In the sense of a deejay programming his or her own music; yes. Isn’t that what you do?

Commercial radio is losing its significance as the primary source of music. It used to be the only place to discover new music but now music is promoted and served in so many fashions that it’s diminishing a music fan’s dependence on radio.

In the pre-video days, radio listeners were ripe to be taken on a trip. All one needed was a little imagination… the music was the jet plane and the deejay was the pilot. No more. Video and the widespread availability of popular music have desensitized imaginations. As Prince once told me, “people today don’t listen to music, they watch it.”

Well it’s good to know that somebody at least appreciated Prince’s efforts on GRAFFITI BRIDGE. No matter what any of us think of the movie, that project represented several years of thought and effort on Prince’s part – not just creatively but getting it made at all. Madonna was approached and turned it down. Kim Bassinger agreed and moved right in… only to change her mind (and move right out). Manager/ex-director Albert Magnoli wanted no part of it. Nor did Warner Films. As a filmmaker, Prince’s own ambition and impatience conspired against him, as he seemed to lack the tolerance and focus to learn the craft. He wanted to see his artistic visions come to life on a screen as quickly as possible. But making a film is a complex, tedious process.

This was another transitional phase in Prince’s career. It was sort of the last hurrah of the 80’s Prince – the Prince of ATWIAD, PURPLE RAIN, SIGN O’ THE TIMES and LOVESEXY. It was as if the creative thread between those albums played itself out with GRAFFITI BRIDGE. Looking back, GB almost seems like a kind of desperate attempt to revive that “old” Prince. The failure of it was inevitable, as much of the world had moved on from the “pie in the sky” visions of the 1980’s into the hard core of the 1990’s.

Several times Prince albums would go through a metamorphous or two before settling on their final concept, track list and sequence. Before SIGN O’ THE TIMES there was DREAM FACTORY. The albums shared some of the same material but DREAM FACTORY was, in concept, more of a band album and included Susannah Melvoin – the “departure” of whom was one reason Prince re-thought the album. DREAM FACTORY included more input from Wendy and Lisa as well. I’ve always thought that period was Prince’s most musically imaginative and productive. Several of his most interesting unreleased songs and ideas came from sessions held between 1985 and 1987. Of course many of us believe SIGN O’ THE TIMES may be his best album of all, so the demise of DREAM FACTORY shouldn’t be second guessed. But it was an equally amazing collection of music.

This is the question that’s kept me up nights! Okay, at the risk of some friendships, here we go.

• TRUMPET – ATLANTA BLISS. Over shadowed by Eric’s solo spotlight, Bliss’ fiery and precise trumpet parts were an equal part of the dynamic horn arrangements on the PARADE, SOTT & LOVESEXY tours. Bliss and Eric had been playing in bands together for years before either knew Prince and their intonation (blend) was surreal.
  
  
• TROMBONE – GREG BOYER. Most Prince fans don’t realize that Boyer wrote many of the horn arrangements featured after he joined the band. His trombone added a dimension and balance that Prince’s trumpet-sax horn sections sometimes missed.
  
• SAX – ERIC LEEDS. Surprised?? I always looked up to Eric (even though I’m the older brother) because he actually MAKES the doggone music we both love so much.  Anyway, my son (and parents) woulda killed me if I selected anybody else – LOL.  I never imagined “voting” against my career-long pal, Maceo Parker for anything. But the fact is that Maceo’s identity was established in the music of James Brown. Having said that, Maceo sounds like Maceo in any context – which is a GOOD thing… but also the reason I enjoy him most in front of his own band. Maybe just because Eric was the first sax soloist associated with Prince’s music, his sound just seems most appropriate when Mr. Nelson’s calls for a sax.
  
  
• KEYBOARDS – LISA COLEMAN and RENATO NETO. Neto for his chops and jazz vocabulary; Lisa for her sensitive and imaginative use of chords and harmonies. They each brought a fully developed arsenal of musical ideas that perfectly fit in the context of Prince’s music at the time they were in the band.
  
  
• GUITAR – the toughest one! I love how WENDY plays. I loved DEZ DICKERSON’S rock solos (sadly forgotten and overlooked) on early Prince shows. And I loved the funky rhythm MIKO WEAVER brought to the band. Each of these players made a unique and personal contribution to the band, totally different from each other. Having said that, I gotta select PRINCE – simply because he’s the only guitarist ever in the band that combines the best elements of all these three guitarists! (Hah! Dodged a bullet that time!!)
  
  
• BASS – SONNY THOMPSON. Just because he was the best of several very good bassists that played in the band.
  
  
• DRUMS – Another tough one but I settled on SHEILA E. Having made my selection, I must say BOBBY Z has been unfairly overlooked and taken for granted by Prince fans and historians. By the 1999 tour Bobby was sabotaged by Prince’s dependence on his Linn drum machine… obscuring any real opportunity for Bobby to show (much less develop) his skills. I’ve heard and seen some performances of the early band – pre-Linn machine – where Bobby was absolutely slammin’. Bobby also deserves credit for being one of the pioneers at combining live drums with the programming duties and beats of the machine – a task that sounds much easier than it actually is. Obviously drummers like MICHAEL BLAND and JOHN BLACKWELL have awesome skills. I think Bland fit in better. I don’t know John but sometimes it sounded like his excitement at being in Prince’s band overshadowed his sensitivity to the song or what his band mates were playing. Bland is like the A. Rod of musicians – his skills are so “extra” that he just kinda robotically fits in wherever you place him. But… besides being an astounding drummer, Sheila is also a complete musician. I picked Sheila in much the same way I picked Eric for sax. She just plays the most like what I imagine “Prince drums” should sound like.
  
  
• LIGHTS – ROY BENNETT. Lights? Damn right. Roy’s innovative tour lighting was so musical and illustrative of Prince’s visions that he was often thought of as the final member of the Revolution.
  

Some guy sitting on an island with an acoustic guitar and a bongo-like drum made out of tree stumps… singing a song about how mankind blew up the world and he somehow managed to survive. His second song would be about looking to see if some woman, any woman, also survived.