Stevie to perform on this Sunday's Grammy Awards

[Livia]

Originally Posted by DashingDan

1.) Get Stevie Nicks out in the public quickly and capitalize on the quickly waning post-grammy award performance blog chatter (there's a LOT of stevie support out there along the lines of "poor stevie, she tried but couldn't save T. Swift").

2.) Put out the Katrina song on iTunes immediately--even if doing so is in complete defiance of your client's wishes, she'll thank you later. All proceeds from the single's sales should go to local New Orleans charities and her i-Pod for soldiers 'thing' she does.

3.) Get her on The View.

4. Get Butch Walker to produce her next solo album.

[Livia]

Originally Posted by flickersticked

Butch Walker is the man.

His new album started streaming on the internet today. But I'm waiting impatiently to have my first listen on the big living room stereo speakers.

[David]

Originally Posted by Livia

His new album started streaming on the internet today. But I'm waiting impatiently to have my first listen on the big living room stereo speakers.

I had to look this guy up on the Internet. I didn't know who he is!

[Livia]

Most people don't. But most good music these days isn't mainstream. He really is fabulous, and puts on a great live show. I mentioned earlier in this thread I'd seen him 5 times last year.

ETA: LOL!

@butchwalker you rocked it last night!! i can't believe you were up there with stevie nicks- whaaaa??? hooray!!

Butch's reply:

@AFineFrenzy i know... she had me all giddy.. i kept thinking, "is it me or is she giving me the Cougar Wag?" IJ (inside joke)....

What exactly is the "Cougar Wag?" I can only imagine...

ETA one more thing:

This thread has had over 23,000 hits. Hmmm. Wonder where all these journalists and bloggers are finding the opinions of Stevie's fans?

[vivfox]

Originally Posted by Livia

@AFineFrenzy i know... she had me all giddy.. i kept thinking, "is it me or is she giving me the Cougar Wag?" IJ (inside joke)....

What exactly is the "Cougar Wag?" I can only imagine...

A Cougar is a woman, over the age of 40, who dates men that are usually 20 or so years younger than themselves.

[GypsyBlueEyes]

Originally Posted by flickersticked

Butch Walker is the man.

I'm going to go back and try to watch the video again and really pay attention to him. Its hard, though, because the few times I've been able to stomach watching it, I'm so horrified and watching Stevie to try and read her facial expressions that he just gets lost in the midst of it all.

EDIT:

So, are Taylor Swift's fans delusional or something??

Watching prerecorded Grammy's. Stevie Nicks ruined T-Swift's preformance. She needs to stick to witchery...

And what does she mean by prerecorded???

[Livia]

Originally Posted by vivfox

A Cougar is a woman, over the age of 40, who dates men that are usually 20 or so years younger than themselves.

Being a 40+ woman, I'm very familiar w/ the term "cougar." LOL I'm questioning the inside joke reference of a cougar "wag." I'm assuming it's flirting, but I want to hear the actual explanation.

Brook (or anyone else interested in Butch) - you should just go to his youtube channel. For Tom Petty fans, I highly recommend starting w/ "The Weight of Her" - great song and cute video, w/ Taryn Manning.

http://www.youtube.com/user/butchwal...15/cGsZC3Drkfs

[Macfanforever]

I just rewatch the footage over, and watch Stevie's face,when Taylor did the solo of Rhiannon,Stevie kept her self together with a professional mode until the end of Rhiannon ,at the end she let out a BIG grin cheek to cheek.Waddy kept a strait face while picking away.

[ragrsrocalot]

I have only watched this a total of two times. Can't really bring myself to watch anymore than that. At least not so soon anyway.

[strandinthewind]

Poor Taylor Swift - If you are going to go on the stage in that arena, you should at least rehearse it a few more times, which it seems she required.

Stevie looked and sounded good.

Butch Walker is fab. I had lots of drinks with him, his dog, and (I think) his wife at the Four Seasons in Atlanta a few years ago. For those who do not know his work - check it out.

