Poor Stevie. I mean really. As much as I bitch about her clunkenboks and granny sweaters, she must really be getting it from all sides about her looks and costumes. Now that I think about it, the shoes may just be her big F-You to the entire lot of us. I do, for the record, think her comfort should be the utmost of her concerns. She's pushing sixty, for crying out loud.
What would I like to see ? I propose a one record, one tour radical departure. She was stellar singing with the orchestras when I saw her (singing At Last, When Sunny Gets Blue, Sunday Kind of Love, and a special arrangement of Landslide). She did an outstanding job with minimal rehearsals on those numbers.
What I would love to see, in a few years, is a record of standards and blues torch numbers. All with a 60 piece orchestra. Plus, a limited tour, and full length video record of the experience. She could get all dolled up in vampy, film noir drag, pull her hair back and up (which she rarely does but it looks stunning), and go out there and stand still and blow the roofs off of a dozen amphitheaters. As it is, all she has to do is shake her skirt and we all have a heart attack. She could do this with a minimum of effort, and I believe the response would be remarkable. Anyone who has seen her perform in such settings is likely to agree.
Is this trick a little shopworn ? I will concede that point. Ronstadt did it to the nines. Natalie Cole mastered it and was a great success. Even Cyndi Friggin LAUPER put out a standards record. That being said, I think it would be a fine artistic endeavor, and bring a different kind of respectability to her singing. Most people wouldn't believe that she could pull it off. I know she could.
Furthermore, as she gets older, I say work that regal thing. If she really wants to play that royalty card, she could walk out there looking like Catherine Deneuve, stand there and sing with the control and grace she now has, and shock the hell out of everyone. Even just for a three night stand in LA.
If only I was her manager !
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