It’s June 2015, and Prince and his band are playing an exclusive, intimate show for about 200 people, an audience that includes Angela Bassett, James Taylor, Tyler Perry, and Jon Bon Jovi. At one point, Stevie Wonder makes his way onstage for a duet of “Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours).” After the show, DJ Cassidy takes over, cranking up one of the host’s favorite bangers: Parliament’s funk throwdown “Flash Light.” The beats are so thunderous that, Cassidy recalls, the historic paintings adorning the walls had to be doubly secured to prevent them from falling off.
The venue? The East Room of the White House. The host? Barack Obama. The thought of such an event happening now? Unimaginable.
