STEVIE NICKS INFO

Category: Fans/Tributes

Night of a Thousand Stevies brings Crystal Visions to life

Jazmin Flowers in a shot from past years, returned to celebrate the Night of a Thousand Stevies. (NOTS)

NOTS enters its 23rd year with enduring camp, pageantry, and Stevie magic.

Thousands of gays, lesbians, drag queens, downtown luminaries and Fleetwood Mac fans of every ilk gathered at the Highline Ballroom on May 3 for the 23rd Annual Night of a Thousand Stevies. Now going into its third decade of opulence, this annual tribute to all things Fleetwood Mac has grown from a novelty act to a full-fledged nightlife touchstone.

“Night of a Thousand Stevies started at Jackie 60, our underground club in the Meat Market, when that area was still fun and underground,” said founder Chi Chi Valenti. “It was meant to be only a one-night event, but we had a big response of Stevie Nicks fans that we didn’t realize were amongst us. It became one of our first shows that went annual, and we thought then that calling it the night of ‘a thousand Stevies’ was hilarious, because we only had five or six Stevies then, and 200 people in the audience. It was an ironic title that actually came true.”

NOTS grew over the years, moving from Jackie 60 to The Knitting Factory, Don Hill’s, and the Hiro Ballroom before landing at the Highline Ballroom. The show now has upwards of 25 performances spread over three acts, with a first-rate technical crew that is accustomed to doing large, long and complex shows. This year’s event packed the Highline nearly to capacity.

“A lot of people don’t think it’s quite big enough, but the feeling in the room is right,” said Valenti. “It’s not one of those places concerned with pushing bottle service on people, and so we’re very happy to be in a venue of that size and still maintain the good feeling of a live event.”

Valenti’s partner in crime, Johnny Dynell, can be found manning the soundboard while she and her co-hosts — often Hattie Hathaway or drag queen legend Sherry Vine — announce the acts and take breaks to throw scores of tiny, beribboned tambourines to the audience.

New York’s glitterati clamor to perform at NOTS, among them Butoh artists Vangeline Theater, Justin Bond, Amber Martin, Sweetie, Divine Grace, Machine Dazzle and Darrell Thorne, Dirty Martini, Poison Eve, Darlinda Just Darlinda and the Ho-Hos, one of both Valenti’s and Dynell’s perennial favorites.

“Every year people anxiously await to see what craziness they will deliver,” said Dynell, who told EDGE that another of his favorites was Belladonna from Santa Barbara. “Not only do I love her shows, but she is always such a big help setting up for the party. We leave the sacred job of testing the mike stands to Bella.”

Dynell is also partial to the legendary Joey Arias, who traditionally ‘sings’ “Stand Back.” “I say ‘sings’ because after 23 years, he still doesn’t know the words,” said Dynell. “One year I played a little trick on him and switched to an instrumental track. We were all howling as a panic-stricken Joey tried to remember the words — and actually made up a few new verses of his own!”

Chi Chi Valenti tosses tambourines to the crowd. (Winnie McCroy)

Making the Annual Pilgrimage to NOTS

Part of the strength of NOTS is its longevity. Throughout the years, the event has gained momentum, bolstered by the advent of the Internet as well as the cult classic film “Gypsy 83,” which follows the trek of a misfit goth and her gay boy friend from Sandusky, Ohio, to New York for NOTS.

One such ‘gypsy’ who was drawn in by the pageantry is transwoman Jazmin Flowers, who said she heard about NOTS after the film came out in 2001, and spent hours on the NOTS website fantasizing about being able to attend the event. She never dreamed she’d actually be performing in one of the shows.

“It took me four more years to decide to audition,” Flowers told EDGE. “As the tech age rolled in, I emailed Chi Chi with my audition snippet, an a cappella version of ‘Rooms on Fire.’ She emailed me back and invited me to join. That was such a magical moment!”

Every year since 2006, Flowers has trekked from Jackson, Mississippi to Manhattan to perform; this year, she brought the house down just by taking the stage in her fringed shawl and singing “Gold Dust Woman.” It is the spectacle and the people that keep her coming back.

“I love to just sit back and look at all the creative outfits that people work on for months, and the performances created on stage are unlike anything else,” said Flowers. “The outpouring of love for the woman and music that has meant so much to so many people and shaped so many lives is extraordinary.”

Flowers also cherishes the friendships she has forged throughout the years, noting that many of the performers have experienced bumps along the road of life, and Nicks’ music is the common bond that has helped them all move forward. For her, NOTS is akin to an annual family reunion, “a time to sing and dance, to talk about what’s gone on in the past year, to share hugs and well wishes and to put life on hold for one night.”

