Prince of the Midwest

Oscar-winning rock singer Prince gives his final performance in Miami’s Orange Bowl, Easter Sunday, April 8, 1985, before a crowd of an estimated 55,000 fans. (AP Photo/Phil Sandlin)

This piece began with a paragraph written for the Montaigne book a week before Prince died. I’m grateful to Belt Publishing for including it in their “Under Purple Skies” anthology, to Longreads for making it available here, and to Anil Dash for kindly fact-checking the passage about Prince and Appolonia in the haymow. Yessir, Old Man Johnson’s farm.


Want to be the first to know when Mike has a new book, or is coming to your area? Please sign up for the email list.