story about Christine leaving FM (told by SN yesterday)

[Ulpian]

Originally Posted by elle

i listened to the recording of SN's Q&A from yesterday at Hamptons before her movie premiere - here's the more/less faithfully transcribed part about Christine leaving the band:

and after The Dance we went to Grammys
and it wasn't we didn't win the grammy -
which we wanted to win really a lot for The Dance
and Lindsey got kinda mad
and she wasn't really happy with that situation
and basically when it was all over and everybody had gone home
she and i were doing some preps
she said to me "i quit"
and i'm and i was and i looked at her "really??"

and, so i said "really??"
and she said "really."
and look in her eyes was like when somebody breaks up with you
and you know they are not kidding
and you know there are no reason for you to go but
so i said so you're done? and she said "i'm done."
and i said "well, who's telling them, me or you?"
and she said "no i'll tell them"
so band basically broke up
for until... until... until we went back together to do Say You Will."

This is really interesting. I read the first part as Chris being mad / exasperated at LB for being angry about the Grammy!

I do think, as usual, the timeline is a bit skewed. Or maybe this is the true version of events. I recall various times Stevie saying that Chris decided she was quitting about half way through the Dance tour. Then there was another story in which they were told towards the end of the tour and that by the Brits and Grammys Chris was quite happy because she was really just fulfilling some final obligations, having decided that she was finished with FM.

[aleuzzi]

Originally Posted by Ulpian

This is really interesting. I read the first part as Chris being mad / exasperated at LB for being angry about the Grammy!

You're very probably right.

Again, as fun and rewarding as The Dance was, it was not a grammy-worthy album, IMO. It was simply too nostalgic. SYW, on the other hand, deserved a grammy nod.

[Ulpian]

Originally Posted by aleuzzi

You're very probably right.

Again, as fun and rewarding as The Dance was, it was not a grammy-worthy album, IMO. It was simply too nostalgic. SYW, on the other hand, deserved a grammy nod.

If my reading of what Stevie says is right, and Christine got sick of Lindsey's attitude, the way he talked about her for the SYW promo stuff makes a little more sense.

I can't see Christine getting so angry about not winning a Grammy that it would tip her over the edge and make her quit. Clearly, as we know, there were other touring-related issues, but it seems to me that there may have been personal conflicts about which little has been said.

[SteveMacD]

Originally Posted by Ulpian

If my reading of what Stevie says is right, and Christine got sick of Lindsey's attitude, the way he talked about her for the SYW promo stuff makes a little more sense.

I can't see Christine getting so angry about not winning a Grammy that it would tip her over the edge and make her quit. Clearly, as we know, there were other touring-related issues, but it seems to me that there may have been personal conflicts about which little has been said.

Eh, I think she was done. She just wanted to go out on a high note. Her songs on "Time" made it clear she was done then. She had already retired from the road five years before "Time" as it was. "The Dance" was a miracle in terms of getting her back in the band and out on the road. It really wasn't a shocker that she was the one to call it quits.

[Ulpian]

Originally Posted by SteveMacD

Eh, I think she was done. She just wanted to go out on a high note. Her songs on "Time" made it clear she was done then. She had already retired from the road five years before "Time" as it was. "The Dance" was a miracle in terms of getting her back in the band and out on the road. It really wasn't a shocker that she was the one to call it quits.

Yes but I just meant within the context of the Dance project. From what we have heard, the possibility of Christine doing another leg might have been quite real had things not become so tricky during the first forty dates...

[CADreaming]

Originally Posted by Ulpian

If my reading of what Stevie says is right, and Christine got sick of Lindsey's attitude, the way he talked about her for the SYW promo stuff makes a little more sense.

I can't see Christine getting so angry about not winning a Grammy that it would tip her over the edge and make her quit. Clearly, as we know, there were other touring-related issues, but it seems to me that there may have been personal conflicts about which little has been said.

I think there were personal conflicts too. And, if you watch The Dance rehearsal videos, when Christine was asked if they all got together to talk things out prior and she said no they didn't talk and Lindsey whispered in Stevie's ear, "we're still not talking" and Stevie snickered; it was obvious there was something going on then between them.

Also, I've said this before and I'll reiterate it in this forum -- Stevie & the band knew before The Grammys that Christine was not returning. Stevie is doing a little bit of a dance in this recent interview, but there was a video interview -- I believe it was backstage at The Grammys even -- and Stevie stated then that Christine was retiring, that they were sad about it, but they wanted her to be happy, but they would be doing another album without her anyway within the next few years.

I think everything Stevie said happened, but she wrapped it around The Grammys and it was misleading -- maybe intentionally in order to muddy the waters a bit:

and after The Dance we went to Grammys -- yep they did
and it wasn't we didn't win the grammy - -- so what she is leading up to is not about The Grammys
which we wanted to win really a lot for The Dance -- sure they did, ok , but listen...
and Lindsey got kinda mad -- about something she didn't specifiy...
and she wasn't really happy with that situation -- oops... Christine was not happy with the "situation", that wasn't about not winning the Grammy
and basically when it was all over and everybody had gone home -- a fight maybe? that must have happened before the Grammys because at the Grammys she knew already that Chris was retiring...
she and i were doing some preps
she said to me "i quit"
and i'm and i was and i looked at her "really??" -- sounds like a fight and Christine quit.

[sodascouts]

I think it could be interpreted either way, but I see it as Christine being unhappy about not getting the Grammy.

