SUNDAY MORNING UPDATE: Def Leppard has jumped out ahead of Stevie and has opened a 4,000 vote lead as she drops to number 2 in the online fan vote.

Will landslide take her down? We’ll see what happens soon.

SATURDAY NIGHT: Stevie Nicks may be overtaken any minute now in the fan voting for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by, of all things, Def Leppard.

Nicks has 128,768 to Leppard’s 128,700 at 7pm on Saturday night. But word is just seeping out that Nicks nixed former boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham from Fleetwood Mac this year after four decades together.

Stevie’s ethereal image was pretty damaged in the last couple of days after Buckingham filed suit against the group. Then Nicks told Rolling Stone that she was indeed responsible for his ouster. It’s kind of funny and sad. Buckingham and Nicks came into Fleetwood Mac together in 1974. They should have had to leave together, too. But Nicks has been close to Mick Fleetwood in the last few years, and counts on John and Christine McVie, formerly married, to stay silent. (Has anyone ever heard John McVie speak about anything?)

It’s ironic, too, since Buckingham went on tour with Christine McVie last year and made an album with her.

Meanwhile, in fan voting, The Cure, Todd Rundgren, and the Zombies round out the top 5. The MC5 are at the bottom with around 22,000 votes. Most of the people voting probably don’t even know who the MC5 were or why they were important.

It’s all numbers tonight with Paul Simon.

Today he turns 77 years old. The first time he appeared on “Saturday Night Live” he was just 34. He’d already been a music star for over a decade. He was on the second show, in 1975.

His appearance tonight is his 9th. One time he wore a chicken suit. Another time he sang with Art Garfunkel. Over the course of 43 years he became best pals with Lorne Michaels. Chevy Chase was featured in the video for “You Can Call Me Al.”

Tonight’s appearance will be notable in that “SNL” hasn’t had a real classic rock star on in years. The average age of their musical guests is 10. Most of them are unintelligible.

Frankly, Lorne should keep it up– give us Paul McCartney, Elvis Costello, Sting, Stevie Wonder, etc. The people who are home at 11:30pm would rather see them than… you get the drift.

So happy birthday, Paul. Maybe they’ll drag out the chicken suit.

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