Nothing compares 2 U - the post I never wanted to write

If ever there was an artist that seemed immortal, it was Prince. Whether it was his phenomenal guitar playing, unmatched songwriting and arranging, ageless appearance, or captivating performances, he seemed supernatural.

Death didn’t seem like it would ever fit into the equation. Someday Prince would simply fly off into space, his Paisley Park compound rising from the earth like the mansion in Rocky Horror, blasting toward the stars.

I couldn’t text my best friend from childhood or my sister when I finally confirmed the news from a reputable source this afternoon (please let it be another internet hoax, I thought). The news was too big. Too horrible. My husband called me before I could call them. Everyone already knew. We were all searching online for something that proved the news false before calling each other.  

I don’t care about the Grammys, the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame, or any of the other record breaking stats you’ll find in his obituary. It was his incomparable music that mattered. I could recount pretending to be Wendy and Lisa from the Revolution with my best friend as a kid (I was Lisa); seeing the risqué “Purple Rain” for the first time (mom sent me out of the room during a couple scenes); launching into his “Let’s Go Crazy” intro the year I got a microphone on Christmas morning (much to my sister’s delight); or the insanity and excitement leading up to seeing him for the first (second, third, or fourth) time. But a scroll through Twitter is a testament to the millions of lives, like mine, that he touched. His reach was almost intangible.

Last week when news broke of Prince falling ill after shows in Atlanta, my mom (who almost died in November) gave me a hard time about not taking her to see him there. I wouldn’t have thought about taking her to an out of town show a few months after she was released from the hospital anyway. Now I wish we’d gone. These last shows with Prince and a piano reportedly boiled his genius down in the simplest terms, although there is nothing simple about it.

I also thought about the musicians and employees that work for Prince – some who are Charlotte-based, some that are friends – who are now out of a job, a job that most of us could only dream of. But more than anything, as with the deaths of the Ramones, Lemmy Kilmister, and countless others, I think about the artists my kids will never get to see play live. My 7 year old sometimes asks if an artist is dead before he commits to liking them. There are so many that he’ll never see (that’s one reason I sprung for Guns n’ Roses tickets). But Prince? I always thought there would be time.

I recently made my kids watch a block on VH1 Classic’s “Pop-Up Video” of Prince classics. My 5 year old deemed the video for “When Doves Cry” inappropriate, but remembered “Raspberry Beret” this morning when I shared the news with him. “I like ‘Raspberry Beret.’ I’m sorry you died,” he said, as if dictating his thoughts, thinking I’m typing an email to Prince instead of a blog post. He climbed on top of the metal frame of my mom’s day bed, looked out the window and lamented, “That was a good band.”

Review: Duran Duran honors its heroes, but doesn't rely on nostalgia

In the shadow of House Bill 2, which has seen touring acts opposed to North Carolina’s recent legislation opting to cancel NC shows or play them as benefits or forms of protest, Duran Duran played its scheduled show at PNC Music Pavilion Saturday. Frontman Simon LeBon announced early on that it would be a mostly politics free night. It wasn’t until the encore that he encouraged concert goers to sign the Equality NC petition to demand the repeal of HB2. The petition will be presented to the general assembly on April 25.

Before that moment Duran Duran simultaneously honored its dance and rock heroes and played up its current album “Paper Gods.” The latter meant, as bassist John Taylor indicated in his interview with The Observer a few weeks ago, that some hits would be sacrificed (that left “Union of the Snake,” “The Reflex,” “Skin Trade” and the minor late `90’s hit “Electric Barbarella” out of the set).

The theme of coming full circle kicked off when Nile Rodgers and Chic jump-started the party as the support act. The uber-producer and guitarist (who pops up doing both on “Paper Gods”) not only led his group through its own disco-era hits, but touched on some of the biggest songs he produced for other artists. Rodgers instructed NC to sing louder than crowds in other states during Diana Ross’ "I’m Coming Out." The crowd erupted. "I'm Coming Out" kicked off a medley that included “Upside Down” and Sister Sledge’s “We Are Family.” The group later launched into David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” to honor another artist Rodgers worked with.

It ended its set with Chic’s biggest hits “Le Freak” and “Good Times.” For the latter around 30 fans, who were pulled from the audience based on their enthusiasm and dance skills, lined up with the band to help put an exclamation point on the set.

Chic may have been a support act, but its finale was met with a wave of screams  that could rival those at a Taylor Swift or boy band concert (imagine a giant flock of birds from “The Birds” coming toward you).

In its youth Duran Duran were a “Tiger Beat” pin-up favorite, but its audience is largely forty and over now (although its crowd Saturday started at about age 6).

Original members LeBon, Taylor, keyboardist Nick Rhodes, and drummer Roger Taylor (now having been back in the band longer than he was the first time around) took the stage to the title track of its latest album “Paper Gods” backed by a handful of additional musicians and two very active leather-clad backup singers who added soulful power to “Come Undone” and “Danceophobia.”  

