35 Years of Paisley Park: A Minnesota author reflects
The "love" symbol outside of Paisley Park, Prince's home and studio in Chanhassen.
Kerem Yucel/AFP via Getty Images
Thirty-five years ago this month, a complex of unusual, plain white buildings opened in Chanhassen. It was dubbed Paisley Park, and built by Prince.
One journalist called it “a mini Hollywood” — it had 65,000 square feet of recording, film and video space with a sound stage that was more than 12,000 square feet.
For decades, it was a hot spot for musicians and celebrities coming through town.
Minnesota author Neal Karlen was a regular at Paisley Park during those party days. He talked with host Cathy Wurzer. Karlen is the author of “This Thing Called Life: Prince’s Odyssey On and Off the Record.”
Click the audio player above to listen to the full episode.
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Audio transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING] CATHY WURZER: Well, it is time for a little Minnesota music history. We have a segment we call Minnesota Then and Now. It was 35 years ago this month that a complex of unusual plain white buildings opened in Chanhassen. It was dubbed Paisley Park and built by Prince, this guy you're hearing in the background. One journalist called it a mini Hollywood. It had 65,000 square feet of recording, film, and video space, with a soundstage that was more than 12,000 square feet.
For decades, it was a hotspot for musicians and celebrities coming through town. Wow, if those walls could talk. Well, they can't talk. But Minnesota author Neil Karlen can. He was a regular at Paisley Park during those days, and we want him to spill the beans on what he experienced at Paisley Park. Neil is the author of This Thing Called Life-- Prince's Odyssey On and Off the Record. Hey, Neil. How you been?
NEAL KARLEN: Hi, Cathy. How are you doing? I'm fine.
CATHY WURZER: I am great.
NEAL KARLEN: Thanks for having me on.
CATHY WURZER: Oh, it's good to hear your voice. Thank you. Let's go back in the time machine, shall we? 1985, a year after Prince-- I know, right?
NEAL KARLEN: 25 years old.
CATHY WURZER: We were just kids. We were just kids. So in '85, a year after Prince scored that huge success with Purple Rain, the album in the film, you are a Newsweek reporter on assignment for Rolling Stone, right, to interview Prince. Prince drives you out to a remote field outside Minneapolis. Is that the story?
NEAL KARLEN: Yes. And there was nothing there. I mean, it was like Nowheresville in Flyover Land. I mean, there was so nothing there that it's-- how do you describe nothingness? And the first thing-- I need to admit my idiocy. Because when he was showing me this field amidst fields-- I mean, we know Chanhassen has now, and it's not-- and he described his vision for it as a multimedia $10 million, 22 billion square feet and people are going to come in and make movies on the film stage--
I thought he was out of his mind. I thought he was completely nuts. I mean, if he had said, I'm going to-- he was the biggest rock star on the planet at that moment. I mean, he really was. And if he had said, I'm going to take $10 million and shove it up my nose in cocaine, I wouldn't have been approving, but I would have been like, yeah, that's what rock stars do. But the notion that people would make movies here or musicians would come to Minnesota for stuff they could get two blocks away in New York or LA just seemed ridiculous. I mean, even Bob Dylan had to go to New York from Minneapolis--
CATHY WURZER: Right.
NEAL KARLEN: --to make it. So that shows what I know. When he showed me, I just thought it was like, well, this is what happens when you become the number one rock star in the world. You have these grandiose dreams. And lo and behold, it's 35 years later and I'm 1,000 years old and Paisley Park is thriving. So--
CATHY WURZER: And did you--
NEAL KARLEN: So much for my expertise.
CATHY WURZER: Did he tell you what he was going to name it? Like he was going to call it Paisley Park and you said what?
NEAL KARLEN: Yes, he did. And I hope this isn't a bummer, this little story, because it led to-- I've only had a couple premonitions in my life. But I said, so what are you going to call it? Prince's Pleasure Palace? It was going to be like an Elvis Graceland thing? And he said, I'm going to to call it Paisley Park. And I said, what does Paisley Park mean?
And he said, it's a place where you can go to be alone. And I'm not one for premonitions, I really am not. And I suddenly got this shiver down my spine. And I hate to say, this but I immediately got this feeling, he's going to die there alone. And I thought of Citizen Kane. And it's pretty convenient to have that thing, especially considering what happened, which was basically that. But that is what happened. And it always spooked me about Paisley Park.
And I always remember that so many of his greatest triumphs-- Purple Rain, all that stuff-- did not happen at Paisley Park. It happened at a warehouse where they practice in St. Louis Park. So much happened in North Minneapolis. So much happened other places. So I've never been fully convinced that that is the capital, the spiritual capital of Prince.
