New FM documentary on BBC

[michelej1]

I think Stevie is very talented, in that she has the ability to look quite sane and rational, especially these days. When she was still on drugs, she couldn't perfect that illusion as successfully, but nowadays, she can really be a measured wit.

Michele

[vivfox]

Divorce and women: which way does the wind blow? Nov 03
Fleetwood Mac and a divorce lawyer’s Rumours
Coping With Divorce

I have succumbed to the “lurgy” (aka swine flu), which I think I picked up in London last week. Fortunately the symptoms have been relatively mild and here I am, back on my PC. When I am back up to speed I plan to write about the Court of Appeal’s latest judgement on the Hildebrand cases, which has repercussions for all lawyers.

Stuck at home in the meantime, I watched an incredibly personal interview with the band Fleetwood Mac on the BBC the other night, in advance of their forthcoming British tour. The band members are clearly older and wiser than they were in the late 1970s. They had stories to tell about the emotional turbulence in their lives when arguably they were at the height of their success. It made fascinating viewing for me, a fan who keeps The Very Best Of close by in my bedroom.

I love the music and I love their voices, but I must admit that the words haven’t always made sense to me. I’ve just been conscious that these are world-class artists producing world-class timeless music. Now I understand how their tumultuous lives have contributed so much to their art.

Many clients begin their meetings with me, assuming that what I am about to hear is new. It isn’t. I’ve already heard the account of the breakdown of their marriage or relationship, over and over again. Different faces, different people – but fundamentally the same story. What is interesting is that when a relationship does break down, the parties don’t always have the same tale to tell. One will blame the other. One may blame a third party. The other may say it wasn’t the third party. Perhaps he or she will insist that the relationship has simply run its course.

And so it was last night, watching and listening to the band members. Here were the same accounts of relationship breakdown – but this time set to fabulous music, and given by some of the biggest names in the music world.

Rumours was Fleetwood Mac’s greatest album. It sold millions of copies around the world. Apparently it was conceived and named to correct the rumours about the relationships of the band members with one another. As a divorce lawyer, I was fascinated to hear the story behind the album.

There was Stevie Nicks of the haunting voice and West Coast melodies. There was Lindsey Buckingham, famous for his incredible abilities on the rock guitar. They had started off as young unknowns: “Buckingham and Nicks”. Mick Fleetwood heard Buckingham playing guitar on a demo album, and immediately invited him to join. So closely attached were Buckingham and Nicks, it was a condition that she had to join too. Mick Fleetwood described them as “joined at the hip” – and yet their close relationship deteriorated. Eventually they split.

Buckingham and Nicks each wrote an iconic song about the reasons for their parting. For Buckingham in Go Your Own Way, the relationship ended in grief and anger. Loving you isn’t the right thing to do, he sang, bitterly. He would have given her the world but…..you can go your own way. He accused her of shacking up with another. It was not what he wanted. And all the world had to know it.

Nicks, on the other hand, wrote Dreams: a gentler assessment. She said she had sought a different parting, a recognition that their relationship had come to the end of the road. In her song, she focused on his responsibility for the breakup. You say you want your freedom…who am I to keep you down? Her account in Dreams seems to suggest that he was responsible for the breakup – and that he would realise it only when she was gone. She imagines him in the stillness of remembering what you had. And what you lost.

However Buckingham, thrashing away on his guitar in Go Your Own Way, was having none of it.

For me, as a lawyer who listens to both sides of such stories daily, these songs remain as relevant today as they were thirty years ago. They remind all of us that we are human and fallible.

Here are two different beliefs, genuinely held, as to what has gone wrong. Probably there is a whole lot more that could be said, about why this relationship ended as it did.

But that wasn’t the end. After Buckingham and Nicks split, Nicks began an illicit relationship with married Mick Fleetwood. He divorced his wife. His relationship with Nicks ended after he betrayed her for her best friend, Sara.

The song Sara, from the album Tusk, is my favourite of all. I never tire of it. I never tire of the emotion in her voice that until recently, I hadn’t understood. But what does it mean? I have read many interpretations, but I think it was her way of coming to terms with the loss of her great love and accepting it – or pretending that she had.

