Purple Rain 30 years later

The album Purple Rain came out 30 years ago today. Hard to believe that I was only six-years-old when the album dropped, but I didn't see the film until it came out on video tape, and that was probably a year or so after it was in theaters back then. So I saw the film, and fell in love with Prince, Apollonia, Morris Day (even though he was the bad guy), and the music when I was seven. That makes more sense. We rented the tape on Beta, by the way.

I've seen the film Purple Rain dozens of times. It's up there with Shawshank Redemption for me, where if it's on TV I turn it on and watch it until the end. Purple Rain is cheesy, and corny, and doesn't follow a typical story arc, and I love it. It reminds me of childhood, and I love seeing old Minneapolis throughout the film. My favorite color is purple, not only because I'm a Vikings fan, but I loved Prince and Purple Rain first.

I saw a screening of the film at Pepitos a few years ago where The Revolution's drummer Bobby Z and the assistant director said a few words before the screening. The AD talked about how they started filming just a music video, but talk of a story mushroomed on the tour bus, and they started to piece a movie together. He said the first cut of the film was four hours long. That explains why the 111 minute final cut is a little disjointed here and there.

Being a parent now, I don't know how I got away with seeing the R-rated film when I was 7-years-old, but I'm glad I did. It was a little uncomfortable watching the adult themed scenes with my parents, but we had an unwritten "don't-ask-don't-tell" policy. If you don't talk about it, it doesn't exist. It must've been for my 7th birthday that I got one of my favorite birthday presents ever. Purple Rain on vinyl. It was the first album that I listened to all the way through, both sides. I love the album to this day, and on its 30-year anniversary I'll give it a listen and give you my thoughts on each track.

1. Let's Go Crazy
I still get excited when I hear the first organ note at the start. "Dearly beloved…"
The songs are almost  in the order they are in the film. We're introduced to Prince, or The Kid, and his band on stage at 1st Avenue. It's a party, and everyone dances in the club. The movie version is a little different than the album cut. I never get sick of this song.

2. Take Me With U
Prince and Apollonia duet on this one. It plays as The Kid takes her to the Mississippi to "purify herself in the waters of Lake Minnetonka" on his motorcycle. This was the first time I saw breasts. I remember thinking that Prince and Apollonia were married in real life since they sing this song together. At the screening the AD said it was about 34 degrees when they filmed the scene where she jumps in the water.

3. The Beautiful Ones
I used to go back and forth on if I liked this song when I was seven. Today I know that I love it. In the film Morris Day takes Apollonia to the club to show The Kid that he's got her for the night. Things get a little uncomfortable when The Kid breaks the fourth wall and questions what he thought was a loving relationship with her. "Do you want him, or do you want me?"
I remember thinking how talented The Kid was to break into song like that to Apollonia right on the spot.

4. Computer Blue

This starts with Wendy and Lisa talking to each other. "Wendy?" "Yes Lisa.." 

As a kid I thought that Wendy and Lisa were so lucky to be in The Revolution. Every member was lucky, but W&L had a few lines in the film, and they give The Kid the music that he turns into the song Purple Rain. This song has a fun musical break in the middle that I used to (and still) air guitar the shit out of. 

5. Darling Nikki

I knew this song was supposed to be about Apollonia, but why is it darling Nikki? Because Prince is cool, okay? She was a sex-feind, and she's masturbating with a magazine. I wonder what my seven-year-old mind thought that meant. I lived in North Minneapolis at the time and went to public school. I probably knew exactly what they meant when I was seven. 

Flip the record to the B-side where it actually gets stronger.

6. When Doves Cry

The Kid's parents fight throughout the movie. His dad is abusive to his mother, and he witnesses it. Later The Kid has some violent tendencies toward Apollonia. "Maybe I'm just like my father." Whoa. I totally get it, Prince. 

7. I Would Die 4 U

After a knock-'em-down-drag-'em-out that The Kid's father has with mom and him, dad tells mom "I would die for you." The Kid writes this number about it. It's in the finale of the film when The Kid saves his spot in the club as a performer. The promoter tells him that he has four acts, but only room for three, and his ass is on the line at this performance. The Kid comes through!

