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| Power Style Wellness Connections |
Lightning in a Bottle
The 2007 Barnstable Brown Gala
By Gioia Patton
Photos by Ewa Wojtkowska
Tricia Barnstable Brown laughs at the
memory of the stunned look on rock ‘n’
roll legend Gene Simmons’ face at
her 2007 Barnstable Brown Gala
after hearing a member of The Wilson
Session Band plead “Gene, Gene...
aren’t you going to stay and sing
something with us...we rehearsed a
KISS number?” The plea had come on
the heels of Simmons’ attempt to leave
the stage after saying a few words to
the 1,200 thrilled guests in attendance
at Barnstable Brown’s annual Kentucky
Derby Eve party.
Speaking by phone one week after the
event, held at Barnstable Brown’s Louisville
Highlands home, the hostess continues: “Gene probably thought to himself ‘there’s no way
this local group knows my songs!’” That is until Simmons heard the opening guitar licks of
KISS’s 1976 hit Calling Dr. Love; whereupon he stopped dead in his tracks, whipped back
around to face the band, grabbed the microphone, hiked one leg onto an amplifier,
snatched off his dark sunglasses and began to sing. As a now frenzied crowd roared their
approval the other end of the stage beheld the ‘say what?’ sight of celebrity photographer
and Louisville native Larry Birkhead singing backup along with Simmons’ gorgeous long-
time love, former Playboy Playmate of the Year Shannon Tweed and her sister Tracy.
Welcome to the 19th annual Barnstable Brown Gala, co-hosted by Barnstable Brown’s twin,
Cyb Barnstable, which to date has raised millions of dollars for diabetes research done in
labs at the University of Kentucky and University of Louisville.
Though the jaw-dropping list of Gala celebs who’ve agreed to impromptu performances
over the years includes the likes of: Meat Loaf, Chaka Khan, Mary Wilson, Taylor Dayne,
Michael McDonald, Graham Nash, Josh Groban, Brooks & Dunn and Smokey Robinson,
Barnstable Brown claims: “I’m always as shocked, surprised, and flabbergasted as anybody
else when the artists say ‘yes’.”
Such was Barnstable Brown’s¬ joy at hearing first-time attendee Simmons was with the
Gala house band that she freely admits: “I actually had to take a moment while Gene was
singing and say to myself ‘is this really happening?’”
Barnstable Brown was also still reeling from another rock ‘n’ roll great’s performance, first-
time guest Eddie Money, who performed Two Tickets To Paradise, and Baby Hold On To
Me. “I’d always turn up the dial on my car stereo when Eddie’s music would come on!” she
enthuses, adding with a laugh that she’ll also never forget the sight that night of Saturday
Night Live alum, actor Jimmy Fallon on stage “improvising a physical comedy routine, which
included hysterical (comedic) dance moves, as he rigorously shook the tambourine and
sang The Doors’ Roadhouse Blues.”
Kid Rock joined Fallon on stage for the song’s finish, and when Kid strapped on a guitar
and wowed the crowd with his version of Some Kind of Wonderful, a smiling Fallon stood off
to the side, tambourine still in hand, singing the chorus. “I mean...it just can’t get any
better than that!” Barnstable Brown declares.
Lest one think that standing next to the roped off VIP area or claiming a position close to
the stage is the only way guests can have close proximity to the stars, think again. Strolling
through Barnstable Brown’s home at the ‘07 Gala, I caught glimpses of Eddie Money,
Michael McDonald, Mary Wilson, Terry O’Quinn, and Dancing With the Stars’ Apolo Ohno
with Julianne Hough, happily chatting in various rooms with other guests.
As an example of that one-on-one access, Barnstable Brown mentions an incident with
television’s Lost star O’Quinn. “When I said that I hadn’t seen him throughout the evening,
Terry explained ‘because my wife and I live in Hawaii, we really don’t get to talk to a lot of
Lost fans. You have no idea how important it was for me to walk around tonight and meet
so many guests, who were also fans of the series.’”
On a personal note, every year that this writer has attended the Barnstable Brown Gala
(this makes #7), I’m very aware of an “Oh WOW! I’m at the Barnstable Brown Gala!
lightning-in-a-bottle energy that hovers in the air from the moment one steps foot into the
party. Interestingly enough, during the close of Barnstable Brown’s interview, the ‘hostess
with the mostess’ inadvertently brings my point home when she remarks: “Olympic
medalist/downhill skier, Bode Miller, attending his second Gala, walked up to me at one
point and declared ‘this is the greatest party!’ When I asked why, he stressed ‘the energy!’”
Barnstable Brown sighs at the recollection, then continues: “Other guests came up to me
that night and said that though they had been to parties all over the world (the parties)
were nothing like our Gala.
“So I don’t know if (you) can be more specific than that. It’s just, I think that a party has
energy or it doesn’t. And I think that there’s an actual level of energy, and that’s what
makes a great party,” she concludes, “...to have this high level of energy and everybody
feels it.”Gioia Patton is a celebrity arts & entertainment writer for various publications.
