Bob Welch and the Sunset Strip

[Macfan4life]

I saw a Sunset Strip tribute and Bob was the first one to come up. What a time to be alive for anyone that got to experience the Sunset Strip in the 1980s. Heavy Metal was just about to explode and almost every band got their start on the Sunset Strip. Poison who secretly recorded in Stevie's studio that she never showed up in was around the Sunset Strip. Bob practiced tour rehearsals there and even hosted a TV Show in 1980-1981 called Hollywood Heartbeat. I think that show was before its time because the music business was just about to orbit around the Sunset Strip a few years later. As Bob's solo career began to sag this is where he hung out and performed. Can you imagine the stories he could tell about this era of his life? Is this when he started to use heroin? His famous concert from The Roxy is right on the Sunset Strip. Chris's 1984 Country Club album promo concert is about 13 miles from the Sunset Strip. I would love to know if anyone has any stories about Bob and this era of his life or experiencing the Sunset Strip in the 1980s. Stevie even recorded her Timespace concert at the Whiskey in 1991.


Sunset Strip tribute 1982
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/5P1-i-lJ2E0

Bob interviewing Mick on Hollywood Heartbeat. The band got to pick their location on the Hollywood walk of fame. Mick is so high here. Mick was just about to hit the wall financially. He had a quick blip from Mirage that kept him afloat for another year before bankruptcy. Bob looks so thin here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4C-_FFa-Jjc

[Penguin Emeritus]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

Sunset Strip tribute 1982
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/5P1-i-lJ2E0

Bob interviewing Mick on Hollywood Heartbeat. The band got to pick their location on the Hollywood walk of fame. Mick is so high here. Mick was just about to hit the wall financially. He had a quick blip from Mirage that kept him afloat for another year before bankruptcy. Bob looks so thin here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4C-_FFa-Jjc

wow bob looks terrible there. i think it's likely he may have started heroin around that time...? will always regret that he never got to publish that book he was writing. i'll bet it would have had some great tales for mac fans.

--Lis

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by Penguin Emeritus

wow bob looks terrible there. i think it's likely he may have started heroin around that time...? will always regret that he never got to publish that book he was writing. i'll bet it would have had some great tales for mac fans.

--Lis

OMG What a tale he could write about the Mac but also seeing up close these struggling bands on the Strip turn out to be some of the biggest bands of the 1980s.
All we have is old interviews and his writings on his old website where many times he was very candid what he would have put in the book. Bob made an appearance on American Bandstand in 1982 where he looked pretty good. But the mid 80s I think were a dark time for him. He was making albums that were not successful, his TV show was cancelled and money was drying up.
I know the settlement is secret but I have often wondered why the band renegotiated royalties on those early albums without him. Its not like mega bucks were at stake but enough for Bob to get some money.
Another thing I would love to know is about Bob boating with John. I remember reading that Bob's inspiration for Bermuda Triangle was from him boating off Key Biscayne and would hear older sailors and captains talk about the Bermuda Triangle. I think John also had a boat off Key Biscayne too so one can assume that may have boated together. Every time I cross that bridge to Key Biscayne I ponder these precious Mac moments that few of us know about. I would always wish if there was someone to sit down with and have a glass of wine and talk old Mac stories was Chris and Bob. But now I would love to talk to John.

[Penguin Emeritus]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

OMG What a tale he could write about the Mac but also seeing up close these struggling bands on the Strip turn out to be some of the biggest bands of the 1980s.
All we have is old interviews and his writings on his old website where many times he was very candid what he would have put in the book. Bob made an appearance on American Bandstand in 1982 where he looked pretty good. But the mid 80s I think were a dark time for him. He was making albums that were not successful, his TV show was cancelled and money was drying up.
I know the settlement is secret but I have often wondered why the band renegotiated royalties on those early albums without him. Its not like mega bucks were at stake but enough for Bob to get some money.
Another thing I would love to know is about Bob boating with John. I remember reading that Bob's inspiration for Bermuda Triangle was from him boating off Key Biscayne and would hear older sailors and captains talk about the Bermuda Triangle. I think John also had a boat off Key Biscayne too so one can assume that may have boated together. Every time I cross that bridge to Key Biscayne I ponder these precious Mac moments that few of us know about. I would always wish if there was someone to sit down with and have a glass of wine and talk old Mac stories was Chris and Bob. But now I would love to talk to John.

