happy raising his kids in LA

[elle]

[parts of this were available elsewhere, in that Lindsey-written LA article, but there are new parts, plus if you click on the link you can listen to the audio]

http://oldies1017.com/The_Music_World.php

LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM: HAPPY RAISING HIS KIDS IN L.A.

Although Lindsey Buckingham is synonymous with the L.A. rock sound -- he's actually a Northern California boy at heart. Buckingham, who grew up in the suburban and affluent enclave of Atherton, California, says that although L.A. is far from a perfect place to raise a family -- it's home. Buckingham, who's currently on tour with Fleetwood Mac, told Los Angeles Magazine, "I had a house up in Bel-Air for a long time. It was not a family house; it was a bachelor house. So we bulldozed it. My wife was quite happy because there was a lot of symbolism to having everything that went before bulldozed. We are in Brentwood now. We needed to come down off the hill."

Buckingham, who lived an idyllic 1950's childhood in Atherton talked about life in L.A. -- the city which has been his home since he and then-girlfriend Stevie Nicks moved south from upstate in 1971: "I've thought about whether it would be advisable or possible to move out, but this is the thing about Los Angeles: People come here and they stay. It's not just because there is an illusionary carrot, although that is part of it. You could probably find actors or musicians who are not much younger than myself who still haven't caught their break. So that's part of what drives Los Angeles. If you do happen to get lucky, as Stevie and I did, then there are reasons to stay. Unless you want to be Neil Young and live up in the mountains, there's not a lot of motivation to move. Whatever there may be about the city that you could take to task, it's a pretty great place."

Although the coke and work fueled L.A. of the late-'70s has long made way for car pools and school sporting events. Buckingham can't really find a reason to leave "Tinseltown": I don't think I would've wanted to raise my kids elsewhere, but it is a mixed bag. Growing up in Atherton, you could just get on your bike, go to school, and come home. You had a level of autonomy that doesn't exist for kids today. Some of that has to do with L.A. and some of it has to do with the times. I grew up in one place. Stevie, on the other hand -- her dad was a businessman who uprooted his family regularly, so she learned how to make a splash everywhere they went. It took its toll on her in other ways, and that's not something I want for my kids. We're dug in here, and we're happy."

Lindsey Buckingham told us the move into becoming a father in the late-'90s immediately took precedence over his music, or whether it was a gradual process that he had to adjust to: "I found myself in the situation before I was fully acclimated to it, I think, y'know? It just . . . It didn't sink in right away because old patterns do die hard. I can't say that I remember a particular moment, but I do know that one of the great joys and comforts of being a father in particular -- and a spouse as well -- is that you sort of have this biological imperative that you know that you would put them first in any situation."

Fleetwood Mac performs tonight (June 5th) at Houston's Toyota Center. They'll be on the road in North America through the beginning of July.

AUDIO: LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM ON BECOMING A FAMILY MAN