Friday, July 30, 2010

MIA DYSON SUPPORTS STEVIE NICKS IN SANTA BARBARA



One of Dave Stewarts artists, Mia Dyson, will be the supporting act for Stevie Nicks next week, August 4th in Santa Barbara.

Not sure whether Stevie has supporting acts for the other shows.

You can find out more info on Mia at her Website

The Eagle Club - WIN STEVIE NICKS LAKE TAHOE TICKETS

The Eagle Club: "Win a pair of tickets to see Stevie Nicks at Harvey's Outdoor Arena in Lake Tahoe. Stevie Nicks, the legendary American singer-songwriter, best known for her work with Fleetwood Mac and an extensive solo career. Nicks is set to hit the stage on Friday, Aug. 6, beginning at 8 p.m."

MICK FLEETWOOD TO APPEAR AT CELEBRITIES GALLERY AUGUST 4TH

Mick will be making another appearance at Celebrities Gallery in Wailea, HI
Wednesday August 4th from 6-9pm.
3750 Wailea Alanui Drive
Wailea, HI, 96753
Phone:
808.875.6565


Thursday, July 29, 2010

NEW STEVIE NICKS INTERVIEW...LOTS OF INFO ON NEW CD

AP File Photo


The 'best' is yet to come for Stevie Nicks
The singer, who performs Aug. 4 in S.B.,
has high hopes for her
still-in-progress CD

By Marjorie Hernandez
VCStar.com

Multiple Grammy Award winner Stevie Nicks, while digging through her old journals, found pages of poems she penned as a teenager and throughout her career. Now 62, the Fleetwood Mac frontwoman and accomplished solo artist said that many of those poems, and a few new songs, will appear in her upcoming, untitled seventh solo studio album.

As fans eagerly await the new album (no release date yet), Nicks will hit the road with her band at five venues, starting with the Santa Barbara Bowl on Aug. 4. Proceeds from the concert will help pay the medical bills of an 8-year-old girl with cancer, Cecelia, the daughter of a family friend.

In a phone interview with The Star, Nicks talked about her song and art “vaults,” Cecelia, Edgar Allen Poe, writing with a partner for the first time, and the upcoming album, which the singer calls “the best thing” she has ever done.

You just came back from a whirlwind tour with Fleetwood Mac last year. Why did you decide to take on another, smaller tour in the middle of recording your new album?

This isn’t really a tour. I’ve been doing a record since February. Right after the Grammys, I started doing a record with Dave Stewart (of the Eurythmics) as producer. I got a call a month and a half ago from my manager and he said, “Well, you’ve had five offers to do some shows in August. I think you should do them. I know you are doing a record but it is only a month. If you do these shows it will feel like you’ve worked all year.” And in this world of financial woe, it’s never a bad thing to spend a month and it will be like you’ve worked a year.

Is this going to be a respite from being in the studio?

I am having such a ball, I don’t need a respite. It’s always good to put some money in the bank, so it’s a good thing. It’s always good to reconnect with everybody, and it is only five shows. I just did 83 shows for Fleetwood Mac. Our last show was on the 21st of December, so it’s like I just got off the road. For me, this is a breeze. I am really excited about it. We only have three days of rehearsal and we haven’t played in almost two years, but my band is so great that we kind of don’t have to. This is not a tour, but just a few shows. I don’t know what they are going to call it — the “This Is Not a Tour” Tour?

You have a plethora of hits to include in your set list. What can fans expect from your shows?

Well, since this is not a tour, you kind of do what you do. You do all of your hits and then you throw a couple of new things in that you don’t want to tell anybody about because it’s fun. We’re going to try to do three songs that we don’t usually do, two of which are not my songs, and one that I haven’t done in a long time.

I am doing (the Santa Barbara show) because I have a little friend who is 8 years old. Her name is Cecelia and she has a very rare form of cancer. It’s called rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare soft tissue cancer. It was a mass hiding behind her cheekbone and it extended to her cranium and down to her naval cavity. She has 45 straight weeks of chemotherapy and six weeks of daily radiation.

I am very good friends with her parents, from Los Angeles, and she has three sisters. It is very painful, and how in the world she has managed to get though it as well as she has is just mind-blowing.

We are giving her the proceeds from the show — it is not a benefit. This is basically my salary and that’s what she is getting. I am also doing a T-shirt. I have been drawing since 1981 because my best friend died of leukemia in 1981. I started to draw her little things just little drawings to put on her wall. I certainly would not have started to draw if she had not gotten cancer and died of it. So, I am going back to my vault of drawings and pulling out a really special one and we’re going to have it printed on T-shirts and sell it. Not only will it be great because some money will go to Cecelia, but the fans will get one of my drawings that they would not otherwise get.

Have you always painted?

I have kept my art close to me. I figure when I’m way too old to do all that I am doing now, I will just flip to the art world. It (my art) is in bags in my closet and I work on it all the time. I draw all the time, but I take one with me when I go on a three-month tour. When I come home, I put that one back in the bag and take another one out and work on that for three months. They are never finished and I would never sell them.

So this one is from the vault?

This is one from the Stevie art vault. It has a bunny in it. I picked it specifically because I though it would be perfect for Cecelia. I really hope people will come, not just to see me, but because this is going to be wonderful for Cecelia and she knows about it. I’m hoping she might be able to come.

People are dying to hear about your album. Are you going to perform songs from it at the show?

No, because it would be filmed and recorded and on YouTube the next day. So this record, just like my art, will be held very close to the heart. No one is going to hear it until it comes out because I want people to be surprised. I want people to hear it in its finished form. We filmed the whole thing and we had two photographers with us the whole time.

