![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.2){kind=small}
A long time, and quite great, Prince fan forum Housequake.com, has closed it's doors after twelve years of service and support for the Prince online community. Aaron posted the following note:
We can't totally blame him. Prince has long since been a bully to his fans and his supporters all over the world. Today, while in yet another chat with The Family (as they recorded tracks for their new CD), Alan Leeds (who was in the chat room, not in the studio) said he felt Prince had a certain disrespect for his art, and for his supporters. He has no reality, and he refuses to open the doors to the outside world, and that has hurt him. He said Prince is very alone, and his friends come and go. He said, "The rest of us have to get up and drive to the store. Prince doesn't. He choses not to." His point was not that Prince should head to the Piggly Wiggly to pick up some scrimps, but rather he should step outside of his comfort zone. It's weird to us that Prince has kept himself so isolated, runs through a list of girlfriends and band members, yet dismisses and bullies the people who have stayed with him no matter what. He pisses on the ones who stay by his side, dishing dollars that are probably better spent feeding our families and paying our bills, more than any girlfriend, wife, or band member ever has in the past. When he changed his name, we had to answer for him. When he changed it back, we answered for him. When he put out garbage and said it was hot, we bought it because we're collectors and fans ("fams" our asses, what a dumb term, thank Jehovah we're not "fams" or "family", because if his siblings or parents are any indication of how he treats people, we'd rather stay from a distance and attempt to enjoy the ride.) Through his preachy periods, his naughty periods, his lack of a razor periods and his overt love of hair gel periods, we were there. Through the times of crap like Graffiti Bridge (movie), New Power Soul, N.E.W.S., and other half-assed projects, we were there. Through debacles like Crystal Ball II, The Sampler Series, High, Tamar's album, editing curse words out of old music (like amputating your grown children's tongue), surgically removing the funk from his old songs live (like "DMSR", etc on the ALMA or BET awareds), changing "Baby I'm A Star" into a breezy, jazz suite fit for the finest of elevators in NYC's garment district, NPGMC year 1, 2, and beyond, we were there. Through people never getting their orders from 1800NEWFUNK, getting the wrong thing w/ no customer service, or just getting told off, we were still there.
And now troopers like Aaron at HQ have given up the ghost, at least for now. All over a banner at the top of the page, that included some of the graphics from the new Lotus Flower site, which has about 2 days to launch before it too is officially late out of the gate.
As a member of the Databank Transcription Team, we are still striving over there to upgrade the site, and head to new projects.
We hope HQ will come back, but if it doesn't, we still have![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif?v=92.2)
paisley_park, and a chance to help it grow even more, to absorb the loss of HQ and move forward, hopefully wishing that one day...just once, Prince might put down his altered Bible that doesn't even mention Jesus' name, put down his attitude, and just be Prince again.
Of course tomorrow Minneapolis could be underwater from a melted polar ice cap, but we're not holding our breath for that either.
Message
Housequake.com is closed until further notice...
On 'request' by Prince I changed back the old Housequake header. Sorry people, but I can't afford to play any more games. Thanks to Prince & his staff for their "support" over the years.
/Aaron
We can't totally blame him. Prince has long since been a bully to his fans and his supporters all over the world. Today, while in yet another chat with The Family (as they recorded tracks for their new CD), Alan Leeds (who was in the chat room, not in the studio) said he felt Prince had a certain disrespect for his art, and for his supporters. He has no reality, and he refuses to open the doors to the outside world, and that has hurt him. He said Prince is very alone, and his friends come and go. He said, "The rest of us have to get up and drive to the store. Prince doesn't. He choses not to." His point was not that Prince should head to the Piggly Wiggly to pick up some scrimps, but rather he should step outside of his comfort zone. It's weird to us that Prince has kept himself so isolated, runs through a list of girlfriends and band members, yet dismisses and bullies the people who have stayed with him no matter what. He pisses on the ones who stay by his side, dishing dollars that are probably better spent feeding our families and paying our bills, more than any girlfriend, wife, or band member ever has in the past. When he changed his name, we had to answer for him. When he changed it back, we answered for him. When he put out garbage and said it was hot, we bought it because we're collectors and fans ("fams" our asses, what a dumb term, thank Jehovah we're not "fams" or "family", because if his siblings or parents are any indication of how he treats people, we'd rather stay from a distance and attempt to enjoy the ride.) Through his preachy periods, his naughty periods, his lack of a razor periods and his overt love of hair gel periods, we were there. Through the times of crap like Graffiti Bridge (movie), New Power Soul, N.E.W.S., and other half-assed projects, we were there. Through debacles like Crystal Ball II, The Sampler Series, High, Tamar's album, editing curse words out of old music (like amputating your grown children's tongue), surgically removing the funk from his old songs live (like "DMSR", etc on the ALMA or BET awareds), changing "Baby I'm A Star" into a breezy, jazz suite fit for the finest of elevators in NYC's garment district, NPGMC year 1, 2, and beyond, we were there. Through people never getting their orders from 1800NEWFUNK, getting the wrong thing w/ no customer service, or just getting told off, we were still there.
And now troopers like Aaron at HQ have given up the ghost, at least for now. All over a banner at the top of the page, that included some of the graphics from the new Lotus Flower site, which has about 2 days to launch before it too is officially late out of the gate.
As a member of the Databank Transcription Team, we are still striving over there to upgrade the site, and head to new projects.
We hope HQ will come back, but if it doesn't, we still have
paisley_park, and a chance to help it grow even more, to absorb the loss of HQ and move forward, hopefully wishing that one day...just once, Prince might put down his altered Bible that doesn't even mention Jesus' name, put down his attitude, and just be Prince again.Of course tomorrow Minneapolis could be underwater from a melted polar ice cap, but we're not holding our breath for that either.
January 31 2009, 19:07:08 UTC 3 years ago
I cannot believe he would go so far as to attempt to mandate the removal of all of his videos from YouTube. Does he not understand that he could use YouTube to his advantage and get his music out there to an even BIGGER audience than he has now? There is an entire generation of people who did not grow up with his music like we did. He could easily create his own YouTube channel and put his videos out there himself if he doesn't want others to do it.
Also attempting to shut down all the fan sites that provided some good information and also helped to spread the word about how great he is just boggles my mind. All of this is free publicity for him. It is not costing him one red cent. In my opinion, he needs to be THANKFUL that these kinds of sites exist, rather than trying to shut them down.
In this day and age of the Internet, no celebrity or anyone in the public eye can have complete control over what is posted about them. They shouldn't even TRY to do that. It's insane. Instead, EMBRACE the technology for what it is and use it to spread the word about your creativity.
Don't even get me started about how he treats the people around him and his fans. I'm starting to wonder if he even realizes anymore that the people who have worked with him over the years and the people who buy his music and other merchandise are the folks who MADE his career. He would not have one otherwise. You would think he would remember that and treat everyone with respect and dignity. You simply DON'T piss off the people who work for you or buy what you are selling.
If he isn't careful, one day, he will end up broke and alone, wishing that he had someone to listen to him.
Prince, as much love as I have for you, this needs to be said, you need to WISE UP and GET WITH THE PROGRAM while you still have people who want to hear what you have to say in your corner.