunes and Amazon.com, Mills said.

  “I am singer, I am a songwriter, I'm not a poet, but, I'm a poet in music,” he said. “I'm just a man that loves music.”

  His music spans all genres including rock, pop, soul and blues. He has been compared to artists like Maxwell, Lenny Kravitz, Curtis Mayfield, David Bowie and Prince.  He said that no matter how much people try to put him into a category, everything he does comes from an individual place.

  He has also worked on a cover of  The Smashing Pumpkins song "Disarm" with Matt Fink-- better known as Dr. Fink-- who played keyboards in Prince's band for more than 10 years. Rosie Gaines, a vocalist best known for her work with Prince on his 1991 Diamonds and Pearls album, has also expressed interest in recording one of his songs. In addition, Soulpatrol.com awarded his single “Beautified” best song of 2011 and Rawartists.org nominated him for music artist of the year 2012.

 “I'm going to do something different, I'm going to do something else,” Mills said. “They are going to say that I remind them of Prince, but, not that I sound like Prince.”

Courtesy of Morris Mills

Musical Beginnings

  Mills is a self-taught guitarist and pianist and his love of music goes back to when he was five years old. He was introduced to different types to music at a young age: His mother listened to blues, country and soul records and his dad liked pop, classical and rock music. He cited Elvis Presley, Tom Jones and The Jacksons as early influences, he said.

  “It wasn't white music. It wasn't black music. It was music,” he said.

  He walked around the house singing and performing, imitating The Stylistics, a 1970s soul group, with his siblings and he was writing songs by the time he was in grammar school. His mother was very supportive of her children's musical aspirations – she herself played the trombone in high school. She bought his older brother a guitar and allowed him to build a studio in the basement of their Broadview, Ill. home, where he and his brother recorded on four-track, and later, eight-track tapes.

  “(My brother) would wake me up in wee hours of the morning to sing the vocals on songs,” he said. “We would spend all day in the basement.”

  The first time Mills heard Prince was when his older brother, who was in college at the time, brought home the album “For You” in 1978. His brother told him to “listen to this guy that sounds like you.” Before that, he had been listening to singers like Stevie Wonder, Eddie Kendricks and Curtis Mayfield and imitating them in his recordings, but, from the moment he heard that album, Prince also became a major musical influence, Mills said.

  Prince and the Minneapolis sound were very popular by the time Mills went to Proviso East High School. He remembers there were many neighborhood bands forming that paid homage to the artist and the biggest showcase was the high school talent show. He got his band together and auditioned for the talent show his sophomore year.  They performed "D.M.S.R." (Dance Music Sex Romance), from Prince's "1999" album at the audition, but, were kicked out because of the song's suggestive lyrics. The experience was devastating, especially after he saw other local bands flourish after the talent show, he said.
   "I would watch the bands and I would fantasize about being onstage," Mills said.

  Not long after the audition, he moved to Lawton, Oklahoma to stay with a relative, because he was experiencing some family problems, and there honed his craft by performing at a high school on an local army base. By the time he came back to his old high school in Illinois for his senior year, he easily passed the talent show audition.

Courtesy of Morris Mills

Mississippi Bound

  After high school, he did some touring, however, his musical dreams were put on hold after he became a husband and father. Yet, he had never stopped writing and recording music and he was also sending out demos and performing sporadically, Mills said.
  While married, he was studying to be a minister and after he got divorced in the early 1990s, he accepted a job as an assistant minister in Jackson, Mississippi. However, the situation was not permanent, he said.
  “I kind of made it up in my mind that I wouldn't do that (ministry) again,” Mills said.

   The move to Mississippi turned out to be a life-changing event, but not right away. During the time he was working at the church, he was introduced to Vasti Jackson, who became a very important musical mentor.    However, after the ministry job ended, he did go back to Illinois where he worked in “corporate America” for about a year. Mills later returned to Mississippi to pursue his music at Jackson's behest, he said.

