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20 rock the rabbit12 TH E FLEETWOOD MAC BY ANTHONY BOZZA ROCK ROYALTY MICK FLEETWOOD LOOKS baCK AT ONE OF THE GREATEST YET MOST DYSFUNCTIONAL baNDS IN MUSIC HISTORY AND FIGURES OUT WHAT COMES NEXT Stretching 48 miles long and 26 across, Maui, the second-largest of the Hawaiian islands, is a tropical paradise full of dreamy beaches and lush landscapes, the most atypical of which is arranged over 18 acres at 4,000 feet above sea level. Near the top of a winding one-lane road cut into a ruddy hillside, a shady driveway dips beneath a canopy of trees to reveal a spread that—minus the citrus groves—looks more like an English country home than a tropical retreat. Clouds that seem but an arm’s length away cast moody shadows over the homestead, giving the sense that this place is half a world from the sun- lit valley below. Lovely bushes of pink and blue flowers abuzz with bees line the roundabout that lies before the front door. Beyond it, stretching into the trees, a long, manicured lawn awaits a garden party or a game of croquet. Off to one PHOTOGRAPHY BY MATTHIAS CLAMER nude female angel playing a harp, a pack of blues musicians, an ax and a headless torso— “IN THE PAST I’D Not and more nude women—plus a portrait of HAVE taKEN NO foR AN Fleetwood in the midst of it all, draped in a ANSweR. I’D HAVE PER- patterned scarf and wearing a white shirt. SUaded SteVie to do There is, naturally, a blue rose in there too. THE toUR. BUT I’M Not “Come, have a look around,” he says. doiNG THat THIS time “There are some great old pictures of John OR EVER AGaiN.” McVie, Peter Green and me hanging about— —MICK FLEETWOOD real schoolboy stuff—and some good shots of George Harrison in the next room.” Fleet- wood stands six-foot-six and sports long, straight white hair with a wise wizard’s beard to match. He’s wearing linen trousers and a matching shirt, which is unbuttoned low. He has a long scarf around his neck and side, a fenced pen with a tasteful wooden has also put together a few bands of talented looks every inch the lord of this manor: He’s shed houses Tilly, an 18-month-old black- local players with whom he’s toured the one part maharaja, two parts bohemian and-white potbellied pig that is blissfully Hawaiian islands and points farther afield. royal. Aside from his stature, the most excited by the sudden arrival of guests. Fleetwood opens the door to reveal a lofty striking thing about Fleetwood is his eyes. This is Mick Fleetwood’s estate in Kula— great room with exposed beams, wagon- Clear blue and massive, they’re capable of part studio, part rehearsal space, part hide- wheel chandeliers and a roaring fire below conveying wide-eyed wonder, deep compas- away and all dapper man cave—which has a huge mantel of pink and green granite. A sion or a wild man’s gaze from one moment been a refuge from everything that comes meticulously restored piano that has been in to the next. They are exceedingly honest with being a legendary rock-and-roll drummer his wife’s family for more than 100 years sits too, because Fleetwood is all those things. for nearly 50 years. Though he and his soon- before a large window. Behind the piano, an Fleetwood’s drum kit commands one end of to-be third ex-wife, Lynn, and their two chil- even larger painting, The Blue Rose, fills the the room, and racks of guitars, a few ukuleles dren have lived near the beaches on the other wall. It’s done in neo-Renaissance style and and all manner of percussion instruments line side of the island, in a home that once be- includes a likeness of Rodin’s The Thinker, a the walls and floor. An eclectic, eccentric de- longed to his Fleetwood Mac co-founder John cor abounds, ranging from vintage Wurlitzer McVie, Fleetwood has relished this place as 2 jukeboxes full of early-1950s soul and rock to his personal creative space. Over the years ev- Tiffany lamps, African art, a variety of books, eryone from Willie Nelson to George Harrison a few antique suitcases and hatboxes, plus to Steven Tyler has come through to play for a collection of photos and memorabilia that fun or to rehearse for one of the many benefit would make any Fleetwood Mac fan salivate. concerts Fleetwood has participated in. Dur- Fleetwood recently brought these spoils of ing his downtime from Fleetwood Mac, he his travels and career out of storage to redec- orate the living room himself. 