the renegotiation thing is a mystery to me also. like you said, not all that much money was at stake and the 3 brits were rich af by then anyway... why not just include bob in these meetings? it created such bad blood to exclude him.

If bob was boating off key biscayne before he wrote Bermuda triangle, that would have been prior to 1974... john was around that area in the mid-late 80s but i'm not sure he would have been boating with bob as early as 73 or 74...? i guess it's possible. i'm not sure john even knew how to sail before they moved to the malibu area in 74, and he didn't own a boat before late 76, i think. but i guess they could have gone w a crew etc.

one of my few regrets in life is that marty and i never got to nashville for the little trip we were thinking about taking, to meet bob and wendy and have dinner etc. it was hard w 2 young kids to make plans for someone to stay w them etc, but i wish we would have tried a little harder to just get there for the weekend. i'm sure we would have heard some amazing stories. ugh i kick myself. i had about a million things i wanted to talk w him about.

--Lis

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by Penguin Emeritus

the renegotiation thing is a mystery to me also. like you said, not all that much money was at stake and the 3 brits were rich af by then anyway... why not just include bob in these meetings? it created such bad blood to exclude him.

If bob was boating off key biscayne before he wrote Bermuda triangle, that would have been prior to 1974... john was around that area in the mid-late 80s but i'm not sure he would have been boating with bob as early as 73 or 74...? i guess it's possible. i'm not sure john even knew how to sail before they moved to the malibu area in 74, and he didn't own a boat before late 76, i think. but i guess they could have gone w a crew etc.

one of my few regrets in life is that marty and i never got to nashville for the little trip we were thinking about taking, to meet bob and wendy and have dinner etc. it was hard w 2 young kids to make plans for someone to stay w them etc, but i wish we would have tried a little harder to just get there for the weekend. i'm sure we would have heard some amazing stories. ugh i kick myself. i had about a million things i wanted to talk w him about.

--Lis

Thanks for sharing those juicy details. It was an assumption that John was the boater in the band and was sailing before anyone. Could it have been Bob that got John into sailing? I know I know another assumption. I had never known Bob to sail and have boats. I cannot even find the article anymore I read that mentioned the inspiration to Bermuda Triangle. I know the band both pre-Nicks and post-Nicks did hang out on Key Biscayne. It is sometimes forgotten that Rumours was partially recorded in Miami. When Lindsey did his solo tour in 2018 he told me how much time the band spent in Miami during the meet and greet.
Would not Bob's life make a great movie? The first American in Fleetwood Mac. Leaves the band. Has a good couple of years as a solo artist. Hangs out with the up and coming 80s bands on Sunset strip. And then sues Fleetwood Mac during the RRHOF awards. I think it would be a great movie.

[aleuzzi]

These clips are cool. We catch glimpses of Bob, pre-toupee, in his element, a great talker holding forth with other musicians. Would love to see his interviews with Hall and Oats, and with Yes.

He might have made a good MTV V-jay.

[SteveMacD]

According to Christine in 2019, Bob was using while in Fleetwood Mac. “Heroin junky” I believe was her exact phrase.

Also, I seem to recall John and Bob going to a boat show together in 1974, which is when John got the sailing bug.

