Just Skimmed Through STORMS

[TrueFaith77]

Originally Posted by louielouie2000

The band has long survived on the voyeur nature of it's followers, and her book certainly has aided in that. So in the end, she isn't helping herself all the much, but she probably in a minimal way is adding fodder to the Mac's bottom line $$$.

I wonder if Lindsey will respond to the book in his songs!!!

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by louielouie2000

I mean truly, what's in it for her? She knows she's not going to get rich of famous at this point for telling her story. Her days of cashing in on the Fleetwood Mac cash cow are LONG past. .

Her days of cashing in may be long past, but her days of TRYING to cash in aren't. That was obvious to me just 3 or 4 years ago when she appeared on the Discovery Health Channel's plastic surgery show, talking about her beauty of the past and hoping to recapture it by going under the knife. Explaining why she wanted further surgery, she wistfully fingered old pictures of herself with the band members and talked about their glory days.

She was never really in the spotlight herself, but it was obvious she missed being on the periphery of it, the vicarious glow. I imagine the book helps her relive a little of that, just as the cheek implants do.

My approach to the Mac is the same as my approach to Siskel and Ebert (or Ebert and Roeper or Roeper and Phillips). I may not trust either of their individual viewpoints completely, but when they reach a consensus, that's when I decide whether I want to see or skip the movie. I form an opinion of Mac history in much the same way. I don't discount all of Carol's story, but I could hardly believe it all. I also don't believe all of what Stevie, Lindsey, Mick, John or Christine have to say either. Without throwing any out, I fit all of the pieces together -- even the mismatched ones -- as best I can and form my own picture, but I never think any one piece is the definitive key to the puzzle.

Michele

[macpai]

I bought this in hopes of learning a little bit more about Lindsey and the band. But early on, it's been written in such romance novel speak, that I can hardly get through it.
I know there are kernels of information to be gleaned, but I'm not sure I'm going to be able to get through this.
I'd say maybe it was a drugs haze, but she wasn't even into the drugs at this point.

[marinnette]

Originally Posted by macpai

I bought this in hopes of learning a little bit more about Lindsey and the band. But early on, it's been written in such romance novel speak, that I can hardly get through it.
I know there are kernels of information to be gleaned, but I'm not sure I'm going to be able to get through this.
I'd say maybe it was a drugs haze, but she wasn't even into the drugs at this point.

I got the same feeling too... but at the end it is worth it. The bad thing is that, as you go on, the language gets more "fairytale-like"...eventually, I did diagonally reading. but I insist, I strongly recommend you this book. among others, you'll find out how drugs side effects last so long they even have a tough effect on some people's writing.

[PenguinHead]

Originally Posted by louielouie2000

If she was trying to fling mud at someone or cash in, she would have done that LONG ago. Until one of the band members comes out with their own book to refute Carol's, this book will be the definitive word on Fleetwood Mac for me.

Well stated. I completely agree with you on Carol's motivation for writing the book, as well as the book's contents. In fact, everything you said was spot on in my mind.

[Madelow]

Hello All-- After having finished "Storms" by Carol Ann Harris, I think Tango's post of 06-30-07 best describes my feelings about FM fans buying the book. I found it a fascinating read, and suggest that all fans of the band give it a look. Best always, Madelow. p.s. I agree that the photos are universally bad.

[macpai]

I personally had to bail on the book. It was just too romance-novelly written to me. It's like I couldn't believe the source. Not that she's not telling the truth on some level because I believe she is as best as she knows it, but just that her view of the truth was off in the play-by-play and that made me not get into it.

Did anyone else bail or did most everyone get through it?

[jbrownsjr]

Originally Posted by macpai

I personally had to bail on the book. It was just too romance-novelly written to me. It's like I couldn't believe the source. Not that she's not telling the truth on some level because I believe she is as best as she knows it, but just that her view of the truth was off in the play-by-play and that made me not get into it.

Did anyone else bail or did most everyone get through it?

I got through it... I liked it very much... Better than MIck's book... IMO

[michelej1]

I read it within a few hours of getting it in my hands. I found it very entertaining. It made me smile and I liked the romantic parts.

