sexy motherfucker

let us now praise purple men.



ahh, prince. another bright spot in this ever-darkening world. his performance during halftime at the super bowl on sunday was pure majesty. i mean, it started out with the whole stage bursting into flames. and mr. rogers nelson did his very best to up the ante for the entire rest of the show.

there he was, in the rain, wearing a teal two-piece suit with an orange shirt (an homage to the miami dolphins, perhaps, whose place they were in?). he had a black do-rag tied around his head, with a poufy pompadour sticking out the top. he proceeded to rip dolphin stadium to shreds, running through "let's go crazy," "baby i'm a star," CCR's "proud mary," dylan's "all along the watchtower," the foo fighters' "best of you" -- which really surprised me but sounded so great; it reminded me of greg dulli's talent for picking unexpected covers that work really well -- and finished up with a truly epic "purple rain."

i don't know how he stayed upright in his heels and those long pantlegs, swaggering around on the sopping stage with his guitar, dancing and at one point yowling a call-and-response with the audience. there was one moment during his solo on "best of you" where the camera caught him from the side, facing into the downpour and just whaling away -- a classic shot, if anyone had a camera. anyway ... his utterly fabulous playing ranged from pretty and melodic to dirty and raw. often he was flanked by a pair of black-clad, long-haired, wriggling dancers (who seemed less sure of their footing than he was of his). the florida A&M marching band came out during "baby i'm a star" and stayed the rest of the time, sometimes glowing in the dark due to fluorescent tape on their uniforms, filling the field with yet another kinetic visual element.

he was playful and knowing, singing the foos line "i've got another confession to make my friend/i ain't no fool" with what seemed to me at the time a meaningful sideways glance, captured by the close-up camera. although i didn't know what it meant, it seemed to convey ... something. and then he strapped on the guitar shaped like his male/female "symbol" and began to croon "purple rain." he whipped off the do-rag and made his musical protest that he never meant to cause any sorrow or pain. then he asked, "can i play this guitar?" and he did, against a billowing white fabric backdrop that accentuated an interesting silhouette: prince looked for a fleeting second as though he had an impossibly curving pointed penis ... like, a demon dick! that was fucking funny -- for soooo many reasons. and so i had to laugh. (and isn't that what he wanted? to see us "laughing in the purple rain"? happy to oblige, dude.) then the fabric went away and everyone was "oooo, ooooo, ooooo-oooo-oooooing" along with prince ... fireworks exploded ... rain speckled the camera lens ... prince beauty-queen kissed the whole audience ... and it was over.

sigh. it really was magnificent. and it certainly turned out a lot better than the game. i can't believe that whiner peyton manning is a super bowl champion. fuck!