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Purple Reign Makes David Letterman Go "Crazy"
The really dynamite Prince tribute act Purple Reign kicked off Late Show With David Letterman's Tribute Bands Week, and it almost seems unfair that they went first. Yes, they were that good: Frontman Jason Tenner has Purple Rain-era Prince's mannerisms, flouncy blouses, and guitar face (!) down pat, and the rest of the band sounded pretty solid—especially when you figure that even the most seasoned acts can sound like crap on TV. Unfortunately, the Time tribute band that performs with them wasn't in tow, but there's video of those guys on the band's official site. [YouTube / Official site]
Visiting Prince's house is like visiting Kanye's future: "In the living room, he’d installed purple thrones on either side of a fireplace, and, nearby, along a hallway, he had hung photographs of himself, in a Moroccan villa, in various states of undress." Asked about the (at the time) upcoming election, Prince preached a pox-on-both-your-houses neutrality: "'you’ve got the Republicans, and basically they want to live according to this.' He pointed to a Bible. 'But there’s the problem of interpretation, and you’ve got some churches, some people, basically doing things and saying it comes from here, but it doesn’t. And then on the opposite end of the spectrum you’ve got blue, you’ve got the Democrats, and they’re, like, ‘You can do whatever you want.’ Gay marriage, whatever. But neither of them is right.'" Prince's view? “God came to earth and saw people sticking it wherever and doing it with whatever, and he just cleared it all out." Oh, Prince. Even when he's talking about religion, he's talking about sex. Now that he lives in California, though, let's hope he doesn't vote. [