Is Dave Stewart shooting the film?

It’s his two film people filming it, but he is an amazing photographer and an amazing cinematographer, so he has his own films. In fact, everybody films because we all have good cameras. We are filming all the time. We realized we are doing something that I have never done before — writing songs with Dave Stewart. I’ve never written a song with anyone in my whole life. People send me tracks, which mean they just send me the instrumental of the song. Like Michael Campbell. I have written many songs to Michael Campbell’s tracks and he has two on this record. But I don’t write songs sitting in the same room looking at a person because I just never wanted to. It’s always been a very solitary experience for me.

When I got together with him (Dave) and asked if he would produce this record, I gave him a book of poetry that had been pulled by my best friend Rebecca out of the last seven to eight years of journals, which was something I would never do.

He came the first day to my house and said, “All right, I like this poem. Why don’t we start with this poem?”

So we had a little recording thing set up hanging over the coffee table and in front of the couch. He’s sitting across from me and starts playing the guitar. He just says, “OK. Go,” and I start reciting my poem. By the end of a half an hour, we had written a great song. I was completely amazed.

How many songs/poems do you have in those journals?

A lot.

Ballpark number?

Well, probably 60 pages. Usually when you are writing songs from a formal, long poem, you use a few lines from this poem and a few lines from that poem. But because of the way we wrote these songs, we really used the full formal form. The songs are kind of long, but they can always be edited and that’s how we looked at it. For me, to be able to get all of my words in was just the best thing ever.

Was this a huge departure from your regular process?

Very much. I also dug out a lot of songs from the song vault. I pulled songs from 1976 that I don’t know why in the world did not go in the first Fleetwood Mac album. I must’ve misplaced the cassette. I had one of my backup singers, my sister-in-law Laurie, go to Phoenix and the storage vault where all of our old cassettes are. She found the cassette and I played it for Glen Ballard and Dave Stewart at the studio just a few days ago. It’s kind of been lost for 30 years.

This is a song you penned yourself?

Yes, it was just me and a little piano. I think I wrote it in 1976, maybe even ’75. It sounds like I’m 5. Glen Ballard said, “So where has this little gem been hiding?”

I was able to pull four or five songs out of my song vault, and then a song I wrote about the “Twilight” movies and a song about Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans. So I came into this record with only two new songs. I had no idea I was going to write songs with Dave.

At first I wanted to go in front of the piano and suffer and try to write songs from this poetry. I kind of felt like a part of a great writing team, like Rodgers and Hammerstein or Lennon and McCartney. I finally understood what that was and why they did it because it is amazing to share this experience. And it’s WAY faster. Sometimes sitting over your piano, in tears, for month after month, trying to get this one song to work, is almost soul-destroying.

So the songwriting process was easier this time around?

Totally easier and way more fun. I have really never felt as in control of a situation, because Dave respects me totally as a writer and as a lyricist and as a poet. We have a song I wrote when I was 17 that is the words to an Edgar Allan Poem called “Annabel Lee.” It’s just lived in my head since I was 17. I didn’t record it about until 10 years ago. We found the demo and I’m not sure why I didn’t put it in “Trouble in Shangri-la,” but I guess things got misplaced.

Dave and Glen loved it, so we recorded it. It’s all my song except they wrote this 30-second English minuet thing that goes in the middle that is very Annabel Lee-esque. It’s fantastic. That was a good song without Dave, but with Dave and my musical director and lead guitarist Waddy Wachtel, between all of them they wrote this amazingly beautiful little piece of music. It just enhanced the song. I only know four chords so I could never write that. I took a month of guitar lessons when I was 15. I play with one note. I play well enough to write, but I don’t play enough to really play.

I know you have worked with Waddy for a long time, but how has working with Glen and Dave helped you as an artist as well?

I think it has made me a way more confident and powerful artist. I don’t think I will ever feel the same. I played (music from the new album) one night at the studio for Reese Witherspoon, who is a friend and has never heard any of it. She was completely blown away.

We played it for David Wild, the writer, and he said, “Wow, Stevie, you’ve gone and turned into Bob Dylan.”

He made a little comment: “There is blood in these tracks.” I thought that was the most amazing compliment anyone can pay me as an artist. I played it, of course, to the president of my record company, Tom Wally. He is not someone who jumps up and down about anything unless he is really knocked out and he was thrilled. Three different people from three different walks of life loved it. This is like a spattering of humanity here. I feel that this, in my heart this might be the best thing I have ever done.

You mentioned that a lot of the songs on the album have been in your “song vault” for years. Did making the album conjure up old memories?

Well, sure! Every song was and is written about an experience. With “Annabel Lee,” I remember sitting on my bed, in my mom and dad’s house, writing that song and being so overwhelmed with the romanticism of it. All of my songs are windows into my past, for sure, since they all basically come out of my journals. If something cool happens I write about it. If nothing happens then I don’t write.

Do you write every day?

I write four or five times a week. I write a page or two and that’s where my poems come. If I have a day when all I do is drink coffee and read magazines and read Vogue and watch mindless TV that I love, I don’t write. I write the important stuff down.

You have been in the industry for many years. What are your inspirations?

In the beginning, when I was in the band Fritz, which was the band Lindsey Buckingham was in, we started playing pretty immediately. They already had a little bit of a reputation when I joined the band. We started opening for a lot of big shows. We opened for Janis Joplin at Stanford University. I got to be right next to her and watch her for an hour and a half and I was very impacted by her performance. I saw in her what I didn’t want to be and I also saw in her what I did want to be. She was in her silky bell-bottoms and her little slip-on high heels and a really beautiful silky outfit that I really loved.