  Jackson, was well known for his writing work with artists Tyrone Davis, Johnnie Taylor and Buddy Guy. He took Mills under his wing, introducing him to blues music and local musicians. Mills also became involved in the neo-soul music and spoken word scenes in Jackson and surrounding cities. He added that Jackson was also instrumental in getting him away from relying heavily on computers while recording: one day Jackson put him in a room with a piano and tape recorder and told him to learn “Ooh, Baby, Baby” by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles.

  In addition, Mills was staying in a home he rented from Jackson that had its own recording studio. Jackson was working with blues artist Bobby Rush on an album there that ended up being nominated for a Grammy award.

   Mills later put his own band together and opened for artists like Brian McKnight and Jon B. when they did concerts in the Mississippi.

  “(Jackson) taught me how to be a real musician,” he said.

Courtesy of Morris Mills

The Road to Success

  Mills later moved back to Chicago, put a band together and started touring the city regularly.

He released his first album, "Love and Coffee" in 2005, which actually supposed to be the soundtrack for an independent movie he was making with William Pierce that was never completed. He has worked on other films, including My Phamily Barbeque and seven other movies. His most recently completed film "Ran$om Gains" starred Elise Neal, best known for her work on the TV comedy The Hughleys and Wood Harris, who starred as Avon Barksdale on HBO's The Wire

  Two songs from that album garnered him major attention: Radio Personality Terry Bello, Senior Executive Producer of the International Soul Summit, which takes place yearly in Atlanta, heard his music on MySpace.com and took an interest in him as an artist.He included Mills' song, "Steppin' Out Tonight," on the Heineken Soul Star Series, a compilation CD that included  well-known artists like Angie Stone, Rashaan Patterson and Anthony David, among others. The CD received international attention and helped really push his career, he said.

  He said that the song “Hello,” which was co-written and produced by Jackson from the album "Love and Coffee" also brought him attention around 2009. It caught the ear of Stephanie Levine, owner of Lovebrand Records, who got in contact with him and flew him out to New York for his first music video, directed by David Watson. She also heavily promoted the song on the East Coast and internationally. He worked with her company for two years.

   Interscope Records also digitally released “Beautified” as a single in 2011, he said.

  He said with his newest album, however, he wanted to move toward featuring a more rock feel, but, he was worried about what some fans of his first album might think.

  “I was afraid I was going to lose my soul base, but, at the same time, I wanted to be true to myself,” Mills said.

  He said some of the artists he would like to work with in the future include British Singer Lianne Las Havas, Coldplay, Bruno Mars, Taylor Swift and, of course, Prince. He is also looking forward to touring in Budapest in 2013 and expanding his fan base there. He has also had an offer to tour with Lee Fields and the Expressions. He also is working on another movie, "Soul," which should begin filming this summer.

  “What is me is that category you can't put me in,” he said. “That feel, that fun, that electricity.”

Check out Morris Mills' music at Reverbnation.com/morrismills and soundcloud.com/morris-mills.


Stay beautiful, Kristi

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Lead photo courtesy of Morris Mills.

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The Morning Papers: Meet the writer/editor of the Beautiful Nights Blog

This is Part IV in a four-part series on the Beautiful Nights Creative Team:

   Who is K Nicola Dyes?

  The simple answer to that question is that I am the writer/editor of "Dyes Got the Answers 2 Ur ?s," The Beautiful Nights Blog; the more compelling answer is that I am a person who has discovered a renewed sense of joy in life by combining two of my favorite things: writing and Prince.

  I was literally called out of "retirement" one day in November 2012 when the phone rang and Marcus Scott, of Beautiful Nights, was on the other end. His proposition was simple: to create a blog for his new Prince fan page on Facebook and, to kick it off, he would be able to get me an interview with The Twinz, Maya and Nancy McClean. That was a little over a month and seven posts ago.

  I had not written anything, besides e-mails and greeting cards, in nearly four years. After I was laid off from my job at The Union Democrat, a small-town newspaper, in 2009 I was bitter and frustrated that I could not find another writing job. At some point, I decided it was time to move on. I have languished in different jobs for the past few years to pay the bills: cashier at a pizza restaurant, concierge at The Underground Tour, a tourist attraction in Seattle and now as a front desk agent at a hotel (however, I am currently finding a lot of satisfaction in my current job).

