Quilts dedicated to Prince’s memory will go on display, from March 9 through April 29, at the Textile Center in Minneapolis. Commemorating His Purple Reign: A Textural Tribute to Prince will feature 24 quilts created by artists from around the country. Among them will be a quilt made of sample swatches from garments dyed for Prince during his lifetime, and a quilt depicting Prince's quiet philanthropic donations.

"We use quiltmaking to celebrate history," says curator Carolyn Mazloomi, an expert in African-American quiltmaking. "Why not Prince? It felt right." (Pioneer Press)

Controversy swirls around SXSW contracts

Felix Walworth of Brooklyn band Told Slant has drawn attention to a clause in SXSW artist contracts specifying that the festival "will notify the U.S. immigration authorities" if any artists' sets are cancelled because the artists "acted in ways that adversely affect the viability of their official SXSW showcase."

Told Slant have canceled their SXSW appearance, with Walworth writing that "I'm not interested in aligning myself with an institution that interacts with immigration authorities as a means of controlling where art is shared and performed, and who makes money off of it."

As Stereogum observes, "This clause is not a new part of the artist contract, though it does bear more weight in a presidential administration that has encouraged a crackdown on immigration."

In response, SXSW CEO Roland Swenson issued a statement reading in part, "SXSW has been vocal in its opposition to President Trump’s Travel Ban and is working hard to build a coalition of attorneys to assist artists with issues at U.S. ports of entry during the event."

Swenson says the contract language is intended to warn artists of the potential consequences of having an appearance canceled, and that the clause is intended to apply only to "an act that does something truly egregious, such as disobeying our rules about pyrotechnics on stage, starting a brawl in a club, or causing serious safety issues."

Laurie Anderson proposes Lou Reed Listening Room

A Lou Reed archive Billboard describes as containing "300 linear feet of paper records, electronic records, and photographs, as well as approximately 3,600 audio and 1,300 video recordings" is being donated to the New York Library for the Performing Arts. Reed's widow Laurie Anderson says she hopes the library will build a Lou Reed Listening Room where fans can crank the music good and loud.

Anderson also said that after Reed's death in 2013, David Bowie encouraged her to revisit Reed's unevenly reviewed Metallica collaboration Lulu (2011). "Lou was always ahead of his time," said Bowie. "People won't understand that record for 25 years."

Nina Simone's birthplace saved

The house where Nina Simone was born in 1933 has been purchased by four visual artists, saving it from possible destruction. The artists, all African-Americans living in New York, paid $95,000 for the three-room clapboard house in Tryon, North Carolina. They don't yet have firm plans for what might come next, but one of the buyers said they shared an "incredible urgency to make sure it didn't go away." (New York Times)

Neverland languishes on market

Meanwhile, the Santa Barbara property known as Neverland Ranch when Michael Jackson lived there is up for sale...still. A group of investors who bought the property from Jackson during his lifetime have slashed their asking price from $100 million to $67 million, and have renamed the property Sycamore Valley Ranch. Even after the price cut, the investors still stand to turn a profit: they bought it for only $22.5 million. (Billboard)

'80s icons team up for tour

In what would have been the biggest tour of 1985, Hall & Oates are hitting the road with Tears for Fears. The U.S. jaunt starts on May 4 in Tulsa, hits the Xcel Energy Center on May 11, and wraps up in L.A. on July 28. (Pitchfork)