She was drowning in a sea of love. She was protected under a great dark wing. She thought she had met [her] match. Then she lost him. He betrayed her.

Now it’s gone it doesn’t matter any more. Doesn’t it? When she sings you can hear her despair as she sings of Sara: the woman who stole her lover.

In an apparent act of acceptance and forgiveness (or perhaps because she doesn’t want to her reveal her true feelings), she sings, when you build your house I’ll come by.

I have tried to imagine everything she felt when she wrote and sang that song, Mick Fleetwood playing the drums behind her and Lindsey Buckingham on the guitar alongside. It can’t have been easy.

Stevie Nicks later checked herself into a rehabilitation clinic using her former friend’s name, Sara, as a pseudonym.

http://www.marilynstowe.co.uk/2009/1...0%99s-rumours/

[daniellaaarisen]

I really want to see the entire thing. Thank you for posting that one clip-- it got me excited for the rest Stevie never ceases to make me laugh.... even when she doesn't mean to

[Sahara]

I've ripped the first thirty minutes and I'll post it to Youtube from college in the morning, and try to get the rest up on Thursday.

[louielouie2000]

I downloaded and watched this documentary on torrent last night. I must say I really enjoyed it! While there was a large emphasis on Rumours, time was also given to the Peter Green and Bob Welch years as well. I think this is probably the best and most inclusive Mac documentary outside of the Disney Going Home special. It seems the band members were much less guarded and robotic in their answers as well. Stevie seemed to cut up a little, and it appears Lindsey is finally admitting some of his wrongdoings from the past. I got the biggest smiles of the night from John and Mick though. They just seem so utterly happy, content, and wise. They obviously get the point of the whole journey... it seems maybe that Stevie (and to a much lesser extent, Lindsey) never will LOL. Just hearing John say "hey, we ain't done yet" made me so happy! This documentary definitely had a full circle vibe to it... but it's good to know the circle isn't completed yet!

[daniellaaarisen]

Originally Posted by louielouie2000

I think this is probably the best and most inclusive Mac documentary outside of the Disney Going Home special.

I haven't seen either

[louielouie2000]

Originally Posted by daniellaaarisen

I haven't seen either

Have you figured out the Torrent phenomena yet? I had 2 friends sit me down this past weekend and show me how to download, install, and run utorrent... and how to download torrents, and play them. If you want, one night we can chat online and I can see if I can help you. I'm not terribly abreast in the whole torrent thing, and I have a Mac... so I might not be of much help. But once you get set up with the whole torrent thing, you won't believe what all is out there. The throwndown.net site alone is just a gold mine...

[daniellaaarisen]

Originally Posted by louielouie2000

Have you figured out the Torrent phenomena yet? I had 2 friends sit me down this past weekend and show me how to download, install, and run utorrent... and how to download torrents, and play them. If you want, one night we can chat online and I can see if I can help you. I'm not terribly abreast in the whole torrent thing, and I have a Mac... so I might not be of much help. But once you get set up with the whole torrent thing, you won't believe what all is out there. The throwndown.net site alone is just a gold mine...

I have Don't Stop up and running but I don't think the Disney Special is going to work. I think its just a seeding issue though?

[fleetwoodtrick]

Originally Posted by louielouie2000

I downloaded and watched this documentary on torrent last night.

I love you! Would you believe that I visited ThrownDown twice today and I missed it both times!? I didn't even think of that. Downloading now of course!

And thanks for the clip, Sahara! Stevie: Okay...
That was my favorite part! Thanks to everybody in Europe for keeping us updated!

Edit: I'll definitely try to get this on YT, because it's in .avi format.

[MacMan]

Originally Posted by fleetwoodtrick

I love you! Would you believe that I visited ThrownDown twice today and I missed it both times!? I didn't even think of that. Downloading now of course!

You must be the lone leecher I'm seeding too LOL

I didn't even think to look on Throwndown... just finished downloading.

Thanks for mentioning it Louie!

