Chris mentioned in new book?
 

Has anyone bought the new Carol Ann Harris book about Lindsey/Fleetwood Mac? If anyone has, is Chris mentioned? Are John & Mick mentioned? I'd like to know if it's worth buying?:laugh:

there's been some discussion on the Lindsey and Stevie boards but unsurprisingly they're not discussing Christine!

I've got it on order from Amazon (it's not out here until the end of the month)

This is the only bit I could find

"I left out the description of Christine. She seems like someone you'd really want to meet:
"Christine was a guys' girl, a good sport- think Katherine Hepburn's elegance and boyish charm, or Hilary Swank in Million Dollar Baby. She was earthy and tough, despite the pure voice and the poignant love songs she wrote. She was the band mother, as Stevie was the wayward band child." (introduction, page xi)"

I'm sure there are other parts of the book where she is mentioned but I'll just have to wait and see

Gail

^^^

A coincindence that a week or two ago La Nicks referred to CM as the band's mother?

aleuzzi has asked on the Stevie board if there are any Chris references and someone has said that Songbird and Oh Daddy were written about Curry Grant and only later did she change their meanings to fit in with what the fans were thinking.

And there is some reference to Christine's "Granny Knickers" which hopefully someone is going to elaborate on later. The mind boggles!

Thanks aleuzzi

Gail

There are quite a few Christine weaved throughout the book, and a lot of references to Dennis Wilson, as Sara Fleetwood, Carol Ann Harris and Dennis hung out together since they weren't "in" the band. I'll include one part, that I thought was very funny:

Storms: My Life with Lindsey Buckingham and Fleetwood Mac by Carol Ann Harris (2007, Introduction, XI):


John McVie was the straight-faced, badly dressed joker, with a brilliantly dry wit, never sober, the big, crazy brother you never had, while Christine could out-drink any man but had never learned to do girly things or dress up like a homecoming queen. Once, driving to a band photo shoot with Richard Avedon, one of the world's most famous photographers, she was pulled over by the NYPD, who suspected they'd seen her snorting coke as she drove. Fortunately she snorted the entire stash, so there was no proof. But to her humiliation and fury she'd been strip-searched while wearing the large graying pair of knickers we all keep in the bottom of our lingerie drawer. "I was saving my new pink silk ones for the shoot!" she screamed at us all, still raging, when she arrived. "I was wearing my usuals!"

"Oh my God, Chris, not the cotton English granny knickers?" Stevie gasped. Big knickers weren't Stevie's style. From a wealthy family, she'd grown up in silk.

Christine nodded and burst into tears.

John Courage leapt to his feet, shaking his fist. "I'll have their badges!" he promised.

John Courage to the rescue. :laugh: Some of this stuff is a real hoot. Some of the book is disturbing. There is a bit from Dennis Wilson's Charlie Manson time. So yes, there are references to Christine throughout the book, but it's not focused on Christine per se. There's funny references to all the members of the band from time to time.

Oh dear poor Christine. We all have big grey knickers that aren't for public viewing.

Mind you I have to say if she hadn't been snorting coke when driving none of this would have happened. A salutory lesson.

Gail

PS I had a somwhat similar experience once when I arrived at a small Spanish airport years ago. A security man made me open my case which was really fully so when I eventually got the damn thing open a pair of my (old grey) knickers flirted out of the case and onto the floor. I was mortified!

I ordered it to make my amazon order larger than 30 bucks for free shipping.... It will be part of my summer reading....

That was very gallant of him.

I wonder if he had a "thing" for Christine?

Gail

Anyway what's wrong with good sensible, cotton, English Granny knickers?

Do americans actually call them knickers?

Gail

Actually, I was just about to ask what knickers were, then I reread the article again and figured it out.... :eek:

I believe "knickers," as Americans know them, are short, knee-length pants that young guys used to wear in the early decades of the 20th century. Correct me if I'm wrong, though....

Andrea :) (who definitely grew up on the wrong side of the pond!)

OK, I just ordered my copy on Amazon. The reviews on Amazon only mentioned Lindsey & Stevie. I wanted to make sure Chris was in the book. I also had to get it at least for that knickers story.:laugh:

I'm shocked that Chris would be doing cocaine while driving.

I have to say that shocked me too. Of all the stupid brainless things to do. She might have killed herself or worse killed someone else.

Although she must have been very embarassed there is part of me that thinks served her damn well right.

Still it is reassuring to know that she was wearing "granny knickers" :laugh:

Gail

Knickers is short for knickerbockers which as you say were knee length trousers.

The word was then used to describe underwear. Premdominently women's but can also be use for men's.

