About That Night

I’m moved to post about an event I remember. The night that Stevie Nicks signed with Fleetwood Mac. Stevie, if you are reading this, I’m the crazy with only the salad. Yeah. That was me.

I need to give you some background. I think it was 1974. I had a habit of either taking a bus or hitchhiking around town in Los Angeles. It depended on if there was a bus going my way if I had the fare for a ride, and if someone picked me up before the bus got there. It wasn’t a smart thing to do, as I was raped one of those rides during this time frame.

I would arrive someplace and order a cup of coffee or similar and sit. I’d watch people for hours on one cup of coffee. Or I’d dream. I’d go inside myself and find other worlds. It was one of these nights that I met Tony Steinberg. It was Westwood, someplace in the Village. He said I was his “Girl with Faraway Eyes.”

He took me home, partly on the bus, partly walking, to a house in the southern Fairfax district off Wilshire. I’m not sure of the address, but it could have been on Cochran Ave around 8th or Olympic. Anyway, the house was kind of neat, with a bay window and he explained that several people shared it. Those people included Stevie Nicks, Lindsay Buckingham, and Dr. Hook. The only name I recognized was Dr. Hook and I liked his music, but I couldn’t pick him out of a crowd.

And I was enamored of Tony.  Times were like that, then. I was like that, then.

Stevie came in some time later, and there was a commotion. She’d signed with Fleetwood Mac, who I’d also heard of, but not yet heard. It was a big deal. She decided we’d all go celebrate at what I remember as “Jeremiah’s” but I could be remembering the name wrong. It was a steakhouse on La Cienega that was pretty fancy.

That evening (she’d decided this in the morning) we all gathered at the restaurant. There must have been 30-40 of us at a long row of tables pushed together. I was broke, as usual, and only ordered a salad. I hadn’t known of Stevies “legendary generosity” at that point and didn’t know how I could cover a steak at $15/head (like $40 today).  So I ordered the salad. I could cover that. The people sitting around me urged me to order a steak, but I must have been convincing because they stopped pretty quick.

Tony and I saw each other a couple times more after that. I thought he was “the one” but I guess not.

It was through an incident with him that I learned about turquoise and me. If someone gives me a piece of turquoise, it’s their spirit saying good-bye. I’ll never see them again, dead or alive. Tony gave me a beautiful bracelet with a nice piece of turquoise in it. The bracelet disappeared and he accused me of pawning it, but I’d never been in a pawnshop in my life at that point.

Anyway, that’s how that ended.  Though I did see Tony again a few years later. He was crossing the street near the Hollywood Police Station. He didn’t see me.

After Tony and I stopped seeing each other, I ran into Lindsay several times around town. He would always ask me about a belt buckle that he thought Tony took from him. But I never knew anything about it.

I learned more about Stevie and Lindsay and the Buckingham Nicks after that night. I even listened to their music. The seeds of greatness were there. And today, we see where they were headed.

I’m a fan.

Ah, memories!