Dateline Boston — Summer, 1994. I meet Victoria, a friend of a friend, who is also a very big Prince fan. Though we have never met, we embrace upon seeing each other because we’re both so excited to see Prince at the Palladium in New York City. Once inside, we explore the venue. We go up and down stairs, see doorways that lead to who knows where, and scope out good eats.
The show is amazing, of course. After the concert, we flash our VIP laminates to gain entrance to the after-party. We are turned away. One must have special bracelets to be included in the party. Suddenly, Victoria gets an idea. She reminds me of the door at the top of the staircase we had explored. She grabs my hand and says, “We’re going up there.” I hesitate for just a second, then throw caution to the wind. We go up the staircase, open the door, go down a staircase, through a hallway…and suddenly, we are in the after-party!
We survey the scene. It’s a fairly large room, rectangular in shape. Each end of the room is sectioned off by sheer white curtains. One of the sections has security guards standing in front of it. We figure that Prince must be in there. We try to keep our cool. There’s a bar along the back of the room, and directly across from that, the dance floor and DJ area. At the other end of the room are couches and chairs.
We saunter over to one of the tables, sit down, and casually converse. We’re careful to keep our hands on our laps so that no one sees that we don’t have VIP bracelets. We see some guys that we had stood in line with to get into the concert. They don’t have bracelets either. We talk about how we each got access to the room. They paid security guards to get them in. Wow, we were lucky!
Selecting a Dance Partner
After awhile, we get up and dance. We see all the members of Prince’s current band, plus one member of Kid n’ Play; not sure if it’s Kid or Play. I start dancing with anyone I feel looks important, including one dude who is dressed up like Prince from 1984. I take a break and sit down with Victoria and a couple who also didn’t have bracelets, just good connections. We look over at the curtains to see if we can see anything. I say, “You know what? I bet he’s not even in there…” We all sigh, turn around, and, as if on cue, we see HIM, walking through the door, followed by Lenny Kravitz and Nona Gaye, daughter of Marvin. WOW!!!
He walks straight into the room with the curtains and bodyguards. Victoria and I pinch each other to see if we’re dreaming. We’re not. We remain cool, calm, and collected, unlike the woman we’re sitting with. She’s trembling, with a silly grin on her face.
We go back to the dance floor and start dancing. After a few minutes, Prince comes out and dances with Nona, five feet away from us! A group of people starts to form, and we back away, to give Prince his space. We don’t want to appear too eager, like the woman at the table, who is now shaking uncontrollably, looking as if she is about to cry.
Prince is a few inches taller than me, dressed in black, complete with heels. He is gorgeous with a capital G. We all dance for awhile, then he and Nona go back through the curtains. He stands at the doorway, watching people dance. I take it upon myself to dance in his line of vision and dance seductively. It doesn’t work. He avoids eye contact.
A new Prince song comes on and is played three times, then suddenly the party is over. Prince exits, and so we all do too. Victoria and I float out of the Palladium as if we’re in a dream. I still haven’t woken up.
Ms. Vaillancourt may be contacted at snobbyblog@gmail.com
