Back in 2000-2001, I was working at a little indy music store right by the beach in Kihei with my now ex-husband Sid. One random afternoon, he answered a phone call that turned an ordinary day into the kind of surreal experience you can only have on Maui.
I think we had already gotten word that Prince was on island…Maui can be very small town in the way that stories get around quick. So when Sid got the call asking if we could keep the store open just for Prince to do some private shopping, we had a feeling this was no hoax. It was a slow afternoon, so the place was already empty. He gave the OK to the mysterious caller, and we locked the doors. He let me know that we’d been instructed not to speak to Prince or even make eye contact. The two of us waited anxiously, having no idea what to expect.
After about ten minutes, a huge black SUV pulled right up to the front of the store. An enormous man that clearly looked like a bodyguard walked over, and Sid let him in. The big guy glanced around for a short while, then headed back out to the SUV where Prince and his lady friend were waiting to be escorted in. This place was small, and I was getting nervous thinking, “How am I supposed to keep myself from looking at him? He’s going to be within a few feet of me the whole time he’s in here.” I felt like I could already hear his distinct voice in my head demanding quietly, “Don’t look at me.”
I stared with as much discretion as possible as the man himself walked through the doors accompanied by his bodyguard and a gorgeous petite woman. Sid remembers the moment when Prince suddenly appeared in the store wearing a neon hockey jersey that went almost to the ground, his hair teased out like he was about to go onstage. “There was no way you couldn’t have recognized him,” he says. I want to say he was surrounded by a mystical purple fog, but I’m pretty sure he was just glowing from the inside. What I remember most is that it was a warm sunny day, and he was in full face make-up, looking very out of place in our little beach town shop.
My favorite detail of Sid’s recollection is how the Talking Heads “Stop Making Sense” movie was playing on the TV mounted on the store wall, and he had thought he was pretty cool for picking that classic 80’s gem to watch. Then the bodyguard asked Sid a question, so he turned the volume down briefly on the movie. Prince spoke the only two words we would hear from him…“thank you.” His voice was soft but sassy, and we knew the choice of cinema had not met with his approval. So much for nostalgia.
The new releases were set to come out, and we had everything stacked behind the counter. The bodyguard asked if Prince could buy one of each new title. It was an unusual request, but this was no ordinary shopper. This wasn’t even an ordinary celebrity. We were in the presence of a legend. Customer service kicked up a notch that day.
Prince and his lady friend left the store quickly, disappearing into the SUV while the bodyguard stayed behind to make the purchases. And just like that, it was over. Sid and I waited a few seconds for them to pull out of the parking lot, then we wandered out the front doors in a bit of a starstruck daze. Had this really just happened? We looked at each other, then over across the road towards the ocean. And in that same moment, we saw a whale breach in full splendor right in front of us. It felt like there was magic in the air, like Prince himself had summoned the whales and left a rainbow of rock and roll pixie dust in his wake. That’s how I remember it anyway.
No, I didn’t meet Prince. I didn’t talk to him or really even get to look at him, but he was there all the same and it was unforgettable. One of those very special encounters that will always have me thinking, “Only on Maui.”