Machine Dazzle, in the pirate ship headdress, with a glittery Darrell Thorne in front, provided entr’acte entertainment. (Source:Winnie McCroy)

Inspiration Flows Back to the Source

Valenti will never forget the fourth annual NOTS, when she and Dynell arrived at 8 p.m. to discover a line of “Enchanted Gypsies” stretching down Washington Street in all their Stevie finery. That’s the night she knew that everything had clicked, and NOTS had taken on a life of its own.

Newbies often wonder if Stevie Nicks herself will show up, and although seasoned NOTS veterans realize the pandemonium that her appearance would cause, hope (and rumor) flows eternal.

According to urban folklore, Nicks did appear incognito one year (what better place to blend in to a sea of flowing capes and ruched boots?) and NOTS conspiracy theorists believe she has sent photographers to shoot the event for her to enjoy.

Nicks sent a videotaped greeting several years ago, and Valenti said she has been lucky enough to talk to the woman herself.

“Thankfully, I have gotten to speak to Stevie several times, and she is always so supportive of the event,” Valenti told EDGE. “But like the song goes, Stevie is always surrounded by ‘too much love.’ Can you imagine going through life as a huge star; it’s a blessing and also a curse. Grown people start crying when they see her, because she just represents so much for so many people. But she understands that the event is really done from the absolute best place.”

Nicks also supports her fans. Valenti said that after 9/11, Nicks sent some amazing memorabilia to be auctioned off to benefit the service dogs at Ground Zero, and has done other generous things for NOTS.

“People are sometimes miffed over whether she will come to the event, but if it were me, I would just slip in,” said Valenti. “And she has always credited us with helping to make her aware of how enormous her gay and transgender audience is, and we are proud to be part of that bridge.”

For more information on NOTS, visit mothernyc.com/ or www.facebook.com/1000stevies

Winnie McCroy is the National News Editor, HIV/AIDS Editor, and Assistant Entertainment Editor for EDGE Media Network, handling all news, HIV health stories and theater reviews throughout the U.S. She has contributed to other publications, including The Village Voice, Gay City News, Chelsea Now and The Advocate, and lives in Brooklyn, New York, where she writes about local restaurants in her food blog,http://brooklyniscookin.blogspot.com/

Winnie McCroy / EDGE on the Net / Wednesday, May 8, 2013

May 8, 2013
NOTS: You Make Loving Stevie Fun

The top five reasons not to miss the 23rd annual Night of a Thousand Stevies

Jackie Factory empressario Chi Chi Valenti has been organizing and emceeing Night of a Thousand Stevies since creating the party at downtown nightclub Mother in 1991. The annual Stevie Nicks tribute event is a chance for fans to come together in all their leather and lace, to twirl in shawls and chiffon, to shake their tambourines along to lovingly irreverent reinterpretations and performances of the Fleetwood Mac singer’s biggest hits and most obscure b-sides. With the 23rd annual NOTS, Crystal, coming up at Highline Ballroom, we chatted with Valenti about what to expect, what to wear and whether or not we should be on the look out for Ms. Nicks herself this year. There are about a thousand reasons not to miss NOTS. We narrowed it down to the top five.

REASON #5: It’ll Be A Wet and Wild Time!

This year’s theme was inspired in part by the experience of so many downtown New Yorkers in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Enduring the East Village blackout, Valenti says, Stevie’s song “Crystal” went into heavy rotation for some reason. “It’s about a lot of things, but it’s about the water swallowing you and kind of giving in to the water. So it just seemed like the right theme. It represents all of the watery imagery, when so often we’re always doing the birds in flight—but there are still seagulls in this one!”

REASON #4: Mermaids Are Really Trending Right Now

From Azealia Banks’ Mermaid Ball to that sexy gay Mermaid Boy, mermaids are huge right now, and NOTS is getting in on the action. “It’s going to be very mermaid and Neptune-rich as well,” Valenti says. “Machine Dazzle is doing all of our method go-gos as Stevie mermaids.”

REASON #3: The Celebrity Sightings

Courtney Love, Cyndi Lauper, Debbie Harry and Boy George have all previously made appearances at NOTS, but there was one famous face Valenti remembers in particular. “The one and only night that Madonna ever came to Jackie 60, it was a Night of a Thousand Stevies. So she walks in and the entire place is decorated with images of another blonde diva!”

REASON #2: You Don’t Have to Look Exactly Like Stevie to Have A Blast.

One thing Valenti wants everyone to remember: NOTS isn’t a Stevie look-alike competition. “Whenever things err on the side of gay, creative, performance art—that’s always good for us.” Wild and creative looks incorporating imagery from Stevie’s songs are just as important as blonde wigs and lace shawls. For guys who aren’t into drag, Valenti suggests a classic Fleetwood Mac look, or something nautical to complement this year’s theme. One performer built his look around dream catchers for last year’s “Dreams Unwind” theme. “Some of the things that work the best are just taking one element that’s so different from the rest of your look and fusing it brilliantly.”

