# R.I.P. Prince



## keto (May 23, 2006)

http://www.tmz.com/

No cause of death, though they say he'd been ill a while and his plane had to make an emergency landing recently for him to get treatment.


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## davetcan (Feb 27, 2006)

Yep, just hearing this on CBC. The stellar year continues. He was a very talented guy.


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## Lola (Nov 16, 2014)

My son just texted me! OMG this is just getting to be crazy! Only 57 years of age! RIP Prince!


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

wow...he was one of the first ppl outside of my genre that I considered to be a genius (musically).
shame.


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

A tremendous talent and a fabulous guitar player.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Wow. Just...wow. I'd been following the guy since his very first album in the late 70's. He crystallized nearly everything that had happened in Afro-American music over the past 50 years, from Jackie Wilson, through James Brown, Bootsy and Clinton, and beyond. Very much the Springsteen or Bowie of funk, in that he both created and echoed trends in a way that had both creativity directing the future and respect for the past. Big big talent in a little package.


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## fretboard (May 31, 2006)

5/19/15 Sony Centre, Toronto, ON.


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## keto (May 23, 2006)

Legendary musician Prince dies at 57


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

I seen him many years ago at Massey Hall on one of his impromptu quick mini tours. It still ranks up there in the top 5 shows I have ever seen and I have seen a shit load. He leaves us with a pretty wicked catalogue


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## vadsy (Dec 2, 2010)

Oh Purple Rain...


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## colchar (May 22, 2010)

Apparently Prince has passed away:


Music icon Prince dead at age 57


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## bigboki (Apr 16, 2015)

Just seen it, terrible.
He was my favorite musician, by far...
When we've seen him in AC couple of years ago, it was long and wonderful concert.
In between sets when it was a break, he took acoustic and continued to play. He played whole concert without any break.
Such a love for music...

I am so sad...


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## butterknucket (Feb 5, 2006)

Just saw it now. 

I was not a fan, but he was definitely a very talented guy. 

RIP


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## Moosehead (Jan 6, 2011)

Wow, I was just watching some of his performance at the superbowl yesterday. It was pissing rain and they called to see if he was still going to go on in the heavy rain and his response was pretty epic "can you make it rain harder?" He lived for the show. RIP


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## amagras (Apr 22, 2015)

I can't believe this


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## Alex (Feb 11, 2006)

GuitarsCanada said:


> I seen him many years ago at Massey Hall on one of his impromptu quick mini tours. It still ranks up there in the top 5 shows I have ever seen and I have seen a shit load. He leaves us with a pretty wicked catalogue


Everyone that has told me about seeing Prince live has the same response - one of the best concerts they've witnessed. 

RIP


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## cheezyridr (Jun 8, 2009)

rip a huge loss


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

RIP prince.


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## WCGill (Mar 27, 2009)

I saw his Super Bowl performance before he yanked it, like he did everything of his that wasn't authorized. Killing it in a downpour, wow! Big loss.


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## leftysg (Mar 29, 2008)

This really brings some sadness. He was such a creative, unique and symbolic musician, entertainer, songwriter. I grew up across from Detroit and first heard Prince on the Electrifying Mojo late night radio extravaganza on WJLB. This was the early 80s and after being faithful to classic rock, songs like Controversy, Private Joy, Sexuality caught my interest. Then 1999 and Purple Rain came along and I was a fan. His songs like Manic Monday helped identify other bands as well so I'm wearing my Raspberry Beret with sadness today. Always loved the guitar work in Little Red Corvette...
[video]



[/video]


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## davetcan (Feb 27, 2006)

Well Susanna Hoffs would brighten anyone's day, even this very sad one.


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## leftysg (Mar 29, 2008)

[video]



[/video]


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## mario (Feb 18, 2006)

Wow....I did not see this coming. My wife and I saw him here in London 2-3 years ago and he was spot on. As someone mentioned he was killer when he played at the Super Bowl halftime show.

RIP Prince.


