The Ledge - KLOS Interview Transcript

Since the audio files haven't popped up on Daniel's site (wtf, Dan?), I went ahead & transcribed this, which should serve until then. "MB" = Mark & Brian. I just combined them into a single yappity DJ.
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David: Out of curiosity, your song “Edge of Seventeen” – does that have anything to do with the Nimitz Freeway?

Mark/Brian pretending to be Stevie: No, that was a song that I wrote …

MB: David, hang on, we’ll have Stevie here in a couple of seconds.

David: Okay.

MB: Stevie, good morning. Welcome to the program.

Stevie: Hello. How are ya?

MB: Fine, Stevie. We’re good. We just shared a moment five or six years ago when you & Lindsey sang “Landslide” on this program. And I was just saying what a touching moment in time musically that was. Thank you for doing that for us.

Stevie: You’re welcome & how come we haven’t shared any moments lately? (laughs)

MB: We haven’t! Let’s do that. Where are you right now? Get in here!

Stevie: I’m in Philadelphia.

MB: That would make it tough. Take a cab!

Stevie: And we’re hubbing out of Philly. We’ve been here for almost two weeks. We did five days of production & rehearsal here, & then we’ve done three shows & we’re off today & we play tomorrow. So we’re on our way to our ten shows with Mr. Henley, & it’s been quite an adventure & being here in Philly for two weeks has been quite an adventure. So, that’s why I’m not there.

MB: All right, well, we miss you. Next time you’re in town, we do want you to come in & sing for us, okay?

Stevie: I’d love to.

MB: Stevie, we had a chance to catch one of the rehearsal shows for the Fleetwood Mac tour for the last album. How was the tour? How was being back with that huge Fleetwood Mac machine for you?

Stevie: It was amazing. We ended up doing 135 shows. So I guess that says it all, doesn’t it? 135 shows. (laughs)

MB: And did it go relatively well with everybody?

Stevie: Well, you know, it went great. It goes like – nothing ever changes with Fleetwood Mac. Lindsey & I fight like cats & dogs, but we love each other. And we always come out on the other side, in a good place. So it’s like, nothing ever changes.

MB: You are on the road, you’re traveling all over the place. It says here June 24 you’re kicking off your solo tour in Grand Rapids.

Stevie: Right. So when we finish our shows with Don, we go to Grand Rapids, & just revamp slightly (the set), which isn’t a real big revamp because we did four shows in Vegas three weeks ago.

MB: Heard they went great – we had callers calling in saying how great that was.

Stevie: They did. They went great & that was really fun & that’s something that none of us had ever done before. That theater is to die for. It’s like a $50 million screen up behind you that’s just so like the best television you’ve ever had in your life. So we were able to do something that we’ve really never done before, which was do a lot of cool projection stuff. And of course then we left Las Vegas & came out here & of course we didn’t have that gorgeous screen. (laughs) So we’ve been through a few ups & downs on trying to – I call it the Toyota version.

MB: (laughs)

Stevie: So we kind of went from the Mercedes screen to the Toyota screen. But it’s all coming around now & we’re getting the “mini” version … kind of … of what we had in Vegas. So it’s taken us a few days to adjust. But the last two months have been great because we had the Vegas shows & now we have the Don & Stevie show & then we’ll be going back to my shows in another two weeks. It’s kind of like I’m running from room to room & there’s a lot of change going on. It’s kind of fun, actually, because it’s certainly not boring.

MB: Good. Stevie’s Gold Dust Tour is going to be at the Arrowhead Pond on July 24 & then she’s going to be at the Gibson Amphitheatre on July 26. Tickets are on sale now. Stevie, we always hear from our listeners after we interview you that we’re stingy with you. We don’t take enough calls. So we’re going to take a group. Is that okay with you?

Stevie: That’s good.

MB: All right. Kim, you’re on the air with Stevie.

Kim: Hi Stevie. I have to tell you I am a huge fan of yours. I remember a friend of mine turning me on to you when you & Lindsey had an album together before Fleetwood Mac.

Stevie: Right. “Buckingham Nicks.”

Kim: Yes! It was awesome. I just can’t believe I’m actually talking to you. This is a huge dream for me. I’m in the Sacramento area & I want to know are you coming around this area so that we can watch you perform again?

Stevie: You know what? Mark & Brian would probably be able to answer that better than me. I’m not sure. We are coming back to the West Coast obviously because we’re doing the Pond & the Universal Amphitheatre. But I don’t know exactly if we’re coming to Sacramento but I know that we are coming back to California.

MB: All I know, Stevie, is that when you are back, you’re scheduled to stay at my house for two days.

Stevie: It is! (laughs)

MB: And we’re looking forward to that.

Stevie: I am too. (laughs)

MB: You cooked the best spaghetti. Let’s go to Tom.

Tom: Hi, Stevie. It’s a dream come true for me too to speak to you. I was down in front for your Portland show – what a great show – with Fleetwood Mac.

Stevie: Thank you.

Tom: I just read “Never Break the Chain: Fleetwood Mac & the Making of Rumours” & I was wondering if you could say what you feel about that book? Is it mostly true?

Stevie: “Never” . . . you mean Mick’s book?

