During the course of 40+ years, while continuing to
record, perform and tour the world with The Tubes (15 albums and world tours) Prairie
Prince performed and recorded with many of his heroes and fellow artists alike,
and fulfilled many desires to execute various drum techniques in a wide variety
of musical styles.
In the early 70’s Prairie worked with legendary
pianist, Nicky Hopkins, recording two albums with musicians such as George
Harrison, Mick Taylor, Ron Wood, Ray Cooper and Klaus Voormann, among others. Prince
started the band Journey with Neal Schon and Gregg Rollie shortly after and
recorded the demos that got them their first contract. Prince opted not to join
the band on a permanent basis for his dedication in The Tubes. After session
work with Tommy Bolin, Brewer and Shipley and others in the 70’s, the 80s’
brought work with Chris Isaak and he played drums on his first four albums.
The 90’s brought live performances with Tom Waits. Prairie
was the drummer on legendary “King of the Surf Guitar” Dick Dale’s 3 CDs. Then Prince
became the full-time drummer for the re-formed “Jefferson Starship” featuring
original members Paul Kantner, Marty Balin, Jack Casady and Papa John Creach.
After 4 CDs and several world tours he bowed out as their full-time drummer in 1998
but continued to perform as their international gig drummer.
In 2006 Prince toured with The New Cars featuring Todd
Rundgren as the lead singer, bassist Kasim Sulton, and original The Cars
guitarist Elliot Easton and keyboardist Greg Hawkes.
Prince continues to perform and tour with The Tubes
and Todd Rundgren.
VISUAL ART Visual
Art has always been a huge component In Prairie’s life. He’s painted murals,
designed stage sets and have a thriving business creating custom finishes on
drums, guitars, motorcycles and vehicles.
Early in his career he teamed up with Michael Cotten
(former Tubes member) to create Cotten/Prince, an artistic design partnership. They
combined their art expertise and worked with The Tubes choreographer Kenny
Ortega (Dirty Dancing, High School Musical) to collaborate as the artistic team
responsible for devising the production design and theatrical staging for The
Tubes live shows and videos. They also designed the album covers and graphic
design for the band.
They also came up with a style and air-brush technique
which allowed to design and paint some of the world’s largest murals.
One of their most famous murals was the “Flying
Records” on the exterior of the A&M Records building in Hollywood, Ca. The
mural’s demise was mourned by many in the music community, Jerry Moss, founder
of A & M Records. The destruction
of the mural was documented in a 2012 NPR interview.
Their artistic vision and ability to produce
innovative and artistic projects led to working for the world’s top live
performers, high-end retailers and companies around the world.
Working with longtime collaborator Kenny Ortega they
created set and stage design for some of the world’s biggest musical touring
acts (Michael Jackson, Shania Twain, Bonnie Raitt, Gloria Estefan, Bette
Midler, The Tubes and Todd Rundgren).
They also collaborated on the Closing Ceremonies of
the 1996 Olympic Games and the Super Bowl XXX Half-Time Show, starring Diana
Ross, Michael Jackson’s 1997 “History” tour and “This Is It.”
Prince is also the Artistic Director of MouthMan,
a company founded with Ross Valory, founding member and bassist of Journey. They’ve
designed a line of shirts where graphic designs of jaws and teeth on the
sleeves form a mouth when the wearer “hugs themselves”.
And
don’t forget to purchase a copy of my book entitled Check the Gs -the true story
of an eclectic American family and their Wacky family business… available now
at amazon.com. You’ll live it!!!
Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band performed a magnificent show on Sunday evening at Ruth Eckerd Hall in
Clearwater, Florida. Every classic tune on the band’s setlist was
played to its perfection and accompanied by a rousing standing ovation.
The band appeared and sounded like a finely tuned racing machine, with
engines revved and in immaculate condition. The 2012 All-Star lineup may
be the best group of correlated musicians yet.
A diverse audience packed with both young and old was there to
witness a legendary all-star rock band of virtuosos piloted by a member
of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll band of all-time. It was an evening
brimming with good vibrations, peace and love.
