Viv brings you a brand spankin' new interview with Stevie

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by HejiraNYC

But don't you think her comparing Dave Stewart to Lindsey Buckingham as a guitarist was a bit of a backdoor slam? It's almost as if she is saying, "Lookie here, Lindsey, I've got my own guitar hero and producer extraordinaire. You're not the be-all, end-all, bees knees and all that stuff." And when she says this is the best stuff she's ever done, she is kind of throwing the entire post-1975 Fleetwood Mac catalogue under the bus too.

I don't think her comments come from a place of anger, at least in the overt, palpable sense. But I can't help but wonder if she subsconsciously feels compelled to get these subtle digs in.

Well, they're always going to get their digs in. That's basically a reflex, at this point, but this is much better than in 2005, when she was saying something like . . . I don't remember what she even said now, but the gist was she was naming the greatest guitarist she could think of and the one that sprang to her mind immediately was Eric Clapton! I'm not saying Eric Clapton isn't the greatest guitarist, but I took it as a dig. So, I knew she was mad then. And that was before the Jim Ladd interview where she complained about Mr. Buckingham being responsible for her granny sweater.

This time around, instead of having vowed never to work with him ever again in life, she seems open to the idea of maybe consulting together on a pre-FM project. Wonders may never cease.

If they ever did anything with the 3 years before they joined FM that would, of course, be the ideal time for the BN album to finally come out on CD.

Michele

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by Christopher

It's also possible that the 9 Stevie and Dave tracks mentioned in this new article include the Mike Campbell tracks.

And with You Wreck Me in the setlist, Mike Campbell is getting plenty of Stevie love right now.

Michele

[belladonnadream]

Originally Posted by BombaySapphire3

I was just listening to the local classic rock station 103.7 The Band and after playing a Fleetwood Mac song the DJ mentioned that Stevie was working on a new solo album with Dave Stewart which he said would be "her best ever" So the hype is spreading.

This is awesome!

[michelej1]

By JOSEF WOODARD, SANTA BARBARA NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
http://www.newspress.com/Top/Article...09418621927453


Proceeds for Stevie Nicks' Wednesday night Bowl concert went to a charitable cause — an 8-year-old girl, a friend of Ms. Nicks' named Cecilia, who is undergoing treatments for a rare form of cancer. "This is Cecilia's show," Ms. Nicks announced early in the show.

THOMAS KELSEY / NEWS-PRESS

August 7, 2010 12:00 AM

When Stevie Nicks performed at the Santa Barbara Bowl five years ago, she was suffering from a throat ailment that left her subpar, but she soldiered on through the show.

All was more than well during her triumphant return to the Bowl Wednesday night, as Ms. Nicks powered through a captivating set.

Beyond the musical strengths of the night, the recent encounter was enhanced by external factors. For one thing, there is the encouraging fact that she is finally working on her first new studio album in a decade — produced by Dave (Eurhythmics) Stewart. Not incidentally, the Bowl date also had a charitable reason for being, with proceeds for the show going to an 8-year-old girl, a friend of Ms. Nicks' named Cecilia, who is undergoing treatments for a rare form of cancer. "This is Cecilia's show," announced the singer, early in the show.

Another interesting development in the world according to Nicks is the expanding demographic of her audience, even just in the five years since her last appearance here. Wednesday's audience was one of the more diversified Bowl audiences in recent memory, from Boomers around her age (62) to 20somethings who have ushered in a new phase of hipness in the singer's 40-year career thus far.

Opening the show was the impressive, up-and-coming Australian singer Mia Dyson, who made a joyful and soulful noise with just her voice and guitars — first, a plaintive approach on lap steel and then chugging work on an electric guitar. Dyson boasts a Bonnie Raitt-ish vocal character, bluesy and with just the right blend of luster and grit in her voice, and she pens songs with a winning hookiness and emotional truth. She cooks up and kicks up a big sound on her own, but it would be nice to hear her in a band mix next.

