Stevie and Lindsey

[Nikolaj]

Many Ledgies will attest to the fact that usually I need to be edited in my writings here; and within this missive, I out-do myself, but my first and best editor told me to always go with whatever flow I'm in, and that it was her job to run it as is, or 'make it fit' or restructure what I'd turned in. So, blame her I mention all this only to explain why possibly many are irritated every time SN is interviewed. To be fair to SN, it could very well be that Stevie has talked about all kinds of topics we'd love reading about, but it's these angles-- the past grimy amours of Stevie and Lindsey; recent or current conflicts between them, her prescription drug trials and tribs, and occasionally, her weight and/or plastic surgery morsels of wisdom that get the focus. These angles seem to be what the media equate with SN and Fleetwood Mac. Stevie very well may have mentioned 4 new song titles she demoed before the tour began that we'd be interested in knowing, but the editors didn't find it worthy of including, so they went for 'what sells' with Fleetwood Mac. The slant in all of these recent articles has been what has sold, for decades now, regarding Fleetwood Mac.
It's fitting, because with this very long tour, Fleetwood Mac is doing the same thing journalists are- they're rehashing the past, and it's paying off big for them in a way the SYW cd did not, and in a way that S&L's last solo cds did not pay off.

...I don't think Stevie and Lindsey have been together in many, many years. I don't think they're in love with each other a bit. I believe this is all about commerce. LB needs Fleetwood Mac to support his solo endeavors. I had the tallies for every concert Lindsey performed for his not-long-ago solo tour, and I'll try to get them e-mailed to me again to post them here. Artistically triumphant as the tour was for him; the attendance was so spotty, it was shocking. The general public loves LB in Fleetwood Mac, but his 'name brand' as a solo artist doesn't seem to be a draw to the masses, which may suit him fine- He has Fleetwood Mac for that.
Stevie's last few solo tours generally haven't been massively attended, but she's sold dramatically more tickets than LB, at higher prices- she could usually count on a good 7,000 people to be in attendance at her concerts. Many nights, Lindsey had a small fraction of that number in attendance; true, he played much smaller venues, but many of those shows had less than a 50% capacity attendance. I'm not slamming him, I respect him, for his artistic integrity and for toughing it out. But, I think if it weren't for the estimated $9million dollars he earned for the now-completed US 'Unleashed' leg, there'd be no way in hell he'd put up with all this rather maudlin focus on his past with Stevie that keeps showing up in interview after interview. He's way over her. Like her or not, his wife seems to make him happy, they've been solid for 10+ years, and they have 3 children together. Stevie and Fleetwood Mac is what he 'does' to support his wife and family and his solo career, period, as I see it.
I think Stevie is also over LB, but this is an angle that keeps the band in the 'news' to promote the tour. I do think she's perhaps a bit non-plussed just how well Lindsey did in finding (so far) lasting happiness with a woman who isn't her. It may sting that when in his 50s, Lindsey (and Mick and John!) all had new babies and young wives, a baby at 50 isn't possible for most women. I'd understand a 'men suck' mindset from Stevie's perspective, and I think Christine's absence may have somehow made the 'boys club'- now all in their 60s with young kids- feel all the more 'feh' to her.
I believed my sister when when she told me that after you have children, you basically look at your life as - 'before the kids, and after the kids were born,' and that for a parent, in what matters to you, it's only after the kids were born that you are focused on, not past love affairs that didn't work out. 'You just don't have the emotional energy to allow the past to be that important to you,' she told me*. LB has two music careers, a wife, and 3 kids- He's not pining away after Stevie Nicks, or heartbroken that they broke up 32 (!!) years ago!
*(I don't mean to imply that SN has any issues at all with not having children of her own, it appears she is pragmatic and rightfully comfortable about it).
I earned a meager living for a number of years as a journalist (with a sloppy segue into public relations) so I can be pretty sure that it's at least possible that Stevie likely has a lot more on her mind than LB, Klonopin and Botox Ledgeaholics would like to hear more than 'all the same, over and over', but writers of any articles are at the mercy of their editors, who usually will go with the most (gasp!) shocking or tried-and-true methods of coverage.
Based on her many recent LB comments, Lindsey could really let it rip about how Stevie just couldn't stop obsessing over their long in-the-past love affair, when he'd been married 10 years and had a family, yet Stevie was somehow still very 'in the moment' about it. It would be un-gallant of him, because her participation in the past 2 Fleetwood Mac tours earned him, his wife and kiddies a huge fortune, while his last solo tour likely may have cost him some money after everyone got paid.
Stevie's currently traveling first class all the way, four star hotels and restaurants; making more millions than she did on her last several solo tours, and she has the prestige of this world-class rock band she's co-fronting. She's earned millions on her solo tours, but not nearly as many, as on SYW and Unleashed. But what solo Stevie tour has lasted as long as the SYW or Unleashed tours? If it all, it'd have to be 'Rock A Little'.
It all sure seems to be working out very well for Stevie and Lindsey, this 'Unleashed' tour. If Stevie has to dismiss the SYW cd, add IRS filing memories into her repartee of S&L folklore, mix well with Klonopin, wine, weed, Hamburger Helper, heat until boiling, then let it simmer, some would call it 'worth it'.
'Stevie and Lindsey, like a river, I think you're uptight lady, out of sight".

