COLUMBUS (WCMH) – The local community is remembering the legendary musician, Prince, after his death earlier this morning at his suburban Minneapolis home.
Prince has performed in the area several times in the past. The last time was at the Jerome Schottenstein Center back in April 2004.
Dave Redelberger is the interactive marketing director for the Schottenstein and Nationwide arena.
“When you saw Prince live, it was like no other performer,” he said. “It was truly a magical experience.”
He’s seen Prince perform more than a dozen times. He points to a poster from Prince’s performance at The Schott that says, “Per4ming his hits live 4 the last time.”
“Prince often would say this might be the last time I do the hits, but here for us here at the Schott this was his last time here,” he said.
Redelberger said one of his most memorable moments seeing the musician was when he was invited to a sound check. He said Prince pulled audience members on the stage to play a song. Redelberger got to play the tambourine.
“As a Prince fan, this guy didn’t do interviews for years, to actually be on stage with him for a few minutes and then to have him watching you, that was a pretty cool experience,” he said.
Warren Stevens is a former Columbus radio personality who’s met the influential artist twice.
“Back in ’98 I got invited up to a kind of pre-New Year’s Eve party at Paisley Park in Chanhassen, Minnesota where he was performing,” said Stevens.
After more than 30 years in the music industry and meeting countless musicians, Stevens said talking with Prince was an all-time highlight of his career.
“The common theme when he always talked to us was not letting his music die and fall by the wayside of big corporate radio company playlists,” he said.
Stevens said although his physical body is gone, his spirit will be with us forever.
“I hope he lives forever in radio not just playing just to do a tribute, but to continue to play him and continue to keep him alive,” he said.
Redelberger said a month hasn’t gone by that the staff here at the Schott hasn’t talked about trying to book Prince again to perform a show. He said unfortunately, it never worked out, but they’ll still always have those memories of his concerts to cherish.
Buckeye Donuts, in the University District, also has a Prince story–a post on the diner’s Facebook account tells the tale of when Prince and his entourage stopped by at 1:30 a.m. one summer in 2001.
https://www.facebook.com/BuckeyeDonuts/posts/10153480426777411What others are clicking on:
