FM article in Detroit Free Press

[melacine]

There's an article in today's Free Press about FM with a photo from the PA show (attached):



As the relationship between Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham goes, so goes Fleetwood Mac.


The band, formed as a British blues-rock outfit in 1967, has a history that reads like a soap opera script. Band members have literally gone crazy. Some have gone AWOL. Members have slept together. Marriages were broken. More than 73 million records have been sold. And still the quarrels continue. Even a 2004 tour that raked in $22 million ended in acrimony, with a fed-up Nicks saying she was through and Buckingham returning to his solo career.

But now, on the eve of another Mac tour, the biggest problem facing Nicks is a sore arm. While being interviewed, she mentions that a physical therapist is working her over. "I strained my right arm doing arm curls, which I never do, so I'm trying to get it back so I can comfortably and enjoyably play tambourine."

Such are the rigors of being a multimillionaire icon in a band that defined mainstream pop in the '70s. Mac is commanding as much as $149.50 per ticket (plus service charges) for a national tour that includes a Sunday show at the Palace of Auburn Hills. Members promise few surprises. It's just a show with more than two hours of greatest hits -- just the way fans presumably like it.

Buckingham has long detested the idea of doing a nostalgia tour, but he says he's "just trying to ride the machine." Part of Mac's on-off existence the last three decades has been because of his creative restlessness. He has maintained a solo career defined by adventurous albums between Mac projects. As one of the band's primary songwriters as well as its producer and arranger, Buckingham is first among equals, and his word goes a long way in determining Mac's fortunes. This time, he agreed to do a hits tour to promote a box-set release of the band's best-selling 1977 "Rumours" album.


"There's still a push-pull inside me that says I need to redefine myself creatively, but I did two solo albums in the last three years. So it allowed me to feel a little more relaxed about doing something like this," he says. "I am very consciously going into this not wanting to drive anyone in the band crazy if I can help it -- and sometimes it doesn't take a lot for me to do that."


That sounds like a man compromising his artistic instincts in the name of peace, harmony and cash. Buckingham laughs.

"Why am I doing this? It's a good question. ... Let me see, why am I doing this? Well, we'll probably make a ton of money, and that'll make everything a bit easier. But the other reason is that there's unfinished business with Fleetwood Mac. Stevie left the last tour saying she wasn't going to do this again, and that's not right."

Mac's last tour followed the release of a 2003 studio album, "Say You Will." That's where the troubles began. Buckingham had interrupted his solo work to make the album with Mac, and he brought finished songs into the recording session. Christine McVie had retired from the music business, leaving Buckingham and the founding rhythm section of Mick Fleetwood and John McVie to focus on Nicks' songs. Buckingham and Nicks already had a history. They were former lovers, and old tensions would resurface whenever new conflicts emerged.

Buckingham says if they pull off this tour without any meltdowns, there may be one more Fleetwood Mac studio album down the road. But he makes no promises.

"We all want this to work," he says, "but there are only 45 dates scheduled. I'm sure there are people in back rooms somewhere talking about more dates in America and elsewhere in the world, but nothing is in the books. ... In this band, it's best not to plan too far in advance."






Also a blurb about Mick's wine:






Hey, brother, pour the wine

Wine-loving Fleetwood Mac fans could find their glasses full of Mick Fleetwood's Private Cellar Riesling as part of the Vintage Rock Wine Dinner set for 6:30 p.m. March 13 at Fleming's Steakhouses in Livonia and Birmingham.

This isn't a wine that Mick Fleetwood just threw his name on. Fleetwood partners with different wineries and winemakers, creating varietals he enjoys. His Riesling is made from grapes grown in Santa Barbara and Monterey Counties and features flavors of apricot, melon and honeysuckle.

There's still time to reserve space for the four-course dinner, which includes another rock-bred wine -- via B.R. Cohn, manager of the Doobie Brothers for 35 years -- as well as Groovy Goat Cheese and Oven Dried Tomato Crostini, Rockin' Shrimp and Blue Cheese Sauce, Killer Filet Mignon and Smokin' Brownie Sundae.

$55 per person, does not include tax and gratuity. To reserve: 248-723-0134 (Birmingham) or 734-542-9463 (Livonia).

For more: http://www.MicksWine.com.downloadabl...leatthewebsite



Here's a link to the write up:
http://www.freep.com/article/2009030...romote+box+set



Luv,
Shel

[Jen77]

I just saw this in the paper. I had to giggle when Stevie talks about doing arm curls, lol.

[melacine]

Here's a larger scan of the PA pick:




and a small blurb from The Detroit News:




luv,
Shel

[michelej1]

Awww. Thanks for those scans. My hometown paper.

Michele

[michelej1]

The Oakland Presshttp://www.theoaklandpress.com/artic...0642669043.txt

Friday, March 6, 2009 2:47 PM EST
BY GARY GRAFF
Of The Oakland Press

Fleetwood Mac has been going since 1967, selling more than 100 million albums, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.

