S U N DAY, M AY 1, 2016 S TA R T R I B U N E SA11

Above: RENE JONES SCHNEIDER; Below: DAVID BREWSTER Star Tribune

Terrance May, aka May Millions, took a moment at Princes star outside First Avenue the night he died. Tens of thousands of fans converged on the club where Prince made his breakthrough film.

First Aves biggest star

The club where he filmed Purple Rain is a living testament to his legacy
By CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER I dont know if we couldve kept We wanted to be edgy and push the land where bands became famous
chrisr@startribune.com the place going the way it was losing envelope a little bit. Prince made the club famous.
money in the mid-80s, Fingerhut While touring Europe the band Prince only came back to perform
He liked it because it didnt have said. He saved the place. had been playing venues such as at First Ave two more times in the 80s
seats but still felt big and theatrical. Retired in California since losing the Paradiso in Amsterdam First to warm up for the Parade and
He liked it because it was a rock club the club in a 2004 ownership battle, Avenue-type places that had an open Sign o the Times tours in March
that didnt just book white rock n Fingerhut laughed last week about feel: gutted theaters, churches, really 1986 and March 1987, respectively.
roll acts. He liked it because the staff how often Prince was mistaken as the cool open spaces that really, really By the time of the latter show, con-
would let him show up anytime he clubs owner: I was fine with that. In opened up, said Bobby Z. It was like struction had begun on Paisley Park,
wanted, including surprise gigs on a way, he did own it. there couldnt be any two more per- which became his playhouse for
short notice. And he liked it for the The guy who first brought in fect collisions than Prince going out, unannounced hometown gigs in the
same reason so many musicians do: Prince to perform was the clubs seeing the world, experiencing these ensuing years. In the early 90s he also
Its just a great live-music room. longtime manager, Steve McClellan. other venues, and then coming back frequented Glam Slam, a nightclub in
Paisley Park will forever be known It was so exciting in the early 80s and finding we had one right here. the Minneapolis Warehouse District
as the place where Prince resided and to see Prince mix the audiences, the PRINCES TOP 5 The collision that sparked a world he was involved in, but he didnt make
died, but First Avenue is truly where racial diversity he brought in. I had FIRST AVE SHOWS phenomenon happened at the club on nearly as much history there.
Minneapolis rock icon came to life. never seen that before to that level. a sweaty summer night, Aug. 3, 1983. When he returned to the First Ave
The boxy, pristine, white studio However, the Purple Rain March 9, 1981: The first Under the guise of a fundraiser con- stage one last time in 2007 7/7/07
and residence in suburban Chanhas- effect had its downside, he said. gig, and some say the best. cert for Minnesota Dance Theatre it was classic Prince, in the good
sen would make a good place for a The crowds didnt care who was The club got him right which was helping him on choreogra- and bad sense.
museum, as family members have on stage, he said. They only cared after his SNL debut. Set phy for an unspecified movie project The show was a loose, lively per-
hinted. The curvy, rugged, black club about whether or not Prince was list from that night (pic- Prince brought a recording truck to formance of some of the funkiest
in downtown Minneapolis, how- coming in that night. tured above) included Do the club, helmed by Bobbys producer songs in his discography, but the star
ever, is a living, breathing, thriving Prince had enough buzz in March It All Night, Head, Par- brother, David Z. He debuted a new was too loose with the clock. It was
testament to his legacy. 1981 to pack the place his first time tyup, Uptown, Bambi. guitarist, Wendy Melvoin, and a batch the third of three concerts he lined
Playing there was always impor- there. of new songs, including the opener up that day in downtown Minne-
tant, said Prince & the Revolution His previous hometown show at Aug. 3, 1983: The big one. Lets Go Crazy, I Would Die 4 U apolis, including a promotion for his
drummer Bobby Z before the death the Orpheum Theatre a year ear- He debuted and recorded and Computer Blue. new perfume at Macys and then a
of his old boss and friend. It became lier only drew a half-full crowd. But several songs that would For his penultimate song, Prince full-scale Target Center set. He didnt
his marquee, and it still is today. McClellan heard good things about wind up in Purple Rain. unveiled a new ballad called Purple take the stage at First Avenue until
