Member-only story
Walking Where The Purple One Reigned
Visiting Prince's Home Town and Literal Home
I grew up around Prince, though it wasn't until I was in my twenties that I actually met him; we often occupied the same spaces at different times. We both were born in North Minneapolis around the same time, though I moved to South Minneapolis when I was five.
We had friends in common; I went to high school with Jellybean, the drummer from The Time. He wasn't Jellybean yet; Garry Johnson was always drumming on something with sticks, real or imagined. His nickname then was "Buddy Miles," a drummer whose fame Garry would near. I played on sports teams against Terry Lewis; he played basketball and ran track, as did I. I've met Jimmy Jam though he wouldn't recall it.
I wasn't into the Minneapolis music scene when I lived there. I left Minneapolis for college five years before Prince released his first album, "For You." I kinda liked the single "Soft and Wet," but it wasn't until his second album, "Prince," that I was hooked…