[GypsyBlueEyes]

Originally Posted by vivfox

Divorce and women: which way does the wind blow? Nov 03
Fleetwood Mac and a divorce lawyer’s Rumours
Coping With Divorce

'He accused her of shacking up with another.'

I don't really think that is what "packin' up, shackin' up's all you want to do" means though. I always thought it was him saying that all she wanted to do was travel around and "live in sin" with him as opposed to eventually getting married (although, I don't he wanted to get married anymore than she did at that time). That made sense to me because he wrote it after they'd begun traveling the world together as part of Fleetwood Mac. I thought the "packin' up" part was in reference to that and the "shackin' up" part was in reference to their relationship.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by GypsyBlueEyes

I don't really think that is what "packin' up, shackin' up's all you want to do" means though. I always thought it was him saying that all she wanted to do was travel around and "live in sin" with him as opposed to eventually getting married (although, I don't he wanted to get married anymore than she did at that time). That made sense to me because he wrote it after they'd begun traveling the world together as part of Fleetwood Mac. I thought the "packin' up" part was in reference to that and the "shackin' up" part was in reference to their relationship.

Yes, I can see how the meaning can go both ways. But I weigh in favor of "shackin' up" as in sleeping around. I don't think she would have gotten as upset about it, if she didn't think he meant promiscuous sex. That's why we have to listen to how prudish and ladylike she is, even all these years later. As for marriage, Stevie said Lindsey never really wanted to get married, but that all changed when he had his 'beautiful baby boy.' I just don't think they had marriage on the brain, not because the relationship wasn't serious enough for it, just because maybe young, artsy Californians didn't think a piece of paper was necessary in the early seventies. They just thought that living together as if married was good enough.

Michele

[louielouie2000]

Originally Posted by michelej1

Yes, I can see how the meaning can go both ways. But I weigh in favor of "shackin' up" as in sleeping around. I don't think she would have gotten as upset about it, if she didn't think he meant promiscuous sex. That's why we have to listen to how prudish and ladylike she is, even all these years later. As for marriage, Stevie said Lindsey never really wanted to get married, but that all changed when he had his 'beautiful baby boy.' I just don't think they had marriage on the brain, not because the relationship wasn't serious enough for it, just because maybe young, artsy Californians didn't think a piece of paper was necessary in the early seventies. They just thought that living together as if married was good enough.

Michele

I just don't get why Stevie was so inflamed by that lyric, especially still in 2009! It's been 32 freakin' years already! Not to mention, her own liaisons and escapades are very well documented. I doubt to this day that any rock and roll chick has banged more fellow music industry dudes than Stevie Nicks. And you don't have a half dozen abortions if you're "prudish" . Or have a hole in your septum the size of a nickel. Or zonk yourself out on tranquilizers for 10 years. Or, or, or...

It just seems this damn woman gets further out of touch with reality the older she gets. And grumpier!

[CADreaming]

Originally Posted by louielouie2000

I just don't get why Stevie was so inflamed by that lyric, especially still in 2009! It's been 32 freakin' years already! Not to mention, her own liaisons and escapades are very well documented. I doubt to this day that any rock and roll chick has banged more fellow music industry dudes than Stevie Nicks. And you don't have a half dozen abortions if you're "prudish" . Or have a hole in your septum the size of a nickel. Or zonk yourself out on tranquilizers for 10 years. Or, or, or...

It just seems this damn woman gets further out of touch with reality the older she gets. And grumpier!

Costume by Margi Kent.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by louielouie2000

I I doubt to this day that any rock and roll chick has banged more fellow music industry dudes than Stevie Nicks.

Really? Even though she died early, I am pretty sure Janis had Stevie beat by a long mile.

In fairness, Stevie's gripe is that she says Lindsey knows that she didn't shack up with anyone when she was with him. Now, I don't think that's true, but that's what she's saying. She's not talking about what she did as a single gal afterwards. She also thinks that Lindsey just wrote it to annoy her, which is probably true. Thirty-two years later, he's still getting his money's worth out of that one. I wish I could do one thing that would get on someone's nerves for that long!

On the other hand, like Dee said, maybe they doth protest too much. They smiled at each other when singing that line during the SYW tour.

Michele