[img]396|left|Alex Campbell||no_popup[/img] Last week I went to a bar to celebrate the birthday and music of Prince Rogers Nelson, aka The Artist Formerly Known as Prince, aka Prince. I was so excited. A local DJ throws this bash every year, and I’d missed the last few. In preparation, I got out my box of Prince concert shirts and chose a black spaghetti strap tank that read simply, “Prince”. I was really geared up for a night out on the town.
I went with my friend Courtney, who’s almost my age (our average age is forty), and her twenty-one year old sister, Anne. “How cool that a twenty-one year old wants to hang out with us!” I thought to myself. We walked in and heard one of Prince’s recent CDs playing. I immediately started bopping around, said hi to someone I knew, and thanked the host for organizing the event. The music was great; I was gonna party like it was 1999, to coin a phrase.
There was a live performance of singers covering Prince songs. I sang and danced along. I assumed that everyone in the place was a Prince fan—I saw a woman wearing the same top I had on, and we waved and winked at each other.
I became a Prince fan in 1984, the year I was sixteen. He was really hot that year, with a blockbuster movie, Purple Rain, and a hit soundtrack to go with it. I listened to that soundtrack until the radio ate the cassette. Remember cassette tapes? Remember the sound when they got eaten? Mrrrrrrrowwwrrrrrr…
Suddenly, I heard the performers sing a song from Purple Rain called “I Would Die 4 U.” It’s a great upbeat song, and even had a hand gesture that went along with it:
I (point to self with thumb)
Would (hold pointer, middle, and ring fingers up to make the letter W)
Die (make hand into a gun; point at temple)
4 (tuck thumb in to show 4 fingers)
U (point to whoever you’re singing to)
There He Was
These gestures are all done with the same hand and flow together seamlessly after some practice. I use my right hand, but feel free to use whatever hand you’re most comfortable with.
Back to the story. The song came on, and I immediately did the hand movements. I caught the eye of a strapping young fellow across the room from me. He was good looking, and impeccably dressed. He reminded me of will.i.am, lead singer of The Black Eyed Peas. His braided hair peeked out beneath his yellow baseball hat. He had on a white, yellow, and green shirt, jeans, and yellow and white sneakers. He matched perfectly from head to toe.
I gestured to Mr. Yellow Accents and told him with my right hand that I Would…Die 4…Him. He seemed bewildered. He looked around, then pointed to himself. “Who, me?” I went over to him and said in his ear, “Don’t you know the hand movements to this song?” He replied, “I don’t know this song!” I told him it was Prince. He said he didn’t know that it was Prince night, but followed with, “But I’m learnin’, I’m learnin’!” So cute. I flirted with him a little and taught him and his two friends the hand signals to the song. I began to reminisce. “This came out in 1984; I was in high school.” As my mind drifted off to the days of big hair and purple jackets, I was brought sharply back to the present by two questions: “You were? How old are you?” I looked at the woman who asked the questions and replied coyly, “I’m older than I look.” She looked like she was quickly doing the math in her head.
Nah, It Is Not Possible
And then it hit me. My new friends might not have been alive when this song came out. Oh. My. God. Here’s the thing: when a bunch of people get together and dance at a Roaring ‘20s party, everyone has a great time, and everyone is at the same level, because no one at the party was alive back then. It’s different when some people were alive at the time and have fond memories of that time, and other people (like people you are flirting with) have no clue because they weren’t…even…born. Gulp.
Cougar, schmougar, I felt like I should take a bath, I was so dirty. Eww. The timing was perfect, because my friends were itching to go home. I told Mr. Innocent that I had to leave, and he introduced himself. He actually said to me, “Do you come here often?” Oh god, he was so adorable. I told him I had never been there in my life, and neither had he. Was it because he had just turned twenty-one? Lord help me!
I left, neither of us knowing the age of the other. It was better that way. Let him chat up a girl who needed help writing a paper. I’d do best next time to check for gray hairs.
Ms. Campbell may be contacted at campbellalexandra@hotmail.com