I'm not sure it's fair to parse Stevie's off-the-cuff dialogue line-by-line as if it were very deliberately structured and carefully phrased. Sitting in my seat at the talk, I did NOT get the feeling that she was saying that Christine left because Lindsey got pissy about something. There was a reason she talked about it in context of the Grammys, and all the different (non-Lindsey) issues that led up to it. I definitely did not hear it as her trying to blame Christine's leaving on Lindsey.

There's enough clear-cut SnL drama without us going through her talk with a fine-toothed comb in order to find more.

[CADreaming]

She talks a lot. Most of the time people don't listen to what she is really saying. Wasn't trying to find more drama - I don't think it's hard to do though. LOL.

But, she specifically said, "it WASN'T that we didn't win the Grammy".

Agreed, - it could be interpreted other ways.

[WildHearted]

Originally Posted by CADreaming

She talks a lot. Most of the time people don't listen to what she is really saying. Wasn't trying to find more drama - I don't think it's hard to do though. LOL.

But, she specifically said, "it WASN'T that we didn't win the Grammy".

Agreed, - it could be interpreted other ways.

I heard it more as if, she started to say something else (like "We went to the Grammy's and it wasn't what we expected," or something of that nature) and then changed her trajectory.

"After The Dance we went to Grammys and it wasn't.... We didn't win the Grammy, which we wanted to win really a lot for The Dance, and Lindsey got kinda mad and she wasn't really happy with that situation."

[sodascouts]

Yeah, that's why we have to be careful about inserting words like "that" which weren't actually there.

[CADreaming]

^I really wanted to throw in the Bob Dylan joke here but couldn't come up with one that would work...

So, where was "that" added?

[WildHearted]

Originally Posted by CADreaming

^I really wanted to throw in the Bob Dylan joke here but couldn't come up with one that would work...

So, where was "that" added?

Between "wasn't" and "we."

"It wasn't that we didn't win the Grammy" vs "It wasn't - we didn't win the Grammy"

[elle]

just to clarify since i was the one who transcribed what i heard on Amlyn's recording (thanks for sharing Amlyn! ) -

i tried to capture everything that SN said b/c i didn't feel like cleaning it up - so most of "you knows" and little verbal stumblings are captured. so when listening to this part -

and after The Dance we went to Grammys
and it wasn't we didn't win the grammy -
which we wanted to win really a lot for The Dance

the bolded part sounded basically like a bit of verbal stumbling / looking for the best way to word her thoughts, like people always do when talking off the cuff. you know - maybe something like "it wasn't happening" and then she decided to go for different wording and just clearly state "we didn't win it". i could have probably just as easily skip that "it wasn't" or put something like "it wasn't.... we didn't... win the grammy".

this part:

and Lindsey got kinda mad
and she wasn't really happy with that situation

the way i heard it, it could be interpreted in at least 2 different ways -

• listing that both LB and CM were unhappy about grammys - Lindsey got mad, Christine was unhappy with not getting grammy and similar situations happening to FM; or -
• LB got mad, and CM was fed up dealing with that kind of behavior.

i'm not sure which one Stevie meant to imply, which one is the truth, or whether it even happened around the grammys.

considering sodascouts was there, i will go with her interpretation as probably the closest to what was meant, since she could get all little body language and expressions that i couldn't see on the audio recording, and that we can even less get from my transcript.

[elle]

Originally Posted by sodascouts

Yeah, that's why we have to be careful about inserting words like "that" which weren't actually there.

yup, everybody adds a word here or there to go with their interpretation... and you get that good old telephone game effect.

[CADreaming]

Originally Posted by elle

just to clarify since i was the one who transcribed what i heard on Amlyn's recording (thanks for sharing Amlyn! ) -

i tried to capture everything that SN said b/c i didn't feel like cleaning it up - so most of "you knows" and little verbal stumblings are captured. so when listening to this part -

and after The Dance we went to Grammys
and it wasn't we didn't win the grammy -
which we wanted to win really a lot for The Dance

the bolded part sounded basically like a bit of verbal stumbling / looking for the best way to word her thoughts, like people always do when talking off the cuff. you know - maybe something like "it wasn't happening" and then she decided to go for different wording and just clearly state "we didn't win it". i could have probably just as easily skip that "it wasn't" or put something like "it wasn't.... we didn't... win the grammy".

this part:

and Lindsey got kinda mad
and she wasn't really happy with that situation

the way i heard it, it could be interpreted in at least 2 different ways -

• listing that both LB and CM were unhappy about grammys - Lindsey got mad, Christine was unhappy with not getting grammy and similar situations happening to FM; or -
• LB got mad, and CM was fed up dealing with that kind of behavior.

i'm not sure which one Stevie meant to imply, which one is the truth, or whether it even happened around the grammys.

considering sodascouts was there, i will go with her interpretation as probably the closest to what was meant, since she could get all little body language and expressions that i couldn't see on the audio recording, and that we can even less get from my transcript.

Thanks for clarifying your transcript elle. I rewatched the video. And, I still hear what Stevie was saying as closer to the "b" scenario. The way she said it was more of a recounting of events to me that happened around the time of the Grammys:

1. We went to the Grammys
2. We didn't win the Grammy
3. Lindsey got mad
4. Christine was not happy with the situation

I also appreciate Nancy's perspective and realize it could be as simple as nothing. It's just my personal opinion (based on the other two points in my previous post and other things I've heard) that it was more serious than not winning a Grammy and I hardly think Christine would have turned down the offer to make the extra millions Stevie described in a world tour just because she was having a little anxiety that could have been treated. Again though, just my opinion.