September 30, 2001
9:00am Drove 100 or so miles from home to meet Sheryl at SFO airport.
11:30am Arrived at SFO in plenty of time. Dropped off rental car. Rode exceedingly crowded shuttle to the terminal. Note to self about airports being quiet. I attribute this to sheer rumor. Or madness.
12:00pm Starving. I thought I might have a leisurely hamburger and hang round at gate to meet Sheryl and her friend Lee Ann off plane. Forgot that unless you are a ticketed passenger you cannot get to the place where they have all the food. Bin Laden is beginning to piss me off.
12:10pm Hung around baggage claim. Raided vending machine-only food source. Ate 1 packet of Sour Cream Potato Chips chased by 1 packet of Jalapeno Potato Chips washed down by 1 can of Mountain Dew. Life is not so bad after all. Once again, I realize that I am the lucky one.
12:30pm Get on-line to kill time via a payphone. Check e-mail. Get something about Sheryl being on CMA awards. CMA's are broadcast live Wednesday, November 7th 8 PM ET on CBS. Note interesting addendum. "In the interest of gaining publicity for the show, please do not release anything on an individual basis to the media about your participation in the show." Get an efax from Management about Sheryl taping City of Hope Oct 11 and then a note from Pam about Lifetime's "Women Rock! Girls & Guitars." Sheryl is supposed to be taping that show Oct 17 & 18. Air date to be confirmed. Also Stevie Nicks & Friends (of which Sheryl is indeed a Friend) will be broadcast on VH1 sometime before Christmas... that's all they know right now. Amazed I get all this stuff on a Sunday. On Friday we had nothing to do....and now...I file for future attention.
1:18pm Sheryl's plane lands. I locate car service guy who looks like one of those guys from the Beastie Boys spoof cop video. Bad syrup. (Syrup= cockney rhyming slang for wig. Syrup of figs = wig).
1:35pm Hook up with Sheryl and Lee Ann and we get into car. Sheryl offers me her uneaten Starbucks blueberry muffin she brought all the way from LA. Politely, I decline.
1:38pm Eat blueberry muffin
1:45pm I realize, Sheryl, Lee Ann and myself are all on cell phones. We travel miles to see each other. Hug one another, jump into fancy car and get on our phones.
2:05pm Sheryl wants to give Eric, one of her studio assistants, a massage on Monday as a present for working so hard on the record over the last couple of days. Lee Ann has a couple of ideas. She has woman masseuse's number and a mans. We discuss and are unsure of what to do. We decide it should be a man. No sexual connotations. Yet, I am reminded of a certain Seinfeld episode where George gets a massage from a man and later describes in horror. "It moved!".
2:45pm Arrive at hotel. Rob, Stevie's security guy, meets us as we get of the car and hand us our room keys. The perfect check-in is best defined as one of those where you actually have to check in. We get spoiled on this tour.
2:48pm Sheryl and Lee Ann go to Stevie's room to visit. We arrange to meet downstairs at 3:45pm for a ride to the venue.
3:00pm Sit in my room on 39th floor. Beautiful view of San Francisco Bay, nevertheless, I stare out of window and watch for low flying airliners.
3:45pm We all cram into 2 cars. Stevie customarily travels on her own to soundcheck. She has a 45 minute vocal routine which she adheres to and considerately she does it in private. In my car we have Sheryl, Stevie's manager and a good friend of Stevie's & Sheryl's- actress Minnie Driver.
4:00pm Minnie asks me if I am English. I'm not, but try to explain why my accent is different. Both Minnie and Sheryl literally fall asleep in front of me.
4:15pm Minnie and Sheryl snore in unison.
4:45pm We arrive at Shoreline Amphitheater.
5:15pm Soundcheck. Stevie, Sheryl and the band run through Sorcerer and Favorite Mistake and a few others.
6:00-7:30pm We all hang out, eat dinner and meet up with the band and people we have not seen since we last did a show with Stevie in Nashville.
8:00pm Sheryl, Lee Ann and myself are in dressing room. Sheryl is getting ready- (hair, make-up etc) and then pulls out a CD of some of her near finished recent recordings. I am dispatched to locate a boom box. SC plays a lot of the tracks to us, quietly though, as hey, it's not released yet. Tracks sound amazing. Some working titles: Steve Mc Queen, Chances Are, Weather Channel, Over You, and many, many more.
8:30pm Minnie bursts in- "That sounds BRILLIANT!!!" She was in the next room getting a massage and heard it all.
8:40pm Stevie Nicks on Stage. Set list was:
Stop Dragging My Heart Around
Enchanted
Dreams
Gold Dust Woman
Sorcerer (Stevie with Sheryl on vocals and acoustic guitar)
Favorite Mistake (Sheryl lead vocals
10:40pm Show's over.
10:45pm Stevie has a lot of guests backstage. Sheryl, Minnie and Lee Ann chill out in the backstage area while Stevie holds court in her dressing room with her local pals. Sheryl & Co. are soon joined by Seal and Stephen Jenkins of Third Eye Blind. They chat and converse until 11:45pm or so when we all get into out cars and head back to the hotel for bed.
Words by Chris Hudson