REASON #1: There’s Always A Chance Stevie Might Show Up!

Stevie has said on multiple occasions that she has every intention of showing up at NOTS one of these days—but in disguise and totally without warning. “I hope that the year she does it, she just decides very spur of the moment to do it and just pops in,” Valenti says. This could be the year!

Night of a Thousand Stevies: Crystal at Highline Ballroom, 431 W 16th St (btwn Ninth/10th Aves), May 3 at 9pm; $25. Visit mothernyc.com/stevie for more info.

John Russell / Next Magazine / Wednesday, May 1, 2013

May 2, 2013
TRIBUTE: Jody, Janis and Stevie, Together Again

Three faces of Shore music legend Jody Joseph are onstage at the Strand Center for the Arts

Event: Jody Joseph: ONE DIVA-ONE LEGEND-ONE WOMAN
Date: Saturday, April 27, 2013
Time: 8 p.m.
Where: Strand Center for the Arts, 400 Clifton Ave, Lakewood NJ 08701
Cost: VIP $40 (includes a buffet dinner at the Strand Gallery Ballroom/Regular $20
Box Office: Contact Box Office for information and tickets: www.strand.org or call 732-730-5925

April 18, 2013 – In this corner, the iconic Janis Joplin — the Texas tornado who so briefly and decisively tore across the musical landscape of the late 1960s, schooling that peace-and-love generation in the meaning of the blues.

On the opposite end of the stylistic spectrum, Stevie Nicks — the California curiosity-shop coquette whose elf-queen persona has been described as having “cast an arcane and eldritch spell — turning the wasteland of mainstream music into a lush forest (and scattering small woodland creatures before her formidable boots).”

Ask Monmouth County award winning, singer, songwriter and teacher, Jody Joseph, what these rock doyennes have in common, and she’ll tell you “absolutely nothing; nothing in common.” On closer investigation, however, the long-gone Joplin and the still-touring Nicks share a very real bond — one that goes by the name of Jody Joseph.

A performer of impeccable musical pedigree: her family tree includes cousins Jon Bon Jovi, and the beloved American tenor Mario Lanza. Jody Joseph is the diminutive dynamo known as “The Hardest Working Woman in Shore Business.” She is the proud recipient of the “Living Legend 2009” from the Asbury Music Awards.

On the evening of Saturday, April 27, Jody Joseph and her band, Jon “Huey” Tatlow, B. Jay Willis, Robert Kipp, Jon Rotman, Johnna Orrico and Liz Pesche, take the stage of another high-profile Shore area venue — the Strand Center for the Arts — for a special concert presentation entitled One Diva-One Legend-One Woman.

A newly revised edition of a show that was first seen at Asbury Park’s Paramount Theatre in 2009, 1D1L1W is a three-part concert that presents the versatile vocalist (who regularly channels a jukebox-worth of female and male pop icons through her own considerable talents) in character as Nicks in the first act and Joplin in the third.

In the center of the program — and at the heart of this labor of love — stands Jody Joseph herself; a writer of original compositions and a star-quality performer, who has become a household name.

“I’ve done Janis songs and Stevie songs for years, but I never thought of doing a whole show around either one,” explains Joseph, adding that she “didn’t want to spend a whole night being other people” without a chance to show how those artists have influenced her own work.

April 18, 2013
Dwayne Gretzky shows the love for Fleetwood Mac

By Lauren Pincente
Photos by Andrew Williamson
BlogTo
Thursday, April 18, 2013

“It seems like our generation as a whole has rediscovered Fleetwood Mac in our adult years,” Bobby Kimberley told me by email late Wednesday morning after Dwayne Gretzky sold out The Great Hall. “Fleetwood Mac are classic, and everyone in Dwayne Gretzky is a real fan,” he continued.

The founder of Young Lions Music Club, a music marketing agency that has thrown some of the city’s best music parties and concerts, Kimberley had invited his friends in Toronto indie band Dwayne Gretzky to pay tribute to the popular ‘70s band on Tuesday night, the same night Fleetwood Mac was to play on the ACC stage. Just blocks away from where Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham performed their own sold out concert, the local eight-piece cover band paid tribute to the legends by playing Mac’s 1977 Rumours album in full.

Drawing on what he calls the perfect opportunity for a full-blown tribute, Kimberley, now a pro at organizing large independent shows such as this, had 600 people lined up around the block to watch some local kids take on music 15 years older than them.

“The band has all the right pieces for Fleetwood Mac: two female vocals, diverse from one another, and two male vocals. There’s enough variety to find the right people for each part, while harmonizing beautifully throughout,” Kimberley believes.

Lead female vocalist Allie Hughes, a woman who looks the part of ingénue but is a commanding schizo pop performer in her own right, powered through Nicks’ vocals. Honing her incredible energy in for softer, down tempo songs, Hughes was the rowdiest of the band onstage, jumping on the backs of her bandmates during crowd pleasers and sinking to the floor to pound the beat out with her fists. Stealing the show during Gretzky’s rendition of “Go Your Own Way”, Hughes did her best Nicks’ impression on “Dreams,” a classic that had the crowd shouting her name by the end.

If Hughes was playing the part of Nicks, then keyboardist Robin Hatch was a strong Christine McVie, providing a backbone for the group to rely on for richer vocals as Hughes and lead male vocalist/guitarist Tyler Kyte played up their Nicks and Buckingham fantasies on lead.

Following the country sound of “Never Going Back Again,” “Don’t Stop” changed the mood of the place quickly as a wave of recognition spread throughout the venue and hundreds of ‘80s babies began dancing to the songs their mothers used to play. But it was the band’s spot on version of “The Chain,” a Dwayne Gretzky favourite, that made the evening, with their expertise showing through strong rhythms and full band harmonies on the chorus.

Paying tribute amongst the crowd were the hundreds of millenials who made the evening a sweaty dance party, downing beers, Instagramming the band and swaying to the music, just like Stevie Nicks taught them.

Standing on the balcony, an older crowd of long-time Fleetwood Mac fans listened and danced, substituting tickets to the sold out ACC concert to check out what kids nowadays were doing with Fleetwood’s music. Pausing only to ask about Dwayne Gretzky’s large following, it seemed that, judging by their reactions, the kids are alright.

April 18, 2013
Look, don’t stop, Stevie fans!

NUMBER OF attendees in 2011: 1,200; Price of admission: $25; consecutive years event has been sold out: 5; U.S. Sales of Fleetwood Mac’s album Rumours: more than 19 million; U.S. sales of Stevie Nicks’s solo albums: more than 16 million

Stevie Nicks, the Fleetwood Mac vocalist, has always attracted blatant imitators and fervent admirers. For 21 years, the two camps have converged annually in New York City at the Night of 1,000 Stevies. With singers, dancers and other performers at the multimedia celebration at the Highline Ballroom earlier this month, Nicks (otherwise unaffiliated with the event) appeared in a video, promising to attend a future show and sing “Edge of Seventeen.” “Should Stevie ever attend and perform,” says Chi-Chi Valenti, the show’s founding producer, “it would be a mass of fans weeping, twirling, reaching out to touch her hand, singing along and making a mighty clatter of tambourines.” Future attendees, be prepared: the Web site says it’s strictly B.Y.O.B.T. — Bring Your Own Bedecked Tambourine.

Tony Gervino / New York Times / Sunday, May 29, 2011

May 29, 2011
Dear Superstar: Stevie Nicks

Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Blender
www.blender.com

A pineapple scent wafts through Stevie Nicks’s Maui house. Outside, the Pacific Ocean laps at volcanic rocks, and inside, New Age music fills the air. Just when you get the feeling a unicorn is about to saunter into view, Nicks opens her mouth and starts talking about menopause. “It drives people crazy when I bring it up, but I think it’s important,” she says.

The 58-year-old Fleetwood Mac star has always been more candid than your average witchy woman. The singer of such stone classics as “Dreams,” “Rhiannon” and “Edge of Seventeen,” she doesn’t mind answering questions about her past vices (coke: yes; heroin: hell no) and her past consorts (including bandmates Lindsey Buckingham and Mick Fleetwood, who owns the house across the street). During rock’s golden age of excess, she was a top-ranking diva, demanding the presidential suites at hotels and traveling by private train. She’s even been the star of two episodes of Behind the Music, but curled up on the sofa today, the ethereal one seems more or less at peace.

“This is my vacation time,” she says with a laugh. Some vacation — she’s been assembling Crystal Visions … The Very Best of Stevie Nicks, a CD/DVD solo-career retrospective. In May, she’ll head out on tour. Perhaps, we ask hopefully, there’s one last Fleetwood Mac reunion in the works? “I can’t tell you that,” she demurs. “But the doors are never closed … ”

It’s July 1977. Describe your average day.
Russian.Bear, Lexington, VA

We would have been working on Rumours in Los Angeles. An average day would have been getting up and going to the studio, pretty much six days a week. It was fun. I enjoy the process of recording. I’d have my special chair, my special coffee cup — I’m very at home there. And every day somebody brings something: Somebody brings fishnets and puts them over the lamps, somebody brings pillows, and then Mick Fleetwood brings a statue and pretty soon there’s a pair of giant African elephant tusks bracketing the soundboard.

