Partying with Prince...Sort of

Little did I know that I would be standing around that parking lot for another two hours, waiting just like the people in that long ass line. The 120 minutes of waiting was nobody's fault but the Purple one himself, as Entertainment Weekly's Pop Watch blogger Whitney Pastorek says, Prince "operates on his own time, a time that my colleagues estimated at approximately two hours later than hip-hop time, which means approximately four hours later than the time you and I are expected to maintain."

This waiting period was much more entertaining than you'd expect though. For starters, I got to see the not-so-grand arrival of the man who once was known simply as an unpronounceable symbol. At around 10:30 pm a black Cadillac sports car with Minnesota plates pulled into the Avalon parking lot. A team of security staff held up a black curtain to stop the clan of paparazzi who were staked out on the Vine Street sidewalk from taking the photo of the man behind the wheel of this car. That man was wearing a shiny piece of ear jewelry and reached in the backseat for a bedazzled cane. Minnesota plates, shiny ear jewelry, glittery cane. Yup that man was Prince. Prince drove himself to his party.

This marked the beginning of Prince's sound check. Nobody is allowed inside while Prince soundchecks. Nobody. Not even Clippers' guard Baron Davis who was wearing a pair of metallic gold shoes. Entertainment Tonight's Kevin Frazier, who when asked by the staff working the list if he was "VIP or Press," replied "Both," was also not going to be stepping inside while the artist formerly known as "The Artist Formerly Known As" was soundchecking. Members of Maroon 5 would have to wait inside their limo because they too were not going to be able to get inside while Prince was doing his soundcheck. If that kind of star power wasn't getting in than you know two bloggers like myself and our editor Zach Behrens who met up with me for a bit after spending his day on the red carpet at the Kodak Theater were not getting inside anytime soon.

Right around the time when Sunday became Monday, I took my position on the red carpet. I was standing on the end, next to reporters for the magazines your girlfriend reads. After hearing these unhappy souls bash pretty much everyone and everything, I decided to spend my time on the carpet chatting up the Avalon security staff. They were more interesting anyway.

I got to see the following people walk the red carpet: Hill Harper, JC Chasez, David Banner, Tyler Perry, Angie Harmon with husband Jason Seahorn, Eliza Dushku, Oscar nominee Taraji P. Henson, Megan Good and the young lady who would show up if you put a red carpet in your driveway - Bai Ling. (Photos of the red carpet are available at GettyImages.com)

I said I got to see them, I didn't speak to anyone. Besides, watching the other folks who were only equipped with notebooks and recorders swing and miss at attempts to talk to the stars was much more entertaining. If the celebs weren't talking to those guys, they definitely weren't going to talk me.

The best swing and miss of the night was Dushku. After having her picture taken and talking to Frazier for ET, the star of Dollhouse headed for the entrance of the club when one of the print reporters yelled, "anything you'd like to say to Nicole Richie?" With one foot in the door of the club, about 10 feet away from the man who asked the question, Dushku was rightfully dumbfounded by the question. He followed it up with, "Nicole Richie just announced she's having another baby, any comment?" She either pretended to not hear the question or genuinely couldn't make out the words coming from the reporter, because she left him hanging. The rejection lead the reporter to act as though he didn't want a response from Dushku, "Whatever, we don't care what she has to say anyways. She's trash."

My position on the end of carpet actually was beneficial because the important people like Alicia Keys who don't want to walk the red carpet were actually entering the club right where I was stationed. Upon Ms. Keys entrance, the guys who held up the curtain for Prince were now doing the same for her. Then a big scary guy announced, "No press, all cameras must be turned off." All but one camera was shut off when Keys walked about six inches away from me into the club. That lone camera did not go unnoticed by security.

After having lived through enough excitement on the red carpet, it was time to head inside and watch Prince. At 1:15 am, I walked inside the Avalon to find a half-full dance floor and no sign of Prince. The bars and tables of the club, however, were hopping with the kinds of people who have $100 to drop on a ticket and nothing to wake up for on a Monday morning.

After waiting around for 30 minutes for Prince and nobody to enjoy the lack of Prince with, I decided to leave at 1:43. At 1:48, I'm told, the man who works on his own time took the stage.

I've read it was an excellent performance, but I wouldn't know. From what I've read, Prince and his band played until 3:30 am. His set list included some of his own songs like; “Cream,” “The Bird,” and “Jungle Love” along with an eclectic mix of covers like; The Cars’ “Let’s Go,” as well as “Crimson and Clover,” “Wild Thing,” The Beatles “Come Together,” the Rolling Stones’ “Honky Tonk Women,” and Jimmy Eat World’s “The Middle.”

For a much more detailed review of the performance, check out the aforementioned Pastorek's take on the show. Unlike me, she stuck around for the entire show.

Despite the fact that photography inside the Avalon was prohibited, I was able to spot a couple Twitpics of the performance.

Further coverage of the night's festivities can be found on Prince's new Web site Lotusflow3r.com.