Hey all,

We’ve been nominated for ‘Best Alternative Act’ at this years UK Asian Music Awards to be held at the beginning of March.

Head on over to www.theukama.com and vote for us!!!

Peaceandbewild,

S-Endz

Prince was mentioned twice on this week’s episode of the hit comedy show ‘How I Met Your Mother’.

If you don’t watch it, you really should. It’s one of the best shows out right now.

At the beginning of the show, which is set in New York, it is said to be cold. Marshall (who comes from Minnesota) says,

"This is like a regular spring day in Minnesota, if it weren’t for the taxi’s, skyscrapers and non-white people".

The protagonist Ted then remarks – "There aren’t any black people in Minnesota?", to which Marshall then replies "Not if Prince is on tour."

Later on in the show, Robin has been hanging out with Marshall in a Minnesota themed bar, and pretending to be from Minnesota, since that’s the only way she can stay in the bar. When it’s revealed that she’s actually Canadian, she makes a scene of being proud to be Canadian, and says "We may not have a fancy NFL team, or Prince, but we invented Trivial Pursuit! You’re welcome, Earth!"

This was one of my favorite episodes in a while. Not to mention, there was a Nine Inch Nails reference somewhere in the show too. Always good.

OK, what is this? Make-fun-of-Prince-in-cartoons month?

First it was The Simpsons. Now Family Guy!

In this week’s episode, Brian and Frank Sinatra Jr purchase a big-band club. Stewie promptly turns it into a hot dance club, and when Brian and Frank show up wearing tuxedo’s, Stewie says "You’re more out of place than Prince was on The Price Is Right!"

Cut to a scene, of, guess what, our royal purple one as a contestant. Again with the 1983 outfits and soft, high voice! Come on animators, if you’re gonna parody someone, DO IT RIGHT!!!

I don’t know how many of you saw the latest episode of ‘The Simpsons’. It’s the latest in their ‘Treehouse of Horror’ Halloween specials.
In one part of this new episode, Homer is hired to kill celebrities so that a corrupt advertising agency can use the likeness of those celebrities without having to pay them. Of course, given Prince’s recent battles on the Internet to have control over his image, he was a prime candidate to be spoofed.

After a Prince gig, Homer is shown to grab Prince’s symbol-shaped guitar and beat him to death with it. This segment climaxes with the ghosts of celebrities coming down from heaven to exact their revenge.

Killing a loved celebrity in the name of a comedy show is always risky business. There are some that will find it tasteless, and others that won’t care and find it funny. Of course, the scale of the reaction depends on the loyalty of the fans, and Prince has some very loyal fans indeed. 

Hit ‘Read More’ to view the rest of this blog!

But actually, I’ve found that the more pressing issue here, is that the parody of Prince didn’t really resemble Prince at all. He hasn’t worn trenchcoats and ruffled shirts since 1984 (a long time before the symbol came into play). The hairstyle they gave him seems to resemble Little Richard or Lionel Richie more than Prince, his skin tone is a couple of shades lighter than that, and what was up with the Michael Jackson-esque high pitched soft voice? Whilst P’s falsetto singing may be one of his trademarks, anyone who’s ever spoke to him or even heard him speak can tell you that his speaking voice is actually quite low and deep.

I’m not quite sure who the artist is, but at some point, a gifted online artist and Prince fan drew this sketch of how Prince might look if he appeared on The Simpsons. This version resembles him a lot more and quite frankly it’s a bad look for The Simpsons that someone’s fan-art is better than their own caricatures. Check it out:

I gotta admit though, the dialogue was pretty hilarious, especially this part:

Ghost of John Wayne: Is that mustache coming or going?
Ghost of Prince: Well your wife likes it.
Ghost of John Wayne: (pauses, then laughs) You’re alright, goofy grape.

Peace out y’all.