What is “Gold Dust Woman” really about?
Aronowizz, Kingston, NY

The “Gold Dust” thing came from a street in Phoenix, where I grew up, which is called Gold Dust Lane or Avenue or something. “Gold Dust Woman” was kind of a premonition of the beginning of the drug world. When I say, “take your silver spoon and dig your grave” it sounds like I was right in the middle of the drugs, but I really wasn’t; there weren’t any drugs around Fleetwood Mac for quite a while. But it was a premonition of getting famous really fast and being thrown into a whole culture. “Gold Dust Woman” was just me looking around and going, This is a pretty scary society down here, and boy, I hope we make it.

Have you ever watched the Fleetwood Mac Behind the Music? Is there any part of it that just makes you cringe?
VanMan1969, Reading, MA

I think both of the Behind the Musics — the Stevie Nicks and the Fleetwood Mac one — are really good. I’m proud of those shows. And today, if they’re on, I’ll watch them and I’ll cry! They should be shown to all the girls going into rehab — just watch my Behind the Music episodes and learn what not to do!

Was Lindsey Buckingham the great love of your life?
Epress3x, Amarillo, TX

“Great love” connotes a lot of things. He was the great musical love of my life. I can compare it to Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash in that movie — they loved each other for two reasons. You can love somebody because you fall in love with them, but you also love what they do. And that’s a double whammy.

Do you have any tips on conducting an office romance?
Illisimo5673, Altamonte Springs, FL

Your office is my road; it’s all the same thing. And I think that it never works and will always, always backfire. Those relationships are over once the intensity of the moment is over. And then somebody gets hurt. It never works.

Which lyric are you most proud of?
Lbubbrs, Los Angeles

That’s hard. Any song of mine that goes out into the world I’m pretty proud of. Hmmm … I’m thinking about a song called “Storms,” off Tusk. “Every night that goes between/I feel a little less/As you slowly go away from me/This is only another test/Every hour of fear I spend/My body tries to cry/Living through each empty night/A deadly call inside.” Those lyrics came out when I was really hurting.

Is it true that Lindsay Lohan is going to play you in a movie?
Empier81, Lompoc, CA

Lindsay Lohan thinks she is going to play me! But what the hell movie does she think she’s talking about? There is no book, there is no screenplay, there is no movie. There is never going to be a movie made without me, because it’s never going to be the story of me. Even though a lot has been written about me, the fact is nobody actually has a clue to what my life was really like. So good luck, Lindsay.

What’s the worst rumor you’ve ever heard about yourself?
Julian.George, Madison, WI

Probably it would be from the drug years, when people thought I was doing heroin. I never did. You can do a lot simpler drugs than heroin and still get in trouble.

What was the high point of Fleetwood Mac on-the-road excess?
Ayteemit, Manchester, NH

The way we traveled. We had a big 737 commuter jet done up beautifully on the inside — it’s what professional basketball players rent. We had that for a year and a half. I still fly on a jet, but my jet is way littler these days. With Fleetwood Mac everything was huge, and it still is today. We always stay in the best hotels. I get the presidential suite over everybody, because I demand it.

Is it true your performance of “Don’t Stop” made Bill Clinton cry at the 1993 presidential inauguration?
Nilespine, Tripp, SD

Well, if it did, I don’t know about it, because I’m as blind as a bat and he was far enough away from me that I doubt I could have seen it. However, I do know that he loved “Don’t Stop,” and he dreamed of using it in a campaign long before he ran for president. He was riding in a cab somewhere — this is the story that we got — and he heard that song and he said, “If I ever run for something big I’m going to use that as my song.”

Do you still have a ballet studio in your house? When was the last time you did the splits?
Perry.Gold, Tucson, AZ

In my house in Phoenix, I do maintain the ballet room that I’ve had since 1981. I can still do a split, not a problem, because I’m limber. People who can do the splits can always do the splits.

Have you ever attended the drag tribute Night of a Thousand Stevies? and When did you realize you had become a drag icon?
Nandoor1, Jackson, OH

I was on a plane coming from the Super Bowl, and one of the stewards was telling me that he was a big fan and that he went to Night of a Thousand Stevies every year. He was six-foot-five and telling me all about his dress and his fantastic boots. Whoa! I still haven’t gone, but I’ve seen footage, and I have to say, I couldn’t be more flattered!

Have you ever been tempted by Scientology?
Lenhub88, Bucks County, PA

I have never been approached. I don’t really get it. I think it’s a little weird.

You recorded 1994’s Street Angel when you were addicted to Klonopin. What did you think when you first heard it after you got out of rehab?
Pillowpop4, Gaithersburg, MD

I went back in and tried to fix it! It wasn’t that it wasn’t good, it was just, if you’re taking a lot of tranquilizers everyday, it only makes sense that the music will be verrry tranquil. So I tried to fix it, which is kind of like trying to redo a house: You end up spending way more money than if you had just burned it to the ground and started over. It wasn’t fixable.