They spawned the classic english expression "don't get your knickers in a twist" meaning don't get upset or angry or agitated

It's not a word I can picture Stevie using though.

Gail

I was thinking the same thing too.:nod: And, now her underwear is in a book some 30 years later.:laugh:

I wouldn't consider anything in this book to be reliable information. Doesn't the author have an axe to grind? And she wants to sell copies, so the more scandalous the book is, the better. On the other hand, it might be a mindless fun read; I'll consider buying it when the price for a used copy on Amazon drops to about a dollar. (I suspect that's about what the book is worth.)

My library doesn't even have it (I just checked their on-line catalogue), which I suspect means it's pretty much utter trash.

In the US, we say "don't get your panties in a bunch."

This is a part early in the book where Lindsey takes Carol Ann to a Post Rumors party. (FYI Stevie is a no show.) Apparently, Chris starts asking Carol Ann all sorts of questions about her background, what she does now, etc. etc. Carol Ann says that she and her live-in boyfriend make bootlegs of concerts. They sneak in a mike and a tape recorder and then later produce colored vinyl LP's for sale.

Chris asks her if she is planning to pirate Rumors and Carol Ann bleaches and says something like "OH NO! I would never do that."

Then our little Carol Ann has passed "the test" and the band decides she is alright and can become a member of the inner circle. (Lindsey is gushing and so proud of his "little girl.")

BTW...Chris was the member - delegated to interrogate little Carol Ann, who is viewed as a very innocent, delicate, child. There are many apologies about "sorry to put you through that but we HAD to know, etc. etc."

Then the party is descibed and Carol Ann says people end up having to use the bathroom a lot -- quickly and frequently, even while they are still talking (cocaine reference) and she can't quite figure out why.

Yes, it seems to get humorous as little innocent Carol Ann tells her story, like she is the little lamb and the rest are wolves in sheep's clothing. Only thing is that she is so naive', I can't tell if she is serious or just plain "stahoopid".

Solidarity, Gail! :D

Well, she has to sell books, right? And the only way to tell her story without appearing to be a part of the (read) "immoral" mayhem is to position herself as fly-on-the-wall/ fish-out-of-water. I'm sure, however, that she was just dying to be part of the very inner circle that she critiques with supposed incredulity.

That said, much of the information is probably grounded in some level of fact. I don't want to imagine that Chris was snorting while driving, but the truth is I've known many people who have done dumber things than that while behind the wheel. And Stevie's dog who likes to snort coke? Again: I've known people to get their dogs high--as appalling as that might be.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

I like that.

Gail

Stevie's dog snorted coke?:shocked: That's horrible. This book sounds like it might even be a bit trashier than Mick's book.:laugh:

I also agree that much of this book & Mick's book are probably grounded in fact. Both Bob Welch & John McVie have said that Mick's book was pretty accurate. That's good enough for me.

If that is true about the dog that's appalling.

I suppose it was only a matter of time before a really trashy book came out about them. It's a matter of where you place the emphasis - has she just concentrated on the wild stuff and left out normality. Was there any normality?

I'm quite looking forward to it coming at the end of the month but by then I may know all there is to know :laugh:

Gail

I have to wait until at least August, maybe even later to get my copy from Amazon. I ordered it with a pre-ordered Simon & Garfunkel CD & I got free shipping, so both my CD & the book will be shipped together. It says on Amazon that there are 400 pages in the book. I doubt we'll know everything in the book before we get our copies.:D

Oh that's OK then.

I expect there will be things about Christine in the book which don't get mentioned because most of the discussions are centering around Stevie and Lindsey

Gail

(Note -- I am a former English teacher, so I have my own biases.)

When Chris is mentioned in the book, she ususally has a drink in one and and a cigarette in the other. The drink of choice is always vodka.

The image is, that she is a hard drinking, swearing, maculine individual and basically "nobody's gonna mess with Chris." She is kind and ocassionally comes up to Carol Ann and puts a reassuring hand on her shoulder when Carol Ann feels like a fish out of water, (amongst the press & Warner Execs. etc.) So, she is also seen as the mother who keeps an eye out. Julie Ruebens (later McVie?) is the one that Carol bonds with.

Chris also doesn't know how to dress and has to learn the finesse of wearing attractive clothing, because it doesn't come natural to her. She is more "one of the guys". If there is something hard or requiring an iron fist approach, they have Chris do it, and Mick and John are in the background looking wimpy.

The reader gets a sense that part of this is the British vs. American culture and Carol Ann generally sides with the American side. There does seem to be a lot of tension due to the stoic - no feelings allowed - British approach, whereas the Americans are more "touchy feely" etc.