And then she started to sing and it really didn’t matter what she was wearing. It was just all about her singing and how she held that audience in the palm of her little hands. It was really awe-inspiring to me to see this extremely powerful woman take that kind of control of the audience and just be with them like she was in her living room. From a singing standpoint and from a performance standpoint, she really touched me.

Another show that really knocked me out was Jimi Hendrix at San Jose State. It was huge. He was awesome. He was extremely humble and extremely nice to the audience. Janis was nice to the audience, but she had been kind of the ugly duckling and you could tell al little bit that she was like, “Neh, neh, neh , neh look at who I am now, all of you losers.”

She had a little bit of that arrogant thing, but that was OK because she was so great. You can be arrogant if you can back it up.

Jimi moved like an angel — like Prince. His feet never touched the ground. He just blew my mind. I came away from those two shows going, “Well, I have to remember to always be humble because I preferred his humbleness. I thought, “That’s going to be me on stage. I will be very humble on stage always.” And I will talk to the audience. Sometimes I will talk too much and sometimes I will be too gabby, but I will go that route and I will try not to be arrogant. It’s easy to be arrogant, especially in the beginning years when you are a rock ’n’ roll star. It’s easy to be arrogant because all of a sudden you were rich and a year and a half ago you were a waitress.

I would think, when putting yourself out there as a performer, sometimes you need some arrogance because you are constantly being judged.

And sometimes it is needed, but you can be extremely cool and fantastically gorgeous and still be humble. That’s what I learned. You want the people to leave really liking you and you want them to come back to see you because they really liked you.

What was the best advice you received when you were starting out?

Well, I didn’t know any rock stars until I joined Fleetwood Mac. When we met them in 1975 I ran right out and got their six or seven records and listened to all of them so I would have some idea of who they were and what they did. So as far as people giving us advice, we didn’t have anybody to give us advice. Everyone was just as crazy as we were, or crazier, really, because anyone that we did meet on the road or opening for, they were more famous than us. We never really got to talk to anybody. If we were opening for Peter Frampton, we barely got to say “hello” as he was on his way to his limo.

Do Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, Christine McVie or Peter Green appear on the upcoming album?

Mick actually does appear. He was there five or six days during the recording of the last two weeks. He had a lot of fun. He’s on half of it. He got to hang out with Dave — you know, the English have a great time together. They were double funny.

Will the film/DVD be a companion to the album?

We are documenting and filming it and I don’t really know what we are going to do with it, but we know it’s terrific. You have to put on makeup every day and you have to dress up, so it’s been kind of a nightmare on that side of it, but in the long run, it’s been so worth it.

When does the album drop?

It’s basically close to being done now. I can’t really tell you, but I know we are trying to move fast because we have places to go and people to see.”

What can fans expect from the new album?

It’s very diversified. There is an Italian love song I wrote when I was in Italy last summer. There is a crazy, wild rock ’n’ roll song called “The Ghosts Are Gone.” There is a song about a novel called “Wide Sargasso Sea,” the precursor to Jane Eyre. It was a crazy movie in the ’80s that I loved. There are two tracks that Michael Campbell wrote that I wrote songs on top of, and they are just magical. There are love songs, hard rock ’n’ roll songs, really contemplative songs and very Bob Dylan-y songs and there are lots of good poems. I think people will be really happy with this. And I think it will be a record people will listen to for a long time and they will be thrilled because I am thrilled. There is a part of your heart that knows. I think this could possibly be my best work.

What advice would you give young up-and-coming artists?

Most important, write your own songs. With the Internet piracy and stuff, if this is what you want to do, you have to put your nose to the grindstone and you cannot listen to anybody. You have to just write, write, write. Colbie Caillat jumped on it and started writing songs and put them on the Internet and said, “I know I’m the daughter of Ken Caillat and nobody is even going to throw me a bone because they think I am getting this free from my dad,” which is not true because nobody can make you a star. Nobody. She did it, so it’s possible.

You kind of have to create a phenomenon. That’s what Dave Stewart says. You have to really believe in yourself and you really have to work your butt off and never take no for an answer. Ever.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

This Week in Rock History: Stevie Slammed at JFK Stadium Performance

WNEW | Where Rock Lives: This Week in Rock History: Steve and Stevie: "This week in 1978, JFK Stadium in Philadelphia was the site of one of those fabulous all-day all-star shows that studded '70s summers: Fleetwood Mac, the Steve Miller Band, former Mac member Bob Welch, and the Sanford-Townsend Band. It wasn't a particularly great day of music, however: Rolling Stone's review [link] of the show dismissed Welch and Sanford-Townsend in a single sentence and slammed Stevie Nicks, although it praised the rest of Fleetwood Mac, and Steve Miller was apparently pretty good."

THE LATEST DEVELOPMENT: STEVIE NICKS MAY INCLUDE NEW SONGS ON TOUR

BUT ARE THOSE NEW SONGS BRAND NEW SONGS?... OR OLD SONGS NEVER PERFORMED, THEREFORE STILL BEING NEW?

Twitter was active today with the following from David Wild @Wildaboutmusic (Rolling Stone Magazine Contributing Editor).

@Wildaboutmusic: "Today I am supposed to talk to Stevie Nicks, then introduce Brian Wilson tonight. For a kid from New Jersey, a very California Dream."

@Wildaboutmusic: WILD SONG OF THE DAY: "Italian Summer" by Stevie Nicks. Just one stunning song from her upcoming album."