  But, writing was always in heart, and I did not realize how much I missed it until I started doing it again. While interviewing Scott, Alexis Wofford and L'Quita Sanders, the other members of the Beautiful Nights team, I became intrigued by own questions. I thought that maybe people might be interested in the girl who would randomly post on the page and say "read my stories". 

  It is a little unorthodox, but, being a blogger, I think it is okay for me to be more accessible to my readers, which was not possible for me as a newspaper reporter. So, here is a little bit about me:

  
  ?: Tell me a little bit about yourself and how you became involved with Beautiful Nights?

  KD: I have been a diehard Prince fan since I was 15 years old. Although I went to a performing arts high school (School of the Arts in San Francisco, where I played in the band), people at school kind of gave me a hard time for liking Prince. I did not care, because the thing that I loved about Prince, besides his music, was that he was okay with being himself, without giving a damn about what other people thought. In turn, I felt that made it okay for me to do the same. It was a very intense period in my life and Prince music has been my soundtrack ever since. I wanted to know about everything Prince: I sought out all the albums, read all the biographies and articles I could find and went to Prince.org every single day. There was not really anyone at school to share my excitement with, so, I almost became like a "Purple Culture" scholar, amassing all this information to use at a later date.

  I graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism and Russian from San Francisco State University in 2007. I met Scott when I was doing an internship that summer at the (now closed) Kane County Bureau of the Daily Herald in St. Charles, Ill. A mutual friend was having a house party one weekend and he was there. I did not really get to know him until 2008, when I came back for one of the now legendary Prince parties at Berlin, which I did periodically. In turn, he came out to visit me a few months later, when I was living in Sonora, Calif., where I was working as a reporter, and we went to a Prince party in Berkeley. After he left, I mailed him some clippings of some of my stories.

  We have kept in touch, on and off, during the last five years and in that time I moved to Seattle. It was that fateful phone call I mentioned earlier, where I was brought into Beautiful Nights, where they were already in full gear in Chicago. He said he wanted a blog for the page, which he said would make his fan group stand out from all the others, and I was the person who came to mind when he was thinking about a writer. He added that he still had those stories I sent him all those years ago. He came up with the title "Dyes Got the Answers 2 Ur ?s," which is a play on "I've got the answers to your questions."

Courtesy of K Nicola Dyes

   ?: What area of expertise do you bring to Beautiful Nights?

  KD: I'm a writer, but, more importantly I am an interviewer; you cannot have a great story with a wack interview. My job is to make people who may not want to answer my questions feel comfortable enough to speak freely with me. I'm not afraid to get on the phone with people I never met and talk to them for hours.

  Also, from my days as a reporter, I am able to write effectively on different topics: I covered city and county government; food; travel; religion; business; health and entertainment. However, entertainment writing has always been my passion, particularly interviews with public figures. I cannot lie: I love famous people. During my career, I have been blessed enough to interview Mikhail Baryshnikov, the renowned ballet dancer; Singer and TV Personality Tony Orlando, who, before I interviewed The Twinz, had my undisputed vote for nicest celebrity ever; the late TV Producer David Gerber ("Room 222, "In the Heat of the Night"); Comedians Mark Curry and Victoria Jackson, of Saturday Night Live, among others.

  I am also constantly thinking of new ideas for the blog, all the things I ever wanted to know about Prince, but, was afraid to ask.

  ?: What is the best thing about being apart of Beautiful Nights?

  KD: I get to write about Prince! How cool is that? If there was ever a dream job, this would be it. I get to sit at home or at work or wherever and think about story ideas to related to Prince and there is already an audience in place who will read it. Friends have been imploring to write a blog for years, but, my question was always the same: "About what?" There are a lot of bloggers out there, what was going to make me different?
  Also, I like the fact that this is not a newspaper. There is structure, but, I am no longer governed by a set of rules that, in my opinion, are becoming outdated in as the speed of news increases every moment.

  ?: What would you like to improve about Beautiful Nights?

  KD: Nothing about Beautiful Nights, the group is great, but, I could use a bit more time management and organization on my end. I work full time (including two nights of graveyard shift) and between interviewing, editing and posting, it sometimes feels like there are not enough hours in the day. I want this endeavor to stay fun for me, I never want it to feel like a job. So, I know that the key to that is to get on top things now.

