1993 press conference
 

Wasn't sure exactly where to put this, so am plopping it here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Lc7hE9TIr0

1993 presser at the Virgin Megastore with Lindsey, Christine, John and Mick just a week or so before the inaugural performance for Clinton. They are also promoting the boxed set. They claim Stevie is not there because she's under the weather.

When asked Chris says she's honored Clinton picked her song, while Mick says "She's a Republican!" He says he would have voted for Clinton if he were eligible to vote in the US. Chris actually says she would have as well. John says he DID vote as he does have US citizenship, but doesn't reveal who he voted for. Lindsey says he also voted but doesn't really say who for.

Interesting to hear Christine talk several times about her desire to continue her pursuit of a solo career, and how she's already made it known to the band she really wasn't keen to do any more big tours with the band.

Lindsey gets asked about the difference in sales between his solo work and FM, and says that's not really the goal for the solo work. He also gets asked about Mick's book and with Chris watching with interest Lindsey says people have to do what they have to do, and while some of it may not have been what he would have written about, and that he addressed some in one of his songs, but ultimately it is what it is and that there are no hard feelings with Mick and in fact they've been hanging out together in the studio. At one point while LB is answering Chris says something to John about "one is...(something) and one is accurate" but not sure just what she's referring to.

LB says he left after an album but before a tour thinking that would be easiest for the others i.e., to find players to join on the road and then be able to take that new lineup into the studio later. He saw the Clinton gig as a way to get a sort of "closure" they didn't get when he left.

She also says something about starting a new Fleetwood Mac album in April.

John as far as I know voted Republican the other three that could vote here mostly Democrat with Lindsey being the farthest to the left.

Is Lindsey the only one who has played Democrat Party fundraisers?

When John said he voted 'for one of 'em...' , he definitely voted republican lol. he was not a fan of clinton.

and yes, chris made some joke about someone writing a book that's accurate, which made john laugh, but there was some awkward tension at the other end of the table because Lindsey had just said, 'I think Mick's book was enough for all of us, for awhile.' mick's guilty expression is kind of funny.:p

I like how John firmly gives his run down of his plans for the 1st quarter of the year. and how his face completely softens when chris pushes him, 'and what are you doing after *that*, John?' argh so adorable.

--Lis

I was actually most intrigued by Christine's statement about wanting to pursue solo work and that she'd let the band know she wasn't keen on any more big tours.

Interesting because when she did the 1984? solo album she said in some interviews that she kind of did it because it was sort of expected, since the other two had done solo albums....and that she really didn't seek to be a 'front person'

Also, if she was not keen on any more big Mac tours, had her fear of flying started? If so, how was she thinking she'd promote even a solo album??

Wasn't it only a handful of cities, and didn't sell very well? Jbrowns saw her in... Cleveland?

Looking back it sounds intriguing but not really. Chris has made this statement so many times and nothing happened. In 1984 after her solo album she said it was so fun she was making another one with cover songs. In 1987 in that Tango interview she said she was going to make another one after Tango. During the Dance interview she said she still had a solo album to make. And yes in this interview she says the same.
She always said it but unfortunately it never happened again till 2004.
Her 1984 solo tour dates were fairly extensive for a small tour. Many dates did not sell well. When I saw her the paper said there were only around 500 people in attendance. But no dates were ever cancelled. I applaud Chris or her management or tour promoter who kept it going despite its less than stellar reception. It rolled on by tour bus across the entire USA. A few years ago I posted here a review of Chris's show from 1984. The music reviewer said despite the low attendance it was one of the best concerts that came to Pittsburgh the entire 1984 year.

But did he vote Republican in 2016? THAT, as they say, would be a horse of a very different color.

Exactly, that's what distinguishes a Republican like John and a Republican like Rick Vito/James Woods

The FM men were all searching and fighting for a Madge.

Rick Vito is a Republican?

I think someone posted here that Rick says Mick never invites him to play anymore because of his politics which are on the far right. I dont follow Rick but I think that has been brought up here many times over the years.

Possibly as a solo. But Lindsey, Mick, and Stevie played a couple of Democratic Party fundraisers for individual initiatives, including Proposition U and Proposition 65, plus the Sanctuary Movement.

Fleetwood Mac played a couple of fundraisers for a Democratic senator in the late 1970s. Apparently, this dude helped a few of them get green cards or permanent residency (?) Birch Bayh was his name.

