I *HEART* THIS MAN

When I was a little girl, I used to beg my mom to buy all of his albums. I loved his sound, his musical talents and best of all those on-the-verge-of-being-too-explicit lyrics. There's just something special about him that I love to this day! During the summer of '97, Prince came to Philly to put on a concert and Power 99 FM was giving away tickets. I wanted tickets so bad, I mean I would have done anything!! Oh, I remember it like it was yesterday. I had just graduated from college, so I was living at home and Troy was down for a visit (we were only boyfriend and girlfriend then). We both heard the advertisement to call in for tickets. He looked at me and said "you should call"- I then admitted that I had already called a few times, but the line kept ringing busy. A part of me wanted to try again, but I stalled- I remember thinking that I wasn't going to win...finally I dialed the number again and a radio personality picked up the phone and told me that I was the 99th caller. OH...MY...FREAKIN"...GOODNESS- I WON! I tried my hardest to remain calm because I didn't want thousands of people to hear me act a fool on the radio. I was squeaky and gracious and over the top excited. I was going to finally see Prince perform!!!!

My Aunt Nessie took me to Philly to pick-up the tickets (she knew exactly where the radio station was as she had won a ton of stuff from them including a Trans-Am)! I went to the mall and picked out a skimpy fitted dress (this was before child-bearing so it fit like WHOA), invited a friend to go with me (I had won 2 tickets) and just days before my 23rd birthday, I was headed to see HIM!

When we arrived at the arena and settled in our seats, I was totally disappointed because the radio station had given us super nose bleed seats! We were so far up that we had to watch the whole concert through binoculars which we had to rent! But my man Prince ROCKED THE HOUSE!!!! Two hours straight! A couple of wardrobe changes, a few of my all time favorite songs, and just Prince- no other artist on the stage...just him!

I danced and sang and screamed until I was hoarse!

Oh by the way, I maintained my composure on the phone with the DJ for no reason- I didn't get played on the radio because she was broadcasting from a park in Philly. She did mention my name, where I was from, and that I had won the tickets.

One thing I want to do before I die is see Prince in concert again! I don't have to be front row, but close enough to see beads of sweat form on his brow! LOL!