The Ledge - Former DJ Jancee Dunn Remembers Stevie

A former VJ on MTV’s videos-only era and wearing Stevie Nicks’ shawls
Jancee Dunn remembers the freewheeling, egalitarian spirit of M2

By Annie Zaleski Aug 25, 2016 12:00 AM AV Club

http://www.avclub.com/article/former...stevie--241113

[excerpt]

AVC: Do you recall your best and worst interviews? Do you have anything that stands out?

JD: I’ll dredge up some painful ones, because there were some when the person left, we were like, “We hate you.” I’ll have to email some of my friends from there and say, “Who did we hate? Who was surly?” [Dunn emailed later to say she couldn’t drum up any terrible ones: “I swear to you, I must have blocked the memory of them. I just asked my makeup artist from back in the day, and she couldn’t come up with any either.” —ed.] It’s really annoying when people are surly for no reason. It’s like, “Okay, I guess your record company dragged you here, but make the best of it. We’re promoting your album, for Christ’s sake. Come on. Why do you think we’re here?”

The best: Stevie Nicks. I had a nice connection with her that then led to an interview where I got to go to her house and go to her bedroom and try on her shawls in her closet. She invited me to spend the night at her house in Los Angeles.

AVC: Oh, my God, that’s amazing.

JD: That’s definitely memorable, because we had such a nice connection. She was very concerned with lighting, which now I get. She was concerned with looking good. I remember defending her, indulging her, and saying, “Guys, come on, it’s important.” We had a connection—we did bond that day—and then it led to this fantastic story. I got to be in her house! It’s filled with shawls. There’s shawls everywhere. There’s shawls on the tables. There’s shawls on the piano. It’s everything you think and more. There’s silk flowers everywhere. I went into her closet, and she had platform boots in every color lined up against the wall. She said, “Do you want to try on a shawl?” Uh, yeah—do I! She pulled out her diaries from the Tusk era and said, “Do you want to read my diaries?” because she trusted me. Can you imagine? I read them out loud to her.

AVC: That’s amazing. You divined magical powers from Stevie.

JD: There were doodles in there of unicorns and stuff. It was heaven. Things like that often led to other things, which were even more memorable and personal. It was just me and no camera crew. [Her M2 appearance] opened the door to her shawl-covered house—it was because of that particular day. Thank you, M2, for that.