[Penguin Emeritus]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

Thanks for sharing those juicy details. It was an assumption that John was the boater in the band and was sailing before anyone. Could it have been Bob that got John into sailing? I know I know another assumption. I had never known Bob to sail and have boats. I cannot even find the article anymore I read that mentioned the inspiration to Bermuda Triangle. I know the band both pre-Nicks and post-Nicks did hang out on Key Biscayne. It is sometimes forgotten that Rumours was partially recorded in Miami. When Lindsey did his solo tour in 2018 he told me how much time the band spent in Miami during the meet and greet.
Would not Bob's life make a great movie? The first American in Fleetwood Mac. Leaves the band. Has a good couple of years as a solo artist. Hangs out with the up and coming 80s bands on Sunset strip. And then sues Fleetwood Mac during the RRHOF awards. I think it would be a great movie.

i've read that bob and john used to to boat shows together but for some reason i thought that was when they were still UK based... although i don't know why i assumed that. maybe bob did get john into sailing, although i thought at first he was just drooling over the catalogs. did bob talk about this in his Q&A? i think someone asked him about bermuda triangle. if you heard they hung out in key biscayne pre buck/nicks then i guess they could have been out on the water ( although also just because bob went sailing doesn't necessarily mean that he had a boat himself... they could have chartered one etc.)

a movie would be cool but imo to better understand bob's life, you'd have to also include the context of FM. like i'd much rather see bob's role as it relates to a mac movie/documentary...they could do an episode that sort of focused on what he was up to, like they focused on princess margaret in a few episodes of The Crown lol

-Lis

[HomerMcvie]

Dated reference, but it doesn't seem like there's anyone under 40 here these days, anyway, sooo....

Anyway, do y'all remember on WKRP in Cincinnati, when Johnny Fever got a TV show, spinning records(which were disco records they forced upon him), and he was all dressed up in shiny satin garb? I've always wondered if they based that premise on Bob's show.

[Macfan4life]

On another note. I did find a reference of North Carolina in Hypnotized. Always wondered about that since the inspiration to the song was about his trip to England. Who knows if this is true but it seems like it could be:

I just learned this week that the mysterious pond referenced in the lyrics to the Fleetwood Mac song “Hypnotized” was rumored to be here in Winston-Salem. My understanding is the song was written by Bob Welch and one of his close friends from Winston-Salem told him the story of this mysterious pond he found in the woods as a kid while living in W-S. After hearing the story, Bob Welch put it into the lyrics of this B-Side song. Below is the lyrics referencing the pond (and it possibly being created by a UFO as some websites have suggested). If anyone has anymore information on this, I would love to know!
Part of the lyrics to Fleetwood Mac’s “Hypnotized” 1973
Now it's not a meaningless question
To ask if they've been and gone
I remember a talk about North Carolina
And a strange, strange pond
You see the sides were like glass
In the thick of a forest without a road
And if any man's hand ever made that land
Then I think it would've showed

More about people trying to find this pond:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXrqb9poNdI

[Villavic]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

All we have is old interviews and his writings on his old website where many times he was very candid what he would have put in the book.

Does that website still exist? I couldn’t find it. He didn’t have any children, did he? And Wendy also passed away, so I wonder who owns those drafts now. It would be great if his memoirs were posthumously published as Hemingway's A Moveable Feast, in an authorized manner of course. That’s why I wonder if his family kept those writings.

[HomerMcvie]

Originally Posted by Villavic

Does that website still exist? I couldn’t find it. He didn’t have any children, did he? And Wendy also passed away, so I wonder who owns those drafts now. It would be great if his memoirs were posthumously published as Hemingway's A Moveable Feast, in an authorized manner of course. That’s why I wonder if his family kept those writings.

His Wikipedia page doesn't really say much about his family, siblings, etc. I'd guess that anything that was left after Wendy died, was either sold at an estate sale, or ended up in a landfill. You realize that Nashville is FILLED with Bob Welch's(I go to estate sales fairly often, and pick through their crap). One hit wonders and has beens. So his stuff would mean very little to people picking through it, cleaning out their home.

And he died in Antioch, which is like the butthole of Nashville(lots of crime, trashy people, etc...).

