[Boots]

Apologies FM LEDGIES! This turned into a long one....abandon ship if you wish...

I'm getting a bit deeper into the book. It's fascinating and tedious all at the same time. However, I'm not going to judge Carol over her personal experience with Lindsey and the band. After all, she was there. I wasn't. But I take issue with her own portrayal of herself back then. I don't see her as a young woman who had a real plan to be a sound mixer or produer. I see her as a young woman who wanted to go to Hollywood and be part of the glamour. And frankly, who wouldn't want that? Yet, her intentions were not true. If she really wanted to be a sound mixer, she would have taken the job with Pink Floyd's producer to advance her career. She didn't, and we're supposed to feel sorry for what unfolded in the years to come. You want to read about a real sound mixer who wasn't dazzled by the lights of glamour? Read "Here, There and Everywhere", by Geoff Emerick - sound engineer to The Beatles. He had a definitive work ethic. This girl just wanted to hitch her wagon to a star. Hells, that's what her writing is telling me.

And there's no doubt that Lindsey loved her and needed her to be with him at all times. However - I think she pats herself way too much on the back for helping him with songs that he wrote for Tusk. Going on about being his muse, and working out emotional support that would lend itself to the type of songs he'd create, is a bit much. In fact, it makes ther reader (me) lose any sympathy for her.

While reading this book, I get this sense that Carol, who must be in her 50's by now, is tapping into memories of a 20-something girl, who in my opinion was pretty, very lucky and vacuous. The years have not provided a shadow of wisdom or humility in the telling of this story. Her sense of grandeur regarding her place and influence on the Fleetwood Mac family is disturbing because many rock biographers never mention her. She is really just a footnote in the grand scheme of this band, and all her stories and feelings don't really prove that wrong.

Another negative element in this book, is her way of telling a story. Not all the flowery, pretty prose can mold a biography into place. She would have done herself a service in telling us the story, and let US figure things out for ourselves - rather than her write paragraph after heavy paragraph, filled with "Angels" and "Sweeties" and every detailed minutae of a silly conversation.

Also, her relationship with Stevie and how she protrays it is manipulating to the reader. She doesn't write the situations with enough information to let the reader (who plunked down some dough for this book) figure out Stevie or anyone else in this FM kingdom. I can't believe an editor let her get away with this kind of storytelling. One passage that irked me last night as I was flipping through the book: She mentions an incident that occured with Stevie in, I think New Zealand. There is some back story to this, which I won't get into. However, the main vibe of it was - Stevie took Carol aside to give her some advice on how to handle LB when he's in a violent mood. Carol never really fleshes out what Stevie said to her. Instead, she provides a very biased view of the conversation, where we do not have the slightest clue as to what Stevie said, but we are left feeling that Nicks was being controlling and weird to her. And - apparently, there was a film crew right there filming their exchange - to which Carol was totally unaware! (HELLO? It's a camera - you know -that thing with a lense?)

Carol makes it look as if Stevie lured her into this sitaution where she can look like a loving, forgiving goddess in front of cameras, while Carol is the wide eyed poor soul. Again - Stevie is no saint - but Harris' writing is very one dimensional. I don't know who is right or wrong here - I only know I'm being manipulated in siding with a glorified groupie, who's remembrance of incidents from 25 years ago are tainted with the view of a young, not very bright, woman.

There is a chapter in the book where she hangs out with Patti Boyd Clapton, a very well respected rock and roll wife. Patti is a rock queen because of what she's been through, how she handles her privacy and what she DOESN'T say. I think Carol should take a lesson from Patti - by keeping the stories and the gory details close to your vest like Jackie O.