Bobby Z (Travis Anderson)
 
In January 2011, Robert Rivkin started to feel like something was wrong with his body. "I had these roving pains from my neck down to my elbows," said Rivkin, who is better known by his stage name,Bobby Z. "I went to the doctor, I went to the chiropractor, it was baffling."
The pain eventually settled in his elbow and became so excruciating he ended up in the emergency room. "Next thing I knew, I was having a heart attack on the table and they were opening me up."
That was just the beginning. Doctors inserted two stents, but before they got to the third one, Rivkin's heart started to race and he was placed in a medical coma. "I had a pretty heavy-duty dose of being out for three or four days there," he said. "I remember watching the whole surgery for the third stent on a monitor. That's some reality television for you."
Rivkin made it through the final surgery and, during his recovery, decided the time was right for a Revolution - as in Prince and the Revolution. Rivkin met Prince in the late '70s, just as the Purple One was assembling a touring band, and hopped on board as drummer alongside Dez Dickerson on guitar and Matt Fink on keyboards. By the time the "1999" album rolled around, the lineup had solidified to include Brown Mark (bass),Wendy Melvoin (guitar/vocals) and Lisa Coleman (keyboard/vocals) and earned the name the Revolution.
Those six musicians will reunite Sunday at First Avenue, the stage they helped make world-famous in the film "Purple Rain." Rivkin is calling the show "A Benefit 2 Celebrate Life," with proceeds benefiting the American Heart Association and Rivkin's new heart-awareness charity, My Purple Heart. It will be the first time this version of the Revolution has performed live together since a 2003 Sheila E. charity event in Los Angeles.
"I immediately put this on the drawing board," Rivkin said. "I asked Prince for permission, because you don't do this without his permission. His response was, 'What can we do to help?'
"Everyone has been so great and so supportive. We've even assembled a team of some of our best crew members from the past."
The group plans to play songs from the four Revolution albums - "1999" (the band's name is shown in reverse on the cover), "Purple Rain," "Around the World in a Day" and "Parade" - along with some other surprises. The big question, of course, is whether Prince will join them onstage.
"When you're sick in the hospital, you find out who your friends are," Rivkin said. "Prince's phone call came in almost first in line, after my mom. The invitation (for Prince to perform with us) is, of course, out there. We welcome him with open arms. I mean, anything's possible in his world, and the fact that he's been so supportive....Let me put it this way: 'Purple Rain' is his house, we're just housesitting. At the end of the day, if we don't get Prince and the Revolution, at least we'll get the Revolution."
While the concert is Sunday at First Avenue, the nearby Seven Sushi Ultralounge and Skybar will host special events leading up to the show, including a "Purple Rain"-era costume contest Friday night and a pre-party Saturday for local fans and those coming from out of town (and, in some cases, from out of the country) for the show. Questlove, from the Roots, also will host a post-concert party at First Avenue after Sunday's concert.
"You know, so many people here worked on the 'Purple Rain' movie, and they all have pride of ownership," Rivkin said. "It's a real thrill to give back to our community. This really feels like a celebration of us, our hospitality and our music."
IN THE CLUBS
The Pines return to action Friday night for a sold-out CD-release show at the Cedar Cultural Center. The folk duo - Benson Ramsey and David Huckfelt - just issued "Dark So Gold," their third album for St. Paul's Red House Records. Ramsey's dad, longtime Greg Brown producer/sideman Bo Ramsey, co-produced the disc, which offers 10 atmospheric slices of 21st-century Americana. It also feels more like a full-band effort, thanks to the extended Pines family that includes banjo player Michael Rossetto (Spaghetti Western String Co.), drummer J.T. Bates (Fat Kid Wednesdays), bassist James Buckley (Mystery Palace), guitarist Jacob Hanson (Halloween, Alaska) and Benson's brother Alex on keyboards.
Chanhassen Dinner Theatres host a special late-night show Friday night with local cover band Soul Tight Committee. The 10-piece group features singer Michelle Carter, who played Mary Magdalene in "Jesus Christ Superstar" last year at Chanhassen. The band specializes in old-school classics like "At Last," "Boogie Wonderland" and "Lady Marmalade." The show starts at 9:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 at the door.
Pop music critic Ross Raihala can be reached at rraihala@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5553. Follow him at Twitter.com/RossRaihala.