Prince: A Private View Hardcover – October 24, 2017

The One Nite Alone time period from roughly 2001-2003 is my favorite time period from Prince. My favorite albums that go #1 and #2 for me are One Nite Alone Piano and Voice and The Rainbow Children. I have spent COUNTLESS HOURS and coins collecting every single artifact from this time period…like thousands of dollars of buying vinyl, art, and media, and dozens upon dozens of boots from this time.So you can imagine my EXTREME EXCITEMENT knowing that Afshin Shahidi was the official photographer of this time period and knowing he was putting out a book. This was MY BOOK that I pre-ordered as soon as it was announced! I even spent a good chunk of money on his Prince in Hawaii book as well because it was fringe my time period.I was avoiding spoilers left and right that were being posted to social media. I wanted my experience to be a shock with each turn of the page…an emotional experience….a cathartic experience…a “Princely” experience. NO SPOILERS I WANT TO HAVE REACTIONS WITH EACH TURN OF THE PAGE!I had plans…for 8 months…I would create environment, candles, incense from Salish Winds, his preferred incense place, wine, my favorite album One Nite Alone playing in the background…Salish winds essential oils in my bath even. THIS WAS ABOUT TO BE A TRUE PRINCE EXPERIENCE.I read the book by candlelight.I cannot tell you how much of a special experience this was.I laughed….I didn’t cry…but what I felt the most was MOTIVATION.I’d had a rough day at work, and was actually considering waiting until I had a less stressful day so I could be fully present in this experience I’d planned for 8 months, but I’m glad I just did it.I jokingly call Prince my “Fairy God Boyfriend” or my “Professor” but this book…solidified him as my Professor.Strong feelings of “I am not doing enough” and “it’s 100% okay to have high standards of performance and not feel bad about that” and “just because ‘society’ has a lower bar of acceptability…and you know your own bar is higher than that, doesn’t mean you can relax. Perform at YOUR level of standard no matter what.”Where before I was nervous about this book because it covered my favorite era and of course Prince is beautiful…it wasn’t about that at all…for me it was a kick in the butt to get busy..not living, but WORKING. He spent his whole life WORKING without compromise…."Get on the boat" or get left.Having that kind of work ethic is okay. Never be ashamed about that. WORK.I am soooo soooo motivated now….you only get one life. You only get one first time….so make the most of it. Never skimp on opportunities to live. Always “do the most”. You deserve nothing less that that…and you should never expect anything less than the best.Thank you Afshin for conveying this as a witness to his genius. And thank you Professor Nelson, for providing this example.Are YOU willing to do the work?