What advice would you offer to Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan as they go through rehab?
Starz431, Providence, RI

I’m more worried about Britney than Lindsay, because I think Lindsay is a serious actress, and that is going to be her saving grace. The only thing I could ever say is — I look over film footage and interviews for the Crystal Visions DVD, and I can totally tell when I’m high. There are a couple of videos that are really good — except that I was high. I’m sorry I let that happen. I ask myself, “Stevie, could you have just, while you were filming that video, not done any cocaine and not drank and not smoked pot? For those three days, could you have laid off of it so you could have looked great?” But I didn’t, and now I’m very sorry. If I could have gotten it together a little more I would have had a better career. I would have made a couple more great albums, I would have painted more pictures. You are sorry later … that’s what I would tell them.

What happens to us when we die?
Ulee43, Port St. Lucie, FL

I absolutely believe that there is an afterlife. I’ve had one afterlife experience where I did go to that other place. I fell off a horse. I was riding with a bunch of people — I didn’t even hit the ground, really; my brother jumped off his horse and caught me mid-flight but it scared me so bad that I lost consciousness. And I felt myself go up into this really light place. I could see the horses around me and hear the riders’ voices. I felt like I was rolling down a mountain, starting to go really fast … Then I opened my eyes. But for a minute I felt like I really had a choice to make, to come back. So I think there is an afterlife, and it’s a good place.

Do you have any vices these days?
Alex.neric, Lincoln, NE

Since I got out of rehab in 1994, I’ve stopped doing serious drugs. And then as menopause touched my life, I stopped even having a glass of wine. I don’t drink at all. I find that I’m spacey enough on my own that I don’t need to be drinking or smoking; it just doesn’t fit into my life anymore. I’m very glad, because it’s not like I’m fighting every day to not do drugs. They’re just gone.

Is it true you keep your feathers and lace in a climate-controlled facility?
Stagehanddan, Fenton, MS

I keep all my stage clothes in cases, and they go into storage in temperature-controlled rooms. Chiffon lasts forever if you take good care of it!

May 1, 2007
Stevie Nicks fans’ zeal leads to VH1

Laurinburg professor and his daughter share a passion for the singer.

VH1’s “Fan Club” profiles music fans to give viewers a better understanding of rabid devotion.

The latest episode (10p.m. Sunday) examines Stevie Nicks’ fans, including Jim Lankford, 68, of Laurinburg, about 90miles southeast of Charlotte.

Lankford loves Nicks as a solo act, but he also likes her older work with Fleetwood Mac. His Nicks fandom grew out of his love for his daughter Jackie, 37.

Lankford, a chemistry professor at St. Andrews Presbyterian College, began studying Nicks last year to try to connect with his estranged daughter, a longtime Nicks fan, who was slipping into depression. In an interview, he talked about his newfound passion and how it improved his relationship with Jackie.

How did you get on VH-1?

He and Jackie responded to a notice on a Nicks Web site.

What is the smoke-pop experiment you mentioned on VH-1?

An oxidizing agent mixed with an organic compound produces a cloud of smoke. “I think of the song `Rhiannon’ when I do that. Stevie’s talking about Rhiannon rising to the sky and being swept away.”

What is your favorite Nicks videotape that Jackie sent you?

Her “Bella Donna Tour” on HBO. It was the first one Jackie told him to watch.

Your favorite outfit?

“I liked her back in the early days when she had the black outfits, the black shawls and was being witchy and mysterious.”

When and where did you see your first Nicks concert?

The “Trouble in Shangri-La Tour” in Camden, N.J., this summer with Jackie. “It was such an enormous thrill after I had been studying her so much to finally see her performing live.”

What does your wife think about this?

They attended the Charlotte show together. “She understood me better. I don’t hear as many complaints.”

How many custom CDs have you and Jackie burned?

“43, and we’re not done.”

What was your first one?

A double disc, “Our Stevie CD: Music that Made a Difference.” It’s songs that helped him and Jackie understand each other. It includes “Landslide,” one of Jackie’s favorites, and “Sara,” one of Lankford’s favorites.

How many Nicks pictures do you have?

Jackie sent him most of her stuff so they could have one giant collection. “I’m running out of space. My den is completely full, the family room has got several and our master bedroom has one.”

What’s in the master bedroom?

The “Enchanted Tour” program opened to a page with Nicks reclining on a bed.

What other Nicks projects are you working on?

He and his daughter are thinking about writing a book about what her music means to them and how it could help others.

What other female singers do you like?

Enya.

Tonya Jameson / Charlotte Observer /Saturday, November 10, 2001

November 10, 2001
The tao of Stevie

Modern-day enchantress Stevie Nicks to weave her spell at the TECO on Tuesday

Stevie Nicks is a modern-day enchantress, weaving magic with her songs.

