San Fran Chronicle Article
 

I feel a new signature line coming on.... :D

GOLD DUST WOMAN
- Bill Picture
Sunday, July 24, 2005

Hurricane Emily is threatening to pummel Florida's eastern shore, and Stevie Nicks is sitting in a hotel room in Miami, her eyes glued to the television.

Fleetwood Mac's bewitching front woman is 10 dates into her 22-city solo outing (the Gold Dust Tour comes to the Chronicle Pavilion on Saturday) and trying to figure out why she didn't take the summer off as she had planned. After all, she deserves a break. She spent the better part of 2004 on tour with Fleetwood Mac, and early 2005 was spent assembling an elaborate, Strip- worthy spectacle for a sold-out, four-night solo engagement at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

"It was pretty fabulous, if I do say so myself," she jokes.

But as soon as Nicks cleared her calendar, unpacked and began to settle back into life in sleepy Phoenix, an old flame, Eagles front man Don Henley, whom Nicks dated briefly in the late '70s, called to invite her to join him for a string of co-headlining dates.

"And when Don Henley asks you to rock with him, you don't say no," she says. "Plus, I thought, 'Well, I have this amazing show left over (from Vegas). ' So I said, 'Ah, what the hell, let's do it.' "

Henley was able to commit to only 10 dates because he was due to report back to Eagles headquarters in mid-August for a three-month outing with the classic rock outfit and needed to save his voice. But Nicks decided to go ahead and make a summer of it. She booked 23 more dates of her own, dubbed it the Gold Dust Tour and invited up-and-comer Vanessa Carlton to come along.

"I figured, the ball is already rolling, so I might as well tour as long as I can," Nicks says.

Without a new record to support (her most recent solo release was 2001's "Trouble in Shangri-La"), Nicks is treating fans to an all-greatest-hits set that includes classics from her own vast repertoire and that of Fleetwood Mac. While some veteran artists have resorted to freshening up older material with new arrangements rather than retiring them altogether and disappointing fans, Nicks has adopted an "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" attitude when it comes to classics like "Edge of Seventeen" and "Rhiannon." She is, however, planning to perform and record some of her work with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra next year.

"I never get tired of those songs," she says. "Really, I don't. I'm a very different person now than I was 30 years ago when I wrote 'Gold Dust Woman,' for instance, but I still feel it. It takes me right back to that dark, sad place, when drugs were consuming me and I could feel my life's blood dripping away.

"I guess the songs never get old for me because they're all so personal. When I perform them, I try to remember who I was then, who that version of me was. It's really heavy sometimes, and sometimes I still get really emotional."

Nicks says that watching her tour mate Carlton perform has much the same effect on her.

"I adore that girl, but I can't watch her because I get all choked up," she says. "Vanessa reminds me so much of myself at that age. You know, Lindsey (Buckingham) and I were very much in love, and I had this intense passion for (making music). I cry because she makes me remember why I started doing this."

Carlton recently commented how honored she is to be sharing a stage with one of rock's legends. Nicks says Carlton needs to stop with the legend stuff, because, while she's proud of her work, Nicks believes she has yet to write her one defining song.

"People tell me, 'That's the best song you've ever written,' and I go, 'Really?' I guess it's the artist's curse, never being satisfied. But I feel like, once I have written my best song, then what? There's nowhere left to go from there."

Retirement isn't yet a part of Nicks' vocabulary because, at 57, she insists she's got plenty more good years and good songs left in her. When she is too old to tour, rather than put herself out to pasture, she plans to channel all of her creative energy into her first love, writing.

"It's what I love to do," she says. "And I may produce. But honestly, they'll probably be wheeling me out onstage in a wheelchair with rhinestones and raven feathers hot-glued to it. You know me -- it has to be fabulous."

She also foresees a return to the Bay Area at some point in the future.

"That's where it all started," she says. "It's where I belong. It's been years since I lived there, but to this day it still feels like home.

"So, if you're in the Haight 10 years from now and a blur of feathers and rhinestones whizzes past you on a rocket-powered wheelchair and someone goes, 'What was that?' you can say, 'Oh, that's Stevie.' "

Stevie Nicks, with Vanessa Carlton, performs at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Chronicle Pavilion, 2000 Kirker Pass Road, Concord. $20-$85.50. (925) 676-8742. www.bgp.com, www.nicksfix.com.