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## Lincoln (Jun 2, 2008)

When asked what it feels like to be the best guitarist alive, Eric Clapton once said, "I don't know. Ask Prince."


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## fretboard (May 31, 2006)

Not sure if this is the actual last show or not, but suspect maybe it was. 4/14/16 10PM show, Atlanta, GA.


__
https://soundcloud.com/https%3A%2F%2Fsoundcloud.com%2Fmisterpancakes%2Fprincelives


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## bzrkrage (Mar 20, 2011)

He never made it down to Australia when I wanted to see him, so was really lucky to have had a chance to see him here in Calgary.
Such a dynamic powerhouse of a muso. 
RIP Purpleone.


Sent from my Other Brain


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## amagras (Apr 22, 2015)

I refuse to believe it..


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

He came through town when I turned 50, years back. Knowing what a long-time fan I was, my wife suggested I go see him as a birthday present to myself. I declined, stating that, for $100 a pop, there better be a limo, catering, blow, a continuing education and a tax credit, in addition to a seat. A bit of regret now.

There were several Prince concerts on the Sugarmegs site that I managed to snag several years ago, but I see there is nothing posted now. Pity.


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

There are or were a few artists and bands over the years that were worth the big coin. The list is getting shorter every year. Prince was one of those


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

He was an exceptionally talented guitar player. I am wondering how much the music business led to his premature death.


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## ezcomes (Jul 28, 2008)

Sad day again for music...

I didnt know his music very well...but i remember watching this show and being blown away...


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

A friend was a cameraman on this ...


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

The Superbowl appearance was a high water mark for live televised performances. I don't know why they even _try_ to have half-time shows after that.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

RIP.


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## mrfiftyfour (Jun 29, 2008)

I feel like I lost a friend.


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## LanceT (Mar 7, 2014)

I was bopping along to 1999 this morning on the way to work. I had no idea anything had happened until later.
Now I'll be celebrating Prince's memory like it's 1999 this weekend. I will miss him more than I understand.


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## leftysg (Mar 29, 2008)

It's posted in cool covers but Prince wrote it. Fantastically appropriate to the artist 

[video]



[/video]


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## amagras (Apr 22, 2015)

I still don't believe it


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## rwe333 (Feb 18, 2006)

Total one-off. Genius musician/producer/performer.


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## vadsy (Dec 2, 2010)

Drug overdose?


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

ezcomes said:


> Sad day again for music...
> 
> I didnt know his music very well...but i remember watching this show and being blown away...


One of my favourite videos. You can see how impressed George's son is.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

I have never been a fan simply because I don't care for the songs.

He was clearly talented and loved by many.

My condolences to his fans.


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## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

(moved from another string - inappropriate)


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

High/Deaf said:


> I wonder if Captain Kirk has any comment?


no, but this punk did....
Justin Bieber Takes Offense at Prince ‘Greatest Living Performer’ Remark
I fucking hate this kid.


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## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

(moved from another string - inappropriate)


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

And you have to love this. I love the sense of dumbfoundedness at the end.


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## ezcomes (Jul 28, 2008)

mhammer said:


> The Superbowl appearance was a high water mark for live televised performances. I don't know why they even _try_ to have half-time shows after that.



I forgot about this...thanks for the reminder!


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## cboutilier (Jan 12, 2016)

I can't say I was ever a true fan of his music. Pop/R&B just isn't my preferred genre, but I was really a true fan of his musicianship and unique persona. He was the real deal, and an icon in his own right. 

And his guitar playing was top notch, creative, genius. He was one of most talented Tele slingers there's ever been.

Rest in Peace Prince


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

mhammer said:


> And you have to love this. I love the sense of dumbfoundedness at the end.


Interesting. I guess the clip had been able to remain under the radar, and posted. Once interest in all-things-Prince exploded, I guess Fox stumbled onto it...or perhaps the purple lawyers did. A shame. Cute segment.


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## Guest (Apr 23, 2016)




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## leftysg (Mar 29, 2008)

Thanks for that, I'd forgotten about that skit. Tears in my eyes.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Apparently, he actually WAS a helluva b-ball player; one of the acknowledged best during his high school years.


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## amagras (Apr 22, 2015)

Source Claims Prince Was Murdered For Winning The Rights To Own His Music
This happened a few days ago after 18 years of battle against WB.


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## mrfiftyfour (Jun 29, 2008)

amagras said:


> Source Claims Prince Was Murdered For Winning The Rights To Own His Music
> This happened a few days ago after 18 years of battle against WB.



That website posts bogus crap.


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## amagras (Apr 22, 2015)

But is it true that he just won the rights or not? If so that's a suspicious coincidence, if don't then it's all bs from that website and conspirators.


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## allthumbs56 (Jul 24, 2006)

I watched the SNL Prince tribute last night. Frankly I was amazed. The guy just never "sang" a song. Every one of his performances were an event - especially the 8 minute medley he did, switching from keys to guitar to nonchalantly plugging in his unplugged guitar and trading licks with Donna Grantis. It often got over-shadowed by the spectacle he created but he was an exceptional guitarist.


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## cboutilier (Jan 12, 2016)

allthumbs56 said:


> I watched the SNL Prince tribute last night. Frankly I was amazed. The guy just never "sang" a song. Every one of his performances were an event - especially the 8 minute medley he did, switching from keys to guitar to nonchalantly plugging in his unplugged guitar and trading licks with Donna Grantis. It often got over-shadowed by the spectacle he created but he was an exceptional guitarist.


He was aware of the overshadow according to Billy Gibbons in this interview:

‘Defying description': ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons on Prince the ‘sensational’ guitarist


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## mister.zed (Jun 8, 2011)

ezcomes said:


> I didnt know his music very well...but i remember watching this show and being blown away...


Me too. That solo was when I discovered how great a guitarist he was. Having watched that video many, many times before Prince's death, I had read the various people's facial expressions in my own way. I interpreted the arrangement my own way too. Like why was Prince virtually unseen during the whole song, just to coolly stroll onto centre stage (with Dhani grinning because he probably suspects what's coming, and then Tom seeming to shake his head 'no' seconds later like this isn't going as planned) and proceed to rip it up in epic fashion for that final solo? 

And then there's that backwards fall into the audience. And Dhani's even bigger smile while he's doing it. And then the mic drop guitar throw and the end and the cocky strut off stage... It was just so perfect in so many ways.

Now we get a little insight on the whole thing thanks to this piece in the NY Times. Nice digging NY Times. I really do appreciate the insight into one of the best moments in live music of all time.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Here's one I just stumbled across: Prince being Jeff Beck.


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

It's beginning to look like he was battling some kind of addiction to pain killers. He had actually called a renowned addiction doctor the day before he died and this doctor sent his son out there from California the next day and when he got to the house they found him dead. 

Prince was always known for clean living and was no doper for sure. Shiela e said he had been having issues with his hips and knees in recent years though. Bloody pain killers. We need to figure out a way to manage pain without the addictive nature of these drugs currently being used.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

There have also been allegations of heavy cocaine use.

It's hard to know what really happened.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

GuitarsCanada said:


> It's beginning to look like he was battling some kind of addiction to pain killers. He had actually called a renowned addiction doctor the day before he died and this doctor sent his son out there from California the next day and when he got to the house they found him dead.
> 
> Prince was always known for clean living and was no doper for sure. Shiela e said he had been having issues with his hips and knees in recent years though. Bloody pain killers. We need to figure out a way to manage pain without the addictive nature of these drugs currently being used.


Trouble is, inflammation and irritation of joints is bound to happen if you use them and abuse them constantly. When my mouse finger starts acting up, I have to tape it down and restrict its ability to move so that the inflammation can subside. If I don't stop it from moving, I end up using it reflexively. Could you see this guy ever NOT giving his knees and hips a hard time?


