MacNuggets

[vivfox]

Finally got the Christmas tree down today. As much fun as it is to anticipate putting the tree up and delighting in its warm holiday glow, it’s always feels good to take it down and reclaim that part of the house for regular activity.

Last night we put a slew of Fleetwood Mac on the CD turntable: “Fleetwood Mac”, “Rumours”, “Tusk”, “Mirage”, and “Tango In The Night”. We were all bopping around to those classic sounds. The Buckingham/Nicks incarnation of the Mac was a damned fine band for a lot of years.

Found out today that April 26th is the date I’ll be received into the Roman Catholic Church. Now there’s something to look forward to!

Boy, the New England Patriots looked like crap against the Baltimore Ravens today. And that Green Bay-Arizona game was wild. No one seemed to be able to play defense throughout that one.

I’m picking an Indianapolis / Dallas Super

http://goodboysnation.com/2010/01/11...-two-or-three/

[vivfox]

Now I wanna talk about Tusk.

Fleetwood Mac bared all their neuroses on Rumours, an album that was a mix of California pop and Buckingham's guitar rave ups. It sold, at last count, 5 copies for each person who has ever lived in the history of this planet.

How did they follow that up? Tusk.

Tusk is one of the most uncompromising (and expensive) double albums of all time, with little of the pop that made Rumours ubiquitous. Lindsey Buckingham described the process of recording it as finding out what sounded good, taking a note of where all the dials were and then tuning them 180 degrees. The resulting album was called everything under the sun and lost a lot of the fans they won with their previous outing. It's also a remarkably under-rated album that still sounds ahead of its time today.

What came next: Mirage and Tango in the Night, albums that took the sound experiments of Tusk and married to them Rumours. People called it a "return" when both were still miles ahead of what Fleetwood Mac had been doing before, but because of Tusk they sounded safer.

http://www.gvalentinoisrandom.com/20...s-of-leon.html

[vivfox]

Monday, January 11, 2010
In Juxtaposition

Okay, thank you those of you that agree that Landslide is really a beautiful and poignant song and that it is ok to reveal oneself. However, in juxtaposition to the previous heartfelt post, I am going to add one about those musicians that have signature songs like Landslide. I watched an interview with Stevie Nicks and she was so filled with poise and graciousness for her fans and said she absolutely did not mind singing Landslide and Songbird and all the old favorites. She just appreciated the love and how great it was to travel to new cities and play for people.

On the other hand, I recently read a quote form Robert Plant, speaking to the same subject of signature songs, the imfamous Stairway to Heaven.

(Led Zepplin) "...would possibly be back together if it weren't for 'that bloody wedding song,' as Robert Plant refers to 'Stairway.' He told the Los Angeles Times in 1988, 'I'd break out in hives if I had to sing that song in every show. I wrote those lyrics and found that song to be of some importance and consequence in 1971, but 17 years later, I don't know. It's just not for me.'

I love that. I love that sometimes we look back on the things that meant so much to us and think For God's Sake, how? And other times, like Landslide, they still take us to those feelings so real.

PS - I happen to still love Stairway to Heaven if randomly heard.

http://tocarefororphans.blogspot.com...aposition.html

[silvasprings]

Originally Posted by vivfox

she absolutely did not mind singing Landslide and Songbird and all the old favorites.

'Cause you know, Stevie just breaks out into SONGBIRD whenever she gets a chance! i think its hilarious that your average un-obsessed FM fan can't distinguish between christine's songs and Stevie's

[vivfox]

Jan 12, 2010

Britain's Prince William and Harry played tracks by Duffy, Fleetwood Mac and Bryan Ferry to stop them getting bored while having their picture painted.

Artist Nicky Philipps - who recently created the first double portrait of the princes - has revealed how she made the pair listen to a selection of her favourite records when they posed for her in military uniform.

She told Hello! magazine: "I didn't know what sort of music they liked. So I played some Duffy and music from my own era, like Fleetwood Mac and Bryan Ferry. I don't know if they enjoyed it but they didn't look bored. Some people's eyes glaze over when they sit for long period but they were very polite. Doing the portrait was great fun."

Nicky spent more than six months painting the princes during five sittings, which started in August 2008.

During this time, she admits the royal pair were desperate to sneak a peek at her progress.

She said: "They often wanted to peek at the progress of the painting and it was difficult, because I was doing it in different stages.

"When I gave them a private view of the painting just before Christmas they said they liked it very much."

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/pe...rtrait-boredom

[vivfox]

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment...ere-s-a-heaven

"I feel like a '70s chick now," quipped 15-year-old Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan, adding she loves the era's music, a typical teen's enthusiasm for the newly discovered in her voice.