Bill Picture is a freelance writer.

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URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg...KGPODPUQ11.DTL
©2005 San Francisco Chronicle

:lol: :lol: OMG that was great! She just gets funnier with age!

:laugh: :lol: OH Thats Stevie :laugh: :lol: :laugh:

OMG - and there you and I will be there with a camera :laugh:

GREAT article - thanks for posting :xoxo:

That was a great article.. very funny she is, that Welsh Witch ;)

hahahaha thanks for posting that
:xoxo:

i love you stevie nicks!

I SO KNEW she was at the Mandarin Oriental :laugh:

How do you know she was at that hotel as opposed to another one?

With a 360 degree view of Biscayne Bay from the presidential suite how could she not! Plus, they stayed there last time when they played Ft Lauderdale in 2003....Its the nicest hotel in all of South Florida, and it has an AMAZING spa....BTW, best massages ever..... and yes, I know, I'm spoiled :laugh:

Ahhhhhh - I would think she might opt for The Shore Club in Sobe because it is soooooo in right now. I personally thought it sucked and was dirty and filled with trashy gross people/posers - but the stars love it. I like The Ritz in Sobe - but The Mandarian is way cool as well.

They also opened a brand new Four Seasons by the beach as well.....not to mention the new Trump Hotel and Resort that is set to open in the next year. Stevie has MANY options when staying here, but like I said....The Mandarin's presidential suite is the SHIZZLE! Whenever you book the presidential suite, you also book you're own PERSONAL massage therapist that is on call during your whole stay, in the massage room in your suite! Like I said the suite also has a 360 degree panoramic view of Biscayne bay, downtown Miami, and Brickel Key.

The stars tend to go for The Shore Club and The Tides hotel mainly because they are not the standard big name hotels. The Loews hotel on Sobe is REALLY in right now too....

Pretty good article. My paper will come later tonight ,but I thought that was rather ungenerous of the writer to surmise that she'll be in a wheelchair in only 10 years!

I LOVE the Lowes - we stayed at The Ritz next door to it and it was nice, but the Lowe's seemed nicer. I also stayed at The Delano once when it first opened, but was not in love with it - though the pool was WAY cool. I have also seen the suite at the top of The Tides - it is three stories tall and has its own pool and was AMAZING as seen here:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...nthewind/7.jpg

The hotel itself was gross though.

Safe to say I'm not the only one spoiled here? :D :xoxo:

Hey - I like nice hotels, what can I say :laugh:

Then please tell me you watch 'Great Hotels' on the Travel Channel :blob1: :lol: :laugh: Its my guilty pleasure

OMG - I watch it ALL of the time. I also LOVE Samantha Brown on the other hotel show (or is that the same one)

I purposely plan ALL of my vacations to hotels she goes to in every city :laugh: ALL the Florida ones she has done, I have stayed at in one form or another :nod: The best part is when she visits all the luxury suites....mmmm....luxury suites......

~Alex

Spoiled far beyond my years

I know - I remember when they did the New York ones and the New Orleans one - I was like BEEN THERE DONE THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I owe I owe - its off to work I go :laugh:

Can you believe Im turning 20 next Tuesday (Aug 2nd)!!!! Im no longer going to be a teenager! :distress: :eek: My mom told me the other day, "the real world is just around the corner." I told her, "Fine with me....as long as I get a housekeeper!" :laugh:

I wish I was turning 21 though......ah, good times during that year :D

Okay... and back to the article! :)

I loved this! I read it and came over here to see if anyone had posted it - knew someone would have. She's just had such positive press - all the reviews have been good, and even the atricles have all been very complimentary. Yay, Stevie!

And an aside... I don't know anyone - anyone!!! - who talks about her ex of 30 years ago as much as Stevie does. She takes every opportunity to mention Lindsey by name. In-ter-es-ting. :nod:

Okay, now everyone accuse me of being a Shipper Chiffonhead. I'm actually not - I just find it interesting. She doesn't mention any of her other exes nearly as often. I'm just saying.... :woohoo:

!
 

Yep! that's Stevie! :thumbsup:

this:

is BOGUS.......its the CONCORD Pavillion....
DAMN newspapers anyway...

