….Prince gonna be there and take you to heaven.  Prince sang that during Musicology that night.  We sure felt like we were there.

But I am getting ahead of myself.  I got one of those last minute phone calls that you usually get for a party like this one, where it will be off the chain and knee deep in celebs.  This is where the whole night here on out seems caught between a dream and reality.

After shortly arriving, the host with the most was very kind and greeted us. He left shortly after with someone I was told was Bria Valente.  I am very shy at times myself so kind of avoided the contact.  I hope Prince understands I was not trying to be rude, I was just overwhelmed with the coolness of the moment.  My guest spoke with him and was cordial for me.  We saw some of the purple party crew through the night, talking with C.C. and saw Rashida there later on.

  Just imagine having a private intimate party with the best live performer out there.  Only your close friends are there.  Not a stadium full of people.  No crowded night club with that person who had one too many drinks.  That’s what makes a party like this so special.  It is just one of the moments in time where you look back on it and it will bring a smile to your face.  I wish you could experience it. 

Prince kicked it off with Satisfied and having seen this person in front of 20,000 people, he was bringing it like it was the Staple Center.  He was slightly more laid back, sipping water, going over to his keyboard player Morris Hayes and sometimes to his bassist Josh Dunham or his drummer C.C. Dunham. He said we can all slow dance if we want and actor Chi McBride was one of the first to hit the floor as almost everyone followed suit.

Prince then went into Beggin’ Woman Blues with some lyrics that just make you crack up.  We were cracking up so much he started cracking up.  lovineveryminuteofit!  Prince went into overdrive with Cream, U Got The Look, A Love Bizzare and covers like Crinsom & Clover & Wild Thing. Then he stuck on this groove and it turned out to be Lady Cab Driver.  Total flashback of funk for me I must say.  He did a few lyrics from it but that groove was contagious! They just went off and turned it out. There was not one person sitting down for that.

Prince said earlier in the night that it was gonna be karaoke night and he was gonna get us all to sing.  During With A Little Help From My Friends, Kristen Chenoweth was called up to sing and she brought her voice up to the challenge.  After the song, Prince called out Kristen and high fived her.  Kristen could not contain herself and went over to Prince to give him a kiss on the cheek.  Prince laughed playfully and said, “now my guitar is out of tune”, an obvious reference to the song that was just performed. 

It was just a straight funky night.  At one time, after the crowd stopped clapping, Prince asked if we wanted to slow it down or keep it funky?  I think the crowd was kind of mixed so we voted by show of hands, and the funk won.  At this moment, we heard the woman next to us tell us this is the greatest night of her life.  Her man just smiled.  Ahh, another man getting credit for something Prince did.  Gotta love it.  Right?

Prince went into the funk jams such as Controversy and Sexy Dancer.  He then went into a groove getting Josh  to go off on bass and then C.C. on drums.  Prince then sang “We are part of the rhythm nation”  before proclaiming we like the original version of that song while going into thank you (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) which was straight cool.  More people arrived through the night including Dexter’s Michael C. Hall and I think I saw Michael Emerson from Lost there as well and Mary-Louise Parker  (There were others but my mind is frazzled right now.)   Prince went into Play That Funky Music and Chi came up and rocked it.  It just got better as Prince went on the keys and played Superstition.

At one point, someone yelled out to play Chelsea Rodgers and Prince was like, yea o.k.  No requests came in but the person who requested it was a model, although this time no flower in her hair. 

Prince killed it with Let’s Go Crazy and then cooled us down with Purple Rain which was the last song of the night.  We walk out of there trying to soak everything in.  Still not fully sold that what just happened…really did just happen!

You know, an Emmy is great, but if you were not at this party I must say it was its own award and its own reward and it is something that I may not be able to display on my mantle, but the memory is forever forged in my mind and something I would like to thank our host for providing.

-Dr.FB