Time marches on for frontman Morris Day
For the AJC
Friday, July 17, 2009
Bump into Morris Day at Burger King, and don’t expect the over-the-top, pimpadelic persona that made the musician famous.
It was a caricature that arguably stole the show from Prince in the film “Purple Rain” some 25 years ago. And as frontman for The Time, the image of a primping, sometime-comedic gigolo with mike in hand and a glide in his step helped solidify ’80s R&B hits (“Jungle Love” and “The Bird”) into crossover pop successes.
Morris Day appeared with The Time in 1984’s ‘Purple Rain’ and all but stole the movie.
8 p.m. July 18. $25-$75. Atlanta Civic Center, 395 Piedmont Ave, 404-249-6400, www.ticketmaster.com
RECENT HEADLINES [an error occurred while processing this directive]
But you probably won’t run into Day at Burger King anyway. Although the onetime Atlantan says he’s more than what’s on stage, he still appreciates the finer things like the city’s multi-star restaurants. And a previous tour rider found online reveals first-class airfare, top-shelf libations and other posh requests. Some of these may materialize backstage as Day and The Time headline at the Atlanta Civic Center on Saturday with SOS Band and The Brothers Johnson.
On why he moved to Atlanta more than 10 years ago:
“It had a real down-home feeling. When I would come through [Atlanta on tour], I always got a little comforting vibe there. So I thought it would be a nice place to live.”
On a reunion CD with the original members of The Time, including mega producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis:
“We’re not on any schedule, so we kind of come up with stuff, get together and have a little listening session, pick some things and put them down. Now we’re really close to having a project completed.”
The onstage Day vs. the real Day:
“The onstage image is a culmination of everything energized and shrunk down to an hour-and-15-minute package. … I like to think that that side of me is the up side and the side that likes to have a good time. … But of course as with anybody, there’s all the personal facets and other sides. A lot of people get disappointed when they see me in public because I’m not sliding sideways into the room and doing “The Bird.” That’s the person they want to see. They don’t want to see a person who’s got something on their mind and on a mission to get the car serviced.”
On never thinking the film “Purple Rain” would be remembered as an ’80s pop culture classic:
“It was such an innocent effort on everybody’s part. Prince was like, ‘We’re going to make a movie.’ And everybody was like, ‘OK.’ He started lining up acting classes and dancing classes. … And I got kicked out of acting classes for always cutting up just like back in my school days when I’d get kicked out of class for the same kind of thing. And it turned out that that kind of cutting up is what worked for me in the film. So that was kind of my revenge to the acting teacher who kicked me out of class.”
