Monkee Shines
The Purple Flower Gang Summer 2004 Issue 59
Monkee Shines Editor: Cindy Bryant with a little help from my friends, The Road Crew. Monkeeing around since 1987
Inside: Songs from the PFG Songbook Oshkosh By Gosh Warsaw The Fairy Tale Episode on DVD There’s A Monkee At My Wedding Wood You Believe? Ups and Colonial Downs Peter Tork's Band Not Just Monkey-ing Around With The Blues Pen Pals
Birthdays Personal Ads Twisting to the 60s Mike’s News Peter’s News Micky’s News David’s News Micky Dolenz Honors Unspoken Contract With The Audience He Said She Said—The Review
Monkee Shines
Table of Contents
Membership dues are $10 (US & Canada) and $15 (Overseas). Ads are $25 for a full page, $10 for half page, and $5 for a quarter page. Money orders are preferred. Cash at own risk. Make all payments payable to Cindy Bryant NOT the PFG. Mail to: The Purple Flower Gang, 1803 Lucas Street, Muscatine, Iowa 52761.
Letter From The Editor ............................ 3 Personal Ads ............................................. 4 The Fairy Tale On DVD .......................... 5 Oshkosh By Gosh ..................................... 9 Who’ll Stop The Rain .............................. 19 Special Delivery From Peter.................... 20 There's A Monkee At My Wedding! ...... 21 Wood You Believe? ................................. 22 Ups And (Colonial) Downs ..................... 24 Warsaw ..................................................... 25 Pen Pals ..................................................... 28 E-Pals ........................................................ 29 Birthdays ................................................... 30 Peter Tork's Band Not Just Monkey-ing Around With The Blues ........................... 32 Twisting To The 60s ................................ 34 David’s News ........................................... 37 Micky’s News ........................................... 38 Mike’s News ............................................. 39 Peter’s News ............................................. 39 Micky Honors Unspoken Contract.......... 40 Take the last Train To Clarksville Or I-80 From Our Court ........................................ 41 He Said She Said—The Review.............. 42 The Letter.................................................. 52
If you find a stamp in this area, your membership has expired with this issue. Please renew as soon as possible to assure your next issue. This is the only notice you will get.
My sincerest thanks to all who made this issue possible: As Always the PFG Road Crew-Bonnie (Craig & Hannah) Borgh, Shane Worden, Kimmi Janvrin, Janet (&Tom) Litterio,.– the best friends you could ask for!, Ken and Hazel Wilkinson—we love you!, our friends in Louisville who take care of our tree, the nice people in Oshkosh, Peter, Micky, Mike, and David just for being our inspiration, and all of our members for sharing the mania.!
Monkee Shines is printed by Mailboxes & Parcel Depot pfg@machlink.com
http://purpleflowergang.tripod.com/
2
Monkee Shines
From the Editor! need more on the other guys. We’ve been accused of that more than once. We would love to have more things on the other guys but it is not easy to acquire. While there are more Davy fans in the club there are many of us who appreciate all of the guys‘ talents. The simple truth is that Mike doesn’t tour, Peter and Micky are rarely in the Midwest where we can go to see them. For various reasons we know David better and Hazel and Ken provide us with many little insights into David’s life to share with you . David has also been very appreciative of our sense of humor. If you would like to see more of your favorite Monkee in the newsletter please help us by sending us your stories and photos! Anytime ANY of the Monkees want to use our newsletter it is here for them. Just send us the information! Have a great fall and we will try to get the next newsletter out a little faster. Good things take time! Cindy
Dear Gang, It’s been an unusual summer weather-wise with enough rain to start considering building an ark! Of course, with so many concerts being held outdoors, it is only a matter of time until something goes awry. Several of David’s concerts here in the Midwest were washed out at the last minute but the PFG road crew didn’t let that dampen their spirits. Check out Oshkosh By Gosh—Wasted Days and Wasted Nights. A good sense of humor will get you through...right Gang? Recently someone left an entry in our web site guest book saying they loved our site but thought that it was more a Davy site than a Monkees site saying we
Notice We have tried to stick to a regular schedule for the newsletter but something always gets in the way/ We have a choice to throw something together or take a little longer and do something we can be proud of. We hope you think it is worth the wait. As always, if you are unhappy with your membership for any reason, we will be happy to refund the remainder of your membership dues upon request.
3
Monkee Shines
Dear David:
Joyce--
Isle of Capri Biloxi, Mississippi
email me or get in touch ASAP. You have photos I want to see and a story to finish!
Right Isle, wrong port Close but yet so far away
Shane
The Gang
Ronda (and Kris)--
Neither rain nor sleet nor snow will keep us from the show.
JoJo misses you. Come back soon!
No weddings, no funerals, no bar mitzvah's, or no school nights!
Shane Peter, Micky (and David, too)--
[When I read (Paul) "Norton Night" is October 23, I thought, "You must be joking!"]
Thanks for the time and effort in Oshkosh this summer. It's been a blast!
"The mind is unable to discern between the real and the vividly imagined experience." Sweet dreams are made of these and are getting more vivid every day.
Shane To the usual suspects-The road beckons once again. This time, no rainouts! C ya soon
Bonnie, Do you have a screwdriver in your basement? Janet
Shane
Bonnie,
See ya on the road!
THESE DREAMS!!!! SIGH!!!! CINDY 4
Monkee Shines
The Fairy Tale Episode 48 (01/08/68)
Written By: Peter Meyerson Directed By: James Frawley Narrated By: Peter Tork
Michael Nesmith should have been given an Emmy Award for his work. It was one of the most brilliant bits of comedic support I ever saw in my life, and he looked so outrageous, and he just he did it with such a will and so much vigor. It was really intense.
Transcribed By: Bonnie Borgh While everyone knows I am a devout fan of David Jones, I am also an equal opportunity Monkees’ fan. The following narrative of The Fairy Tale episode is courtesy of Peter Tork from The Monkees Season 2 DVD set. Thank you, Peter. I enjoyed your comments, too!
The Fairy Tale episode is my favorite episode of all the Monkee episodes. Primarily because it was so off beat, and the cardboard sets, and it was in many ways the abandonment of the sitcom mode that we were in for the most part. Most of the Monkee episodes were some nominal situation, and we
It’s Peter Tork here (laughing). Michael Nesmith as the princess in the Fairy Tale episode. 5
Monkee Shines did sets and things that made it look as though that was actually what was happening, but we were beginning to abandon it sometime during the second year, and I think the Fairy Tale episode is where we were fully abandoning the...Peter Meyerson, too. Peter Meyerson is one of the funnier men alive.
from the set. Breaking the third wall all over the place. (laughing) And why would anybody want to penetrate a dragon, is what I want to know? (laughing) With the Texas accent. (Pah-Pah-Pah) Penetrate.
