Last night, Brooklyn’s outdoor concert series, Celebrate Brooklyn, hosted a sing-along of Prince’s Purple Rain.

Oh, SO MUCH FUN!
We took the 10 year-old, after trying to remember what could’ve made it rated R, and told him we’d warn him when Appolonia was gonna take her top off. There was some bad language, but nothing more, he said, than he’d heard in the playground.
Anyway, it was awesome to be outdoors on a lovely summer evening with thousands of other Prince fans, all of us screaming and cheering and singing along. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen the movie, but it never fails to crack me up that they had a chalk outline for an attempted suicide (including the outline of the gun!). Because, you know, it’s good to outline a guy who needs medical care in case he dies later, so you can preserve the moment.
The acting was atrocious, the storyline ridiculously simple, and can I say, how can Appolonia want to be with a guy who hits her, plus has all the courtship chops of that guy who keeps mostly to himself next door?
But the songs, the dancing, the pageantry, is just so damn spectacular. Plus you can’t beat Jerome and Morris Day, two of the hammiest actors ever to grace the screen. The Spouse jumped up to do The Bird, too, which made me giggle.
The best part remains, however, the Lake Minnetonka line, made even more resonant because the 10 year-old and I are going to the waters of Lake Minnetonka tomorrow so the 10 y-o can do sailing school. My mom grew up in Minnetonka Beach, and my uncle still lives in Wayzata. The first time I saw the movie I murmured, “that’s not Lake Minnetonka,” and felt very proud of myself.
Yeah, whatever, I was probably 19, my moments of triumph thus far had been few and far between.
Wheee! The 10 y-o liked the movie, too, and was dancing with us at the end during “I Would Die 4 U.”
So tomorrow we head to Minnesota, but that likely won’t affect me posting, except the people around me will be blonder. My hair, however, remains the same.