Spike Lee’s party honoring Prince set for June 9

May 10, 2018 By Raanan Geberer Brooklyn Daily Eagle

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Spike Lee has officially announced on Twitter that “Purple People Party 3,” his third annual celebration of pop star Prince’s life and legacy, will take place on June 9 at Restoration Plaza in Bedford-Stuyvesant from noon to 7 p.m.

“With DJ Spinna on the 1s-and-2s, Spike hosts this look that has been likened to a fuschia festival for the fun-loving freak-flag flyers,” says okayplayer.com, a music site.

Brooklyn-raised filmmaker Lee worked with Prince twice, on the “Money Don’t Matter 2Night” video and on Lee’s film “Girl 6” in 1996, which featured a soundtrack of Prince songs. Lee has been throwing annual “Brooklyn Loves Michael Jackson” parties in Bed-Stuy since Jackson died, and after Prince died in 2016 he began honoring him in the same way.

On the occasion of last year’s Purple People Party, Prince told Variety, “Prince is about a party! The day he died we threw a party in front of my office, CNN sent a truck and it went worldwide. But we have something more formal now — this is our second annual party. We just want to celebrate his music, his legacy, the person that he was,”

The Minneapolis-born Prince (1958-2016), who combined rock and soul, was one of the biggest artists of the late ’70s and ’80s. His first album, “Prince,” went platinum; and his film “Purple Rain,” won an Academy Award for best motion picture score in 1984. His album of the same name is listed in Time’s All-Time Top 100 albums, and his singles from the album, “When Doves Cry” and “Let’s Go Crazy,” both reached No. 1. Among the other well-known songs he wrote and performed are “Little Red Corvette” and “1999.”

Perhaps referring to Prince’s reputation for sexually explicit lyrics, Lee tweeted this year, “This is a grown folks party!”