The whole concept of Mike Nesmith loving the look of that princess played by himself is just too ludicrous for words.
Looking noble. Noble all the way down to the shoes. Jim Frawley was usually generally really good to work with. He was very much in the spirit of the thing. He liked us, and if we had ideas for the show, he was perfectly willing to listen to anything we had to say. The only thing about improvising on camera, for the Monkees, is that we usually couldn’t improvise ‘cause there were too many constraints. Lighting was not flat which is to say that if you walked too close to the lights or too far away from the lights you flared up or disappeared in darkness, but if we could think of something funny during rehearsals and it forwarded the plot and they had the props to work it with then we would rewrite the script on stage and then shoot what we had rewritten.
The whole concept of everything cardboard, sets and the cardboard jungle, the cardboard jungle I almost said, the cardboard forest, and the cardboard carriage, and the cardboard horses, Rick Klein, and I don’t know who the other horse was, Rick Klein, I guess, David Pearl I believe is the other horse. Yipes! Could there be more contempt? (laughing) Getting that hat off from that door, meanwhile with his cowboy boot on…(laughing) Those guys actually stepped on me, too. Murray Rowan played the assistant. He was excellent. The whole thing was just wonderful. The great, whole thing. Boink!
Don’t make waves.
Right, sandwiches.
Sexy stuff...don’t know her.
Now the lamps and the things
Davy didn’t seem to mind get6
Monkee Shines ting into drag so much. I wasn’t happy with it when I had to do it like in the toy episode. What was that episode called? The toy episode? [Monkee vs. Machine] Like in the toy episode, but Davy didn’t mind. I wouldn’t have thought, I mean I would have thought Michael minded more than he seemed, but on the other hand, a nice, juicy role like the princess, I would have done that.
this was an awful lot of fun to watch again. Like I said, some of them are not great, but this one was great to watch again. I can’t say I used to watch The Monkees much after they first run, the first couple of years, but if I was in company with somebody and they felt like watching it, I was perfectly happy to sit there and watch. Most of the time I found myself doing things like saying, “Oh, look that’s Rick Klein, and David Pearl are the horses, and oh, and there’s Val Kairys, the girl I had a crush on is in the background there, and those kinds of things.
That’s Frawley’s voice. That’s Jim Frawley’s voice. He did a lot of his own voice overs. (laughing) Peter mimicking “Lower the draw bridge.” Oh my God! Danger!
(laughing) The two Michaels. This was the Batman bit. Turning the camera 90 degrees so that just walking on the floor would appear to be climbing.
Self satire. I recognize it. There we go walking down the street. The mother image (laughing).
(laughing) I love that joke. And this is “Daily Nightly” with Micky freaking out on the synthesizer. I have the cables around my neck that Micky didn’t need his patch cables. Michael wrote this song, and therefore felt he didn’t need to contribute anything to the video, so he just sat there.
Some of these episodes are not great to watch, a few of them are a little bit boring, but this one was/is truly wonderful. I thought the jokes were just truly wonderful, and I loved the whole Fairy Tale episode thing. The whole, that joke of Micky’s with the “Papa Bear kinda wanted me to hang around.” I thought was one of the better jokes we ever did, and the whole cardboard set thing was like so outside the box, that I thought
If these lyrics have any meaning, I never picked up on it. There’s some hint that they were about the Sunset Strip riots, where a club called Pandora’s Box which is on that little 7
Monkee Shines tiny triangle of land in West Hollywood that now is nothing but a little triangle there where Lacinda, Crescent Heights comes up to Sunset and splits so it can go either way just on the way at the foot of Laurel Canyon, but there’s, and there was a riot there about they wanted to shut down the kids, I don’t know, dancing and rocking, and so there might be something there, but I never recognized it because I don’t know anything about the lyrics. Mostly what I was interested in is Micky playing the synthesizer and in the look of this where we actually got a little naive here. I mean The Beatles did this on the cover of their first album, and we were just getting around to it at this point. Still, better late than never, I think. Micky’s hair had gone out curly, not because he curled it, but because he let it get the way it naturally did. He stopped straightening it, and there was that general tendency among
all of us to go for who we really were which I think was a trend I would have like to have seen continued. I would have liked to have seen The Monkees, I now would like to have seen The Monkees play for another couple of years on television maybe change the format...go to a variety format. We did have a couple of guest artists play with us for a little, psychedelic, we did have a couple of guest artists play with us, and I’d have liked to have taken that a lot further gone to a split format maybe skits and guests, a Carol Burnett type thing. I think we would have been great. I was gonna bring Janis Joplin on screen. I was gonna have her come join us. I never got around to it. Diane Shalet is the Fairy of the Locket. Was she good or what? Gene Trimble took all of these photos at the end. I think, I believe that it was Gene Trimble, who also did TV Guide cover.
