What a halftime show in the pouring rain … For a guy lots of people wrote off a long time ago as an egomaniac (I haven't seen him since 1983), he turned in a tremendously professional and generous performance under scary conditions: I wouldn't be too enthusiastic about playing the electric guitar with that much rain coming down. A solid but predictable opening with his own "Let's Go Crazy," followed by the opening chords of his "1999," but then things got interesting, with "Proud Mary" and a ballad arrangement of "All Along the Watchtower." The clear theme behind his choice of those two songs is the interrelationship of American white and black music, which has gotten so separated in recent decades. Both songs were by whites (John Fogerty and Bob Dylan, respectively) and famously covered by blacks (Ike and Tina Turner and Jimi Hendrix). Then, Prince did another cover, of the Foo Fighters recent rocker "The Best of You," which must have struck him the way it always struck me: as very professional sports-sounding. And then into his finale of "Purple Rain," with Mother Nature lending a well-deserved hand.
My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer
Now it's pretty safe playing in the rain, as most everyone uses wireless transmitters.
ReplyDeleteOne of my longtime projects is to build a solid body electric guitar you can take into the pool with you. Already there are composite instruments that will work if you pot the electronics.
prince is a legitimate musician. he plays guitar very well, and he plays it live.
ReplyDeletehe's mixed race though. this probably was a big factor in how he decided to approach music. black musicians were starting to leave the guitar in the 80s.
the only good black mainstream guitar player i can think of recently is andre benjamin of outkast. he's a good writer and he's turned out some excellent pop.
Speaking of sexual personae.
ReplyDeleteInteresting, the observation about the mixed-race Prince (I believe his mother is Italian-American) bringing together black and white music in his Superbowl program. That coupled with jody's remark that Tony Dungy, who obviously has a significant admixture of white blood, acknowledges discrimination against white players makes me think that if some resistance develops to galloping anti-white, PC affirmative action thinking, it might come from mixed race "black" people who respect their white cultural and genetic roots and don't want to see them trashed. Just a thought.
ReplyDeleteI was also pleased by Prince's performance. I think "generous" is a good word for it. For a guy who seemed so petulant in his early career, he really seemed to be having fun out there and reaching out to the audience.
Apropos the game, has their been any discussion of the Bear's awful play calling? That botched pass play where Grossmann tripped over himself for a loss came on a 2nd and 1 and wouldn't have happened if they had simply run the ball for an easy first down. The Bears were finally coming back with some momentum after two quick Grossmann completions and had finally made it into Colts' territory. That they then proceeded to give up the ball so quickly sealed the Bears' fate as far as I'm concerned, and it was the result not only of Grossmann's mediocrity but also of lousy play calling.
Grossman went 20-28, which is pretty good in the rain against a Super Bowl level defense, so he was good except for the 5 or 6 plays where he was awful.
ReplyDeleteI'm not much a a Prince fan, but he treated the situation with professionalism and respect. I thought he was much better than the Stones last year.
ReplyDeleteAlso, did anybody notice that the officials kept their whistles in their pockets, unlike last year...
er, I don't want to talk about it.(frustrated Seattle fan)
Prince positvely NOT mixed race. That is a FACT. Research it.
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