R IS FOR REMORSE

From the April A-Z Blogging archives.
This was originally posted April 21st, 2016

My heart is heavy and my eyes are damp with the news that Prince left us this morning. 

As most of you know, I have a serious relationship with music and Prince Rogers Nelson has been on this amazing journey with me the since the very first time I heard Little Red Corvette.

Allow me to clarify. By the time I left for college, he’d made the movie Purple Rain and he had hit the road touring. When I was going to school in Hamilton, he landed at Maple Leaf Gardens (December 2nd, 1984). It was a very low budget deal, sound was poor, yet his talent and stage presence told everyone that night that he was born to be a rock star. He proved all of us right!

Prince at the ACC. SECTION 107 ~ ROW 16
TAKEN: NOVEMBER 25th, 2011

I am a firm believer that some things are meant to be. For me, it was a hankering to reignite the aforementioned concert experience of my youth. 

It was November 25th, 2011 and I had just taken my grown son for a nice dinner in downtown Toronto. 

Once we hailed a cab, I instructed the cabbie to head to the Air Canada Centre. Goob questioned the fact that we didn’t have tickets but I had a mitt full of cash and I was on a mission.

As I write, I just can't explain how glad I am that I made that impulse purchase to see him again in 2011 with my son. It was truly amazing. 

My most vivid memory? 

When he began to play Purple Rain. From the first strum of his guitar, the ACC began to rain purple tissue paper. Immediately following that, my eyes filled with tears. It was absolutely moving; the sound, the visual progression, his vibe.

I think Eric Clapton said it best. When he was asked, what does it feel like to be the greatest guitar player on the planet? 

His response: "I don't know - you would have to ask Prince."

Thanks Prince. You may be gone… but you will never be forgotten.