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As he releases a new solo album in 2021, legendary Fleetwood Mac guitarist
Lindsey Buckingham shares the stories behind his most memorable riffs.

By Maureen Lee Lenker in Entertainment Weekly

"Never Going Back Again" (1977) "I was getting back in touch with the finger-picking style I'd used on the Buckingham Nicks album," Lindsey Buckingham, 72, says of this beautifully complex acoustic classic. "Once the first wave of rock & roll started to ebb, folk music became a big part of my style. It was another reason I never really got into using a pick. [This song] was a manifestation of that. I wanted to bring the orchestral fullness and completeness of a single guitar and have it carry the track in total."

"The Chain" (1977)
Written by the entirety of Fleetwood Mac, "The Chain" has become a signature opener for the band. Buckingham's urgent, climactic guitar solo spilled out as an expression of the relationship turmoil that defined Rumours . "It just all came out in the studio when we were recording," he says. "A lot of the emotion of those moments like that solo are very connected to what we were living."

"Tusk" (1979) The distinctive, pounding melody line of "Tusk" was actually Buckingham's rehearsal riff, which Mick Fleetwood encouraged him to turn into a song. "I expounded on that once we were in the studio," he says. "The [USC Trojan] marching band was the completion of the song by a long shot. It made the whole thing come together as a unique piece."

"Trouble" (1981) Buckingham's first solo effort was a direct result of Fleetwood Mac's decision to pivot away from the more experimental sound he loves. "I realized the only way for me to keep exploring the more esoteric side of where the art lived for me was to start making solo albums," he explains. "In Fleetwood Mac, [I was] called upon to do the rock side of things, but not necessarily the midtempo pretty stuff. I had that in me, and 'Trouble' was a good representation of that. I was covering a broader landscape musically."

"On the Wrong Side" (2021)
"I realized that I was, subconsciously at first, wanting to make it more of a pop album than what I had done before," he says of his new, self-titled record . "You can make connections between 'On the Wrong Side' and 'Go Your Own Way' in terms of tone, vocals, and guitar solos. But working with the band is a more conscious, verbalized process. When I'm in the studio by myself, it's like painting. All of those touches in [this song] revealed themselves as time went by -- the sense of what you can discover is more nuanced." 

Remembering an American television icon.

By Matt Roush in TV Guide

ometimes it only takes a moment to become a TV icon. For Ed Asner, that moment arrived in 1970 during the first episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show , when Lou Grant acknowledged new hire Mary Richards' spunk, then took a beat before growling, "I hate spunk."

He didn't, really. Gruff on the surface that masked a soft heart in spirit, Asner as Lou epitomized the archetype TV Guide once called "the lovable sourpuss."Asner, who died in his sleep on August 29 at 91, earned his spot in TV history as the first actor to win Emmys in comedy and drama for the same role in two series: three for the MTM sitcom and twice for its hourlong spinoff, Lou Grant , as city editor at the Los Angeles Tribune.

He's also the most-honored male actor, with seven Emmys, including two for supporting roles in the pioneering miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man and Roots .

A character actor's character actor, Asner not only had spunk, he had spine. Renowned for activism and philanthropy on behalf of civil liberties and conservation causes, he served as Screen Actors Guild president from 1981 to 1985.

He also had range and longevity, making his mark in movies as Santa in Elf and as the voice of irascible Carl in Up, a role he reprised for Dug Days on Disney+. He worked frequently and to the end of his life, appearing on the Netflix hits Cobra Kai, Dead to Me and Grace and Frankie, and could be seen in the September 23 episode of the FX on Hulu anthology The Premise.

Comfortable with fame but self-deprecating about his unglamorous image, he described himself as "the Dilbert of TV stars" in a 1999 Archive of American Television interview. And if Asner was to be remembered primarily for one role, he said, "Thank God that Lou was a wonderful person." 

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