[PenguinHead]

What I find, both funny and perplexing, are the expectations people have -- which in turn turns fans against each other with such intensity!

I have been a die-hard fan of Stevie since 1976 (and many other artists as well). Given the forum we have in the age of the internet, I've seen how radically our relationships with artists have changed. We used to just buy the album, examine artwork, and read the liner notes. Then intently listen to every note. Some songs may hit you right away. Other songs may take repeated listens to fully appreciate -- sometimes even years!

Now we are questioning and debating the viability and integrityof marketing plans, their PR, their singles, their producers etc... Judgements are delivered and established quickly - even before we have the full product. It's not about being open to change or progress, or being challenged by an artist's work --- it's only about your own expectations about what you want it to be! Me! Me! Me! ImMEdiately!

I learned that my favorite artists don't always fulfill my ME expectations. True artists challenge their fans. Stevie is a far cry from those artists...at least on an extreme level. She stays mostly in her own comfort zone. After Bella Donna and Wild Heart, I was so dissappointed with Rock A Little. It was a harsh departure (in my under-developed mindset) from the previous albums. Why couldn't she just stay in the same vein as before?

All these years later, I appreciate the album more for what it wasn't -- the same as before! Is Stevie rock and roll? Is she country? I really don't care. Just being Stevie with some new music is good enough for me. I'm not getting my panties in a twist over this or that. Nor am I criticising every little snippet and piece of media we are getting leading up the release date. My only expectation is that I will have a new Stevie album. And like a bastard child, I will eventually accept, if not love, whatever she delivers.