Just Skimmed Through STORMS

[Tango]

Originally Posted by Regina

Except for the fact that she was doing this AFTER he left the band "for good."

There was no hope, at that time, for Lindsey to ever come back and very little good will toward anyone at that time. Even a couple of years later, I think she was quoted somewhere as saying Lindsey would never come back and there would never be a Rumours-era FM reunion (too lazy to look things up, sorry).

If she wanted to, she could have (and others WOULD have) hung him out to dry at that moment. There was a lot of bitterness there. At the least, she could have refused to comment completely but she didn't. She said she attacked him first. She didn't have to set the record straight, but she did and I think that's the reason I never truly believed the abuse rumors to begin with...because of Stevie.

I don't see Stevie in the same light as Carol Ann. I just think she has too strong a personality to stay in a situation like that. And I also think she's very open to discussing all kinds of things as a "lesson" to others. That's why she's so open about her drug use, etc. I think, if she had been abused, even if she chose not to "out" Lindsey...she would have used the "one of my boyfriends" did this to me and I'm telling you to get out while you can, type of speeches.

Lots of people can be scary when angry. They can be snide, rude, crude, intimidating, yell, scream, throw things, etc. That doesn't necessarily mean that they lift one little finger in anger, though.

That's not to say Lindsey didn't with CAH. But, as I stated before, I (chose to) think there was something very wrong with him physically or mentally at the time. And I'm basing that on Carol Ann's own words, by the way. The way she described it leaves that interpretation open.

It's all subject to interpretation, I guess, and what you want to believe.

I've gone on record many, many times on this board as saying I love both Lindsey and Stevie. I've traveled far and wide (for me) to see them both, and I've put blinders on--for them both. So...I'm biased and will be the first to admit it. But I'm not hanging out to dry the people I think either of them are now, based on something they may have done 30 years ago.

I tend to agree with your comments, Regina. Both pretty blonde haired chicks, but totally different personalities. In Stevie's mind she was stronger than Lindsey, or so she expressed in her songs. Yet there's no one stronger than someone enraged, fueled by alcohol and cocaine. Carol Ann was weaker than Lindsey. She was the dependent personality. And, as Stevie said in her comments while in the strangle hold, if the band didn't kill him for harming her, her father and brother would 'kill him.' Kill him? Was this the Nicks family or the Corleone family she was referring to? I hardly see Jess Nicks taking a contract out on Lindsey. But clearly Stevie thought, based on her utterances at the scene, that she had some sense of "back up" and support system.

Carol Ann, at that time, didn't seem to have that back up. She seemed a bit estranged from her family, or at least isolating some of the facts of her life from them. I doubt she was telling her (was it 5) sisters that the beautiful rock star boyfriend that she had was periodly abusing her (see page 357) until she actually left. Even then, she didn't tell her family what the doctor said. There's a definite "shame" sense in people that have been abused, and some people never reveal it. She didn't even tell Stevie about it, when she had the chance. (see pages 329-330) Instead, she changed the subject.

I also agree with you on the neurological effects of the combination of cocaine, alcohol, self medication with seizure medications and his own faulty wired brain synapes that fostered his episodic behaviors. He wasn't like that all the time. There is also NOTHING to suggest ANY of this behavior occured prior to Stevie & Lindsey joining Fleetwood Mac and getting involved with the drugs.

But at the same time, while you suggest that Stevie wasn't abused, you forget he did publicly abuse her. I'm not talking about the Tango episode, but rather the New Zealand show. Two strikes your out? Does there have to be a third acknowledged episode of abuse on Stevie to suggest he clearly had (and I do say HAD) an abuse problem on women during those drug fueled days? Even the men were afraid of him, as outlined in the book. Again, I firmly believe the combination of drugs and alcohol played a part in this. While Lindsey has stated he wasn't under the power of drugs the way the others were, I'd have to disagree. The effects they had on him were every bit as savage, maybe more so, than on the others. He didn't even remember it.

Yesterday's gone. I DO believe that, otherwise I could not be a fan of this band. I believe they were all given a new lease on life. You can't watch The Dance or any of their solo work and not believe that.