STEVIE NICKS INFO

Category: Soldier’s Angel

  • Stevie talks about Walter Reed experience, writing 'Soldier's Angel'

    Stevie talks about Walter Reed experience, writing 'Soldier's Angel'

    In December, Stevie talked to Ultimate Classic Rock about the service members that she has visited at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and Bethesda Naval Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland.

    Stevie made a series of visits to the hospitals starting in 2005, where she spent hours with men and women who were injured in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. As part of their rehabilitation, Stevie listened to their stories, took photographs with them, and gave them iPods filled with music. One particular experience at Walter Reed inspired her to write the song “Soldier’s Angel” (from In Your Dreams, 2011) and founded the Stevie Nicks Soldier’s Angel Foundation (a charity that helps injured U.S. military personnel) in 2006.

    Stevie has been a long-time supporter of U.S. service members. In 1991, she wrote the song “Desert Angel” (from Timespace, 1991) for the U.S. men and women who served in Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm.

  • New Marvel series features 'Soldier's Angel' in trailer

    New Marvel series features 'Soldier's Angel' in trailer

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ro4nYzpyxvc]

    Our excitement for Marvel’s ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.‘ hasn’t abated since the announcement in May, or the world premiere of the pilot episode at Comic-Con 2013, though most new trailers and photos have shown us what we’ve already seen. That all changes with ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”s latest trailer, serving up a world premiere of new footage not seen in the pilot, we promise!

    Beginning somewhat similarly to today’s earlier trailer, the new 45-second spot opens up with Agent Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) bringing Grant Ward (Brett Dalton) up to speed on life after “The Battle of New York,” before launching into a mixture of new and old footage set to Stevie Nicks’ “Soldier’s Angel.” From what we can see, one of the subsequent episodes will take place in a jungle setting with plenty of gunplay and explosions, and a captured Coulson!

    While we await the September 24 premiere, we know that Marvel’s ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ features a cast that also includes Ming-Na as veteran agent Melinda May, Chloe Bennet as hacker Skye, and Elizabeth Henstridge and Iain De Caestecker as science team Gemma Simmons and Leo Fitz. ‘Ghost Whisperer’ vet David Conrad and ‘Luck‘ star Ian Hart have been added for recurring parts, though details remain light on their scientist roles.

    Samuel L. Jackson previously stated that he expected to be involved with the show in some small capacity. Both Tom Hiddleston and Sam Rockwell are game to reprise their Marvel Cinematic Universe roles of Loki and Justin Hammer respectively, something we’ve analyzed the likelihood of in depth.

    Well, what say we all? Does our first look at episodes beyond Marvel’s ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ pilot tantalize even further? How do you think the first season will progress? Watch the trailer above, and give us your ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ predictions in the comments!

    Kevin Fitzpatrick / Screen Crush / Friday, August 23, 2013

  • Song of the Year: ‘Soldier’s Angel’

    Song of the Year: ‘Soldier’s Angel’

    Saluting Stevie Nicks’ “Soldier’s Angel”

    Years from now, 2011 may be remembered as the year postfeminism produced poster girls for the status quo. Female-fronted hits such as the movie Bridesmaids and the TV show New Girl were hailed as breakthroughs, despite their unremarkable content. (Bridesmaids even showed up on some confused critics’ year-end best lists.)

    Ironically, inordinate media attention turned this distaff escapist trend into a genuine threat to women’s cultural advancement. The “women in comedy” hype carries the suggestion that lucrative half-truths are the best female artists can hope to achieve; risking personal expression turns funny chicks into Debbie Downers.

    My choice for best pop song of last year, Stevie Nicks’ “Soldier’s Angel,” points the way out of hype. As if responding to Bridesmaids and New Girl, Nicks shows us how 21st-century pop artists can speak truth and navigate politics.

    In “Soldier’s Angel,” Nicks tells how her visits with wounded veterans at Walter Reed and Bethesda Naval Hospital unsettled her as a woman, citizen and icon. Lindsey Buckingham’s resonant guitar notes ensure that the song is threaded through with dread in the face of mortality. Against this stirring backdrop, Nicks’ voice—scarred and pitted by time and trouble—expresses a veteran artist’s perseverance for inspiration.

    Imagining how the soldiers to whom she ministers must see her, Nicks sings, “I am a soldier’s girlfriend as I look upon their faces/ They make me remember my first love/ Goin’ out to dances.” Buckingham’s presence as guitarist and background vocalist connects her romantic recollection to our collective Fleetwood Mac memories. As “smart” pop critics might say, Nicks “implicates the audience” in her healing mission.

    The refrain of “Solder’s Angel” speaks of the “war of words between worlds” within which Nicks’ mission is enmeshed. This must refer to the partisan scapegoating that has infected American political discourse. While Hollywood entertainment like Bridesmaids and New Girl promises escape from political conflict, Nicks elevates the discourse to a philosophical, even spiritual plane.

    “Soldier’s Angel” was a 2011 highlight, but it may resonate even more profoundly in this election year. As Nicks warns: “No one walks away from this battle.”

    Ben Kessler / City Arts / Tuesday, January 17, 2012

  • Musician Stevie Nicks encourages more support for US troops and wounded veterans

    Musician Stevie Nicks encourages more support for US troops and wounded veterans

    During my time stationed at Walter Reed working as a nurse with wounded soldiers, many visitors passed through the doorways of Ward 57. One visitor, in particular, that impressed me the most was Stevie Nicks.

    Stevie Nicks’ visits were lengthy and were never rushed. She genuinely took the time out of her day to spend it with our nation’s wounded soldiers. During her visits, she would distribute iPods filled with music she personally helped to pick out for our troops along with other items to help entertain and increase the morale of the patients during their lengthy recovery and rehabilitation time. The visits were very personal and did not involve the entourage of photographers and press personnel some other celebrities have accompanied them on their visits. They were more one-on-one visitations as if she was an old friend stopping by, saying hello.

    Recently Stevie Nicks released the song titled “Soldiers Angel” on her latest album In Your Dreams. Stevie Nicks states it started when one Sunday in 2005. She spent eight hours in the Bethesda Naval hospital with wounded soldiers when medical crews suddenly began rushing in a group of seriously wounded troops.

    “There were 20 beds down on side and doctors and nurses everywhere, and tanks and family members,” she recalled. “I realized that I had walked in a hospital a rock ‘n’ roll star with not a care in the world, and I was driving away from this hospital a soldier’s mother.

    “I went back to my motel and wrote the poem…. it took me four years to put it to music,” she said. “I’ve now given that poem out to hundreds and hundreds of soldiers and their families, their sisters, brothers, moms, dads, grandmothers, nieces, godchildren, everybody. I always told them one day it would be a song.”

    We would like to take a moment to recognize Stevie Nicks and her continuous dedication to our wounded soldiers.

    Thank you, Stevie Nicks.

    SSG (RET) Scott Cameron
    Co-Founder, Operation Ward 57

    Special thank you goes out to AP Press for quotes from an interview with Stevie Nicks discussing her experiences and album release.

    Scott Cameron / Co-Founder, Operation Ward 57 / 2011