Thank you!
Text
The Purple Places Team would like to thank the following individuals for their generous contributions to this digital tour.
Dom Puglisi, owner of Diamond and Pearls Photography, shared his striking images which highlight the beauty of Prince's Minnesota, from more modest locations to the grand Paisley Park. His work conveys what Prince saw in his home state--opportunity, community, and optimism. Through his great images, Daniel R. Pratt, ARCH3, LLC, documented Sound 80, which is by many measures the most important recording studio in Minneapolis. The interior shots show the actual space where Prince recorded his demo tapes. They take this tour to another dimension, providing a fascinating glimpse into this important space. Also, Steve Orfield, owner of the Sound 80 Studio building, shared the pictures of the studio just after construction in 1970. Prince's cousin and early musical collaborator, Charles "Chazz" Smith, shared early childhood images that made Prince more relatable--a kid like any other, sucking his thumb and wrestling with his cousin!
The Purple Places team is also grateful to Joan Howard and the other children of John Glanton, who shared the now iconic image of John Nelson and the Prince Rogers Nelson trio that was created by their father. For an intimate glimpse into the world of Prince's parents and grandparents, please see Double Exposure: Images of Black Minnesota in the 1940s---The Photography of John Glanton (Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2018). We are also grateful to Ted Hathaway at the Hennepin County Library, who helped us identify other historic images associated with these venues. Ted was also instrumental in collecting and making accessible those historic volumes that gave us yearbook images of Prince in junior high and high school. Thanks to Heidi Heller at the Hennepin History Museum, who tracked down never published material associated with Prince and First Avenue. We so appreciate Dan Bergin for finding that elusive Polaroid of Prince from his high school years.
Finally, the actual identification of some of these locations was a collaborative endeavor. Kristen Zschomler wants to thank so many people for their collaborative spirit and generous storytelling: Charles Smith, Terry Jackson, Pepe Willie, Chris Moon, Herb Pilhofer, and Tyka Nelson. Chris Moon was key in helping Kristen track down the location of the second Moon Sound Studio, so a very special thanks to him.
Also, jooZt Mattheij and Thomas de Bruin, curators of the website PrinceVault.com., were instrumental in helping Kristen locate where Prince recorded his seminal album "Dirty Mind." They shared with her a certified envelope from an online auction that lead her to the right city files to confirm the property's location. Pinpointing the exact location of Prince's home and studio was a fun puzzle to share with them.