Will Stevie Be Okay? - - - What's the "damage?"
 

Hello all - I was just watching an old video of Stevie performing Gold Dust Woman - one of her best performances of it i.m.o. ( October 20, 1989 -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEKuk_2bFwQ ) and it made me start thinking about something I've been wondering about for a long time, and I'd like to ask those of you who know about these things what you think. . . .

Most of you know that Stevie did some "pretty fast living" back in the day. And then after that was the Klonopin problem. For much of that time, many feel, she was also quite depressed, and she did a LOT of smoking - I forget how much but let's just say she was a chain-smoker. Overall, in case anyone hasn't figured it out yet ( :rolleyes: ) - - she was hard core. All together, all of this lasted for a period of perhaps 20 years, and the smoking, I believe, was more like 30 (and rumours of "an occasional cigarette backstage" continue). And so I just can't help wondering - - -

Is she going to be okay? What's really going to wind up happening here? . . . . For example, I've read that chain smokers end up permanently losing the cilia in their lungs; and they then can end up getting pneumonia, emphysema, heart disease (which runs in Stevie's family) and other diseases.

I'm not trying to be morose or pessimistic or anything, and obviously no one can predict the future. But I'd just simply like to ask everyone who knows about these things, has life experience with it, etc. what they think - is she going to be okay? Can she heal well enough so that she can still live a long, healthy life? Or does this story have "a strange ending" . . . . ? What does everyone think?


:angel:

Well I think since she kicked the coke 20 years ago and the klonopin and smoking at least 12 years ago, I think she'll be fine. Even heavy smokers can get their lungs back after about a year of kicking it. Today Stevie really doesn't do anything, so I'm guessing she'll be fine.

she's almost 60. she has lived a long, healthy life.

The minute you stop smoking, your lungs begin the slow process of healing themselves...i've heard it takes a good 10 years for an ex-heavy smoker's lungs to heal most of the affects done by smoking (tar build-up, etc...). So if Stevie really did stop in 1997/1998, she should be just fine.

What is the definition of long, healthy life? She's already had an amazing life and is clearly still enjoying what I would consider to be a tremendous experience. I think she will be just fine.:angel:

I know one person who smoked for years but quit many years ago. Nonetheless, he has been diagnosed with COPD & must take oxygen & other steps to deal with it.

I know this is sort of ghoulish, but I used to wonder about Buckingham's situation: heart disease seems highly hereditary, & his dad & brother both had fatal heart attacks in their 40s.

Get those EKGs every year, Lindsey!

[QUOTE=Ghost_Tracker;717731]Hello all - I was just watching an old video of Stevie performing Gold Dust Woman - one of her best performances of it i.m.o. ( October 20, 1989 -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEKuk_2bFwQ )

I suppose it's good that people can have completely different opinions about the quality of art/performance. I mean, we all see/hear things through our own filters so it's all subjective. For example, I think that the video you link to is one of the WORST performances of Gold Dust Woman that there is out there...are we both right? Is one of us wrong?

Viva La Difference, I guess.

[QUOTE=DashingDan;717864]I agree..horrible!
This is WAY better - 9 yrs later.

No matter what you may worry about or trouble your thoughts with, in life we never know what will happen till it does. It is truth that drug abuse can shorten one's lifetime, but the ending may be different. A car crash or tornado may be the end or worse yet, Mr. Buckingham may have a top 40 hit again. Wouldn't that be something? :laugh:

I think that version is really apropos of the time period in which it was done. It's very late 80's sounding. It's good but I can't say it's a favorite.

That is a classic performance of the song and one of my favorites. :)

*tries to stifle giggles.... fails miserably!* :thumbsup:

Didn't you hear? After Stevie left him, Lindsey was so distraught he ate twinkies deep-fat-fried in beer batter for five years straight just to console himself! ;)

Yeah.....poor Lindsey...I felt so bad about that.....I bet he takes pretty good care of himself....

She sings it fantastic, but I must say that mick and john make that song sound twice as haunting.

alnd Lb's screaching sounds give the good FM-versions alot more creepiness.

still, her vocal stands out here, one of the best since the mid-80's.

The Central Park is not a favorite of mine, but your comment reminds me of something Rick Vito used to do back on the Shake The Cage tour. Do you remember that light-sabre effect he used to add to Gold Dust Woman? It was very eerie. He would just throw it in kind of casually during the vamp; it sounded like light sabres dueling in a George Lucas film.

There are some truly wild live versions from around '77-'78. I also like The Dance version.
The reason I like the Central Park version so much is that Sheryl has a tendency to push Stevie just a bit out of her comfort zone when they work together.

I don't remember The Zoo doing Gdw.......:shrug:

You're right. We can't predict the future. You asked, "Will she be okay?" If you read Stevie's words, no matter what happens, Stevie is going to be just fine:

Touched By An Angel

And when she walked in the room
After so many years,
He looked up and saw her
He was standing at the crossroads
She was moving in slow motion
Everything was the same,
Except that everything was different

In that very moment, everyone was silent
And everyone was friendly,
For the first time in years,
Everyone was smiling
Though their pain was apparent
and the floor was wet and slippery
With the tracks of their tears

And then I see someone standing
At the side of the stage
Not standing in the shadows
I see her face
Glowing in the darkness
In her own angel way
"I have come to make you better,
I have come to take you away."

No one slipped and fell
This time, everyone was steady
Someone held my arm so that
I would not fall
For the first time, in a long time
Everyone was ready
No one said a word
And that simply said it all

And then I see someone standing
At the side of the stage
Not standing in the shadows
I see her face
Glowing in the darkness
In her own angel way
"I have come to make you better,
I have come...to take you away."
I’ll make you better

Walking through the room together
In suspended animation...
No one saw us go... no one said goodbye
But in my heart, I leave
Great expectations
That you will find the answers
to your questions
And that life will once more...
be a celebration...
and that you will be touched by an Angel
and that you will be touched by an Angel
and that you will be touched by an Angel

Celebration
Someday
Someday, Someday
Celebration