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Originally Posted by PenguinHead
It's really an amazing photo, being that it's two years prior to their Buckingham Nicks album. What year did they leave Fritz?
It's interesting how some surmised that this photo was just before they joined Fleetwood Mac. Stevie's hairstyle screams of an era just before Buckingham Nicks.
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There wasn't an official break-up date but 1971, though it was pretty much acknowledged to be over in 1970. This is the progression of the break-up of Fritz according to Javier.
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After S&L became a romantic item, things started to change in very subtle ways. Gradually, Lindsey started to change, they both seemed a little defensive about their new relationship, and here is where the breakdown in communication begins. This is a slow process that unravels over weeks and months. Gradually S&L become comfortable with each and before you know it, they are going the same way on a lot of decisions. Next thing you know we are split over certain matters. They begin to be more reclusive. Bob begins to side with them, then Brian, mostly for the sake of expediency and unity. Next thing I know, I am the sole opposition on some matters. There were areas of discussion were neither of S&L wanted to go, in terms of the candid conversations about the Fritz family. The wedge is complete. We are pressured to accept the opportunity to go to L.A. and establish ourselves through the management team of Shiffman and Larson. Not only that, but we are told that that is the best we can ever hope for. I didn’t think it was the best we could ever hope for, so immediately, I became the cog in the wheel, I am the spoiler. Bob is content to follow the majority, Brian is somewhat confused and unsure about it all. He becomes almost withdrawn.
Then, sometime after arriving in Los Angeles, around
Monday, August 10, 1970, getting ready to go to the gig at the Whisky A-Go-Go, Sunset Blvd., I go to S&L’s room to try to discuss matters with them. Lindsey bluntly tells me in front of Stevie that
“we don’t care what you say anymore.” I walk away speechless. I want to go hide somewhere. Now, I am not only deposed as the creative leader of the band, but my words don’t carry any weight anymore. Therefore,
by 1971, we are finishing up what gigs are left. Despite my pleasure in the music, going to a gig is now a kind of humiliating exercise because there is hardly any joviality left. There is no spirit, no communication on or off the stage, people arrive and leave without hardly talking to one another. Rehearsals had long since come to a grinding halt, and I am made to feel like an outcast, like it was all my fault to begin with.
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You asked me to name specific times. Here goes. This is taken from my 1968-69 calendar. I did not write exhaustively in it, but there are some vital points to share with you. No doubt 1968 was our most formative year. we were quite busy. My entries start in the fall.
October 1968--every weekend is booked solid. Cupertino HS, Roble Hall (Stanford), Burlingame Rec, The Ark (San Carlos), Del Mar High School, De Anza High, Saratoga, Menlo Circus Club, Wutzit Club (San Jose), St Francis High. We were all over the south Peninsula. November has three weekend nights that are free. The rest includes Woodside High, Jack Taar Hotel (S.F.), Gilroy High School, Burlingame Rec, St Mattias Hall (Redwood City), and Bucser High (Santa Clara). December includes some gigs on Sundays as well as weekends. Mitty High (San Jose, Menlo School, Notre Dame High (Belmont), Crystal Ball (Burlingame) and Redwood City’s Demolay.
The month of January 1969 we only played two high school gigs (on the 2nd and 3rd). It was lucky for me, because I had speech and sociology finals that month (at SJSU).
February is entirely blank. From the 1st to the 15th I have “SPLIT” written in big letters over those days. That means the group was broken up at the time. And if I recall correctly it was over disagreements between Lindsey, Stevie and I, which had boiled to a head and, as I have mentioned numerous times, comprised the eye of the hurricane. This might have been the time that Linds took that swipe at me.
I have nothing for February. This was the beginning of the end. We went to a point of no return here, from which we would never get back to being the happy-go-lucky band we had been before. This was the break-up that set in motion our continued separation and alienation.
March 7-- only a gig at Saratoga High School. Underneith I wrote “start of something.” I believe that after the February blow out, I remember allowing weeks to pass before attempting to talk to the members about reconciling. The first person I visited was Brian. I could always talk to Brian, even though he was a little hesitant at first, I remember he was not just mad at me, but also frustrated with the whole situation. We reached an understanding. Thereafter, I believe I broke the ice with Lindsey, going over to talk with him at his house. Tempers had cooled and we did press on. We did that gig on the 7th. My calendar is blank after that, but I know we continued to play gigs. We did that Cañada College (daytime) concert on April 17, 1969 (the picture that’s here), and I know we continued to work through the year. The Dave Forest letters kept us current every week. Anyway, this is the time that the serious problems start. We temporarily resolve some issues--moreover, it was like signing an uneasy “truce.” We’d decided to try it again, for the sake of the band. I think we got through the rest of 1969 without a lot of hassles, doing more concerts and important dates.
