When I heard the news about Prince’s death, the first person I thought of was my ex-husband Jim, who is the Program Director of a radio station in Minneapolis. In his last visit to Vermont, Jim and I spent about two hours talking by the stream. We mostly talked about work and at some point in the conversation he mentioned Prince. He told me that Prince, a native of Minneapolis, was a big fan of his radio station and that the two of them were kind of friends.
When Julie told me Prince had died, I immediately stopped what I was doing at the shop and shot off a quick text to Jim:
“Thinking of you. Hoping this news about Prince is not true. I’m sure u are scrambling.”
Not even a minute later:
“Sad. I’m on News now. We r going all P now til 10p.”
In the very short wake of Prince’s death, Jim’s radio station and Jim have become “go-to” Prince authorities. They’ve literally gone “all P,” all Prince. Jim has been interviewed on TV and in a ton of articles, and
people from all over the globe are streaming www.thecurrent.org, where you can currently listen to Prince songs from A-W. Evidently, Prince didn’t have any songs that started with X, Y, or Z.
The bra shop feels a million miles away from Jim and Minneapolis and that radio station, but we are as “all P” as we can be here on Main Street in Manchester. We moved everything we have that’s purple in stock to “Position A” right behind the register, Julie and I both wore purple bras on Friday, and Prince came up in conversation with a 73-year-old customer who said, “I had no idea who sang all those songs. I love all of them that I’ve been hearing in the tributes.” Anything that we have in stock that is purple is 20% off this weekend. Hot damn, hell yes…we stock purple bras!
Unless you are really young (I mean so young that you’ve never danced at a New Year’s Eve Party), you’ve probably been touched by the news of Prince’s death. From music industry insider to 73 year-old broad buying a bra in Vermont, I’m feeling like we all are at least a little “All P” right now. Who hasn’t partied like it’s 1999? Music is such a unifier, isn’t it?
Purple rain. Purple rain. All P.
Much love,
Joy
Joy Slusarek owns JOY all things underthings in Manchester, Vermont. Jim (Slusarek) McGuinn is the Program Director of “The Current” radio station in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They divorced in 2001, but continue to be each other’s biggest fans.
