Stevie Stale and Stagnant

[PenguinHead]

Stevie is high up on my long list of artists I love and have followed dillegently since 1977. And I'm glad she's still performing, yet I'm very dissapointed in her lack of creativity and inspiration.

I'm sick of the fact that all she talks about are the same things she's talked about for years and years now -- Fleewood Mac's long-past dramas, her cocaine and kolonopin days etc...ad nausuem. She panders to it, the media panders to it, and alot of fans pander to it. Move on!

Her shows haven't really changed that much since she went solo. The main content is "all the same....all the same...Rhiannon." Yeah, she adds a few new songs here and there, then drops them, and switches some songs around. Oh wow...ehh! Her incessant touring only drives home the fact that she is dead in the water, completely stagnant, and living on past glories.

So, as fans, we have to settle for and be happy for the "new" stuff on her third compilation album -- more live versions of Landslide and Rhiannon, and, albeit, a great, unexpected cover version of a Led Zeppelin cover.

I'm reading a book about another artist I love, Elvis Costello. Yes, they are two completely different artists, so it's a little unfair to compare the two. But Elvis fans have it so much better than Stevie fans. Granted, he's in another realm -- prolific beyond belief...nearly 30 albums since 1977, plus another ton of random songs. And no signs of stopping.

He's a master artist, musician and lyricist. Stevie is none of those -never has been, never will be, nor do I expect her to be. I love her for who she is and what she's done, regardless of her limitations. But reading about him -- how impromptu his shows can be, and how he completely changes his shows each tour, sometimes show to show, makes me realize just how redundant she's become. I find fault with her...and so-called fans who expect/demand the same old songs...the songs they know and have heard a million times over. It just re-enforces the redundancy.

Elvis's vast cannon of songs allows him to perform shows that are fresh and unexpected. He's not beholden to play his hits or other well-known songs all the time. His audiences enjoy the show for what it is...and rarely complain that he didn't play this or that song. They can never predict what song he'll open with or what song he'll close with.

Yet, with Stevie, it's all very rote, tour after tour after tour....like the "Edge walk." It's not so much a show anymore, it's more like a church service. All we can hope for is one new song --new meaning one she hasn't performed for a while. Even without new material, she has many other songs she could perform, including more covers, which she is very good at.

I don't think it's much to ask for. But do I think Stevie has some serious psychological barriers that have kept her from moving forward, thus we have to settle for the stale and suffer for the stagnancy. It's completely befitting that she gravitates to Vegas...city of canned entertainment. It's all the same. All the same. All the same.