  ?: Who is your favorite protegee and why?

  KD: Jesse Johnson, as a solo artist. But, I would not call him a protegee, I would call him an associated act. I think he is baddest musician to ever come out of Prince's camp. All you need to do is listen to his guitar solos on "Fool's Paradise" and "Lovestruck" if you are not convinced. I'm also a fan of the work he has done for other artists, including Janet Jackson, Vanity, the song "Nights Like This" that he wrote for The Five Heartbeats" soundtrack and his guitar solo on "You Wear it Well" by DeBarge. I do not think he ever got the credit he was due, because people were always comparing him to Prince.

  I also want to give a shout out to Margie Cox, one of Jesse Johnson's protegees, the lead singer of TaMara and the Seen, who also worked with Prince on the unreleased MC Flash project. She is a very talented and underrated singer. I love them both.

  ?: Who would you like to see host the next Beautiful Nights party?

  KD: I would love to meet Jill Jones. I am a big fan of her 1987 album and I have also had the pleasure of listening to some of the cuts of her unreleased second album. In my opinion, she is another artist from the Prince camp who never got her due. In addition to that, she had worked with two of my favorite artists, Teena Marie and Prince and I would love to ask her some questions about that.

Drawing by Clayton Ballard

?: What is the most unique piece of Prince memorabilia you own or have owned in the past?

  KD: I don't just have one! This is a three-part answer:
  A) The first one is a framed charcoal drawing of Prince that a friend of mine drew for me and gave me on for my 29^th birthday. What really made it so cool was that he gave it to me right before we went to go see a Prince concert at the Tacoma Dome in December 2011.
   B) The summer I did my internship at the Daily Herald in 2007 was the same year that the Chicago Bears went to the Super Bowl and Prince did the halftime show and, of, course, the paper sent writers and photographers down to Miami. For my going away present at the end of my stint there, the staff presented me with two framed photographs that the photo editor at the bureau, Rick, had taken himself during the halftime show. One was Prince by himself and the other was him with The Twinz.
  C) My grandmother's late second husband worked as a banquet waiter in some of San Francisco's best hotels for many years. In the early 1990s, he was working at the Clift Hotel when Prince was in town on tour. When I was in high school (around 1998), at the height of my Prince madness, he gave me this very small jar of honey that had a black label with gold letters that said: Prince, Scandalous Sex Suite, featuring Kim Basinger. He said that someone working with Prince had given it to him. He had kept it on his dresser until he gave it to me. I had it on my dresser from that moment all the way through college, until I moved out to accept that internship. I left that jar of honey behind and have not seen it since. In her haste to clean out my old room, so my younger brother could move in, a LOT of things came up missing and that was one of them. When I came home three months later to get my things, I could not find it. I asked her about it and she acted like she had no clue what I was talking about. I eventually forgave her and moved on, but, I am getting a small twinge of sadness just writing about it now
  ?: What would you like see happen with Beautiful Nights in the next year?

  KD: I hope I get to go to the next party! It is kind of difficult being in Seattle, when the rest of the team is in Chicago, but, I am going to find a way to make it work. I also want to expand the readership for "Dyes Got the Answers 2 Ur ?s" and I am working on ways to expand my fan base. I love promoting Beautiful Nights, because I really believe in it; it is essential to have a place where Prince fans can come together in a positive way.
  I have an interview wish list, too: Margie Cox, Jill Jones, Mazarati and, of course, Prince, although that might be a long time coming. I also have a more large-scale story in mind: an in-depth feature that would be a critical history of Prince.org, from the beginning until now, because that Web site truly fascinates me.
   I also hope that readers at some point become comfortable enough to reach out to me and suggest story ideas. Part of the reason Scott came up with the name "Dyes Got the Answers 2 Ur ?s" is because we, at some point, want more member involvement and interaction. I am just the vessel to assemble information for the fans.

  ?: What message do you have for fans of the Beautiful Nights page?