Because what he described-- even jokingly, he said this is back when. It's the beginning of Ronald Reagan's second term. That's how long it goes. He described how some of his friends-- he was laughing, said he'd worked so hard that he'd end up just collapsing. And he posed the way people-- the way in the pose that a coroner would chalk off. And lo and behold, 35 years later-- or how many-- so I don't mean to be a big bummer here. It should be a celebration or whatever.
CATHY WURZER: Wow.
NEAL KARLEN: But it was a place where he could be alone. He was the only one by the end who had the combination to the vaunted vault and stuff like that. So I have very mixed feelings about Paisley Park.
CATHY WURZER: I can sense that, yeah. Say, can I ask you about the interview itself? Because at the time, if I'm remembering correctly-- '85, '86-- wasn't he refusing to do any interviews at that time? How'd you snag this thing?
NEAL KARLEN: Yes. Well he hadn't given an interview in three years, and he vowed never to do it again. But he had a new album coming out-- Around the World in a Day that had Raspberry Beret on it and stuff. And he wasn't going to tour it. So he agreed with Rolling Stone, who I did freelance articles for, to talk through Wendy, and he would allow Wendy and Lisa to speak for him. And he would pose on the cover.
So I interviewed Wendy and Lisa, and we got along. And I didn't say, hey, could you ask the boss if he'd talk to me? But I guess they did, and I guess he thought he'd take a chance on me. He had no idea I was from Minneapolis. I was living in new York. I thought I'd never come back here and stuff. And so I flew out here thinking, oh my god, I've got this lock on this-- the only scoop there is in rock and roll. Such a thing can exist.
And he just watched me for two days and wouldn't talk to me from afar while he practiced. And then finally, he called me to his car and he just said, I didn't think I was going to do this again. And I suddenly realized this was not a lock. He was checking me out. And I was like, oh, no, don't let my scoop fall away. But we just started driving-- he started driving, and I put my notebooks and tape recorder away and just started talking about the Minnesota Twins and how you couldn't get good Chinese food back then in Minneapolis and how many times Harmon Killebrew struck out.
And suddenly, it just-- it wasn't like, oh, I became a Prince whisperer or anything. You know? It's just we got along where we were about-- I'm a year younger than he was. And we were born in the same hospital almost exactly a year apart. I mean, I'm not trying to say that there was this, oh, mind meld. But we just got along. We both liked professional wrestling and Mad Dog Vachon.
CATHY WURZER: That's right.
NEAL KARLEN: And The Crusher.
CATHY WURZER: You do.
NEAL KARLEN: A lot of Minnesota stuff played into his comfort. And I also spent every weekend growing up-- he had no idea. Two blocks away from him, my grandparents lived in north Minneapolis on Oliver Avenue right next to the Dairy Queen where all the kids would go and play basketball and stuff. So I had actually as an adolescent spent every weekend two blocks away from him, where he would-- right next door to where he'd gather. So it's just these very bizarre--
CATHY WURZER: Times.
NEAL KARLEN: --little incidents. So it out of nowhere. Because as far as he knew, I was just some 25-year-old New York Rolling Stone reporter, which is a pretty noxious description. I mean, picture in your mind what that must be like.
CATHY WURZER: No, I don't. I don't. Well, I want to ask about that Rolling Stone article, by the way, which I thought was good. What did he think of it when it came out? Did he ever say anything?
NEAL KARLEN: He actually loved it. He refused to pose for pictures, so they had to take for the cover just a slide from the Raspberry Beret thing, the Raspberry Beret video. But he blew it up, the cover, and had it outside his office. And you could see it even on the tours for the first year after he died. But then they remodeled Paisley Park for public consumption. And they took the cover down.
But he liked it and he sent me a thank you note, which was-- it's a, thanks for telling the truth. And I think it's the only thank you note I've ever gotten in now 35, 40 years of reporting. People don't-- they send you letters when they're mad, I have found. They don't send when they're pleased. And I hadn't done anything special. I had just everything tape-recorded. He then let you tape-record stuff.
I didn't realize I had the only tapes where he sounded like an actual human being and not a martian, which is, he put on an act whenever he was talking later in his life. And those are in the audiobook, my thing. I'm not plugging my thing there, but it's just interesting to hear what he sounds like as a guy, you know? And it was just, it was really special. It's so weird. I wish I had known how special it was at the time. I was just so nervous.
