Purple City Take 4: A parade of Prince associates performs late-night show

A parade of Purple People marched across the stage at the Metropolitan in Golden Valley late on Saturday night.

It was an official after-party staged by Prince's brother Omarr Baker, and he called on some names from his big bro's career: Andre Cymone, Dez Dickerson, Apollonia, Jill Jones, Susan Moonsie, Donna Grantis, Marva King and newcomer Natalia.

They all sat in with G Sharp & the Bizness, the house band for the late-night soiree. The top-notch, 10-piece Twin Cities group is well versed in the Purple repertoire, with a tendency to let the jams reward the musicians as much as the club-goers.

Cymone did "Pop Life," Dickerson dusted off "Little Red Corvette," Grantis and King joined in on "Kiss," Apollonia plus Moonsie and Jones teamed up on "Nasty Girl."

Several of Prince's old pals offered stories about him. Cymone told how they were going to get their huge Afros done in a precursor to jheri curl but Prince didn't like his new 'do. So he got a second perm, which was a mistake, because he ended up with short straight hair. Said Prince: "I like it."

Apollonia (below) reprised her oft-told story about filming the purify-yourself-in-Lake-Minnetonka scene for "Purple Rain." She passed out because the lake water was so cold and they were about to call an ambulance but Prince woke her and she was fine. Or something mystical like that.

Jones recalled how she was driving Prince's BMW because he and Morris Day had temporarily lost their driver's licenses. She took Day home from the hair salon and then she was heading back to pick up Prince from the salon. But she had a winter mishap, the cops came and discovered that her California license was expired.

She tried to pass herself off as her mother. The cops called her bluff and she ended up in jail. She eventually called Prince and he came to rescue her before he'd had his curls combed out.

One of Prince's new discoveries, Natalia, offered two solo numbers on the piano, including a romantic ballad she wrote with him that might be called "Candlelight." She has a lovely voice.

Baker (below) acted as the gracious host. He had one of the night's best lines when he introduced Cymone, saying "He knew Prince before Prince created Prince."