The Los Angeles Times, October 16th, 1997

The members of Fleetwood Mac call Southern California home. So, what do they do when they're in town?

If the sellout crowds and critical thumbs-ups are any indication, Fleetwood Mac has been a part of a great night out for a lot of people lately.
     Twenty years after the release of the veteran band's monstrously successful "Rumours" album, its reunited classic lineup--Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Christine McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks--is on the road, garnering enough popular support and positive reviews to quiet any skeptics who doubted the group's ability to reinvigorate itself.
     Given that L.A.-based fans will have the chance to build their own pop-perfect weekends around Mac music when the band plays Irvine Meadows this weekend and the Hollywood Bowl next Friday, Calendar was curious: With rehearsal schedules and tour dates out of the way, how would the members of Fleetwood Mac--Southern California area residents all--spend their own "perfect" weekends around L.A.?
     Turns out that offstage, the band is quite happy to stay close to home.
     "Well, first of all, in this business you tend to lose track of what exactly a weekend is," Mick Fleetwood, 50, says with a laugh. "But if I'm in town and I'm not working, there are a few things I love to be able to do. My wife and I go running--we've got some favorite spots way up off Mulholland Drive where we get some incredible views. And we're both sun freaks, so whenever the sun's out, there's sure to be some skinny-dipping in the pool--letting it all hang out, you know."
     In Fleetwood's ideal weekend, there wouldn't be very many post-dip reasons for getting dressed and out of the house, though a good meal or some live music might tempt him.
     "We know the owner of [La Cachette] restaurant, so we get treated very well there. Something with salmon or scallops always looks good to me, though if I'm falling off the meat wagon, I'll have a big old hunk of shepherd's pie. As far as nights on the town go, I don't get out to see bands as much as I'd like, but one of my favorite places to see music is the Mint--it's got such a great club feel. And I've had some very nice nights at the Viper Room."
     Back at home, dressed or not, there's one more crucial element to Fleetwood's weekend. "I'm majorly addicted to the phone. I'll spend the whole day talking if I don't watch myself, so if I really want a restful weekend, I've gotten into the habit of making myself take the phone off the hook.
     "It's the only way I'll stop talking. I won't even check my messages. When you do that, it's amazing how your day just calms down. So, phone off, news on, a good biography in a comfortable chair, sunny day--I'm feeling better already."
     Stevie Nicks, 49, says she's often contented to spend free time finding inspiration in the ocean view from the music room of her Pacific Palisades home. But for a "perfect" weekend, she'd get even closer to the water.
     "What I'd like to do more than anything in the world is sail," she explains. "If I didn't have to work, I think I'd rent a 100-foot sailboat. I'd take along my electric piano with plenty of batteries, my guitar, my little amp and my journal with all my unfinished, sort-of-together poetry.
     "I'd set out Friday afternoon and stay out as late Sunday night as I could--just drifting out to Catalina and back. The ocean has always been so important to me--so energizing. With all the Fleetwood Mac records I've done, and all my solo albums, whenever I got a first pressing back I'd go out on the water and listen to it there. I figure if the music works for me out at sea, it will work for everyone back ashore."
     Lindsey Buckingham, 48, has long been acknowledged as the studio wizard of the group, so perhaps it's not surprising to hear that, with a free weekend on his hands, the guitarist would head not into town, but to his home studio.
     "I don't profess to be very well-rounded," he says with a chuckle. "I know people wonder how anyone could spend X-amount of hours alone in a little room. But I can come out of an eight-hour stretch in my studio feeling fantastic--like I've been meditating.
     "So a good weekend for me would be to get some of my own music done--have some kind of studio breakthrough with something I've been working on a couple of years. For a perfect weekend--well, I've got a fantastic view from my home, so maybe I'd spread a blanket outside, put out a bottle of wine, cook a couple of steaks, maybe make love on the lawn, get some sun, enjoy some swimming--then go back inside and cut a hit song.
     "There's a nice balance there I think."
     John and Christine McVie weren't available for interviews (no time?), but bandmate Nicks says she has some idea how they might spend their days off. "John has a beautiful sailing boat called the Challenge--I'm sure he'd be straight off to Tahiti. And Christine is a very happy homebody. She's a magnificent cook and she's got a magnificent house. You could go there and feel comfortable forever. I know her weekend would include fabulous food, fabulous music and a big fire roaring in the fireplace at all times."
     The homey pleasures the band members prefer in their L.A. weekends won't necessarily translate into quiet, cozy times on the road, however.
     "The fact that we're not doing massive amounts of drugs makes this tour a little different for us," Nicks says. "But there's a part of it that's very much the same. There's a part of being a rock 'n' roll animal that doesn't die whether or not you drink or do drugs. We're all still fairly crazy."
     Fleetwood agrees.
     "I still have a lot of energy, so it won't be like, 'Do the show--head straight to the hotel for tea and nappies.' I'm an adventurer and I like to head out into the night. That's what I used to be like and that's what I'm still like.
     "The difference is that now I remember where I've been. And, even better, now I'm going to really enjoy remembering, because from the first day the five of us got back together and played, it felt totally right. To tell you the truth, we're having so much fun that I really don't mind giving up a few weekends of skinny-dipping and shepherd's pie."

     BE THERE
     Fleetwood Mac performs at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre Friday-Sunday. All shows are sold out; (714) 855-6111. Also at the Hollywood Bowl Oct. 24. Show is sold out, but single obstructed-view seats are available at the Bowl box office, $53; (213) 850-2000.