Goon Squad
Richard Burnett
rburnett@hour.ca
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One over-the-top Stevie fan at NOTS
photo: Richard Burnett
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When my boozing buddy Jamie and I made our entrance at the absolutely packed, internationally famed 19th annual Stevie Nicks drag queen rock'n'roll tribute Night of a Thousand Stevies at the Highline Ballroom in Greenwich Village last Friday night, New York City hadn't seen so much trash since the Teamsters' citywide garbage strike of 1990.No, I didn't trip and slide face-first into the gutter like I did on Bourbon St. in New Orleans this past Halloween, but I knew I was in deep trouble when my bartender told me she couldn't serve me triple vodka-sodas 'cause her glasses weren't big enough.
"How much for the bottle?" I cracked.
I kept snapping pictures of men's asses while some woman grabbed Jamie's ass (I think it was a woman - she looked like Stevie Nicks!) as they danced at the bar.
But the real entertainment was on the stage. This was my first Night of a Thousand Stevies (NOTS) - and yes, folks, I will be going back for more - so I thought we were going to get a whole lot of lip-syncing.
Instead what we got were real live performers, notably underground crooner Adam Dugas with harpist Mia Theodoratus doing an incredible version of Landslide; and Heather Litteer (a.k.a. Jessica Rabbit Domination) and her two backup singers rocking the house to Stand Back. Then Goon Squad - featuring Blondie's Debbie Harry on lead vocals - destroyed the place with their balls-to-the-wall punk version of The Chain.
In two words: Holy fuck!
"The live [set] wasn't as crazy as other
years because we had to co-ordinate everything with the computers at the back of the room, which took some getting used to," says ab-fab NOTS co-hostess Hattie Hattaway (a.k.a. Brian Butterick), who produces NOTS with her fellow Jackie Factory NYC co-founders Johnny Dynell and Chi Chi Valenti. "But I think it was the best audience we've ever had - there were over 1,000 people. They brought so much energy, that's why we kept turning on the house lights. They're part of the show."I have been to every major drag event in London, Sydney, Paris, New Orleans, Vegas and Montreal, and I'm telling you, NOTS is hands-down the most fun drag event I've ever been to. Revellers get dolled up à la Stevie, including past attendees Courtney Love, Cyndi Lauper and Boy George. Even Jamie and I wore blond wigs.
"I hope next year maybe Stevie will come," Hattie told me this week since we didn't have time to meet backstage.
There were also lots of other folks I didn't get to see in NYC on this trip, notably Village Voice gossip columnist Michael Musto who was rubbing elbows at the star-studded Tribeca Film Festival (but asked me to go see a Broadway play); California-based literary legend Felice Picano who was visiting old friends in Brooklyn Heights; and Rachel Robinson, the widow of the late Jackie Robinson, the man who broke pro baseball's colour barrier with the 1946 Montreal Royals before joining the Brooklyn Dodgers the following year. Some years ago Mrs. Robinson invited me to visit her, but it'll just have to wait until my next trip.
(By the bye, Jamie and I had planned to attend a Yankees game at their new stadium on Sunday, but it was just as well the match was rained out because most of the tickets at the new Yankee Stadium are over $275. Yes, you read right. And that's Jackie Robinson you hear rolling over in his grave.)
But three fine actors I did get to see were Rupert Everett (who's looking much more attractive these days) and Broadway legends Angela Lansbury and Christine Ebersole all starring in a delightful revival of the 1941 comedy Blithe Spirit, written by the late Noel Coward in a brief six days. (I once visited Noel Coward's home, Firefly, in Jamaica where I actually sat in his study. But that story's for another column.)
Between Blithe Spirit and NOTS, Jamie and I maintained a steady party-hopping pace, particularly in the Lower East Side, stopping only to sleep at my favourite NYC hotel, the über-cool boutique hotel Stay (157 West 47th St., just north of Times Square), where you can find anything - and I mean everything - you could ever possibly want in their so-hip-it-hurts rock'n'roll lobby bar and lounge, the Aspen Social Club.
But the place I had to check out for the first time - a pilgrimage of sorts, really - was the Stonewall Inn on Christopher St., originally built in 1843 as stables, and which never was a hotel. The Stonewall was gutted by fire in the 1960s, then reopened on March 18, 1967, as the Stonewall, site of the famed Stonewall riots of 1969 that ignited the modern-day gay-civil-rights movement. In fact, the first-ever Gay Pride Parade was held in NYC in June 1970 to commemorate the riots, with a then-unknown Bette Midler taking centre stage to entertain the marchers. Today, there are hundreds of Gay Pride parades held worldwide, most of them in June in honour of Stonewall.
That was 40 years ago next month.
So Jamie and I enjoyed a couple double vodka-sodas at the Stonewall.
But if you really need another excuse to visit NYC, then show up at next year's NOTS. I'll be the guy ordering a triple vodka-soda at the bar.
ooo
Essential buttplugs My fave eats in NYC on this trip was Dhaba (108 Lexington Ave.) in Little India, and Tulcingo del Valle (665 10th Ave. between 46th and 47th) in Hell's Kitchen, where you can order breakfast all day, thank God.
Finally, my current fave NYC hotel is hands-down Stay (157 West 47th St.). Rates start at $249. Surf to www.stayhotelny.com.
Hey!
this is Mia from Adam & Mia. Thank you for the wonderful words about our version of Landslide-what a tear jerker! We were literally high from the vibe on the stage and in the crowd.
all the best in noise,
mia
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mia theodoratus
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