8
Monkee Shines
Osh Kosh By Gosh: Wasted Days and Wasted Nights Oops! The Road Crew Does It Again By Kimmi Janvrin with a little help from Shane Worden, Janet Litterio, and Bonnie Borgh MIA: Cindy Bryant
“Underneath the arches in the pouring rain!” —L-R: Tom Litterio, Janet Litterio, Kimmi Janvrin, Bonnie Borgh, and Shane Worden
Kimmi: Aunt Bonnie and I left at about 9 o’clock Thursday morning. Craig and Hannah waved us off as we headed out underneath the arches of the pourin’ rain to see our little Cheese Head. We spoke to Shanie briefly and he informed us that he heard Davy do a radio interview that morning. He said he sounded very happy. This was good news. In about 4 1/2 hours we would hit Oshkosh, By Gosh! Shane: The day of the first-ever Monkee experience here in Osh-
kosh dawned gray, cool and damp. This was not exactly the way I had imagined things being in my mind's eye while I spent all those winter weeks and months waiting for this first journey down to Waterfest. But God's a Monkees fan, right? Surely things will go alright... The first thing I did after waking up was to check my email for any new communications or inquiries from any friends who were planning on coming in for the show. While I was online, I 9
Monkee Shines stopped by the website of our local oldies radio station, and crawling right across the top was an announcement that David was going to be interviewed, live instudio, at 7:30. By this point, it was already 7:35, so I had missed the first few minutes. I quickly turned on the radio to hear what was what. (I only wish I had been able to record it.) Jones did indeed sound like he was in a good mood. He and the morning deejay, Rich Allen, discussed all of the "usual" topics that are covered in most Davy Jones interviews, so I won't waste valuable space rehashing all of those details, but I will say that he made a point of plugging his website, mentioning that he has been writing journalstyle updates for the site himself, and that there was a great deal of merchandise available on the site, some of which he was going to autograph and give to Rich as a part of a charity auction to be held by the radio station later this year. There were a couple of interesting listener phone calls that were taken during the course of the interview. One guy was interested in David's take on some of the symbolism and deeper meaning in HEAD, another wondered if the rock and rollers from the 60's ever stay in touch with each other, (which of course, they do, according to Jones), and another stated that she had seen Peter Noone in the Wisconsin Dells recently, and wondered if there was any validity to Noone's claim onstage that he was the one that taught the Monkees their theme song. Da-
vid's response was (half joking, and half NOT), that Noone is the kind of guy who likes to name drop to make himself look more important. Yeah, David!!!! Once the interview was over, and I had heard from Bonnie and Kimmi, who were about ready to hit the road in the Quad Cities, my first order of business to stop by the local supermarket to get some flowers together to have backstage for Jones. I would have given that little errand to Bonnie and Kimmi, except that a friend that I work with is interning for Waterfest this summer, and part of her job is to take care of all the backstage details. So I felt it was better that I got some flowers and a group card with all of our names to her earlier in the day, when I knew that I would be able to catch her in a free moment, as opposed to waiting until later and taking our chances with somebody who may or may not get our stuff to where they need to be. After the supermarket run, and a quick stop at work to drop off the goodies, I hightailed it back home to keep an eye on the weather, the situation at the concert grounds (which are only a few blocks away from where I live), and to wait for people to show up. Kimmi: One hour into the trip: Kimmi: Where’s your cigarette lighter? Bonnie: Excuse me? (eyes bulge) You smoke?! Kimmi: (satisfied and amused laughter) No, to charge my cell phone! Bonnie: Oh! 10
Monkee Shines Then we spent five minutes locating the car lighter. She uses her Zippo when she’s bar hopping. After bit, we stopped for our first potty break and topped off the tank. Aunt Bonnie learned how to “pay at the pump.” She’s moving into the new century slowly but surely! We enjoyed sandwiches for lunch that Bonnie thoughtfully prepared for us. After that, another potty break was required and we again topped off the tank... in the rain!! Our cashier at Schell’s was a friendly fellow. Very inquisitive! After playing 20 questions (we were the receivers) and exchanging life stories, we proceeded to Oshkosh. It poured most of the journey. About 15 miles out of Oshkosh, it stopped!! Coincidence? I think not! Light sprinkles came off and on. We spotted some buffalo in a field.
radar before we left....what good that did..... and it indicated WI was in the clear. Go figure!! Kimmi: We came into town at about 2:20 pm. We located the hotel then went to check out the park. We found Shanie wandering the streets and picked him up. You should never pick up strange men. Shane: At several points during the early afternoon, Kimmi would call me up and ask me what the weather was like. For the longest time there really wasn't any change. It was still cool, the sun was certainly not putting in an appearance, but at least it wasn't raining. No, it didn't start doing that until everybody started coming into town. As I was doing one of my half-hour check on the concert grounds to see if there were any people lining up at the gate, I got a call from Janet and Tom who said that they had just checked in at the hotel where I work, located right across the other side of the Main Street bridge, opposite of where the concert park is. Instead of heading back home, I thought that I'd just hang around the entrance to the park, knowing that the Litterios wouldn't be too far behind. It was while I was taking a little walk around the parking lot that Bonnie and Kimmi recognized me and pulled up. Of course, it was raining pretty steadily by this time, and things were not looking up.
Shane: The Buffalo Springfield concert is the other way! ;-) Kimmi: Did we take a wrong turn? (It’s raining again!) Janet: Raining AGAIN???? We had rain steadily , continually nearly the entire trip. It started raining when we hit Chicago proper on the way up and didn't stop until we hit the Chicago city limits on our way back late Fri afternoon. I should say it wasn't raining our entire way home.....it would drizzle from time to time before we hit the WI/IL border. We would have made much better time...to and fro...had we travelled in an ark or water skied! We checked the weather
Kimmi: We went back to the hotel and found Janet and Tom. We got 11
Monkee Shines
“A good view of whatever” - Photo by Bonnie Borgh
settled into our room next to theirs and freshened up.
somewhere dry if the weather should take a turn for the worse. I really didn't know what to tell her at that point, and as it turns out, we never did meet up with her this time. (Which, considering all the flooding that happened because of this storm--more about that later, she probably did the right thing.) Sorry, Ronda--hopefully things will go much better for the other shows we're planning on seeing together this summer. Janet: The view of the lake was fabulous. And had it been dry, we would have enjoyed a refreshing dip in the lake before show time. The food was GREAT! Shane, you were the host with the most during our stay in your fair city! Your fellow employees were most gracious, and seemed to enjoy meeting your fellow Davy fans!
Janet: Dried out, donned our warmest clothing, and set out for the park! After we had the most delicious lunch that is! Shane: I hope you guys enjoyed staying at the Pioneer. You've got to admit that it has the best view of the lake in the entire city. I think all of us enjoy taking a certain amount of pride in our jobs, and I really enjoyed showing everybody around a little bit. (Tom, come back for more crawfish gumbo anytime! Our specialty!) While everybody was checking in and getting ready to investigate the park, I got a phone call from Ronda Russell, who had been planning on coming in for this show, too. She was on her way here, but unsure if she should stick around to see if things went on according to schedule, or if she should get
Kimmi: We visited for a spell, then back down to the park to investigate the line. There wasn’t 12
Monkee Shines one, so Bonnie and I decided to go hunting for some snow boots and thermal underwear. We couldn’t even find a sweater, so back to the park.
cheer you up was priceless, as was the tone of your voice. We all felt so bad for you that this was turning out the way it was. It was so very kind of your Mom and Stepdad to visit and bring us the hot chocolate. It WAS very much appreciated....by that time we were cold, hungry and WET. We all looked rather chic with our umbrellas, don't ya think?