[insert a plethora of Tweets directed at Mr. Wild regarding the above statement]

@Wildaboutmusic:"To all of Stevie's loving fans, I"m sorry you'll have to wait. And yes, it will be worth the wait."

@teribury "David can you ask Stevie if she will be performing any of her new songs next week on her mini tour? Thanks."

@Wildaboutmusic: "Yes, I will try and ask Stevie if she's performing any new material on her upcoming mini-tour."

@Wildaboutmusic:"Just spoke to the lovely Stevie, and she'd love to try a new song or two on her mini-tour for her fans, but doesn't want them on YouTube."

@Wildaboutmusic:"Look for more details in an In The Studio piece I will write soon for Rolling Stone. I'll keep you posted here when to expect that."

I kinda don't blame Stevie one bit about not wanting her new stuff on Youtube!.... Are you kidding me, fans would erupt if she gave us a preview of anything new! You know it would happen if she were to play something new...  As it is, probably 90% of her first show will show up on Youtube!  But it's all good... People are just excited!

Al Ortis, Bass player in Stevie's band who has been working with her since the late 90's and who can be found Monday nights in LA at The Joint playing in the Waddy Wachtel Band when he's not on tour - posted on his facebook page the following:

"Sittin here goin over Stevie Nicks tunes for the upcoming August tour. Mostly live stuff of the band's passed shows and new songs too. Wow Pretty killin band. Can't wait to see everyone and play some great music."

Hello?!.... New songs too?!  Okay, so are they considering adding new NEW songs?... or just new OLD songs never played before?  Al's statement isn't really clear!  In any case a shake-up in the set is definitely needed!  And whether they add tracks from older albums never played, or something brand spankin' new, it will be a welcome edition... 

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

HAPPY 29th BIRTHDAY TO THE ALBUM THAT STARTED IT ALL

Released on this day in 1981

Bella Donna is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter and Fleetwood Mac vocalist Stevie Nicks. Released on July 27, 1981, the album hit #1 on the U.S. Billboard charts in September of that year, remaining there for one week. Bella Donna was awarded Platinum status by the RIAA three months after its release on October 7, 1981, and has sold over 4 million copies in the U.S. and remains her best-selling solo album to date worldwide.

The album spawned four substantial hit singles during 1981 and 1982: the Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers-penned duet "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" (#3), the Don Henley duet "Leather and Lace" (#6), the iconic "Edge of Seventeen" (#11), and country-tinged "After the Glitter Fades" (#32).

Bella Donna would mark the beginning of Nicks' trend of calling upon her many musician friends and connections to fully realize her sparse demo recordings. Along with friends Tom Petty and Don Henley, Nicks brought in famed session musician Waddy Wachtel, Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band pianist Roy Bittan, and Muscle Shoals session man Donald "Duck" Dunn of Booker T. & the MGs. Though Bella Donna's personnel list includes some 20 musicians, the album is very much Nicks' own work, with all but one of the songs on the record written by her.

The album also marked the first recording featuring Nicks' backing vocalists, Sharon Celani and Lori Perry, who still record and tour with Nicks today.

Wikipedia

Its interesting to note that on the eve of Bella Donna's anniversary that an interview is published with Stevie comparing the writing and recording process of her current album to that of Bella Donna.

STEVIE NICKS AT HOME RECORDING VOCALS... (PHOTOS)

Latest photos from Dave Stewart at Stevie's house recording vocals: Stevie's recording her vocals for her new CD in the entry way to her Californian home.... Cool!

1. At Stevie Nicks place playing amazing guitar Mike Campbell from "The Heartbreakers" gave me as a gift.
2. Where Stevie sings her vocals.

at Stevie Nicks plaoe playing amazing guitar Mike Campbell fr... on Twitpic where Stevie sings her vocals  on Twitpic


Follow @davestewart on Twitter

Monday, July 26, 2010

STEVIE NICKS IS LOOKING BACK, CHARGING FORWARD ON NEW ALBUM

Rock ‘n’ Roll’s Reigning Queen Plans Santa Barbara Concert for a Cause

Monday, July 26, 2010
by ALY COMINGORE
The Santa Barbara Independent

I’m a firm believer that every girl born this side of 1969 has had their Stevie Moment. It’s that time in a young lady’s life when, barring any and all scholastic goals and career aspirations, she realizes that she just kind of wants to be Stevie Nicks. Even for a day. I’d like to think my brush with the phenomenon came on post-high school, when I started driving and slowly realized that I missed the never-ending Nicks tributes that once poured from my friend’s mom’s car speakers during our daily trips to school. (She’d been having her Stevie Moment since Rumours came out, I later realized.) Suddenly void of my Fleetwood fix, I caught the bug—and came to realize that there’s just something far too cool about Stevie. It’s the flowing skirts, the mile-high boots; the fact that she could make dressing like a hippie witch look chic. It’s the way her voice, no matter what she’s saying, can send chills up the spine. Needless to say, when the opportunity to chat up Nicks arose, I had more than a moment—I had a full-on Nicks fit.

At 62, Nicks is a not-so-far cry from the chanteuse I envisioned during those drives. In conversation, she’s giddy, passionate, and assertive in a way that forces you to pay real close attention. She is her own hype machine. This Wednesday, Nicks returns to the Santa Barbara Bowl as part of a short six-city tour. The jaunt also acts as a reprieve from Nicks’s current project, which will be her first album of new material in almost 10 years. I recently spoke with Nicks from her home outside of Los Angeles about the tour, the record, and why her S.B. stop is much more than “just another concert.”

