Did you ever consider to leave princeland for good?

These are hard days for fans of Prince music.

Lotusflower.com is commonly addressed by many people as "Lotusfailure.com" due to the site being dead for months, with no replies to emails from members.

Prince has released recently a couple of new songs, one being a fairly average tune called "Cause & effect" (which I briefly reviewed here sometime ago) and another, "Purple & gold", which is among the worst in the purple catalogue.

In spite of insistent rumours of a stage in Paris in Spring 2010, nothing has been confirmed thus far, and given the lack of news at the end of March, I think we can safely discard it. Whether something might happen in summer, we will see.

If you add to the above the fact that Prince had, to put it mildly, a less-than-nice behaviour towards fans and fansites in recent years...

... then it is understandable that some of the very hardcore fans of Prince music have expressed disappointment. Furthermore, some people state that they sincerely don't expect anything else from Prince, that his career will not bring anything of interest in the future.

I try to keep an objective attitude in this whole business, which is quite difficult since music is, after all, a matter of the heart. Thus it is impossible to separate music from feelings, and I can clearly see why some fans feel such strong disappointment. So my take here is quite complicated:

On the one hand, I am truly disgusted by some recent happenings in princeland. The late issues of HQ with Prince, leading to the disappearance of HQ, left me with a truly bitter taste in my mouth. And the childish behaviour of Prince when dealing with business, very serious business like payed websites or plans for gigs, is also reason enough for concern, and moreso when we are speaking about a superlative live player.

On the other hand, his music moves me deeply, like always has done. And I don't mean only past classics: Somewhere here on Earth, I said it many times, is up there with the very best jewels in his vast body of work. And there are many recent live recordings which demonstrate that, in my opinion, he keeps on being THE live entertainer in music par excellence: he's got a peerless vault of songs to choose from; he's a consumate musician and live player; and most of all, he has an incomparable capability of commanding both a band & the public during live shows. In short, he's up there at the very top as live musician, even with some obvious physical limitations.

We have of course a huge discography to keep on enjoying Prince music; but besides, the vault is full of unreleased songs. Some glimpses escape from time to time, and among them, the brilliance of Box of Chocolate is blinding. But if you think about the whole content of the vault, and on the (even remote) possibility that it could one day be officially released... well, one can't stop drooling profusely.

But... woud I remain a faithful, commited, persistent and stubborn fan of Prince music only for the above reasons?

Honestly, I am not sure.

The reason why I am still here is not only based on nostalgic memories of past purple glories.

What keeps me here and running at full force is the possibility of things to come. The dream of more masterpieces in the Paisley pipeline. The absolutely realistic hope that anytime, Prince can write and record in one evening a song that can put me upside down; just like he did with Somewhere here on Earth, in 2006, or like he did in 1987 with If I was your girlfriend.

I admit this is the very core of my purple faith. I refuse to believe he's musically dead, because I think there are many evidences demonstrating he's alive and kicking when making music. I am fully aware that masterpieces, either albums or songs, might arrive in a long time, or even not arrive at all: who knows. But I feel the possibility is there, and this is like lottery: when you buy a ticket, you can always dream to win the big prize, even if the possibilities are really very very small.

I purchased my purple lottery ticket, a non-expiry one, back in 1987. And I honestly can't avoid to keep on dreaming to win the big prize, next time, for sure.

Yes I know, it sounds a bit ingenuous. But I tell you: it is not ingenuity, these are just feelings, and as such, you can't change them.

I said some years ago, in my beloved Housequake, that I loved Prince music because love for music is like standard love: you can't do anything against it. It controls you, not the opposite.

And today, in 2010, I keep on feeling the same.

Against probabilities, against childish behaviours, against unfair attitudes regarding fans, against changes of plans... against everything, I keep on expecting any new song like a kid expects his gifts before Christmas.

Now let me come back to the title:

Did you ever consider to leave princeland for good?

My reply is a resounding "no". What about you?