Lindsey "I've Been Writing Like Crazy"

[MacMan]

Mac attack

http://washingtontimes.com/entertainment/20040526-094510-8948r.htm
If Fleetwood Mac had played Nissan Pavilion last night as scheduled — someone got sick, but the band won't say who — here's what Lindsey Buckingham says fans would have seen: the best Mac yet.

"Strictly on a musical level — as musicians and as a band — I think we're actually doing better work now than we've ever done," Mr. Buckingham said in a recent interview.

Is the rejuvenated '70s supergroup, despite current illnesses, in it for the long haul?

"I would say so," Mr. Buckingham said. "I think we all have a major chunk of our idealism — or maybe our illusions — intact."

Also, everyone's getting along. The band is on the third leg of a tour to promote last year's "Say You Will," the first Mac album with Mr. Buckingham's participation since 1987's "Tango in the Night." "This is the best time we've ever had, certainly on a social level," he said.

He and singer Stevie Nicks, with whom he split during the making of 1977's "Rumours," "still have our moments," but he said those moments are born of affection, not animosity.

"It took a long time, but we've managed to become friends," Mr. Buckingham, 54, said of his relationship with Miss Nicks.

"For many, many years, I didn't get closure on that. I kept having to be around her all the time. But here we still are, someone I've known since I was 16."

More good news is that Mr. Buckingham, the songwriter, is as busy as ever.

He reported, "The last six months, I've been writing like crazy."