But drummer and founder Mick Fleetwood still considers it “the worst-run franchise in the business.”

“We’re not grinding this thing every two years ... and running this well-oiled machine. It’s actually quite a rusty machine,” notes Fleetwood, 61, who’s seen the band through 13 lineups, 16 members, mental illness, defections to cults, broken relationships and lawsuits against bogus versions of the band.

“We don’t do this very often. We do this when it feels right ... because it’s the right time to do it and everyone feels free and open and upbeat about what we’re doing.”

And this year is one of those times.

Fleetwood Mac has lit out on an Unleashed tour of North America, its first road trip in five years and the first time the group has toured without a new album to promote, focusing instead on its greatest hits. Fleetwood is joined by longtime bassist John McVie (who joined later in 1967), Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, who joined as a couple in 1975 and ushered in the group’s most successful era.

Their breakup also helped to inspire the band’s 1977 blockbuster “Rumours,” which has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide and is being released this year in an expanded version with previously unreleased bonus tracks and a DVD.

The lack of new material does not seem to be bothering the band members, however.

“It takes a little pressure off,” notes singer-guitarist Buckingham, 59, who’s released three solo albums since Fleetwood Mac last toured. “It kind of frees you up to enjoy each other a little bit more as people. We can relax into just hanging (out) a little bit more.

“The mantra is really, ‘Let’s just have a good time’ and value the friendships and the history that really underpins this whole experience that we’ve had over these years.”

That was also necessary, he says, after the 2003-04 sojourn to promote the group’s last album, “Say You Will.”

There was lingering “discontent,” according to Buckingham, following that tour. It was the group’s first run without singer-keyboardist Christine McVie, who retired from the band in 1998, and Buckingham felt that Nicks in particular was “overwhelmed” by being the only woman in the band after 24 years with McVie by her side.

“Maybe to some degree there was a little too much testosterone on stage when we went out in 2003,” Buckingham says of his ex-girlfriend. “We did not succeed as well as we could have on a kind of interpersonal level.”

But while Nicks says, “I miss Christine every day because she was my best buddy,” she counters that she has no problem with her role as the first and only lady of Fleetwood Mac.

“You have to understand I’ve been the only girl in Fleetwood Mac now since 1998, and it’s 2009, so I’m used to it now,” Nicks, 60, says. “There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t wish (McVie) would call up and say, ‘I’m back,’ but she’s not going to, so we’ve all kind of accepted that now.”

Another woman almost made her way into Fleetwood Mac, however. In 2008, Sheryl Crow — a good friend who co-produced Nicks’ 2001 album “Trouble in Shangri-La” and was a guest on “Say You Will” — told reporters she would be joining the band. There was apparently some truth to that; Nicks confirms that Fleetwood Mac had rented a studio on Mother’s Day 2008 to test out the potential collaboration, but personal circumstances intervened.

“It was Mother’s Day. She had a brand new baby. She had all her parents and everybody coming and she chose not to cancel that, understandably,” Nicks says. “She called back and said ‘I have to pass,’ and it was over.

“I said, ‘You’re making the right decision. You have a new baby, you survived breast cancer, you survived Lance Armstrong ...’ Sheryl is my very dear friend ... and that will go on forever. The fact she is not in the band does not mean she’s not our friend.”

But Buckingham says that he “wasn’t really sure what the logic was” for having Crow join the band and was somewhat put off by what he considered a “premature” announcement on her part.

However, he notes, “I think the good side of that has been that Stevie came to a point of clarity where she realized the most appropriate thing we could do as a band was to work amongst the four of us and to create what needs to be created in that context. That’s been a real positive and a real rallying point for all of us.”

There are hopes that the Unleashed tour will ultimately lead to a new Fleetwood Mac album, though Nicks contends that it’s a far-off thought. “There isn’t any plan at this point,” she says. “We’re going to get through this tour before deciding what to do with an album.”

But Buckingham says he’s hopeful that the tour will “sow some seeds musically that would get us more prepared to go in the studio rather than just going in cold.”

Fleetwood, however, confirms that “there have been discussions, for sure, that we would love to make some more music ... We hope it happens, and certainly it’s been somewhat loosely touched on. Certainly, I know that all of the songwriting department, both Stevie and Lindsey are continually writing.

“The whole creative bowl is very much intact, so I would love to see what happens. My heart says I believe that will happen.”

[StreetAngel86]

Originally Posted by michelej1

Another woman almost made her way into Fleetwood Mac, however. In 2008, Sheryl Crow — a good friend who co-produced Nicks’ 2001 album “Trouble in Shangri-La” and was a guest on “Say You Will” — told reporters she would be joining the band. There was apparently some truth to that; Nicks confirms that Fleetwood Mac had rented a studio on Mother’s Day 2008 to test out the potential collaboration, but personal circumstances intervened..

yah im sure it was all the baby's fault
more like someone else had personal problems with the notion

[danax6]

Arm curls.