Saturday, June 16, 2007

Nicks steps onstage and back in time on new tour


Some stars reflect on past mistakes and claim they wouldn’t change a thing. Not Stevie Nicks.


The rock goddess, who plays the Tweeter Center tomorrow with Chris Isaak, may weave layers of ambiguity through her songs, but she’s straightforward about her desire to erase almost two decades of drug abuse.


Nicks battled a cocaine habit from 1977 to 1986, and almost immediately after, an eight-year addiction to the tranquilizer Klonopin. “I would absolutely do it differently,” Nicks said from a tour stop in New York City. “Cocaine almost ruined my life. And if I hadn’t done Klonopin, I would have made two or three more fantastic albums. I lost most of my 40s to Klonopin and that really makes me mad, because your 40s are great. Maybe that’s why I see through 40-year-old eyes, because I lost my 40s, so I’m trying to get a little of my 40s.


If Nicks is making up for lost time, she’s doing it in style. For her Crystal Visions Tour, the singer/songwriter has a girly new wardrobe that helps her slip into the persona of an ageless rock star even as she creeps toward 60.


“I think you really can feel the age that you want to be depending on where you are, what clothes you’re wearing, what boots you’re wearing, how your hair is. You can really keep yourself in a very youthful place if you want to. And I don’t really want to be 59. I want to be like 40, so I look at my life through 40-year-old eyes when it comes to going on the stage.”


Nicks’ tour supports her new “Crystal Visions” CD/DVD, which celebrates her solo work and with Fleetwood Mac.


Though the Mac roared back with 2003’s “Say You Will,” the groups future hangs in the balance with the departure of keyboardist/singer Christine McVie.


“I was very not inspired by not having Christine on the last tour,” Nicks said. “I miss her more than you could imagine, more than I could have even imagined. So I hope that one of these days, Christine’s going to get up in her English castle and say, ‘I’m bored. I’m going to call Stevie and I’m going to do this Fleetwood Mac thing one more time.’ Because I don’t know if I’ll be happy doing it again without her. It just doesn’t seem right to me.


While another solo album is also a possibility, Nicks is also interested in turning the Welsh mythological stories of Rhiannon into a movie, and making a cartoon out of a story she wrote at age 17 - “So that was like 100 years ago,” she said.


But while Nicks pokes fun at her age and escapes into a younger version of herself onstage, she also embraces growing older.


“In my real life I’m very much aware that I’m 59, because my life’s experience is based on 59 years,” she said. “And that part I really like, because I feel like I’m very wise now. I see mistakes coming and I avoid them. When I was 40, I didnt.”

Friday, June 15, 2007

Stevie Nicks - Stand Back (Terranova & Austin Leeds Remix)

One more Stand Back Remix:

Stevie Nicks - Stand Back (Terranova & Austin Leeds Remix)http://www.evilshare.com/1e140066-6c...b-00a0c993e9d6

Nicks, Isaak: Who's the soft-rock champ?


Clearly, Stevie Nicks and Chris Isaak are at the very least on good terms. It's quite possible they're good buds. They definitely don't hate each other, since they're playing a show together tonight at the Tweeter Center in Camden, N.J.


Even still, we feel like it'd be amusing to pit the two soft-rock titans against each other in a Caribbean Barbed Wire Lumberjack Steel Cage Death Match, just to see who is the true champion of soft rock radio.


Plus, there's not much to write about this week, so here goes.

•Songwriting chops. Edge: Nicks, by a mile. After Stevie moved outside the Fleetwood Mac fold, everyone wondered what she could do without Lindsey Buckingham or Christine McVie there to help as a foil, co-songwriter or musical collaborator. The answer was "Stand Back," "Talk to Me," the classic "Leather and Lace" -- which is a killer cut despite the presence of Don Henley -- not to mention "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around," which she didn't write but made awesome by blending her scratchy vocals with Tom Petty's Florida-flavored faux-Dylan lead vocal. Isaak has, er, "Wicked Game."

•Vocal chops. Edge: Draw. If you go for pure pleasantness of voice, Isaak would be the clear winner. His Elvis-meets-Roy Orbison croon and sneer could make almost any tune a hit. But Nicks' now-weathered pipes still burst with personality, and like Jules Winnfield said in "Pulp Fiction," personality goes a long way.

•Previous band. Edge: Uh, Nicks. Isaak was in a rockabilly band called Silvertone in the mid-1980s.

•Versatility. Edge: Isaak. In addition to being a great singer and decent songwriter, the studly Isaak has appeared in several films, including a brief appearance as a cop who gets duped by Hannibal Lecter in "The Silence of the Lambs." Aside from her soap opera-esque moments in Fleetwood Mac footage, Nicks doesn't act.

•Onstage accessories. Edge: Isaak. He brings the sneer and the greaser-style hairdo, but Isaak isn't really a props kind of guy. Nicks loses here for those weird cape/curtain-type things she hangs from her arms to cover herself up. Why? You go girl.
Although it looks close on paper, Nicks slaughtered the California boy.

Nicks and Isaak will be at the center at 8. Tickets are $25, $45, $79.75 and $125 at www. ticketmaster.com.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Stevies Rockin' the Beige Boots!

Stevie played the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, NJ last night (June 12, 2007). Below are a few shots taken by Kelly (softsilverchain). The setlist doesn't seem to ever change, but it appears there are quite a few wardrobe changes on this tour.




Thursday, June 07, 2007

Soundscan Sales Update for Crystal Visions

Update on the Soundscan Sales for Crystal Visions.

Date / Chart # / Sales / Total Sales
04/14/07 #21 - 33,944
04/21/07 #52 - 20,884 = 54,828
04/28/07 #49 - 13,384 = 68,212
05/05/07 #71 - 9,687 = 77,899
05/12/07 #73 - 9,531 = 87,430
05/19/07 #91 - 7,829 = 95,259
05/26/07 #116 - 7,421 = 102,680
06/02/07 #138 - 5,535 = 108,215
06/09/07 #131 - 5,705 = 113,920
06/16/07 #108 - 6,558 = 120,478
06/23/07 #152 - 5,212 = 125,690

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Stevie Nicks Stand Back EP Released on itunes

A total of 9 Remixes of Stand Back which was a top 5 hit for Stevie Nicks back in 1983 have been released on a 4 track EP and also as single downloads on itunes. The following is available now:

EP: $3.96
1. Morgan Page Edit - 4:30
2. Ralphi's Beefy Retro Radio - 4:30
3. Tracy Takes You Home Mixshow - 6:54
4. Tracy Takes You Home Radio - 3:51

Singles: (sold seperately for 99 cents each)
1. Ralphi's Beefy Retro Mix - 11:11
2. Ralphi's Beefy Retro Edit - 7:30
3. Tracy Takes You Home Dub - 11:32
4. Tracy Takes You Home Mix - 11:26
5. Morgan Page Vox Mix - 7:01