How did these concert dates come about?

This was very unplanned. I’m in the middle of doing a record, so I really wasn’t planning on touring this year, but I got some offers to do five or six shows. My manager said, “Well, if you stop doing your record for one month, you can go out and do five or six shows, and it will be like you worked all year!” [Laughs.] But I decided to add the show in Santa Barbara because I have a little friend named Cecilia who’s eight years old, who I’ve known for almost five years, and she was diagnosed a couple months ago with a very, very rare cancer called rhabdomyosarcoma. It’s a rare soft tissue cancer. … She has one more week of radiation, and she’s looking down the road of almost a year of chemotherapy. Needless to say, this has been extremely devastating to her family. So when I found out this was all happening, I called my manager and said, “So, what can we do?” And he said, “We’ll figure it out.”

So the proceeds from the show are going to her?

She’s getting my salary for the night, basically. I lost my best friend to leukemia in 1981. Robin was 33, so when I saw the picture of Cecilia, I’d already seen it. When you spend a year at a cancer ward, you kind of understand. I’ve been drawing since Robin died; I think that was her gift to me. I never took an art class in my life, and when she was sick I started drawing these little things—pyramids, stick people, just these funny little drawings that she could hang on her wall and look at when I wasn’t there. … So I’ve picked one, a really sweet little drawing, and I’m going to have it made into a T-shirt for Cecilia. It’s a two-fold thing. It’ll be nice for my fans to have a piece of my art and it will be nice to be able to have a piece of art that is drawn from a situation like this, which makes it so much more special.

After these shows, what comes next? Can you tell me anything about the album?

I think it will go down in history as my greatest work. I have written nine songs with [The Eurythmics’] Dave [Stewart], and I feel like I’m part of a writing team—like Lennon and McCartney or something. I have always been so closed to the idea of writing with anybody, and my eyes have been so opened now.

Stylistically, how would you describe the stuff you’ve done so far?

It’s very diverse. There’s really, really rock ’n’ roll things, then there’s a song called “Italian Summer” that’s just a beautiful, beautiful love song I wrote when I was in Italy last year. It wasn’t even about anybody. It’s just the feeling you get when you go to Italy is just so romantic, so I wrote this song about this country that I just so fell in love with. Then there are the suffering Stevie songs. [Laughs.]

How did you and Dave team up?

I had met Dave a long time ago, and a couple years ago, he did a pilot for an interview show with Jimmy Iovine. So he kind of interviewed me, then we went to the piano. We sat down and I played “Rhiannon,” and he got his guitar out—because he’s never without it—and he sat down next to me and started playing along, and we did like a 15-minute rendition of “Rhiannon,” and it was so spectacular that I said to myself, “Okay, the next time I do a record, I’m going to ask Dave Stewart to produce it.” He’s very similar in a lot of ways to Lindsey [Buckingham] in the way he plays. He’s like a peer of Lindsey’s; he’s one of those great guitarists. … The girl always gets all the attention—Annie Lennox got all the attention—but the fact is, after spending four months writing with him, I know how important Dave was to all those Eurythmics records. They wrote those songs together, and that’s why they were so fantastic.

If you had to compare this to a past record, which would it be?

Well, probably Bella Donna, because that was my first solo album. I could go back to Rumours, but we didn’t know how great Rumours was. That was just a record that we made that we thought was good, but we had no idea Rumours was going to become one of the biggest records of all time. We had no idea. We made the record, and then we went on the road. The second we came off the road, we went straight in to make Tusk. There wasn’t really much celebration time there. I think I was sitting in my apartment, and I heard one of the songs come on the radio, and it was played, like, after a Beatles song, or after a Who song, or a Led Zeppelin song, and I thought, “Oh my God. One of our songs has just been played right after Led Zeppelin. We’ve made it. We’ve hit the big time.” That moment is forever in my mind—and that’s kind of how I feel about this. I feel an intense kind of slow burning excitement about this that I have not felt in a long time.

Stevie Nicks plays the Santa Barbara Bowl (1122 N. Milpas St.) on Wednesday, August 4, at 7 p.m. Call 962-7411 or visit sbbowl.com for tickets and info.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

AUSTRALIAN CHARTS UPDATE: STEVIE NICKS "THE VERY BEST OF"


AUSTRALIA'S TOP 50 CATALOGUE CHART: WEEK OF JULY 26, 2010
Week 12 on Australia's Top 50 Catalogue Chart for the week July 26, 2010 - sees Stevie's 2007 "Crystal Visions The Very Best Of Stevie Nicks" drop from #30 to #44. 

 

Saturday, July 24, 2010

DAVID WILD @wildaboutmusic TAKING FAN QUESTIONS FOR STEVIE NICKS MEETING

It looks like David Wild will be speaking with Stevie Nicks next week about her new album...

"I may be speaking to Stevie Nicks again early next week about her cool new album. I will ask her the best fan question that I get here."

Head on over to Twitter and Tweet Wildaboutmusic your best crafted question.


Friday, July 23, 2010

FLEETWOOD MAC GUITARIST TO JOIN THE INDULGERS

Neale Heywood, guitarist for Fleetwood Mac and The Lindsey Buckingham group, and the studio "6th" member of The Indulgers (Neale has co-produced and played guitar on all six Indulgers CD's), will join The Indulgers for the first time for some live shows. Neale is looking forward to joining the new Indulgers lineup while on hiatus from Fleetwood Mac. The band is excited about performing with Neale. "He adds so much to the music," commented Mike Nile. "The songs sound big and closer to what the CD's sound like."