See other Derby party photos.
The 2007 Barnstable Brown Gala
By Gioia Patton
Photos by Ewa Wojtkowska
Tricia Barnstable Brown laughs at the
memory of the stunned look on rock ‘n’
roll legend Gene Simmons’ face at
her 2007 Barnstable Brown Gala
after hearing a member of The Wilson
Session Band plead “Gene, Gene...
aren’t you going to stay and sing
something with us...we rehearsed a
KISS number?” The plea had come on
the heels of Simmons’ attempt to leave
the stage after saying a few words to
the 1,200 thrilled guests in attendance
at Barnstable Brown’s annual Kentucky
Derby Eve party.
Speaking by phone one week after the
event, held at Barnstable Brown’s Louisville
Highlands home, the hostess continues: “Gene probably thought to himself ‘there’s no way
this local group knows my songs!’” That is until Simmons heard the opening guitar licks of
KISS’s 1976 hit Calling Dr. Love; whereupon he stopped dead in his tracks, whipped back
around to face the band, grabbed the microphone, hiked one leg onto an amplifier,
snatched off his dark sunglasses and began to sing. As a now frenzied crowd roared their
approval the other end of the stage beheld the ‘say what?’ sight of celebrity photographer
and Louisville native Larry Birkhead singing backup along with Simmons’ gorgeous long-
time love, former Playboy Playmate of the Year Shannon Tweed and her sister Tracy.
Welcome to the 19th annual Barnstable Brown Gala, co-hosted by Barnstable Brown’s twin,
Cyb Barnstable, which to date has raised millions of dollars for diabetes research done in
labs at the University of Kentucky and University of Louisville.
Though the jaw-dropping list of Gala celebs who’ve agreed to impromptu performances
over the years includes the likes of: Meat Loaf, Chaka Khan, Mary Wilson, Taylor Dayne,
Michael McDonald, Graham Nash, Josh Groban, Brooks & Dunn and Smokey Robinson,
Barnstable Brown claims: “I’m always as shocked, surprised, and flabbergasted as anybody
else when the artists say ‘yes’.”
Such was Barnstable Brown’s¬ joy at hearing first-time attendee Simmons was with the
Gala house band that she freely admits: “I actually had to take a moment while Gene was
singing and say to myself ‘is this really happening?’”
Barnstable Brown was also still reeling from another rock ‘n’ roll great’s performance, first-
time guest Eddie Money, who performed Two Tickets To Paradise, and Baby Hold On To
Me. “I’d always turn up the dial on my car stereo when Eddie’s music would come on!” she
enthuses, adding with a laugh that she’ll also never forget the sight that night of Saturday
Night Live alum, actor Jimmy Fallon on stage “improvising a physical comedy routine, which
included hysterical (comedic) dance moves, as he rigorously shook the tambourine and
sang The Doors’ Roadhouse Blues.”
Kid Rock joined Fallon on stage for the song’s finish, and when Kid strapped on a guitar
and wowed the crowd with his version of Some Kind of Wonderful, a smiling Fallon stood off
to the side, tambourine still in hand, singing the chorus. “I mean...it just can’t get any
better than that!” Barnstable Brown declares.
Lest one think that standing next to the roped off VIP area or claiming a position close to
the stage is the only way guests can have close proximity to the stars, think again. Strolling
through Barnstable Brown’s home at the ‘07 Gala, I caught glimpses of Eddie Money,
Michael McDonald, Mary Wilson, Terry O’Quinn, and Dancing With the Stars’ Apolo Ohno
with Julianne Hough, happily chatting in various rooms with other guests.
As an example of that one-on-one access, Barnstable Brown mentions an incident with
television’s Lost star O’Quinn. “When I said that I hadn’t seen him throughout the evening,
Terry explained ‘because my wife and I live in Hawaii, we really don’t get to talk to a lot of
Lost fans. You have no idea how important it was for me to walk around tonight and meet
so many guests, who were also fans of the series.’”
On a personal note, every year that this writer has attended the Barnstable Brown Gala
(this makes #7), I’m very aware of an “Oh WOW! I’m at the Barnstable Brown Gala!
lightning-in-a-bottle energy that hovers in the air from the moment one steps foot into the
party. Interestingly enough, during the close of Barnstable Brown’s interview, the ‘hostess
with the mostess’ inadvertently brings my point home when she remarks: “Olympic
medalist/downhill skier, Bode Miller, attending his second Gala, walked up to me at one
point and declared ‘this is the greatest party!’ When I asked why, he stressed ‘the energy!’”
Barnstable Brown sighs at the recollection, then continues: “Other guests came up to me
that night and said that though they had been to parties all over the world (the parties)
were nothing like our Gala.
“So I don’t know if (you) can be more specific than that. It’s just, I think that a party has
energy or it doesn’t. And I think that there’s an actual level of energy, and that’s what
makes a great party,” she concludes, “...to have this high level of energy and everybody
feels it.”Gioia Patton is a celebrity arts & entertainment writer for various publications.
See other Derby party photos.