Bush Whacked at the Stone!

hings I didn’t know about the universe.

1) Kate Bush is a goddess and I don’t know how I missed that all these years.

2) Dem’ queers luuuurrve her.

image2 Crystal Visions hosted a magical night in the Melody Bar at the Gladstone Hotel on September 26th. Crystal is better known for her Stevie Nicks impersonations but tonight she brought the Bush Squad out for a rousing good time. Crystal had recently been to London (England guys, not the town down the ol’ QEW) and had caught one of Kate’s rare, rare shows. I didn’t know much about Kate before this but certainly took the time to learn while I was attending this event. What a cool, cool lady. Eccentric, passionate and unshakably true to herself and her art, a quality I so admire. Her tunes are the bomb; wild, magical and perfectly suited for the crowd that gathered on that Thursday night. It was really one of the lovelier crowds I’ve seen at the Glad. They were mostly over thirty, happy, carefree and so wonderfully supportive of all the performances.

Crystal opened with a haunting live rendition of Hounds of Love. She has the perfect voice for the song and I’m always a sucker for anything on the side of dark and mysterious. It was a great choice to get the show rolling and set the tone.

Next up was a performance art style piece from Jenna Syde (man I love these names) who was dressed with a partner in all-white jumpsuits who gave us “Breathing” from 1980’s Never for Ever album. After her was one of my consistent favourites, with her magnificent, Texas big, red hair was Allysin Chaynes (ALICE IN CHAINS guys… get it – love it). She covered “Cloudbusting” and had this great umbrella that she worked in giving the show a very theatrical flare that I feel Kate would have approved of greatly. The crowd went nuts and continued that vibe into the next performance from Kate Mirkin who gave us “The Dreaming”. This crowd was seriously pumped up so Trixie and Beever, a legendary performance duet in the community and altogether lovely people, gave the crowd what they wanted with a really adorable and funny version of “Don’t Give Up”. They sent us all off on a high note into intermission so we hit the bar for some drinks from the legendary in her own right, Gladstone’s finest, Miss Loretta.

After a very quick intermission the ladies were back at it with Crystal giving us “Lionheart” with the most handsome leprechaun leaping about in his skivvies, a lovely touch for the straight ladies in the crowd. (It was just me and Katie, that was it, we were the only ones, oh man I’m never going to find me a man spending this much time at the Gladstone am I guys? Damn it.)

Then it was time for my favourite of all my favourite Queens, Miss Fluffy Souffle. She turned in her trademark blond Mohawk for a dark curly number and gave us a spirited rendition of one of Miss Kate’s most notable works, Babooshka. Fluffy was on point, draped in a black shawl and cavorting around a chair ending the piece by dramatically exiting the stage blinded by a shawl. Probably a good thing that Fluffy also happens to work at the hotel or she toe up might have ran into a door.image4

After that we had Judy Virago who is just so exquisite and gave us a sensual gypsy lady number to, fittingly “Sensual World” she got right down to her lady parts and much to my amusement exited sans top into the hotel lobby. Perfect, I love it. “Welcome to the Gladstone, here’s my perfectly formed titties, may I take your bag madam?” THE BEST.

image5 Next we had the Queen Bear herself Fay with a Gwyneth Paltrow (get out of here Gwynie with your pretentious blog, perfectly blond hair and sweet sweet soprano voice, god damn you!) cover of “This Woman’s Work”. Then Igby Lizzards with a fan favourite, “Wuthering Heights” and then the grand finale of Crystal back on with “Running up that Hill” which lead to her running right out that door to end the night with the crowd so happy, so appreciative and so filled with love.

It was a great night and I hope to see Crystal bring one of the Stevie Nicks nights to the Gladstone in the near future!

Get Bushwhacked y’all.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *