Thoughts on Mick's New Book

[BlueDenim]

Has anyone here bought/received his book yet? I received it a week or so ago and am about 3/4 done. Very easy read but I've been pacing myself.

I did read his first book years ago, but it was from the library and I don't recall much of it, so maybe someone else can compare and contrast the two.

Just finished the Tusk tour and Stevie/Sara triangle parts so they're fresh. Not too much dish as far as his relationship with Stevie, except that it was very passionate and underground.

Some notes so far:


Misspellings - Waddy's name is mispelled once ("Watchell), Ken is referred to as Ken "Calliat" both throughout the book and in the index. Intentional, I wonder? Given Ken's blistering interviews in the past...

Mick and Stevie's relationship was very on/off, during which Stevie had other relationships and Mick claims he didn't...

He went to Lindsey's house after the Rumours tour to tell him about the relationship. Not much info on the convo except that Lindsey appreciated his telling him.

He broke-up with Stevie via letter.

"Great dark wing" line from Sara - What Stevie and Sara thought his black Ferrari sounded like when it came up the drive to Stevie's house.

[Ali]

Amazon cancelled my order so I'm hoping my local B&N will have it today or tomorrow.

[Lee]

I pre-ordered it yesterday & it's on my phone & tablet this a.m., but I've just started reading it. How did you get it so early? They just released it today.:shrug:

Lee :)

[Macfan4life]

Thanks for your thoughts
As I recall from the first book Mick claims he was smoking a joint with Lindsey alone and Lindsey surprised him by confronting Mick about him seeing Stevie.
So he changed the story?

I read recently that Mick says he was out of his mind when he wrote the first book. So does that mean much of it is not true?

I hope he writes much about the post Lindsey era. The band started to decline sales and Stevie was really isolated with Klonopin in those days. But the band played on. There is an interview with Stevie on youtube from 1991 where she claims her management told her to quit Fleetwood Mac because they were a sinking ship and it could hurt her career. But Stevie refused to hurt the band and continued to tour and play with the band. I just find this era interesting because there was so much going on toward what would seem to be the end of Fleetwood Mac.

[mtkad]

In the UK, it's been in my local Tesco for the past 2 weeks, but i'd already pre-ordered the signed edition. At a glance, I found that Christine originally asked to do the full European tour last year at first, but they were obviously doubtful.

[elle]

i pre-ordered it a while ago. hoping that he addressed the band periods after the first book ends. last 15 years in particular would be very interesting to me.

love the info about Christine originally wanting a European tour first, after she came back this year. curious to see whether European tour will happen next year, when and how much of it. if they go with their ridiculous US prices, my guess would be the only country they can do is UK, and they'll just skip the rest of Europe for now. people who live in continental Europe can chime in and correct me, but comparing the prices from last year, i don't see people there fill arenas where most of the seats are between $200 and $250.

[wheart]

Maybe I'm in the minority here but I frankly am over rehashing the wild days of Fleetwood Mac. It was a long time ago. I'm far more interested in what the band is doing today, in 2014. Enough with the glory days.

[lovethemac1]

I pre-ordered and paid for mine ages ago. Kinda forgotten about it. I will be watching the mailbox eagerly. Can't wait.:]

[michelej1]

Thanks for your thoughts
As I recall from the first book Mick claims he was smoking a joint with Lindsey alone and Lindsey surprised him by confronting Mick about him seeing Stevie.
So he changed the story?



In the first book, Lindsey said that to Mick when Lindsey and Stevie first joined the group. Mick and Stevie weren't sleeping together then (at least they haven't admitted doing so) but Lindsey said something like "it's you and Stevie isn't it?" Lindsey felt a vibe, before Mick and Stevie had even acted on anything.

So, Mick is not changing his story about telling Lindsey once it really did happen.

Michele

[michelej1]

Maybe I'm in the minority here but I frankly am over rehashing the wild days of Fleetwood Mac. It was a long time ago. I'm far more interested in what the band is doing today, in 2014. Enough with the glory days.

True, especially when he's already written one book that covers that. Michele

[WatchChain]

Maybe I'm in the minority here but I frankly am over rehashing the wild days of Fleetwood Mac. It was a long time ago. I'm far more interested in what the band is doing today, in 2014. Enough with the glory days.

You make a great point there. As a 40 year Fleetwood Mac fan, I've read EVERY PIECE OF THE EARLY DAYS countless times, from a VAST VARIETY of viewpoints ranging from Mick Fleetwood to Stevie Nicks to Bob Welch, to Carol Ann Harris. I know the band's history from 1970--1991 FORWARD and BACKWARD.

Like you, I'm much more interesting in what has been going on since. I'd love to hear more about the Welch lawsuit from Mick's viewpoint, and also his tireless efforts to keep the band going through the dry years of the Burnett/Bramlett/Mason lineup. I've also read Mick's first book, and I consider it to be accurate despite what he says now. He's only saying he was "out of his mind" to sell MORE copies of "Play On". I was hoping this book would serve as more of a sequel to the earlier book.

[BlueDenim]

I pre-ordered from Chapters here in Canada. Was hoping for a delivery before the end of this week so it was a nice surprise to get it early.

He does mention Lindsey's "It's you and Stevie, isn't it" thing. He says Lindsey doesn't remember that at all now. He also frequently refers to Stevie as his soul mate.

There's a lot of Jenny in the book - the break-ups, make-ups, insights, reflections, Jenny's thoughts now.

A lot of the "now" parts are sort of interspersed with the "then" parts. (Like a story of him wearing a green shirt to a USC/Notre Dame game in 1998 in the Tusk chapter.)

[michelej1]

He also frequently refers to Stevie as his soul mate.



Well, that's a little much, although I know they like a lot of the same things.

Liked that picture at John's wedding, because I don't remember seeing it before. Michele

[bombaysaffires]

I always found Stevie's outfit at Mick's wedding a bit….curious. Wearing white to a wedding is always a bit tricky, and then wearing a rather foofy big white dress and huge white hat..well…I think there's something passive/aggressive going on there. Just sayin':shrug:

[michelej1]

It's interesting that Mick says that before Tango, he'd filed bankruptcy but all it took was the royalties from record sales of their catalog to keep him comfortable and get him financially back on his feet, because the band wasn't doing anything for those 5 years to make new money.

So, although if you keep spending you keep needing money, it seems like those royalties are really, really lucrative if all you need to do is maintain. I'd like to know how much they all get a year from catalogue royalties.

Michele

[Tango]

I always found Stevie's outfit at Mick's wedding a bit….curious. Wearing white to a wedding is always a bit tricky, and then wearing a rather foofy big white dress and huge white hat..well…I think there's something passive/aggressive going on there. Just sayin':shrug:

I agree there is some sort of "message" in the dress Stevie wore to the wedding. And another sort of message in wearing a "black" sort of dress to her own wedding to Kim Anderson. Or she was just plain crazy.

[michelej1]

Well, Mick and Stevie both say that Stevie was mad at Sara, so I don't guess the message in Stevie's dress was meant to be subtle. In fact, Mick says his other bandmates were mad at him at him too. Sara's friends took Jim Recor's side and it sounds like it was a complete mess.


Michele

[Newzchspy]

It's interesting that Mick says that before Tango, he'd filed bankruptcy but all it took was the royalties from record sales of their catalog to keep him comfortable and get him financially back on his feet, because the band wasn't doing anything for those 5 years to make new money.

So, although if you keep spending you keep needing money, it seems like those royalties are really, really lucrative if all you need to do is maintain. I'd like to know how much they all get a year from catalogue royalties.

Michele

Then or NOW?? The real money $$ NOW is in touring and writing music (although tours can be very expensive, there's the Band's Guarantee that each person gets even before expenses.) The promoters and venue gets the rest from Beer sales, part of the merchandise, tickets sales, sales tax etc.

Then? Well the money has always been in owning the songs and publishing and to a certain extent the TOUR. The long term "annuity" and money for the band is in music publishing, rights and song "ownership."

Catalog royalties ONLY occur if the music is used or sold and depend upon who/whom owns the rights?? Often its the record company that owns it once the artist/author signs away their rights for $$.

[tabruns]

It's interesting that Mick says that before Tango, he'd filed bankruptcy but all it took was the royalties from record sales of their catalog to keep him comfortable and get him financially back on his feet, because the band wasn't doing anything for those 5 years to make new money.

So, although if you keep spending you keep needing money, it seems like those royalties are really, really lucrative if all you need to do is maintain. I'd like to know how much they all get a year from catalogue royalties.

Michele

The three songwriters would get significantly more than Mick, so for Mick to be comfortable purely on catalog royalties, well, it's no wonder that Stevie is "financially stable" (i.e., no recession could put a dent in her fortune).

[Neal]

I hope he writes much about the post Lindsey era. The band started to decline sales and Stevie was really isolated with Klonopin in those days. But the band played on. There is an interview with Stevie on youtube from 1991 where she claims her management told her to quit Fleetwood Mac because they were a sinking ship and it could hurt her career. But Stevie refused to hurt the band and continued to tour and play with the band. I just find this era interesting because there was so much going on toward what would seem to be the end of Fleetwood Mac.

I'd love more info in general on 1987-1996, but I'm not expecting to get it from this book (which I plan on picking up this weekend!).

[bombaysaffires]

Then or NOW?? The real money $$ NOW is in touring and writing music (although tours can be very expensive, there's the Band's Guarantee that each person gets even before expenses.) The promoters and venue gets the rest from Beer sales, part of the merchandise, tickets sales, sales tax etc.

Then? Well the money has always been in owning the songs and publishing and to a certain extent the TOUR. The long term "annuity" and money for the band is in music publishing, rights and song "ownership."

Catalog royalties ONLY occur if the music is used or sold and depend upon who/whom owns the rights?? Often its the record company that owns it once the artist/author signs away their rights for $$.


not so sure that writing your music earns you much these days. I watched an interview with David Byrne from Talking Heads and he said most bands putting out music now will never actually make money off their music (i.e. support themselves personally). He said the whole issue of trying to get people to pay for music is killing everything. He said the *only* money is touring.:eek:
(maybe unless you give permission for some company to use it in a commercial or something).

[lovethemac1]

I pre-ordered and paid for mine ages ago. Kinda forgotten about it. I will be watching the mailbox eagerly. Can't wait.:]

Got an email from Amazon saying my order has shipped and I should have by Monday......:]

[PenguinHead]

Maybe I'm in the minority here but I frankly am over rehashing the wild days of Fleetwood Mac. It was a long time ago. I'm far more interested in what the band is doing today, in 2014. Enough with the glory days.

I agree. They've played that card for way too long; Stevie, in particular, continues that narrative. I know of no other band that obsessively panders their forty-something years past. In many of Stevie's songs, she implores us to "remember." No problem! She never lets us forget.

[louielouie2000]

So is there ANY reason to buy this book? I've had his first book for many years, and it was enjoyable enough. But if this new one isn't forging any new territory, I just don't see the point in lining Mick's pockets any further. Especially if my money will simply be lost to his next bout with bankruptcy. My local independent bookstore has the book in stock, I just cannot summon any legitimate reason to give this band any more of my money at the moment. Not until they start giving us something that hasn't been regurgitated over and over, decade after decade. :sorry:

I don't know, this whole damned thing just seems suspect to me. Remember when Mick was asked about his new book at a meet & greet last year, and he didn't seem to know what the fan who asked him was talking about? Did Mick's management just pay this Anthony Bozza to regurgitate his last book so Mick could have a fresh infusion of cash to help pad bottom line after his divorce settlement/alimony? I have my doubts as to how involved Mick was with the whole thing. He's done almost no press for it, after all. :shrug:

[PenguinHead]

I agree there is some sort of "message" in the dress Stevie wore to the wedding. And another sort of message in wearing a "black" sort of dress to her own wedding to Kim Anderson. Or she was just plain crazy.

Wearing an overblown white gown at someone else's wedding is just insane and thoughtless. Perhaps ego took over and she didn't want to be upstaged by the bride.

[PenguinHead]

So is there ANY reason to buy this book? I've had his first book for many years, and it was enjoyable enough. But if this new one isn't forging any new territory, I just don't see the point in lining Mick's pockets any further. Especially if my money will simply be lost to his next bout with bankruptcy. My local independent bookstore has the book in stock, I just cannot summon any legitimate reason to give this band any more of my money at the moment. Not until they start giving us something that hasn't been regurgitated over and over, decade after decade. :sorry:


I perused over the book at Powell's "City of Books" Bookstore, the most amazing bookstore in the world -- a massive four stories! I could not justify paying $30 for it. I read a few of the passages from the ensuing years since his last book. I found nothing of any worthy depth and insight. I'll wait a year or two until I can find it in the bargain bin.

[redtulip]

I just finished it. I didn't really get anything new out of it and he glossed over the most recent period starting after his last book left off. The only really new information I got from it was learning a little more about Lynn, his ex-wife, since I knew nothing about her before. Basically it's a pointless Mick money grab.

[jbrownsjr]

Royal Air Force
Peter did drugs
Jeremy did drugs
Christine joined
Danny did drugs
Danny got fired
Welch took over
Welch left
Buckingham/Nicks joined
Sales started to grow
Rumours had a lot of break ups but sales.
Christine hooked up with the lighting director.
I hooked up with Stevie.
Linsdey was mad.
Stevie hooked up with various Eagles.
Tusk was a commercical failure.
I went bankrupt.
Mirage somehow is Rumours II
I was married a few more times.
Lindsey left.
Stevie left.
We got together for the Dance.
Christine left.
We had a SYW tour.
Christine came back.


The End. Thirty Dollars, please!

[Johnny Stew]

From the new book:

"All of this, of course, is in preparation for Stevie, who will join us in the studio later this year after she finishes her last solo album for Warner Brothers. She won't be distant from the process; rather, we will be ready for her. The truth is that Stevie is a vocalist, while the rest of us are musicians, so we will set the stage for her entrance, and together we will work out what I believe will be a fitting return for this line-up of the band."

[nicole21290]

So is there ANY reason to buy this book?

I got it this morning. Just finished while the Fleetwood Mac show was on. I doubt you'll find anything particularly illuminating in it - it covers all the time periods but often in a quite perfunctory way. I've screencapped and written out parts of it relevant to my own interests as well as regarding Christine's return so you can check those out if you want. I'm happy to copy out anything else you want to read about - whether it's just the Time period or the Zoo stuff or whatever.

A few random quotes about Christine, John, Christine/Lindsey [x (http://buckinghamnicks-ff.tumblr.com/post/101313023524/and-because-im-feeling-nice-and-i-promised)]

Christine's return and the end of the book [x (http://buckinghamnicks-ff.tumblr.com/post/101312893464/now)]

The Dance through The EP [x (http://buckinghamnicks-ff.tumblr.com/post/101312798479/an-absence-and-a-healing)]

Lindsey leaves the band [x (http://buckinghamnicks-ff.tumblr.com/post/101312574824/an-ending)]

Mick and Stevie saga Pt 1 / Richard & Liz [x (http://buckinghamnicks-ff.tumblr.com/post/101312155994/a-perfect-fantasy)]

Mick and Stevie saga Pt 2 / Mick & Jenny [x (http://buckinghamnicks-ff.tumblr.com/post/101312276874/stevie-and-mick-part-the-second-aka-mick-and)]

Mick and Stevie saga Pt 3 / Mick & Sara [x (http://buckinghamnicks-ff.tumblr.com/post/101312396059/mick-and-stevie-part-the-third-aka-mick-and)]

Beginnings for SnL in FM [x (http://buckinghamnicks-ff.tumblr.com/post/101311897609)] [x (http://buckinghamnicks-ff.tumblr.com/post/101311725159/the-beginnings)]

Meeting Buckingham Nicks [x (http://buckinghamnicks-ff.tumblr.com/post/101311505639/mick-and-the-band-really-meet-stevie-and-lindsey)]

Hearing Buckingham Nicks [x (http://buckinghamnicks-ff.tumblr.com/post/101311286794/in-which-mick-meets-lindsey-and-stevie)]

And then some random quotes about Stevie and Lindsey. Again, apologies for the focus but this is my primary interest, oops...

"That good-looking couple with all that talent..." [x ("That good-looking couple with all that talent)]

"Stevie had broken up with Lindsey and he’d taken it very, very hard." [x (http://buckinghamnicks-ff.tumblr.com/post/101302736514/stevie-had-broken-up-with-lindsey-and-hed-taken)]

"It wasn’t easy on Stevie either..." [x (http://buckinghamnicks-ff.tumblr.com/post/101303011114/it-wasnt-easy-on-stevie-either-but-like-me-she)]

"So I went to Lindsey’s house and I told him about it..." [x ("So I went to Lindsey’s house and I told him about it)]

"A few weeks after announcing that Fleetwood Mac had officially disbanded..." [x (http://buckinghamnicks-ff.tumblr.com/post/101306751634/a-few-weeks-after-announcing-that-fleetwood-mac)]

"His self-sufficiency proved to be a bigger problem for Stevie..." [x (http://buckinghamnicks-ff.tumblr.com/post/101307984559/his-self-sufficiency-proved-to-be-a-bigger-problem)]

"Lindsey began writing differently than he had in the past..." [x (http://buckinghamnicks-ff.tumblr.com/post/101308250269/lindsey-began-writing-differently-than-he-had-in)]

"Lindsey’s vision for Fleetwood Mac without Christine became fully realised..." [x (http://buckinghamnicks-ff.tumblr.com/post/101308507819/lindseys-vision-for-fleetwood-mac-without)]

"New versions of songs like ‘Second Hand News’ and ‘Without You..." [x (http://buckinghamnicks-ff.tumblr.com/post/101308674269/new-versions-of-songs-like-second-hand-news-and)]

"He [Lindsey] wrote a number of songs for the EP that didn’t make the final cut..." [x (http://buckinghamnicks-ff.tumblr.com/post/101308806959/he-lindsey-wrote-a-number-of-songs-for-the-ep)]

"Overall, the last few years have been a wonderful return to form..." [x (http://buckinghamnicks-ff.tumblr.com/post/101308980064/overall-the-last-few-years-have-been-a-wonderful)]

And have a bonus picture of Mick with his girlfriend...
http://media.tumblr.com/24f326e5115605ec19a7593a130d04c4/tumblr_inline_ne8dkaEu9y1rjpgwn.jpg

[bombaysaffires]

thanks for the excerpts, nicole!

I found this interesting: Second Hand News, a song that has come in and out of our sets through the years. It was written with Chris, but the subject matter is very much Lindsey and Stevie.

I've never heard this claim before. has anyone else?:shrug:

[michelej1]

Then or NOW??

Mick was talking about THEN. The band was idle from 1982-1987 and he had no other income coming in but he said after he declared bankruptcy, he was able to stay comfortable from the royalties and most people didn't even know he had hit rock bottom, because his lifestyle didn't look that bad.

Michele

[nicole21290]

Stevie hooked up with various Eagles.

The End. Thirty Dollars, please!

Not actually mentioned, shockingly! None of her affairs were by name, actually, bar the one with Mick. The Eagles did get mentioned but in the context of touring with Fleetwood Mac in 1976 more than anything else...

I did note he learnt his lesson and didn't bother repeating anything about the big TITN fight between SnL this time around. :D

[nicole21290]

Mick was talking about THEN. The band was idle from 1982-1987 and he had no other income coming in but he said after he declared bankruptcy, he was able to stay comfortable from the royalties and most people didn't even know he had hit rock bottom, because his lifestyle didn't look that bad.

Michele

"By 1984 I had to file for bankruptcy for the second time and though I knew things weren’t on the up, it still came as a surprise. I’d hired a young, eager business manager who had a ‘live for now’ strategy which of course was fine for me, but didn’t seem to plan enough for the future. Then somehow it all fell apart. I was forced to sell the Blue Whale as well as all of my cars and my recording equipment. I lost Sara in the process: she moved out, broke it off with me and went back to work in the ‘real world’, because I couldn’t support her. Meanwhile I moved into a house with Richard Dashut and laboured to put my life back in order. Thankfully no matter how dire things seemed, I was never in danger of being completely on the street. I was grateful to always have the royalty income stream from Fleetwood Mac to keep me afloat. That is essentially how I settled all of my financial problems. At first that left me little else to get by on, but eventually it caught up and the monies I received from record sales of the catalogue enabled me to be comfortable. Cosmetically most people never even realised that I’d gone broke, not once but twice, because the thing I’d devoted my life to developing had served to save me."

[michelej1]

Mick makes himself sound like a horrible person to be dating or married to. Other than the money, I don't know what those women saw in him. He says he split from Sara when he could not take care of her anymore and filed bankruptcy. She left him to go back to work and take care of herself.

But then she got sober (didn't last) and stopped drinking and he didn't stop drinking and wasn't respectful of her needing to abstain. So that was a wedge between them. Also during the relationship, he told her that he might patch things up with Jenny some day. So, I'm sure that's not a great thing to hear from your partner.

So anyway, he meets Lynn (who was 26 and he was 43) while still married to Sara and sneaks Lynn around so the crew wouldn't know he was seeing her. She wouldn't travel with him on tour openly. She'd get to a city ahead of him, so no one would think they were together. For whatever reason, he didn't divorce Sara. He waited for her to file. So, he told Lynn that he and Sara were splitting, but it wasn't happening and Lynn began to doubt him.

Also, Lynn didn't drink and Mick couldn't stop drinking and his habit was getting worse. He was a sloppy drunk, but Lynn put up with it. In fact, one of the things he loved about her was she could hang out with people who were high and drunk and not be under the influence herself and still be fun. Yay?

He says it was around about the time of his sister's cancer that he realized he was destroying himself. He had gained weight and didn't look good and was scared of his mortality. So, he did stop drinking then, for a decade.

Michele

[bombaysaffires]

Mick makes himself sound like a horrible person to be dating or married to. Other than the money, I don't know what those women saw in him. He says he split from Sara when he could not take care of her anymore and filed bankruptcy. She left him to go back to work and take care of herself.

But then she got sober (didn't last) and stopped drinking and he didn't stop drinking and wasn't respectful of her needing to abstain. So that was a wedge between them. Also during the relationship, he told her that he might patch things up with Jenny some day. So, I'm sure that's not a great thing to hear from your partner.

So anyway, he meets Lynn (who was 26 and he was 43) while still married to Sara and sneaks Lynn around so the crew wouldn't know he was seeing her. She wouldn't travel with him on tour openly. She'd get to a city ahead of him, so no one would think they were together. For whatever reason, he didn't divorce Sara. He waited for her to file. So, he told Lynn that he and Sara were splitting, but it wasn't happening and Lynn began to doubt him.

Also, Lynn didn't drink and Mick couldn't stop drinking and his habit was getting worse. He was a sloppy drunk, but Lynn put up with it. In fact, one of the things he loved about her was she could hang out with people who were high and drunk and not be under the influence herself and still be fun. Yay?

He says it was around about the time of his sister's cancer that he realized he was destroying himself. He had gained weight and didn't look good and was scared of his mortality. So, he did stop drinking then, for a decade.

Michele

Amazing what people will put up with (especially women) to be with someone famous, or to live a life and/or lifestyle that they wouldn't otherwise get to have (traveling in social circles with famous people and the like). It seems like they'll put up with some serious sh*t from the person him/herself if the rest of the 'package' is enticing. :shrug:

[Wdm6789]

I always found Stevie's outfit at Mick's wedding a bit….curious. Wearing white to a wedding is always a bit tricky, and then wearing a rather foofy big white dress and huge white hat..well…I think there's something passive/aggressive going on there. Just sayin':shrug:

I thought that too. But it was 1988, she was probably strung out on benzos also.

[bombaysaffires]

I thought that too. But it was 1988, she was probably strung out on benzos also.

seems like.

But there's a definite "upstage the bride" vibe to the whole outfit.

Then of course getting up onstage and singing and being the center of attention throughout a lot of the reception….

[PenguinHead]

I just finished it. I didn't really get anything new out of it and he glossed over the most recent period starting after his last book left off. The only really new information I got from it was learning a little more about Lynn, his ex-wife, since I knew nothing about her before. Basically it's a pointless Mick money grab.

This drives home the point that a definitive,objective published biography is not going to come from any of the band members. There has been a lot of fans clamoring for Stevie to write her autobiography, but I don't know why. First off, her memory, as we know, isn't very sharp. And she's far from being a literary scribe. She would have to depend heavily on a co-writer/editor to sift through her "journals" to make any sense of things. There would be no objectivity; most so-called autobiographies have a bit of fictionalized history. Mick's books only gloss the surface, Stevie's book would be overflowing with gloss and ego.

I've been reading Neil Young's book, Waging Heavy Peace, which was published in 2012. He's a very literate, philosophical guy. He's very matter-of-fact, with no agenda, and writes very simply and authentically. There's absolutely no pretense or pompousness in his prose.

His book is unique because he doesn't follow a timeline. Each chapter is just a stream of thought about a certain subject. In every chapter he ruminates about a topic, circumstance or event which reveals his character, insight, and creative/thought process, and his relationships. There is a real and sincere soul and depth to it.

[jbrownsjr]

Not actually mentioned, shockingly! None of her affairs were by name, actually, bar the one with Mick. The Eagles did get mentioned but in the context of touring with Fleetwood Mac in 1976 more than anything else...

I did note he learnt his lesson and didn't bother repeating anything about the big TITN fight between SnL this time around. :D

Thanks for the index. Loved the Christine/Lindsey stuff. Fair reporting on your part. :xoxo:

[wetcamelfood]

Still waiting for my copy.

So is the beginning to 1990 copied from the 1990 book?

John

[Jondalar]

Is this book new or just an update?

[BombaySapphire3]

Is this book new or just an update?

it's new...one thing I like more about this one than the 1990 book is that it does not seem to be a series of magazine articles pasted together with Mick's still drug addled recollections.

[michelej1]

it's new...one thing I like more about this one than the 1990 book is that it does not seem to be a series of magazine articles pasted together with Mick's still drug addled recollections.

True. It does seem to be more of Mick's own and original words and thoughts, even if he traverses territory that was covered in the first book.

Michele

[FuzzyPlum]

After a week away on holiday I got home last night to find Mick's book waiting for me. Firstly I was a bit miffed as my 'signed' copy had a signed label stuck in which isn't quite the same thing...never mind.

I haven't read a lot yet but skipped straight to Tango In The Night onwards as that is what I'd anticipated being new. Unfortunately the last 25 years or so are covered in about 50 pages. The biggest difference between this and his last book seems to be that he hasn't focused much on the music. Behind The Mask is barely mentioned. I thought Time might be interesting to read about but that gets only a page or two.
Interestingly there is virtually no mention of the R&R Hall of Fame Induction (except the story of Peter playing with Santana). Some interesting bits towards the end concerning Mick's business dealings with dodgy Russian gangsters- including the fact he bought a plane with the intention of starting a Russian airline!

Will go back and start at the beginning later today.

[michelej1]

Interestingly there is virtually no mention of the R&R Hall of Fame Induction (except the story of Peter playing with Santana). Some interesting bits towards the end concerning Mick's business dealings with dodgy Russian gangsters- including the fact he bought a plane with the intention of starting a Russian airline!


He has problems. If someone wants to just put his name on wine or audio equipment, that's fine. But he should stop putting his money into things. Outside of having good music instincts, his business judgment is the absolute pits.

Michele

[FuzzyPlum]

I wonder what a happened regarding that TV series he was due to present 'A day with Mick' (?????). No further mention of that- wonder if that got buried.
Away from music I think he'd make a great subject for a reality TV series.

[michelej1]

Very sweet the way Mick talks about getting John's email, after undergoing treatment for colon cancer. "Hey Mick, how you doing? I hope well. Don't get too stressed out. Listen ... it's all different now ... isn't it? It's fun."

And he said though they waited to announce Christine's return, the truth is that after London, in their minds, the band was back together.

Michele

[FuzzyPlum]

Just a thought...
At the very end of the book Mick mentions this as a victory lap, goes on about the recent recordings and how great it has been in the studio. He goes on to say Stevie will be joining them later in the year. He then ends by suggesting Stevie will carry on performing long after Fleetwood Mac has ended.

It struck me as odd that he'd choose to end his book talking about Stevie in particular. I might be reading too much into it but I couldn't help but wonder whether it was a veiled message to her; we are nearing the end as a band. You however will go on as a solo performer for a long time afterwards (i.e. get on board with us for this last album- you have plenty of time for yourself for at least another ten years after we're done).

[michelej1]

By:Georgie Binks Special to the Star, Published on Sat Nov 01 2014

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2014/11/01/play_on_now_then_and_fleetwood_mac_by_mick_fleetwood_and_anthony_bozza.html

Play On — Now, Then, And Fleetwood Mac by Mick Fleetwood and Anthony Bozza

At 67 years old, the founder of the eponymous band Fleetwood Mac isn’t ready to reveal the secrets behind rumours of band’s debauchery

When I read a musician’s autobiography I really want to know what’s driven them to create their art, everything from musical influences to the inspiration for their lyrics. Some musicians, such as Graham Nash, deliver, others just don’t quite ‘bring it on home.’


For Mick Fleetwood, the drummer and mainstay of the wildly popular Fleetwood Mac, the responsibility to the reader becomes even more onerous, what with fractured relationships that simultaneously fascinated fans while threatening to tear the group apart. Who is the song, “Sara” about anyway? What about “The Chain?” Then of course the real nitty-gritty: just who was sleeping with whom?


Fleetwood, now 67, hails from a generation of British rockers who drew their inspiration from musicians such as Buddy Holly and Little Richard. He’s been playing rock for at least 50 years, 40 of those with the same musicians. Members drift in and out of the band over the years, while Fleetwood provides the glue that guides them through rocky times and back to where they are now. With the publication of Fleetwood’s book, Play On, his new photography exhibit and a new tour, he’s enjoying his life more than ever.


He begins by talking about his early life and the formation of Fleetwood Mac. Fleetwood received his first set of drums from his parents at the age of 11. His first band, the Cheynes, toured Britain with the likes of The Yardbirds, The Animals, the Spencer Davis Group, eventually opening for the Rolling Stones, tidbits any music aficionado loves to hear. He then did a stint with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers where he met John McVie. A fellow musician dubbed their rhythm section Fleetwood Mac; the name stuck when they formed their band which included McVie’s wife Christine, a talented pianist. They met with success in Britain and the U.S. but it wasn’t until they lost their lead guitarist in 1974 and offered Lindsey Buckingham the job that they really took off. Buckingham, who had been playing in a band with Stevie Nicks with limited success, accepted the offer on the condition Nicks come with him. The rest is history.


One of Fleetwood’s big challenges is that, as he admits half way through Play On, he never wrote any of their songs. Rather they were the work of Nicks, Buckingham and Christine McVie. While, he offers some tidbits about their inspiration, it’s quite limited.


Instead, he concentrates quite a bit on his own relationships, which gets to be a bit daunting after awhile. Twice-married to Jenny Boyd (sister of Patty Boyd, married to George Harrison), he and Jenny break up so many times, you find yourself screaming, ‘Jenny, do not jump on a plane again!’ Especially when, at one point, he’s still married to Jenny, having an affair with Stevie Nicks and sleeping with her friend, Sara, who, yes, is Nicks’ inspiration for the song, “Sara.”


Fleetwood also talks about the drugs, especially cocaine; he describes the infamous studio Sound City, where they encountered Nicks and Buckingham, saying “there seemed to be white powder peeling off the walls in every room.”


After reading the autobiography of a couple of rock musicians — Graham Nash, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton — you wonder if their prime motivator is cocaine rather than a burning desire to make music.


Fleetwood says its use during their first album together — their breakout album Fleetwood Mac, which he’s dubbed the “white album” — fuelled stories of their debauchery that he won’t confirm or deny. “It’s all so tired at this point.” What’s with that? Inquiring minds might like to know.


While he doesn’t offer those details, he does admit to going bankrupt twice and also apologizes to his children with Boyd for putting them through so much heartbreak.


Despite its shortcomings, Fleetwood provides an interesting overview of the band which makes watching their current tour that much more enjoyable. His voice and outlook are happy and he comes across as a kind, thoughtful man. Even if the book is limited in what it can offer, it still makes for some fascinating reading.




Georgie Binks is the author of A Crack in the Pavement

[michelej1]

Nov. 01 (Daily Mail) -- Radcliffe & Maconie 1PM, BBC 6 MUSIC ??? Mick Fleetwood, drummer and co-founder of the hugely successful Fleetwood Mac, joins Mark Radcliffe to talk about his solo career, winemaking and his new autobiography.

[louielouie2000]

Nov. 01 (Daily Mail) -- Radcliffe & Maconie 1PM, BBC 6 MUSIC ??? Mick Fleetwood, drummer and co-founder of the hugely successful Fleetwood Mac, joins Mark Radcliffe to talk about his solo career, winemaking and his new autobiography.

Solo career? :shrug:

[DauphineMarie]

Solo career? :shrug:

I guess you could consider The Visitor and Mick Fleetwood's Zoo a solo effort, but I wouldn't call it a career of any sort. :shrug:

[StreetAngel86]

I always found Stevie's outfit at Mick's wedding a bit….curious. Wearing white to a wedding is always a bit tricky, and then wearing a rather foofy big white dress and huge white hat..well…I think there's something passive/aggressive going on there. Just sayin':shrug:

she's VERY subtle isn't she :eek::thumbsup:
imagine what she would have worn to Bucky and Kristen's wedding ... :lol:

[bombaysaffires]

she's VERY subtle isn't she :eek::thumbsup:
imagine what she would have worn to Bucky and Kristen's wedding ... :lol:



white dress, long train, several small children carrying the train, big hat, …?:lol:

[michelej1]

News/November 5, 2014, 7:00 AM CBS This Morning

Fleetwood Mac's Mick Fleetwood chronicles life in "Play On"

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/fleetwood-mac-mick-fleetwood-chronicles-life-in-play-on/

Fleetwood Mac has sold more than 140 million records worldwide. The supergroup is known for its music, and for its wild ways off stage, too. Now in a new memoir drummer and bandleader Mick Fleetwood looks back at a long journey.

For nearly 50 years Mick Fleetwood has provided the beat and backbone for one of the world's most successful bands.

At just 15 years old, Fleetwood left home for London to become a drummer. There, he met bassist John McVie, forming a lifelong friendship and the band that would bear their names.

For eight years, through drugs, discord and affairs, they endured a constantly changing lineup.

They finally struck the right chord with McVie's wife, Christine, and Americans Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks.

While their hard-partying became the stuff of rock and roll legend, it was their infamous love affairs that inspired "Rumours." The 1977 album sat at number one for 31 weeks and is the ninth best-selling album of all time.

Hits like "Go Your Own Way" captured their turmoil, which ultimately proved to be too much.

Fleetwood's new memoir, "Play On," chronicles the band's often painful past -- with a happy ending.

For the first time in 16 years, the band is back together and the beat goes on.

[michelej1]

Rolling Stone By Dave DiMartino | November 4, 2014

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/bob-dylan-s-basement-tapes-revealed-20141104

Mick Fleetwood with Anthony Bozza: Play On: Now, Then, and Fleetwood Mac: The Autobiography (Little, Brown and Company) The second book to be had by Fleetwood Mac’s colorful drummer Mick Fleetwood is a good read, not only because he’s got a spectacular story to tell—the man has been on the scene making relevant music for a half-century—but because there’s a warmth and humanism to what he does, and the stories he tells, that makes him a very likeable, charismatic fellow. Here he talks much about the early days, the trials and tribulations of his band pre- and post-Peter Green, that odd period in the middle, and the soap opera that would come when Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks came aboard in the mid-‘70s and serious sales—and drama—ensued at length. Fleetwood seems very much a good guy; his band, despite its rotating casts of characters, has never been less than interesting; and the time to see him may indeed be now, while he and the current “classic” Mac crew are out on the road touring, maybe for the last time.



Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/bob-dylan-s-basement-tapes-revealed-20141104#ixzz3IGHZhv72
Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook

[michelej1]

Daily Mail

The rock star who snorted a line of cocaine SEVEN MILES long! In an eye-popping new memoir, Fleetwood Mac's leader reveals the true epic scale of their debauchery...

ByTom Leonard for the Daily Mail Published: 20:19 EST, 6 November 2014

Fleetwood Mac were sitting around stoned in the studio one night with one of their engineers when they set about solving an arithmetic problem that had been niggling at them.

How much cocaine, they wondered, had drummer Mick Fleetwood put up his nose? Working on the premise he had taken an eighth of an ounce every day for 20 years, the sound engineer calculated that if you laid out the drug in a single snortable line, it would stretch for seven miles.

Rock ’n’ roll is full of such apocryphal stories, but as Fleetwood admits in a candid new memoir, this one is completely true. But then, this is the band that in 1977 gave the world Rumours, one of the best-selling albums ever, and almost died in the process.

Though they appeared deceptively inoffensive, with their hippy-ish outfits and gentle, melodic hits such as Don’t Stop, Little Lies and Go Your Own Way, when it came to decadence and over-indulgence, Fleetwood Mac made the Rolling Stones or Led Zeppelin look like a Salvation Army band.

Quite how they are still alive, still talking to each other and touring is a marvel to everyone, least of all themselves. It is a puzzle that Fleetwood, 67, tries to explain in his autobiography, Play On.

He claims in his new book that he ‘refuses to be romantic in my perspective of drug abuse’, but admits ‘it was all new and undiscovered territory’ when he first bought cocaine in 1975.

After innumerable line-up changes and personal tragedies, the band had taken on two new American recruits. Singer Stevie Nicks and guitarist Lindsey Buckingham, who joined as a romantically attached couple, injected Californian glamour into an otherwise all-British band made up of bassist John McVie, his wife and singer Christine, and Fleetwood, the 6ft 6in son of an RAF fighter pilot and the band’s drummer and de facto leader.

The act, originally a Sixties London blues band, were to become a huge pop success with their album Fleetwood Mac. It was recorded at Sound City in Los Angeles, at a time when the city was hit by the ‘first wave of the tsunami of white powder that rolled in’ during the Seventies and Eighties, Fleetwood recalls.

Cocaine was dispensed at the studio ‘as if it were simply another of the available services at your disposal’, and the album was written with ‘white powder peeling off the wall in every room of the studio’.

A studio engineer would test it for purity, which the wide-eyed Brit compared with a ‘cool’ chemistry lesson.

That album went to Number One in the U.S., and the fact that the band’s creative juices had been stimulated by drugs and drink encouraged even greater excess next time around. Making their following album, Rumours, ‘almost killed us’, says Fleetwood.

By the time they started writing the album, he claims, ‘we had all fallen to pieces’: the McVies were ending seven years of marriage and only spoke to discuss music, while Nicks and Buckingham had also broken up.

Fleetwood’s marriage to Jenny Boyd, sister of George Harrison’s first wife, Pattie, was heading for divorce. And Christine McVie was having a fling with the band’s lighting director. All this was worsened by creative tensions, the temptations of their new-found wealth, and by the band’s astronomical drug and alcohol consumption.

The solution to the various relationship breakdowns, they decided, was to live together in two groups — the men sharing one flat and the two women in neighbouring ones elsewhere.

At the studio, Fleetwood would go from room to room trying to keep spirits up. When his good humour didn’t suffice, there was always cocaine — lots of it

‘In the studio, we had a ritual, in which the engineers and band members all started humming a tune — it changed over the years — which would serve as a siren’s call for cocaine, specifically the cocaine that I was invariably holding,’ writes Fleetwood.

The tune in later years was often Vangelis’s theme to Chariots Of Fire, to which the athletes run in slow motion.

‘As if in a trance, I would drop what I was doing and in slow-motion, beckon them over,’ recalls Fleetwood. In ‘homage to the film’, he would make them run in slow motion, ‘then get them on their knees and beg, before I’d administer the goods’.

In those days, they would even include a ‘thanks’ to their drug dealer on their album credits.

Rumours took a year to record, costing more than $1 million. But the album, released in 1977, stayed at Number One in the U.S. charts for 31 weeks, and has sold more than 45 million copies worldwide, producing a slew of chart-topping singles. Most of the songs were all about the band members’ break-ups.

The lesson was obvious, said the gorgeous Stevie Nicks: Fleetwood Mac created its best music when the members were suffering the worst personal crises.

The decadence — amazingly, all claimed against tax as ‘corporate expenses’ — continued on tour, Fleetwood says. The band’s ‘rider’, the requirements it laid down before each performance, was ‘extensive, detailed and exhaustive’. The band demanded 14 black limousines continually at their beck and call, while Nicks insisted her room be painted pink and have a white piano (a crane was often used to lift it through a window).

‘We were pleasantly out of control,’ muses Fleetwood. Cocaine was bought ‘in bulk’ and everyone — band and crew — would turn up each night and queue for their ‘ration’. The handing out of drugs was even listed on the band’s daily tour schedule.

Nobody consumed more than Nicks and Fleetwood. He admits that, as acting manager ‘through all of that wonderful chaos’, he would often go around bullying other people to give him any of their ration they hadn’t consumed.

The situation became even more complicated when Fleetwood and Nicks began an affair that lasted several years. They would ‘sneak away’ (which can’t have been hard given how stoned everybody else was).

When Fleetwood told Lindsey Buckingham he had taken over duties from him as the singer’s lover, he simply said: ‘Nice of you to tell me. I appreciate it.’

The sexual free-for-all took another twist when — having split from Jenny, who was looking after their two daughters in England — Fleetwood started a relationship with one of Nicks’s best friends, Sara Recor.

Fleetwood, a man who apparently didn’t know the meaning of the word ‘faithful’, admits he was ‘surprised’ that Nicks was ‘so hurt’. But at least, true to form for Fleetwood Mac, she was inspired to write a song, the hit single Sara.

Fleetwood and Sara, who eventually wed, were ostracised by their friends, including the rest of the band. That marriage lasted seven years, before, bizarrely, he remarried Jenny.

But their second union was no more successful than the first, and having divorced again, he married third wife Lynn, mother of their twin girls. You may not be surprised to learn that the couple are getting a divorce.

After all this marital chaos, Fleetwood still appears to have a lot of affection for Nicks, and even believes they were connected in another life. But she doesn’t appear to see it the same way, last year blaming cocaine for turning them into ‘nutcases’ who started an affair after they got ‘completely drunk, messed up and coked out’ at a party.

Last year she said their relationship was ‘a doomed thing and caused a lot of pain to everybody’.

Estimating that she spent $1 million on cocaine in the ten years she was addicted, she said she only kicked the habit in 1986 when a plastic surgeon warned that her nose might disintegrate. (She still has a hole bigger than a 5p piece in her septum.)

As hapless in personal finance as in love, Fleetwood says he never saved any money, and has no idea how much he earned or spent in those years. He went bankrupt in 1984, and says he can’t even remember how many times it has happened again since.

As Fleetwood acknowledges in his book, the band’s bizarre saga of drug-induced disaster started long before Nicks and Buckingham came on the scene. He admits he and his bandmates failed to see that fellow founding member, the brilliant guitarist Peter Green, had mental problems. He blames these on the vast amount of LSD Green took — as did other band members.

Fleetwood recalls one ‘trip’ during a U.S. tour. Imagining each other to be terrifying skeletons, the band sat holding hands in a circle on the floor of a New York hotel room, passing around a telephone so they could each ‘blubber’ to the man who had supplied them with the drug.

Fleetwood says Green’s behaviour ‘changed fast and drastically’. He started talking incessantly about religion and his disillusionment with the greedy, music industry. He wanted the rest of the band to donate all their profits to charity.

Green left the band in 1970 and became a recluse. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia and later threatened the band’s accountant with a gun for trying to give him royalty cheques.

He was only the first casualty of what Lindsey Buckingham has since called the ‘curse of the Fleetwood Mac guitarist’. Green’s fellow guitarist, Jeremy Spencer, the band’s other big LSD user, disappeared in 1971 in Los Angeles during the band’s U.S. tour, joining the Children of God, the sinister cult which used sex to win converts. ‘He’d been completely brainwashed,’ writes Fleetwood.

The next guitarist to come unstuck was Danny Kirwan, whose problem was heavy drinking. During 1972, just as the band was about to go on stage one night, Kirwan started ranting about a bandmate’s guitar being out of tune and then wrecked his dressing room.

He refused to play, and when his bandmates came off later and he tried to offer them tips on how to play better, his fate was sealed. Fleetwood sacked him.

Kirwan would later spend periods living rough in London.

His replacement, Bob Weston, had an affair with Fleetwood’s wife, Jenny. Weston died of a gastro-intestinal haemorrhage last year — within months, of another Mac guitarist, Bob Welch, committing suicide at 64 in his flat.

Despite all this death and decline, the five members of Fleetwood Mac from the Rumours era soldier on. Christine became the last to rejoin in January.

They have 40 tour dates lined up in the U.S. and more planned in Europe. Which, given their reckless carousel of sex and drugs, is something of a miracle.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2824346/The-rock-star-snorted-line-cocaine-7-miles-long-eye-popping-new-memoir-Fleetwood-Mac-s-leader-reveals-true-epic-scale-debauchery.html#ixzz3IRMPmObA
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

[michelej1]

[I don't have the photo for Mick in this outfit, only the newspaper description]

[click for photo]

Nov 7 2014 (Manchester Evening News (Manchester, United Kingdom)) -- ? ONE of Fleetwood Mac's most famous hits is Go Your Own Way.
So it's no surprise that the band's co-founder Mick Fleetwood lives by that rule too when it comes to his fashion choices.

Here's drummer Mick rocking a rather eclectic mix of prints on a visit to Manchester this week to promote his new autobiography Play On.

Mick, 67, donned a paisley print jacket, printed scarf, waistcoat and tie teamed with a fedora hat as he made his way along MediaCityUK.

He had earlier joined Bill Turnbull and Louise Minchin on the BBC Breakfast sofa.

To top off the look he wore a long gold pendant chain with what looked like a winged creature.

Perhaps an Albatross? Maxine Peake starred as a memorable Hamlet at. .The Royal Exchange Theatre

[Jondalar]

Is this book worth purchasing? I already have Micks last book which I did enjoy. However how much more could this book add?

[James89]

Is this book worth purchasing? I already have Micks last book which I did enjoy. However how much more could this book add?

I haven't read his first book but I can say that I think this one is fantastic. I find the early days of FM interesting to hear about and the way the book is written is fantastic with little bits of humour popping up now and then. I don't know how different it is to his first one but I say it's worth a shot anyway.

I'm settling down to read it now actually, I'm half way through. An excellent read. :)

[michelej1]

The Guardian by Ruth Huntman, November 12, 2014

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/nov/12/30-minutes-with-mick-fleetwood


Mick Fleetwood: ‘I got permission to urinate on the White House lawn’


The Fleetwood Mac kingpin on getting the old crew back together, sharing his feelings about his wife and Stevie Nicks, and his patent method for making lucky wooden testicles

Hi, Mick! Do you remember what you’ve been doing today?

We’ve just finished seven weeks of rehearsals and we’re on tour (1).

Another one of the tours you said wouldn’t happen. And you said you’d never ask Christine (McVie) to come back ...

Bingo! She’s back.

How the hell did that occur?

Good question! Not in a million years did any of us think it was a possibility. When Chris left, she left (2). Stevie (Nicks) was saying the other day that it’s like when you break up with your partner. You always remember the moment when they look at you and you just know it’s over.

You didn’t try persuading her to stay?

I realised there was no point when she held my hand, looked me in the eye and said: “Mick ... don’t ask me.” I promised I’d never mention it. Coming back was her choice. Not to sound like an old hippy, but it’s like she never left. Christine is so happy to be doing it, and it’s powerful, magical, fairytale, mythological stuff.

It’s a myth that you all hate each other, really, isn’t it? (3)

That whole “extreme fear and loathing” thing is a load of bollocks. It’s boring when I have to explain why we still want to be doing this. Some bands admit they don’t like each other, but they can sign a piece of paper and walk on stage. Nothing wrong with that, but we can’t do it. We have to have some emotional credibility to what we’re doing.

Some cynics might say you’re still touring for the money?

I don’t think so, my friend. Elton John and Eric Clapton work more than us, and they certainly don’t need the money. Have you ever thought that we actually like doing what we do?

It’s been almost a quarter of a century since your first autobiography (4) revealed the wonderful tales of excess: hotel rooms redecorated pink, smashing Rolex watches, wife-swapping and drugs. You’ve just written a second one, Play On. What else was there to reveal?

The original book was written in a very different world. I was “out there”. This is about asking “what is this creature Mick in the middle of this band?” I was able to be more constructively reflective.

You’re pretty frank about your feelings for Stevie, and there’s a whole chapter devoted to your first wife Jenny (5).

I’m not sharing anything that anyone’s not going to be comfortable with. I know Stevie’s OK with it. Jenny was hugely helpful, and it allowed her to express how she felt. At the time I had no idea she was feeling the way she was because I was so in my own head. I didn’t see her crying out. It was cathartic for me.

You certainly expressed yourself in the 70s. What’s the most outrageous thing on your rider these days?

We vaguely indulge ourselves. We have a private plane, which isn’t uncommon, and I never lift stuff. On stage I’m like some weird racehorse running the Derby, and I must be in good shape.

Is the plane customised?

That’s one thing we never did. I wouldn’t mind having a Fleetwood Mac decal on the plane. I’ll say, “This journalist from the Guardian gave me the idea.”

Let’s talk about your legendary wooden balls (6).

The originals are deceased.

And the ones featured on the Rumours album cover?

They’re retired, but they always hang in my dressing room in what I call my mojo bag.

So where do your current pair come from. Do you have a personal wooden bollock-maker?

The ones I wear on stage now are about 18 years old and custom-made by me.

Talk us through the process.

I get two wooden lavatory balls, then I get a leather thong and attach them with a little hook. I rub them in the earth, then comes a ritual where they end up getting buried and resurrected. If ever I’m near the sea, I take them swimming …

OK ... well I have to move on because we’ve only got 30 minutes …

Well you asked, so I’m telling you. There’s always one ball lower than the other, right? That’s skilfully measured out by me before hanging them on the thong. And I rub them in linseed oil, which not only smells great but feeds the wood. How’s that for an explanation?

Full! Bet you had some explaining to do after relieving yourself on the White House lawn, feet away from your friends the Clintons (7).

Please don’t make it sound like I’m prone to weeing on people’s lawns! I was dying to pee and I didn’t have time to go back to the house before we appeared.

The White House doesn’t have a portable loo?

I was surprised, too. I was saying to my manager: “What the **** am I going to do?” I was dressed like Mr Rumours, in knickerbockers, with my wooden balls hanging out. The security guys must have heard because suddenly this fella with an earpiece said something like “permission granted to urinate on the lawn”. One of our musicians took a picture of me doing it.

I don’t suppose we could borrow that picture?

Yeah, right. Actually, I should have put it in the book. I don’t think Bill and Hillary knew about it, but they’d forgive me.

What’s the most outrageous rumour that you’ve ever read about yourself?

That over the years, the amount of cocaine I’d used stretched to the moon. It’s funny now, but for a while it got out of control. One article said I’d spent $60m on it. As if. I’ve never earned that much in my life.

And finally … the rumour that the Mac will be playing Glastonbury in 2015?

Not happening.

• Play On: Now, Then and Fleetwood Mac is out now

Footnotes

(1) The On with the Show tour reunites the classic lineup of Mick, Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham and John and Christine McVie.

(2) A fear of flying was a big factor in Christine’s decision to leave in 1998. She’s since overcome it with therapy.

(3) During the recording of Rumours, Lindsey’s relationship with Stevie was crumbling, Mick was divorcing his wife and embarking on an affair with Stevie, and John and Christine were divorcing.

(4) My Life and Adventures in Fleetwood Mac.

(5) In the book Mick refers to Stevie as his “unfulfilled love”. He married and divorced his first wife Jenny twice in the 70s. Her sister Patti was married to George Harrison.

(6) Wooden balls from a toilet chain Mick had stolen from a club. They’re his lucky charm.

(7) The Clintons are fans, and Hillary asked them to play as a surprise at Bill’s leaving party.

[michelej1]

Review: Return of the Mac

THE father of the Mac Mick Fleetwood tells our reporter how his bohemian childhood still inspires him and the band

http://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/music/536890/Mick-Fleetwood-play-on-autobiography-Fleetwood-Mac-band

By: Clair Woodward Published: Tue, November 18, 2014, The Express

Mick Fleetwood and I are taking tea in a stylish hotel overlooking London's Hyde Park. We are talking about his father Mike, who died in 1978 aged 62. Suddenly, Mick spots something out of the window.

"See the horses?" he says, looking out of the window and leaping out of his chair to point them out to me.

"It's so cool, talking about Daddy and there he is!" Knowing the somewhat colourful background of Fleetwood and his eponymous band (past issues with cocaine and alcohol, for example), you could be forgiven for thinking the drummer had flipped.

But no. What we are looking at is the Household Cavalry crossing the park in the autumn sunshine, breastplates gleaming.

"He was a Royal Horse Guard and he used to make that same ride. Mummy (his mother Biddy, now 97) used to sit in the building that's now the Mandarin Oriental Hotel over there when she was a young woman," he points, "and she watched those men on the horses crossing the park and she ended up being with my dad. So cool."

Fleetwood, now 67, is obviously still in awe of his late father, who ended up buying himself out of the Army, and joining the RAF for the duration of the Second World War. The pair were remarkably close; certainly closer than you would usually expect an upright Air Force man and his academically ungifted musician son to be, and it is to Mike's sense of leadership and understanding of personality that Mick attributes the fact that he has been the father figure of his band Fleetwood Mac through 47 years of personnel changes, musical differences, illnesses and romances.

Throughout it all, as well as keeping time for the supergroup, he has kept the band together. He has now written a second autobiography, Play On, about his life. This is still entwined with the Mac, who are currently on a world tour coming to Britain in May, rejoined by songwriter and keyboard player Christine McVie after a break from the band of a mere 16 years.

Mike and Biddy already had two daughters when Mick came along, and were not the 1950s parents you would expect. "None of us had conventional careers," remembers Mick. "My parents knew that none of us were destined for cookie-cutter jobs. They already had a blueprint with Sally (who became a sculptor and clothes designer) and they sent her off to art school. Then Susan wanted to be an actress and then they had this little lad who wasn't getting anything from school, so they let me go off and live in London with Sally and pursue a music career."

Mike Fleetwood was the sort of chap they do not make any more; a self-made man from Liverpool who travelled to Germany before the war, witnessing gatherings that would see Adolf Hitler rise to power; becoming a soldier and then an airman and then, before entering the world of Civvy Street and bringing up a family, pursuing a career as a writer.

"Dad was not all the huff and puff of the RAF; there was this dreamy, poetic thing there for sure. It was the perfect template for me. He had an attitude of 'as long as something gets done, it doesn't matter who gets the kudos. That serves no purpose other than to say me, me, me'."

Fleetwood Mac are arguably one of the most interesting mega-bands. From a blues outfit at the start, with John McVie still in the band which bears his and Mick's names, Bob Brunning and the extraordinary guitarist Peter Green, the band has gone through several incarnations until arriving at the current, classic line up of Fleetwood, McVie, Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie.

The band are back together again for a new album and tour, and Fleetwood is clearly delighted. He draws a large circle in the air, and says: "It is, as I say on stage, the completing of a circle. Christine returning to the band; well, that was a door that was never closed, and that has always been the better choice for me.

"I don't write people off and I would much rather leave the door open than push people away, no matter what has happened. I would rather prefer to work at being liked than to be cynically truthful with people all the time and closing the door in their face."

I'm amazed when Fleetwood says that he has never really thought about the band as one where men and women are on an equal footing as performers and songwriters; one of what I think is the band's strengths. "I've never been that Superman creature, all huff and puff, and making a delineation between us. My parents and my sisters were the perfect template of being in touch with your feminine side. And it's fun."

Being Mick Fleetwood, it has to be said, does look like more fun than several barrelfuls of monkeys, despite the aforementioned brushes with substances that were doing him no good, and a bankruptcy. Now living on the Hawaiian island of Maui, where his mum Biddy also lives, he exudes rangy elegance, with a dress sense also influenced by his father.

“He always loved clothes; the military makes you learn to turn out, and at my boarding school you learned to turn out. If you don’t spit and polish your shoes, or press your shorts at night under the mattress, you’d be in trouble.”

Today, he looks every tall, slim, tanned, Bohemian rock star dresser, in white skinny jeans, a mango-coloured shirt worn under a buttery-soft light brown suede waistcoat. Fleetwood admits that he loves shopping, but it wasn’t so easy as a teenager, despite living in cool Notting Hill.

‘Being gangly and tall and having no money was a huge problem, so when I came to London, I started dressing myself like so many others, from secondhand stores, with Liberty fabric jackets, jeans, all that kind of stuff that actually fit. I loathed shirt sleeves as they were always too short; I ended up looking like David Byrne from Talking Heads in Stop Making Sense!”

Being a tall teenager has been a bizarre help in Fleetwood’s showbiz career. “Being six foot six, thin as a beanpole, probably looking quite odd –‘Is that a boy or a girl?’,” he mimics, in the way our parents baffled generation did. “And you’re walking around Notting Hill Gate in blue jeans, with a pair of wooden balls hanging from your belt and hair down to your bottom, you get used to being looked at for being different.”

• To order Play On by Mick Fleetwood and Anthony Bozza (Hodder & Stoughton), £20, call the

[michelej1]

In the pictures, you can see that Mick, with his long face and crooked smile, looks so much like his Dad. With his father's hair slicked back, you can just imagine that he is also sporting an unseen ponytail, like his boy.

