Want to join?

[Villavic]

Here is how Mick tells about inviting L&S to join Fleetwood Mac. It's not how he found them at a studio but (later) the invitation itself. I have some questions that may be answered by guru fans. And of course all comments about this episode are welcome:

Only later did it become apparent that Lindsey was with Stevie. They were together. Their ambitions and hopes were as a unit. They had been working for years, I was told; they were hitting brick walls but were determined to keep writing together. Later Stevie would give me a hard time. "Aaabhh, if I hadn't been with Lindsey you wouldn't have wanted me." And like that. All I can say is that I remembered this guitar player but couldn't remember his name.

Keith Olsen called me back and said that Stevie and Lindsey were interested, and so we set up a dinner meeting at a Mexican restaurant called El Carmen. Lindsey came up to our house on Fernwood, off Laurel Canyon. Judy Wong was there too, and we soon adjourned to the restaurant to meet John and Chris, who were driving in from their house at the beach. Stevie Nicks was waiting for us, still dressed in her flapper's outfit from her waitress job. "I saw Fleetwood Mac drive up in these two old clunky white Cadillacs with big tail fins," she said years later, "and I was in awe."

We settled in at our table, ordered dinner, and then started smiling. There was something magic in the air, and we all felt it. (We also got drunk on the margaritas.) Lindsey offered to play an audition, and we explained we didn't think that would be necessary. We chatted for a bit longer so Chris could suss out the situation. When I first asked her about having another woman in the band, I knew she had some natural reservations, even though she didn't say anything. Being the lady in the band, a lady who first and foremost was a musician~nd one of the lads she just said, "Do me a favor as long as me and Stevie hit it off everything will be fine, 'cause there's nothing worse than having a couple of ladies in the band who don't like each other." But at this dinner I saw that Stevie was extremely sympathetic, and that the two girls were hitting it off real well. Before the dessert came, I simply asked them: "Want to join?"

Stevie and Lindsey looked at each other and said, "Yes. "

I said, "We'd love to have you in the band." And that was it.

1. Is El Carmen restaurant still open? (is there only one El Carmen at LA?) I found this website:
http://www.elcarmenrestaurant.com/index.html

2. When exactly was this dinner? Mick didn't mention the date, but I guess it was probably between november and december 1974 (A bit unfair, I feel. I mean he recalls and mentions the exact date Lindsey left the band, August 7, 1987, the "showdown" date as he said, but he didn't recall the date he (and Stevie) joined)