The simple answer to that question is that
I am the writer/editor of "Dyes Got the Answers 2 Ur ?s,"
The Beautiful Nights Blog; the more compelling answer is that I am a
person who has discovered a renewed sense of joy in life by combining two of my favorite things: writing and Prince.
I was literally called out
of "retirement" one day in November 2012 when the phone rang and
Marcus Scott, of Beautiful Nights, was on the other end. His
proposition was simple: to create a blog for his new Prince fan page
on Facebook and, to kick it off, he would be able to get me an interview
with The Twinz, Maya and Nancy McClean. That was a little over a
month and seven posts ago.
I had not written
anything, besides e-mails and greeting cards, in nearly four years. After I was laid off from my job at The Union Democrat, a small-town newspaper, in 2009 I was bitter and frustrated that I could not find another writing job. At some point, I decided it was time to move on. I
have languished in different jobs for the past few years to pay the
bills: cashier at a pizza restaurant, concierge at The Underground
Tour, a tourist attraction in Seattle and now as a front desk agent
at a hotel (however, I am currently finding a lot of satisfaction in
my current job).
But, writing was always in
heart, and I did not realize how much I missed it until I started
doing it again. While interviewing Scott, Alexis Wofford and L'Quita
Sanders, the other members of the Beautiful Nights team, I became
intrigued by own questions. I thought that maybe people might be
interested in the girl who would randomly post on the page and say
"read my stories".
It is a little unorthodox, but, being a
blogger, I think it is okay for me to be more accessible to my readers,
which was not possible for me as a
newspaper reporter. So, here is a little bit
about me:
?: Tell me a little bit about yourself and how you became involved with Beautiful Nights?
KD: I have been a diehard
Prince fan since I was 15 years old. Although I went to a performing
arts high school (School of the Arts in San Francisco, where I played
in the band), people at school kind of gave me a hard time for liking
Prince. I did not care, because the thing that I loved about Prince,
besides his music, was that he was okay with being himself, without
giving a damn about what other people thought. In turn, I felt that
made it okay for me to do the same. It was a very intense period in my life and Prince music has been my soundtrack ever since.
I wanted to know about everything Prince: I sought out all the
albums, read all the biographies and articles I could find and went to Prince.org every single
day. There was not really anyone at school to share my excitement
with, so, I almost became like a "Purple Culture" scholar,
amassing all this information to use at a later date.
I graduated with a
Bachelor's Degree in Journalism and Russian from San Francisco State
University in 2007. I met Scott when I was doing an internship that
summer at the (now closed) Kane County Bureau of the Daily Herald in
St. Charles, Ill. A mutual friend was having a house party one
weekend and he was there. I did not really get to know him until 2008,
when I came back for one of the now legendary Prince parties at Berlin, which I did periodically. In turn, he came out to visit me a few months later, when I was living in Sonora, Calif., where I was working as a
reporter, and we went to a Prince party in Berkeley. After
he left, I mailed him some clippings of some of my stories.
We have kept in touch, on
and off, during the last five years and in that time I moved to
Seattle. It was that fateful phone call I mentioned earlier,
where I was brought into Beautiful Nights, where they were already in
full gear in Chicago. He said he wanted a blog for the page, which he said would make his fan group stand out from all the others, and I
was the person who came to mind when he was thinking about a writer. He
added that he still had those stories I sent him all those years ago.
He came up with the title "Dyes Got the Answers 2 Ur ?s,"
which is a play on "I've got the answers to your questions."
Courtesy of K Nicola Dyes |
?: What area of expertise
do you bring to Beautiful Nights?
KD: I'm a writer, but, more
importantly I am an interviewer; you cannot have a great story with a
wack interview. My job is to make people who may not want to answer
my questions feel comfortable enough to speak freely with me. I'm not
afraid to get on the phone with people I never met and talk to them for
hours.