Michele

[Lee]

& it's not that I'm a slow reader, it just that I'm reading other stuff & doing housework, too. Just can't sit myself down to read. :nod:

I'm just amazed that he can play as well as he can while being dyslexic & that he just knew @ an early age, well, this is what I want to do with my life. And his parents really supported him & helped him out. Some parents don't do that.

I hope I can finish this book soon.

Lee :)

[FuzzyPlum]

In the pictures, you can see that Mick, with his long face and crooked smile, looks so much like his Dad.


There's a definite Fleetwood nose!



And his parents really supported him & helped him out. Some parents don't do that.



They sound really cool. A cool family all round.

[poetgal]

I really enjoyed the book. I was a bit unclear about the trouble with his relationship with Sara. I felt like he was somewhat vague on the exact reasons why they no longer talk. He spoke about her blaming him for addiction issues, but there were parts that seemed a bit unclear- like something was missing from the story. Maybe it's just me?

[lovethemac1]

she's VERY subtle isn't she :eek::thumbsup:
imagine what she would have worn to Bucky and Kristen's wedding ... :lol:

[/B]


white dress, long train, several small children carrying the train, big hat, …?:lol:

Hahahaha, omg, I can't stop laughing. These comments were hilarious.:]:lol::]:lol:

[BombaySapphire3]

After reading this one I can really see why Mick has gone bankrupt multiple times..He was even bamboozled by the infamous French guy that passed himself off as a Rockefeller and was the inspiration for the film "Catch me if You Can"..Even with the millions Fleetwood Mac are now raking in with their latest oldies jukebox tour I would not be shocked if some years down the line that Mick will still die a pauper.:lol:

[Macfanforever]

I dont know why celebs get married.Its always a disaster at the end.
Kids are always the victims at the end.I was one of them.

[michelej1]

Boston Globe Gift Guide By James Reed and Sarah RodmanGlobe Staff November 27, 2014

http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/music/2014/11/27/holiday-gift-guide-books/FCYN2gzk0r8hg82NCXk9KI/story.html


Mick Fleetwood, “Play On” The towering, gleefully maniacal man who has kept the beat for the oft-shifted lineup of Fleetwood Mac since its inception details how he got the beat, the times he lost it, and the rumors and truths behind one of the most fractious, record-shatteringly triumphant groups in rock history. (S.R.)

[michelej1]

Houston Press New Books Explore Fleetwood Mac's Vast Appetites and Sam Graham's book

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/rocks/2014/12/two_new_fleetwood_mac_books_tr.php?page=2

By Bob Ruggiero Wed., Dec. 3 2014 at 4:00 AM

Mick Fleetwood used to love cocaine. I mean, love cocaine. At one point, the mathematician in him figured that if he added up all the white powder he'd sent up his nose over 20 years, the "King of Toot's" line would stretch for seven miles.

As the band's leader, he also became the drug holder, overseeing distribution of the specially-prepared packets to band members and crew which were given out on tour like food per-diem money.


And when someone began humming the theme to Chariots of Fire in the '80s, it meant that willing participants would run to Fleetwood -- in slow motion, just like the movie -- to pick up their pick-me-up. They would also have to bow to the 6' 6" skin-thumper.

It's just one of the many good ol' fashioned sex, drugs and rock-and-roll revelations in the drummer/leader of Fleetwood Mac's new memoir, Play On.

It amplifies and updates his life and musical story since his last autobiography, 1990's Fleetwood. Ensuing changes in the Rock Star Memoir in the past nearly 25 years have likely also given the author a freer hand with memories and anecdotes he kept to himself the first go around.

Fleetwood traces the band's story from its beginnings as straight English blues disciples under the guidance of singer/guitarist Peter Green, to the more pop/rock-oriented, massive worldwide success with Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, to the ensuing years of shifting lineups.

And then full circle to 2014, which finds the "classic five" with Christine McVie back on board, touring the country (the band stops at Houston's Toyota Center next Monday) and set to release a new album in the spring.

Fleetwood offers a wise-eye view of his fellow bandmates as (along with bassist John McVie) the group's only constant members, surviving in spite of the madness. Remember, this was a group that lost their three main singer/guitarists -- Green, Jeremy Spencer and Danny Kirwan -- to mental illness, cult religion and alcohol in successive order.

That they would come back bigger than ever -- music domination level, really -- with two unknown California kids added to the lineup would seem fantastical on paper. And while the band's personal and romantic relationships -- both within the lineup and surrounding family, crew, and friends -- are well-documented (and not just on the Rumours album), Fleetwood still throws in a few surprises.

Like how his often-told "affair" with Nicks was actually a full blown three-year secret, deep love-and-soulmate relationship (at least to him). And one that he doesn't seem quite over himself yet. Still, he doesn't spare himself criticism, albeit not as much as he probably should. As in the hypocrisy of firing the band's then-guitarist, Bob Weston, for having an affair with his wife, Jennie Boyd, herself the sister of George Harrison/Eric Clapton muse Pattie Boyd.

All while he himself was drugging and drinking himself into non family-man stupors and sneaking around with a succession of women including Nicks and then her best friend, Sara (subject of the Mac song of the same name). Ah, the tangled, tangled web of flesh...

Early in the narrative, Mick Fleetwood notes that the book's title -- also the name of a Mac album, based on a quote from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night -- has been his unwavering clarion call for nearly 50 years of the band's existence. And with the book's story after story, there's plenty of good stuff here; think Fleetwood's faulty LSD-fueled driving directions for not getting busted at a Grateful Dead party and then deported.

For an additional take on Fleetwood Mac, there is former Record World Assistant Editor Sam Graham's eBook, Before the Beginning: A Personal and Opinionated History of Fleetwood Mac.

The title is somewhat misleading, as it is largely a sort of postmortem on Graham's brief time with the band as a traveling reporter on the Rumours tour and as he gathered interviews for the 1978 (long out-of-print) book Fleetwood Mac: The Authorized History.

There are really no recording insights or road tales, save one incident when Stevie Nicks accidentally falls into Graham's lap during a plane ride -- surely the epitome of a memorable incident, at least for a reporter. And much of the book actually traces the band's history before Rumours.

What makes the eBook interesting, though, are the more than 30 audio-interview clips rescued from Graham's long-moldering cassette tapes. The info he elicits from Buckingham, Nicks, Fleetwood and Christine McVie at the near-cusp of their fame (and hearing their actual voices) are all fascinating, especially McVie's.

Graham seems just as interested in charting the band's earlier history, and audio segments also include comments from former Mac members Jeremy Spencer, Bob Welch and early producer Mike Vernon.

Other interactive elements include Graham's handwritten notes from a talk with Mac founding father Peter Green (his cassette recorder was on the blink), as well as former manager Clifford Davis, who put a completely fake lineup of the band on tour during a legal and musical downtime for the band.

[Lee]

I really enjoyed the book. I was a bit unclear about the trouble with his relationship with Sara. I felt like he was somewhat vague on the exact reasons why they no longer talk. He spoke about her blaming him for addiction issues, but there were parts that seemed a bit unclear- like something was missing from the story. Maybe it's just me?

I finally finished it. I'm just looking through the pictures now. I'm with you; I enjoyed the book, too. I knew some of the history, bits & pieces here & there, but I didn't know the whole story. This explains a lot to me. I, too, don't understand why Sara & Mick don't speak to each other. He seems friendly with his other ex-wives, but maybe that is because he has kids with the other two.

I found the story of his affair with Stevie interesting, how long it went on, etc. Some of her lyrics in her songs, to me anyway, I can't think of them right now, but some seems to describe her relationship with Mick when I thought they might have been about Lindsey at the time. He describes his relationship with her now as a brother/sister unromantic relationship, but thinks if it went on, if he would have not went back to Jenny, it may have been something more.

I found his early drumming career interesting as well. And how the band was formed, how they got their name, etc.

A good book, I would recommend it. It was well put together & in order unlike some rock stars books (Steven Tyler).

Lee :)

[michelej1]

The Hollywood Reporter Top Ten Music Books of 2014

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/earshot/best-2014-top-10-music-760866

7. Play On: Now, Then & Fleetwood Mac, by Mick Fleetwood & Anthony Bozza. Bozza, who made his name as the first major writer on Eminem and co-wrote Slash's memoir, helps Fleetwood tell the inside story of his relationships and work with Christine McVie, Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks and President Clinton.