[Nico]

Originally Posted by GreenMagic

reluctant to keep following Lindsey as an artist following Ken Callait's book?

Sorry I forgot to introduce myself. I've been lurking here the last couple of months but never bothered to register till now. As you can tell from my name I'm a huge fan of the Peter Green Era.

I used to be dismissive of the Rumours lineup years ago. Cause my musical tastes tended to be more Alternative, Post Punk Art rock stuff like My Bloody Valentine, Roxy Music, X, Public Image Limited. And then years ago I got into Power Pop like Big Star Raspberries and The Beach Boys.

It wasnt until hearing Tusk I became a fan of the Stevie Lindsey lineup. I can appreciate Rumours and self-titled album now. Although I'm majorly burnt out on those two because of radio, grocery stores playing them to death. And I loved Lindsey's solo stuff.

Anyway, getting back to what I was saying. I read Carol Anne's book and thought it had too many holes in it for her accusations of Lindsey's to be true. Then reading Ken's book, he talks about Lindsey getting mad and choking him. He also discusses how another girlfriend beside Carol accused Lindsey of hitting her.

To be fair I guess, Lindsey was doing lots of coke at that time into the 80's. From what I've seen with my family members abuse. coke can ramp you up. Make you irritable easily and more violence prone. And in Anne Heche's book she never mentioned any physical abuse form Lindsey. So I'm pretty sure he was clean the time he dated Anne.

So, a lot of the physical abuse could have been induced from drugs. I just dont know anymore. If Ken's saying abuse took place, I'm inclined to believe him. I dont think he has any reason to lie.

I'm lost. Even if it was brought on by drug abuse, I'm not sure I can behind someone who hits women. I understand musicians are human. I look the other way most of the time when it comes to minor indiscretions. I love Bob Dylan and Bruce, but they are/were huge womanizers. I dont care about that cause most musicians are.

The only thing that can stop me from being a fan is spousal/child abuse. I stopped liking John Lennon when I found out he severely verbally abused Julian.

Should we look the other way and keep being fans of Lindsey if his physical abuse was in the past and induced by major drug abuse? I guess I need some perspective.

Hi GreenMagic. I appreciate the honesty of your post and I will give my honest opinion on the matter...

Yes, I will absolutely continue to follow Lindsey's career despite Ken's book. First and foremost, Lindsey Buckingham is what keeps me in the Mac fandom in the first place. His Mac music, solo music, his musicianship, and all the many amazing contributions he has made to music in general: I am utterly grateful. I've also seen him live about 14 times and each time he just blew me away more.

As regards his personal life, I think Lindsey has done a 180 and grown into a far happier person. His children adore him, his family seems darling and sweet and apparently they make him tremendously happy and have inspired a great deal of energy in him. So I couldn't be more pleased, as a fan.

In terms of what is in Ken's book, I obviously don't condone abuse of any kind. But this was a time and a place that none of us can even try and fathom an understanding of. Ken Caillat worked closely with FM, sure, but he wasn't dealing with whatever issues LB was obviously fighting inside of him. I mean, he had epilepsy, was ingesting copious amounts of cocaine and hard liquor, and was dealing with the fallout of a great love and working with said lover on a consistent basis, in a very intimate way (I would say songwriting qualifies as so, and Lindsey was as close to a songwriting partner for Stevie with all he did musically to her songs). So, no, I won't make excuses for his behavior, but I will try to understand. He had issues. He's probably still fighting some of them.

I met Lindsey more than a few times and he is such an awesome, sweet guy. I don't think any of us know these celebs personally. If I had to pick apart every horrible quality of each one of them...well, there wouldn't be much to like in the end. Bob Dylan was abusive to his wife, Sara, but I can't help but be touched by the entirety of Blood On The Tracks and feel his pain. John Lennon wasn't the greatest father to Julian, but he was struggling to overcome the pain of his own tumultuous upbringing and, in the end, tried to set it right. And even though they weren't perfect, John is still my favorite artist of all time and Bob is still one of my favorite songwriters.

The list can go on and on. Writers, poets, musicians, comedians, actors, etc. These people are just humans that screw up. It's when they seem to not care enough to make amends, or seem to find pleasure in hurting others who haven't the power to stop/control them that I really shake my head. But I can still love the art. I don't think Lindsey is a monster, nor any more wicked than the other members of FM. He was a young guy who did some stupid s*** and he's come a LONG way and turned into a pretty awesome guy in the long run.

An awesome guy who still creates flawless music. I'm definitely an LB girl and I regret nothing.