Mojo Interview - Dec 2013 (FULL)

[MikeInNV]

When we got the little snippet from this article a few weeks ago it caused quite a stir, but personally I never understood what the big deal was about what she said about Lindsey not wanting Christine to come and go. Now that we have the whole article, it still seems very innoccuous to me (although I'm surprised more people aren't reacting to the Lindsey/magazine cover thing).

Now I wonder if the drama and tension people thought they sensed on stage after the snippet appeared wasn't something else entirely. Maybe that's when the band found out about John?

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by MikeInNV

When we got the little snippet from this article a few weeks ago it caused quite a stir, but personally I never understood what the big deal was about what she said about Lindsey not wanting Christine to come and go. Now that we have the whole article, it still seems very innoccuous to me (although I'm surprised more people aren't reacting to the Lindsey/magazine cover thing).

It doesn't seem innocuous to me, but it seems like a topic that was thoroughly exhausted when we got the snippet and it hardly seems worth rehashing. But my overall opinion of the comment is the same now as it was then.

As far as what when on in London. I don't think it necessarily had to do with the Mojo interview. I think it had to do with Christine, but the Mojo interview was new to us, not to them, maybe. I think it had to do with what happened on stage Thursday. Also, John and Stevie seemed mad at each other to me, during the first part of the show and Stevie wasn't mad at Mick at all during the show. So, it wasn't just that there was tension. There was tension between SOME people, not all of them. I don't think that had to do with her learning that John had cancer.

Michele

[aleuzzi]

Originally Posted by Johnny Stew

Really fantastic article. One of the best ones that has ever been published on Stevie, in my opinion. They covered a lot of already well-traversed subject matter, but Stevie peppered her answers with quite a few insights and additional information that we haven't heard before. I'll definitely have to seek out this issue.

Meanwhile, I was surprised by this statement by James McNair:



That request is a head-scratcher for sure. I could understand Lindsey's thought-process if the feature had been about Fleetwood Mac NOW... but requesting that Christine not be included on the cover of a RUMOURS themed issue??

Yeah, that made no sense to me, either. Has Lindsey lost his marbles?

[bombaysaffires]

Originally Posted by gssmith

Getting her black self on! Haha love it.
Did anyone know she had that ovarian surgery? That's news to me.
If she threatens to quit fwm over the way Lindsey is treating Christine, Lindsey would break in a heart beat. There is no reason why she couldn't make an album and not tour. The two women are the biggest force in the band by a long streach.

It's funny I read the transcript of this article and then read an interview with Rick Vito in post- Rumours forum and somewhere in the middle of it he talks about how FM fell apart in the 90s and that when Christine decided to leave, Stevie said well, if Christine is leaving then I'm leaving too.

I can *sort* of see Lindsey's point about Chris coming and going because that would be a bit confusing for fans--- is she going to be there or not? when they buy concert tickets. But I really think he cannot bring himself to give up his now 50% of songs/stage time and go back to just 1/3. She's really the only one who can challenge him--if that's the right word-- musically. But who the eff knows with this band. I think Christine was formidable and I think she was the one other band member LB was most askeered of : 0 ...because she felt no compulsion to be conciliatory if pissed (unlike Mick who is compelled to make peace). Even Stevie, though much, much stronger pushing against him nowadays than in the past, eventually capitulates to keep peace. I suspect John in past times also could get pissed and let you stew in it without feeling compelled to make peace for quite a while.

But Chris, I think she could knock Lindsey down a peg if she felt he needed it. She could and would say things that the others might not have the nerve to. So I just have to wonder how that weaves through anything he might say these days. But we'll never really know. Until the tour is over and time passes and Stevie starts to tell us what *really* went on during this tour.

[michelej1]

Also Mike, just thinking about where you are, I realized that I think you were there for Reno, so you can appreciate what I'm trying to describe.

You know how in Nevada Stevie glared at the audience beneath her mic and she was also mad at the security people I think, the people on the side of the stage, I saw her curse at them as she passed. Her face was angry, her eyes were cold. You could tell she was mad.

She cried also during the show, but you could tell the difference between emotional tears and just anger. I've seen Lindsey be distant (he had his eyes closed during most of the Roxy show I saw him at) and I've seen him angry at Chumash too. There's a big difference between, sadness, nostalgia and sentimentality versus anger. The vibes aren't similar.

John was angry in London. Now, the sound was wonky and it messed up his Chain solo, which had him cursing and gesturing to his guitar tech. Although I heard his bass, he was saying, that there was no sound, so he might have been mad at that and not at Stevie, but he and Stevie were both just livid, standing next to each other but turning away, so as not to interact, which is not what they usually do. They didn't stay that way with each other, but it lasted for the first part of the show, then they got friendly again. Stevie and Lindsey, on the other hand, never interacted normally that night. Lindsey even mentioned it the next week when she asked him to jump into the WY speech, he was like, 'Oh you want me to say something? The last two nights you didn't."

Michele

[Johnny Stew]

Originally Posted by michelej1

It doesn't seem innocuous to me, but it seems like a topic that was thoroughly exhausted when we got the snippet and it hardly seems worth rehashing. But my overall opinion of the comment is the same now as it was then.

Wouldn't be worth repeating what was already discussed regarding Stevie's comments (which, I have to agree with Mike, weren't that controversial), certainly -- but we have new information now that we didn't have then. And not from Stevie's mouth, but a neutral party. I would think Lindsey blocking Christine from being included on a magazine cover would merit some discussion.

[bombaysaffires]

Originally Posted by michelej1

Also Mike, just thinking about where you are, I realized that I think you were there for Reno, so you can appreciate what I'm trying to describe.