Also, from my days as a
reporter, I am able to write effectively on different topics: I
covered city and county government; food; travel; religion; business;
health and entertainment. However, entertainment writing has always been my
passion, particularly interviews with public figures. I
cannot lie: I love famous people. During my career, I have been blessed
enough to interview Mikhail Baryshnikov, the renowned ballet dancer; Singer and TV Personality Tony Orlando, who, before I
interviewed The Twinz, had my undisputed vote for nicest celebrity
ever; the late TV Producer David Gerber ("Room 222, "In the
Heat of the Night"); Comedians Mark Curry and Victoria Jackson,
of Saturday Night Live, among others.
I am also constantly thinking
of new ideas for the blog, all the things I ever wanted to know about
Prince, but, was afraid to ask.
?: What is the best thing
about being apart of Beautiful Nights?
KD: I get to write about
Prince! How cool is that? If there was ever a dream job, this would
be it. I get to sit at home or at work or wherever and think about
story ideas to related to Prince and there is already an audience in
place who will read it. Friends have been imploring to write a blog
for years, but, my question was always the same: "About what?"
There are a lot of bloggers out there, what was going to make me
different?
Also, I like the fact that this is not a newspaper. There is structure, but, I am no longer governed by a set of rules that, in my opinion, are becoming outdated in as the speed of news increases every moment.
Also, I like the fact that this is not a newspaper. There is structure, but, I am no longer governed by a set of rules that, in my opinion, are becoming outdated in as the speed of news increases every moment.
?: What would you like to
improve about Beautiful Nights?
KD: Nothing about
Beautiful Nights, the group is great, but, I could use a bit more
time management and organization on my end. I work full time (including two nights of graveyard shift)
and between interviewing, editing and posting, it sometimes feels
like there are not enough hours in the day. I want this endeavor to
stay fun for me, I never want it to feel like a job. So, I know that
the key to that is to get on top things now.
?: Who is your favorite
protegee and why?
KD: Jesse Johnson, as a
solo artist. But, I would not call him a protegee, I would call him an
associated act. I think he is baddest musician to ever come out of
Prince's camp. All you need to do is listen to his guitar solos on
"Fool's Paradise" and "Lovestruck" if you are not
convinced. I'm also a fan of the work he has done for other artists,
including Janet Jackson, Vanity, the song "Nights Like This"
that he wrote for The Five Heartbeats" soundtrack and his
guitar solo on "You Wear it Well" by DeBarge. I do not think
he ever got the credit he was due, because people were always
comparing him to Prince.
I also want to give a
shout out to Margie Cox, one of Jesse Johnson's protegees, the lead
singer of TaMara and the Seen, who also worked with Prince on the unreleased MC Flash
project. She is a very talented and underrated singer. I love them
both.
?: Who would you like to
see host the next Beautiful Nights party?
KD: I would love to meet
Jill Jones. I am a big fan of her 1987 album and I have also had the
pleasure of listening to some of the cuts of her unreleased second
album. In my opinion, she is another artist from the Prince camp who never got her due. In
addition to that, she had worked with two of
my favorite artists, Teena Marie and Prince and I would love to ask
her some questions about that.
Drawing by Clayton Ballard |
?:
What is the most unique piece of Prince memorabilia you own or have
owned in the past?
KD:
I don't just have one! This is a three-part answer:
A) The first one is a framed charcoal drawing of Prince that a friend of mine drew for me and gave me on for my 29th birthday. What really made it so cool was that he gave it to me right before we went to go see a Prince concert at the Tacoma Dome in December 2011.
B) The summer I did my internship at the Daily Herald in 2007 was the same year that the Chicago Bears went to the Super Bowl and Prince did the halftime show and, of, course, the paper sent writers and photographers down to Miami. For my going away present at the end of my stint there, the staff presented me with two framed photographs that the photo editor at the bureau, Rick, had taken himself during the halftime show. One was Prince by himself and the other was him with The Twinz.
C) My grandmother's late second husband worked as a banquet waiter in some of San Francisco's best hotels for many years. In the early 1990s, he was working at the Clift Hotel when Prince was in town on tour. When I was in high school (around 1998), at the height of my Prince madness, he gave me this very small jar of honey that had a black label with gold letters that said: Prince, Scandalous Sex Suite, featuring Kim Basinger. He said that someone working with Prince had given it to him. He had kept it on his dresser until he gave it to me. I had it on my dresser from that moment all the way through college, until I moved out to accept that internship. I left that jar of honey behind and have not seen it since. In her haste to clean out my old room, so my younger brother could move in, a LOT of things came up missing and that was one of them. When I came home three months later to get my things, I could not find it. I asked her about it and she acted like she had no clue what I was talking about. I eventually forgave her and moved on, but, I am getting a small twinge of sadness just writing about it now
?: What would you like see happen with Beautiful Nights in the next year?