Shane: While Bonnie and Kimmi were out on a "clothes run", (this is Wisconsin! We wear shorts when the temp hits 50!), I stuck it out at the park with Janet and Tom in their vehicle, and swapped stories of concerts gone by SLASH concerts yet to come. At one point when I had decided to venture outside for a bit in the rain, one of the concert organizers rode past in his car and informed me that the first opening act of the evening had already been cancelled, and that the second was looking iffy if things didn't get better soon. They were still going to try to get David on at 9 PM, but things were NOT looking any rosier. All we could do was wait and see what happened. Shortly after this, my Mom gave me a call on my cell phone and asked me if I wanted to hear a weather report. I told her "not unless you have something good to say!" She didn't. Not knowing what to do to try and make all of us feel better, she and my step dad made some hot chocolate and came out to the concert park to try and warm us up. That was a very nice gesture that I am sure everybody appreciated. It's just a shame that they couldn't have met the Gang under some nicer circumstances.
Kimmi: We got in line at about 5:00 and stood in the rain while we waited for them to let us in. At about 5:20 a line started to form. They us in at about 6 o’clock. They gave us wristbands but didn’t charge us admission. Hmmmm..... this should’ve been a sign but we’re hopeful! So we went up to the stage and waited ever so patiently for Davy to perform, or at least make a brief appearance. At about 7:45, a couple workers came out and started to tear down the little bit of equipment they had assembled. A few minutes later, a young lady came out and broke the news that the show was cancelled. It was also made clear from her that Davy said he wouldn’t come down & say hello to the mere 3035 people who had waited all evening in the rain for him. This was a little upsetting. Shane: Yes, it was. My friend from work, Jacki, came out to talk with me at one point and told me that they were just about ready to cancel the show. She had left our card and flowers in David's dressing room area, but had not, in fact, even been in the area to prepare
Janet: The look on your face when your Mom called to try and 13
Monkee Shines himself for the show. She did tell me that David and his band were staying at the hotel right across the street from the park, (not where I work--this place is our major competition downtown), and that we were free to try and see if we could find him there on our own accord. Jacki felt especially bad for us, as she knew how far you guys had come, and how much I had been looking forward to this. She tried everything she could to have David put in some sort of appearance, but as my new favorite nonMonkee band this summer, the Ides of March put it, the moon was out of phase. Once the show was officially cancelled, one of the workers came out and gave our unopened card and flowers back to us, and we headed back to the cars.
Kimmi: We decided to go to the hotel across and get in out of the rain and enjoy a hot meal. It was a beautiful dining room. Shane: Yeah, I guess so. Not as nice as the Pioneer's though. :-) Actually, this place holds quite a few memories for me, too. Back in my "younger days", when I was full of energy and hutzpah, I used to come to this restaurant and lounge every weekend. There was a local lady who ran a combination lounge/karaoke act every week that drew a small, but devoted following of which I was a devoted member. Even though I was underage, (don't tell the cops), I became quite the regular there every week...some people even still
David makes an appearance after all‌.sort of!
14
Monkee Shines come up to me from time to time and recognize me as the Monkee guy from Debbie Johnson's show. I have got about five different audio tapes of instrumental tracks to various Monkee tunes that I had acquired during this time in my life that I used all the time in the show. There may even be a video or two floating around somewhere in my archives. As we were walking into the restaurant area, a familiar voice called my name. No...not Jones. It was my dentist, Dr. Richardson, who I talked about briefly in our last newsletter. He was dining with his fiancee and had planned on going across the street to the park to see what was what when they were finished. It was nice to be able to introduce him to the Gang, but it was my sad duty to inform him not to bother checking out the concert. I actually have an appointment to see him this week. I'm sure he'll probably be planning on seeing Peter and Micky....
day since The Monkees t.v. show. He even let us take some pictures. What a guy!! He was so thoughtful since had traveled all those miles SLASH hours. Shane: Actually, he seemed rather quiet and two-dimensional to me. Janet: And it's amazing how he hasn't aged one little bit!!!! He looked a bit younger than when we saw him last.....just mere months ago at our show in Lockport. He did appear to be quite happy:-)) Kimmi: After dinner, Davy had to say good-bye so we headed over to the bar for a couple of drinks. As we walked in, they were playing “Hippy, Hippy Shake” but it was no Davy Jones. It was 80’s night but the DJ was very nice and played “Daydream Believer” for the ladies who stood in the rain and didn’t get to see Davy. Later he played “Last Train To Clarksville.” We enjoyed a couple rounds of pool. Band members came and went but still no close encounters of the Jones kind. Shane: I should mention here that although we never did see the REAL Mister Jones at the hotel, we DID see most of his band either mulling around in the lounge or in the front lobby. In fact, Dave Alexander seemed to take an immediate shine to the baby grand piano that is located by the front entrance, and proceeded to sit and play it all evening long as if he had actually been hired to do so! (I even read in a different review of
Kimmi: The bar was right next to it. We ordered our meals, then went to the front desk and asked the nice young lady if she could please send our cards and flowers up to Davy’s room. She was more than happy to. We went back to our table and while we were waiting for our food, you’ll never guess who showed up! That’s right! The King Kong of The Monkees! None other than Davy Jones himself! He sat down and ordered some nachos and had a beer or two. He didn’t really say much but he was sure happy! What a beautiful smile! And he hadn’t aged a 15
Monkee Shines this show--if that's what you want to call it--that people even tipped him from time to time!) His playing attracted a nice crowd of teenage fans that I am sure kept him entertained all evening long.
etc! Everything goes right down the tubes!!! Shane: But normally, I am in bed by 11:00 at the very latest, so I really was trying to stay awake as best I could. But without the adrenaline rush of a concert to go on, there just wasn't much there.
Janet: Bonnie and I went over to say hello to Dave and listened to a song or two. Bonnie asked for a special request..."Over the Rainbow" however it had nothing to do with the current weather conditions. We love that song. Dave played and sang it beautifully, however we would LOVE to hear sung by "THE" Davy Jones at an upcoming show. Perhaps one that we will all attend together, say maybe in late October, say Oct. 23?
Kimmi: We met for breakfast at 8:30 downstairs in the restaurant and began the official day of mourning. Shanie had coupons for 2 but after we were finished his manager Mark said it was his treat. Thank you, Mark!! Shane: Yeah, Mark can be okay. When he wants to be. He actually thought that I was getting sweet on you, Kimmi. He thinks the strangest things sometimes. :-)
Kimmi: Shanie and I threw in the towel at about 11:30. It was bedtime. Bonnie and Janet gave Shanie a ride home and dropped me off at the hotel then they went back to the lounge for a while. I was out as soon as my head hit the pillow.