Even her tunes boast other-worldly themes, with titles such as “Enchanted,” “Dreams,” “Sorcerer,” “Planets of the Universe.”

On Tuesday at 7:30 p.m., Stevie Nicks brings her musical mysticism to the TECO Arena in Estero.

“I like her voice and I like her spirituality, which I think comes through in her songs,” says Sally Maitland, of the Make A Wish Foundation in Bonita Springs. “She’s grown spiritually, and it’s reflected in her music.

“Her voice is so distinctive. That’s something that stands out in all the songs — she’s got a great voice.

“She’s been through some tough times,” Maitland adds. “She’s not shy about singing about it. She struggles with a lot, like a lot of people in this generation. She’s gone through a lot of personal challenges and issues, so it’s nice to see someone who has gone through things and come out the other side successfully.”

Nicks has battled broken hearts, cocaine addiction, an addiction to prescription drugs, weight gain, writer’s block and depression. During her current tour, she had to cancel a few shows due to acute bronchitis.

Nicks and high-school sweetheart Lindsey Buckingham joined Fleetwood Mac at the end of 1974, mixing California rock with Mac’s British blues sound. The group’s self-named album went platinum and produced such hits as “Over My Head,” “Rhiannon (Will You Ever Win)” and “Say You Love Me.”

Their next album, “Rumours,” went on to become one of the best-selling albums of all time, with hits such as “Don’t Stop,” “Dreams” and “Go Your Own Way.” (The band eventually performed “Don’t Stop” for President Clinton’s inaugural and for a surprise farewell party for him.)

But in 1980, the band members started concentrating on solo success.

Nicks soon became known for her hits “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” “Edge of Seventeen (Just Like the White Winged Dove)” and “Leather and Lace.”

She was also known for her unique sense of style, dressing in flowing dresses, lace shawls and English silk top hats.

Seven years after her last effort, Nicks has released a new solo album, called “Trouble in Shangri-La.” The CD includes guest artists Macy Gray, Sarah McLachlan, Lindsey Buckingham, Dixie Chick Natalie Maines and Sheryl Crow, who co-produced five cuts.

In a press release from her label, Reprise Records, Nicks says, “My music often unfolds like the book of my life. I believe in telling the truth … actually, it’s the only way I can exist as a writer. Every step along the path of my life, I’ve been writing it all down, taking incredibly detailed notes. Instead of partying, I run back to my room, open my journal, and pour out my heart onto paper. It can take minutes, or it can take all night. But it’s always deep. And it’s always real.”

Her lyrics explore the pain of lost love and separation. In “Bombay Sapphires” she sings: “You — beloved/Were to me — everything/That love stood for/To love one another for awhile/Was enough — /It was all that I lived for/How can I go on without you/Can I go on —without you/I tell myself — this time/I’m going to have to — /Move on.”

And in “Love Changes” she sings: “It wasn’t that I didn’t love you/I just couldn’t make you see/That as hard as I tried/To make it all better/It was not better for me/The love that I gave you was…/All around you/There was nothing left for me/But I hate to say it/But I saw it coming/My feelings were changing.”

And, at 53, she still has that distinctive voice that sounds like a little girl with a worldly wise huskiness.

Jonathan Spafford, 16, a junior at Barron Collier High School, likes Nicks’ style.

“She’s raw, she’s so uncut,” he says. “She’s real. She has her own way of things. She’s unique.”

His friend, Blair Eckhardt, 16, a junior at Gulf Coast High School, agrees. “There’s nothing to describe her (unique) voice,” she says. “She doesn’t follow the formula of today’s music.

“When I saw her in the Destiny’s Child video, (“Bootylicious”), I was excited she was trying to appeal to a younger audience.

“What do I like about her? It’s everything. I like her voice.

“I think she is an amazing artist.”

Nancy Stetson / Naples Florida Daily News / Friday, September 21, 2001

September 21, 2001
MTV’s FANatic

Stevie Nicks and superfan Elena Bernal (MTV)

Elena Bernal was chosen for Stevie Nicks’ edition of MTV FANatic. Elena interviewed Stevie and shared what an inspiration Stevie has been to her.

Transcription

Stevie Nicks: Well, how are you?

Elena Bernal: I’m just fine, how are you?

Stevie: Good.

Elena: I brought these for you [hands her a dozen white roses].

Stevie: Oh, thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Elena: I’m a little nervous, so just bear with me.

Stevie: Oh, that’s alright, no problem.

Elena: I was wondering, how does success differ for you as a solo artist, apart from Fleetwood Mac?

Stevie: Well, ah… being in Fleetwood Mac, you know, is being one of five. So it’s more like, ah, being in a big family. Being a solo artist is like being an only child. So there’s really good things about both and bad things about both. I don’t really like being so, ah, so much the boss. And that’s because I was in a band for so long that I never was the boss, and so to be the boss is a whole nother ball game.

