The Old Experience @ the GQ Awards, 1998
The Old Experience @ the GQ Awards, 1998
"In a rare public
appearance, The Artist had a fake beard, wore a long woollen
overcoat and carried a walking stick at the third annual GQ Men
of the Year Awards at Radio City Music Hall in New York. It left
the audience and his peers baffled ... The Artist had come
through a rough week to make the awards ceremony. He cancelled
shows across the US because of a recurring ankle injury. In late
September he slipped in a puddle caused by a faulty dry ice
machine during a performance in Atlantic City. The Artist fell
from a platform.
Perhaps his failing music career has prematurely aged The Artist
and is, in part, an explanation of his dress and appearance at
the awards. ... New Power Soul did not even make it to most
record stores after the Artist decided to handle distribution
himself. [Nig Note: riiight.]
There was a time The Artist could leave an awards ceremony in
silent awe because of his trademark silly speeches. 'Prince? Dead.
The Artist? Alive,' he once rambled at the American Music Awards..."
- from "The geriatric formerly known as
Prince", by Dino Scatena and Nui Te Koha, The
Daily Telegraph (Sydney) 23 October 1998.
7 Signs that this was coming:
1. The string of mid-life-crisis
cars.
2. Leaving the old faithful NPG for a younger model.
3. The cane.
4. The need 4 home protection (the gun disguised as a mike).
5. The Old People hallmarks: the mumbling, the funny clothes, the
smell (he said it was pheromones!), the vitamins.
6. He keeps calling that guy in the NPG "Sonny".
7. Mayte.