8. Baby I'm A Star

I Would Die 4 U goes right into Baby I'm a Star. This song never fails to gives me chills. I remember thinking that I couldn't wait to have a reason to play this song as a celebration for something. As an adult, whenever I'm happy about something I turn this song up as loud as it goes and lose it. I can't listen to this song and be in a bad mood. I sang it at karaoke once and missed almost every note, but it was the most fun I've had singing a karaoke song. 

9. Purple Rain

What can I say? It's so good. I cried a little at the screening when The Kid gives Lisa a peck on the cheek on stage during the song. A thank you for writing the music to save his ass. What's it about? I don't know. Purple Rain is what it's about. I'm not big on the deep meaning of a song. I'm more about the emotions a song brings up in me, and this one does it for me. I can't explain why. "If you know what I'm talking about, come on and raise your hand." My hand is raised, Prince. 

I'll share the music with Ozzie as he grows up, but I'll wait until he's a little older than seven to show him the movie. What do you think? He should be at least eight. 

New car smell

On Father's Day on the way to the track in my Kia Soul Megan said to me that I'll need a bigger vehicle if we're ever going to have another kid. I loved my Kia Soul, but Ozzie's car seat alone was a tight squeeze in the back seat rear-facing. She got me thinking. I always said that if I needed to get a new car I'd get another Kia Soul. They're cheap, good cars, and the 10 year warranty alone is worth it.

I'm not a big fan of naming cars, but that's James, named (by my brother) after The Godfather of Soul, James Brown. Before I got James I was looking at Toyota RAV4's. This was a few years ago when RAV4's looked more like a truck ands had the spare tire on the back. I thought (and still think) that they look really sharp. I didn't remember how much space was inside. When I was car shopping last time, I wasn't thinking about fitting car seats in the back seat. 

I went to Brookdale Toyota on my day off last week and looked at the new 2014 model. It looks less like a truck/SUV now, but still looks really slick to me. I couldn't believe when I opened the hatch to the back and saw all of the cargo space. I was sold almost right there. Then I opened the door to the back seat and was surprised at the room back there compared to James. 

Buying a car at a dealer is stressful because you want the lowest price possible, but they want the most out of you. It's a funny dance that you need to do. My best advice is not to buy the first day you're there. Get numbers to take home with you and research on the internet. I found the model and color of the RAV I wanted and had the dealer (let's call him Joe) put it on hold for me (which he offered). Then I went home and looked up the True Car price. 

True Car is an awesome website that the dealer pretty much has to give you the discount it reports. If they don't, there are twelve other dealers who will, and they know that, so he gave me the discount of $1,737 that it said. Then I looked up the actual car that was on hold for me on the dealer's website. Their own website had it listed with a $2,000 discount that Joe didn't tell me about. He didn't offer any push back when I emailed him about it, and he said he'd honor it, but I didn't feel right about him keeping his own advertised discount a secret from me. 

I knew Joe was going out of town for a long weekend and had planned with him to come back and buy from him on Tuesday (today), but the more I thought about it, the more I thought of Joe as a weasel and wanted to talk to a manager about seeing a different sales person. I had yesterday off again and called the lot. A salesman answered and I asked for a manager. It was right when they opened, and he said one wasn't in yet, but asked if he could help me with anything. I told him about Joe's antics, and this new dealer poached me and became my dealer. Let's call him Ray. 

I went in and met Ray yesterday morning at 10:30. Since it was on hold for me, the process was pretty easy. Ray drew up the numbers and we agreed on the terms (lease to own with zero down and James trade-in), and I went through everything you go through. First I met with the girl who can add any accesory you can think of. Each one was broken down to what it would cost added to the monthly payment. Cars come without floor mats brand new, so the only thing I added was weather (rubber) floor mats and a cargo mat. 

She gave me the sales pitch for the rust-proofing, and 3M sealant, and rain guard for the windows, and scotch guard for the seats; all of which I knew I didn't want, but I took the brochures from her, and dropped them right in the trash in the waiting area.  She also offered a remote starter. I thought hard about that one, but they are on Groupon for about 1/5 of the price she was offering, so I'll get one on there. 

Then I went to the financing office and signed papers regarding the terms of the lease. I'm not a numbers guy, and I won't bore you with those details, but that was my last step. With all of the paperwork out of the way, and James cleaned out of the garage door opener, and gum, and odds and ends, I met my newly detailed RAV4. Ray showed me the cargo area first. Then I got into the driver's seat and we set up my phone's bluetooth to work through the car radio. He showed me the radio features, and I can't wait to really play with it and figure it out. It has satellite radio, but it's XM, meaning the regular package doesn't come with Howard Stern. Howard is the reason I paid for satellite in James. After my free trial is up, I won't renew if I can't get Howard at a discount. 