For her part, Ms. Nicks took charge of the Bowl stage with the able help of her unerring nine-piece band, including two seamlessly entwined background vocalists and two guitarists. Her longtime ally, and musical director is Waddy Wachtel, who has a habit of playing just the right thing and making minimalist riffs speak volumes, and the guitarist Carlos Rios is one of those hot, versatile L.A. players who has never gotten enough credit due.

By now, Ms. Nicks knows her voice and its limitations, and she skillfully dodges the old high notes she no longer has access to. A well-paced and generous set functioned as a portrait of the artist to date. She has a good sense of humor about her own (and by extension, her core audience's) veteran status, as when she said of one of her shawls, "this thing is so old, I keep expecting it to fall apart, but it never does... just like me," she laughed. "Sorry, I couldn't resist."

Ms. Nicks is happy to serve up the Big Hits her audience can't get enough of, but approached from new angles. She slithered into her mondo Fleetwood Mac hit "Dreams" out of a medley, and eased out of keyboardist Daryl Smith's introduction, through a rubato vocal passage into the familiar rumbling groove of "Rhiannon."

From her own solo repertoire, Ms. Nicks satisfied the Bowl customers with the churning but minor-mode "Stand Back," "Gold Dust Woman" and "Edge of Seventeen" to close the official set. "Sorcerer" emerged as one of the beauts of the night, a driving semi-twang country-pop number with some nice quirky rhythmic twists along the way. "If Anyone Falls in Love" is one of those big-boned pop-rock songs and wannabe anthems, bolstered by chunky, simmering guitar and a signature synth part underscoring the big vocal refrain.

From outside her own songbook, Ms. Nicks covered Tom Petty's "You Wreck Me," Bob Seger's "Face the Promise," and, for her first encore, a fairly dead-on version of Led Zeppelin's "Rock and Roll," replete with the loopy John Bonham drum intro, laid out by her solid drummer Jimmy Paxson. During the Zeppelin cover, vintage footage of the '70s heyday flashed on the screen behind the band, triggering memories of times long gone by, including my own memories of seeing the Nicks/Buckingham era Fleetwood Mac as an impressionable teenager at UCSB's Harder Stadium. Ending on a grace note, she closed with a final encore of the airy, emotive "Love Is..."

At various times in the past, Ms. Nicks maybe have seemed to be coasting on old artistic fuel, but energies seem to be converging again. She seems like someone entering a new state of grace, corralling new fans into the fold and getting back to her game in the studio. All ears are open to what comes next.

e-mail: [email protected]

[Eponymous]

Thanks for posting that. It's a really nice review.

[ricohv]

Thank you michelej1 for posting that! SWEET BABY JESUS!!! I think that may very well be the most positive review I have ever read, at least from a critic who may not be one of us...ummm chiffonheads?!?...that fall at the boots of Our Lady. And with the recent post about the radio station giving kudos to Stevie I would like to think the tides are changing and perhaps The Lady will finally have enough distance from more troubled times where critics totally dismissed her (RAL thrue pre-Dance era [?]). And, with a critically acclaimed album & hopefully successful album sales (even if she doesn't have major singles-chart success), she might finally cement her status as a respected, bona-fide rock-n-roll icon. ALL HAIL THE QUEEN!
Ricoh

[GypsyNikita]

ALL HAIL THE QUEEN!
Ricoh

Amen to that!

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by Eponymous

Thanks for posting that. It's a really nice review.

For nostalgia and comparison's sake you can read the article where the same writer, Josef Woodard, reviewed Stevie's Santa Barbara Bowl concert from 2001 here:
http://fleetwoodmac.net/penguin/archive/santa1.htm

Michele

[singertobe]

Originally Posted by SapphireSister

New pic: Stevie with musician Ricky Peterson. She looks skinny!

Almost too skinny. Eat something woman!