The Town Hall Presents | PRINCE: The Beautiful Ones

THE TOWN HALL PRESENTS | MON. NOV. 18, 2019

THE BEAUTIFUL ONES A Celebration of His Memoir, Life and Art

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Monday, November 18, 2019 THE TOWN HALL PRESENTS

THE BEAUTIFUL ONES A Celebration of His Memoir, Life and Art Performances + REMINISCENCES by

New Power Generation

Spike Lee

DAN PIEPENBRING

Greg TaTe

Chris Jackson

Lisa Fischer

Brasskicker

Talu Green & Co. and More directed by

GBENGA AKINNAGBE Produced by The Town Hall Proceeds to benefit Harlem

Children’s Zone

The Beautiful Ones (Penguin Random House)

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About the Program One of the great songwriters, performers, and all-around creative figures of late-20th-century, Prince Rogers Nelson, known to the world simply as Prince, told his story in song and on film. But when he died unexpectedly in April of 2016 at 57, he had just started a tantalizing project -- writing his memoirs -- and it appeared to have been lost with him. It was not.

Contact sheet outtakes from Dirty Mind cover shoot, © Allen Beaulieu

The Beautiful Ones, which Prince himself named, choosing the title of one of his iconic songs from Purple Rain, was completed and will be celebrated tonight with an exclusive special event at The Town Hall.

Prince won seven GRAMMY® Awards, a Golden Globe Award (for best original song, “The Song of the Heart” from Happy Feet) and an Academy Award® for the film Purple Rain. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, the first year of his eligibility.

“Prince is a once in a lifetime artist. I count myself thoroughly blessed to have lived during his musical reign,” said director Akinnagbe. “And he did so much for others during his life.

With this event benefiting Harlem Children’s Zone, we continue his legacy.”

A deeply personal account of how the kid from Minneapolis, Minn., became the global figure we know, The Beautiful Ones, (Spiegel & Grau/Penguin Random House) spans from Prince’s childhood and his early years as a musician to his arrival at the cusp of international stardom. Piepenbring, an editor at the storied Paris Review, provides an extensive and insightful introductory essay and annotations that provide context to the book’s images. He recalls Prince telling him he was “sick of playing the guitar, at least for now...” and what he really wanted to do was write. “In fact, he had so many ideas for his book that he didn’t know where to begin,” writes Piepenbring, who got to collaborate with Prince in just the last three months of his life.

A day after one of their in-person encounters, he recalls reading “about 30 pages” of handwritten notes on a legal pad. “Prince’s handwriting was beautiful, with a fluidity that suggested it poured out of him almost involuntarily,” notes Piepenbring in his introduction.

“The pages were warm, funny, well-observed, eloquent, and surprisingly focused. This was Prince the raconteur, in a storytelling mode reminiscent of his more narrative songs, such as ‘The Ballad of Dorothy Parker’ or ‘Raspberry Beret.’”

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Since, at the time of the artist’s death, there was not enough material for a conventional memoir, Piepenbring went back to Paisley Park, Prince’s compound in Chanhassen, Minn., to search the vaults and the musician’s personal archives.

The resulting The Beautiful Ones includes Prince’s writings, a scrapbook of his personal photos, and memorabilia, including contact sheets, rare promotional photos, and the lyrics to his 1983 hit “Little Red Corvette,” handwritten in red ink. The book tracks Prince’s evolution through deeply revealing, never-before-shared images and memories and culminates with his original handwritten treatment for his masterwork, Purple Rain.

Editor Chris Jackson noted that Prince’s death “was an unfathomable loss, but this book— full of writing from his own hand and images that he carefully preserved at Paisley Park—is a beautiful tribute to his life. It’s also much more than that: it’s a genuinely moving and energizing literary work, full of Prince’s ideas and vision, his voice and image. It’s a treasure not just for Prince fans but for anyone who wants to see one of our greatest creative artists and original minds at work on his greatest creation: himself.”

In his essay, co-author Piepenbring writes of Prince: “Being an artist was a constant evolution. Early on, he’d recognized the inherent mystery of this process. ‘Mystery’ is a word for a reason, he’d said. ‘It has a purpose.’ The right book would add new layers to his mystery, even as it stripped others away.”

But Prince also wanted a book that would be “a handbook for the brilliant community— wrapped in autobiography, wrapped in biography,” as well as a primer on African American entrepreneurship. It was clear, says Piepenbring, that “It was incumbent on us to help people, especially young black artists, realize the power and agency they had.”

As Prince sang in “Gold”: “Everybody wants to sell what’s already been sold / Everybody wants to tell what’s already been told / What’s the use of money if you ain’t gonna break the mold?”

And so, he set out to do just that.

Prince © Joe Gianetti

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About the Artists PRINCE ROGERS NELSON (co-author) remains one of the most popular and influential musical acts of all time.

Known for his style and range, Prince’s prolific music career included an ever-evolving sound that blended pop, R&B, hip-hop, jazz, and soul. Prince sold more than 100 million albums worldwide, making him one of the bestselling artists of all time. He won seven GRAMMY® Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and an Academy Award® for the film Purple Rain. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, the first year of his eligibility. Prince tragically passed away at his Paisley Park home on April 21, 2016. His legacy lives on through the timeless messages of love in his music and the countless ways his work has touched lives.

Prince © Allen Beaulieu

The New Power Generation © Peter Lodder

THE NEW POWER GENERATION: Morris Hayes (Musical Director, keyboards), MacKenzie (lead vocalist), Tony Mosley (rapper/guitar), Sonny “Sonny T” Thompson (bass), Levi Seacer (guitar), Les Cleveland (drums), and Kenni Holmen (sax/flute).