At 1:30 I drove my new vehicle off the lot. I love it. I've only driven it to work and back once (and home from the lot), and every time I drive it I love it more. You can't go wrong with a Kia Soul; I have nothing bad to say about James, but the RAV4 XLE is a step up in drivability, and comfort. 

I'll take suggestions for a name. 

My 1st Father's Day as a dad

After 35 Father’s Days celebrating my own dad (usually with him grilling burgers and brats), today was my first one celebrating me. I got to choose the day’s activities, and it was kind of like a 2^nd birthday. I kind of loved it.

I still celebrated my dad. I sent him a card from Ozzie and me with a lottery ticket inside. He won $20 on it too, so I gave him $20 for Father’s Day. For my day Megan, Ozzie, and I went to Sarna’s for brunch. It's in Columbia Heights on 39th and University. We’d never been to their brunch, and it was good. They had all kinds of food, breakfast and lunch foods. Brunch.

It turns out that I’m more of a breakfast person for breakfast time. We had 10:00 reservations, and that’s weekend breakfast time for me. I had French toast, eggs benedict, bananas foster French toast, a lot of bacon, cheesy potatoes, and a few chocolaty desserts. Megan sampled the lunch offerings  (ham and ribs, Brussels sprouts, potatoes and gravy, etc.), but I didn’t have any interest. I was full to the brim for 7 hours.

It was really rainy this morning. I even called off what the day’s activity was to be, Canterbury Park. I thought how we’re going to have Ozzie in the stroller, and they’re probably going to be busy for Father’s Day. But it was nice and sunny as we left the restaurant. We called the park and the races were still on, so we went.

I’m glad we went, despite the crowd. It was packed. The line to pay to get in was a block long, but it moved really fast. We got up to the window and I paid our $8 each and got 2 programs with admission. Minnesota lottery was giving away $1 scratchers to the first 5,000 in attendance. Mine was a dud, but Megan won $2.

I bought a $2 tip sheet on the way in, and used it with the tips in the program to make my bets. I don’t know how Megan came up with the bets she did, but she would write down her (usually) exacta bets for me to go make for her while she sat in the sun with Ozzie. An exacta is picking the top two finishing horses. Boxing them (so thy can come in either order) is only a $2 bet.

I bet 50-cent trifectas and 10-cent superfectas. Trifectas are picking the top three horses, and boxing the 50-cent is only a $3 bet. Superfectas are the top 4 horses, and boxing the 10-cent bet is only $2.40. We bet on races 2 through 8. For the first couple of races I was running inside to place the bets and got them in with about 1 minute to post time.

The lines were long to get to a teller to make the bets. It was very stressful. Not making the bets, but when I’d get to the teller I’d look behind me and there was a line of about 10 people waiting for me to bumble my way through. They have touch screen automated tellers where the lines were shorter, so I tried them twice, but I didn’t want to hold up the lines anymore, so I went back to the live tellers.

I got smart right after the 4^th race. I went to place my bets right after the race ended. It was empty at that time. I could (kind of) take my time, and breathe. It was so much better doing it that way. I even made my bets for the next two races. Megan never hit on her bets. Two of my superfectas came in getting me about $15. You have to spend money to make money at the track. If I upped my 10-cent bet to $1 the bets would’ve cost me $24, but winning the two I did would have pulled in $150.

It was nice to sit in the warm sun. Ozzie was a perfect baby in his stroller at the track. He was smiley and taking in all of the sights. I love the track announcer, Paul Allen. I love his radio show and he calls Viking games; he’s also the perfect horse race announcer with his signature “rrrrrrracing” at the start of each race.

Megan got me some grilling accessories for Father’s day. One’s a gage that tells how much gas is left in the tank that I’ve wanted for a long time. She also put together a calendar full of pictures of us (mostly me and Ozzie) that starts in July. I’ll proudly display it at my desk at work.

Being a father to Ozzie is my favorite thing in the world. Now being a father on Father’s Day is pretty cool too. Maybe going the track will become a tradition.