Before the show, everyone loaded up with Ringo Starr T-shirts and
programs. The show began promptly at 7:30p.m with various members of the
all-stars arriving quietly on stage. Loud and joyous cheers began to
encompass the Hall while Santana’s legendary songster and keyboardist Gregg Rolie took his place behind the Hammond organ. Rolie was succeeded by the incredible guitarist and vocalist Steve Lukather of Toto, bassist and vocalist Richard Page of 80s pop sensation Mr. Mister, the melodious ingenuity of Todd Rundgren from Utopia’s progressive rock fame, accomplished drummer Gregg Bissonette, and Mark Rivera, saxophonist, percussionist, and legendary musical director.
The band began to play and the crowd rose to its feet while Ringo Starr
glided on stage to take his spot behind the microphone for the opening
number, “Matchbox” (#17 Billboard Hit in 1964) a rockabilly Carl Perkins
penned tune covered by The Beatles. Throughout
the evening well-wishers acknowledged Ringo’s upcoming birthday on July
7th. Ringo will be turning 72 but looked remarkably fit and ageless on
stage. Starr taunted the Ruth Eckerd audience by telling them not to
wish him a happy birthday unless they were going to give him a gift.
Near the end of the evening someone actually did give him a gift, and he
ran backstage with it after the show.
The bands next selection was one of Starr’s biggest solo hits; “It
Don’t Come Easy” (#4 Billboard Hit in 1971) followed by “Wings” a
re-released tune for the new album Ringo 2012, originally recorded in
1977. Then Ringo sat behind his proverbial drums for the band’s next
selections. Todd Rundgren
was up next and featured, “I Saw the Light” (#16 Billboard Hit in
1972). Rundgren is a longtime veteran of the All-Star Band and is known
for playing in Clearwater frequently. Todd played the Capitol Theatre
most recently celebrating the Utopia reunion tour. Todd Rundgren is a
living legend in the music world as a producer, guitarist, songwriter
and singer. Here’s an interview I did with Todd Rundgren … http://www.examiner.com/article/exclusive-interview-todd-rundgren-talks-utopia-reunion-with-examiner-ray-shasho
For the first time ever on the tour Gregg Rolie
was an All-Star, and well-deserved. The first of many thunderous
ovations for the evening came after Rolie’s spectacular performance of
the Santana classic, “Evil Ways.” (#9 Billboard Hit in 1969) Gregg
Rolie has been overshadowed through the years by virtuoso guitarist
Carlos Santana, but it was Gregg Rolie’s majestic vocals and magnificent
keyboards that solidified the masterpiece of Santana. Rolie was the
voice on almost every classic Santana hit. Rolie was also the founder
and original vocalist for the band Journey. Read my interview with Gregg
Rolie here... http://www.examiner.com/article/santana-and-journey-original-lead-singer-gregg-rolie-speaks-with-ray-shasho
Next, it was Steve Lukather
the guitarist and vocalist for classic rock sensation Toto. Lukather is
an awe-inspiring guitarist, which was evident after playing the role of
Carlos Santana on all of Gregg Rolie’s Santana classics. Wow! Lukather
jumped into Toto’s, “Rosanna” (#2 Billboard Hit in 1982, won a Grammy
Award for “Record of The Year” in 1983). Richard Page of Mr. Mister
was spotlighted next singing, “Kyrie” (#1 Billboard Hit in 1986). Page
is a sensational songwriter and musician. Ringo’s, “Don’t Pass Me By”
(From The Beatles
White Album in 1968) was next and followed by Rundgren’s signature
classic, “Bang The Drum All Day” (1983 recording, all the instruments on
the record were played by Todd).
Ringo announced he was going to sing a tune that he had sung for that "other band" and kiddingly remarked … “Rory Storm and the Hurricanes.”
Appearing very Beatle-ish, Ringo belted out “Boys” (Originally sang by
The Shirelles in 1960) behind his skins followed by another standing
ovation. Ringo Starr gave the Clearwater audience back to back Beatles
classics with his unmistakable narration of “Yellow Submarine” (#2
Billboard Hit in 1966). The entire Hall stood up, swayed, and sang
throughout the song.
