Because doves shouldn’t cry alone, lots of Austin musicians and venues are putting together tribute events for Prince on this sad day. If watching Prince perform “Purple Rain” in Austin in 2013 isn’t enough of a memorial for you, here are a few of the events that have come out so far to honor this legendary man and his impact on musicians.
Upcoming Events:
Dearly Beloved: A Drive In Tribute Night to Prince — Wednesday and Sunday (May 1)
Purple Rain on the big screen while canoodling in the car with your honey? That’s definitely one way that Prince would’ve wanted to be celebrated. Tickets for these screenings at Blue Starlite Drive-In will likely go fast for these screenings. Both screenings will be double features with Under the Cherry Moon with a Best of Prince pre-show. You can find Blue Starlite at 1901 E 51st.
The Purple Party in Praise of Prince — Friday
This Prince party at Spider House Cafe and Ballroom is going to be completely out of control, complete with music (duh), dancing (naturally), and a Prince shrine. Oh, there’s also a costume contest, so break out your best purple duds and platform boots. DJs Chorizo Funk, Chicken George, and Mahealani will be helping you go crazy by provide the best soundtrack possible. There’s a $5 cover, but the fact that they’ve turned their disco ball purple just for the event makes it all worth it. You can find Spider House at 2908 Fruth St.
Purple Reign: Foot Patrol Performing Prince’s Purple Rain
Heard Entertainment presents a night of singing and dancing and drums as Austin’s funky Foot Patrol performs all of Purple Rain from start to finish, including special guest D Madness Project on drums. Foot Patrol is the natural choice for a Prince tribute, as their sound has been described as a combination of “1980s Minneapolis funk with hip hop, new wave, Funkadelic, James Brown, video game music and many more influences into absurdist party grooves as deep as they are fat.” Tickets are just $5. You can find Empire Control Room and Garage at 606 E. 7th.
Sex y Ukelele Prince Tribute — Friday
There really isn’t a better way to describe this event than what’s on the invite: “There is no instrument which represents smoldering sexuality than the Ukulele. There is no artist that is better suited for this four-stringed sendoff than the Purple One himself. Join us in tribute to the music, the legend, and the sexy ukulele.” Those sexy uke sounds will be coming to you thanks to Brently Heilbron with Cindy Page and special guests at the Institution Theater, starting at 8pm. You can find the Institution Theater at 3708 Woodbury Dr.
Alamo Drafthouse Purple Rain Screenings
Alamo Drafthouse is hosting memorial screenings of Purple Rain across town tonight. The Ritz, South Lamar, Lakeline, Slaughter Lane, and Village locations will host the film starting at 9:50pm. All ticket proceeds from these screenings will be donated to Anthropos Arts, which offers free music lessons, workshops, and performance opportunities to at-risk middle and high school students in Austin. Note: These are likely to be sold out by time of publication, so check immediately just in case.
Update: More screenings have been added as late shows throughout the weekend.
Second update: More screenings are on tap for this weekend (Friday, April 29 and Saturday, April 30), and tickets were still available at the time of this update.
Past Events:
Purple Rain Dessert at Swift’s Attic — Friday
As they did last night, Swift’s Attic will be donating sales from their Purple Rain dessert to Urban Farming in honor of Prince. It’s made of horchate Bavarian, sarsaparilla, toasted flour, cinnamon, and the purple is courtesy of their ube-rice ice cream. I don’t know whether to just stare at this dessert and be all in my emotions or actually it it. Photo by Natalie Paramore.
Tonight, sales from our #PurpleRain dessert @swiftsattic will be donated to @UrbanFarming in honor of #Prince pic.twitter.com/LI1bnAkmT3
— C.K. Chin (@seekaychin) April 22, 2016
Prince Tribute Celebration at Kenny Dorham’s Backyard — Friday
The folks behind the East Austin community space, Kenny Dorham’s Backyard, are hosting a tribute event where they invite everyone to join them to “sing along in remembrance of Prince.” Kenny Dorham’s Backyard is located at 1106 East 11th.
KUTX 4-Hour Music Tribute
On Friday night KUTX‘s Rick McNulty will play four straight hours of Prince on his regular show. You’ll have to tune in on your radios, though, as he’s not able to stream a dedicated set because of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act.
Prince Dance Party at Club 512
You’re very likely to hear Prince streaming from any and all clubs if you walk along 6th Street this weekend, and Club 512 is throwing a special Prince tribute with Michael ‘5000’ Watts DJing. Club 512 is located at 408 E 6th.
The Music of Prince w/ DJ Mel at 3Ten Austin City Limits Live — Thursday
DJ Mel is well known for his regular Rock the Casbah ’80s dance parties, so it’s fitting that he is teaming up with 3Ten Events to host a Prince dance party tonight. Doors open at 6:30pm and DJ Mel plays from 10pm to midnight (maybe longer). The event is free, so go dance, sing, and hug fellow Prince fans. 3Ten is located at 310 W Willie Nelson Blvd, Suite 1A.
All purple everything at Shangri-La — Thursday
The east side bar will be showing Purple Rain on a loop all night (with sound before it gets packed), playing Prince music, as well as serving up special Purple Rain drinks, a violet variation on the Long Island Iced Tea for when you absolutely positively must drown your sorrows. Shangri-La is located at 1016 East 6th St.
Prince Baraoke at Dirty Bill’s — Thursday
There are few places better to do baraoke than at Dirty Bill’s, and tonight it will be Prince songs that patrons sing at the top of their lungs while drinking $2 Purple Haze and Raspberry Beret shot specials. This is a feel the love type of room, so if you’re looking for a hug or should to cry on, you’ll find it here. Dirty Bill’s is located at 511 Rio Grande.
There are plenty of events in the works that aren’t quite ready for publishing, but we will keep you updated.
We also hear a tribute event to benefit the Clifford Antone Foundation is in the works with possible artists including Nakia, Migrant Kids, Suzanna Choffel, and many others. Nakia spoke to us about Prince’s impact on him as a musician: “Prince moved and influenced me tremendously. He changed my life. I’m sure every Austin artist can say the same thing. Today’s news was shocking and hard to accept but as I listen through his catalog I’m inspired to keep creating and making music.”
Know of a Prince event that we missed? Drop it in the comments. We’ll keep this post updated as more events are added.
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Featured image from Wikimedia, Creative Commons licensed