  KD: The fact that people are reading my blog really warms my heart. All the time I spend writing means absolutely nothing if no one is reading. Do not be shy about telling me what you think about my posts-- good, bad or indifferent-- leave comments on the blog, post on my page, inbox me. I would love to hear from you.

Stay beautiful, Kristi

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Lead drawing by Clayton Ballard.

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Party Like it's 1999: Beautiful Nights meets Purple Funk SF

  

  Marcus Scott, of the Beautiful Nights Facebook page and fan parties, will bring some Chicago flavor to the San Francisco Bay Area this New Year's Eve.

  Purple Funk SF, a group dedicated to celebrating Prince's music, will present an end-of-the-year bash, "1999 New Year's Eve Dance Party" at 9 p.m. Dec. 31 at Rassela's Jazz Club, 1534 Fillmore St., San Francisco. The cost is $19.99 and the night's theme will be 1999, in honor of Prince's 1982 breakthrough album. The event will be hosted by DJ Miguel "Hightop" Fonseca.

  Special guests include Scott, who is traveling from the Midwest and Jeff Harris, a local DJ best known for his work with the Prince vs. Michael Jackson parties. The party will feature mainstream, as well as unreleased, songs, music videos and a special performance by Scott. Christophur T will oversee art direction and Evol Knight will be the event photographer.

  “It will be a beautiful purple funky night,” said Christophur T, of Purple Funk SF.

 Courtesy of Willie Adams, aka DJ Spooky Electric

  The group consists of Fonseca, Christophur T, Willie Adams, aka DJ Spooky Electric, Evol Knight and Monya K. The idea was born after Prince made a stop in Oakland for the Welcome 2 America Tour in 2011. Not long after, Fonseca approached Adams about reviving all-Prince parties in the Bay Area, in the spirit of now defunct Prince fan groups like the Dream Factory and Bay NPG (New Power Generation), Adams said.

  Adams then tapped Christophur T to come on board, since the two had collaborated in the past to throw Prince parties in the Bay Area, the last one being held in 2008. The Purple Funk SF group held their first party in June 2012, which featured a live Prince tribute by The Scoundrels.

  “There (are) a lot of Prince groups all over the world,” Adams said. “But, we wanted to distinguish ourselves and represent the Bay (Area) and give it that Bay (Area) flavor.”

Adams and Christophur T both met Scott when he traveled to California in June 2008 to attend one of their parties in Berkeley. Christophur T said that he had mistaken Scott for another well-known Prince fan Sir Jack based in Santa Cruz, Calif. and greeted him as such before realizing his mistake. However, the two connected that night and have periodically kept in touch, via Facebook and by telephone.

Courtesy of Christophur T

  Adams recalled another meeting, also in 2008, when Scott attended a party where he was the DJ in San Jose. He said that after he was done playing, Scott told him he liked his style and gave him a copy of “21 Nights,” a coffee table book featuring Prince, that had just been released at the time. He said he was “blown away” by the gesture and never forgot it. He has not seen Scott since that last meeting, but, they have also kept in touch since then.

  When Scott started Beautiful Nights, he reached out to members of Purple Funk SF and they in turn, invited him to collaborate with them on their New Year's Eve party. They have been in talks since the Beautiful Nights team was planning their first party, which took place in November 2012, and featured Maya and Nandy McClean, better known as The Twinz, who have worked extensively with Prince, Adams said.

  “It just made sense for us to come out to support each other,” he said. “It was really just out of a spirit of collaboration and appreciation for the music and the culture.”

  Scott said he is looking forward to visiting the Bay Area again for the first time in more than three years, performing at the party and meeting new people. He said he hopes this party will bring the focus back to Prince's music and uniting fans from all walks of life.

  “We need to set an example for the new generation of Prince fans,” Scott said. “If everybody just supports each other, we could have the ultimate Prince party.”

  Adams said he wanted fans to know that this will be a one-of-a-kind event and anybody into the “purple culture,” will not want to miss it.

  “Get ready a for a night that you will never, never forget,” he said. “If you're a Prince fan, this is the place you want to be.”

Stay beautiful, Kristi

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Lead photo courtesy of Purple Funk SF.

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