News about Danny!

Cussion · #1 07-17-2004, 06:33 AM

I just came home from London, been there on a journey.. I decided to check out some of the many music shops around Denmark Street, and came to a shop called "World of Music", selling bass-guitars and amplifiers. I had been told that the guy who worked there did worked in the Orange Music Shop in the late '60s which manufactured Orange amplification.. So I decided to walk in and talk to the man, he was around 50 years old maybe and his name was John Bates. I asked him about which Orange amp model Peter Green used in the early F.M, and here comes the most amazing.. this guy told me "Well, I was the one who sold the Orange amps to Fleetwood Mac.." and he also told me that he was an old friend of both Peter Green and Danny Kirwan, and used to bump into 'em still now and them.

Of course I could't wait to ask him how Danny is doing these days. John told me that he had met Danny just about a year ago, and that he was doing allright but still seemed a little bit mentally 'disturbed'. He's living on social benifits and royalty checks from the old Fleetwood Mac records.. he don't work and he doesn't play guitar anymore, unfortunately. He's probably still living at a men's hostel somewhere in London, and spends most of his days on the streets of London.

Tango · #2 07-17-2004, 09:09 AM

Thank you for the information. It's rare to hear anything about Danny at all.

wondergirl9847 · #3 07-17-2004, 12:07 PM

I am weirded out...I had a dream this morning about there being a Danny autographed photo (from 1991?) being near this shopping center where I was going to the Post Office....I kept saying to my dad "I'm going to steal that photo."

Thanks for the info on Danny!

BTW, welcome to the Ledge!

Cussion · #4 07-17-2004, 04:07 PM

I would really appreciate if someone could post a recent picture of Danny,
cause the latest photo I've seen on him is from '93, when he had a big beard.

When I was in London I was actually thinking about looking up the place where Danny's staying these days.. I would really like to talk to the man who's given me lots of fantastic songs and guitar-licks to learn. Just shake his hand for a second and see how he's doing these days. It seems like nobody really knows.. and I think Danny needs friends, people who appreciate him.

P90pup · #5 07-19-2004, 10:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cussion

I would really appreciate if someone could post a recent picture of Danny,
cause the latest photo I've seen on him is from '93, when he had a big beard.

When I was in London I was actually thinking about looking up the place where Danny's staying these days.. I would really like to talk to the man who's given me lots of fantastic songs and guitar-licks to learn. Just shake his hand for a second and see how he's doing these days. It seems like nobody really knows.. and I think Danny needs friends, people who appreciate him.

As does Pete and Jeremy! The English health system keeps you at arms length.

BrokenWing · #6 07-19-2004, 10:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by P90pup

As does Pete and Jeremy! The English health system keeps you at arms length.

Heh, you mean as opposed to the American health system, which leaves 44 million Americans out in the cold with no coverage?

Regarding Danny, it's great to hear updated news about him, though disappointing to learn that he's put away his guitar again. Last we'd heard I believe he had a guitar in his room and was playing for his own enjoyment. Otherwise, it sounds like his situation is pretty much as it was last we heard.

Unfortunately, Danny seems like the one Mac member, past or present, who is most in need of a hug, and the least likely to accept one--it's been said that he doesn't like to be touched. If I were traveling in London and recognized him on the street, I'd want more than anything to approach him and tell him how talented he is and how much I enjoy his contributions to the early Mac albums. But a part of me would hesitate to do so because I'm not sure such a gesture would be welcome. From what his ex-bandmates have said, it sounds like he was severely paranoid and very suspicious of people's intentions toward him. Most one-time rock stars would probably be tickled to be recognized on the street and lauded for their accomplishments by someone who wasn't even born at the time of their greatest success. But in Danny's case, given the problems he has struggled and obivously still does struggle with, I wonder if being approached like that would just frighten the hell out of him.

I wish there were some way we could let him know how much we still love his music all these years later. But I think the best thing we can wish for Danny is a very skilled doctor, some good, effective medication and, of course, the strength and will to stay away from the bottle.

Peter, I'm not sure about. I guess what one makes of his current situation depends on whether you believe he's happy being back in the music business or just being manipulated by people who want to make money off him. I know it's been a while since his Q & A, but his responses sounded oddly detached, like he was just going through the motions--a far cry from the Q & A's with Welch, Weston and Spencer.

As for Jeremy, he appears to be very content with where he is now. I know many religious cults have a bad reputation, and I don't know how the Children of God/The Family compares to the most notorious ones, but being adopted into the cult seems to have been a positive experience for him. Maybe his being approached by them that day in 1970 was just meant to be. It sounds like he had a strong interest in religion even before that--a strange dichotomy, really, that he was so vulgar onstage and yet preferred sitting in his hotel room and reading the Bible to drinking, partying and making it with the ladies. Sure, Fleetwood Mac would have been a very different band if Jeremy had stayed, but I'm glad he seems happy with the path he's taken in life.

Eileen