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

The amount of Prince material showing up on Youtube in the last few days, since he died, is staggering. A lot of it is stuff I never expected to hear from him, or never knew existed. He's covering Hendrix, Tommy James (and the Shondells), Billy Cobham, playing with Miles Davis, and generally being a guitar hero in more ways than I can count.


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## mister.zed (Jun 8, 2011)

In case the link dies, here is the text of the fantastic NY Times article I mentioned in a previous post about the Prince solo in the George Harrison Hall of Fame Induction concert.






The Day Prince’s Guitar Wept the Loudest

*By FINN COHEN *APRIL 28, 2016

On March 15, 2004, George Harrison was posthumously inducted into theRock and Roll Hall of Fame. As part of the ceremony, an all-star band performed “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” Mr. Harrison’s best-known Beatles song. The group featured Tom Petty and two other members of the Heartbreakers, as well as Jeff Lynne, Steve Winwood, Dhani Harrison (George’s son) and Prince, himself an inductee that year. Marc Mann, a guitarist with Mr. Lynne’s band, played Eric Clapton’s memorable solo from the album version of the song. But Prince, who essentially stood in the dark for most of the performance, burned the stage to the ground at the song’s end.

His three-minute guitar solo is a Prince milestone, a chance to see him outside of the purple-tinted (for once, he is dressed in red) context of his own meticulous studio craft. This was Prince the Lead Guitarist — those chops apparent on songs like “Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?,” “Electric Chair” and “When Doves Cry” were given free range to roam. And when he tossed his instrument into the air at the very end of the song, it never appeared to land; it was almost as if Mr. Harrison had grabbed it himself in midair to signal, “That’s enough of that.”

Several people who were onstage or at the ceremony that night recalled Prince’s involvement and performance. These are edited excerpts from the conversations.

*JOEL GALLEN (producer and director of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony) *My dream right from the start was, imagine if I can get everybody up onstage at the end of the night to do “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” and Prince comes out and does the guitar solos. I wrote basically a personal letter to Prince, care of his lawyer.

I got a call from one of Prince’s guys, a week or two later, saying that Prince was in L.A. and he wanted to have a meeting with me. He said, “You know, I got your letter, I liked the idea, I’m going to listen to the song a few times, and I’ll get back to you.”

A couple weeks later his security guy called me again, and said, “Prince would like to meet with you again.” He said he definitely wants to do the song, he’s definitely going to do it. Both in the initial meeting and the second meeting, he did talk a lot about what we’re going to do with the music, who’s going to own the music — he was concerned like, if he does this, who’s going to own the performance? He wanted to make sure that his performance was not exploited without his knowledge.

*TOM PETTY (shared lead vocals with Jeff Lynne on “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”) *Olivia Harrison [George’s widow] asked me if I would come along and induct George. I was told, “Well, Prince is going to play too,” and I was like, “Wow, that’s fantastic.”

Look, we got Prince here willing to play lead guitar. Why should we give him an eight-bar solo? Over a solo that — the Beatles solo, everyone knows it by heart and would be disappointed if you didn’t play that particular solo there. And Prince was a great fan of George’s, and the Beatles in general, but I think he particularly admired George. I think George would have liked it a lot.

*CRAIG INCIARDI (Curator at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum) *I’ve seen every induction performance from ’92 to the present, so that’s like 24 shows. On a purely musical level, a technical level as far as musicianship, that performance seems like the most impressive one.

*GALLEN *We get to the rehearsal the night before the show at the Waldorf Astoria. Prince’s rehearsal was actually earlier — he rehearsed his big 10-, 12-minute medley that opened the show. He was having all kinds of audio problems, I remember he had his own monitor engineer that his camp had hired, and I think Prince fired him during the rehearsal because he couldn’t get the sound right. After that he went back to his hotel, and I said, “You’re going to come back at 10 o’clock tonight, that’s when we’re going to rehearse the finale,” and he says, “I’ll see.” [Laughs.] He didn’t give me any guarantees, he just said, “I’ll see.”

