Last month, Minneapolis educators went on strike to demand living wages. To give context to the recent demonstrations, local CBS affiliate WCCO combed through their archives to find footage of a teachers' protest that went down in the same district in 1970. While restoring the old film, production manager Matt Liddy noticed a familiar face; a pre-teen boy being interviewed for the segment looked distinctly like rock icon Prince, who grew up in the city and found fame recording 25 minutes outside its limits at Paisley Park studios in Chanhassen, ultimately dying from a fentanyl overdose at his mansion there in 2016.
Upon restoring the film's audio, the station was able to hear the young man's voice, responding to a reporter who asked whether most of the kids he knew were in favor of the picketing. "Yup," he replied, and continued with a pro-worker message when pressed on their reasoning. "I think they should get some more money because they be working extra hours for us and all that stuff."
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WCCO then went on a quest to confirm the speaker's identity that took them to music historian and Prince expert Kristen Zchomler, who encouraged their suspicions, and to Prince's childhood friend and former bandmate Terrance Jackson, who — along with his wife Rhoda — confirmed them.
On March 30, the 27th anniversary of Prince's legendary 1985 show at Syracuse, New York's Carrier Dome, his estate announced a restored, remixed, remastered, and color-corrected reissue of Prince and the Revolution: Live, a Grammy-nominated film capturing the concert, coming June 3. They also shared a clip from the film that finds the band opening their set with Purple Rain track "Let's Go Crazy." Watch it below.
Thumbnail from WCCO story.