I feel the same way about the positive press she has been getting. She has to feel great about the reception she has been getting. Her confidence during interviews seems to have improved from say even the TISL period. When interviewers wanted to constantly rehash the coke/klonipin/ weight topics. Probably as a result of that, she seemed at times to be a deer in headlights choosing her words very carefully.

Not to say Stevie is revealing any big secrets,now ;) but since the Ladd interview we have been seeing a light hearted Stevie and I for one just love it. :blob1: Maybe in the eyes of the press she has transitioned from the rock-n-roll survivor to your signiture~~~Stevie Nicks, the sage mother goddess fierce gypsy bitch we adore. What she really is.


AND YEAH WHO TALKS ABOUT AN EX BOYFRIEND THIS MUCH!!!!!! bandmate or not

"It's what I love to do," .............honestly, they'll be wheeling me out onstage in a wheelchair with rhinestones and raven feathers hot-glued to it.

That was really funny, I say WHY WAIT! I think thats something that Id pay real good money to see! :laugh:

Thanks for sharing, Livia. I feel better for having read it. :wavey:

- Jake

Cat, please stop making me spit my coffee out this early in the morning. You aren't a shipper, you are observing the obvious.
Oh and who do you think pointed out to Stevie that Vanessa was an awful lot like her when she was younger? Stevie ain't that observant all by her little self. He is the entire reason Vanessa is touring with Stevie, IMHO.

I do believe that the Mandarin was featured on there. Alex, I still can remember my reaction to seeing it from just the outside :eek: The inside lobby was beautiful, too! Mick seemed to really enjoy the hotel.

And I agree with you. But first, this article was hilarious. Gawd, she is so funny. I LOVE her in every way. Now to the Lindsey thing. I agree. (I swear, I'm not trying to start anything because I can't take anymore petty arguments about smilies or jokes or anything. I am too worn out by what's going on here and at this rate with my dad's situation, we are never going home.) So that being said, I think she does talk about him A LOT and maybe she is really still hung up on him. I don't want her not to be because I think he's an asshole (I kind of do) but because Stevie gave up so much to be in FM. She gave up a family and kids and marriage and for some of us, that might be cool. For her, I think she really wanted those things. So, now I think she deserves to be with someone. Really with someone. Not like all those guys that hurt her (Joe, Don, etc.) and not with some married guy with 3 kids. I know I'm too passionate about Stevie, but that would so suck for her. If Lindsey had never gotten married and didn't have kids, then it might be different. Anyway, it does sound sometimes like she thinks about him too much but for her sake, I hope she isn't hung up on some guy that's married to somebody else and has kids. There are other reasons I feel this way, but I just had to say that. But I agree, catinthedark.

Thanks for posting this article! She could be a comedian.

They stayed at the Mandarin in London when they came over for SYW

Pip

Great article! Thanks so much for posting, Livia. :thumbsup:

Damn straight. Hotel quality is of utmost importance to me when I travel! And I've been to the Mandarian in Miami and it is magnificient!

Thanks for posting this article. Stevie makes me laugh so hard at what she says. I love her sense of humor. At least she has a sense of humor about aging and still being able to do what your passion in life is.

It is also nice to know that she does not get tired of singing these great old songs, and I think it really shows when she is on stage. I have noticed that her face just lights up when she starts dancing to the opening notes of Stand Back.

As an artist too, it is wonderful that she feels that the best writing is still to come because that is what drives an artist.

Great article! And I can't wait for Stevie to live in San Francisco!

Okay--am I the only one that picked up on this?? Maybe a new CD or DVD?? Wouldn't that be awesome!!!!! And thanks so much for posting this article--Stevie is too cool :)

I've been going over in my mind the implications of those comments, and it's very exciting.

Classic rock married with orchestral arrangements often produces a very interesting result... I'm definitely hoping we get an album and/or DVD out of this.

Much looking forward to Fall From Grace on the flute and oboe. ;)
Actually, I'm really looking forward to a DVD of the show myself. :thumbsup:

- Jake

I'm so going to Aus.

I have decided I will settle for nothing less than front...I don't care who I have to sleep with...It will be at least $500 (That's what Eagles were)...and if she does a multiple of shows... :shocked:

I better start saving! Curtis maybe we can share a limo?