It front-loaded the set with crowd-pleasers “Wild Boys,” “Hungry Like the Wolf,” and “View to a Kill” (complete with a bloody, risqué video reminiscent of the banned “Girls on Film”) before zipping back into new material with “Last Night in the City.” There wasn’t really a lull when the group jumped into recent material, which is normally reserved for beer runs and bathroom breaks. The 40-something women in front of us knew all the words to the new songs too.

Rodgers, having changed from white to a baby pink jacket and beret, joined Duran for “Notorious” and 2015’s “Pressure Off.” It was here that the group’s joy – especially evident in the expressions and body language of Taylor and LeBon – swelled. It took that momentum into “I Don’t Want Your Love” and its cover of Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel’s “White Lines,” which together may have weirdly been the performance’s highlight due to the band’s energy.

Like Chic, Duran Duran paid tribute to Bowie seguing into “Space Oddity” via “Planet Earth” with a photo of `70s Bowie projected behind it.

LeBon, who struggled slightly during “View,” had stretched his vocal chords enough throughout the set to tackle the high notes on “Ordinary World” with ease. 

He and Taylor sported actual Duran Duran graphic tour t-shirts with black light catching trousers, while Rhodes and Roger Taylor chose more subdued black suit pieces with sparkles.

It ended the set “Girls on Film,” which wasn’t an exact replica of the old single, but a slightly redesigned version.

LeBon began the encore with his anti-HB2 speech, encouraging Carolinians to sign the online petition. Given that Duran Duran’s music – like a lot of the acts that emerged from early MTV (Prince, Michael Jackson, Madonna) – has never been confined by color, gender, or any other lines, his plea was fitting as was the choice of “Save a Prayer.”

But the seriousness was short-lived as it ended the set with “Rio” beneath the image of that first album cover. With references to its biggest `80s hits, influences like Chic and Bowie, its withstanding non-discrimination message, and a heavy portion of the set devoted to newer material, it was a well-rounded show that truly encompassed who Duran Duran was and is. Now if only it could have fit in a few more oldies.  

Milestone Club launches GoFundMe campaign to repair west side venue

Milestone Campaign from Matt K. Clum on Vimeo.

Watch the video to learn more about the Milestone’s history and its renovation plans (warning: adult language).

To Donate - https://www.gofundme.com/SaveTheMilestone

Earlier this week The Milestone Club - the 46 year old west side venue that’s hosted legendary acts such as Nirvana, R.E.M., and Bad Brains – launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds to update and renovate the club. The campaign has raised almost $22,000 in three days from over 400 donors.

The repairs to the club are vital for the venue to continued operations.

Carlos Espin, who owns Area 15 in NoDa, plans to buy the venue and its surrounding property and partner with current owner Jonathan Hughes, who will stay on to manage the club. Espin wants to turn the currently uninhabitable upstairs of the Milestone into a small business incubator on the west side.

“He was interested in helping facilitate development on the west side,” says Hughes. “We wanted to make sure the west side develops into something that is good for us. Instead of it being apartments and dog bars. He came to me with the idea. What would it take?”

What it would take is two new roofs, new plumbing and electrical, and restoring the upstairs which has been shut off since the `70s.

Why now? Bill Flowers who opened the Milestone in 1969 and still owns the property is willing to sell it to Espin, but an investor is only interested if the building is useable.

“A bank won’t loan on the property we’re in as is,” says Hughes. “A bank would want us to tear the building down.”

While the Milestone has undergone a renaissance since 2004 when Neal Harper and Philip Shive took over managing it, the actual building has never really been updated. The building, which was once a store owned by Jamie Hoover’s (of the band the Spongetones) family and the family’s neighboring house, was built in 1902. It still has the original roof.

“The building is in severe disrepair. It’s not going to fall in on our heads any time soon,” Hughes assures. “There’s been a second floor that’s been boarded up since the 70s and it’s got a lot of water damage. We went up there to check it out and it was a lot worse than we thought it was.”

The building leaks where the bar area and separate stage area (the former store and house) were joined in the `70s.

Espin and Hughes met with numerous contractors. One said he wouldn’t even touch the place, but others offered estimates. Based on those, Espin and Hughes came up with the GoFundMe goal of $150,000.

Given the recent loss of other live music venues the Chop Shop and Tremont Music Hall and the impending sale of the Double Door Inn site to Central Piedmont Community College, donors are interested in preserving what is actually the city’s oldest club (the Double Door was founded in 1973).

“At the end of everything, the big picture if we do all this construction, make the repairs, and own the place next door - the Last Picture Show (which Flowers also owns), there will be two businesses plus the business incubator. We’ll own the field back behind the club where we could at some point do something out there,” explains Hughes.

“The idea is instead of us going with the flow with what’s happening in our neighborhood and the community, we are facilitating the change. The city will follow us instead of us being steamrolled,” says Hughes, adding that their plans are one reason Flowers, who had not previously entertained the idea of selling the property, is behind the project.

“He likes us being here because he cares about the Milestone. The last thing he wants to see is condos and apartments. This is his baby. Forty-six years ago he opened a place where weirdos could hang out and he was one of them,” Hughes adds. “The idea of a big stack of apartments would be heartbreaking to him.”