To celebrate Prince’s legacy, Tuesday’s Boundary Waters Connect topic was the life and times of Prince.
The owner of Northern Expressions, Sarah Burger, presented her life-long admiration of the musician.
April 21 marked the 10year anniversary of Prince Rogers Nelson’s passing, a Minnesota music icon. Prince was born and raised in the Land of a Thousand Lakes, and his home state now venerates him as a Minnesotan icon.
His impact on the state runs so deep that the Minnesota Vikings, Twins, and Timberwolves all pay tribute to him during their games.
Completely self-taught, Prince played nearly 27 different instruments, ranging from the piano to the bass to the synthesizer.
Not only able to play a wide range of instruments, his proficiency was unmatched; his guitar solo during “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004 is among some of the greatest guitar solos of all time.
Prince was a true Minnesota Original, and when he passed in 2016, the world lost a generation-defining artist.
Over the years, Burger has collected newspaper articles, memorabilia, and anything Prince she could find.
Her love for Prince is so well-known around town that friends, family, and even coworkers will pick up Prince merchandise just for her collection.
Jess Kulik, communications director for BWC, said, “Little things like that mean a lot, because it shows how much people know Sarah and how much she loves Prince; it’s a great way to show love.”
One of the items in her collection is a drum from Prince’s Love, Sexy tour; the drum was left behind in 1988 and one of the staff working the concert saved it for Burger.
Another way Prince shows up every day in Burger’s life is through her dogs, who are lovingly named after Mayte, Prince’s first wife, and Prince himself. The dogs have been officially married by Burger’s grandson.
As much as the memorabilia means to her, the memories are even more cherished.
One of her earliest Prince experiences was when a personal friend who happened to be a security guard working Prince’s concert asked Burger and her sister if they wanted to see Prince’s dressing room.
“There was a baby-grand piano and all of his clothes, leftover food, and a candy machine. Her and I looked at each other and we started pulling the candy out of the candy machine…her and I tried on a lot of his clothes, she had his bathrobe on and I tried on his purple coat with the sparkles on it.”
Burger also tried on the iconic white blouse, and noticed there were 12 of the same shirt with a Prince label.
“I don’t steal, but the thought crossed my mind, ‘I want one really bad,’ but I did not take it, I don’t steal.”
Burger also had the pleasure of seeing Prince while she was pregnant 39 years ago, and was able to take her two sons to a Prince concert when they were older.
One of her sons, “begged me to go to Paisley Park for an after-hours party because he wanted to see more Prince; I told him no, because it was an over-21 crowd, but he really wanted to go.”
Burger admires Prince not only as a pop culture legend, but as someone who cared about his fans.
“He’s truly magnificent, I mean, if you listen to his music from the beginning and then music now, it changes. He was a kind soul who donated a lot of money to different organizations, and he was never an angry man.”
Prince Week in Minnesota ran from April 1925, and Burger is available year-round to talk all things Prince.
