Big Joe shares his thoughts and memories of Prince

Yesterday I was stunned, along with many other listeners, as we got the news from Dennis and Judi that Prince had indeed passed away. If you were listening you may have heard me call in, along with many others to share thoughts and memories.

As I told Dennis and Judi, I went to college in Minneapolis (University of Minnesota). There was a club there called Uncle Sams and Prince would show up and play…before he recorded Purple Rain…the crowd went nuts because the music was good but nobody could identify the genre of music that he was playing.

It was rock and roll with an energy rarely seen since Jagger, the poetic justice of Dylan or Springsteen, mixed with the blues of BB King, the energy of Jerry Lee Lewis, and a voice  from God.

Through channels I ended up at Uncle Sams for the filming of the Purple Rain video and movie. It was thrilling to watch him perform, to hear this new type of rock and roll and feel the energy of his music… The video above is a great example of this.

I will never forget him and will continue to enjoy his music. You can tune in all this weekend as we pay tribute to Prince with one of his hits every hour.