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By Amy Kaufman - Los Angeles Times
The Republic
LOS ANGELES — Stevie Nicks was sauntering around a cavernous sound stage on the Sony lot in Culver City as her tiny dog, Sulamith, who was outfitted in a sweater, trailed behind her. It was Tuesday, only a few days before her Thursday concert at the Wiltern, which will celebrate the release of her first solo album in more than a decade, "In My Dreams," as well as her 63rd birthday. But it was dusty in the rehearsal space. And that upset her.
"This is a massive old place, and for me, it's hard, because it's very, very dusty, and I'm allergic to dust," she said, opting to sit in a stiff office chair instead of on a couch for fear that it would incite her allergies. "When I'm in here for eight hours, I get a bad feeling. It makes me feel like I'm flipping out."
Nicks doesn't like feeling out of control. That's why, for years, she has refused to write music with anyone. Even as a part of Fleetwood Mac — the seminal '70s British-American rock band that generated such hits as "Landslide," "Gold Dust Woman" and "Gypsy" — Nicks rarely sat down and collaborated with her fellow band members.
"I would write a song, put it on a cassette, and put it by the coffee pot for Lindsey (Buckingham) and say, 'Here's the song. You can produce it, but don't change it. Don't come back to me and say you want to change the words or the melody.' I didn't have a very good attitude," she acknowledged.