The young Irish actress (her name is pronounced "Sur-shah," but friends call her "Sursh") with the arresting ice-blue eyes, immersed herself in the sounds of the mid-'70s for her role as 14-year-old murder victim Susie Salmon in The Lovely Bones.

The movie opens Friday.

The film, directed by The Lord of the Rings franchise helmer Peter Jackson, is set in 1973 Pennsylvania. It's based on Alice Sebold's 2002 bestseller about a girl who watches her family, and the neighbour who killed her, from the afterlife.

"Fleetwood Mac is one of my favourite bands," Ronan said passionately as she curled up on a Yorkville hotel room couch with her co-star Rose McIver to talk about The Lovely Bones.

[jaycee]

Originally Posted by silvasprings

'Cause you know, Stevie just breaks out into SONGBIRD whenever she gets a chance! i think its hilarious that your average un-obsessed FM fan can't distinguish between christine's songs and Stevie's

It's only marginally more embarrassing than my old (and still occasional) inability to distinguish between Christine and Lindsey.

[holidayroad]

http://www.grabow.biz/HighBudgetSpec...etwoodMac.html

I would hate to imagine what kind of money this would cost! All of us Ledgies should hire them!

[vivfox]

Wednesday, January 20, 2010
5 Female Voices from the 1970's-'80's to Love


2. Christine McVie, Fleetwood Mac.

I'll bet more people identify Stevie Nicks with the band than they do Christine McVie. And that's fine -- it was Nicks and then-boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham who made Fleetwood Mac the commercial success they became in the 1970's and on into the next decade. But McVie was there first, and continued to produce hits. Her voice was quite different from Nicks, and really fit the personality of the songs on which she sang lead vocals. Don't Stop, Little Lies, Everywhere, Hold Me, Over My Head, and You Make Loving Fun are all standards for the band, and for those who listened to Top 40 radio during the Bronze Age of Comics.

http://bronzeagebabies.blogspot.com/...s-to-love.html

[vivfox]

Blues Missionary
Stuff about music I like and do not like -- highly individual and often iconoclastic opinions. All of it razor sharp, with prejudice and without bull****. I call 'em as I see 'em -- or hear 'em.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Fleetwood Mac: The Dance
In 1997 Fleetwood Mac reformed as the late '70s version of the band, the most commercially successful incarnation of an organisation that'd started out as a purist blues band and, after some lost years in MOR limbo, ended up as one of the biggest era defining groups of the '70s and early '80s.


By the late Nineties Fleetwood Mac was pretty well dormant and the various members kept themselves busy with solo careers or simply relaxing by the pool, enjoying their money, or at least one hopes they did. The band did not truly manage to retain its strength and creativity after the departure of Lindsay Buckingham and it limped on for a while before the remaining individuals realised it would be better to have a long hiatus than to try to regain past glories. It is interesting to note that Fleetwood Mac could survive the departure of all its previous guitarists but could not manage the same trick when Buckingham went off to do his own thing. This would possibly mean that he was the creative heart and soul of the band. On the other hand, the band was no longer as hungry and struggling as it had been during the tenure of most of the previous guitarists and this probably meant that it was not too difficult simply to lie back for a while and not flog the deaf horse of a moribund creative unit.


Anyhow, in 1997 the band got back together for a series of gigs. No doubt money played a role, and the rekindling of a monster success story, even if everybody concerned was considerably older than in the heyday of the Rumours juggernaut.


On stage the band dress quite conservatively in good, only slightly Bohemian taste, much like the somewhat older audience it drew to its concert. The 3 frontpersons wear black, which is of course highly chic and fashionable and not an intimation that they are really up there for the eulogy of a once great band whose nostalgic memories they will be attempting to revive. The audience is profusely thanked for listening while the band members do their patented Fleetwood Mac thing with the assurance and authority that come from long years of experience. This is the kind of show that once again redefines adult oriented rock, this time for an audience who may have been kids back in the day.


There is a powerful sound system and the visuals are great because the camera coverage is so extensive, and it seems that a good time was had by all, the musicians on stage and the paying audience. Of course there is no wild dancing in the aisles, everybody is super cheerful and happy and well behaved. You cannot imagine this slightly wonky group of middle aged people, wearing lots of makeup to hide the years of hard living going backstage between numbers to do a line or two just to keep the energy levels up. The look like the spring water and macrobiotic food types, though John McVie was always a bit of a lush, and Stevie Nicks probably had regular whole body blood transfusions to maintain her youthful appearance. Even her profile shows signs of a certain blowsiness and Christine McVie looks exactly like every other well preserved Englishwoman of a certain age and class, perfectly made up and every bottle blonde hair in place. She should be the chairwoman of the parish library and not some kind of rock star. In fact, on reflection, she makes me think of the female sidekick to Donald Trump in his Apprentice reality TV series.


