Here's a first: Prince opens Paisley Park to a horde of journalists

(AP Photo/Rogers and Cowan)

Prince, Minnesota's music superstar, has invited visiting journalists to a dance party Saturday at Paisley Park, his recording studio complex in Chanhassen.

The journalists, who come from across the country, are in town this week for the National Association of Black Journalists' (NABJ) 40th anniversary convention.

The reporters, editors and producers are hoping to get a glimpse of Prince, who has been known to grace late-night events at his studio complex. Prince also is working on a new, as-yet-untitled album.

The idea that Prince would team up with NABJ was first broached more than a year ago when members of the local NABJ chapter, the Twin Cities Black Journalists, reached out to representatives of Paisley Park. Chapter president Duchesne Drew, a former managing editor at the Star Tribune and now a vice president at the Bush Foundation, and Maria Reeve, deputy metro editor for the Star Tribune, wanted to showcase the Twin Cities with an international marquee act. But they were unable to book an event with Prince.

Instead, Mint Condition, the famed Twin Cities R&B group, was booked for a sold-out show that was staged Thursday night at First Avenue.

Still, the notion had been hatched. On Wednesday, NABJ president Bob Butler announced that Prince had invited his group's members to Paisley Park on Saturday. In a post on the student-run NABJ Monitor, Butler is quoted as saying that he was not sure if Prince would take the stage, but if Prince does perform, "we'll party like it's 1999. We might even go crazy."

Prince had dropped hints on Twitter, saying to expect something big.

Stay tuned to the Star Tribune this weekend for coverage of the event.