The Education of Stevie Nicks

For those uninterested in Somali pirates and radical students occupying buildings at the New School, it has been a pretty slow news day. And seeing as it's Easter weekend, why not a post about Stevie Nicks and her deep hatred of technology? Well, sure. Via the Huffington Post, the Fleetwood Mac singer tells the AP that technological progress is killing our children and preventing the younger generations from fully appreciating the genius of "Tusk."

"I believe that computers have taken over the world. I believe that they have in many ways ruined our children. I believe that kids used to love to go out and play," Nicks says in her famously smoky voice. "I believe that social graces are gone because manners are gone because all people do is sit around and text. I think it's obnoxious."

Nicks does own an iPod, but she prefers to listen to music -- which includes her new CD, "The Soundstage Sessions"--on a boombox. (The CD also comes packaged with a DVD.) Better yet, give her a cassette version and she'll be in musical heaven. "It sounds better and you'd be convinced," she says.

We've all heard the case of the back-to-vinyl ethusiasts, but casettes? A full 35 years after joining Fleetwood Mac, Nicks concluded that it was about time she wrote crappy songs about guilty boxers and credit default swaps:

AP: Have the nation's economic troubles inspired you musically?

Nicks: Absolutely, I want to go home and write Bob Dylan songs, I want to go write radical, rebellious "let's try to make it better" songs. I'm very affected by everything going on. When I do get finished with this Fleetwood Mac tour, I will absolutely write about the political situation, which I have never done before. I have never actually been very political before, and I'm starting to feel more political every day. So, pretty soon, governor (laughs).

Friday bonus video: Check out Lindsey Buckingham's sweet afro in this 1977 performance of "Dreams."