Flashback to January’s MusiCares after party at the New York Hilton this past January. Fleetwood Mac had just been honored and played a bunch of songs across the street at Radio City Music Hall with Harry Styles as guest star (they share management).

The crowd from Radio City poured into the Hilton ballroom. A roped off VIP area was set up for the stars of the night. But only one showed: Mick Fleetwood. And he spent nearly two hours on his cell phone, walking back and forth and talking wildly into it. No one from the group joined him. I watched it, everyone at the party was a witness.

Where were Stevie Nicks, John McVie, Christine McVie, Lindsay Buckingham? Why did no one show? Who was Fleetwood yapping at on the phone?

Now we know what was going on: Nicks had turned against Buckingham over a perceived slight on stage. This is according to Buckingham’s just filed lawsuit against Fleetwood. Two days after the Radio City Show, he says, he was fired after 43 years and writing many of their biggest hits. Nicks, Lindsey says, thought Buckingham smirked after her song, “Rhiannon,” was played  while they were speaking on stage. Oy vey.

The smirk incident came after a long, failed negotiation to get Fleetwood Mac on the road. Buckingham had recorded a solo album and planned a tour to follow its release. Then the group decided they wanted to go on the road. Buckingham says he asked them to wait until after his tour; they declined. Then he asked to book solo dates on the group’s days off. They said no again.

Fleetwood Mac has always been based on personal conflicts. When Buckingham and Nicks joined the group in 1975, they’d been a couple. The McVies were married to each other. From what anyone can tell, over the last 40 years they’ve all slept with each other, changed loyalties and affiliations. A couple of years ago I ran into Nicks and Fleetwood in New York, and they were a couple. I always thought they were they most self-obsessed, unpleasant group of musicians. They’re a self contained soap opera that has lived on airing their dirty laundry in public. Good grief. All of this comes from the success of just two albums– “Fleetwood Mac” (1975) and “Rumours” (1977) made when Gerald Ford was president.

Who?

Lindsey Buckingham – Fleetw… by on Scribd

I can’t keep myself from plunging back into Elvis Costello’s “Look Now,” picking out favorite tracks and trying the ones that didn’t immediately hit me.

Forty years after his second, “This Year’s Model,” Elvis proves he’s a man for all seasons. Who would expect an album as good as “Look Now” in 2018 after our four decades together?

Elvis was always obsessed with Burt Bacharach. Even when he was trying out “Pump it Up” or “I’m Not Angry,” early fans will recall he was singing “I Just Don’t Know What to Do with Myself” as encores. The Bacharach-David Dionne Warwick hit turned up on his early bootlegs and was on many of my mix tapes. Elvis strove for dreamy melodies– his own biggest song was “Alison.”

Mid way through his career, he teamed up with Bacharach for the album “Painted from Memory,” which still stands as a highlight of his amazing canon. So why not return for inspiration to the land of “Promises, Promises,” combining with the Imposters (the Attractions minus one). The plus side is that Bacharach, at 90, plays piano on two of the tracks. You can’t do better than that.

So “Look Now” takes the best of the pre-“Painted” Elvis sound and warmly mixes it with the jazzy cocktail Burt. Shake, stir, however you please, this cocktail has a kick. The songs are largely from characters’ voices, with a swerve and punch that makes them memorable. You will find yourself humming couplets from “Why Won’t Heaven Help Me?” and “Stripping Paper” while rock head banging to “Under Lime” and “Unwanted Number.” You can’t help yourself. “Suspect My Tears” is a Philly soul gem. Dig that falsetto!

There are also a couple of ballads– “Don’t Look Now” and “Photographs Can Lie”– that summon Elvis’s best singing. I’ve been a fan of “You Shouldn’t Look at me That Way” since it appeared last year in “Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool.” Also, “The Final Mrs. Curtain,” from the run-over CD, finds Elvis at his linguistic best. You want to rock? “Mr. and Mrs. Hush” brought me all the way back to the days of “Trust” and “Clubland.” Get up and dance.

Listen to this album on a stereo– you can find one– and turn it up. And thank goodness for Elvis Costello, who’s remained a nimble musical genius for more time than we deserved.

Oh, to be a fly on the wall Thursday at the White House.

Kanye West is booked for lunch. He’s on a career suicide campaign, jettisoning any fans he might have had as he supports Donald Trump. Kanye recently announced but didn’t deliver an album called “Yandhi” maybe because he realized — or someone told him– no one wanted it.

Around the same time as lunch– 11:45am– Trump is scheduled to sign the just passed legislation called the Music Modernization Act. This law will give money to the people who sang and wrote hit songs prior to 1972 an equal footing with their modern counterparts in the digital world. Among the people scheduled to watch this are NARAS/Grammy chief Neil Portnow, R&B great Sam Moore, country star John Rich, and other folks from the music business.

Of all the foul things Trump has done, this may be considered his one achievement for the arts. Streaming and digital services won’t like it because they will have to pay for most of their music.

Will the Trump team conflate Kanye and the music people? Will they trot Kanye out for this signing celebration? West is one of the great Samplers of all time. He combs the archives of pre-1972 music to find things he can “interpolate”– in other words, appropriate– and pretend they’re his own songs. For example: Trade Martin’s 1965 song “Take Me for a Little While” is currently posing as a song called “Ghost Town” on Kanye’s latest EP, called “Ye.” Most of Kanye’s “songs” are taken from pre-1972 music. Maybe he can explain that to Trump.

Portnow should be thrilled to see Kanye. The rapper-slash-sneaker designer is famous for mocking the Grammy Awards and causing problems at and with the show.

Fun times!