At First Ave where “Purple Rain” was filmed, fans of Prince paid tribute to the pop icon who passed away.
Finding worldwide tributes and memorials to Prince on the web today will be a piece of cake. Finding his music online, however, won’t be so easy.
For the past year, Prince’s music has only been available for streaming on Jay-Z’s site, Tidal. All the other music streaming services such as Apple Music/iTunes, Spotify and Amazon are royally missing out.
Fans will have alternatives, however. Minnesota Public Radio’s Prince-friendly station, 89.3 the Current, will be airing their entire catalog of the Purple One’s music from A to Z starting at 6 p.m. on Friday and running for 26 hours straight. The broadcast is streamed over the internet via TheCurrent.org.
Other Twin Cities stations have been regularly spinning Prince since news of his death surfaced midday Thursday, including KMOJ (89.9 FM), Jack 104.1 and Go 96.3.
Sirius XM satellite radio also launched a Prince Tribute Channel on Friday, which will broadcast on channel 50.
And then there will be another chance for Twin Cities fans to go listen to his music with 1,500 of their fellow Princeophiles. First Avenue nightclub in downtown Minneapolis is throwing another all-night dance party on Friday starting around midnight after Bob Mould’s scheduled performance.
I shared the above as I just felt it is the best way to honor the man – to listen to and celebrate him through his music.
Another thing that I learned in the last day is his appreciation of place. He stayed in Minneapolis. He apparently supported the local public radio station – 89.3 The Current, the city of Minneapolis, and the local music scene. With the advent of the web, the local, that sense of place, for me just becomes that much more important. It seems he shared such sentiments.
He will be missed.
RGS
