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This photograph was taken outside Bernadette Anderson's house at 1244 Russell Ave North, which you can view from the gallery. It shows the band Grand Central. Linda Anderson (keyboard), André Anderson (Cymone) (bass, vocals), Terry Jackson (timbales), Morris Day (drums — Morris replaced original drummer Charles Chaz Smith), Prince Rogers Nelson (vocals, guitar, keyboard) and William Hollywood Doughty (congas).
Grand Central was formed in 1971. They rehearsed at Terry Jackson's house at 1248 Russell Ave, next door to the Andersons' house, where Prince, André and Linda lived. They played at local community centers and high school dances.
This is a ticket for the 3rd night of Prince’s first shows — a ghost concert. The show was canceled, perhaps due to poor ticket sales, or as a direct consequence of the Warner Bros. executives' decision, after seeing Prince perform the previous nights, that he was not yet ready to tour. In August, I Wanna Be Your Lover was released and shot up the charts, and by November, Prince set off on his first US tour.
Ticket donated by Kristen Zschomler to the Rich Benson Collection. In the 2026 People's Museum, this ticket was presented at the Capri Theater alongside works by Troy Gua creating moments from Prince's youth in North Minneapolis.
This is the companion painting to The Eye exhibited at the Roberts Gallery.
Rich Benson is a North Minneapolis-based Prince archivist and collector whose collection preserves rare and significant materials from Prince's life and career. His contributions to the 2026 edition of The People's Museum for Prince include a 1975 photograph of the Grand Central band by Charles Chamblis, a ticket stub for the ghost concert at The Capri on January 7, 1979 and Peyton Scott Russell's iconic painting The Eye (Left Eye).
Lifelong Prince fan, archivist, and collector. Benson's privately held collection of rare Prince artifacts was shown by Mentor Newark at the historic Hahne Building in downtown Newark, NJ, a youth-focused exhibit, featured in the New York Times. He has seen Prince live 127 times. In May-Nov. 2025 his collection was featured in 7 display windows for Hennepin Arts, Lasalle Plaza, Minneapolis and at the Meet Minneapolis Visitor Center. (See portrait image: photo by Vincentt Crownover for Mspmag.com). He presented a special one night only exhibition in NE Minneapolis on June 7, 2026, in collaboration with Live 4 Love Charities, featuring a concert by Sheila E.
Artwork images: courtesy of the contributors. All rights reserved.
Installation photography: Daniel R. Pratt and Kirk ThorenEvent photography: Jill Boogren