CATHY WURZER: Well, you're also--
NEAL KARLEN: --that I was going to--
CATHY WURZER: And you were young, yeah. Nervous and young. Say, I got to run. I see this is, by the way, breaking news here. Queen Elizabeth has died at the age of 96.
NEAL KARLEN: Oh my gosh. Go, go, go.
CATHY WURZER: So Neal Karlen, thank you. We appreciate you, and thanks for the interview.
NEAL KARLEN: Thank you, Cathy. Go to the Queen.
CATHY WURZER: We shall. Neal Karlen's is the author of This Thing Called Life-- Prince's Odyssey On and Off the Record. They were friends for more than 30 years until Prince's death in April of 2016. You can find Neal online at nealkarlen.com.
For decades, it was a hotspot for musicians and celebrities coming through town. Wow, if those walls could talk. Well, they can't talk. But Minnesota author Neil Karlen can. He was a regular at Paisley Park during those days, and we want him to spill the beans on what he experienced at Paisley Park. Neil is the author of This Thing Called Life-- Prince's Odyssey On and Off the Record. Hey, Neil. How you been?
NEAL KARLEN: Hi, Cathy. How are you doing? I'm fine.
CATHY WURZER: I am great.
NEAL KARLEN: Thanks for having me on.
CATHY WURZER: Oh, it's good to hear your voice. Thank you. Let's go back in the time machine, shall we? 1985, a year after Prince-- I know, right?
NEAL KARLEN: 25 years old.
CATHY WURZER: We were just kids. We were just kids. So in '85, a year after Prince scored that huge success with Purple Rain, the album in the film, you are a Newsweek reporter on assignment for Rolling Stone, right, to interview Prince. Prince drives you out to a remote field outside Minneapolis. Is that the story?
NEAL KARLEN: Yes. And there was nothing there. I mean, it was like Nowheresville in Flyover Land. I mean, there was so nothing there that it's-- how do you describe nothingness? And the first thing-- I need to admit my idiocy. Because when he was showing me this field amidst fields-- I mean, we know Chanhassen has now, and it's not-- and he described his vision for it as a multimedia $10 million, 22 billion square feet and people are going to come in and make movies on the film stage--
I thought he was out of his mind. I thought he was completely nuts. I mean, if he had said, I'm going to-- he was the biggest rock star on the planet at that moment. I mean, he really was. And if he had said, I'm going to take $10 million and shove it up my nose in cocaine, I wouldn't have been approving, but I would have been like, yeah, that's what rock stars do. But the notion that people would make movies here or musicians would come to Minnesota for stuff they could get two blocks away in New York or LA just seemed ridiculous. I mean, even Bob Dylan had to go to New York from Minneapolis--
CATHY WURZER: Right.
NEAL KARLEN: --to make it. So that shows what I know. When he showed me, I just thought it was like, well, this is what happens when you become the number one rock star in the world. You have these grandiose dreams. And lo and behold, it's 35 years later and I'm 1,000 years old and Paisley Park is thriving. So--
CATHY WURZER: And did you--
NEAL KARLEN: So much for my expertise.
CATHY WURZER: Did he tell you what he was going to name it? Like he was going to call it Paisley Park and you said what?
NEAL KARLEN: Yes, he did. And I hope this isn't a bummer, this little story, because it led to-- I've only had a couple premonitions in my life. But I said, so what are you going to call it? Prince's Pleasure Palace? It was going to be like an Elvis Graceland thing? And he said, I'm going to to call it Paisley Park. And I said, what does Paisley Park mean?
And he said, it's a place where you can go to be alone. And I'm not one for premonitions, I really am not. And I suddenly got this shiver down my spine. And I hate to say, this but I immediately got this feeling, he's going to die there alone. And I thought of Citizen Kane. And it's pretty convenient to have that thing, especially considering what happened, which was basically that. But that is what happened. And it always spooked me about Paisley Park.
And I always remember that so many of his greatest triumphs-- Purple Rain, all that stuff-- did not happen at Paisley Park. It happened at a warehouse where they practice in St. Louis Park. So much happened in North Minneapolis. So much happened other places. So I've never been fully convinced that that is the capital, the spiritual capital of Prince.
Because what he described-- even jokingly, he said this is back when. It's the beginning of Ronald Reagan's second term. That's how long it goes. He described how some of his friends-- he was laughing, said he'd worked so hard that he'd end up just collapsing. And he posed the way people-- the way in the pose that a coroner would chalk off. And lo and behold, 35 years later-- or how many-- so I don't mean to be a big bummer here. It should be a celebration or whatever.
CATHY WURZER: Wow.
