Las Vegas 12-31-1995

[SteveMacD]

Originally Posted by HomerMcvie

Wow. You used to run a Dave Mason board, right?

Why is he such a dick?

It was kind of surreal. Die-hard fans who communicated with me said he could be polite, but was generally cold to be around if not an all around ass. Some said he was still using.

He didn’t go to Jim Krueger’s funeral in 1993. At the time, Dave lived in Chicago and Jim in Milwaukee, which is maybe a two hour drive.

John Courage gave me an earful on Dave. He was polite about Bekka and Billy, but had extremely negative things to say about Dave.

Anyway, the more I learned about Dave, the less interested I became in him.

He and Mick did an online chat a year or so ago and it was kind of uncomfortable. Dave was extremely fidgety. Mick said Dave was a perfectionist. I could easily see Christine not digging him.

[HomerMcvie]

Originally Posted by SteveMacD

It was kind of surreal. Die-hard fans who communicated with me said he could be polite, but was generally cold to be around if not an all around ass. Some said he was still using.

He didn’t go to Jim Krueger’s funeral in 1993. At the time, Dave lived in Chicago and Jim in Milwaukee, which is maybe a two hour drive.

John Courage gave me an earful on Dave. He was polite about Bekka and Billy, but had extremely negative things to say about Dave.

Anyway, the more I learned about Dave, the less interested I became in him.

He and Mick did an online chat a year or so ago and it was kind of uncomfortable. Dave was extremely fidgety. Mick said Dave was a perfectionist. I could easily see Christine not digging him.

Cocaine or heroin?

I loved the Colonel, but he's gone now. Care to share any deets?

Lindsey was the ultimate perfectionist, but Christine loves him... old Dave must put the D back in dick.

[SteveMacD]

Originally Posted by HomerMcvie

Cocaine or heroin?

Cocaine.

As for anything beyond that, there wasn’t much more to report. It was probably a twenty minute call or so. There was a webmaster spreading misinformation that Bekka, Billy, and Rick were going to be part of the backing band and that it was going to be a 30th Anniversary Tour. JC quickly dispelled that. He also said that the Time band was like a cover band and felt that they had all of these songwriters and should’ve been doing their own songs.

[HomerMcvie]

Originally Posted by SteveMacD

Cocaine.

As for anything beyond that, there wasn’t much more to report. It was probably a twenty minute call or so. There was a webmaster spreading misinformation that Bekka, Billy, and Rick were going to be part of the backing band and that it was going to be a 30th Anniversary Tour. JC quickly dispelled that. He also said that the Time band was like a cover band and felt that they had all of these songwriters and should’ve been doing their own songs.

Gotcha. Thanks for sharing the info.

[Street_Dreamer]

Bekka should have been doing anything but Stevie's songs. She should have done deeper cuts like Spare Me A Little Of Your Love, Why, Just Crazy Love or Warm Ways. Sugar Daddy would have been a fantastic song for her to do.

I've never felt that Dave was a good fit for Fleetwood Mac. He always came across to me as someone who's a "straight-ahead" performer whereas most of the members of the band felt like they could branch out. Besides, if you can't get along with Bekka Bramlett, you must be a giant @$$hole.

Even if things worked out completely with this era of the group, success still would have been limited given the amount of change within the band. I like the Time album but the best thing that happened IMO was it gave Bekka her biggest platform. I wish more people would be able to get past whatever comparisons they thing about a blonde replacing another blonde (or two depending on your point of view.) She's such a fantastic and overlooked talent. She also seems to be an absolute sweetheart of a person who has never seemed to allow whatever negativity came from that period to affect her.

[SteveMacD]

Originally Posted by Street_Dreamer

Bekka should have been doing anything but Stevie's songs. She should have done deeper cuts like Spare Me A Little Of Your Love, Why, Just Crazy Love or Warm Ways. Sugar Daddy would have been a fantastic song for her to do.

She did like one Stevie song (Gold Dust Woman). The rest were Christine's.

I've never felt that Dave was a good fit for Fleetwood Mac. .

Mick Taylor would have been my choice. He'd just done that album with John and Billy, plus they could've done "Can't You Hear Me Knocking" or "Gimme Shelter," which Bekka could have totally rocked. Plus, yet another ex-Bluesbreaker.

