44 thoughts on “April 22, 2016: Even More?”

  2. I haven't been this affected by a non-family death since Kirby. The Valet had his own dance party before bedtime last night.

  3. I know y'all touched on this yesterday, but I am just so sad that we have lost Prince. Watching the news this morning, a lady about my age ( 47), struggled to put into words what Prince has meant to Minnesota. She eventually summarized it so well. She said something to the effect of "when people give us a hard time for being from MN, you know flyover country, we just smile and say 'well be got Prince'". Totally a drop the mic moment. I did not shed any tears yesterday, because busy. However, this morning I couldn't stop them.

    I grew up more loving both hard rock/heavy metal and 80's pop. I know, I know... dork right? But when Prince blew up, I found myself gravitating to the funk end of the musical spectrum. Man, the dude could play the guitar. OMG. Anyone who says they did not get naughty to the sounds of Prince during the mid to late 80's is totally lying. Many of my favorite high school/college memories have a Prince song playing in the background. He was a Minnesota son through and through. The fact that he did not leave us for LA or NY, but built Paisley Park to help the local music scene is so Minnesotan. I am crushed.

    1. Prince was also so much more than a musician -- he created the "Minneapolis Sound" in the 80's with his hand in producing many other artists' albums which were popular as well at the time.

    2. Anyone who says they did not get naughty to the sounds of Prince during the mid to late 80's is totally lying.

      Well, I didn't, but then I was <10 for the duration of that decade.

      That said, if I was older I don't know if I'd have gotten into his music or not, and it comes as no surprise that I really haven't heard any of it, outside of that halftime show, which is the last SB halftime show I will ever watch. But, I do have plenty of respect for him and understand the blow this is to music in general and the state.

    3. Hmm. So I'm Minnesotan. I'm a Prince fan, though I didn't follow him rabidly or listen to him rabidly. For me, being aware of music around his 90's radio content somehow made me surprisingly unaware of his actual musical talent. We didn't have Facebook and shares of "LOOK AT THIS RIDICULOUS PRINCE GUITAR SOLO." I never saw him in concert. I didn't really become fully aware of his broad spectrum of musical talent until the 00's. Not that it mattered too much, because of course I already knew about his ability to build an infectious song for himself and his band or others. It was gobsmacking to me that there was even _more_ to him.

      Everyone knew Prince was from Minnesota. When I'd travel in the 90's, sometimes a vendor or waiter would ask me where I was from. "Minnesota." "AW YEAH, PRINCE!!" It happened so often to become a bit disturbing.

      Yesterday I was not that effected. Until I tried to sleep and found myself up until 2 am reading and watching. Digging deep. Finding out he wrote a No Doubt song and Manic Monday. Going to bed realizing I'll never be able to dig down and hear everything he did. His impact with the Minneapolis Sound and Paisley Park is sort of secret and immeasurable in a weird way.

      I watched a video about the Super Bowl performance on YouTube this morning. The focus was about how he grasped that moment, using the weather to his benefit. Even more amazingly, played as much music written by others as himself. On that stage he hardly spent any time considering the promotional value of the performance, while still giving a bombastic _Prince_ performance that didn't minimize his right to be a little bit cocky, a little bit proud because he knew he had nailed it. He nailed just about everything.

      Watching some of his (or anyone's) guitar performances I find myself curious about his preparation. Did he have to practice constantly to perform with that level of skill, precision, and improvisation? Or once he hit the 80s did he just wake up able to play like that? I'm really interested!

      It's always a little weird for me to grieve about artists. I need to. My wife has never had a strong emotional connection with music like me and she finds it kind of inappropriate to be emotional about these things. So I write to you on the internet.

      I'm that guy who has never seen the movie Purple Rain. I will correct that soon.

      ---

      I work for a small company headquartered in NYC. Every six months we all descend on the city to work a little and hang out a little. One of the classic memories of these gatherings is a colleague's impassioned Purple Rain karaoke performances. He performed it twice, full throated and on his knees by the end. The second time he did it, he had planned others to shoot small confetti cannons at a certain point. We were having food and drinks and singing with him at the top of our lungs, arms over each other's shoulders. It was a little weird, but of the moment and something those of us who were there will never forget.

      Yesterday this coworker was fired after six years working with us. This doesn't happen often at my company. It's been two years since the last time it happened. He had worked with us a long time, but it just wasn't working anymore. A couple hours after he was fired he texted me to say, "What are the odds Prince dies _today_." It was surreal.

      He is also a huge Reds fan. I think you know what happened in their game last night.

