I just spent 2 Hours with Stevie Nicks (really) Part 1

[jkmaletic]

Hello everyone!

I just got back from the Sunset Sessions event in Carlsbad, CA. (San Diego county) I bought a pass about a week ago. It was $220, and I had just gotten my income tax return so I decided to splurge, and boy was it worth it! The biggest thing I was worried about was getting in, because I'm not an "industry person", but they never asked for credentials or anything so I figured I'd be ok and I was.

I'm going to describe the experience as it happened. I took notes while I was there to help my memory.

So I got to the resort about 12pm and had some lunch they were serving in this ballroom while new artists performed on stage. I saw Mark Goodman in there and a guitar player from Hootie and the Blowfish (don't know the dude's name- just recognized him). After lunch the next thing on the day's agenda was a screening for a documentary movie. I stayed and watched that until about 2:30. Stevie's thing was scheduled from 3-5 pm at "Center Court". So after I cleaned up a little in the bathroom I headed over there and saw there was about 20 people already standing outside the door waiting. This was held indoors at I'm guessing one of the clubhouse rooms? So I'm standing there trying to be cool and stay calm, which I did. A few minutes later a golf cart pulls up and here comes Stevie, Sharon, Lori and Sheryl Louis (with her dog, Rodney). Stevie walked through us to get to the door and it got all quiet. Then she said, "Hi!" and eveyone said Hi back. I think everyone was in shock. Including me.
So they all go inside and then a few minutes after that they let us in. This was NOT a big room. Very small. I just wanted to get as close to the front as possible. So I scoped out a seat in the second row. There was only about 50 chairs or so, 25 on each side with an aisle down the middle. I ended up in the second row, and Sharon and Lori were sitting behind me. I turned around and introduced myself saying I had been a fan of theirs for awhile. They both shook my hand and were very gracious. Sharon was holding the dog and I asked if it was Stevie's and she said, No- it's Sheryl's - his name is Rodney. He was a little white dog (not sure the breed). Then I asked them if Stevie was going to tour for IYD after the Rod Stewart thing and they said, probably. It's not absolute certain yet, but probably. I commented that it'd be unusual to not tour after an album release and they agreed.

So then the interview part began. Stevie was sitting in a nice chair with the interviewer sitting opposite her. There was a small table between them with yellow tulips and candle holders with tea lights burning in them. I picked the PERFECT seat because Stevie was like 12 feet from me, right in my line of vision. When she answered questions she was looking at me a lot. She wore I believe what she wore when she visited the Glee cast. Her hair (no wig) looked great, she wore her glasses, but you could still see her eyes. She had on all black- blazer, camisole, pants, boots (the stiletto kind, but not with a super-skinny heel). She had on pretty rings and her classic gold moon necklace, along with 2 other longer gold necklaces. She was also wearing these glove-type things, that covered her forearm but had a hole for her thumb and her fingers were free. (sounds wierd, but it looked cool). There were signs everywhere that said NO RECORDING. So I didn't get a picture or recording of any kind. I actually saw a girl get kicked out and I'm pretty sure it was because she was recording.
So the first question Stevie was asked was about her influences, and Stevie spoke in length about Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix. She talked about Buckingham Nicks opening for them. Then she was asked about her work at Walter Reed and Stevie mentioned giving away ipods with 937 songs on them and that she's seen soldiers 11 hours off the battlefield. She said she justs wants to be there for them.
(at this point I wrote down, "I'm in Stevie's clear view!!)

Then Stevie talked about her new song, "Soldier's Angel" and how it was inspired by her visits to Walter Reed. She said it will probably sound like Buckingham/Nicks to a lot of people because Lindsey helped her with it. He plays guitar on it and sings harmony with her.

After that, the interviewer said that they were going to play some songs from Stevie's new album, and after that there would be a Q and A session. Stevie then stood up, stepped down off the little stage she was on and said, "Let me get rid of this thing!" (she had been holding a mic for the interview) and put the mic down. Everyone laughed. She then stood in front of the room and said they were gonna play some songs, a couple videos, and that she hoped we all like it. She said she wished Dave Stewart could be here so we could all see how great he is. She said she has this huge house that after she bought it she was like, why did I buy this thing? She said she lives in a little condo but still kept the big house to turn it into a recording studio, which she did this album on. She said Mike Campbell has 2 tracks on the album. She said she had SO MUCH fun recording the album. She said the songs came very easy for this album and that she now knows why McCartney and Lennon wrote together. She said, "I used to think - why do they do that?? I used to think I'd have to go to my piano alone and get all tortured to write certain songs." Everyone laughed at that.

So then Stevie introduced what she called a "Sizzle Reel" (which was a trailer for her new album)

Looks like I'm running out of room on this post so I'm going to stop and begin part 2.

~jamie