Things continue to unravel however, in 1970.
1970
I know we played gigs in the first two months, but I did not record them in my book.
In March 26 & 29 we are at the Fillmore West and Winterland (27, 28), respectively. I had mentioned the lineup earlier--Chicago was the main header. On the last night I noted we got a standing ovation. All this excitement seemed to tie us together slightly for awhile.
On August 4th, I write: “Band ‘practice’ today. Climax to another gap between people. Another day gone to waste--the divisions widen. Can no longer look back--4 to 1 (I’m outnumbered) and a test of sanity in a hall of blindness and hate. Constant change, constant turmoil & stimuli. Wow.” August 5th “Bob came over to ‘talk.’ The hard line. Jumpin’ Crazy fish!” (I believe I was being warned by Bob that the band would crumble unless I “straigtened up.”) We arrive in Los Angeles on the 6th.
August 7th--Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, with Leon Russell and Its A Beautiful Day. (you’ve seen the flyer here) The gig was described as “kinda a mess.” I wrote: “Too many sound problems f*cked it up.”
August 10--10 p.m. (Just before leaving for the gig at Whisky A-Go-Go) I write: “Pieces of a seeming jigsaw puzzle formulate and shatter into fragmentations of discord and conividness. Now competition becomes a household word.” (I refer here to conversations between L&S and Keith Olsen or the managers that do not include me.) “Shrewd, individual stars of illusion. Fritz ala 1970--only playing music makes me feel good.”
August 11-- “I awoke early today with the same bad feeling, like an ailment of the heart--nothing to cure it except time and a little faith in something. Tonight’s gig was preceded by another little incident. ( I am referring here to when Lindsey bluntly tells me “We don’t care what you say.”) “That put the capper on tonight as well as this whole f*cked up trip. I’m traveling in a mad dog circus called _________guess. My thoughts are on what to do about this mess--where do we go from here. I seem to be caught up in the wrong crowd--where’s the music.”
August 12--I took off for awhile with an African-American friend, Gary, singer from a once-rival San Jose group called “Together.” We went to meet some young “New Yawkas” who had just moved to a swell house with pool in San Fernando Valley. Later that night I was to meet Lindsey and Stevie at Studio City to record my demo contribution, “Louisa Joy” (sung by Lindsey). We finished at 5 a.m. On the 15th I would hear that “Louisa Joy” was “judged a hit by the president of Dunhill Records.” But nothing ever came of it.
August 20--I finish reading Huxley’s Brave New World, continue to work on the song “Bold Narcissus.” (Sorry folks, I had said earlier that I wrote it in 1969. I was wrong!)
August 21--”Today a fruitless conversation with the band.” There are rehearsals on August 24, 25, 31, Sept 2, 3, and on Sept 4 we leave to play at Salt Lake City on the 5th (we drove late night through Nevada and stopped for coffee at a bad place). I wrote that the gig was nice.
Sept 25--Show with Leon Russell, Ike and Tina Turner (Santa Clara Fairgrounds). “Reception was warm but not overwhelming.”
I wrote, “the last concert with Fritz.” Actually, this is not true, there was still more to come.
October 20-- (Tuesday, Keith Olsen arrives in Bay Area to talk to the band. He’s supposed to bring news of negotiations with RCA Records. He doesn’t yet know we are in complete disarray.) The band had not talked or practiced since the 25th.
October 21--In icy fashion I scribbled: “Today Fritz was told by Keith Olsen (a commercial rock producer from L.A.) what they should’ve expected to hear.” Olsen’s words were “The band is on the verge of breaking up; having not practiced or communicated as a band for almost three weeks. Fritz is not together enough to record professionally.” My cool comment: “It came as no surprise.” No one spoke that day. In the end, everyone was weary of the turbulance, we were all ready to pack it in. I was numb.
October 23 (Friday)--The De Anza Junior College gig where a packed house gave us ovations and goosebumps to remember.
October 24--Mission San Jose High School--”The sound that was made was a roar.” (This means the acoustics were terrible.)
October 29 (Thurs)-- I wrote:
“Today the members of Fritz spoke about the decline of the band and the final break up which will occur no later than December 31, 1970. Everyone was cool and restrained.” (We actually kept on playing through part of 1971.)
Oct 30 (Friday)-- Campbell High School (S.J.). “David Forest was there to offer his condolences and he seemed a little more speechless than he usually is.”
Oct 31 (Sat)-- Bellermine High School. “This was a bore for the apathetic pig Catholic punks who behaved like empty maggots. The band was its coldest ever, me included. I couldn’t bring myself to smile at Windsey--for no apparent reason. I despise their conventional superficiality.” I hated how everyone could be so cool about everything, but even I had fallen into the blasé resignation.