After years of wanting to go after I’d first heard about it and an entire year of planning (which almost came undone by me falling asleep and not waking up until a full hour after I was supposed to be at Chris‘ apartment in Brooklyn), I went to Night of a Thousand Stevies 14 last Friday. The Knitting Factory‘s a hard place to take pictures, especially if you hate using the flash, and anyway I forgot to charge my camera battery so I had to use it sparingly but here are the least crappy of my photos:

Legendary NYC night club impresario and NOTS founder Chi Chi Valenti rocking it out. The crowd cracked up when she picked up a tambourine with a crow attached halfway through her act. She had the most gorgeous dark red shantung gown on plus a top hat with a gigantic feather for the rest of the night; I don’t know how she managed to not die of dehydration because the Knitting Factory was boiling hot but she looked good and was a great host.

Billy O singing Beautiful Child (from Tusk). Later on in the night he did Everybody Finds Out (from Say You Will), which I was hoping someone would do. I was very glad he was the one to do it! You can see two short clips here: 1, 2.

Chris is a perfectionist and don’t let anyone ever tell you any different. I guarantee she was the only Stevie in the place with faux cocaine smeared around her nostrils. Really, the only way she could’ve been more accurate is if she’d had a deviated septum created specially for the occasion.

Well, okay, maybe not that much of a perfectionist. After all, she did take this photo of me without including the least bit of what I was wearing. Um.
(I went for the mid-70’s Stevie look: a black ballet top and blue peasant skirt over knee-high black boots with four inch heels and a white knit shawl.)
And now, for no real reason other than they came out okay, here are four photos of the crowd:




I bet you’re thinking, wow, are all those men gay?
Well, duh.

The highlight of the night was easily master puppeteer Basil Twist‘s recreation of the Gypsy video complete with Stevie twirling from age to age. I managed to get a short clip of the fantasy land twirls at the end.
Mssr Twist and his friend (who had matching homemade Stevie barbies in white and black outfits!) were sweet enough to come up to me after the show and say they thought I was pretty and were glad I hadn’t put on a wig because I stood out as a brunette in a sea of blondes. Little did they know my wiglessness had more to do with me being crap at fixing hair both real and fake rather than wanting to stay as I am, but I thank them kindly for the compliment.

Johnny Tingle & Max. Right now I am blanking on which song they did but remember that it was excellent.

Yes, that is Boy George. The Boy George himself. He did a reggae version of Go Your Own Way (from Rumours), so kickass I can easily forgive him for it being, you know, a Lindsey Buckingham song.

And last but not least here’s a picture of Mike Albo‘s ass in skivvies from when he joined the Ho-Ho’s as they performed a mashup of Stand Back and the song it was inspired by, Prince’s Little Red Corvette. My world and Anil‘s collided for a few brief but shining minutes.
Other performers of note: BellaDonna wasn’t quite the prettiest of Stevies but her love shines through—as Chris said to me, you know she’s a serious fan when her drag name is a Stevie album. Her Running Through the Garden (from Say You Will) was great fun, especially the giant pink flower with the picture of Lindsey in the middle! The Stevie Nicks Experience gets extra points from me for doing the Stand Back disco version instead of the original, because we all know it rocks so much harder. Lisa Jackson and Steve Gib did a beautiful cover of Leather & Lace and the super hot Jessica Rabbit Domination sang Gold Dust Woman, Courtney Love-style (i.e. frequently off-key but still good) to close out the show. Too bad Justin Bond and Kenny Mellman couldn’t make it, I’d sacrifice small goats to see what they’dve done. Oh well, there’s always next year!
Check out Chris’s account of the night. And then, of course, there’s the inadvertent hilarity of a not-so-sharp kid whinging about how badly the show sucked, when in fact she left well before the show even started. Oopsie.