[HomerMcvie]

Originally Posted by Street_Dreamer

Bekka should have been doing anything but Stevie's songs. She should have done deeper cuts like Spare Me A Little Of Your Love, Why, Just Crazy Love or Warm Ways. Sugar Daddy would have been a fantastic song for her to do.

I've never felt that Dave was a good fit for Fleetwood Mac. He always came across to me as someone who's a "straight-ahead" performer whereas most of the members of the band felt like they could branch out. Besides, if you can't get along with Bekka Bramlett, you must be a giant @$$hole.

Even if things worked out completely with this era of the group, success still would have been limited given the amount of change within the band. I like the Time album but the best thing that happened IMO was it gave Bekka her biggest platform. I wish more people would be able to get past whatever comparisons they thing about a blonde replacing another blonde (or two depending on your point of view.) She's such a fantastic and overlooked talent. She also seems to be an absolute sweetheart of a person who has never seemed to allow whatever negativity came from that period to affect her.

Well, could they fill ANY seats without milking "the hits"? They were out with Pat Benetar and REO Speedwagon. THAT crowd didn't want to hear unknown album cuts(I did, though). The crowd around me bitched incessantly, about how "this isn't FM!"

Bekka is the greatest singer FM ever had. She STILL has pipes to die for. I went and saw her band in Nashville pre Covid, several times, and she was awesome. And stood out in the sidewalk like some commoner on break, smoking her cancer sticks. I asked her about Time, and she acted shocked that I knew about it. The band truly could have had a new horizon, with her as the singer, if they'd only been given the chance.

[David]

The one and only time I saw them was fall 1994 (after Stevie’s superb concerts in Northern California at Arco Arena with Rick Vito and Russ Kunkel). Mac was playing Konocti Harbor Spa in Clear Lake, a buffet dinner club with about 200 people eating chicken and rice pilaf at their tables. After dessert was finished, you turned your chair toward the small stage at one end of the room — and there was Fleetwood Mac. Not exactly auspicious.

They played essentially the same set (five or six Mac hits and several Mason numbers, just over an hour) with the same confused listlessness and flippancy. Afterwards, I went out on the boat dock and talked to Mick Fleetwood, who was smoking a cigarette and staring out over the dark water.

It didn’t really matter who was in the band at this point. The band had no focus, no raison d’être. It was as if their arrest warrant and death sentence had already been signed, not only by their label but the public, as well. They had sunk to the level of a side dish with your chicken and rice.

[jmn3]

Originally Posted by HomerMcvie

The band truly could have had a new horizon, with her as the singer, if they'd only been given the chance.

Could they though? They’d have to totally disassociate themselves with the Rumours era of the band and there’s no way that was going to happen at that point. Even if the Time album had been pushed, how could they reasonably tour it effectively with Christine on the album but not on the road? And by the time we’re talking about, with Hell Freezes Over still making obscene amounts of money, no doubt that any restart of Fleetwood Mac was going to be to reset it back to the 1975-87 era.

[Villavic]

Though the original rhythm section is there, the total absence of the three singers, who probably were the main reason for many people in the late 70s to become Fleetwood Mac fans, makes people (and media, record companies, etc.) not interested in this lineup.

Bekka had a great voice there. But, with all respect, this sounds like a tribute band to me.

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by Villavic

Though the original rhythm section is there, the total absence of the three singers, who probably were the main reason for many people in the late 70s to become Fleetwood Mac fans, makes people (and media, record companies, etc.) not interested in this lineup.

Bekka had a great voice there. But, with all respect, this sounds like a tribute band to me.

Yeah. Its tough when famous singers front your band and the drummer/bassist are original and want to go on. Mick has looked back and written regret making the band go on. However you must put it in context. Fleetwood Mac was over and you keep doing what you want to do to keep you busy and make a few bucks. Your other option is to sit home and think of older days. Part of me admires the effort to keep the band relevant. There is that other part that makes you realize you need to stop. For those that flame them for doing classic Mac songs.......this line up needed to. No one was coming to hear songs from Time, an album they never heard of. Some of them realized the singers had changed but they still want to hear those songs. In 1994 I had a chance to see them up close at a nightclub and I passed. You know what, I have regret about that.