Audio/Video/Photo: Stevie Nicks: Veterans Matter PSA

Photo courtesy of Rico Roman

Then-Sgt. Rico Roman, B Company, 2nd Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, receives a visit from legendary musician Stevie Nicks while recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in April 2007. Rico was riding in a humvee in the region of Sadr al-Yusufiya, Iraq, when it struck an improvised explosive device. Both of Roman’s legs were injured in the blast. After a year of therapy and rehabilitation, Roman made the hard decision to have his left leg amputated above the knee. (Photo courtesy of Rico Roman) - See more at: SOLDIERS
John Mellencamp, Stevie Nicks, John Fogerty Support New Campaign to House Homeless Veterans
More than a dozen celebrities, including rock legends John Mellencamp, Stevie Nicks, John Fogerty and ZZ Top's Dusty Hill, are taking part in a new campaign to raise awareness about the plight of homeless U.S. military veterans.  The initiative, organized in conjunction with the Ohio-based Veterans Matter program, seeks to raise money to help vets find a place to live.
The artists have recorded audio and video spots asking for donations by visiting VeteransMatter.org, or by texting "VETS" to 41444.  
So far, Veterans Matter has helped find housing for more than 230 veterans and/or their family members in six states.  The program's goal is to house 1,000 more by the end of the year.
"There are still 60,000 more veterans out on the street that need your help," Mellencamp says in his testimonial.  "Help get the word out and share this on all your social media.  Veterans matter.  We must take care of our own."
For her part, Nicks says, "Thousands of veterans are homeless and living on the streets of our nation tonight.  Streets where they're being beaten, robbed, killed.  Let's take care of our own.  Please join me in housing 1,000 veterans as fast as possible."
Other stars who have contributed messages to the initiative include Kid Rock, author Mitch Albom, and country artists Kix Brooks, Darius Rucker, Darryl Worley, Emerson Drive, and Jennifer Nettles.
Copyright 2014 ABC News Radio

Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac are collaborating on their first new material in 15 years

Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac are collaborating on their first new material in 15 years. The band is hitting the road, including sold-out shows at the Forum in Inglewood, this year with McVie rejoining the storied group.

LA Times

Photo by Michael Robinson Chavez Los Angeles Times

 

 

Her fear gone, Christine McVie's muse soars with Fleetwood Mac reunion

 

Christine McVie eases comfortably into the corner of a leather sofa, about a foot between her and Lindsey Buckingham. He leans forward and side by side, they listen to the playback of "Too Far Gone," a danceable new Fleetwood Mac song they've written together over the last few weeks at a West Los Angeles recording studio.

 

"This was a great collaboration," Buckingham said. "I had a track without any singing on it, and she wrote the song over it."

 

"We've been doing that quite a bit lately, haven't we?" McVie said.

 

Helping McVie write songs, Buckingham said to her, "is something you always wanted me to do for you, which was not necessarily the case with Stevie. She's a little more complicated in her needs."

It's a scene that would have been pure rock 'n' roll fantasy barely two years ago.

 

At that point, McVie was securely ensconced in her 17th century mansion in rural northern England, having retired from touring and recording with a band she'd been part of for a quarter century. Crippled by a fear of flying that made the idea of a trip to Los Angeles — or anywhere else — unthinkable, the '70s rock goddess stopped touring in 1998 and spent much of her time cooking and gardening.

 

But last week, the woman who wrote and sang many of the group's cornerstone songs, including "Don't Stop," "You Make Loving Fun," and "Little Lies," traded banter cheerfully with Buckingham, who expressed sheer delight at resuming the creative relationship they'd once enjoyed, both saying they've not only picked up where they left off, but agreeing that "it's better than ever."

 

In fact, it's the same studio they built 35 years ago when the British-American band was starting work on one of the most ambitious projects of the group's storied career, the two-disc "Tusk" album, which followed blockbuster "Rumours," one of the 10 bestselling albums of all time.

 

After a smiling McVie flashes double thumbs-up to engineer Mark Needham, Mick Fleetwood squeezes his unmistakable 6-foot-5 inch frame through the control room door and starts munching a forkful of salad out of a green plastic container. He grabs a digital camera off a coffee table and points it at his bandmates. McVie obliges him by twisting her mouth into a goofy grimace as he snaps the shot.