Last night while reading, it occurred to me that this book resembles a Shakespearean play....Lindsey is the misunderstood Hamlet, John and Chris are the supporting characters in the background, John is talkative, warm and inclusive, Mick is a sexual buffoon, a kind of earthy character, and Stevie is the comic relief. Stevie....well...if for no other reason, you gotta buy the book for Stevie. The descriptions of her and her girlfans, are like the wtiches in MacBeth...they often slink into the shadows of the room. Stevie comes on stage and you bust up laughing. Part of this are the snide remarks made by the author about how Stevie acts, dresses and the things she says. She basically is the brunt of the author's jokes and brings it on herself. (Not being a great Stevie fan, I found it comical. Don't get me wrong, I am a Stevie fan, but a mild one.)

The author really isn't subjective, unless it is the passages about John, Christine , Mick and the rest of the inner circle. If she talks about herself, Lindsey or Stevie, the tone changes and takes an immature bias. She is not the causal observer, no, she gets in the dirt and kicks up gravel. I enjoy the book because of that fact...it gets humorous. I also enjoy the book because if you can read between the lines and focus on the other people *not the love triangle* it is interesting. I just wish there were more passages about the other people.

Alas, with that being said, I got bored with the book last night...for me it is hard to read...because I keep getting this Disney heroine cartoon in my mind....so .... I skipped and read the last chapter to see if I will stay with this thing. I was saddened. The tone and voice of the writer is much different, almost like someone else is writing it. Because of this change I wil continue reading it.

Ooops one more...I forgot to mention....Carol Ann is Ophelia to Lindsey's Hamlet... (JMHO)

Well that sounds about right.

Most of the older pictures you see of Christine she does have a drink in one hand and a cigarette in the other. Although I always thought the drink was wine.

Gail

All of that sounds right. Chris has described herself as having a mouth like a sewer:D & being "one of the guys", since she was always working with men. She's also said that she felt most comfortable in jeans, so the part about not knowing how to dress is right too.

I'm not so sure about this "not knowing how to dress" business.

what's right or wrong about the way people dress? Surely it's a matter of personal choice?

I think she might have been a bit insecure about it because didn't she once go shopping with an ex of Dennis Wilson's because he didn't like the way she dressed? I'd have told him to sod off if he'd said that to me

Gail

I was referring to the Dennis Wilson episode when I meant not knowing how to dress. That and another article from back in the late 1960's when she said she didn't like to wear dresses & preferred dressing like the other "blokes" in Chicken Shack. She certainly knows how to dress now. Check out all those fantastic Tusk & Tango pictures of her.

I think at that time she "didn't know how to dress" to please that pratt Dennis Wilson. When she was with Chicken Shack she was really one of the blokes and so jeans were appropriate.

Nowadays she still doesn't dress like a "Homecoming Queen". What exactly is a Homecoming Queen?

Gail

I think she dresses just fine now, very age appropriate.

Here's the Wikipedia entry for "homecoming". Don't you have something like this in the U.K.?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homecoming_queen

Thanks for that I've always wondered what it was.

No we don't have anything like that in the UK

Somehow I can't see Christine as a homecoming queen.

Gail

Edit: Actually we do have something slightly similar. We have May Queens who take part in parades on May Day but you don't see it so often these days

Does anyone know which photos came from the Richard Avedon shoot? Just curious, given the context of the story.

Yes that would be interesting to know. Not least so that we could speculate as what underwear Ms McVie eventually wore :lol:

Gail

I believe it's from this photoshoot, shot by Richard Avedon. This picture was in a 1979 issue of Rolling Stone. Now we know what underwear Chris was wearing in this picture.:laugh:

http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/9757/cmavedonoo8.jpg

Yes she probably went with the pink silk - at least then she would feel better after the naughty policemen outed her as wearing granny knickers. Nothing wrong with sensible BIG knickers. Not much good if you're out on the pull (trying to pick someone up or get picked up) but very comfy.

Gail

Do you have a file for the entire photo you could share? It would be awesome.

i love when chris looks so good!!!

There are several debates raging on the Stevie and Lindsey boards on this site and others. As Lindsey is obviously the main topic in the book and Stevie comes into it a lot they are feeling a bit defensive about how their heroes are portrayed. Whereas we are a bit more detached from it and spend our time discussing Christine's knickers. :laugh:

I wonder how we would feel if Eddy Quintela wrote a similar book dishing the dirt? Would we buy it?

I've a feeling this would never happen because I reckon (although I have absolutely no way of knowing this) that part of his "settlement" was to keep quiet.

What does everyone else think?

Gail