Prince’s right-hand woman on life with a legend: ‘He never took advantage – but I had to leave’
The first song engineer Susan Rogers worked on with Prince sparked a moral panic – and things only got more intense from there
19 May 2021 • 5:00pm
Prince and Susan Rogers worked together on Purple Rain, Around The World In A Day, Parade and Sign O’ The Times
Credit: Bill Marino
In 1982, David Crosby used to smoke crack in Susan Rogers’ workshop at Rudy Records studio in Hollywood. Amid a haze of pale blue smoke, the singer spent minutes staring at a black and white picture of Prince affixed to the wall. As artists such as Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, Art Garfunkel and the Eagles shot the breeze in the sound room, he would take down the poster and crumple it in his hands. In response, time and again Rogers flattened it out and put back in place.
Native Sons on July 30th via New West Records. The 13-song set was produced by Los Lobos in East Los Angeles and finds the band mapping their musical DNA as a kaleidoscopic selection of tribute songs from their homeland, ultimately creating a crucial snapshot of L.A.’s musical heritage. Having formed in 1973 and gotten their start playing spirited renditions of Mexican folk music at parties and in restaurants, Los Lobos are no strangers to reinterpretation (and if you’ve ever been to one of their legendary live shows, you already know that). These brothers have always held a deep appreciation for diverse music, and they love pulling out old gems and making them shine like new.
The Bombay High Court on Thursday refused to hear a PIL seeking a direction to the Serum Institute of India and the Bharat Biotech to sell their COVID-19 vaccines at a uniform rate of Rs 150 (plus GST) per dose. The public interest litigation (PIL), filed last week by Mumbai-based advocate Fayzan Khan and three law students, had challenged the different rates of COVID-19 vaccines for the Centre and state governments. The plea was mentioned on Thursday by the petitioner s advocate, Vivek Shukla, before a division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G S Kulkarni, seeking urgent hearing. The HC, however, said the petition should have been filed before the Supreme Court which, while taking up suo motu (on its own) cognisance of matters pertaining to COVID-19, had said it would hear all pan-India issues.
John Lydon calls Sex Pistols FX series ‘disgrace,’ threatens legal action
Updated 9:09 AM;
Former Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten, is taking the name of his other band, Public Image Ltd. to heart. At least he is certainly trying to limit his public image in a new TV series.
Lydon is upset about the upcoming FX series, “Pistol,” based on his former bandmate Steve Jones’ memoir, “Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol,” and is threatening legal action. Speaking to The Sunday Times, Lydon said he was not consulted for the series, and called it a “disgrace.”
“I fronted this band. I’m the man that wrote the words. I supplied the image and direction, and I think the questions hang on their actions here. If they needed to be this secret squirrel about it then they must have something to hide,” he said.