Super Bowl Royalty

Thursday I was supposed to do a live-via-satellite segment from the Super Bowl-- just talking about the vibe in Miami that day and introducing one of the stories that I did. More on that later...

I also needed to visit the media center... partially because our satellite truck operator needed to pick up his credentials... and partially because of something I saw on the lengthy list of events and news conferences:

2:00 p.m. National Anthem Press Conference with Billy Joel
2:30 p.m. Halftime Show Press Conference with Prince

I've seen Billy Joel in concert four times (he played at the Palace of Auburn Hills when I worked there in the late 80s and early 90s). But I've never, ever seen Prince. Let's face it... the guy is kind of an enigma. Very unpredictable. And from what I understand, he really doesn't talk.

So the potential for something interesting/bizarre/hilarious/cool to happen was definitely there. Definitely worth stopping by.

Around 2:20, I moseyed into the Billy Joel news conference. He was charming and funny, and he had all of the reporters eating out of his hand. There were probably about 40 or 50 TV news cameras there, about the same number of newspaper photographers, and a couple hundred reporters. When he finished, they announced that the Prince press conference would be starting in about ten minutes. I noticed that a keyboard had mysteriously appeared on the stage.

This is gonna be good, I thought.

I had a few errands to run in the Media Center-- visiting all the booths where they were passing out the free stuff. I got a free leather briefcase, a commemorative Super Bowl pin, and one of these, along with some food, a candy bar, and a little mini office supply kit.

I also wandered down Radio Row, looking to see who was there doing their radio shows and if I could spot any celebritites. I saw a bunch of retired football players who looked vaguely familiar, but none whose names I could place with the faces. I also briefly pondered throwing something at Jim Rome's head (there are few people on this planet that annoy me more), but then I saw something much, much, more interesting.

Some radio show was interviewing The King.

No, not Elvis. The Burger King mascot. By the way, mascots don't talk. It was one of the most surreal things I've ever seen. I snapped a picture with the little el-cheapo camera, but it really doesn't do the situation justice.

I think the guys sitting next to the King are is spokesmen. I'm not quite sure. There was a small crowd gathered around the spectacle... all trying to figure out exactly what was going on. I had to hold the camera up in the air, point it down, and hope that the picture turned out-- which is why it's off-center.

At this point, my 10 minutes was over, and I wandered back to the conference room to check out the Prince press conference. As I walked in, one of the Super Bowl committee members was waxing poetic about Prince and how excited they were that he would be performing the Halftime show. Then he introduced his magesty.

Prince's band walked out. Prince's dancers walked out. Then Prince walked out.

He walked up to the microphone, then said "Contrary to any rumors you may have heard, I'd like to take a few questions."

Stunned silence for about five seconds.

Then some guy shouted out, "Prince, how do you..." at which point, Prince turned around, pumped his fist, and his band broke into "Johnny Be Goode."

That's right... I showed up at a press conference... and a concert broke out.

It was great... all in all, there were maybe 500 people there, and Prince and his band did a three-song set. We had to take off during the third song, but not before I shot a bunch of video for the news and took a few shitty little pictures with my shitty little camera.


I know... you can't even tell it's Prince. He's the one in orange holding what looks like a guitar.

I'm very glad I got to see Prince do his little impromptu concert, because the rest of the day went to hell in a handbasket. The satellite booking company double-booked our satellite channel, so I never got my live-via-satellite shot. So essentially, I drove to Miami for nothing. Except I got some cool free stuff and I saw Prince in a private concert.

On a side note... isn't the Super Bowl halftime show all about "good clean fun" ever since the famed "wardrobe malfunction?" That's what I thought, too. But isn't Prince the same guy who did the songs "Erotic City," "Horny Pony," and "Gett Off?" And isn't he the same guy who once wore a pair of lacy ass-less pants on national television while performing one of the above songs?

Or is my memory failing me? Nope. I didn't think so.

Sure, Prince has mellowed out in the last 15 years or so... But I'm still a little suprised that he was chosen to do halftime. Not complaining... just surprised.