Janet: Another example of the kindness of your coworkers! Kimmi: As we were enjoying our breakfast, low & behold, there was Davy again! He joined us in the round..... table. He even posed for more pictures with that same gorgeous smile!! He must have slept in his clothes from the night before and he still didn’t have much to say but at least he put forth the effort to make an appearance. What a guy!
Shane: Kind of funny, isn't it? The kids get tired and want to go home, and the adults‌ Janet: I guess being referred to as an adult isn't SO bad, Shane could have called us 'seniors.' Shane: ...want to stay out late and party. Something is seriously twisted here.
Janet: He was just as pleasant and cheerful as he was the night before....amazing! I think he enjoyed listening to our conversation, thus the ever present smile! He seemed
Janet: When you get 'old' you have no concept of time/space/ 16
Monkee Shines to be a very good listener!
ing lot was literally turned into a lake. It was something to see, but no doubt frustrating for everyone who was trying to leave. What makes this experience all the more frustrating for me is that we are now more than halfway through the Waterfest concert season at the park, and so far David's show has been the ONLY one to rain out. That isn't to say that there haven't been weeks when it's been downright chilly out there, or weeks like this one, ( a week out from Peter's show--knock on wood), where things are hot and humid, but none where the weather has forced any delays or cancellations. Why me? Why US???!!!
Kimmi: We already headed out at about 10:00. Davy had already said good-bye. We said our good-byes to Janet and Tom and then dropped Shanie off at home. Then we headed home ourselves. Well, tried to. Getting out of Dodge was a bigger task than expected. No one told us to bring our Yacht! Several of the roads were blocked because of flooding. We finally made our way on 44 and thought we were in the clear. No deal! Police were watching traffic at one point in the road where a river had decided to form. It wasn’t listed on the map. We ran into major water over the road at least 3 times. We finally started to make a little progress and then were stopped by a train loitering on the tracks. We turned around and went back to town for a potty break. When we came back the train had moved on. Yippee!!
Janet: You know...as disappointed as we were that the show was cancelled, seeing the flooded homes and farmer's fields, that kind of put things all in perspective. Of course we missed seeing David's fabulous show, but seeing the result of the reason for the cancellation....my heart went out to those poor people that experienced much more devastation than we did. The floods that ensued affected those poor people much more than the disappointment of not seeing David.
Shane: Yes, as everybody found out on their way out of town, the rainfall from the day before had caused some MAJOR flooding in the Oshkosh area. Just a perfect capper for a perfect concert experience, right? It wasn't so much the rainfall that we got that previous day that was such a problem, as it was the fact that May and June had already been such wet months to begin with. So much so that the ground was literally saturated and just could not hold any more water. Many streets and bas ments in Oshkosh were seriously flooded, and there was one major shopping area by the highway whose park-
Kimmi: As we proceeded homeward bound, the rain stopped and Davy appeared in the car! In CD form. So we enjoyed a LIVE show after all! We had comfortable seats, great sound and no rain! He played all of our requests. Next time we’re going to stay home and 17
Monkee Shines sit in the car and enjoy a guaranteed show! Or maybe go to a President’s funeral but we won’t even know for sure if that’s him!
fun “weekend.” It was not by any means a complete waste. I always love seeing my friends and family (same difference). The only serious disappointment I had was not seeing my Mumsy this trip. I sacrificed my time with her to go see Davy. I guess if I hadn’t I would’ve missed out on Dinner With Davy. Oh well. That wouldn’t be a first. So inclosing, if I’ve offended you, I don’t care! Try to catch me!
Shane: Believe me when I say that I felt the worst out of everybody. I know it's nobody's fault, but I was so looking forward to having you enjoy a concert in my own hometown. This city can be quite charming when it isn't raining. I feel very bad that you never really got to see that side of it.
Janet: We did miss you Cindy, you were there in spirit...and thank goodness for cell phones!
Janet: What we did see was quaint and very charming. Kimmi: We were really enjoying our LIVE show when along came Jones........ “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights.” How appropriate! He seemed fond of this song. It repeated several times. He really put his Heart and Soul into it! He’s been way too nice this trip, until the finale! If he’s offended anyone, he doesn’t care! Because “You can’t catch me!” He has “No Time!” When we needed sunshine, we got rain. But a day late and a dollar short, the sun did appear. I swear it was mocking us. It accompanied us the rest of the way home. I think we pulled into Bonnie’s at about 4 or 4:30. I transferred my belongings to my car, gave hugs and goodbyes and headed for my home. I made good time. About 2 1/2 hours. I didn’t stop once to pee! That’s a definite first in history. I got into my jammies right away and went to bed. It was time to relax and dream of what could’ve been. All in all, I had a
Shane: Well, that's the long and short of it. The concert that wasn't. I thank those of you who came and didn't see a show, and those of you who came and didn't put on a show. Hopefully, we'll be able to schedule a make up date with David for next season. There is actually a brand new band shell being constructed this fall that should help matters a great deal in inclement conditions such as we experienced for this show. So David-heads up! I am not giving up on getting you to play here...I didn't come this far only to turn back now. But, in the meantime, there is Peter coming a mere week from now, and Micky three weeks after that. Here's hoping things go much better for these shows, or that I have enough rope to hang myself with if they don't. Stay tuned for more of the Road Crew adventures!!!!
18
Monkee Shines
Who’ll Stop The Rain? with apologies to CCR.... Long as Jones remembers, the rain was pourin' rage. Clouds of myst'ry askin' if he will take the stage. Good fans through the ages, tryin' to find the sun; And I wonder, still I wonder, who'll stop the rain. I went down to Oshkosh, seekin' shelter from the storm. Caught up in the hoopla, I watched the stagehands go. Three month plans and no deal, trapped in graying plains. And I wonder, still I wonder who'll stop the rain. Saw the bandmates strayin', how we wished for more. The crowd had rushed together, tryin' to keep warm. Still the rain kept pourin', fallin' with my tears. And I wonder, still I wonder who'll stop the rain Shane Worden (Channeling Weird Al Yankovic)
Dinner with Davy?!?!?
19
Monkee Shines And while the road crew was having dinner with David look who showed up at my house! This postcard from Peter showed up while the Gang was in Oshkosh without me‌.what a nice surprise! Thanks Peter! Cindy
20
Monkee Shines
DAYDREAM believer: Bride Beverley Leigh with new husband Matthew Barber and famous uncle Davy Jones.
