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As it turns out, almost everything that happened in the famous Chapelle’s Show sketch, “Charlie Murphy’s True Hollywood stories” sketch (which you can watch in the video box at the side) was true.
Before we at Purple Revolver head down to The Merchant for a night dedicated to Prince, we’d love to share this amazing Micki Free story in which he speaks to Esquire to discuss what it was like in the presence of The Purple One.
“Being around Prince was surreal,” remembers Free, a 61-year-old blues rock guitarist, who is scheduled to drop his upcoming album Tattoo Burn Redux in May. Free was a part of the elite few allowed inside the late music superstar’s closed-off entourage.
“It was a loss of one of my idols,” said Free, who took part in a May 17 tribute to Prince this past March at SXSW with The Purple One’s bandmates Andre Cymone and Dez Dickerson. “Prince was like a glowing star in the universe of music. I was blessed just to be around him.”
On Prince’s fashion tips:
Hanging out with Prince was just like hanging out with Jimi Hendrix. It was [that] crazy. Prince had a house in Beverly Hills. He would come into town, and his bodyguard Gilbert [Davidson] would call me and say, “Prince wants you to come out to Tramps,” or whatever club he was at. When Prince and I would hang out in the clubs, we would be surrounded by a million girls. [Laughs] I would go out and meet him and he would already have [early 12-inch pressings] of his new songs like “When Doves Cry,” “17 Days,” and all the killer B-sides. And he would play them in the club to see how they would sound.
There was one time where I was coming into this club, and I had my suits made from the same people that made his suits. And I had my boots made from the same guy that made Prince’s boots. So I was coming into the club with my then wife, Teri Copley, an actress from the ’80s who had her own TV show. Prince was leaving the club, and he walked up to me— I thought I was looking sharp! And he looks straight at me and says, “Hmmm… You only missing one thing.” And Prince took out a pair of red panties from his suit, which I still have to this day, and put them into my pocket! He pat them and said, “Now, you are looking good.” And he strutted on out. Crazy times.
On basketball games and blouses:
Charlie Murphy wasn’t lying. Everything that happened in that [“True Hollywood Stories” sketch] was for real. We went back to Prince’s house after the club. It was 1985, and there was a bunch of girls with Eddie [Murphy], myself, Charlie—rest in peace—and some other guys. And out of nowhere Prince says, “Do you guys want to play basketball?” Me and Charlie and Eddie are looking at each other like, what the hell? And Prince goes, “Me, Micki, and Gilbert against you, Eddie, and Uncle Ray.”
We played three-on-three. I don’t remember if we changed our clothes, but I know for certain that Prince did not change his. He didn’t gear up to play. If anything changed beyond the blouses, it was his heels. Prince changed into some tennis shoes. All I remember is when Prince made that first shot, it was all-net. I’m looking at him make shot after shot, like, “What the hell?” Then at the end they really did make us pancakes—blueberry pancakes. And they were good! Hanging out with Prince was an experience like no other.
You can read Micki’s full interview with Esquire here – http://bit.ly/2oZgDzL
As mentioned above, this weekend, we’re off to The Merchant to groove along to Prince’s hits and more, if anyone in Liverpool fancies popping down to The Merchant to dance and rave to Prince’s magical music with us, here is the event page on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/events/266401917126661/
Hope to see you there!