Thoughts on Mick's New Book

[bombaysaffires]

thanks for the excerpts, nicole!

I found this interesting: Second Hand News, a song that has come in and out of our sets through the years. It was written with Chris, but the subject matter is very much Lindsey and Stevie.

I've never heard this claim before. has anyone else?

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by Newzchspy

Then or NOW??

Mick was talking about THEN. The band was idle from 1982-1987 and he had no other income coming in but he said after he declared bankruptcy, he was able to stay comfortable from the royalties and most people didn't even know he had hit rock bottom, because his lifestyle didn't look that bad.

Michele

[nicole21290]

Originally Posted by jbrownsjr

Stevie hooked up with various Eagles.

The End. Thirty Dollars, please!

Not actually mentioned, shockingly! None of her affairs were by name, actually, bar the one with Mick. The Eagles did get mentioned but in the context of touring with Fleetwood Mac in 1976 more than anything else...

I did note he learnt his lesson and didn't bother repeating anything about the big TITN fight between SnL this time around.

[nicole21290]

Originally Posted by michelej1

Mick was talking about THEN. The band was idle from 1982-1987 and he had no other income coming in but he said after he declared bankruptcy, he was able to stay comfortable from the royalties and most people didn't even know he had hit rock bottom, because his lifestyle didn't look that bad.

Michele

"By 1984 I had to file for bankruptcy for the second time and though I knew things weren’t on the up, it still came as a surprise. I’d hired a young, eager business manager who had a ‘live for now’ strategy which of course was fine for me, but didn’t seem to plan enough for the future. Then somehow it all fell apart. I was forced to sell the Blue Whale as well as all of my cars and my recording equipment. I lost Sara in the process: she moved out, broke it off with me and went back to work in the ‘real world’, because I couldn’t support her. Meanwhile I moved into a house with Richard Dashut and laboured to put my life back in order. Thankfully no matter how dire things seemed, I was never in danger of being completely on the street. I was grateful to always have the royalty income stream from Fleetwood Mac to keep me afloat. That is essentially how I settled all of my financial problems. At first that left me little else to get by on, but eventually it caught up and the monies I received from record sales of the catalogue enabled me to be comfortable. Cosmetically most people never even realised that I’d gone broke, not once but twice, because the thing I’d devoted my life to developing had served to save me."

[michelej1]

Mick makes himself sound like a horrible person to be dating or married to. Other than the money, I don't know what those women saw in him. He says he split from Sara when he could not take care of her anymore and filed bankruptcy. She left him to go back to work and take care of herself.

But then she got sober (didn't last) and stopped drinking and he didn't stop drinking and wasn't respectful of her needing to abstain. So that was a wedge between them. Also during the relationship, he told her that he might patch things up with Jenny some day. So, I'm sure that's not a great thing to hear from your partner.

So anyway, he meets Lynn (who was 26 and he was 43) while still married to Sara and sneaks Lynn around so the crew wouldn't know he was seeing her. She wouldn't travel with him on tour openly. She'd get to a city ahead of him, so no one would think they were together. For whatever reason, he didn't divorce Sara. He waited for her to file. So, he told Lynn that he and Sara were splitting, but it wasn't happening and Lynn began to doubt him.

Also, Lynn didn't drink and Mick couldn't stop drinking and his habit was getting worse. He was a sloppy drunk, but Lynn put up with it. In fact, one of the things he loved about her was she could hang out with people who were high and drunk and not be under the influence herself and still be fun. Yay?

He says it was around about the time of his sister's cancer that he realized he was destroying himself. He had gained weight and didn't look good and was scared of his mortality. So, he did stop drinking then, for a decade.

Michele

[bombaysaffires]

Originally Posted by michelej1

Mick makes himself sound like a horrible person to be dating or married to. Other than the money, I don't know what those women saw in him. He says he split from Sara when he could not take care of her anymore and filed bankruptcy. She left him to go back to work and take care of herself.

But then she got sober (didn't last) and stopped drinking and he didn't stop drinking and wasn't respectful of her needing to abstain. So that was a wedge between them. Also during the relationship, he told her that he might patch things up with Jenny some day. So, I'm sure that's not a great thing to hear from your partner.

So anyway, he meets Lynn (who was 26 and he was 43) while still married to Sara and sneaks Lynn around so the crew wouldn't know he was seeing her. She wouldn't travel with him on tour openly. She'd get to a city ahead of him, so no one would think they were together. For whatever reason, he didn't divorce Sara. He waited for her to file. So, he told Lynn that he and Sara were splitting, but it wasn't happening and Lynn began to doubt him.