You know how in Nevada Stevie glared at the audience beneath her mic and she was also mad at the security people I think, the people on the side of the stage, I saw her curse at them as she passed. Her face was angry, her eyes were cold. You could tell she was mad.

She cried also during the show, but you could tell the difference between emotional tears and just anger. I've seen Lindsey be distant (he had his eyes closed during most of the Roxy show I saw him at) and I've seen him angry at Chumash too. There's a big difference between, sadness, nostalgia and sentimentality versus anger. The vibes aren't similar.

John was angry in London. Now, the sound was wonky and it messed up his Chain solo, which had him cursing and gesturing to his guitar tech. Although I heard his bass, he was saying, that there was no sound, so he might have been mad at that and not at Stevie, but he and Stevie were both just livid, standing next to each other but turning away, so as not to interact, which is not what they usually do. They didn't stay that way with each other, but it lasted for the first part of the show, then they got friendly again. Stevie and Lindsey, on the other hand, never interacted normally that night. Lindsey even mentioned it the next week when she asked him to jump into the WY speech, he was like, 'Oh you want me to say something? The last two nights you didn't."

Michele

could there have been some tiff about Christine's appearance and how it would go?

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by Johnny Stew

Wouldn't be worth repeating what was already discussed regarding Stevie's comments (which, I have to agree with Mike, weren't that controversial), certainly -- but we have new information now that we didn't have then. And not from Stevie's mouth, but a neutral party. I would think Lindsey blocking Christine from being included on a magazine cover would merit some discussion.

Well, discuss it then.

Michele

[Johnny Stew]

Originally Posted by michelej1

Well, discuss it then.

Touché.

As I said, I find it puzzling and can't figure out the rationale behind it. Her contributions were discussed inside the issue -- why block her from being included on the cover? Did Lindsey feel it would confuse British audiences when the band made its way there? Christine having left isn't new. I can't imagine anyone buying a ticket wouldn't already know she's no longer with them. Is it a spiteful move? That would seem odd too -- again , it's been a long time since she left. Any bitterness that there might have been, should have long ago dissipated.

The request certainly comes off as petty. (Now I'm also wondering if there was anything political behind the fact that Christine wasn't interviewed for the song discussions in the liner notes of this year's Rumours reissue. She seemed available for other interviews this year.)

[michelej1]

Last year Mojo wrote me and asked for early pictures of Lindsey and Stevie, like around Fritz. They said it was for their upcoming issue and I was really excited thinking it had to do with something that we didn't know about. Maybe some additional songs other than the one Without You that was released.

So, when the magazine came out and there was really nothing in it, I was disappointed and I hated the fact that they used that Rumours album cover. Certainly, it doesn't make me happy to think that Lindsey is the one that caused them to use that album cover over a picture of the five of them.

No one other than focused fans knows who is in that doggone band. They assume that Christine is, although maybe the continued association with her is worse in England because of Everywhere than it is in the rest of the world. But the Mojo article already said that Lindsey was surprisingly vehement about Christine having left anyway.

Michele

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by bombaysaffires

could there have been some tiff about Christine's appearance and how it would go?

This was the second night. So, one of Christine's appearances was already over. I think there was a tiff over Christine's appearance and how it went the night before. That's my guess, if we're putting money down. Also, I don't think that telling the public that there could have been more Christine songs rather than just one was a good thing, with the Mojo blurb coming out during the week of the London shows. I don't think Lindsey cared because I'm sure when Lindsey is interviewed he's going to have some upsetting things to say about Christine himself. He's going to downplay the reunion, but it was bad timing.

So, then after London they went on to do the rest of the tour and I don't know how things were, but from the video clips people posted, it looks like within a week Stevie and Lindsey were very lovey dovey again, after a couple of frosty nights.

Michele

[Johnny Stew]

Originally Posted by michelej1

No one other than focused fans knows who is in that doggone band. They assume that Christine is, although maybe the continued association with her is worse in England because of Everywhere than it is in the rest of the world. But the Mojo article already said that Lindsey was surprisingly vehement about Christine having left anyway.

You could very well be right. Since this was the third tour without Christine, I just believed the general ticket-buying public was well-aware by now that Christine's no longer touring. But maybe I'm wrong in that.

Meanwhile, I liked the outtake that Mojo ultimately used on the cover. Even made it my desktop wallpaper for a while. But a full-band photo would have been fantastic, and certainly preferable.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by Johnny Stew

You could very well be right. Since this was the third tour without Christine, I just believed the general ticket-buying public was well-aware by now that Christine's no longer touring. But maybe I'm wrong in that.

I think that the number of people who think of Fleetwood Mac as the SYW quartet are relatively few in number, compared to the total number of people who see them in concert.

I'm not saying that anyone who goes leaves disappointed that they didn't hear Christine songs, but ... I think even though it's been 15 years a lot of people still think she's there and Lindsey is not going to live long enough -- and the band is not going to accomplish enough without Christine to match the indelible achievements they accomplished with her -- to change that perception.

Michele

[nodmod]

It seems to me that Lindsey (at the time) believed that Fleetwood Mac had some "go forward" momentum, talking about a new album, new songs, extending the tour into 2014 and probably thought that the band needed to look forward and not back, this may have influenced his outlook, however maybe now with the recent sad news, a retrospective outlook would be best served for the band, at least till John is well.

[MikeInNV]

Originally Posted by michelej1

Also Mike, just thinking about where you are, I realized that I think you were there for Reno, so you can appreciate what I'm trying to describe.

You know how in Nevada Stevie glared at the audience beneath her mic and she was also mad at the security people I think, the people on the side of the stage, I saw her curse at them as she passed. Her face was angry, her eyes were cold. You could tell she was mad.

I was there, and I certainly can appreciate what you're describing. In all the times I've seen Stevie, I've never seen anything quite like that. It was horrible.