Lindsay Buckingham is a little gray around the temples but otherwise looks quite young and fresh though in close ups his eyes seem rather sad. Maybe he is not really comfortable revisiting the old hits. Buckingham still sings as good as ever and plays great virtuoso guitar, even doing some solo numbers from solo albums just to drive home the point that he had, and has, a life outside of the monolith.


Overall the music is mixture of the old hits and some new numbers and the USC marching band is trotted out yet again for Tusk – obviously the kids of the band that played on the original version – and great fun is had by all. I would imagine, other than the styles of dress, this concert would have been pretty much similar to any performance the band gave at the height of their success and as such it is a good souvenir of one of the giants of pop rock.

http://bluesmissionary.blogspot.com/...mac-dance.html

[vivfox]

thequestionclub: What do you think of the name Rheanna Ca
By Dusty
bluehairedchild 2010-01-20 04:57 pm UTC (link). actually it's from the Fleetwood Mac song. She's sixteen and was definitely not named after Rihanna. It's prounced Reeanna not Reeahna like Rihanna is. (Reply to this) (Parent) ...
The Question Club - http://thequestionclub.livejournal.com/

[vivfox]

Thursday, January 21, 2010
From a Budgie to a Vulture, and some things in between

Welcome,

One of my big loves other than photography is music. Always have, always will love it.

Whether it is belting out in the car or going around in my head, I always seem to have it going on somewhere.

Lately it seems a lot of 'older' acts have decided the time is ripe to tour and let a new generation of fans see them in concert. Naturally if it is someone I have always liked I will grab a ticket and see the show. This is usually done in company of my daughter Cat.

In 2009 we saw Leonard Cohen, Simon and Garfunkle, Budgie and Fleetwood Mac. I have enjoyed their music since my youth and have waited many years to see them in concert.

I guess the only downside to seeing these concerts is that unless you are an accredited photographer, you have a heck of a time trying to get decent shots. Security are all over anyone with what they perceive to be a 'pro' outfit.

At the Fleetwood Mac concert they were even going into the crowd to hassle people with point and shoot cameras. Security claimed that it was at the band's request, but the band didn't seem to mind when those at front of stage were shooting.

Budgie didn't care - you could go for it as long as you respected the request not to use flash. A great attitude.

Still, the feeble minded folk who run the venues have to do something to make themselves feel superior I guess. Give us all a break folks. It does no-one any harm. No one is going to make a killing selling any shots of a group from the back of an auditorium! For what it is worth, many P&S cameras have longer effective lenses than the ones serious photographers have to sneak in to the venue.

Anyway - enough of that gripe.

http://williefagan.blogspot.com/2010...me-things.html

[vivfox]

Blog of Flame Blog: The Ballad of Mick Fleetwood
By Chill Like Tight Elephants
I just discovered that I like Fleetwood Mac, something I once vowed never to say. But a caveat to would-be Mac converts: you can't like it all. Roadblocks will arise; I'm here to warn you against them. ...
Blog of Flame Blog - http://ballofflameblog.blogspot.com/

[vivfox]

Busy with the Cricky: As Promised - The First Peek at my Weekend ...
By Susan
The next two photos are from the Fleetwood Mac concert layout that I did for my older son. Aaron, his girlfriend and his roommate saw Fleetwood Mac in Charlotte sometime last summer. They came home with lots of photos of the band and no ...
Busy with the Cricky - http://spartansusscraper.blogspot.com/

[michelej1]

Excerpt from an interview with the Brewis brothers in Field Music:

http://www.musicomh.com/music/featur...music_0110.htm

Fiercely independent, the brothers run their own studio, produce, engineer and master their own albums, design their artwork and direct their own promo videos, which may explain the rambling nature of their 20-track offering. "We wrote this album in bursts, I suppose. We were writing all the time we were recording. I like the fact that a lot of really long records have their own micro-narratives you can discover over a long period of time. I Like Tusk, by Fleetwood Mac. We love that, but then again I probably miss out all of Stevie Nicks' songs. And The Wall; that has some amazing songs on it, but some really boring guitar solos. I suppose we wanted to redefine the double album, make it interesting again, do all these things we want to do."