Christine McVie: Why she quit and rejoined the band

by Jon Bream
Star Tribune

Photo: Danny Clinch

On why she left

“I’d developed a dreadful fear of flying. I was fed up with the travel and all the schlepping. I think I got burned out with that. Then my father died. I bought a house in England. I wanted to spend more time with my family in England after the big earthquake we had; I wanted to get out of L.A. I was a country lady, living in a big house with the dogs and cooking. I just wanted to calm down and breathe and lead a normal life for a bit. I told the guys when we were doing the last tour [in 1998], and they accepted it. It wasn’t ever anything personal.”

On her music career

“I did make a solo album with my nephew in my studio. But I was still afraid of flying, so I didn’t want to tour.”

On why she came back

“I think it came to a point where I said: ‘What am I going to do? I can’t sit here and watch my dogs get old. I’ve got to do something.’ I wanted to play music. But I couldn’t fly. So I went to a therapist and got myself sorted out. It so happened that Mick [Fleetwood] was coming into London to promote Fleetwood Mac’s upcoming tour in Europe. He called me. I said, ‘I’m going to try to get to Maui’ [where he lived]. He said: ‘You’ll get on a plane? You come with me. We’ll go back together.’ That’s what I did. I got on the plane, and I never thought about it again. I [later] went all over Africa on this tiny 12-seater plane and thoroughly enjoyed it. Then I said to Mick: ‘What would you do if I were to rejoin the band?’ ”

On preparing for the tour

“Mick and I are sharing this house in L.A., and we have a terrific friendship. It’s like a health farm. We work out separately with a trainer. She also cooks for us.”

On her voice

“We have the same chap [vocal coach] we had before I left the band. He’s fantastic. My voice is holding up really well. They say I’m singing like a bird.”

STEVIE NICKS "24 KARAT GOLD - SONGS FROM THE VAULT"

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Fleetwood Mac's famously fractured family is together, including Christine McVie

Photo: Danny Clinch

by: Jon Bream
Star Tribune 

Christine McVie is back in the picture after a 16-year separation. Fleetwood Mac talks about their oft-fractured ties and the reunion tour opening in Minneapolis Tuesday.

She’s back! Finally. After a 16-year retirement, singer/keyboardist Christine McVie has returned to Fleetwood Mac.

The “Rumours” lineup is intact. The band can perform “Don’t Stop” and “You Make Lovin’ Fun” the way they were meant to be played. Fleetwood Mac will be whole once again.

Wait a minute, sister. It’s not that simple.

This is Fleetwood Mac, rock’s famously fractured family. You can’t just write McVie — one of the group’s three singer-songwriters — back into rock’s longest-running soap opera.

It’s a process. You need meetings, and maybe a little therapy, and more discussions. It wasn’t enough that McVie sat in with the Rock Hall of Fame band for one song in London last year.

“There were conversations,” McVie said before a recent rehearsal for the band’s On With the Show Tour that opens Tuesday in Minneapolis. “And we had conference calls, and everybody thought it was a great idea and asked, was I committed seriously? I couldn't go in and out. I said: ‘I don’t have a problem with that.’ So next thing you know I was sending my demos to Lindsey [Buckingham] and he was sending them back with his guitar and his voice.”

Book excerpt: "Play On" by Fleetwood Mac Drummer Mick Fleetwood

Mick Fleetwood, the drummer and co-founder of Fleetwood Mac, has written a new autobiography about his music-filled life.

The following is an excerpt from the introduction of "Play On: Now, Then and Fleetwood Mac" by Mick Fleetwood & Anthony Bozza. Copyright © 2014 by Constant Endeavor LLC.

If Music Be The Food Of Love . . .

Play on. Two words, no more, but they've said it all to me.

They've been, at different times, a simple direct order, a call to action, a mantra and a comforting concept that promised rebirth. I first read them in the most beautiful and romantic couplet in "Twelfth Night," my favourite of Shakespeare's works. I've never forgotten it; in fact I took it to heart immediately because it spoke to me. When things have moved me so profoundly in this life, be they people, places or things, no matter how they've come to me, I've made them forever a part of me. I've signed countless autographs with the phrase "Play on." I've said it to many people in many contexts. As I've made my way through life, as intricate and difficult as it has often been, as ecstatic and debauched as it has too often been, those words have always been with me. What they've come to mean to me has been a rock when the rest of my world was set adrift.

The entire couplet is the inspiration behind the title of Fleetwood Mac's fourth studio album, "Then Play On," released in 1969, which I still count as my favourite record. My second favourite is easy to choose: it's "Tusk," released ten years later by a very different incarnation of the band -- the only one that many of our fans are familiar with. To those fans reading these words, please do stick around, you'll be amazed to learn how many roads we travelled before we met you.

On the surface, "Then Play On" and "Tusk" have little in common sonically, but listen deeper and you'll hear a band with its back against the creative wall, recording music at the brink of its existence. Both of those albums were made when we would either play on or cease to be, and when the idea of overcoming the insurmountable through creating anew was the only way out for us. I can't say that I saw it as a solution, but I felt it as my faith, and I preached to my compatriots to play on -- and that's what we did.