[CADreaming]

Originally Posted by Nikolaj

It all sure seems to be working out very well for Stevie and Lindsey, this 'Unleashed' tour. If Stevie has to dismiss the SYW cd, add IRS filing memories into her repartee of S&L folklore, mix well with Klonopin, wine, weed, Hamburger Helper, heat until boiling, then let it simmer, some would call it 'worth it'.
'Stevie and Lindsey, like a river, I think you're uptight lady, out of sight".

Bravo. All very well put (even if I don't 100% agree with some of your assessments). I thoroughly enjoyed reading your post. Thank you.

[Lee]

Originally Posted by Nikolaj

Since there's a thread and all for this, I've wondered about the meaning of the famous 'packin up, shackin up's all you wanna do' line... It could mean:
a) he's packing up because all she wants to do is live with him and not commit to marriage
b) she's packing up because she wants to go shack up with other guys and not with him!
c) He's packing up, because she's been shackin up with someone else behind his back

I always kind of took it as reason (a) but it really isn't clearly stated, is it?

Or, for anyone who's seen 'Postcards From The Edge' I could pose this query as,
"It could be: 1.... 2.... or (c)" ** or was it, "A...B...or 3"-- whichever
Carrie Fisher's a fun writer. She recently commented about the cruelties of the Internet on her blog, saying how she got all flustered because some guy had written online that she "used to be hot, but now she looks like Elton John!"

We always seem to analyze their relationship, but I always thought that it was "a". She just didn't want to get married & he did. Lindsey wanted the traditional marriage with kids & stay @ home wife & Stevie just didn't want that. So she ended it & it took years for Lindsey to get over it. I always thought that they was a possibility that they were ever so close to getting back together around The Dance time, but I think Kristen stepped in & kind of ended that notion.

As for Stevie's & Lindsey's relationship today, I think they like each other, respect each other's work, work professionally with each other, but that's as far as it goes, JMO.

Lee

[Kena]

I'm thinking nothing went on between them for sure after she gained all that weight. And had the implants removed. And menopause. I'm sure she was very self conscious.

Stevie and Linds have known each other for so long. They have memorized each others face. They sing very well together. It's gone on so long it's just what they do. So enough already about their love affair...on to more important things...who’s ready for Linds to tell us about all these stars Stevie used to embroider on his pants and the food she cooked him? Did he or did he not have a job? Did she wash his dirty drawers? Did his guitar have it's own pillow?

[David]

Originally Posted by WelshWitchPMD

I remember reading somewhere that Lindsey said "Stevie had the need for variety in her blood." I am not sure if this is a direct quote or not. Does anyone know what I am talking about?

I remember his saying that, too, some years back.

Variety is as variety does, I feel. Stevie's love life -- if what we think we know is actually true -- bespeaks the variety we expect in a rock star. The list of loves is lengthy & varied.

As for her assertion of faithfulness to Lindsey during their time together, that, too, contradicts other things she has said. She introduced Destiny during the Street Angel tour by telling a story about leaving Lindsey in Los Angeles (in 1973 or thereabouts) & driving up north, back to the Bay Area, where she says she was in love with someone else, someone with whom she seriously considered staying with.

Did Lindsey want to marry Stevie back in the days prior to Fleetwood Mac? I don't know. A lot of you make the claim that he did, & that he was always the one who wanted to settle down in a traditional household. So why did he not do that until he was middle-aged? Never found the right girl? After all those years? Unbelievable.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by David

Did Lindsey want to marry Stevie back in the days prior to Fleetwood Mac? I don't know. A lot of you make the claim that he did, & that he was always the one who wanted to settle down in a traditional household. So why did he not do that until he was middle-aged? Never found the right girl? After all those years? Unbelievable.

Lindsey has never suggested that he wanted to get married or have kids. Other than Carol's claim that he wanted to marry her, I don't think Lindsey has ever been accused of wanting to marry anyone. Stevie never even said he wanted to marry her and she sure would have thrown that in, if she'd thought of it. At that Vegas concert during the SYW tour, when the guy from Fritz got married, Lindsey joked that he, Lindsey, had been a marital hold out.