NEAL KARLEN: But it was a place where he could be alone. He was the only one by the end who had the combination to the vaunted vault and stuff like that. So I have very mixed feelings about Paisley Park.
CATHY WURZER: I can sense that, yeah. Say, can I ask you about the interview itself? Because at the time, if I'm remembering correctly-- '85, '86-- wasn't he refusing to do any interviews at that time? How'd you snag this thing?
NEAL KARLEN: Yes. Well he hadn't given an interview in three years, and he vowed never to do it again. But he had a new album coming out-- Around the World in a Day that had Raspberry Beret on it and stuff. And he wasn't going to tour it. So he agreed with Rolling Stone, who I did freelance articles for, to talk through Wendy, and he would allow Wendy and Lisa to speak for him. And he would pose on the cover.
So I interviewed Wendy and Lisa, and we got along. And I didn't say, hey, could you ask the boss if he'd talk to me? But I guess they did, and I guess he thought he'd take a chance on me. He had no idea I was from Minneapolis. I was living in new York. I thought I'd never come back here and stuff. And so I flew out here thinking, oh my god, I've got this lock on this-- the only scoop there is in rock and roll. Such a thing can exist.
And he just watched me for two days and wouldn't talk to me from afar while he practiced. And then finally, he called me to his car and he just said, I didn't think I was going to do this again. And I suddenly realized this was not a lock. He was checking me out. And I was like, oh, no, don't let my scoop fall away. But we just started driving-- he started driving, and I put my notebooks and tape recorder away and just started talking about the Minnesota Twins and how you couldn't get good Chinese food back then in Minneapolis and how many times Harmon Killebrew struck out.
And suddenly, it just-- it wasn't like, oh, I became a Prince whisperer or anything. You know? It's just we got along where we were about-- I'm a year younger than he was. And we were born in the same hospital almost exactly a year apart. I mean, I'm not trying to say that there was this, oh, mind meld. But we just got along. We both liked professional wrestling and Mad Dog Vachon.
CATHY WURZER: That's right.
NEAL KARLEN: And The Crusher.
CATHY WURZER: You do.
NEAL KARLEN: A lot of Minnesota stuff played into his comfort. And I also spent every weekend growing up-- he had no idea. Two blocks away from him, my grandparents lived in north Minneapolis on Oliver Avenue right next to the Dairy Queen where all the kids would go and play basketball and stuff. So I had actually as an adolescent spent every weekend two blocks away from him, where he would-- right next door to where he'd gather. So it's just these very bizarre--
CATHY WURZER: Times.
NEAL KARLEN: --little incidents. So it out of nowhere. Because as far as he knew, I was just some 25-year-old New York Rolling Stone reporter, which is a pretty noxious description. I mean, picture in your mind what that must be like.
CATHY WURZER: No, I don't. I don't. Well, I want to ask about that Rolling Stone article, by the way, which I thought was good. What did he think of it when it came out? Did he ever say anything?
NEAL KARLEN: He actually loved it. He refused to pose for pictures, so they had to take for the cover just a slide from the Raspberry Beret thing, the Raspberry Beret video. But he blew it up, the cover, and had it outside his office. And you could see it even on the tours for the first year after he died. But then they remodeled Paisley Park for public consumption. And they took the cover down.
But he liked it and he sent me a thank you note, which was-- it's a, thanks for telling the truth. And I think it's the only thank you note I've ever gotten in now 35, 40 years of reporting. People don't-- they send you letters when they're mad, I have found. They don't send when they're pleased. And I hadn't done anything special. I had just everything tape-recorded. He then let you tape-record stuff.
I didn't realize I had the only tapes where he sounded like an actual human being and not a martian, which is, he put on an act whenever he was talking later in his life. And those are in the audiobook, my thing. I'm not plugging my thing there, but it's just interesting to hear what he sounds like as a guy, you know? And it was just, it was really special. It's so weird. I wish I had known how special it was at the time. I was just so nervous.
CATHY WURZER: Well, you're also--
NEAL KARLEN: --that I was going to--
CATHY WURZER: And you were young, yeah. Nervous and young. Say, I got to run. I see this is, by the way, breaking news here. Queen Elizabeth has died at the age of 96.
NEAL KARLEN: Oh my gosh. Go, go, go.
CATHY WURZER: So Neal Karlen, thank you. We appreciate you, and thanks for the interview.
NEAL KARLEN: Thank you, Cathy. Go to the Queen.
CATHY WURZER: We shall. Neal Karlen's is the author of This Thing Called Life-- Prince's Odyssey On and Off the Record. They were friends for more than 30 years until Prince's death in April of 2016. You can find Neal online at nealkarlen.com.
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