Elena: Ah, was there ever any tension about including any of your solo work in Fleetwood Mac concerts?

Stevie: I thought that was great. The fact that they even wanted to ever do any of my solo work on their stage. So, ah, I was delighted that they offered to even do two songs, you know.

Elena: If you had to pick a favorite song by Christine and one by Lindsey, which ones would you pick and why?

Stevie: Christine. My favorite song of Christine’s is a song called “Oh Daddy”. That was written about Mick when he was going through his divorce with his children and everything, and it was very, kind of a sad, sad time, you know. And that song to me is very Chinese-Tibetan, you know. It has all that kind of mystic thing. And I think that the melody is the most beautiful, that she’s written. And I also love doing that on stage. For Lindsey, my favorite song… Well, I’m kinda, I’m gonna have to think about this one for a minute.

Elena: That’s okay [laughs].

Stevie: Okay, my favorite song is the instrumental that he wrote, that’s called “Stephanie.” And it’s really only called “Stephanie” because I suggested that it be called “Stephanie”.

Elena: Okay.

Stevie: And he didn’t really have a name for it. And Lindsey really doesn’t care that much about words or names, so he went for that.

Elena: You’ve been a tremendous inspiration to me. And you, through your music, were there for me at a time when I was losing everything around me. I was outted when I was in high school when I was sixteen years old. Which is a difficult time for everybody. And at that time I lost all of my friends. My parents were freaking out, to say the least.

Stevie: Right [softly].

Elena: And I really didn’t have anything else. One of the things they did do also was to throw away all my music. Anything they could find to blame this on was eliminated.

Stevie: Right.

Elena: And I basically scrapped money together, and I bought two albums. I bought Fleetwood Mac’s Greatest Hits and I bought Bella Donna. And listening to your music, helped me learn to love myself and others and accept what was going on, and just make it through that time. I just wanted to thank you for that, it means the world to me.

Stevie: It means the world to me, you know. When I write those songs, I hope that somehow they’ll find a home somewhere and that they’ll mean something to someone except, you know, besides just me.

Elena: A lot of fans have tried to figure out and get to the meaning of “Sara.” What is the meaning for you?

Stevie: Well. “Sara” was pretty much about Mick. So, he was the ‘great dark wing’. And it was about everything that was going on at that particular time, too. But he was the reason for the, you know, the beginning of it.

Elena: If there was one thing you could go back and change in your life, professionally or personally, what would it be?

Stevie: I really wouldn’t change anything. I’m really very happy with everything, you know. The bad parts, the drugs, all that stuff. I could say, you know, ‘Isn’t that sad that that happened?’ and okay, I’ll go back and change it, but if I changed it, would I be sitting here right now? Would we be, would this be happening? Would Fleetwood Mac have just made The Dance? Would I have just done the boxed set? Would that have all happened if we had changed just one little… grain of sand of destiny? Would it all have gone another way? So I don’t think that I could change anything, so I can’t regret anything.

Elena: Many of your fans try to imitate your fashion sense. How do you feel about women who dress like you?

Stevie: I think it’s great, you know. I think that you should wear stuff that makes you look as tall and as slender as possible. Whatever that may be, and it’s usually gonna be black, you know.

Elena: How does it feel to be considered a living legend?

Stevie: [Pauses and then says with a smile] It’s a lot better than being a dead legend? You know, I mean — poet, priestess of nothing, legend — it’s really nice. I mean, it’s really nice to have people say that. It tends to make you feel old. But if you can get over the old thing, then it’s pretty neat.

Elena: Many women look to you as a role model. How do you see yourself?

Stevie: I think I’m a pretty good role model. I mean, I am now, you know. I was pretty crazy for a long time. But even then, you know, I tried to be somewhat of a… I mean, I never wanted to do anything, you know. I didn’t certainly want people to go out and do what I was doing. I wanted the best for everybody. My intentions were always really good. If people wanna end up being like me. It’s like, go into rock ‘n roll, you know, get a guitar, learn how to play. And end up crazy and eccentric and having a good time, it’s a pretty good life.

Elena: Well, thank you so much for taking the time to meet with me today. It means the world to me.

Stevie: Oh, you’re welcome, you’re welcome.

Elena: And thank you for writing, keep writing.

Stevie: I will. I keep my journal every night, you know, I go, and then I go back and take all the stuff that’s happening out of it and put it into rhyme or poetry, an’ make it into something, so there’s kind of a constant running thing of what’s going on with everybody. So thank you so much [reaches out and holds Elena’s hands].

Elena: Thank you.

Stevie: Thank you.

MTV / August 20, 1998

August 20, 1998