Quote:
Originally Posted by aleuzzi
The speech was entertaining in the way it was expected to be entertaining--a rambling mess of improvised stuff. I bear no ill will on her honor, nor on her calling FM "her band" (they've all done that).
But I DID have some problems with the speech:
1. Lindsey is only mentioned in a passive-aggressively demeaning way: the pot smoking boyfriend who stayed home and worked on music while she waited on tables. (And in Harry's intro, his tenure as Fritz's bassist is mentioned but not his exceptional guitar abilities that developed post-Fritz.)
2. Waddy Watchell isn't mentioned at all.
3. For a woman who has rightfully made a lot of noise about her being the first woman to be inducted twice, I bristled at the end of her speech when she spoke of her woman manager and how hard it is for her to take direction from anyone, "especially another girl."
4. Sandy Stewart is not mentioned.
5. Mike Campbell is not mentioned.
6. Rick Knowels (sp?) is not mentioned.
7. In terms of producers, only Jimmy Iovine is mentioned. No mention of, say, Dave Stuart.
8. Rulebook: sleep with men who will take you places.
……………..
I feel everyone of Stevie's albums has value so I was also disappointed to see that only songs from her first two albums were performed.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by David
Hi, Tony. Yes, I think they've all done that in various contexts at one time or another. In fact, it reminded me of Stevie's radio interview with Jim Ladd in 1979 where she addresses this "my band" stuff directly.
https://youtu.be/VLpSBzTf3Mw?t=325
All good points. But I wouldn't have expected her necessarily to mention Sandy, Campbell, Rick, Dave Stewart, or any of her producers besides the guys who totally got her started: Danny and Paul, who formed Modern primarily to get Stevie started, and Jimmy, who wasn't only her first solo producer but her career sine qua non. The other guys, like Waddy, played major roles but it's really Danny, Paul, and Jimmy who created "Stevie Nicks" the solo act. They were the project managers when the project was launched. I suppose she could have rambled off a list at the end of her speech of a bunch of these other guys (and of course women like Sheryl, without whom there'd probably not be a Shangri La album and tour). But she yacked ad hoc for so long that there just didn't seem to be an opportunity.
I thought her anecdotal "speech" was everything others have said: airheaded and incoherent and fun. (In fact, as is typical for me these days, I like hearing her talk a lot more than I like hearing her sing.) But I don't think it was even her best (or near her best) rambling-style speech. While she's speaking, she seems to vaguely recall having mentioned many of these stories before and so she ellides them almost subconsciously until they make no sense if you aren't already aware of what she's referring to. I would imagine that a huge portion of that audience (which was there to see the Cure and Def Leppard and Roxy Music) was completely lost. |
Quote:
Originally Posted by jbrownsjr
I guess the fans weren't mentioned, either. What a surprise.
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Yes, the people who contributed the most, each in their own way, to her solo career are:
Paul Fishkin
Danny Goldberg
(they together with her formed Modern Records....and Paul especially encouraged her that it was ok to do this outside of FM and they wouldn't get all mad)
Jimmy Iovine
Howard Kaufman -- he negotiated in a VERY hardass way to get her the most money ALWAYS ... I recall LB commenting on the planning of one of their tours (I think post Chris leaving) and saying "You know Howard will always take care of Stevie".... he was also the one who always took her to task when she p*ssed away too much money and worked hard to make sure she had long term investments and planned for the future when her own inclination was to party it all away)
Sharon and Lori -- they ARE, with Waddy, a MAJOR factor in her solo "sound"
Tom Petty -- for giving her her first hit, along with MIKE who also gave her lots of tracks to write to when her own limited musical well dried up
Really all the musicians on her first albums-especially Benmont and Roy Bittan who worked very hard on helping her arrange her songs and turn her plinking piano playing into real songs (Benmont has talked about how Jimmy asked him when prepping for BD to go sit with her and play her songs and work with her on them to get them into a form they could present to the rest of the band)
Karen-- I know she's controversial with a lot of fans, but she gets PAID to be the "bad cop" so Stevie doesn't have to...she has kept this woman going for a very, very long time... who else recalls the interview where Stevie couldn't figure out how to turn the lights on or the tv and bellowed, "KAREN!!!" Like her or not, she's the one that actually manages day to day life for her and works with her managers etc to get her where she needs to be in order to have any success...
Herbie for being the key architect in her visual style and image.
And oh yeah, all those fans who plunked down hard-earned cash for her albums and concerts.. without whom she'd be singing as she cleaned toilets.
Who knows who else......
But she'll want to think she's so genius it was all her.