Last week in the L.A. Times, Mr. Roberts caught wind of the new director’s cut of Prince at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004. Lo, he wrote about 600 words on the version, which also featured Tom Petty, Dhani Harrison, Jeff Lynne and Steve Winwood, and Facebook took notice. When the post published, the clip had 18,000 views. It’s now closing in on 300,000. Nice one. (That said, us underlings at Ballpark Village strongly believe Mr. Roberts got lucky, and that Prince’s magic is what made it go viral, not some dude on the West Coast.)

Excerpt:

A few teaser angles find the artist discreetly preparing for his close-up, eying his bandmates as if he’s at a 7 a.m. pancake breakfast getting ready to suggest a basketball game. “Look at you all,” sings Petty. “Still my guitar gently weeps,” reply Lynne, Winwood and Dhani Harrison in harmony. Then the camera shows Dhani with an excited grin on his face as Prince moves to center stage.
The solo? A work so virtuosic that little red Corvettes are crammed with the bodies of writers who have attempted to describe It.
For Prince fans — and pretty much everyone with a soul who sees it — Gallen’s re-edit further underscores Prince’s genius on the electric guitar.

Read our boss’s story in the LA Times HERE.