 

"There was some worry about whether it was a good idea to come back here," said Fleetwood, 66. "Maybe it would be better to go someplace new, someplace we hadn't worked before. But since we started working here, it couldn't be more fantastic."

F. Scott Fitzgerald's observation that "there are no second acts in American lives" notwithstanding, it appears that the Grammy-winning quintet is positioning itself for precisely that.

 

Of the band's five members, only Stevie Nicks isn't on the premises, busy attending to other commitments, they say. While Christine McVie and Buckingham signed off on the latest tweaks to "Too Far Gone," John McVie and Fleetwood worked on other facets of the new material.

 

McVie's return to the fold for an upcoming full-band reunion tour, announced in January, was surprise enough to music fans who'd been assured for a decade and a half that McVie had checked out of Fleetwood Mac and wasn't coming back. But things began to change a couple of years ago, when she began to reassess her decision.

 

She continued to write in her self-imposed retirement, and put out an appealing solo album in 2004, "In the Meantime." It was that project that helped plant the seed for her eventual return.

 

"It had some good songs on it, but I went about it all wrong, " said McVie, 70, still looking the part of the quintessential rock 'n' roll singer and songwriter in her brown leather jacket, over a white tank top and tight black jeans. "I did it the wrong way, with the wrong people, I didn't want to fly, I didn't want to promote it. I just did it in my garage and nothing happened with it. That caused a certain amount of angst, and then I just stopped."

 

Then a couple of years ago, she sought out a therapist to help her with the fear of flying. "He asked me, 'If you were to go anywhere in the world, where would you want to go?' I thought about it for a little bit, and I said 'Hawaii.'

 

"He said, 'Buy your ticket.' Then he said, 'You don't have to use it. Just buy it'," she said. Buckingham laughs at her revelation, saying, "I didn't know that part."

 

After a period of being gradually desensitized to the idea of flying, she said Fleetwood drove to her home to meet her, and together they got on a plane to Maui. There she joined him and her ex-husband, John McVie, at a performance by their blues band.

 

"I did a couple of songs there, it felt good onstage, and then I thought, I'm really missing out on something—something that's mine, that I've just given up, and I'm not paying respect to my own gift," she said. "I saw that if I want to start to play again, there's only one band I want to play with, and that's Fleetwood Mac."

 

That led to her first appearance in 15 years with Buckingham, Nicks, McVie and Fleetwood when the 80% edition of the group performed at the O2 Arena in London last year, a one-night reunion that set the stage for her return to the band.

 

That would have been reason enough for Fleetwood Mac fans to celebrate, but as McVie put it, her return wasn't simply for the full-group reunion tour now scheduled to start in the fall.

 

"I committed to join the band hook, line and sinker — recording, everything," she said.

 

Having overcome her flying fears, a new sense of liberation is manifesting in McVie through an outpouring of songwriting, much of it with Buckingham. Over the last eight weeks, Buckingham said they've written and recorded eight new songs, which will help populate a new Fleetwood Mac album along with seven or eight more the band recorded about 18 months ago while gearing up for a 2013 tour.

 

Another McVie-Buckingham collaboration they previewed, "How I Feel," is a buoyant number with all the markings of a hit.

"There's a lot of pop in what we've been doing," Buckingham, 64, says with a giddy smile, his signature shock of kinky hair still shooting skyward even as it has morphed over the years from dark brown to salt-and-pepper shades.

 

Following this round of recording, the album will be shelved while they gear up for the new tour, which opens Sept. 30 in Minneapolis and includes three nights at the Forum in Inglewood.

 

"I think we both came in with a certain level of ... not anxiety, but acknowledging that there were certain unknowns as to how this was going to go, or where it was going to go, or whether it would only get so far and then hit the wall," Buckingham said. "It's almost like the whole being greater than the sum of the parts, which was always a way to describe Fleetwood Mac.

 

"When someone takes such a long hiatus, you don't know if that was a moment in time; if that [working relationship] is still there," he said. "You know the potential is still there, but are the tools for getting in touch with it still there? But actually, it's better than ever, wouldn't you say?"

 

"Absolutely," McVie said instantaneously. "You've heard what the tour is called?" she asks, as if to underscore the theme of rejuvenation for the new chapter in the continuing story that is Fleetwood Mac. "On With the Show," she said, answering her own question.