That First Avenue and Prince the show via two of the record-store Set list included: Lets Go Rain that lasted 11 minutes. about 2:45 a.m.
would forever be tied at the hip clerks he often turned to for recom- Crazy, I Would Die 4 U, Fans seemed to understand it was Police let him play for just over an
was reiterated in the hours after mendations: Kevin Cole, who also Purple Rain, Joni Mitch- a landmark moment. Though who hour but then shut it down.
his passing. Media outlets world- DJed at the club, and Jimmy Harris, ells A Case of You. would have guessed the singer would It was understandable, but heart-
wide showed images from the club soon to be better known as Jimmy June 7, 1984: His surprise whittle the song down to four min- breaking, said Dayna Frank, who
as 10,000-plus fans lined up for an Jam of the Time. birthday party was a utes, clean up the audio but other- now owns the club with her dad,
impromptu street party, and then for Cole, now program director at fun respite before the wise leave the song as-is on the album Byron Frank, Fingerhuts longtime
three all-night dance parties. KEXP in Seattle, still talks about the Purple Rain storm. Set released the following summer. accountant.
Of course, that wasnt the first 81 show as an epiphany moment for list included: 17 Days, When he hits those guitar solos After that 2007 letdown, the club
time TV crews and magazine report- both the club and the budding star. Free, Erotic City. on Purple Rain, they were real! worked with city staff and Mayor R.T.
ers flooded the venue looking for All It was one of the greatest shows Bobby Z said. And theyre captured Rybak on a plan should Minneapolis
Things Prince. Id ever seen, not just great music March 21, 1987: A warm- for real. Nobody ever did anything most famous native son come calling
In the months after Purple Rain but that way Prince connected with up for a tour behind like that before. again. The outcome was a special-
came out in July 1984 featuring per- the audience, he said. There was a another landmark album, Things got even more incredible a use, after-hours contract known sim-
formance scenes filmed at the club mutual acceptance, like, Wow, these Sign o the Times. Set list few months later when Princes peo- ply as the Prince Permit.
over three frigid weeks, plus songs are my people. included: Housequake, ple approached First Aves operators Sadly, its namesake never got to
recorded live on a hot August night The site of legendary concerts in Hot Thing, Kiss. about booking the club for a month- use it, but the club did. First Ave
media outlets were on-site, filing the 1970s by Joe Cocker, Ike & Tina June 7, 2007: The finale long movie shoot. While they could thought Prince would have approved
Prince stories on a weekly basis. Fans and B.B. King, the club initially to his three-show 7/7/07 easily have shot at a sound stage in of fans mourning him together in the
from around the world kept coming known as the Depot, then Uncle marathon. Police shut it Los Angeles and did so for back- close, familiar confines of that one,
even after the media left, making it Sams, then briefly just Sams, mostly down just before 4 a.m., stage shots rather than use the clubs electric room for an all-night dance
Minnesotas No. 1 tourist destination hosted dance nights during the mid- but he did squeeze in an puny dressing room the club party. Even better: three parties.
in the mid-80s. and late-70s disco heyday when the Alphabet St. jam with proved integral to the movie. After the initial shock and grief of
Now one of Americas most suc- teen wunderkind first started crash- Sheila E., Wendy Melvoin There was never any doubt that his death, the first thing we said was,
cessful and long-lived rock clubs, ing local stages. That all changed at and Larry Graham. Set list the music [performances] would We gotta pull the Prince Permit!
First Avenue might not be here today the end of 1979, when Fingerhut put included: 3121, I Feel for be at First Avenue, as far as I know, Frank said. And the city, to its credit,
without the influx of revenue that McClellan in charge. You, Controversy. said Bobby Z, addressing the popu- complied right away. For nobody else
Princemania brought, said Allan Fin- Everybody was talking about lar notion that the club deserved a but Prince could this happen.
Includes info from the fan
gerhut, who used almost $200,000 of the newly revitalized club, recalled co-starring credit in the movie. The And probably for no other club.
archive Princevault.com.
his familys catalog-sales fortune to Princes childhood friend and bass- story is about Prince, Apollonia, Mor-
convert the former Greyhound bus ist at the time, Andr Cymone. It ris Day and First Avenue. By using Chris Riemenschneider 612-673-4658
depot in 1970. had a buzz. It was an edgy venue. this club as some sort of mythical @ChrisRstrib