PURPLE BANANAS

Webber recounts how his Prince fandom kept him alive through personal crises and an industry-hopping career in this debut memoir.

The death of Prince Rogers Nelson in 2016 at the age of 57 hit the author hard, as if the music legend was a member of his own family: “My body went slack and I slumped down into my already uncomfortable office chair.” At the time, Webber was working as a publicist for the label Psychopathic Records, where various Insane Clown Posse–affiliated staff stuck their heads into his office to see if he was OK. How did Prince come to mean so much to a 40-year-old anxiety-riddled husband, father, and juggalo? The story stretches back to Webber’s California childhood, where he grew up as the adopted son of violent, evangelical parents. He discovered Prince during the Purple Rain–infused summer of 1984, despite his mother and father’s attempts to keep him from listening to his songs. Prince became a sort of model for Webber: a norm-flaunting style icon who made music that spoke to the boy’s soul. In this memoir, the author documents the ways in which Prince’s art sustained him through his unlikely career trajectories in news, politics (he once worked for the mayor of Toledo, Ohio), and the music industry as he grappled with feelings of alienation and abandonment, mental health issues, and fatherhood. Webber’s vivid prose is a perfect match for the colorful fandoms of both Prince and Insane Clown Posse; he worked for the latter performers, and here, he describes an ICP live show: “Faygo. Chicken feathers. Streamers. More Faygo. Lots and lots more Faygo. The Clowns went through about 500 two-liters of diet Faygo cola and root beer each show…because the sugar from the regular brand ate away at the foam rubber of their stage sets.” Webber’s trials are tragic and relatable even for those who don’t share his musical tastes. Like the best storytellers, he seems a magnet for odd characters and unusual situations, but the book is ultimately about fandom itself and how music can offer an antidote to the problems of real life.

An often affecting and always entertaining remembrance.