Prince kicked off what should be an epic week with a storming of the 2013 Billboard Music Awards Sunday in Las Vegas. It was announced earlier this year that he'd be collecting the Icon Award at the ceremony, and he did, with Erykah Badu and Janelle Monáe presenting the honor.

He also performed a medley of "Let's Go Crazy" and "FIXURLIFEUP" at the ceremony with his new backing band 3rdEyeGirl. The version of his 1984 hit that he's been playing live lately is a grittier, bluesier take, and is a powerful showcase for the ensemble. The clip provides an aperitif for the sumptuous feast of two shows at Myth that hit this Saturday.

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A lot of things have changed in the past 30 years, but several of the controversial aspects of Prince were already fully established. For his first Rolling Stone cover story, which hit stands three decades ago this week, his twisted relationship with the press is as much of the story as the music itself.

Writer Debby Miller has quotes from Prince from other sources, but he refused to be interviewed for the story -- though the Purple One appears with his protege Vanity in a Richard Avedon photo on the cover. In the first of a half-dozen cover stories about him, Miller expertly traces the people from around the MInneapolis scene and Prince's family to fill in a fascinating portrait of the pre-Purple Rain era.

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The world lost perhaps its most beloved critic when Roger Ebert died this month at the age of 70. Since his passing, his devoted fans have taken to uploading and sharing favorite reviews of his, some not seen since their original airing. Among the most coveted finds were his verdicts on the filmography of one of Minnesota's most celebrated sons, Prince.

In loving memory, Gimme Noise looks back at Ebert's reviews of Prince's silver screen adventures from Siskel & Ebert.

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Prince performing "Bambi" on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

Earlier this week, reports of noted guitar-smasher Prince finally crossing over to a national audience via a South by Southwest showcase started making the rounds. Tastemakers all over the country are finally going to understand what we've been blabbing about all these years! Okay, we kid.

In the new-fangled, corporate environment of exclusive parties with bold-face headliners at SXSW -- one which our colleague Andrea Swensson decided to skip this year -- it still comes as a mild surprise that Prince is indeed taking his rig to Austin. And, fortunately, the good people at Mashable can report the news in a fashion that reflects the climate.

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Could the "boy" from the North Country be the answer for our drought?

Summer un-officially began this month as pitchers and catchers reported to Florida to mark the start of another season of trying to survive in Twins territory. Even though about 12 inches of snow covers Target Field, we can still daydream of April 1 when the skies will be blue, and Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau will be healthy.

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The undeniably white and nerdy Weird Al Yankovic has received the blessing of umpteen pop musicians for his humorous pursuits over the past three decades. "Smells Like Nirvana" victim Kurt Cobain even called him "America's modern pop-rock genious [sic]" in his journals. As a result, we have a lifetime of laughable songs commenting on pop culture to the tune of tracks by Michael Jackson, Aerosmith, Chamillionaire and even Lady Gaga, who with a little prodding, gave him permission to skewer "Born This Way" as "Perform This Way."

While the list of parodies grows ever longer, there's a notable exception to this rule. According to Al himself, Prince is not down with some purple parody. In an awkward and somewhat intrusive video filmed by TMZ recently, the King of Pop Satire explains. 

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Who needs sepia when there's a purple filter?

Some of the greatest innovations and stupidest pet tricks come out of late-night television, so it's no surprise that Late Night With Jimmy Fallon introduced Princetagram to the masses this week.

With Prince fan ?uestlove -- who will perform at the Bobby Z's second Benefit 2 Celebrate Life on March 9 -- leading the Roots, Fallon's house band, perhaps this bit of technical wizardry got to jump through the usual copyright hoops a bit faster than you'd expect for the Purple One.

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Aside from an actual victory by the Minnesota-based Okee Dokee Brothers, the 2013 Grammys had a few other moments to amuse Midwestern music fans. The main one, of course, was an appearance by Prince. For those who didn't watch the entire, dragging mess of a hashtag-obsessed show hosted by LL Cool J, these were a few moments that slowed Gimme Noise's rising bile.

After strutting out grandly with his cane in one of the longest introductions of the night, he presented the Grammy for Record of the Year to Gotye and Kimbra -- and then it felt like he was the one receiving the award. In the earlier going, Katy Perry used her moments onstage to give a good-natured jab at Bon Iver.

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Following six magical performances at the Dakota Jazz Club, 2013 is shaping up to be the year of an all-Prince blitz. Billboard magazine, the music industry's sales-tracking publication, has him on the cover -- and writer Gail Mitchell is escorted into the world of Paisley Park in Chanhassen just days before his performances in downtown Minneapolis. "There was a time in Prince's career when 'the "O" word' might have had a more lascivious connotation," she writes. "But the O word he's referring to now is 'ownership.'"

And from the regular news leaks on Dr. Funkenberry's blog, and the 3rd Eye Girl viral campaign -- which now seems to be a move from within his camp to promote his new all-female group, in spite of what a "cease and desist" letter had us believe -- this ownership strategy on the web seems to be in effect. And it should only expand this week with a new official website.

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Photo by Reed Fischer

Prince's "Surprise" show, late set
Dakota Jazz Club, Minneapolis
Friday, January 18, 2013

The third and final night of Prince's run at the Dakota Jazz Club was dubbed "Surprise," so it was no shocker that there was rampant speculation going around about what the surprise might be. After attending the late show on Friday night, I'm still not sure what the surprise was, or if there was one at all, or if the surprise was the show itself. It didn't seem like anyone at the Dakota cared about that, though, because Prince took us on a two-hour funky guitar-fueled victory lap with him and reminded us all why we were willing to spend a small fortune just for the chance to be there.

The tables had been cleared out of the Dakota's main floor for the Friday night shows, making it look like what a rich old person's idea of a rock club might be. By the time I got inside at 10:30, the floor was already packed full of people who had been willing to shell out $250 for the privilege of being there. The crowd was younger than I assumed it would be given the price tag, even Prince noted "I haven't seen one old person yet" before singling out some poor fan by adding "except you."

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