Finally, I just cannot seem to shake the inability to log into The Ledge. So, I do not post very often anymore. If anyone wants to reach me, please email me at [email protected]

[michelej1]

[Here's more from that interview with Borchetta] 2-3-2010, by Jeffrey Hyatt
Beat Crave http://beatcrave.com/2010-02-03/tayl...ainst-critics/

One of the big storylines coming out of Sunday night’s 52nd Grammy Awards was Taylor Swift’s underwhelming duet with Stevie Nicks on Swift’s “Today Was a Fairytale” and “You Belong with Me” sandwiching the Fleetwood Mac hit, “Rhiannon.” The wave of criticism following Swift’s mediocre performance quickly morphed into an intense backlash against the singer; her winning Album of the Year definitely irked plenty of music fans.

All this negativity directed at the young singer has Scott Borchetta, the head of Swift’s record label, really pissed off. Check below to read his rather intense comments regarding the Grammy incident and subsequent backlash, courtesy of the Tennessean.


“The biggest message is (the critics) are not getting it,” Borchetta said. “Because the facts say she is the undisputed best communicator that we’ve got. When she says something, when she sings something, when she feels something, it affects more people than anybody else.”

Borchetta says Swift might not be the best technical singer, but adds, “she’s probably the best emotional singer because everybody else who gets up there and is technically perfect, people don’t seem to want more of it.”

That’s debatable. People love to see their favorite artists go off script, if you will, during a performance, but even when they’re at their emotional best, the music still needs to sound good. Right?

“Everybody is not perfect on any given day. If you pick any of those artists that performed (on the Grammy Awards) I’m sure you can go online and find something where you go, ‘ew.’ Maybe in that moment we didn’t have the best night. But in the same breath, maybe we did. And nobody is arguing with the awards.”

Interestingly, the issue of whether or not Swift had an off night Sunday (she did) has been quickly replaced by a much broader debate over the singer’s talent and too-fast-a-jump to stardom. Obviously not everyone is going to like Swift regardless if she sounds great or awful, but Sunday’s shoddy performance – contrasted with her four, big Grammy wins – opened the door nice and wide for critics to pounce.

Borchetta thinks those critics just don’t get it.

“This is what always happens and is the unfortunate part of the American dream, that we build these people up to watch the critics tear them down. Well, you better have more than what you’ve got now if you think you’re going to get in the ring and fight with us. So, get in the ring.”

That sounds like the gauntlet being thrown down. Either this incident is forgotten by the weekend, or critics (that would be professionals and music fans with a Blog to populate) continue to stir up the Taylor Swift backlash.

[CADreaming]

Label Chief Defends Swift's Grammy Performance

By CAITLIN R. KING, Associated Press Writer – 41 mins ago
NASHVILLE, Tennessee – The head of Taylor Swift's record label is fired up and ready to defend his superstar from people who are criticizing her Grammy-night performance.
"She is the voice of this generation. She speaks directly to (her fans), and they speak directly back to her," said Big Machine Records CEO Scott Borchetta in a phone interview. "This is not `American Idol.' This is not a competition of getting up and seeing who can sing the highest note. This is about a true artist and writer and communicator. It's not about that technically perfect performance."
Borchetta first responded to the backlash in The Tennessean. Asked by The Associated Press why he felt the need to defend Swift, he said because the criticism was "just over the top."
"It's that classic thing that critics do of building something up and then wanting to tear it down," he said.
Swift rehearsed her performance and duet with Stevie Nicks two different times at the Staples Center in Los Angeles in front of a crowd of people. Critics were nicer then. Entertainment Weekly wrote of the rehearsal, "The two women's voices complimented each other nicely on the harmonies of `Rhiannon ...'"
But on Sunday night's Grammy show, Borchetta said Swift had a technical issue that made her worry about her performance. (Attempts to reach The Recording Academy for comment went unanswered.)
"We had a volume problem in the ear. So, she was concerned that she wasn't able to hear everything in the mix," Borchetta said. "That's just part of live TV. ... So you're going to have difficulties on occasion. Unfortunately, on one of the biggest stages, we did have a technical issue. She couldn't hear herself like she had in rehearsal."
As quickly as you could say "Fearless," bloggers and media outlets, including The New York Times and The Washington Post, pounced on Swift's performance. The chatter at times overshadowed the four Grammys she won — including album of the year.
Borchetta said he doesn't need critics to give the 20-year-old the benefit of the doubt: "What we have is so much bigger than that. Am I going to ask them to turn their heads, no, I don't need them to."
It's doubtful her fans will abandon Swift anytime soon, judging by the congratulations and positive comments on her Facebook and MySpace pages, or that those with tickets to the second leg of her sold-out "Fearless" tour will throw them away because she had a bad night.
And with that, Borchetta has a message to all of her critics.
"If you haven't seen her live performance, you're welcome to come out as my guest to a Taylor Swift show and experience the whole thing, because it's amazing. You can see her in her element. There's a reason tickets are selling like they are."
Swift's "Fearless" album has sold over 5 million copies and was last year's top-selling album. She is the youngest artist to ever win the Grammys' top prize of album of the year. She will resume the "Fearless" tour March 4 in Tampa, Florida.