A) The first one is a framed charcoal drawing of Prince that a friend of mine drew for me and gave me on for my 29th birthday. What really made it so cool was that he gave it to me right before we went to go see a Prince concert at the Tacoma Dome in December 2011.
B) The summer I did my internship at the Daily Herald in 2007 was the same year that the Chicago Bears went to the Super Bowl and Prince did the halftime show and, of, course, the paper sent writers and photographers down to Miami. For my going away present at the end of my stint there, the staff presented me with two framed photographs that the photo editor at the bureau, Rick, had taken himself during the halftime show. One was Prince by himself and the other was him with The Twinz.
C) My grandmother's late second husband worked as a banquet waiter in some of San Francisco's best hotels for many years. In the early 1990s, he was working at the Clift Hotel when Prince was in town on tour. When I was in high school (around 1998), at the height of my Prince madness, he gave me this very small jar of honey that had a black label with gold letters that said: Prince, Scandalous Sex Suite, featuring Kim Basinger. He said that someone working with Prince had given it to him. He had kept it on his dresser until he gave it to me. I had it on my dresser from that moment all the way through college, until I moved out to accept that internship. I left that jar of honey behind and have not seen it since. In her haste to clean out my old room, so my younger brother could move in, a LOT of things came up missing and that was one of them. When I came home three months later to get my things, I could not find it. I asked her about it and she acted like she had no clue what I was talking about. I eventually forgave her and moved on, but, I am getting a small twinge of sadness just writing about it now
?: What would you like see happen with Beautiful Nights in the next year?
KD: I
hope I get to go to the next party! It is kind of difficult being in
Seattle, when the rest of the team is in Chicago, but, I am going to
find a way to make it work. I also want to expand the readership for
"Dyes Got the Answers 2 Ur ?s" and I am working on ways to
expand my fan base. I love promoting Beautiful Nights, because I
really believe in it; it is essential to have a place where Prince
fans can come together in a positive way.
I have an interview wish list, too: Margie Cox, Jill Jones, Mazarati and, of course, Prince, although that might be a long time coming. I also have a more large-scale story in mind: an in-depth feature that would be a critical history of Prince.org, from the beginning until now, because that Web site truly fascinates me.
I also hope that readers at some point become comfortable enough to reach out to me and suggest story ideas. Part of the reason Scott came up with the name "Dyes Got the Answers 2 Ur ?s" is because we, at some point, want more member involvement and interaction. I am just the vessel to assemble information for the fans.
I have an interview wish list, too: Margie Cox, Jill Jones, Mazarati and, of course, Prince, although that might be a long time coming. I also have a more large-scale story in mind: an in-depth feature that would be a critical history of Prince.org, from the beginning until now, because that Web site truly fascinates me.
I also hope that readers at some point become comfortable enough to reach out to me and suggest story ideas. Part of the reason Scott came up with the name "Dyes Got the Answers 2 Ur ?s" is because we, at some point, want more member involvement and interaction. I am just the vessel to assemble information for the fans.
?:
What message do you have for fans of the Beautiful Nights page?
KD:
The fact that people are reading my blog really warms my heart. All
the time I spend writing means absolutely nothing if no one is
reading. Do not be shy about telling me what you think about my
posts-- good, bad or indifferent-- leave comments on the blog, post
on my page, inbox me. I would love to hear from you.
Stay beautiful, Kristi
--
Lead drawing by Clayton Ballard.
--
Like us on Facebook: Dyes Got the Answers 2 Ur ?s and Beautiful Nights
--
Lead drawing by Clayton Ballard.
--
Like us on Facebook: Dyes Got the Answers 2 Ur ?s and Beautiful Nights
U look good in purple!
ReplyDelete