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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

‘SNL’ airs special Prince tribute show

From wire reports

NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” aired a special tribute show titled “Goodnight Sweet Prince.”

“Tonight Show” host and SNL alum Jimmy Fallon hosted the episode. It featured clips of Prince performing on the comedy show over the past four decades and skits with former cast member Fred Armisen portraying the artist.

The show also included a video of Prince’s impromptu performance at an after-party following the show’s 40th anniversary special last year, where Prince sang “Let’s Go Crazy” on a small stage alongside Fallon and fellow SNL vets Chris Rock, Maya Rudolph and Bill Murray.

The 57-year-old music icon died Thursday at his Paisley Park compound in suburban Minneapolis. An autopsy was done Friday but no cause has been announced.

The tribute show replaced a scheduled SNL rerun.

Clapton says ‘Purple Rain’ saved him

Eric Clapton is recalling Prince as a true genius and the inspiration for Clapton’s song “Holy Mother.”

In a Facebook post Saturday, the rock and blues musician told of a dark time in his life in the 1980s that was eased by discovering Prince through the 1984 movie “Purple Rain.”

“I was out on the road in a massive downward spiral with drink and drugs, I saw ‘Purple Rain’ in a cinema in Canada, I had no idea who he was, it was like a bolt of lightning!” Clapton wrote. “In the middle of my depression, and the dreadful state of the music culture at that time it gave me hope, he was like a light in the darkness.”

Returning to his hotel room and “surrounded by empty beer cans,” he recounted, Clapton wrote the song filled with both pain and faith.

“Holy Mother, where are you? Tonight I feel broken in two. I’ve seen the stars fall from the sky. Holy mother, can’t keep from crying,” the song begins. It ends with, “When my hands no longer play, my voice is still, I fade away. Holy mother, then I’ll be lying in, safe within your arms.”

On Facebook, Clapton wrote that he was “so sad about the death of Prince,” adding, “I can’t believe he’s gone.”

The birthday bunch

Actor Al Pacino is 76. Ballroom dance judge Len Goodman (“Dancing with the Stars”) is 72. Rock musician Stu Cook (Creedence Clearwater Revival) is 71. Singer Bjorn Ulvaeus (ABBA) is 71. Actress Talia Shire is 71. Rock musician Steve Ferrone (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers) is 66. Actor Hank Azaria is 52. Rock singer Andy Bell (Erasure) is 52. Rock musician Eric Avery is 51. Actress Renee Zellweger is 47. Actress Gina Torres is 47. Actor Jason Lee is 46. Actress Melonie Diaz is 32. Actress Sara Paxton is 28. Actress Allisyn Ashley Arm is 20.