Prince

Wednesday

Jenna Stocker

Kamala picks the ‘Minnesota Nice’ guy

From our US edition

It’s not hard to recognize the sunny optimism that embodies the phrase, “Minnesota Nice.” You must be able to survive in a state where the land-locked upper Midwest weather vacillates between the stiflingly humid ninety-degree summers and dark, subzero winters. It’s those slivers of perfection between each season that make living here worthwhile; people flock to lakes with Native American names like Winnibigoshish and Minnetonka, whose purifying waters were made famous by Minnesota’s favorite native son, Prince. Our professional sports teams suffer from record-setting championship droughts, yet the fan base is never deterred.

tim walz minnesota nice

Wednesday

Graeme Thomson

Let’s hear it for the lesser-spotted nepo daddy

Rob Grant releases his debut album, Lost at Sea, this week. A 69-year-old millionaire and former ad man, furniture exec and domain developer, Grant has made a record of ambient, ocean-themed piano doodles glorying in titles such as ‘In the Dying Light of Day: Requiem for Mother Earth’, ‘A Delicate Mist Surrounds Me’ and ‘The Mermaids’ Lullaby’. Not incidentally, he is also the father of one of the world’s biggest (and best) alt-pop stars, Lana Del Rey. The title track features his daughter’s unmistakeable contralto, while her name is emblazoned on the front cover. Father’s Day is just around the corner, and Ms Del Rey has delivered a pearl of a present for Pappy: his very own album.

Monday

Micah Mattix

Is Andy Warhol really an artist?

From our US edition

A lawsuit on the work of Andy Warhol is going to the Supreme Court. In 1984, Vanity Fair commissioned Warhol to alter a photograph Lynn Goldsmith took of Prince in 1981 for Newsweek. Warhol cropped the original photo, overlaid it with purple and orange, outlined parts of Prince’s face, and added shading to accompany an article by Tristan Fox titled “Purple Fame.” Goldsmith apparently only learned in 2016 that Warhol had altered her photograph when Vanity Fair republished Warhol’s work in a story on Prince’s death along with the other 15 pieces Warhol created from the photo for his private collection called “Prince Series.

Thursday

Graeme Thomson

In defence of Prince’s late style

In 1992 Prince released a single called ‘My Name Is Prince’. On first hearing it seemed appropriately regal. Cocky, even. Only in hindsight did it appear somewhat needy, a litany not of what Prince was going to do, but of the things he had already done. On it, he pulled rank on his status — ‘I’ve seen the top and it’s just a dream / Big cars and women and fancy clothes’ — called out young rappers for their potty mouths, and declared himself ‘fresh and funky for the 90s’. Context is everything. By 1992, Prince was still funky – but fresh? He had been, indisputably, pop’s premier agitator throughout the previous decade; as David Bowie was to the 1970s, so Prince was to the 1980s.

Tuesday

Tom Chamberlin

What Prince Harry should know about the LA crowd

For some reason I unwaveringly support unearned wealth, but only if you are one of the Windsor children or any titled subjects who have somehow managed to keep a few pennies together. Frankly if in 2020 you’ve figured out how to monetize your ancestral money pit then all power to you. Other than this lot, the moneyed scions of the international parvenus can bring out my inner comrade. They come from all over and when you edit a luxury magazine, they pop up on the radar a fair amount. Each year, I am required for work to spend a week in Los Angeles to get covers booked and do some groundbreaking journalism on local hat makers and tailors.