Rare video of Prince playing basketball has surfaced in the form of a music video shot in 2000 by David Schwartz, who remembers “he was a trash talker.” (Billboard) Meanwhile, Judge Kevin Eide will decide by Thursday “whether music-industry specialists should be hired to help manage estate assets for potential heirs” of Prince, reports the Star Tribune. Carlin Q.…

“Isn’t the sky beautiful tonight?” That’s how Prince greeted The Current’s program director Jim McGuinn, who reported on his summer 2010 visit to Paisley Park in one of the first Prince stories ever published on The Current’s website. The Current was launched in 2005, and Prince became a supporter of the station. He showed that support…

Sure, there are plenty of obscenities. There’s alcohol. There’s a venue easily accessible by public transit in the heart of the city. And instead of the entertainer radiating confidence, confidence feels in-your-face. But there is the ambiance of a last-minute, spontaneously planned event. There’s a pre-show deejay set where hundreds of phoneless folks eagerly and…

On Sunday, Swedish pop icons ABBA celebrated the 50th anniversary of their band’s founding by performing together for the first time since the mid-1980s. All four members of the group were in attendance at a Stockholm gala celebrating the group, and when Agnetha Faltskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad started singing their song “Me and I,” Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson joined in…

Tomorrow, June 7, would be Prince’s 58th birthday. In honor of the occasion, Gov. Mark Dayton has declared it Prince Day in the state of Minnesota. In the proclamation (below), Gov. Dayton encourages Minnesotans to wear purple on Tuesday in Prince’s honor. Click here to read about more ways Minnesotans are celebrating the occasion —…

During the past few years, I’ve had some key friendship moments on a crowded dance floor. Music is great that way — it gives people something to revel in, tugging the same glint out of everyone’s eye. On the other hand, I’ve spent some of my most introspective moments on those same dance floors, and I’ve…

Muhammad Ali, who died on Friday at 74, is being remembered by people from all walks of life — including musicians such as Bob Dylan. Having long taken an interest in boxing — he wrote the songs “Hurricane” and “Who Killed Davey Moore?” about boxers, and dedicated a verse to Ali (then known as Cassius Clay) on…

After touring the country with Big Maybelle and Eugene Church, 17-year-old Maurice McKinnies moved to the Twin Cities, where he soon became a key player in the close-knit, flourishing R&B, funk and soul music community that pioneered the Minneapolis Sound. Upon moving to the area, he played with a band called the Big M’s, which featured…

Each week on the Local Show, we’ll meet a new person from the Minnesota music community who has some fresh discoveries to share in a feature called “Ask a Cool Person.” These people will come from all corners of the scene, including record store clerks, recording studio engineers and producers, artists, writers, bookers, photographers, and…

Last night, Jake Rudh paid tribute to Prince with a special edition of his Transmission dance party at First Avenue. The party was one of many ways the Twin Cities are celebrating Prince this weekend as his birthday approaches.