The Petty rehearsal was later that night. And at the time I’d asked him to come back, there was Prince; he’d shown up on the side of the stage with his guitar. He says hello to Tom and Jeff and the band. When we get to the middle solo, where Prince is supposed to do it, Jeff Lynne’s guitar player just starts playing the solo. Note for note, like Clapton. And Prince just stops and lets him do it and plays the rhythm, strums along. And we get to the big end solo, and Prince again steps forward to go into the solo, and this guy starts playing that solo too! Prince doesn’t say anything, just starts strumming, plays a few leads here and there, but for the most part, nothing memorable.

*STEVE FERRONE (drummer for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, who played at the 2004 ceremony) *I had no idea that Prince was going to be there. Steve Winwood said, “Hey, Prince is over there.” And I said, “I guess he’s playing with us?”

So I said to Winwood, “I’m going to go over and say hello to him.” I wandered across the stage and I went up to him and I said, “Hi, Prince, it’s nice to meet you — Steve Ferrone.” And he said, “Oh, I know who you are!” Maybe because I’d played on Chaka Khan’s “I Feel for You,” which is a song that he wrote. I went back over and I sat down behind the drum kit, and Winwood was like: “What’s he like? What’d he say?”

Then I was sitting there, and I heard somebody playing a guitar riff from a song that I wrote with Average White Band. And I looked over and Prince was looking right at me and playing that song. And I thought, “Yeah, you actually do know who I am!”

*GALLEN *They finish, and I go up to Jeff and Tom, and I sort of huddle up with these guys, and I’m like: “This cannot be happening. I don’t even know if we’re going to get another rehearsal with him. [Prince]. But this guy cannot be playing the solos throughout the song.” So I talk to Prince about it, I sort of pull him aside and had a private conversation with him, and he was like: “Look, let this guy do what he does, and I’ll just step in at the end. For the end solo, forget the middle solo.” And he goes, “Don’t worry about it.” And then he leaves. They never rehearsed it, really. Never really showed us what he was going to do, and he left, basically telling me, the producer of the show, not to worry. And the rest is history. It became one of the most satisfying musical moments in my history of watching and producing live music.

*INCIARDI *You hear all this sort of harmonics and finger-tapping, sort of like what you’d hear Eddie Van Halen do. He runs through all these different sort of guitar techniques that are sort of astonishing. You hear what sounds like someone cocking a shotgun. There’s all these strumming power chords that really, really connected. Then he plays his version of the Eric Clapton solo. He evokes Eric’s solo in very sort of truncated fashion. As he ends the song, he plays this flourishing thing that sort of ends up sounding a little bit like Spinal Tap, but in a good way.

*PETTY *You see me nodding at him, to say, “Go on, go on.” I remember I leaned out at him at one point and gave him a “This is going great!” kind of look. He just burned it up. You could feel the electricity of “something really big’s going down here.”

*FERRONE *Tom sort of went over to him and said, “Just cut loose and don’t feel sort of inhibited to copy anything that we have, just play your thing, just have a good time.” It was a hell of a guitar solo, and a hell of a show he actually put on for the band. When he fell back into the audience, everybody in the band freaked out, like, “Oh my God, he’s falling off the stage!” And then that whole thing with the guitar going up in the air. I didn’t even see who caught it. I just saw it go up, and I was astonished that it didn’t come back down again. Everybody wonders where that guitar went, and I gotta tell you, I was on the stage, and I wonder where it went, too.

*GALLEN *I still feel like people don’t realize what an amazing guitar player he was. As a rock guitar player, he can go toe to toe with anybody.

*PETTY *It’s funny because just a few days ago, he was in mind all afternoon, I was thinking about him. And I had just been talking with Susanna Hoffs of the Bangles — he wrote their “Manic Monday” song. She was telling me the story of that, of how she came to have that song and meet Prince. And I was thinking about him a lot that day, and I almost told myself I was going to call him and just see how he was. I’m starting to think you should just act on those things all the time.


