Minnesota loses one of a kind

The State of Minnesota lost one if its cultural icons last week with the passing of Prince.

Prince rose on the music scene in the early 1980s and dominated the charts in that decade. While he hasn’t been pumping out the Top 40 hits in recent years, there has been no denying the influence he has had on both music and the music industry. By that I mean not only was his music innovative, but the way he marketed the music was also innovative.

I never went to any of his concerts and never was invited to Paisley Park, but I did get the chance to see him perform in person 25 years ago.

When Minnesota hosted the Special Olympics in 1991, New Prague served as a host community for the Czech Special Olympic Team (see Times Capsules below). There was a large group of New Prague volunteers taking part in the opening ceremonies at the Metrodome and I was able to get a media pass to cover the event. There were several musical and celebrity guests, but the biggest name was Prince. It was one of the bigger events I’ve had the chance to cover in the 28 years I’ve been in this business.

Of course, countless others have their Prince memories - as witnessed in our Talking to the Times feature on this page.

If you’re still not convinced of how big of a celebrity Prince was, consider... It has been almost a week since his death, and yet it seems the local news is still devoting a number of segments to his death, to the reactions to his death and other aspects of the story. And it’s not just local, the reaction has been noticeable all over the world. I’m not sure when we’ll see anyone’s death garner that amount of coverage in the future.