Read more: The Indulgers

TALENTED TEEN TO BACK FLEETWOOD MAC

THERE'S only one singer Fleetwood Mac want as a support act on their next Australian tour – Stephanie Brownlee.

But despite having one of the world's most famous bands as fans, the 17-year-old Sunshine Coast singing prodigy isn't letting it get to her head.

''Mick Fleetwood is the best guy. He's been really supportive and says he loves my stuff, which is a nice thing to say,'' Brownlee says.

Her debut album, Keeping It Real, is set to hit the shelves today with the help of Fleetwood's former comanager of 20 years, Dennis Dunstan.

Another Noosa local, Dunstan discovered Brownlee when she was just 14 while working with her father in the local real estate industry.

''I was blown away. She has such a unique, incredible voice for her age, with such a strong timbre,'' Dunstan says.

''Mick loves her voice and has talked about getting her as a support when he tours next.''

Brownlee's album, described as modern country pop, has been a year in the making at studios in Los Angeles and Nashville.

Contributors include Tom Shapiro, a songwriter and producer for Dusty Springfield, and Liz Rose, who penned several of Taylor Swift's Grammy-winning hits.

Pop queen Miley Cyrus, another fan of Brownlee, cowrote the second single, Good Friend/Girl Friend.

All the big names and fuss aside, Brownlee says she just loves playing and is enjoying the ride. Her album launch is tonight in front of family and friends at The Noosa J.

The Courier Mail - Australia

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

SHERYL CROW ASKED QUESTIONS SHE ASKED STEVIE NICKS IN THE '90'S - Spinner UK

Sheryl Crow Goes Home on '100 Miles From Memphis' - Spinner UK:

"In the '90s, you interviewed your friend and fellow musician Stevie Nicks for Interview magazine. I'm going to turn some of those questions you asked her around onto you.

Oh, God [laughs].

Did you ever know that you'd be famous?

No. And she and I laughed about that because she always she knew that she would be famous. I was the kid that saw myself as a member of the Rolling Stones. I wanted to be Keith [Richards]. I wanted to be the guy who was, like, the great musician that all the other musicians looked up to. I wanted to be that person. But as I got older, I got a sense that I needed to express myself and it dictated that I wanted to be in the front."

Monday, July 19, 2010

ABSOLUTE CLARIFICATION FROM STEVIE NICKS HERSELF! TAKE THAT!!

Here's the beginning of a much longer letter to all fans.... 
See the full letter on her website at the NICKSFIX

@RealStevieNicks Twitter Account is NOT STEVIE NICKS

This will be the last time I post about all this!...

Dave Stewart confirmed late last night with Stevie's Assistant Karen, that the account @RealStevieNicks is an impersonator and neither Stevie, nor Karen sending out the Tweets on the account.

How this all began was Dave Stewart tweeted yesterday answering a question from a fan about Stevie's Twitter account.  Dave stated that the account wasn't Stevie.  Great! 

Then, after calling out Clayton Morris (the creator of Stevie's account) in many Tweets from various fans, Clayton Morris responded on his own Twitter account that it WAS a valid account and that he gave the details to Stevie's team when he created it.  

Next, on the @RealStevieNicks Twitter account we all of a sudden start seeing Tweets from someone who claims to be Karen, Stevie's Assistant apologizing for the confusion yadda yadda yadda... and that she has time to answer some questions for Stevie... The world seemed right at that point, the account was somewhat confirmed to be associated with Stevie - the questions start flying and the answers followed.  People were once again happy and excited that it was Stevie (or Karen).

Then, Dave Stewart Tweets again late last night.  He's said he's on the phone with Stevie's Assistant Karen and again he states that the account @RealStevieNicks IS NOT STEVIE and is NOT KAREN.

So!  The person that created this account Clayton Morris, Anchor for Fox News Channel, a guy who interviewed Stevie in early 2009 for her Live in Chicago DVD, a guy who clearly is a fan of Stevie, needs to be held somewhat responsible for this.

If you follow @RealStevieNicks - you need to UNFOLLOW as it's not her.

Stevie will be apparently be posting a hand written message at some point today - through Dave Stewart's Twitter account no doubt... hopefully she addresses this.  You can follow Dave Stewart, who is the real deal and one cool guy HERE

[edit] Stevie posted a message about Twitter and her new work with Dave Stewart on her official website, The Nicks Fix

Sunday, July 18, 2010

CHART UPDATE: STEVIE NICKS "CRYSTAL VISIONS" AUSTRALIA


AUSTRALIA'S TOP 50 CATALOGUE CHART: WEEK OF JULY 19, 2010
Week 11 on Australia's Top 50 Catalogue Chart for the week July 19, 2010 - puts Stevie's 2007 "Crystal Visions The Very Best Of Stevie Nicks" down one spot this week to #30. 

 

Saturday, July 17, 2010

STEVIE NICKS SOUNDSTAGE SESSIONS LIVE IN CHICAGO




On July 17, 2008 Stevie Nicks' Soundstage premiered in the US.  This two hour concert was broadcast over two nights in July on the17th and 24th.

"This is the first time since 1985 that I have had one of my live shows filmed and recorded," said Nicks. "We spent three years perfecting this show which we began in Vegas in October of 2007. I could not move on until we filmed this show. Luckily "Soundstage" producer Joe Thomas, who saw the show many times, felt the same way. I am as proud of this as anything I've ever done in my entire career."