[Jondalar]

Originally Posted by CADreaming

Label Chief Defends Swift's Grammy Performance

By CAITLIN R. KING, Associated Press Writer – 41 mins ago
NASHVILLE, Tennessee – The head of Taylor Swift's record label is fired up and ready to defend his superstar from people who are criticizing her Grammy-night performance.
"She is the voice of this generation. She speaks directly to (her fans), and they speak directly back to her," said Big Machine Records CEO Scott Borchetta in a phone interview. "This is not `American Idol.' This is not a competition of getting up and seeing who can sing the highest note. This is about a true artist and writer and communicator. It's not about that technically perfect performance."
Borchetta first responded to the backlash in The Tennessean. Asked by The Associated Press why he felt the need to defend Swift, he said because the criticism was "just over the top."
"It's that classic thing that critics do of building something up and then wanting to tear it down," he said.
Swift rehearsed her performance and duet with Stevie Nicks two different times at the Staples Center in Los Angeles in front of a crowd of people. Critics were nicer then. Entertainment Weekly wrote of the rehearsal, "The two women's voices complimented each other nicely on the harmonies of `Rhiannon ...'"
But on Sunday night's Grammy show, Borchetta said Swift had a technical issue that made her worry about her performance. (Attempts to reach The Recording Academy for comment went unanswered.)
"We had a volume problem in the ear. So, she was concerned that she wasn't able to hear everything in the mix," Borchetta said. "That's just part of live TV. ... So you're going to have difficulties on occasion. Unfortunately, on one of the biggest stages, we did have a technical issue. She couldn't hear herself like she had in rehearsal."
As quickly as you could say "Fearless," bloggers and media outlets, including The New York Times and The Washington Post, pounced on Swift's performance. The chatter at times overshadowed the four Grammys she won — including album of the year.
Borchetta said he doesn't need critics to give the 20-year-old the benefit of the doubt: "What we have is so much bigger than that. Am I going to ask them to turn their heads, no, I don't need them to."
It's doubtful her fans will abandon Swift anytime soon, judging by the congratulations and positive comments on her Facebook and MySpace pages, or that those with tickets to the second leg of her sold-out "Fearless" tour will throw them away because she had a bad night.
And with that, Borchetta has a message to all of her critics.
"If you haven't seen her live performance, you're welcome to come out as my guest to a Taylor Swift show and experience the whole thing, because it's amazing. You can see her in her element. There's a reason tickets are selling like they are."
Swift's "Fearless" album has sold over 5 million copies and was last year's top-selling album. She is the youngest artist to ever win the Grammys' top prize of album of the year. She will resume the "Fearless" tour March 4 in Tampa, Florida.

I'm glad he is fighting back. They are trying to turn her into Ashley Simpson.

[David]

Originally Posted by CADreaming

"It's that classic thing that critics do of building something up and then wanting to tear it down," he said.

As opposed to that classic thing that record execs do of building something up & then yanking the contract.

And with that, Borchetta has a message to all of her critics.
"If you haven't seen her live performance, you're welcome to come out as my guest to a Taylor Swift show and experience the whole thing, because it's amazing.

So he's going to buy my ticket?

What a gimcrack.

[Jondalar]

