Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84 Page 85 Page 86 Page 87 Page 88 Page 89 Page 90 Page 91 Page 92 Page 93 Page 94 Page 95 Page 96 Page 97 Page 98 Page 99 Page 100Portland after dark F e b r u a r y / M a r c h 2 0 1 7 5 3 tom couture cover me m arvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell hit us where we live when they sang “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing” back in 1968. From butter to Coca-Cola, we get it. But here in Portland, there’s no denying the tribute and cover band scene can draw a crowd. theartistformerlyknownas… On April 21, 2016, Dean Ford awoke to condolences. “I was asleep, but my phone kept ringing and ringing. I finally an- swered, and it was a TV reporter asking me to come in to talk about Prince. I asked her They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. These maine musicians channel icons for their day jobs. By olivia Gunn why, and that’s when I found out.” Prince, the artist Ford has echoed on Portland’s stages for many years, had died. In just a few days, Ford and his Prince tribute band, The Beautiful Ones, were expected to per- form in Bangor and Portsmouth. “I didn’t want to ride the coattails of someone who’d just died,” Ford says. “But everyone kept saying, ‘People are going to need some- thing.’” Ford took the gigs, even scheduling a last-minute show at Port City Music Hall, an emotional performance for local Prince fans. “I’d never looked out into a crowd be- fore to see one person crying while anoth- er was laughing and dancing.” It was a per- formance larger than himself, larger than a tribute. “It felt like a wake.” So what draws fans year after year to see The Beautiful Ones’ Halloween show, “Pur- ple Brainz?” For starters, Ford doesn’t con- sider himself a Prince “impersonator.” When Ford performs, he gives it everything–un- like, he says, many of the Prince tributes he’s seen come to the stage in the past year. “They pop up everywhere. And it’s lit a fire under me, because they’re all awful. They throw on a wig, throw on the jacket, and half-ass their way through the music.” Not Prince