Hey Hey ! There’s A Monkee At My Wedding! THE crowning glory for a High Lane couple came at their wedding on Saturday when they were serenaded through their first dance by world famous exMonkee group lead singer Davy Jones. The singer jetted in from his home in the United States to attend the wedding of his niece and Goddaughter Beverley Leigh to Matthew Barber at St Thomas Church. Blushing bride Beverley said: "It was marvelous to have my uncle sing to us at our reception at the Village Hotel in Cheadle. He dedicated ˜I Will Love You Forever” to myself and Matthew, before singing exMonkee hits “I’m A Believer” and ˜Daydream Believer” to us. I sobbed the whole way through because I was so happy and it was absolutely perfect." Beverley’s close relationship with her famous uncle
dates back a long way and even her christening was delayed to enable Davy to become her Godfather. "I was born in July 1971 but because of Davy’s work commitments around the world, the christening was postponed until May 14, 1972 when he made it to Brookfield Unitarian Church, Gorton," said Beverley. "He has been a wonderful Godfather and I used to spend a lot of time with him during the late 1970s and early 1980s and whenever he comes over on tour I go with him to help out and look after him." According to Openshaw-born Davy, the feelings about his niece and goddaughter are mutual: "We are a very close family and in my case it helps stabilise me knowing I have the likes of Beverley and her mum Beryl and my other sisters Hazel and Linda on the other side 21
Monkee Shines of the Atlantic. They have always been my strength." "I don’t know how good a Godfather I have been over the years but having a Goddaughter like Beverley is important in keeping that normality going and to be honest she helps rejuvenate me." Before flying off on her honeymoon to Cuba, Beverley
added: "When Davy spoke at the wedding he said I was his niece, his Goddaughter and his friend, and that made me feel so proud." Author Peter Devine
Wood You Believe?
itinerary with Cindy, she said, “Oh! While you’re there, you’ll
By: Bonnie Borgh
have to look up the tree we planted (a year ago May in memory of David’s beloved horse, Digpast).” I said, “Oh yeah! That’s right! It was planted in Louisville…” I contacted the kind man who assisted us in our treeplanting project about a month prior to our arrival in Louisville. He was so nice and gave me very detailed directions to the area. He said to give him a call a week before our departure to remind him, and he would put out a red (I’m sure he meant purple) flag to mark the tree.
Our summer vacation plans this year included a onenight stop (I didn’t say stand) in Louisville, Kentucky. When I was sharing our prospective 22
Monkee Shines Per his request, the middle of July, I called. I left a message that we would be visiting the area either July 17 or 18. He returned my call the next day and left a message for me. Essentially, he said we were welcome to visit, but on July 13 the area suffered a bad storm with 70 mph sustained (hurricane force) winds. He estimated about $20,000 damage to approximately 50 to 100 trees including our little Eastern Red Bud. Poor little sap!
At approximately 10:00 am on Sunday, July 18, we visited Digpast’s burial grounds. It was difficult to determine at first where our original tree was and SLASH or where the new replacement tree might have taken root. There were major tree limbs down. What I am sure was a well-manicured area was a real mess. After walking around for a few minutes, I turned a corner and almost literally ran right into our tree. It was easily identifiable by the stake holding it up and the fresh mulch around the base. It was the only new sapling replaced that I could see. When I turned yet another direction, I spied a preservation area of wild purple flowers. I knew then it had to be “our” tree. True to my word, I did tie a (purple-flowered) ribbon ‘round the Red Bud tree. I thought it would be a tangible sign that The Gang was thinking about David and Digpast, too.
I returned his call the following day. Since he was then unavailable, I left another message. He returned my call later that morning. He told me, unfortunately, the wind damage to their trees was not covered by insurance. However, he expressed how much he liked our little tree and how he would often check to see how it was doing. Out of absolute kindness and generosity, he offered that they would do the best they could to replace our little tree before our arrival. He even gave me the name and number of the gardener of the property if we ran into any problems.
I called our ally in Louisville on August 2 to thank him for the wonderful directions and to let him know we found the tree. He knew we had been there because he saw the ribbon. He told me the replacement tree was perhaps a hundred feet from the original tree (which had to be removed). He said if we’re ever in the area again we’re more than welcome to visit. Talk about southern
I did ask if it would be permissible to tie a ribbon around one of the branches so those parties interested would know of our brief visit. He said that would be fine.
23
Monkee Shines hospitality.
to see her hand stamp at the base of the escalator. Dee accidentally fell over backwards and was wedged like a pretzel in the escalator when she turned around to show him her hand stamp. We spent the first hour in First Aid whilst the paramedics on duty cleaned up the escalator track marks on Dee’s arm and back. It looked like she had been in a major cat fight. Needless to say, Dee did not have much of an appetite afterwards so we left about 5:30 pm without eating or watching any of the horse races. (Post time was 5:00 pm.)
Ups and (Colonial) Downs By: Bonnie Borgh Also on our journey out east this summer, we visited a friend, Dee, who lives in Richmond, Virginia. Since Richmond is within a half hour of Colonial Downs, we had to stop there, too. Our friend was kind enough to make dinner reservations for us in the junior jockey’s club area the night of Friday, July 23 at 4:00 pm. I didn’t know at the time if any of David’s horses would be on the roster that evening, but the aura surrounding the track was “Incredible”.
It was disappointing for all of us, but it could have been worse. Dee could have easily been very seriously injured. David’s horses could have been in the line up that night, and we would have missed wagering on a Jones entry. At least I can say that I’ve been there. Too bad I didn’t get the t-shirt, though.
Unfortunately, it caught Dee completely off guard when the little old security man asked
David and the band in Warsaw
24
Photo by Tom Litterio
Monkee Shines
Warsaw By Janet Litterio When my hubby Tom and I informed our sons, both boys, that we were going to Warsaw to see Davy’s show, their response was “We can’t believe you’re going to Poland to see him.” We assured them the only border we would cross was close to home…the IL/IN border.
and chatted a bit—very considerate of them to do that. We had a quick bite to eat, took our seats, and before long, the first band started. They weren’t too bad, but of course, they weren’t Davy Jones. As they played, the skies darkened, not necessarily because of nightfall. Tom retrieved our rain gear from the car. Our “logic” was if we had umbrellas on hand, it wouldn’t rain. Just before David took the stage, it started drizzling—fortunately this time, the Good Lord must be a Davy fan, it stopped.