Gregg Rolie quietly announced his next selection, “Black Magic Woman”
(1970 Hit, the album Abraxas reached #1 on the Billboard charts,
written by Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac). The song spotlighted an
unbelievable performance by Rolie on vocals and keyboards, Lukather on
guitar, Bissonette and Rivera on percussions. Lukather’s role of Carlos Santana was astounding, it was an incredible jam.
Without an intermission, Ringo kicked off the second half of the show with, “Anthem” from his latest release, Ringo 2012 followed by, “I’m The Greatest”(Released in1973) a song written exclusively for Ringo by his former bandmate John Lennon.
Richard
Page graciously thanked Ringo on stage for letting him perform a
non-classic hit on the tour, “You Are Mine” from his 2010 release Peculiar Life. Then Steve Lukather of Toto led the band into a beautiful rendition of “Africa” (Number #1 Billboard Hit in 1983).
It was Gregg Rolie’s time to rock the house again with a tune that
hadn’t been played by Santana in concert for quite awhile, “Everybody’s
Everything” (Released in 1971 on Santana III album). Ringo
followed with the Lennon-McCartney penned earlier rocker, “I Wanna Be
Your Man” (1963 release, recorded by The Rolling Stones and The
Beatles).
It was apparent throughout all their performances that the band
respected each others virtuosity but genuinely just had a lot of fun.
Todd Rundgren was back in the spotlight again to sing his heartfelt composition written for his progressive rock band Utopia called,
“Love Is The Answer” (Utopia released it in1977, it became a huge hit
for England Dan & John Ford Coley in 1979). Another heartfelt
composition, “Broken Wings” (Number #1 Billboard Hit, released in 1985)
by Mr. Mister’s Richard Page followed. Then it was time to raise the roof again, Steve Lukather rocked the house with the Toto hard- rockin’ classic, “Hold The Line” (1978 release #5 Billboard Hit) followed by a roaring standing ovation.
The evening wound down with Ringo Starr’s classic single,
“Photograph” (#1 Billboard Hit, released in 1973) followed by The
Beatles cover tune, “Act Naturally” (Released in 1965). The show
concluded with the band playing The Beatles classic, “With a Little Help
From my Friends” (Released in 1967, also performed at Woodstock by Joe
Cocker and The Grease Band) and a smooth segue into the John Lennon
penned anthem, “Give Peace A Chance.” The Ruth Eckerd audience was on
its feet singing and displaying peace signs throughout the entire
rendition.
There wasn’t one shining star this evening … just a galaxy filled with all-stars.
The entire band was extraordinary! Nevertheless, here are my picks
for the top crowd pleasing songs of the evening and not in any
particular order. Gregg Rolie- “Evil Ways,” Steve Lukather- “Hold the
Line,” Richard Page- “Broken Wings,” Todd Rundgren- “Love Is The
Answer,” Ringo Starr- “With A Little Help From My Friends.”
Buy Ray’s very special memoir called ‘CHECK THE Gs’ -The True Story of an Eclectic American Family and Their Wacky Family Business … You’ll LIVE IT! Also available for download on NOOK or KINDLE edition for JUST .99 CENTS at amazon.com or barnesandnoble.com -Please help support Ray so he can continue to bring you quality classic rock music reporting. ~~Pacific
Book Review says Ray Shasho is a product of the second half of the 20th
century, made in the USA from parts around the world, and within him is
every trend in music, television, politics and culture contributing to
his philosophical and comically analytical reflections collected in his
fine book of memories. I found Check the Gs to be pure entertainment,
fantastic fun and a catalyst to igniting so many memories of my own
life, as I too am within a few years of Ray. So to all, I say if you
have a bit of grey hair (or no hair), buy this book! It’s a great gift
for your “over-the-hill” friends, or for their kids, if they are the
history buffs of younger generations trying to figure out why we are the
way we are.
