Today, June 7, is the musician and singer Prince's birthday and he would have been 58 years old today. I grew up knowing that we were both Geminis, but I had no idea we had other things in common. My birthday is on June 9. Prince began playing piano at age 7. I began at age 8. When he was 19 he put out his first album on which he played two dozen instruments. I can play the trumpet, the french horn, and the melophone (The marching french horn. Somewhere between a trumpet and a baritone in size with a lot of noise.) moderately well, but never mastered any of them. Prince and I are both five feet two inches tall, which explains why he wore all those killer heels. Being short, and let me tell you, five feet two inches is short for a woman, is the kiss of death for a man. Unlike him, I do not wear heels. My parents named me Nicole because they wanted me to have the nickname Nikki. Yes, the only song I have with my name attached to it is Prince's "Darling Nikki", which embarrassed me a lot when I was much younger, but now I am proud that he chose it.
I was oh, so young, (a baby really) when the Year of Purple, June of 1984 to June of 1985, was around, due to Prince's album and movie, Purple Rain. I got the tape for Christmas. I remember this store that contained nothing but purple things. I did not go in so I have no idea what was in there. I just remember seeing a sea of purple flowing from the window and door. For my birthday my dad (who loves the movie and song "Purple Rain") baked me possibly the only cake he ever did. It was a rectangle cake with purple frosting. How he got the purple frosting I can only imagine, as I doubt they sold it at the store. During that year everyone's favorite color war purple.
Now I am introducing my own daughter to his music. She, like me, loves to dance to "Let's Go Crazy". When I first played it though, she was in the midst of a Paul Simon obsession so she asked if Paul Simon was singing with Prince and I told a fib and said yes just so she'd like the song. That would be one odd musical pairing, wouldn't it? My head spins at the thought. I'm holding back the more blatantly racier stuff for when she's older. Besides, I don't think anyone really knows what the song "Let's Go Crazy" is completely about.
While my favorite color is no longer purple, but green, I still wear a lot of purple as it looks good on a redhead. I also have a necklace with two charms on it: one has a pair of skeletal gloves holding a green malachite ball and the other is a crescent moon with a kitty sitting on it with an amethyst stone in the moon. Green and purple. I bought the necklace with the malachite for luck when I was eighteen and really needed some. Then in college, in full dramatic form, I declared in my Lady of Shallot voice "The curse has come upon me." Because I believed that my dad's family had been cursed with bad luck. Basically if we didn't have bad luck we'd have no luck at all. My friend Pixie immediately gave me her charm with the amethyst cat on it and swore it would bring me luck. Has it? I don't know. I've gone for times without wearing it and have had the most awful luck in the world. And some of the best, as I had my daughter without it.
So, Happy Birthday Prince, even though your religion does not celebrate them. I will celebrate for both of us and just say that I'm celebrating for myself. May you Rest In Peace and Funk.
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