I'm still here, lucky enough to be partnered with the greatest musical comrades I could ever hope to have. We have been through so many ups and downs, and though I denied it for years, particularly to my loved ones, I know now that since this band began, I have devoted my entire life to it. In every incarnation Fleetwood Mac has brought me so much joy that I hope whatever our fans have taken from the music is a fraction of what I've got from it. I've also realized, through trial, lots of error, growing older and hopefully wiser, how much that choice has weighed on my family. It's hard to devote yourself to a musical family of our magnitude while trying to nurture one of your own; it's an unfair tug-of-war I am still working out.

Source: CBSNews.com

• "Play On: Now, Then and Fleetwood Mac" by Mick Fleetwood & Anthony Bozza will be published in hardcover by Little, Brown on Oct. 28. It will also be available in Hardcover Large Print, e-Book, Audio Download and Audio CD formats.
• Pre-order via Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
• Mick Fleetwood's Official Site
• Follow Mick Fleetwood on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube
• fleetwoodmac.com

STEVIE NICKS "24 KARAT GOLD - SONGS FROM THE VAULT"

Pre-Order from Stevienicksofficial.com Available October 7th.

LISTEN: "Twisted" the NEW version from Stevie Nicks "24 Karat Gold - Songs From The Vault"

via Warner Bros. Records here's "Twisted" from Stevie's new album "24 Karat Gold - Songs From The Vault".  I like it!  It'll take me a bit to get used to, I'm so used to the duet version she sang back in 1996 with Lindsey on the "Twister" soundtrack... But this is good!  It's a great song.

[UPDATE] Warner Bros. removed "Twisted" and replaced it with Watch Chain.

STEVIE NICKS "24 KARAT GOLD - SONGS FROM THE VAULT"

Pre-Order from Stevienicksofficial.com Available October 7th.

Stevie Nicks Brings 24 Karat Gold Polaroid Self-Portrait Exhibit to Hollywood

Rock Legend Stevie Nicks Strikes Gold in Polaroid Self-Portraits
By Sarah Kobos
ABC News

Take a sneak peek at never-before-seen self-portraits from Stevie Nicks' personal Polaroid collection, which will be coming to the Morrison Hotel Gallery in New York City and West Hollywood.

NEW YORK CITY:

October 10th - 11th: The exhibit opens at 201 Mulburry St.. (11am - 7 pm)

October 12th - 31st: The exhibit can be viewed at Morrison Hotel Gallery Loft at 116 Prince St. Mon-Sat: 11-7pm; Sunday: 12-6pm

WEST HOLLYWOOD:

The exhibition is also open to the public beginning Oct. 10, 2014 running until October 21, 2014 at Morrison Hotel Gallery's West Hollywood location in the lobby of the Sunset Marquis Hotel located at 1200 Alta Loma Road, Los Angeles, CA Mon-Wed: 11am - 8pm; Thu-Sat: 10am - 11pm; Sun: 11am - 7pm

Visit Morrison Hotel Gallery to view more examples of what will be on display and also if you are interested in purchasing prints.

Stevie Nicks, 66, is renowned for capturing emotions through her music (including Fleetwood Mac), but she also captured it through a camera during what many call the golden age of rock. Nicks was a night owl who needed another artistic outlet and eventually began creating self-portraits. The images in Nicks' debut photography exhibition, "24 Karat Gold," were taken from 1975 to 1987.

Nicks wanted to learn how to become a photographer and because she doesn't sleep at night, she started thinking; "Who am I going to ask to stay up all night and then do a show the next night? I'm not going to get [bandmate] Christine [McVie] to be my model. She's going to say, 'Are you crazy? I'm going to the bar. Bye.' Then I thought, well, why not use a plant and I moved on from there."

Nicks used to put the Polorid camera on a tripod and attached a long shutter release cable to capture the shots. Nicks said: "I would sit with the button in my hand so that I could be completely dressed in a long white gown with red lipstick and big hair. Remember, this was the middle of the night. I was usually in the presidential suite and if the light on the plant wasn't bright enough, I'd go into the bedroom, find a huge lamp and drag it into the living room and I'd put it on the plant. Then I'd hop back in the picture and press the button. I usually had to take about 12 shots until I got it just right. Lots of times I'd run out of film and I would send people out to buy me film in the middle of the night. I was doing this forever and I didn't stop until Polaroids were almost impossible to use because they all eventually broke down and we couldn't find film anywhere."

The photography exhibition coincides with the Oct. 7, 2014, release of her new album, "24 Karat Gold - Songs From the Vault," and the upcoming tour with the fully reunited Fleetwood Mac. 

STEVIE NICKS "24 KARAT GOLD - SONGS FROM THE VAULT"

Pre-Order from Stevienicksofficial.com Available October 7th.

Official Commentary Video: Stevie Nicks - "I Don't Care"

STEVIE NICKS "24 KARAT GOLD - SONGS FROM THE VAULT"

Pre-Order from Stevienicksofficial.com Available October 7th.