 

Working together again, Buckingham said, "has been a really profound couple of months. I can't think of anything better for the next act for this band."

 

by Randy Lewis

Los Angeles Times

Stevie Nicks's Legend Keeps Twirling at Night of 1000 Stevies. Bring on the shawls, lace, flowing hair and white-winged doves

Photo: Roger Ressmeyer

Bring on the shawls, lace, flowing hair, white-winged doves and perpetual twirling. It’s time for the annual Night of the 1000 Stevies, a tribute to the mysticism-drenched siren Stevie Nicks, whose charisma after all these years draws people from around the world to perform her signature songs to a crowd of cheering tambourine holders.

Read The Full Story by: Michael Musto at The Blot Magazine

THE JACKIE FACTORY PRESENTS
NIGHT OF 1000 STEVIES 24: SPELLBOUND
FRIDAY, MAY 9, 2014 - IRVING PLAZA
17 IRVING PLACE NEW YORK CITY

More Information

Go Hard or Go Home... Stevie Nicks and Dave Stewart Crank Out 15 New Tracks in Nashville!

From bunny... to bear... Whatever it takes, Stevie and Dave are gettin' the job done! 

This sounds really encouraging... The fact that they have 15 songs done in a week and a half is pretty remarkable!.... Hopefully we get to hear all 15!

Post by Dave Stewart.

BMI Icon Award Presented to STEVIE NICKS May 13th at BMI's 62nd Annual Pop Awards

Photo: Kristin Burns

April 30, 2014
Media Alert

WHO

Broadcast Music, Inc.® (BMI®), the leading global music rights organization, to honor GRAMMY Award-winning artist Stevie Nicks. Additional invited guests include:

Adam Levine, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, The Lumineers, Fall Out Boy, Florida Georgia Line, Sheryl Crow, Shakira, Mac Miller, Skylar Grey, Vanessa Carlton, Andy Grammer, Paul Doucette, Lady Antebellum, Jeff Bahsker, Alex Da Kid, Rodney Jerkins, Bonnie McKee, Busbee, Claude Kelley, Brenda Russell, Noel Zancanella, Nathaniel Motte and more hit-making scribes

WHAT

BMI's 62nd Annual Pop Awards is a black-tie, invitation-only dinner that will present the BMI Icon Award to Stevie Nicks for her unique and indelible influence on generations of music makers.

The evening will also recognize the songwriters and publishers of the past year's most-performed pop songs in the United States from BMI's repertoire of more than 8.5 million musical works. The BMI Pop Song, Songwriter and Publisher of the Year will also be named during the ceremony.

The 62nd Annual BMI Pop Awards will be hosted by BMI Vice President & General Manager, Writer/Publisher Relations, Barbara Cane, BMI CEO, Mike O'Neill and BMI President Del Bryant.

WHEN

Tuesday, May 13. Press check-in will be at 5:30 p.m.; arrivals begin at 6:30 p.m.; awards begin at approximately 9 p.m. Access is for arrivals only. 

WHERE

Beverly Wilshire Hotel

Grand Ballroom

9500 Wilshire Blvd

Beverly Hills, CA 90212

NEW Untitled Stevie Nicks Solo Album

Photo: Dave Stewart

THE NASHVILLE SESSIONS:

Created a page for this new adventure Stevie's embarked on with Dave Stewart in Nashville... It's a compilation of the information gathered thus far... A timeline if you will.

A Tale of Two Recording Sessions

Talk on the town says she might go solo: Stevie Nicks recording new album with @DaveStewart in Nashville

Here she is... In Nashville!  Couple of facebook postings today from Dave Stewart in Nashville with Stevie recording... What they are recording hasn't been officially announced from either Stevie or Dave or made clear from the little information that's been gathered, nor for what project, whether it be solo or Fleetwood Mac... All we have to go on is what Mick indicated at a recent book signing with Jenny Boyd in L.A. on April 26th.  It's feeling like we'll be seeing a new solo album from Stevie before long!  And if they've been recording since Easter Sunday, and Mick believes they've got about 2 weeks to hammer it out, then they've got the rest of this week to get'r done!

Post by Dave Stewart.

Post by Dave Stewart.

