Running Down A Dream

Working On A Mystery

The Hollywood Bowl
Hollywood Hills, California
Monday, October 3, 2022
(6:30 pm)
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"The guys know what song they're leading me on into, don't they?"

Stevie had been honoring her late friend Tom Petty throughout her 2022 tour of only outdoor venues - still very conscious of Covid - by having the venues play "Running Down A Dream" just before she came out on stage to "Outside The Rain", leading into "Dreams". It was her way of keeping Tom's spirit alive, just as her cover of "Free Fallin'" at the end of her set was.

It was not lost on Stevie that she was a member of a group of people whose once-brilliant lights were beginning to dim. The Baby Boomers, the term referring to people born to World War II-era parents from 1945 to 1960, had been largely responsible for modern music, for rock and roll, and many of the greatest performers of her generation had either died long ago from their lifestyles, died recently as older people who'd fallen ill, or had various health issues that rendered them incapable of performing.

Lindsey Buckingham, born on October 3, 1949, was a Baby Boomer.

Lindsey Buckingham, at age sixty-nine in February 2019, had suffered a major heart attack during an unrelated medical procedure and required a triple bypass. He'd been intubated, and had to work to restore his voice in addition to taking a of his heart. His father, Morris, had died of a heart attack in 1974 in his fifties, his brother Greg following in 1991 in his mid-forties despite being an Olympic-medalist swimmer. Now, at seventy-three, he had canceled the rest of his European tour citing "ongoing health issues" and Stevie was terrified he was going the way of her dear friend Tom Petty - a Baby Boomer struck down in his older years before he was done making music for his generation and the ones that followed.

She was also terrified she was losing the love of her life without getting the chance to tell him she still loved him and wanted him in her life again...hopefully all the way.

She'd have been lying if she hadn't felt a glimmer of hope in her heart when she'd heard that Kristen had filed for divorce.

Today was Lindsey's birthday, and she wondered how he was spending it. Was he at home? Were the kids with him? Was he with another woman now that he was single?

Karen's voice broke into her thoughts. "Don't worry, Stevie. They have the whole rundown and they know what you want."

"Okay...I'm just a little freaked out." She looked it, but Karen didn't tell her.

Stevie had made it through sound check in one piece. Her voice was strong, Sharon and Mary were prepared, Waddy was all set to go. It had been Waddy to notice something was a little off about her, as if she were far away, but he dared not ask. Waddy, too, had seen the news online about Lindsey canceling his European tour, and he figured that was what was on her mind but kept it to himself. Waddy Wachtel had known Stevie and Lindsey since the very beginning, since almost the very day they'd packed up Ginny the dog and all their demos and moved into Keith Olsen's basement in Los Angeles to begin working on the Buckingham Nicks album. His brother Jimmy had been the photographer they'd hired to take the album cover photo, although someone else had stepped in at the last minute - leading to the infamous topless photo that had made Stevie cry. He'd been watching their ups and downs for fifty years now, and he'd remained close friends with Stevie all along...and he'd be lying if he hadn't thought over the years that he could be the one to finally break the Lindsey Buckingham spell, the barometer by which all of her relationships had been measured since 1976...even Joe Walsh. But then there were nights like tonight, when he retreated back into the role of musical director and best friend, knowing he was not the man Stevie would ever wind up with at ninety, lying in a bed surrounded by dogs and music and antiques and pink things. She'd either be there alone...or Lindsey would finally be allowed to be by her side.