You know, they really should have inducted him. These aren't nice people we're following...

[SteveMacD]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

On another note. I did find a reference of North Carolina in Hypnotized. Always wondered about that since the inspiration to the song was about his trip to England. Who knows if this is true but it seems like it could be:

I just learned this week that the mysterious pond referenced in the lyrics to the Fleetwood Mac song “Hypnotized” was rumored to be here in Winston-Salem. My understanding is the song was written by Bob Welch and one of his close friends from Winston-Salem told him the story of this mysterious pond he found in the woods as a kid while living in W-S. After hearing the story, Bob Welch put it into the lyrics of this B-Side song. Below is the lyrics referencing the pond (and it possibly being created by a UFO as some websites have suggested). If anyone has anymore information on this, I would love to know!
Part of the lyrics to Fleetwood Mac’s “Hypnotized” 1973
Now it's not a meaningless question
To ask if they've been and gone
I remember a talk about North Carolina
And a strange, strange pond
You see the sides were like glass
In the thick of a forest without a road
And if any man's hand ever made that land
Then I think it would've showed

More about people trying to find this pond:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXrqb9poNdI

I think it’s generally inspired by Carlos Castaneda’s writings.

Ironically (for me), my other favorite Bob has been really into Castaneda lately.

[Macfan4life]

I think Live at the Roxy (1981) has to be one of the best concerts ever recorded. OMG thank goodness Bob recorded it. The entire band of Fleetwood Mac was there except Lindsey. Bob Weston even plays on Remember Me. Although Mick and John play on Hypnotized. Even Ann Wilson comes to sing on the last song. The Roxy had a maximum seating of about 500 so those lucky people that got to witness it. Bob performed there on November 18 and 19, 1981. However I think most of the recording or all of it was done on November 19. Stevie was in tour rehearsals for her upcoming solo concerts. Trouble and Leather and Lace were racing up the charts. Trouble moved up 5 spaces to #17 and Leather and Lace jumped another 5 to #21. Robbie Patton appears and sings with the band. He would co-write Hold Me with Chris and it was about to be recorded in France for Mirage. What a moment in time and would love to talk to anyone that was lucky enough to have been there. I had always seen the bootleg on Ebay in the early years. But I did not know that it was officially released on CD in 2004. However it never charted and was a commercial failure. IMHO the footage from this concert is some of the best stuff ever recorded. I remember in 1983 on some various video show on a random network played a clip of Hypnotized (it was not MTV). I remember being confused not at the song because I knew it was a Bob Welch/Mac tune but Chris, John, and Mick looked recent and not from 1974. I was not aware of this show back then and scratched my head where and when it was recorded. So it did get some TV play. Does anyone even know someone that attended? Can you imagine the after party from this show?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clhiO1QhlqQ

[Villavic]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

The entire band of Fleetwood Mac was there except Lindsey. Bob Weston even plays on Remember Me. Although Mick and John play on Hypnotized. Even Ann Wilson comes to sing on the last song. The Roxy had a maximum seating of about 500 so those lucky people that got to witness it. Bob performed there on November 18 and 19, 1981. However I think most of the recording or all of it was done on November 19. Stevie was in tour rehearsals for her upcoming solo concerts. Trouble and Leather and Lace were racing up the charts. Trouble moved up 5 spaces to #17 and Leather and Lace jumped another 5 to #21. Robbie Patton appears and sings with the band. He would co-write Hold Me with Chris and it was about to be recorded in France for Mirage.

It was around 14 months that the Tusk tour had ended. Bella Donna's tour was just a few days away. The band was "more than halfway finished" with Mirage, according to a september interview with Mick. A peculiar moment within a transitional phase for the band. I mean, for many, myself included, Fleetwood Mac's "magic era" had ended the last date of the Tusk tour. But watching these members with Bob that night made it seem like it was just another moment from that era. Did Lindsey ever explain why he didn't attend?