Prince Charming

We FINALLY got to see Prince out here - he has a weekly weekend gig at his club at the Rio, 3121. He's been here since December or so and goes out on tour at the end of March, so we were just in time. The directors took a group of 8 of us and it was just fantastic. We had a table right next to the stage, so that when Prince came on, he was so close. The space is pretty intimate to begin with - a dance floor in the center surrounded by tables in the round. What a talent Prince is. And such a presence. The highlight of the evening, however, was when our friend was beckoned to dance onstage - she sashayed across the stage as if it had been choreographed and rehearsed, it was fabulous. And then, the rest of us were summoned to dance onstage too. Prince had left the stage by this point, probably for a wardrobe change, but we still had such a good time. The band was playing a James Brown hook and Prince's backup dancers (who happened to be twin sisters) joined us in OUR routine. My husband got on the mic, another friend got up on a platform with one of the twins and danced "like it was her job" (her words). Apparently, we were on fire, so much so that the audience members dancing on the other side of the stage stopped to check us out! Such a blast. And then in the middle of all this euphoria, my husband made eye contact with the sax player (who was wonderfully talented) and they realized simultaneously that they knew each other from back in the day - the sax player played on one of my husband's tracks, with my brother as well. Such a small world. My husband was able to reconnect with the sax player after the gig. Everyone was on cloud 9, it was just so surreal. Prince also had a wonderful guest singer who sang some Aretha and even Gnarls Barkley (with Prince backing her up - very generous). Truly a wonderful evening.