Mick Fleetwood signing books at Barnes & Noble in Los Angeles yesterday (April 26, 2014) had the opportunity to speak with fans for a moment or two while he was signing books.... During one exchange with a Fleetwood Mac fan known on the ledge as HelloMonster, Mick dropped a few tidbits of info about what Stevie is doing in Nashville... Actually, more than a tidbit... it's more of a bombshell.

Photo: The Sound LA

Here's the conversation transcribed from an audio recording after the initial greeting and takes off where the Nashville topic was brought up:

HelloMonster
"What's going on in Nashville?"

Mick
"Ah, she's making ah, Stevie's making an album."

HelloMonster
"her own, or not"

Mick
" I think it's going to be a first for her where's she's doing that Nashville thing where they go in and just all the musicians just play the songs and they get it all done really quickly... we're hoping."

HelloMonster
"I heard that she is there with Dave, and Christine was seen in Nashville too, are they all doing something together".

Mick
"Dave's producing it.. Stewart. Ah, and she's using the wrecking crew down there, to my knowledge, where they all just come in and jam out the songs in like two weeks and tell you to go home.

HelloMonster
"but it's not for your new album" (meaning Fleetwood Mac)

Mick
"If she doesn't, she's not going to finish her album."

And that was all the audio that was captured...  So.  Here we have Stevie in Nashville working on a new album, with Christine and Dave while Lindsey, Mick, Christine and presumably John have or had space rented at The Village working on new Fleetwood Mac tunes, or demos or something... This is kind of confusing.  It's cool if Stevie's working on a new album, and I suppose if you are looking for a way to make that happen in a short period of time, then Dave Stewart, his crew of musicians in Nashville and Blackbird Studios is the way to go... given that Dave was able to knock out his last two albums with the same crew in Nashville spending very little time recording.  Let's see where this all leads.  I'd prefer new Fleetwood Mac music with the 5 back together given that we've had solo albums recently from Lindsey and Stevie and haven't heard anything from Christine in years... But if Christine is involved with Stevie's new project, then this is cool... It just seemed to make a little more sense to have a full on Fleetwood Mac project on the go, to go along with the tour, given the reuniting of the famous 5.  But at this stage in the game... I'll gladly take new music from any of them in any form.  As long as they are creating and moving forward, that's the main thing.

Thanks to HelloMonster for the audio recording.

Created a new page for these new albums "A Tale of Two Recording Sessions"

Kat Perkins nails Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide" on #TheVoice song rockets to No.1 on iTunes

Kat Perkins nails another Fleetwood Mac tune on last nights "The Voice".  This time... Fleetwood Mac's beautiful "Landslide" written by Stevie Nicks. She really did a nice job on the song.  Kat has such a strong voice. It's hard to cover songs so ingrained in the heart and soul of Fleetwood Mac fans... but I think her interpretation only elevated the song.

After the performance Adam Levine made a great point by saying he was happy she introduced the song to people who may not be familiar with the 1970's hit.

Take the response on iTunes for instance.  Kat's version of "Landslide" is currently the No.1 Rock Song in the U.S., with the original version by Fleetwood Mac at No.3.  On the Top 200 Singles Chart the original Fleetwood Mac version of "Landslide" is No.180.

You can download last nights performance of Landslide on itunes

You may recall Kat sang "Gold Dust Woman" earlier in the season.  Again, she did the song justice. You can check out that performance HERE. She also performed the Kenny Loggins and Stevie Nicks 1978 top 5 hit "Whenever I Call You Friend".  It's also available on iTunes.

Photo: Kat Perkins

This is hilarious! Mr. Buckingham relaxing with his dogs at home

This is hilarious! Mr. Buckinghams dogs just hanging out at home on the bed... But that bone has caused some tension.  Lindsey looks like he's just relaxing...Lindsey says. "Mommies going to post this, see... That's the problem. It's going to end up on, you know, Jimmy Fallon or something".... Then Lindsey says "Hi Jimmy why don't you have me on your show".

Post by Kristen Buckingham.

Fleetwood Mac Chart Updates PLUS Stevie Nicks sales boost in wake of Tonight Show performance

Two weeks worth of updates.