This show was filmed in October, 2007 before a live audience at Grainger Studios in Chicago for the PBS program "Soundstage".  The Joe Thomas directed show was made available to purchase on DVD on-line shortly after the broadcast in July, 2008 exclusively through the PBS website.  It would take Reprise until March 31, 2009 to release the DVD "Live in Chicago and accompanying 10 track CD "The Soundstage Sessions" commercially world wide.



 Aside from the cover, differences between the two DVD's is the setlist on the televised PBS version and subsequent DVD release didn't include "Dreams" or the bonus track "Landslide" (with orchestra).  The other omission from both versions of the DVD was the last song of the night "Beauty and The Beast".  The song was filmed twice that night once with the background screen showing scenes from the film La Belle et la Bête, and once without the flim clips.  These scenes had been used by Stevie as background during her '07 tour and rights were secured for that purpose - but for whatever reason permission wasn't granted for Stevie to use the film clips on the DVD.  Even though a backup version of the song had been filmed, not including the film clips, it was decided not to use the song entirely for the DVD.  But not all was lost as the audio version of the song appeared on the CD version of the show.

The "Live In Chicago" DVD includes timeless Nicks songs from her solo projects as well as songs written as a member of  Fleetwood Mac. All the Stevie classics are included such as the energetic opening track "Stand Back," "Rhiannon," "Dreams," "Gold Dust Woman," "Landslide" and "Edge Of Seventeen," the DVD also features a few really great cover songs, Dave Matthews' "Crash Into Me" Led Zeppelin's "Rock And Roll" and Bonnie Raitts "Circle Dance" in which Vanessa Carlton makes her second appearance.

"We wanted everything on the DVD and CD to look and sound perfect and I think we succeeded," said Nicks.


"The Soundstage Sessions" CD included 10 songs extracted from the "Live In Chicago" DVD.  Nicks brought the songs from the show to Nashville and worked once again with Joe Thomas in the studio where they added "Nashville Strings" and additional vocals.  They also removed the audience from the live recording giving it a more "live in the studio" feel.  The CD features a lush orchestral version of "Landslide", the bonus track audio from the DVD and other Nicks gems including "Stand Back," "Crash Into Me," "Sara," "Fall From Grace", "If Anyone Falls In Love" and "Beauty and The Beast" a faithful restating of the song, which closed "The Wild Heart" in 1983. Lost in the rapture of her lyrics, Nicks captivates for seven minutes. Accompanied by just strings, piano, and her background vocalists.  She dubs her performance “the Witherspoon vocal” after a woman who attended the recording of the song in Nashville.

Ahead of the official release date of March 31, 2009 digital downloads of "Crash Into Me" and "Landslide" (orchestral version) were made available on Amazonmp3.com March 17th. "Enchanted", was available March 31st as a bonus on Amazonmp3.com if you purchased the digital version of the CD. "Gold Dust Woman" and "Edge Of Seventeen" were the bonus tracks available exclusively on iTunes on March 31st.











An exclusive Limited Edition CD/DVD set featuring different cover art inside and out called "The Soundstage Sessions Live in Chicago" was made available to purchase exclusively through Stevie's record label Warner Bros.  If you purchased this set, you received instant downloadable tracks "Rhiannon" and "The One" both not included on the CD.  Also, anyone who purchased this Limited Edition early on also received an 8x10 never before seen Lithograph of Stevie.

The Soundstage Sessions CD and Live in Chicago DVD are for the most part satisfying because Stevie sounds and looks fantastic.

Stevie, one of the most successful female artists in rock history and the embodiment of the transcendent power of music is a multi-platinum, multi Grammy Award winning Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and a member of the legendary Fleetwood Mac.  

Fleetwood Mac was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, the same year that her box set Enchanted came out. In 2001, Nicks released her last Studio album Trouble in Shangri-La, this time with friends Sheryl Crow, Sarah McLachlan, Dixie Chick Natalie Maines and Macy Gray and in 2003 joined Fleetwood Mac for the reunion album Say You Will.  In 2004 Fleetwood Mac released the DVD Live in Boston.  In the spring of 2007 Reprise released the CD/DVD Crystal Visions: The Very Best of Stevie Nicks, an extraordinary collection of songs and videos spanning the legendary singer/songwriters career.

After touring the world with Fleetwood Mac for the better part of 2009 on the Unleashed Tour, and spending pretty much this last decade celebrating her work as a solo artist and with Fleetwood Mac, Stevie's back in the Studio working with Dave Stewart and many others she's worked with over the years recording tracks for a long over due new studio album.  No official date has been given for the release, but given her past track record, it looks like it might be a spring 2001 release with touring dates likely to follow.

In the meantime, Stevie's lined up a short run of shows beginning August 4th in Santa Barbara, CA.

WHERE TO BUY THE CD
USA itunes | CANADA itunes
(Includes Bonus Tracks only available on itunes "Gold Dust Woman and "Edge of Seventeen")
USA ONLY - mp3 Album Only Amazon
(Includes Exclusive Album Track "Enchanted")
USA Amazon | CANADA Amazon

WHERE TO BUY THE DVD
USA Amazon | CANADA Amazon
USA Itunes CANADA - Itunes





Friday, July 16, 2010

DAVE STEWART CALLED UP MIKE CAMPBELL FOR INPUT ON STEVIE NICKS PROJECT

Do you have anything in the works in terms of doing sessions or production work?
"Yeah. I don’t do a lot of sessions, ‘cause I’m not real comfortable walking into a room with people that I don’t know. But I’ve done a few over the years. I have a couple of things. Mostly what I do in my off time is just write and record in my studio. Occasionally, I will step out. Like last week I had an opportunity to do something that was really fun. Dave Stewart called me up, and he’s working with Stevie Nicks. He’s doing a record with her. And over the years, I would give Stevie some music here and there. And Dave said, “She’s got a song of yours that she found and she wants to record.” And so we got together and changed a few things and made it better and went in and cut that. In the course of that, I had this other piece of music I gave her and she wrote a really great song to it. I’m really proud of it. So I did that last week. A couple of songs with them, and that was a lot of fun."