Originally Posted by CADreaming

Label Chief Defends Swift's Grammy Performance

By CAITLIN R. KING, Associated Press Writer – 41 mins ago
NASHVILLE, Tennessee – The head of Taylor Swift's record label is fired up and ready to defend his superstar from people who are criticizing her Grammy-night performance.
"She is the voice of this generation. She speaks directly to (her fans), and they speak directly back to her," said Big Machine Records CEO Scott Borchetta in a phone interview. "This is not `American Idol.' This is not a competition of getting up and seeing who can sing the highest note. This is about a true artist and writer and communicator. It's not about that technically perfect performance."
Borchetta first responded to the backlash in The Tennessean. Asked by The Associated Press why he felt the need to defend Swift, he said because the criticism was "just over the top."
"It's that classic thing that critics do of building something up and then wanting to tear it down," he said.
Swift rehearsed her performance and duet with Stevie Nicks two different times at the Staples Center in Los Angeles in front of a crowd of people. Critics were nicer then. Entertainment Weekly wrote of the rehearsal, "The two women's voices complimented each other nicely on the harmonies of `Rhiannon ...'"
But on Sunday night's Grammy show, Borchetta said Swift had a technical issue that made her worry about her performance. (Attempts to reach The Recording Academy for comment went unanswered.)
"We had a volume problem in the ear. So, she was concerned that she wasn't able to hear everything in the mix," Borchetta said. "That's just part of live TV. ... So you're going to have difficulties on occasion. Unfortunately, on one of the biggest stages, we did have a technical issue. She couldn't hear herself like she had in rehearsal."
As quickly as you could say "Fearless," bloggers and media outlets, including The New York Times and The Washington Post, pounced on Swift's performance. The chatter at times overshadowed the four Grammys she won — including album of the year.
Borchetta said he doesn't need critics to give the 20-year-old the benefit of the doubt: "What we have is so much bigger than that. Am I going to ask them to turn their heads, no, I don't need them to."
It's doubtful her fans will abandon Swift anytime soon, judging by the congratulations and positive comments on her Facebook and MySpace pages, or that those with tickets to the second leg of her sold-out "Fearless" tour will throw them away because she had a bad night.
And with that, Borchetta has a message to all of her critics.
"If you haven't seen her live performance, you're welcome to come out as my guest to a Taylor Swift show and experience the whole thing, because it's amazing. You can see her in her element. There's a reason tickets are selling like they are."
Swift's "Fearless" album has sold over 5 million copies and was last year's top-selling album. She is the youngest artist to ever win the Grammys' top prize of album of the year. She will resume the "Fearless" tour March 4 in Tampa, Florida.

This Kelly Clarkson's reponse:

And this was Kelly Clarkson's response to said press release from Taylor's label: ''Scott​ Borchetta​ random​ thoughts​ by​ me' Wo​w …..Dear​ Scott​ Borchetta, ​I​ understand​ defending​ your​ artist​ obviously​ because​ I​ have​ done​ the​ same​ in​ the​ past​ for​ artists​ I​ like,​ including​ Taylor,​ so​ you​ might​ see​ why​ its​ upsetting​ to​ read​ you​ attacking​ American​ Idol​ for​ producing​ simply​ vocalists​ that​ hit​ ‘the​ high​ notes’.​ Thank​ you​ for​ that​ ‘Captain​ Obvious’​ sense​ of​ humor​ because​ you​ know​ what,​ we​ not​ only​ hit​ the​ high​ notes,​ you​ forgot​ to​ mention​ we​ generally​ hit​ the​ ‘right’​ notes​ as​ well.​ Every​ artist​ has​ a​ bad​ performance​ or​ two​ and​ that​ is​ understandable,​ but​ throwing​ blame​ will​ not​ make​ the​ situation​ at​ hand​ any​ better.​ I​ have​ been​ criticized​ left​ and​ right​ for​ having​ shaky​ performances​ before​ (and​ they​ were​ shaky)​ and​ what​ my​ manager​ or​ label​ executives​ say​ to​ me​ and​ the​ public​ is​ “I’ll​ kick​ butt​ next​ time”​ or​ “every​ performance​ isn’t​ going​ to​ be​ perfect”​ ……I​ bring​ this​ up​ because​ you​ should​ take​ a​ lesson​ from​ these​ people​ and​ instead​ of​ lashing​ out​ at​ other​ artists​ (that​ in​ your​ ‘humble’​ opinion​ lack​ true​ artistry),​ you​ should​ simply​ take​ a​ breath​ and​ realize​ that​ sometimes​ things​ won’t​ go​ according​ to​ plan​ or​ work​ out​ and​ that’s​ okay. Sincerely, ​One​ of​ those​ contestants​ from​ American​ Idol​ who​ only​ made​ it​ because​ of​ her​ high​ notes​" Scott​ Borchetta should be careful of who he throws under the bus and picks a fight with. He is just going to make the situation worse, best just let this all die down and focus on her tour.