1 “When I saw this place, within 10 min- utes I knew I was home. But I just used it 3 to play and rehearse. All my bachelor stuff was shut up in here, and it was empty, really. I was never encouraged by my wife to do anything with it, but now so much is changing in my life,” he says, taking a long look around. “I was terrified by all of that 4 at first but not anymore. Once I made my 1. Mick Fleetwood and Stevie peace with how this next chapter of my life Nicks in 1983, during happier times. They had had an is unfolding, I began to pull the belongings affair, but given the unusual that I valued and set about creating a home dynamic of Fleetwood Mac, they were hardly alone when here. It was the right thing to do. I plan to it came to emotional musical transform this into my main estate and live chairs. 2. The band’s 1975 incarnation: Fleetwood, here full-time very soon.” Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, At 64, an age at which most men are set- Christine McVie and John McVie. 3. Nicks and Fleet- tling down—or at least settling in—Fleetwood wood at a press conference is doing the opposite. He is readdressing in 1979. 4. The group circa 1973: Bob Weston, Chris- everything he had taken for granted, from tine McVie, Bob Welch, John his personal relationships to his professional McVie and Fleetwood. 66 goals, and he’s (continued on page 110) nothing else to say about it. Stevie changed blues band into a rock band into the pop FLEETWOOD MAC her program and changed her mind, and music juggernaut it became in the mid- (continued from page 66) however willful anyone may be, this is 1970s and remained through the late diving headlong into flux. Some of these what’s happening. Or not happening, 1980s. Members have come and gone, changes are beyond his control, but the rather. It’s quite simple: Stevie changed including Bob Welch, Jeremy Spencer, wise man’s destiny is determined not by her mind. And you know what? That is our Danny Kirwan and the recently deceased the events he encounters so much as by innate privilege as humans: Each of us has Bob Weston. Relationships have done the how he reacts to them. Fleetwood, as co- the right to change our mind.” same: The McVies’ marriage dissolved founder of one of the longest-standing acts Nicks’s change of heart comes with a in 1976, as did Buckingham and Nicks’s in rock and roll, and as a player in top steep cost, though—one that even such long-term romance. Fleetwood has also form and prime health, has accepted that rock royalty as Fleetwood, Buckingham had his share of heartache and compli- m all he has built is no longer sound, and he’s and McVie can’t deny. The last time the cations. He married, then divorced, then embracing the future with the same fluid band’s entire 1970s-era lineup toured remarried Jenny Boyd, younger sister of grace that characterizes his drumming. He was in 1997, after recording The Dance, Pattie Boyd, who was famously married seems more than all right, and he’ll be the which remains one of the top-selling live to George Harrison and Eric Clapton. first to tell you as much. albums of all time. They played 44 shows Fleetwood and Jenny were on and off for The biggest change in his life is in in the U.S., a tour that raked in $60 mil- about 12 years and had two daughters progress: his separation from his wife, lion, which would be roughly $84 million before parting for good in 1976. In 1978 Lynn, after 16 years of marriage. The today. After that tour Christine McVie Fleetwood fell in love with Sara Recor loquacious drummer will say no more retired from show business, but she did (for whom the song “Sara” was written), a about it, apart from the fact that the cou- vocals on one more album, 2003’s com- model, singer and friend of Stevie Nicks’s, ple plan to do everything they can to mercially successful Say You Will; when the and married her in 1988, only to divorce make the transition as easy as it can be band toured, however, Nicks and Buck- in the early 1990s. Fleetwood married for on their two young children. And yet, ingham were obliged to cover Christine’s the fourth time in 1995, this time to Lynn this isn’t the longest-running relation- vocals. The band played intermittently in Frankel, with whom he has two daughters. ship coming undone for him now. the years that followed. It is safe to assume In addition, a number of affairs—among “I don’t believe Fleetwood Mac will ever that the fans will be rabid for the next tour.