He lost his seat to Dan Quayle.

The Tusk?(might have been Mirage, but I think it was Tusk- I'm too lazy to dig out the stub)tour stop in Indy was a benefit for Senator Birch Bayh.

WTF?! That is such sad news.

I don’t know anything about that, but Rick was invited to perform at the Oeter Green tribute concert.

I’d like to think that political differences alone weren’t enough to come between them. I’ve always thought there was more to why Rick left Fleetwood Mac, and I doubt it had anything to do with politics.

I saw her in Boston and it was a pretty decent showing. I'll have to check my scrapbooks and see if I can pull the review (I used to be good about cutting them out of the newspaper the next day.... ah the good old days)

Someone will have to chime in because I read that here. I dont follow Rick and dont know or care his politics. But around the Lindsey firing I cant remember if that is when someone said Rick said or posted something he was shunned by Mick because of his politics. This was right around 2017/2018 when the political divide was really strong.

Anyone else remember several postings about that here?

I'd think more of a Trumper than a Republican. His social media in 2020 had resharing of not nice tweets about the B.L.M. Movement written by James Woods.

I was curious and went to his Twitter page. Retweeting some Fox News stuff which does not necessarily mean anything but thanks for pointing out it was not just me that remembered his Trumpy statements that were posted about here.

I'm no fan of Mick as a person. He seems to be a bit of a gypsy grifter but if he did distance himself from Rick because of Trump that I can understand. It really is a bridge too far.

mm. good question. i don't know if he would have been a fan of trump...but he didn't care for either of the clintons. i do know his daughter and her husband are most definitely democrats!!

--Lis

During the pandemic, Mick recut “These Strange Times” with Bekka and Rick in Hawaii. Bekka, I believe, is connected to higher ups in the Nashville Democratic Party. However, the whole point seemed to be healing and standing together.

I could be wrong, but Rick doesn’t seem the type who would have bought in the Fleetwood Mac scene. He had aspirations to be a frontman and Fleetwood Mac was a gig to elevate his profile and be seen as something beyond just a sideman.

In retrospect, I think Todd Sharp might have been the better fit. Rick is the better guitarist and singer and his best songs are better, but Todd is a more consistent writer, more of a team player/collaborator, was well steeped into the Fleetwood Mac world, and had less aspirations to be a frontman. I could see the band being much more of a collaborative with Todd that wouldn’t have fractured the way they did at the end of 1990 and certainly wouldn’t have necessitated Dave Mason joining the band.

Especially since Rick is an avid blues fan. Blues, as Danny Kirwan said so truthfully said in his last interview with Jet Clemins, is a black man’s (and woman’s) music. White players of this deeply-felt tradition must enter from another angle. Kirwan talked of cleverness. There’s no question Fleetwood and the McVies had genuine respect and love for this music—and part of that is the recognition of its origins in the joys and sufferings of black persons in America. So, for whatever reason Mick may have shunned Rick after those BLM comments, I say good. Anyone who identifies as a lover and player of blues needs to recognize what that means in a broader cultural context.

I don't know why Rick would promote anything James Woods says.:distress:

So yea, that 1993 interview was something!

You mean you don’t want to discuss Rick Vito’s politics anymore? :laugh:

Rick is a really nice, humble guy(I've met him at blues gigs he's played) and an awesome guitar player. I couldn't care less who he votes for, because that's his right.

If you cancel him, you've got to cancel John!

I normally would agree--but if you profess allegiance to the blues, there needs to be some awareness of its roots in black culture and black lives.

Exactly..the last time I heard it wasn't Bing Crosby or Pat Boone that went down to the crossroads.

They did but they got lost.

I'd rather listen to Stevie play keyboards.

What about. Daniel Boone?

He didn't make it to the crossroads either but I did visit a cave he once slept in in southeastern Ohio.

:eek: :lol: :laugh:

Caves of Altamira :thumbsup:

This press con is a highly uncomfortable thing to watch for me. Everyone is on edge. One of them didn’t even show up — the one who called the others to say that it was important for the band to do the inaugural. All these guys are trying to assert their individuality, even independence, in a way. Nobody is talking about the collective. From start to finish, it’s an ad hoc exercise in passive-aggressiveness. Can’t help thinking that Fleetwood Mac is metaphorically dead by this point.