U.S.A. - April 26, 2014

In the U.S., on Billboard's Top 200 Album Chart, Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours" moves up to No.132 in it's second week back in the top 200 after re-entering at no.187 the previous week.  A nice boost for the album after Stevie appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon April 9th. During the sales period that ended April 13th, "Edge of Seventeen" also saw a nice gain in sales registering 5,000 downloads following her performance - it's best sales week in exactly a year according to Billboard. When you think of it, it's a little odd "Edge of Seventeen" saw the sales boost given that "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around", also performed that night, with Jimmy and Stevie re-creating the 1981 video, was more of a media sensation, yet "Edge of Seventeen" saw the sales bump.  Also up 12 spots on the chart is "The Very Best Of" to No.180.

BILLBOARD TOP 200 ALBUMS CHART
# 132 (187) Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
# 180 (192) Fleetwood Mac - The Very Best Of

TOP 50 CATALOGUE ALBUMS CHART
# 23 (37) Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
# 49 (39) Fleetwood Mac - The Very Best Of

U.S.A. - May 3, 2014

With Record Store Day on April 19th and the new single vinyl release of "Dragon Fly" from 1971, Fleetwood Mac register significant enough sales to enter the Top 25 Hot Singles Sales Chart at No.9. Not bad for a song over 40 years old... and on vinyl no less. In it's third week back on Billboard's Top 200 Albums Chart Rumours moves down to No.177.  The Very Best Of drops out of the top 200 this week and out of the top 50 on the Catalogue Chart.

BILLBOARD TOP 200 ALBUMS CHART
# 177 (132) Fleetwood Mac - Rumours

TOP 25 HOT SINGLES SALES
# (NEW) Fleetwood Mac - Dragonfly

TOP 50 CATALOGUE ALBUMS CHART
# 33 (23) Fleetwood Mac - Rumours

More charts from the UK, Ireland, Canada and Australia below.

Mick Fleetwood goes his own way: "I AM A wearer of hats."

by Mick Fleetwood
Sunday Express

I've always worn hats, many hats, too many hats at times, and even though I've never given losing my hair much thought, hats have proven to be rather a chic fashion segue as the years have gone by.

Hats are poetic, romantic; they provide generous amounts of theatrics for an old drama queen like myself.

They're also handy to keep about in case things get desperate.

Did you know they make great coin collectors for busking?

My channelling of the Mad Hatter began as a "spark" from seeing my father getting ready for work, donning his Air Force peaked hats and berets.

I have memories of playing dress up in them.

I still have them but, after some 30 years in showbusiness, sad to say my head is somewhat larger than it once was, so my father's hats no longer fit.

I am a collector of hats.

Recently I went to the Westbrook Maker Hat Company in Venice, California, a fine place where all the felt hats are made the oldfashioned way, by hand.

After a lengthy fitting, I ordered several hats that I am excited to be wearing on our upcoming tour.

Hats have always been a big part of my showmanship.

Traditionally, after the encore, I walk on-stage to say my goodnights wearing a red, collapsible top hat, reminiscent of a mad ringmaster under the big top.

Even Stevie will don her top hat at some point during our show.

There are plenty of good hat wearers today but the guy I love the most at the moment is Pharrell Williams and his awesome hats.

I love even more the message of Happy.

That video going viral is a great example of the power of the internet to connect people world-over through music in a way that is both subversive and sublime.

Gotta love those "feelgood" songs!

Many years ago when I was short of a few bob and not "feeling so good" I was persuaded to visit a fortune teller.

Being a die-hard romantic and a believer in fairy tales, I was an easy mark.

Desperation makes us do strange things.

The dubious palm reader asked me what it was in life I needed.

"Well," I said. "I've run out of money!" She told me to bring her $10,000.

Then she instructed me to "donate" (we use this word loosely here) half of it to her "charity" (another loose translation) and the remaining $5,000 (all the money I had to my name) I was ordered to put inside my shoes and into the lining of my beloved hat.

Apparently I was to be rewarded a bounty worth one hundredfold of the investments I had just made.

I can say that it did feel different, walking around packed, head and foot, with the last bit of cash I had.

Photos: Mick Fleetwood at Barnes & Noble with Jenny Boyd #FleetwoodMac

April 26, 2014 - The Grove in LA today hosted a book signing and a "conversation with" event with Jenny Boyd to promote her book "It's Not Only Rock 'N' Roll".  Dr. Jenny Boyd, is joined by her twice ex husband Mick Fleetwood along with Stephen Bishop and Bernie Larsen.

 Mick looks healthy and happy!

Photos by (left-right) Silvox2 | Angelina541 Top Photo: Mallory

Above two photos: David Livingston