      1. I watched that video about the Super Bowl performance last night as well. Just. Awesome. and it helped/made me appreciate the performance in ways that I hadn't before.

      2. My wife has never had a strong emotional connection with music like me and she finds it kind of inappropriate to be emotional about these things. So I write to you on the internet.

        As someone similar to your wife, I find it strange to think others shouldn't grieve over this.

        If one of our pets dies, I certainly would grieve over it but I wouldn't expect any other WGOMer to do so. Others can express their sympathies having been in the same spot and having empathy for knowing what it's like. I personally feel zero connection to Prince so I'm not grieving. At the same, I know others do have deep connections to him and they are grieving. When I learned the news my first thought was about someone I follow on twitter that's a huge fan of Prince. So, I am sad about it. I'm not going to go through his music or obituaries or stories about him but I am still sad that someone that meant a lot to others is dead.

        1. This is about where I am, at least vis a vis Prince. I'm not super sad about it in particular, but I do feel that bit of sadness I feel when anyone anywhere dies and a little more knowing a good number of my friends are really really greiving.

        2. My wife has never had a strong emotional connection with music like me and she finds it kind of inappropriate to be emotional about these things. So I write to you on the internet.

          As someone similar to your wife, I find it strange to think others shouldn't grieve over this.

          To be fair, she's never said that. I'm sort of placing those feelings upon her. She probably actually feels similar to you. 🙂

  4. I am heading to the twin cities tonight for a hockey tournament. I was going to stop by Fort Snelling to pay my respects to my parents, who are both buried there. I will have to stop by First Ave or Paisley Park to do the same for Prince.

  5. I mentioned yesterday a comment about Sano's day and his OPS. Small sample sizes still, and all, but going in to yesterday he was at an OPS+ of 88, coming out he's to to 122. He's a good hitter again!

    1. One of the things I love about the first month of the season is how a player's stats can completely turn around in a day or two.

      1. A lot of hand-wringing over whether or not Harper has supplanted Trout. Trout raised his OPS+ almost 30 points yesterday as well.

        1. I'm not a sports argument type, and stuff like Harper v. Trout is why. I'm of the opinion that I'm very fortunate to get to see both of them play. Why does one have to be deemed better than the other? It doesn't diminish what the other is doing, except in some arbitrary ranking.

          1. I don't mind a good sports argument, but I agree that Harper vs. Trout is a pretty pointless one.

            1. Predicting who will end up with the better career could be a fun argument. Or doing a retrospective afterwards could be. But "Who's better right now?" is so banal.

              1. To me, the arguments get better when the difference of opinions is greater (and the people discussing are willing to listen to each other.) For instance, back when Lohse was with the Twins, I thought he was a good pitcher, but some suggested he was terrible. That was interesting to me because good vs. terrible makes a difference in how you use the guy in your roster.

                Even Trout vs. Harper in terms of projecting their careers seems a little boring, unless someone is going to make the case that one of them won't have a HOF career, or something like that.

              1. Or, why did the Twins pick Gibson instead of Trout. I don't really care but it'd be interesting to know what the Twins thought about both of them on draft day.

                1. I guess I'd be more interested in "how did Trout fall to 25th" as a general question, rather than Gibson vs. Trout specifically. Seven guys taken ahead of Trout in 2009 haven't even appeared in the majors, two of those seven were CF, and one of those was the 3rd overall pick (Donavan Tate).

                  Gibson seems pretty typical for what you'd expect around that point in the draft, Trout is more the outlier.

                  Looking at bb-ref, Trout was 17 when he was drafted. I wonder if his HS record was somewhat less impressive (relative to, say a Joe Mauer) because he was a year younger than his grade in HS would indicate?

              1. Even for league MVP debates, it's hard for me to get too worked up, unless someone suggests Morneau over Mauer in 2006, or Torii Hunter in any year.

    2. Even while he was struggling to get hits, Sano was still taking walks and getting deep into counts so I wasn't too worried about him. That will be key for him because I doubt he will significantly improve his K rate, so he needs to contribute by walking when he's having a hard time making consistent contact. His OBP is .385 and he only had a couple hits yesterday.

    1. That is sad. But I guess a guy in his position, it has to be real tempting when you are somewhat borderline and are on the wrong side of your prime years.

    4. I wonder if the Blue Jays regret keeping him over Valencia. Though Justin Smoak should be serviceable enough (and, really, Colabello's been beyond horrendous this year)

    1. Sorry. It looks like you have to be a zoo member and use your membership ID as the code.

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