Q&A with Mike Campbell (Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers) by Daniel Durchholz.
His full Q&A with Mike can be read at Play It All Night Long

Thanks to RockALittle250 for finding this Q&A
_______________________________________________________________________________

In other related news.... Dave Stewart who's producing Stevie's next album tweeted today that he's back working with Stevie on Monday the 19th.  He was on a break from recording with Nicks - spending some time in Nashville recording his own solo album.  By the sounds of it, it went really well and given that he wasn't in Nashville all that long - he seems to have accomplished a lot in a short amount of time.... I guess playing and recording live in the studio shortens up the overall recording time.... Maybe that's the "new way of recording" he spoke about months ago when he first started talking about recording with Stevie...

See The Dave Stewart Stevie Nicks Timeline

Nsight - Fleetwood Mac "Profile of Fleetwood Mac" BBC Radio 6

Nsight - Fleetwood Mac
BBC Radio 6
Profile of Fleetwood Mac. Presented by Alan Black.
Archival Footage includes Mick, John, Chris, Stevie and Lindsey
Duration:60 minutes
Available until: 4:02am Friday 23rd July 2010

Listen Now
CLICK THE IMAGE TO BE TAKEN TO BBC 6

Thursday, July 15, 2010

FULL INTERVIEW WITH FLEETWOOD MAC CELEBRATING 35 YEARS

Live In The Studio with Redbeard
FLEETWOOD MAC
35th ANNIVERSARY OF THE RELEASE OF "FLEETWOOD MAC". 
(July 11, 1975)

U.S. Syndicated radio show InTheStudio celebrated the 35th anniversary of one of rock's most pivotal album's the 1975 FLEETWOOD MAC album. Show producer and host Redbeard spoke to Mick Fleetwood, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks about the first Fleetwood Mac album featuring Buckingham/ Nicks and how this line-up change along with a new producer transformed Fleetwood Mac forever.

The full 25 minute show is now up on the InTheStudio site to listen to.

Link To Interview

Monday, July 12, 2010

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRISTINE MCVIE - BORN ON THIS DAY

Add caption
An English songwriter, vocalist, pianist, and synthesizer player who has worked both in bands and as a solo artist, McVie is one of the most highly regarded female musicians in the genres of pop/rock and blues/rock. She is considered a pioneer, and was one of the first female musicians to enter the British blues scene of the 1960s, as well as one of the first to release a solo album.

1969 Melody Maker Award
Christine began her music career in 1968, performing with the bands Chicken Shack and Sounds of Blue. She was voted best female vocalist in the 1969 Melody Maker poll. Christine joined Fleetwood Mac in 1970 and went on to play a crucial part in the band’s creativity for 25 years. She wrote and performed on many of their best selling platinum albums, including Rumours, one of the best-selling albums of all time. Her classic work includes the songs You make loving fun, Say you love me, Don't stop, Over my head, Hold me, Everywhere and Little Lies.

Her soulful alto, keen melodies, sensitive lyrics, and grounding presence were a focal point for nearly 30 years in Fleetwood Mac, which began as a blues band in the early 70's only to shot to super-stardom in the mid-70's. Fleetwood Mac went on to become a benchmark to rock and roll with the band's music very much embedded in popular culture today partly due to Christine's contribution.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction
Christine left Fleetwood Mac after the highly successful 1997 Reunion album "The Dance", subsequent tour and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.

Honorary Doctorate Degree
Since retiring from music and leaving the band she's been spotted a few times in early 2000. On July 20, 2000 she received an honorary doctorate degree in music by the University of Greenwich in honor of her major contribution to international popular music. In her acceptance speech she stated "I find the prospect of standing here before you today more daunting than singing in front of 65,000 people at Madison Square Gardens in New York".
Accepting Legends Award

On September 26, 2003 Christine accepted an award on behalf of Fleetwood Mac at the first-ever Capital Gold Legends Awards held on Friday, September 26th, at the Hilton London Metropole. Fleetwood Mac won for Rumours in the "Legendary Album" category.
Christine McVie & Brett Tuggle
In 2003 Christine attended one of Fleetwood Mac's "Say You Will" concerts at Earls Court in London.

Being virtually non-existent in the music industry since 1998, it was a nice surprise for fans world wide when it was announced Christine was working on a solo album. The CD "In The Meantime" recorded in Christine's home studio, London and California was released in June, 2004. The CD was produced by Christine, her nephew Dan Perfect and Ken Caillat (Rumours and Tusk).
Christine McVie & Ken Caillat

The Mick Fleetwood Blue Band toured the UK in 2008 and Christine attended the filming for the DVD which was recorded at the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury, Kent, England. The DVD was eventually released in January, 2010.

Christine, 2010
In 2009 Christine also attended one of Fleetwood Mac's "Unleashed" tour shows at Wembley Arena in London.

Christine's most recently was photographed in her village in England where a story broke in the local press about how she joined a consortium to purchase land next to her property to protect it from development.

Christine turns 67 today and all fans world wide, I'm sure, join me in wishing Christine a very Happy Birthday!... You are missed!