The moment of peace finally came Sunday night after dinner when I was listening to “Bears” and cleaning the kitchen.

It certainly wasn’t there on Friday when I heard of Prince’s death. Not because I was all that huge of a Prince fan, it had just been one of those days following another one of those days. I went to the only spice authentic mexican restaurant in Beijing for dinner and had tacos even though it was a perfect night to sit on the street and have chuanr. After tacos we moved next door to a brew pub. This brewpub is notable for catering to mostly Chinese and while it was packed we were the only two foreigners there and by the time I got the Baby IPA a third joined the fray. I told my friend that Prince had died and he was shocked which surprised me a bit. We are of the same generation but he never struck me as a Prince kind of guy. He asked the waitress to play some Prince but she had never heard of him. I opened up a music app and showed her. Still no recognition. A few minutes later I was plugging my phone’s headphone jack into their sound system and Purple Rain filled the room. I left my phone there with the rest of his hits queued up and returned to the table.

When Michael Jackson died it was practically a year of mourning here. My kids knew his music. Coworkers knew his music. People dressed like him to tribute. Even David Bowie caused a bit of a ripple. Prince, none that I could tell. I thought about Prince and Michael Jackson and how their sexuality defined both. Prince through his music and Michael Jackson through his controversies. How Prince was the freak in 1980 but then not the real freak.

I felt naked at the table without the constant distraction of my phone so I went behind the bar to fetch it. They had swapped it for another phone playing some non descript music.

Prince, RIP, music carries on.