Monday, July 18, 2022

I missed Howard Jones and Midge Ure/Long Island Doctor Guy (*Trigger Warning)

Denise and I had tickets to see Midge Ure opening for Howard Jones last night at the Patchogue Theater last night. (We're also supposed to see both of them on the '80s Cruise next March). Unfortunately, due to health issues and other considerations, I decided it was wiser for me to stay home. Especially because my understanding was that Midge Ure would be unable to play due to COVID.

Now I like Howard Jones, but I've seen him six times over the years, going back to what was one of my favorite concerts ever, M+M (aka Martha and the Muffins), Howard Jones (playing solo with only a mime to support him) and Eurythmics at the Forest Hills Tennis Stadium in 1984. But I only ever saw Midge Ure once, solo acoustic at the new (but already old now) My Father's Place in Roslyn in September of 2019. And I've always loved Ultravox (who I never saw live at all).

Anyway, health stuff has had me feeling pretty weak lately (more on that in a bit), so I figured I'd hold off until the last minute on deciding whether to go to this show. I learned last week that Midge has been off the tour for a little, due to having COVID, and that Howard has been covering by playing a short solo acoustic set prior to his regular set. At first, I heard that Midge would be back and playing at the show they had scheduled in New Jersey on Saturday night, July 16.

To be totally honest, I went with Denise to a doctor's appointment on Friday afternoon, and at that point, I pretty much decided I probably wouldn't go to the show. On top of everything else, in my less-than-100% current state, I decided that even if I was physically up for it somehow, it would be reckless to go to the show and risk catching COVID in my current weakened state. But I still held a little place open in my heart that said "maybe". Then, on Saturday night, we got the word from some of Denise's friends who went to that Jersey show that Midge hadn't played, and that it looked like he wouldn't be rejoining the tour until Tuesday. 

Oh well. I figured it was probably for the best. (And I still believe that.) But I definitely had a tinge of regret when Denise texted me from the show Sunday night that Midge had played after all, and that he'd been great. And he'd even had a keyboard player playing with him, which made it easier for him to play almost all Ultravox material in his 10-song set. (He closed, appropriately, with "Dancing With Tears in My Eyes").

I texted her back "Nice!" followed immediately by, "The bastard."

But you can you do? Because I learned today that it's unlikely I'm going to catch him on that '80s Cruise next year, either.

This year's two cruises were great, but they took a lot out of me. The trip to Florida and back for the 2022 '80s Cruise in March was a really strenuous one, and we had lots of extra stress because of Denise's back problems. It took me weeks to recover and start feeling like myself afterwards.

Then, even before the Celebrity Summit Cruise in May, I wasn't feeling great. I put it down to blood sugar issues, and really concentrated on eating well for the first few days of the cruise. Sure enough, I did feel significantly better for most of the rest of voyage.

But as soon as I got home, something wasn't right with my stomach and my digestion. At first, I thought it was a diverticulitis issue. (I have history of that). I did what I always do in that situation, and increased my fluid intake like crazy to wash whatever might have been stuck in there away. But this time, it didn't work.

I went to see my doctor, who sent me for an Ultrasound and an X-Ray, and the Ultrasound showed a cyst on my liver. She referred me to my gastroenterologist, who sent me for a CT-Scan and scheduled me for a few other tests. That didn't show much more about the thing on my liver. However, it did show a nodule on one of my lungs and fluid on both lungs (which is what had me hospitalized last summer). Swell. So they referred me back to my pulmonologist.

Next up was another CT-Scan of my lungs requested by my pulmonologist. This didn't show anymore about my lungs. Unfortunately, it did find a mass in the lining of my stomach. At this point, I started to realize I was screwed. (Especially given that this was exactly the sort of the course my mother had followed before passing away in 1999.)

I was referred to a surgeon to schedule a biopsy. He respected my wishes to try to keep me out of the hospital. So this led to two weeks of jumping through the hoops of getting three different medical clearances and doing all of the necessary pre-testing at the hospital to do the procedure on an outpatient basis. He did the biopsy on Thursday, July 7, and was immediately able to tell me that although they needed a few days for the pathologist to a complete analysis of the sample he took, a quick test had definitely showed the presence of cancer.

I saw an oncologist the next day, and a PT-Scan, the biopsy and some bloodwork eventually led to the conclusion that what I've got is a Stage 4 cancer that has already spread through my body to such a point that whatever treatment (likely some form of chemotherapy) they devise, we're really only talking about managing the disease rather than curing it. And although he couldn't really give me a timeframe, because they can't really tell the point of origin (since it's already so widespread), it's sounding to me like we're talking months and not years.

As I was writing this, I got a call from Sloan-Kettering in Commack, where I'll be going next week for an independent analysis and a second opinion. But truth is, it's not looking good.

So Midge and Howard last night might have been my last shot at seeing one more concert, and it sounded like it was a good one. But again, if I'm honest with myself, I don't think I'd have felt good enough to enjoy it. 

What that means for this blog is that I don't think I'm likely to get that next My Favorite Artist article about Rush written - I like to listen to a an artist's full discography and some of their solo offshoots before writing one of those. (And lately, it's been about six or seven months to do that for each artist.) But maybe I'll do an abbreviated write-up of Rush and the other artists on my list if I get the chance. Let me mull it over for a bit.

The other thing it means here is that I might be posting my 2022 Best Of lists a little early this year. I've done a lot of listening so far, and it would be a shame to see it go to waste.

Hopefully, this entry hasn't been too depressing for you, dear reader. I'm not depressed myself - I've had a wonderful life full of music and laughter and love. And miracles have been known to happen, so who knows? But if I leave off suddenly at some point, I wanted you to understand why.

Not sure what I'll post next here, but I think I'll be thinking about those abbreviated My Favorite Artist write-ups and see what I can do.  

 

Sunday, July 3, 2022

Favorite Artists, Part 15: About Fleetwood Mac

"Whoa, wait a minute, I'm confused," you're thinking. "We had already worked our way through the '70s and into the '80s with this series. Why are we backtracking?"

That's a good question, and it has a simple answer. The truth is, while Fleetwood Mac started in the '60s and hit their full stride in the '70s with the beginning of the Buckingham-Nicks era, it wasn't until the 1980's that it really hit me that they were, in fact, one of My Favorite Artists. As much as I loved the self-titled LP (1975) and especially Rumours (1977), it took the release of the Mirage album, and particularly the song "Gypsy", in 1982, to cement Mac's place in my pantheon of favorites.

Fleetwood Mac has a weird history. They began their days as a British blues band, founded by guitarist Peter Green. Green left the acclaimed group John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers to form his own band. When he left, he took drummer Mick Fleetwood with him, and tried to entice their bass player, John McVie, to come along as well, by naming the new band Fleetwood Mac. They added guitarist Jeremy Spencer, and a few weeks later, McVie did move over to Fleetwood Mac. 

Eventually, starting with their second LP, they added a a keyboard player, Christine Perfect (who later married McVie, but wouldn't become an official member of the band until their fifth LP, 1971's Future Games). 

Green, unfortunately, had a mental breakdown, partially fueled by a lot of LSD. Spencer ran off and joined a religious cult, and was replaced with guitarist Danny Kirwan. Kirwan lasted for awhile, and at some point, was joined on guitar by Bob Welch. When Kirwan left after something of an alcohol-fueled mental breakdown (are you seeing a pattern here?), he was replaced by Bob Weston. 

I was aware of Fleetwood Mac from early on in their career. Probably the first recording of theirs I ever heard was the non-album single "Oh Well." (The first song would have been Peter Green's "Black Magic Woman", but of course what I heard was the much more famous Santana version. I wasn't aware that it was originally a Fleetwood Mac song until decades later.) But I was never a big blues guy, so I didn't pay FM a whole lot of attention.

I eventually went back and picked up all of those early Fleetwood Mac albums. But while there was some good stuff here and there, I can't say I ever rated any of their pre-1975 albums more than a 2.5 out of 5.

By the early-to-mid 70's, they had morphed from being a blues band into more of a pop rock band, and you would have thought that the songwriting contributions of Christine McVie and Bob Welch would have made them a reasonably strong one. But Welch did his best work as a solo artist (especially on his 1977 LP French Kiss), and McVie didn't really hit her stride until the next rendition of the band.

After the recording of the unsuccessful 1974 album Heroes Are Hard to Find, the band began to suspect that Welch was going to leave, and started casting about to replace him. (Weston had already left an album earlier after starting a secret affair with Fleetwood's wife Jenny - which began another dysfunctional band pattern for Fleetwood Mac.) They became aware of Lindsey Buckingham after hearing the Buckingham Nicks LP, and asked him if he was interested in joining. Buckingham told them he would, but he and his musical/romantic partner Stevie nicks were a package deal. Fleetwood and the McVie's probably figured, "Fine. We'll stick her in the corner of the stage with a tambourine. How much harm can she do?" and agreed. And thus, the classic lineup of Fleetwood Mac.

The new lineup came out firing on all cylinders with their self-titled 1975 album, which was their first to hit (or come anywhere near, for that matter) # 1 on the US charts. 

I was aware of this album right away, although for some weird reason, I didn't buy a copy until years later. But "Rhiannon" hit me immediately, and the presence of Nicks and Buckingham inspired Christine to take her game to a whole new level, with songs like "Say You Love Me" and "Over My Head". And somewhere along the way, I became of aware of "Landslide". These days, if I had to choose the greatest and most most beautiful song of all time, I think "Landslide" would be my choice.

Some thoughts about this lineup. I made a (partially) facetious comment one time, calling Lindsey Buckingham the third best songwriter in the band. I actually believe that, but it's not as insulting as it sounds. Yes, I know that he was the guy who organized and arranged everything, and that (especially with Stevie) he helped the others with their songs.

But let's face it, Stevie's songs in this era, especially the ones she wrote for FM, but also those in her solo career, were just ridiculous. "Rhiannon", "Landslide", "Dreams", "Gold Dust Woman", "Sara", "Sisters of the Moon", "Edge of Seventeen", "Gypsy" - this was an insanely good output. And clearly, Stevie has had the most successful solo career of any of the members of the band.

As for Christine, as I said earlier, she really hit her stride during this period, with contributions like "Say You Love Me", "You Make Lovin' Fun", "Songbird" and "Little Lies".

In contrast, for me, with the exception of "The Chain", which is a great song (and although it's credited to the whole band, my guess is Lindsey was the biggest contributor), I feel like a lot of Lindsey's songs enhanced the albums, but wouldn't have carried them by themselves. (I will admit to a special love for his solo track "Holiday Road" from the the Vacation movies, though.)

Rumours was released in 1977, and of course, was legendary. It was the first Fleetwood Mac album I ever bought (initially on the strength of "Dreams"), and I played it to death. It's one of those albums where practically every track is a winner. (In retrospect, that's also true of the self-titled album, and it might very well be just as good an LP. As often happens in music, though, Fleetwood Mac let the world know that this new lineup for the band was a great one, and set the stage for Rumours to be the massive multi-platinum hit that it was.)

Meanwhile, the turmoil going on within the band when they were making Rumours is also legendary. John and Christine were basically broken up (and Christine was sleeping with the band's lighting director), Lindsey and Stevie were in process of breaking up, Mick was going through a divorce, and at one point, disastrously enough, Stevie and Mick even had an affair with one another.

I remember seeing a concert clip of a show on the Rumours tour where the band was playing "The Chain", and Stevie and Lindsey were just barking the chorus into one another's faces like the musical equivalent of a hatefuck. It was intense, but totally riveting - you couldn't look away from it.

For me, this two-album streak was flat out the highlight of Fleetwood Mac's career. There are some who hold that Tusk is their (or Lindsey Buckingham's, at least) masterpiece, but I've never been able to see it. I liked the two Stevie songs I named earlier ("Sara" and "Sisters of the Moon"), and I sort of liked the title track, weird as it was, but a lot of the rest of it just sort of bounced off of me.

They released Mirage in 1982. I don't really feel this was a great album, but "Gypsy" was certainly a great song, and Christine's "Hold Me" was pretty strong too. And it was around this point where Mac crossed the threshold into my list of My Favorite Artists.

It was another five years before they released Tango in the Night, which was the last LP with all five members of the classic lineup on it. They added a lot more to their legacy with this album, which featured classics such as Christine's "Little Lie's" and "Everywhere", Lindsey's "Big Love", Stevie's "Seven Wonders".

Of their last three studio albums, Behind the Mask (1990) featured Stevie and Christine (but no Lindsey), Time (1995, their least successful LP) had Christine, but neither Lindsey nor Stevie, and Say You Will (2003) featured Stevie and Lindsey (with just a few sparse musical contributions, but no songs, from Christine). They also released a 4-song EP, appropriately entitled Extended Play in 2013, which again had contributions from Lindsey and Stevie, but none from Christine. Mick and John, of course, played on all of these, making them the only two band members to play on every album in the entire Fleetwood Mac discography. There were some decent songs scattered among these offerings, but I think it would be fair to say nothing on par with their best material from Fleetwood Mac through Tango in the Night.

If you've been following this Favorite Artists series, I think it's pretty obvious why Fleetwood Mac eventually made my top bands list. It's all about the hooks. You had a great songwriter in Stevie Nicks, and two very good songwriters in Christine McVie and Lindsey Buckingham. All three were respectable vocalists, (although yes, I thought it was funny when South Park had the American GI's in Iraq getting Stevie mixed up with a goat). The band was certainly always instrumentally proficient. And while my interest in Fleetwood Mac was primarily in the classic lineup, I respect their blues history, and the fact that they were actually the first band to record Peter Green's "Black Magic Woman" and Bob Welch's "Sentimental Lady."

I've seen Fleetwood Mac live in concert twice, both times in Madison Square Garden. The first was in 2009, on a tour where the band wasn't accompanied by Christine McVie, and the second in 2019, on a tour where Lindsey Buckingham had been replace by Neil Finn of Crowded House and Mike Campbell from Tom Petty's band. So obviously, I never got to see the full classic lineup together, and both times, it would be fair to say that the band was past its prime. Nevertheless, I treasure the fact that I got to see them live in whatever form I did, and that over the course of the two shows, I got to see all five members of the classic lineup, even if it was never all of them at the same time.

I think that's all I have to say right now about Fleetwood Mac.

The next article in this series is scheduled to be about yet another band that started in the 1970's but didn't make the My Favorite Artists until a decade later: Rush.

Unfortunately, as some of you aware, I have something of a serious health scare going on now, and while I hope to live long enough to write that for you (and for me), it's a little iffy right now. (Truth be told, I had to really buckle down over these last few weeks to make sure I got this one written and posted.)

So let's hope I get that Rush write-up done someday. But if I don't, it's been fun writing these first fifteen articles, as well as the rest of the reviews, etc., on this blog.

Ciao! (For now?)