At 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Stevie Nicks fans waited and waited on their rock goddess to appear on the “Rolling Stone” website.
That’s because on Tuesday, her social media accounts announced that something big was happening in the world of Stevie. Later that day, it leaked that Stevie landed this week’s “Rolling Stone” cover. That likely was “the” announcement because at the specific time deemed magical by the white witch nothing happened. Fans moaned at the delay, and many twirled themselves into a frenzy, guessing that maybe Stevie was going to tour solo again.
After 10 minutes or so of waiting, a series of articles appeared about Stevie and/or Fleetwood Mac on the sidebar of the “Rolling Stone” site and a few minutes later, the photo of Stevie from the cover. A tagline also stated: The rock goddess appears solo on our cover for the first time since 1981 and performs an exclusive acoustic “Gypsy.”
It’s not just any old video. Stevie sang at a baby grand piano with a glittery blue patterned scarf draping it. There’s something magical, watching her sit at a piano, alone, singing her haunting lyrics. (Here’s my crystal vision: I predict a solo acoustic record by her sooner rather than later). She also performed “Rhiannon” late last year on “The Tonight Show” in the same fashion.
We also got a few snippets from the upcoming 7,000-word profile that lands on magazine shelves Friday. Perhaps the most telling – at least for women who admire her and men who want to date her – is this excerpt about dating older men:
“What if I fall in love with somebody and they die?”
And she doesn’t hold out much hope for guys her age. “They wanna go out with somebody that’s 25,” she says. “That has been going on since the Bible, and I haven’t even read the Bible, but I know that. So what am I gonna do, compete with that? I’m not a competitor. So I don’t even wanna be in that situation.” So, in short, “I’ve narrowed it down to nobody,” she says, and laughs hard. (If she gets lonely, I’ll hang out with her any time and we can wear shawls and sing “Rhiannon” and look at cute boys. But I digress.)
Stevie fans can never get enough, and those who whined, longing for more from her should just hush and celebrate Stevie. It’s no small feat to be a cover girl at 66 in a Kardashian youth-obsessed culture. Sure, Stevie is iconic but she’s done something rare in today’s short-attention span society. She has successfully made fans from Baby Boomers to Millennials again worship at her shawl shrine.
Suzi Parker is an Arkansas-based political and cultural journalist and author of “Echo Ellis: Adventures of a Girl Reporter,” “Sex in the South: Unbuckling the Bible Belt” and “1000 Best Bartender’s Recipes.” She writes frequently for The Christian Science Monitor, The Economist, and numerous other publications. Follow her on Twitter at @SuziParker.
To schedule an interview with Suzi or book her for a speaking engagement, you can reach her at suziparker13@gmail.com.
Image via Wikimedia Commons/Mat Becker/CC License
Watch this classic clip of Stevie Nicks singing “Edge of Seventen” from 1983.