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## Lola (Nov 16, 2014)

It's been confirmed as per CNN, that Prince died of an opioid overdose! The medical experts are calling it and "accidental death". Now they are investigating where the drugs came from, illegal or prescription.

It's also been legally confirmed that Prince did not have a will. Lawyers will just get richer.


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

Drugs take another one. Very unfortunate


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

"Accidental" fentanyl overdose. I don't put quotes around it to scoff or suggest otherwise. Rather, it was self-administered, and he seems to have mis-administered it to himself.
Fentanyl is commonly used for legitimate pain-relief purposes, although it has recently become popular as a heroin substitute. I was in for a colonoscopy on Monday and spent part of the day on fentanyl.

Much as I suspected, "_longtime friend and collaborator Sheila E. has told the AP that Prince had physical issues from performing, citing hip and knee problems that she said came from years of jumping off risers and stage speakers in heels_." Prince died of accidental fentanyl overdose: Minnesota medical examiner You can't be a man in his late 50's doing things for a living that a guy in his 20's does. Even when there is little risk of concussion, pro athletes know enough to move into coaching after 40.

If one looks at the various performance videos from the last 4 years, you do tend to see progressively less movement around the stage. Safe to assume he was in physical discomfort. I guess the silver lining in it for us is that he played a LOT more guitar in concert as a result of not running around and leaping.

Drug tolerances and overdose deaths are an interesting thing (although obviously tragic). Much of the groundwork for understanding drug tolerances and overdose deaths was laid at McMaster University in the 70's. One of the more conspicuous scenarios is that individuals can come to expect a given set of physical consequences of taking a drug, if it is ingested or taken in a similar way each time, over repeated administrations. This "conditioned tolerance" results in a sort of reflexive compensatory response to the drug effect the body knows is coming. Over time and repeated administrations, users require greater and greater dosages to overcome the conditioned compensatory response. And when the same individual self-administers the higher dosage in a way or in a context that does not mimic the "usual" self-administration ritual (hence NOT eliciting the compensatory response), they overdose. Junkies are most often found dead when injecting at a location on their body they've never used before, or in a physical locale they've never shot up I before.

I know absolutely nothing about the circumstances of his self-administration. But if the coroner's report says that it was the first time he had self-administered at home, or in a certain injection location, I will not be surprised at all.


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## jb welder (Sep 14, 2010)

mhammer said:


> Over time and repeated administrations, users require greater and greater dosages to overcome the conditioned compensatory response.


Could the narcan shot the previous week have decreased his sensitivity?


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## Lola (Nov 16, 2014)

Thank you mhammer for your very insightful reply to this thread. I love reading your replies because I always learn something or something that you have stated provokes me to do personal research into the topic at hand!


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

jb welder said:


> Could the narcan shot the previous week have decreased his sensitivity?


I know a few things about the process, but I know nothing about that substance. So I'm not going to venture a guess.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Lola said:


> Thank you mhammer for your very insightful reply to this thread. I love reading your replies because I always learn something or something that you have stated provokes me to do personal research into the topic at hand!


Thanks, Lola. When I used to teach psychology, students would often say "This stuff is so interesting". And my reply was "It's about US. What could *BE* more interesting?".

All this drug stuff goes way back to Pavlov, before WWI. The same general process that results in tolerance to drugs, upping the dosage, and overdose deaths, also results in getting stuffy in response to mere pictures of allergens, having a smoke or coffee to relax, and diet soft drinks making people feel hungry.


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## Lola (Nov 16, 2014)

There is only 1 full blooded sibling and that is Prince's sister Tyka. The other siblings are only 1/2 siblings but in the state of Minnesota it doesn't matter.

According to Prince's sister he had no will that she knew of.

I wonder how this mess will be sorted out. Look how long Hendrix's estate took to settle. 45 years!!!


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