We arrived at the park in Warsaw, IN in the early afternoon and staked out a good piece of turf. Being somewhat vertically challenged myself, if we’re not close to the stage, especially at fests, my only view is the back side of a stranger. Most of the time, that’s not a pretty sight!
The band did their usual introductions. When David took the stage, people were on their feet welcoming him. From our vantage point, the park was filled with people. This was the first show we had seen in 2004. The set list was rearranged from previous shows we attended. I did not take notes as to the order of the list, but a few new tunes were added. I’ll probably get this wrong, but one of the new additions was “I Love You Like I Love NYC.” Tis a snappy tune. One of my favorites is
The afternoon passed, the park was actually quite lovely with water fountains and flowers. We kept an eye on the sky, hoping the rain would stay away. After being at Water-logged fest in Oshkosh the previous week, we were hoping history would not repeat itself. Later in the afternoon, the band arrived and quickly got to work.— sound check time! A few of the guys remembered us from our Lockport show and came over 25
Monkee Shines
another fairly new addition, “Bright Side of the Road.” One song I would love to hear sung by David is “Over the Rainbow.” Even though we’ve heard basically the same tunes and jokes over the years, David and his awesome band make it seem as if it’s the first time they’ve played them. In watching a show, one tends to forget these people are working, they all seem to have so much fun up on stage, which is why I feel the songs and show always seem fresh.
tears in their eyes when the band came together to sing “The Star Spangled Banner.” After the show, we chatted a while with our friends. Before long, it was time to head back west and cross the IN/IL border once again. Only this time, on the return trip, we felt a bit more joy and hope in our hearts. We’re anxiously awaiting the Lisle show on July 3. That’s practically in our back yard.
During the Brady Bunch tunes, David came down into the audience. Another curse of being short, I lost him in the crowd, but I heard him loud and clear. His coming into the crowd was another personal touch to make the audience feel part of the show. Having attended many shows in a relatively short time span, by now we know the songs, jokes, etc. It’s always very entertaining to watch other people in the audience watch the show. The sheer delight, joy, and happiness that the crowd brings while watching David performyou just cannot help but leave the show feeling joyful and hopeful, even in this troubled world we live in. I’m sure I wasn’t the only person that had 26
Monkee Shines David’s Performance in Warsaw Photos by Tom Litterio
27
Monkee Shines
Write to your favorite Monkee at:
Davy Jones PO Box 400 Beavertown, PA 17180
Christina Gautreaux 1221 11th Street Lot 5 Dewitt, IA 52742
Peter Tork 524 San Anselmo Suite 102 San Anselmo, CA 94960
Diane Klosak 2101 Nicholas Ct Bettendorf, IA 52722
Micky Dolenz DP Productions 15030 Ventura Blvd Suite 812 Sherman Oaks, CA 91403
Rick Schwinden 3275 Valley Ridge Drive Egan, MN 55121
Mike Nesmith Video Ranch 8 Harris Court Suite C1 Monterey, CA 93940
Ronda Russell 2031 Glen Avenue Beloit, WI 53411 Susan Bragga 4222 West Robin Meadows Lane Eau Claire. WI 54701
Jenny Hersey 31 Prescott Street Apt. 23 Concord, NH 03301
Maria Tereza Pinho Gomes Da Silva Rua Virginia Vidal No 59 Tanque Rio De Janiero RJ Cep22.735-080 Brazil
Beverly Ann Clark 2710 Crestmont Drive Garland, TX 75040 28
Monkee Shines
Crossville, TN 38572 Diane Scharp 14850 Phelps Drive Bridgeton, MO 63044
Colleen Johnson 9104 Lemona Drive St. Louis, MO 63123
Debbie Kolbaba PO Box 89 Holstein, IA 51025
Susan Jensen 210 Washington Street Audubon, IA 50025-1133
James Elswick 5017 W 2nd Street South Bloomfield, OH 43103
Shane Worden 306-A Waugoo Avenue Oshkosh WI 54901
Kathy Brewer 1198 Turkey Blind Road
E-mail Pals Maria Tereza Pinho Gomes Da Silva: terezalennon@openlink.com.br Shane Worden: idolthreat@prodigy.net Janet Litterio: janet6356@juno.com Barbara Woerner: Wbwoerner@aol.com If you would like your email address listed in Email Pals please let me know. 29
Monkee Shines
August
September
5 7
Billie Hayes Jason Nesmith Jack Good 8 Charlotte Dolenz Nita Talbot 10 Ronnie Spector Marilyn (Schlossberg) La Salandra 14 David Crosby 15 Rose Marie 16 Julie Newmar 19 Hazel Wilkinson Billy J Kramer 22 Ron Dante 26 Bob Cowsill 27 Chip Douglas 28 Barbara Ianolli 29 Michael Jackson 30 John Phillips
1 3
Barry Gibb Georgia Dolenz Arte Johnson 4 Jessica Jones 5 John Stewart 6 Henry Diltz 8 Irwin Charone 9 Stu Phillips 10 Jessica Nesmith Nurit Wilde Danny Hutton 12 THE MONKEES’ TV SHOW PREMIERED 14 Barry Cowsill 16 Helene Winston 17 Steve Blauner 18 Frankie Avalon 19 Paul Williams 22 David Pearl 23 Kathleen Scott David Price 24 Gary Marsden 30
Monkee Shines 26 27 28 29
Michael G. Bush Carl Ballantine Kimmi Janvrin Tommy Boyce James Frawley Jerry lee Lewis
November 3
Larry Gelman Lulu 5 Rob Grill Peter Noone 6 Colleen Johnson 7 Johnny Rivers 9 Severn Darden Maria Tereza Pinho Gomes Da Silva 11 Jack Keller Paul Cowsill 12 Neil Young 14 Freddie Garity 15 Petula Clark 22 Diane Klosak 24 Jim Yester 26 Tina Turner Bonnie Borgh 29 Denny Doherty Felix Cavaliere 30 Dick Clark
October 2 8 9 13 14 17 18 20 22 23 24 28 30 31
Talia Jones Bill Martin John Entwistle Lisa James Cliff Richards Gary Puckett Chuck Berry Jay Siegal Ward Sylvester Annette Funicello Jennifer McLeod Bill Wyman Dave Evans Grace Slick Denise Gauthier
Micky and Coco perform in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Photo by Shane Worden. Catch the story in the next issue of Monkee Shines.