Also, Lynn didn't drink and Mick couldn't stop drinking and his habit was getting worse. He was a sloppy drunk, but Lynn put up with it. In fact, one of the things he loved about her was she could hang out with people who were high and drunk and not be under the influence herself and still be fun. Yay?

He says it was around about the time of his sister's cancer that he realized he was destroying himself. He had gained weight and didn't look good and was scared of his mortality. So, he did stop drinking then, for a decade.

Michele

Amazing what people will put up with (especially women) to be with someone famous, or to live a life and/or lifestyle that they wouldn't otherwise get to have (traveling in social circles with famous people and the like). It seems like they'll put up with some serious sh*t from the person him/herself if the rest of the 'package' is enticing.

[Wdm6789]

Originally Posted by bombaysaffires

I always found Stevie's outfit at Mick's wedding a bit….curious. Wearing white to a wedding is always a bit tricky, and then wearing a rather foofy big white dress and huge white hat..well…I think there's something passive/aggressive going on there. Just sayin'

I thought that too. But it was 1988, she was probably strung out on benzos also.

[bombaysaffires]

Originally Posted by Wdm6789

I thought that too. But it was 1988, she was probably strung out on benzos also.

seems like.

But there's a definite "upstage the bride" vibe to the whole outfit.

Then of course getting up onstage and singing and being the center of attention throughout a lot of the reception….

[PenguinHead]

Originally Posted by redtulip

I just finished it. I didn't really get anything new out of it and he glossed over the most recent period starting after his last book left off. The only really new information I got from it was learning a little more about Lynn, his ex-wife, since I knew nothing about her before. Basically it's a pointless Mick money grab.

This drives home the point that a definitive,objective published biography is not going to come from any of the band members. There has been a lot of fans clamoring for Stevie to write her autobiography, but I don't know why. First off, her memory, as we know, isn't very sharp. And she's far from being a literary scribe. She would have to depend heavily on a co-writer/editor to sift through her "journals" to make any sense of things. There would be no objectivity; most so-called autobiographies have a bit of fictionalized history. Mick's books only gloss the surface, Stevie's book would be overflowing with gloss and ego.

I've been reading Neil Young's book, Waging Heavy Peace, which was published in 2012. He's a very literate, philosophical guy. He's very matter-of-fact, with no agenda, and writes very simply and authentically. There's absolutely no pretense or pompousness in his prose.

His book is unique because he doesn't follow a timeline. Each chapter is just a stream of thought about a certain subject. In every chapter he ruminates about a topic, circumstance or event which reveals his character, insight, and creative/thought process, and his relationships. There is a real and sincere soul and depth to it.

[jbrownsjr]

Originally Posted by nicole21290

Not actually mentioned, shockingly! None of her affairs were by name, actually, bar the one with Mick. The Eagles did get mentioned but in the context of touring with Fleetwood Mac in 1976 more than anything else...

I did note he learnt his lesson and didn't bother repeating anything about the big TITN fight between SnL this time around.

Thanks for the index. Loved the Christine/Lindsey stuff. Fair reporting on your part.

[wetcamelfood]

Still waiting for my copy.

So is the beginning to 1990 copied from the 1990 book?

John

[Jondalar]

Is this book new or just an update?

[BombaySapphire3]

Originally Posted by Jondalar

Is this book new or just an update?

it's new...one thing I like more about this one than the 1990 book is that it does not seem to be a series of magazine articles pasted together with Mick's still drug addled recollections.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by BombaySapphire3

it's new...one thing I like more about this one than the 1990 book is that it does not seem to be a series of magazine articles pasted together with Mick's still drug addled recollections.

True. It does seem to be more of Mick's own and original words and thoughts, even if he traverses territory that was covered in the first book.

Michele

[FuzzyPlum]

After a week away on holiday I got home last night to find Mick's book waiting for me. Firstly I was a bit miffed as my 'signed' copy had a signed label stuck in which isn't quite the same thing...never mind.

I haven't read a lot yet but skipped straight to Tango In The Night onwards as that is what I'd anticipated being new. Unfortunately the last 25 years or so are covered in about 50 pages. The biggest difference between this and his last book seems to be that he hasn't focused much on the music. Behind The Mask is barely mentioned. I thought Time might be interesting to read about but that gets only a page or two.
Interestingly there is virtually no mention of the R&R Hall of Fame Induction (except the story of Peter playing with Santana). Some interesting bits towards the end concerning Mick's business dealings with dodgy Russian gangsters- including the fact he bought a plane with the intention of starting a Russian airline!

Will go back and start at the beginning later today.