Tom: Cath Carroll, “Never Break the Chain: Fleetwood Mac & the Making of Rumours.”

Stevie: I don’t even know what book you’re talking about, unless that’s Mick’s book, which I didn’t read. (laughs)

MB: Well, there ya go, Tom.

Stevie: I have no idea. I don’t know what you’re talking about.

MB: All right, Thea, you’re on the air.

Thea: Hi Stevie – The Queen.

Stevie: Thank you.

Thea: I just want to let you know I had the most awesome time at your opening night at Caesar’s Palace.

Stevie: Ah, great.

Thea: Your performance of “Beauty & the Beast” was just so eloquent.

Stevie: Well, thank you. That’s my favorite new moment.

Thea: I just want to ask you, did you feel it when we were just all so into that moment with you?

Stevie: I did. I did, & of course having the movie up behind me . . . 1940 Jean Cocteau movie . . . to me it’s like I don’t turn around & look at it, but I know the movie so well & I know what’s going on up there. That movie just breaks my heart so much, since I know you guys are seeing the real “Beauty & the Beast” up there. It just enhances what I’m doing. And I am just getting runs of complete goosebumps all the way through that. I’m so thrilled to be able to bring that to everybody. We’re doing that now also. It was the one song that I said, “Well, this has to go into the Don & Stevie show.” And I’m so thrilled with it because people are just like, “What is that movie?! What is that movie?!” And I’m going, “Well, it’s this amazing movie that was made 40 miles outside Paris in 1940, when there were no special effects. People had to sit around & wait for the rain & the sun. It’s just this incredible . . . you know the story of the Beauty & the Beast. You can live by this story, it’s such an amazing story. So thank you so much.

MB: I’m so intrigued. How long did it take for the Vegas stint, for the conception of your show to opening night, to prepare for?

Stevie: Actually, me & Waddy flew to Vegas in March & we saw Celine, & then the next night the theater went dark. Then the next night it was Elton. So we were able to see Celine Dion & Elton John almost back-to-back, so that we had some idea of what we were up against with that theater because it’s 110 feet wide. So you can’t just take your normal band in there & stick them down in the middle of that 110-foot stage, or you will look like … we laughingly call it The Flea Circus. We had named everybody . . . I became Steflea Flicks, & Waddy Wachtel was Wadflea Flocktel. We became all the Flea Circus members because we had to build a world so that you didn’t look like a stupid blues band that was in this ridiculous theater where you had no business being. So we sat there watching Celine & Elton & going like, “Okay, how long do we have?”

MB: (laughs)

Stevie: We started from that moment building a world. We started going through video & photographs & my favorite artist Sulamith Wulfing & drawings & “Live from the Fillmore West” 1968 . . . we started bringing in every possible thing that we had all loved somewhere over the last 300 years, & putting it in there to fill that stage up. So it was a massive undertaking. But when it was done, it was like, oh, could it ever have been any other way?

MB: Stevie, what about that thing that Celine Dion & Barry Manilow are now doing where basically they’re having their audience come to them. Does that seem like an attractive idea to you, to get off the road?

Stevie: Well, not altogether. What I would love . . . I think I’m going to go back & do three or four shows in Vegas in August. But that’s all it’s ever going to be for me, probably, is three or four shows here & there. No, I’m not so wheelchair-bound at this point that I have to have everybody drop everything & fly across the country to see me in Vegas.

MB: Like Celine?

Stevie: No, you know, it’s like no . . . & I’m sure that Celine is. . . she’s been there a long time & I’m sure she’s like, “Okay, I need to go back on the road a bit at this point.” Because there’s a certain amount of total fun when you’re out on the road, obviously, as we all know. Books have been written about that. (laughs) So do I want to buy a house & live in Las Vegas? Absolutely not. But is it nice to go there & be in a hotel for a week & be able to not have to pack & to be able to run downstairs, do your show & come back upstairs, go have dinner. That’s really a lovely idea. That’s something you can do two or three times a year & that’s a wonderful thing to be allowed to do. It’s very hard to get into the loop in Las Vegas, so if you can achieve that, it’s a great thing & you can totally use it to your advantage & of course to Caesar’s Palace’s advantage. But am I going to stop touring? No. (laughs)

MB: Stevie’s Gold Dust Tour is at Arrowhead Pond on July 24 & Gibson Amphitheatre on July 26. Stevie, we can’t wait to see you again, so please try to make some time you can come by & see us.

Stevie: And if you come down, I’ll dedicate “Beauty & the Beast” to . . . Beauty & the Beast.

MB: Nice of you. Right on.

Stevie: Mark & Brian . . . Beauty & the Beast. (laughs)

MB: Thank you, Stevie.

Stevie: But now you guys will have to fight about who is the beauty & who is the beast.

MB: It depends on if I shower in the morning.

Stevie: I know. (laughs)

MB: All right. Stevie, we love talking to you. See you soon.

Stevie: And I love you guys so much! I miss you – I miss you every day!

MB: Thank you, Stevie. (Stevie hangs up) Hey, I’m just saying . . . a lot of you guys out there don’t get told by Stevie Nicks that she misses you every day. I’m just saying, Stevie Nicks misses me EVERY SINGLE DAY. That’s right. Go, Stevie. (deep intake of breath)