I suppose the book contained some truth, but not an overload of it. If I knew nothing about FM going in and had never heard of Carol Ann, I would not think she was a credible person. She seems to have a need for attention that makes her writing fantastical.

Just as a small example, she says she was wearing a see-through skirt standing in the wings of the stage while Stevie was performing. Suddenly, everyone in the audience stopped watching Fleetwood Mac and started staring at her in her transparent skirt. Um? I think that happened . . . never.

I mean, from the moment the book started and she described her and her many (6?) sisters all curled up in corners reading (presumably Tolstoy) as she was growing up, I knew she was trying to present herself as cultured, literary, intelligent and innocent and I suspected that presentation was false. The book continued on in that same vein, but yet it was a great read.

I just think back to watching her on that Discovery Health channel show about 5 years ago, when she was preparing for repeat plastic surgery. She was thumbing lovingly through the pictures of herself with Fleetwood Mac and saying how she wanted to attain the look she had back then, when she felt she was most beautiful. I got a perception of her as desperate and fragile, living in the past and trying to recapture a time that was far from perfect, but was the happiest she's been. When the book came out, it reinforced that image.

Michele

[slowdancer]

I think Storms is a wretched book—poorly written for one. It was very hard to read. Another is CA constantly makes herself out to be a victim, as if the Mac drove her to take drugs. She rarely takes responsibility for her actions. She is so shallow and, unfortunately, she has no real insight into the character of the man with whom she spent almost ten years.

I don’t doubt that LB slapped her around, unfortunately, but she never gives us any clue as to why. I would imagine these rages came about after heavy drug use? I don’t condone what he did, but she doesn’t seem to know why they had a relationship that was so violent.

I wanted the book to be about all the members of the band, but they come across as vapid as she. And maybe they are, but I was hoping for a real in depth look at what made these people click musically. Also, more of the craziness that was their lives back then. She never was really in the loop, so why this book? For the money I suspect. But the media never reviewed it, so it never got the publicity that Patti Boyd’s book got.

I was amused that she could remember outfits she wore—she wrote about them in such detail. Also, what in the world did she do with all those hours LB was locked in his studio? Did she cook, clean house, read a book? What did she do? What did she think? Her life with LB seemed devoid of harmony, safety or creativity. She was locked in a house of horrors, it sounds like, especially after drugs took over her life.

[whitewingdove73]

I didn't like this book at all.

I wish Lindsay or Stevie would have said something about it...

It's weird he didn't sue for defamation of character or something.

[Gailh]

Originally Posted by whitewingdove73

It's weird he didn't sue for defamation of character or something.

There are probably two reasons why he didn't take some kind of legal action

1) It's all true and he would lose

2) He didn't want to give the book the oxygen of publicity so whether it was true or not she would still gain

I don't know which one of these it would be. I don't think she could have got away with the story about the incident at Christine's house without that having a huge amount of truth in it. I suspect that nobody in Fleetwood Mac (past or present) has commented because they don't want to give her the publicity.

Gail

[CADreaming]

Originally Posted by whitewingdove73

I didn't like this book at all.

I wish Lindsay or Stevie would have said something about it...

In their own way...what song are they doing this tour that they've never played live before?

[TrueFaith77]

Originally Posted by CADreaming

In their own way...what song are they doing this tour that they've never played live before?

Yeah, and it's called "Always Been A Storm," b*tch!

[Tango]

Originally Posted by Gailh

There are probably two reasons why he didn't take some kind of legal action

1) It's all true and he would lose

2) He didn't want to give the book the oxygen of publicity so whether it was true or not she would still gain

I don't know which one of these it would be. I don't think she could have got away with the story about the incident at Christine's house without that having a huge amount of truth in it. I suspect that nobody in Fleetwood Mac (past or present) has commented because they don't want to give her the publicity.

Gail

I think you're right Gail on all of the above. When you mentioned "oxygen" I immediately thought of Oprah and the attention she is spending on Chris Brown and Rhianna (close enough to the word Rhiannon, in my mind). I'd hate to think the only way Opray would ever give attention to Fleetwood Mac would be due to this book, but I think I know what Oprah would be saying.