It's not that I don't think he was committed to Stevie back then. I believe her when she says that they both acted like they were married and so did her parents. I just don't think the formal ceremony was something that he was thinking about. It didn't seem necessary. They were still gripped in the hippie mentality that considered living together enough.

Yes, I remember Stevie talking about falling for someone in Northern California and not knowing whether she'd come back to Lindsey. And later she also said she came back to him because she ran out of money and needed to move back in with him. She lamented that that meant she had to eat humble pie. They weren't together consecutively.

Michele

Michele

[GypsyBlueEyes]

I'm reminded of what Stevie said about how all Lindsey ever wanted to do was go to bed with his guitar...I'll bet anything that was true. Anyone who has been in a relationship for a long period of time will agree that those kinds of things can wreak havoc on a relationship. He was (and still is) so obsessed with playing day and night that it probably came between them in those early days...perhaps thats part of why she left him for a while. I can't imagine that between her working and his practicing and them rehearsing that they had any time just for their relationship.

[TrueFaith77]

^^^lucky guitar

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by GypsyBlueEyes

I'm reminded of what Stevie said about how all Lindsey ever wanted to do was go to bed with his guitar...I'll bet anything that was true. Anyone who has been in a relationship for a long period of time will agree that those kinds of things can wreak havoc on a relationship. He was (and still is) so obsessed with playing day and night that it probably came between them in those early days...perhaps thats part of why she left him for a while. I can't imagine that between her working and his practicing and them rehearsing that they had any time just for their relationship.

Yeah, I remember when Stevie said that she thought Lindsey didn't play enough and he thought she didn't focus hard enough.

Michele

[holidayroad]

Originally Posted by Kena

I'm thinking nothing went on between them for sure after she gained all that weight. And had the implants removed. And menopause. I'm sure she was very self conscious.

Stevie and Linds have known each other for so long. They have memorized each others face. They sing very well together. It's gone on so long it's just what they do. So enough already about their love affair...on to more important things...who’s ready for Linds to tell us about all these stars Stevie used to embroider on his pants and the food she cooked him? Did he or did he not have a job? Did she wash his dirty drawers? Did his guitar have it's own pillow?

His guitar probably had it's own bed and he and Stevie slept on the floor!

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by holidayroad

His guitar probably had it's own bed and he and Stevie slept on the floor!

Oho! But his guitars are of a hearty constitution. They aren't pampered or babied. Sure, they're stroked often, but also very used to being pulled, thrown, hoisted aloft, battered.

Michele

[David]

One of you asked (maybe in some other thread) whether Lindsey had any job during the Hungry Years.

How much session or for-hire work did he actually do? I know of the brief tour with Everly in 1974, & the studio session with Kathryn & Duffy & the Enemies List -- on "Pre-Impeachment Blues" & "Nixon's the One."

What else?

[LikeAWillow]

Originally Posted by michelej1

Lindsey has never suggested that he wanted to get married or have kids.

Yet he did describe his thoughts after the break up to Rolling Stone in 97 as, "So you don't want to be my wife, my girlfriend, but you want me to do all that magic stuff on your songs. Is there anything else that you want, just, like, in my spare time?"

[Nico]

Originally Posted by LikeAWillow

"So you don't want to be my wife, my girlfriend, but you want me to do all that magic stuff on your songs. Is there anything else that you want, just, like, in my spare time?"

Oooohhh he sounds like a feisty little bitch. I love it. Lindsey and Stevie, together, are so fascinating, I'm sorry. Like Shakespeare on cocaine. How can you not, even if you're like the most anti-romantic person ever, get drawn in? They make you.

[Nikolaj]

Thank You for your very kind and unexpected words, CADreaming! I'm aware it was just all too much. Yet, after hitting 'submit reply' I was able to sleep for 11 hours, unfortunately, some reading it may have had the urge to do the same.
It seems I'm not the only one who tends to love The Ledge long about 4am, 5am... for me, I know it's the meds just going above and beyond the call of duty and not leaving my system. It's not that funny is it, when it happens twice a week or so...for nine years. I really appreciate being able to read the thoughts of the more than a few real talents here who just make me say **Yes!!!** when they've contributed to these forums again and take me out of all of myself. 'Whatever gets you through the night', I guess, applies

CADreaming in kindness, and indulging me by reading my medi-missive wrote:
**Bravo. All very well put (even if I don't 100% agree with some of your assessments). I thoroughly enjoyed reading your post. Thank you.