Keyboardist Morris Hayes, who was in the New Power Generation for more than 20 years and also served as Prince’s Musical Director for much of that time, put the band back together for the official Prince Tribute concert in October 2016. After that historic night, they reunited to bring a smaller version of that concert honoring their former mentor on the road. Ever since, the band continues to receive acclaim for their tight arrangements, stellar sound and the electrifying pace of their shows. The NPG’s Celebrating Prince includes a number of original and/or former members of the NPG (Tony Mosley, Sonny Thompson, Levi Seacer, Kenni Holmen) and has been described as a “non-stop musical kaleidoscope of the most iconic chart-topping hits from all eras of Prince’s illustrious fourdecade career.” Years of touring, recording, rehearsing, playing and performing with Prince helped to shape The New Power Generation, and few other artists are known to have the same work ethic. The band are currently touring, penning new material together, and have exciting plans to release new music in 2020.

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About the Artists

Spike Lee (courtesy of the artist)

SPIKE LEE (speaker) has created an iconic body of storytelling that has left an indelible mark on filmmaking and television. His career spans 30 years and includes She’s Gotta Have It, School Daze, Do the Right Thing, Mo’ Better, Jungle Fever, Malcolm X, Girl 6, Get on the Bus, Summer of Sam, and Chi-Raq. Lee won his first Oscar in 2019 for the adapted screenplay for BlacKkKlansman. He is also known for his documentaries, including the Emmy-winning If God is Willing and the Creek Don’t Rise, When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, and the Peabody Award-winning A Huey P. Newton Story. In addition to influential TV work and commercials, Lee has directed music videos and shorts for artists including Prince, Public Enemy, Branford Marsalis, and Miles Davis. In 2015, Lee was awarded an Honorary Oscar for his lifetime achievement and contributions to the state of motion picture arts and sciences. His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, is based in Brooklyn.

DAN PIEPENBRING (co-author) is an advisory editor at The Paris Review and the co-author, with Tom O’Neill, of Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties.

Dan Piepenbring © Edwin Tse

CHRIS JACKSON (editor) is an editor at Spiegel and Grau, a division of Penguin Random House. He acquired world rights from Esther Newberg and Dan Kirschen at ICM Partners. The memoir is being published in an exclusive partnership and in collaboration with the Prince Estate.

GBENGA AKINNAGBE (director) recently finished his

Chris Jackson

Gbenga Akinnagbe © Liberated People

year-long Broadway debut in Aaron Sorkin’s hit adaptation of To Kill A Mockingbird opposite Jeff Daniels. Gbenga received rave reviews for his performance as Tom Robinson and was honored with a Theatre World Award. He also recently starred as Larry Brown on the David Simon/HBO series The Deuce opposite Maggie Gyllenhaal and James Franco. Gbenga’s career-defining turn as Chris Partlow in The Wire led to memorable roles on hit shows including 24: Live Another Day, Barbershop, The Following, Nurse Jackie, and The Good Wife. His extensive film credits include The Sun Is Also A Star, Starbright, All The Devil’s Men, and DC Noir (which he also codirected), Detroit, Egg, Crown Heights, Detour, Independence Day 2, Fort Bliss, Mall, Big Words, Overnight, Lottery Ticket, Edge Of Darkness, The Taking Of Pelham 123, and The Savages.

Additional theater credits include Fulfillment and Lower Ninth at The Flea, The Thin Place at The Intiman, and A View from 151st Street at The Public. Gbenga was born in Washington, D.C. to Nigerian parents and grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland. He is the founder and managing director of Liberated People, a social justice lifestyle brand. @TownHallNYC | 6

About the Artists LISA FISCHER

Lisa Fischer © Djeneba Aduauom

“Lisa Fischer in concert is addictive. Every performance is so enriching, so exciting, so transcendent that you want more. With remarkable vocal range and vocabulary, Fischer can sing soul, jazz, rock, gospel, pop, folk and classical with equal facility and authority.”” (Minneapolis Star Tribune, July 2016) Ms. Lisa Fischer and her band Grand Baton first set out on tour in 2014, with no product to sell, no recordings or video to help book or promote shows, no t-shirts. Despite all that, based on Lisa’s reputation alone, they were invited to play in clubs, at the Newport and Monterey Jazz Festivals, and at concert halls all over the globe, winning accolades from critics, devotion from fans, and — always – invitations to return, soon.

GREG TATE Writer, musician, cultural provocateur, Greg Tate lives in Harlem.

His most recent book is Flyboy 2: The Greg Tate Reader. Since 1999, he has also led the conducted improv ensemble, Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber.

Harlem Children’s Zone © HCZ

HARLEM CHILDREN’S ZONE is a non-profit organization that walks hand in hand with 14,000 young people and their families in Central Harlem on their journeys from cradle to college to career. HCZ’s comprehensive network serves nearly 100 blocks of Central Harlem, going beyond education to provide academic, personal and career support. Harlem Children’s Zone is a model not just for Harlem, but for communities around the world that are fighting poverty. More than 500 U.S. groups and 186 international delegations have visited the Harlem Children’s Zone since 2003.

In 2010, President Barack Obama’s administration announced the Promise Neighborhoods initiative, which is replicating the Harlem Children’s Zone model in neighborhoods across America. hcz.org 7 | @TownHallNYC

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