31
Monkee Shines
Peter Tork's Band Not Just Monkey-ing Around With The Blues By Jim Lundstrom Post-Crescent staff writer
still one of the better pop singers of all times," Tork said. "If his voice is still anything like it was, he's an amazing vocalist. I don't think of Jonesy so much as a singer, but he's an amazing showman. I've got a lot of respect for those guys."
Peter Tork is still a believer, but these days he believes in the blues rather than the pop confections of the Pre-Fab Four - otherwise known as The Monkees. Tork brings his blues band, Shoe Suede Blues, to Waterfest in Oshkosh tonight in something of a Wisconsin homecoming for the former bass-playing Monkee.
But he doesn't know if the feeling is mutual. "I could call them up if I wanted to talk to them, if I had something to say to them. But we're not pals," he said. "We don't have an awful lot in common and I think they're a little angry that I left The Monkees (reunion) in 2001. Both of them were upset at me, so they're not feeling partial to me these days."
"I have serious Wisconsin roots," the 62-year-old Tork said by telephone from his home in southern California. "My grandfather was a teacher of engineering and the business manager for the University of Wisconsin in Madison. My father, mother and brother went there. My parents were married in Racine. We lived in Wisconsin for three years when I was growing up."
But, then, he added, they were just thrown together in the first place. "Well, of course, you know we were assembled," he said. "There's nothing to be said about that one way or the other. That's the way it was. I don't know that any one of us would have chosen any other one of us if we had known about each other. Maybe I would have gotten into a band with Mickey for the music and Jones for the fun of it because Jones has a tremendous sense of fun."
Tork said he is not aware of any living relatives still in Wisconsin, but two of his former bandmates are on the Waterfest schedule this summer. Davey Jones was there in early June and Mickey Dolenz performs Aug. 19. "The last I heard Mickey, he was 32
Monkee Shines Much more important than those few years in the late 1960s when Tork, Jones, Dolenz and Michael Nesmith were starring on television as The Monkees and churning out hit records is what he is doing today, Tork said.
Train to) Clarksville' that's just slinky as hell. We even do 'Daydream Believer' as well as 'A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You' and maybe 'She Hangs On'." Tork said some people can never get past the "Oh, it's Peter Tork pretending to play the blues" stage, but those who do are going to be engaged by a dedicated quartet of blues musicians.
"While I don't suppose I'll ever be a part of a huge pop phenomenon again, I have hopes for this band," he said. "We love to play. There's something about the blues that's really magical."
"I've actually heard somebody say the blues is depressing," he said. "By nature, the blues are anything but depressing. On the contrary, when you heard good blues, your troubles are lifted. Your cares and worries are taken away. It's always happened for me and it's really one of the reasons I always wanted to get into it. I didn't believe in it and in myself enough to do it until a few years ago."
Shoe Suede Blues began in 1994 when Tork and two friends were asked to put a band together for a charity event. That led to other charity events, which led to a regular Tuesday night gig in a Santa Monica club, which led to gigs all over the United States. While blues is the band's mainstay, Tork could not get away without doing at least some of The Monkees' hits.
Tork said he has seen other performers break off into solo careers only to be sidetracked.
"No problem. It's a good book," he said. "The trick is to keep them close enough to the blues where it doesn't feel totally disjointed.
"If I never do break out or get a serious career success doing this, I'm not going to quit doing it," he said. "It's too much fun."
"Fortunately, that moment in history, pop tunes tended to be strongly blues influenced and blues-aware," he continued. "Particularly Neil Diamond, who wrote 'I'm A Believer.' He was very much into songs that played off the blues concept. So 'I'm a Believer' and 'Stepping Stone' are very easy to do. We just do them straight. We came across a way of doing '(Last
Photo by Shane Worden
33
Monkee Shines
Twisting to the '60s Waterfest 2004 begins Thursday By Jeff Potts of The Northwestern
terfest. "But this is the best schedule they've ever done."
When Oshkosh's Shane Worden got an early peek at this years schedule for the Waterfest Concert Series he thought he was in the middle of a glorious dream.
Worden has seen The Monkees or different versions of the band "too many times to count," and said anyone familiar with their television program will enjoy the Waterfest concerts.
"Somebody pinch me," Worden posted to the online music newsgroup alt.music.monkees. "I can't tell you how excited I am, and at the same time, I am somehow convinced I must be dreaming this!"
He refers to Jones as the ultimate show person. He describes Dolenz as the perfect rock 'n' roll pop voice, but warns that many people leave a Dolenz show more impressed with his sister and back-up singer, Coco. Worden describes Tork as the most down to earth and the most serious musician.
For years, Worden, 31, has been emailing the organizers of the summer concert series pleading with them to bring in his favorite musical act - The Monkees. This summer, he'll not only get Davy Jones of The Monkees on June 10, he's also getting Peter Tork's Shoe Suede Blues on July 29 and Micky Dolenz on Aug. 19.
Waterfest, in its 19th year, is held each Thursday night at Riverside Park in downtown Oshkosh. Admission is $5 before 7 p.m. and $9 after, with the first 500 patrons getting in for just $2 every night (no re-entry).
Worden, who first "got into the Monkees in 1986 during the MTV marathon craze of their television show, said he's also looking forward to hearing the Idea of March, Paul Revere and the Raiders, and The Rascals featuring Felix Cavaliere.
Three will be two special Wednesday night performances this year. On June 30th the southern rock, blues, jam band The North Mississippi All Stars will headline. And on July 28 Reel Big Fish will headline a mini Ska music festival. Both shows start at 5 p.m.
"I go a few times a year depending on the acts," Worden said of Wa-
Other shows of note include return performance by The Gin Blos34
Monkee Shines soms, Cowboy Mouth, and Todd Rundgren and power ballad rockers Loverboy, Foreigner's Lou Gramm, and .38 Special.
cal taste. Most impressive about the line up is the attention paid to providing a full night of quality entertainment. It's not just the headliners people should come to see, said Mike Dempsey, Waterfest organizer.
Oshkosh's Tina Wilson said she's just happy to have something to do again on Thursday nights.
He points to the Honeydogs (June 3) as a "new outrageous product," and the Australian roots band BROTHER as "a sensational rock show with bag pipes and didgeridoos." And he's even impressed by the quirky teaming of Paul Revere and the Raiders with opening act Los Straitjackets.
"I meet up with friends there just about every week," she said. Wilson said she's looking forward to a night of blues music with Marcia Ball, Roomful of Blues, and Mudbone on July 15. Tami Cranston said the only show was certain not to miss is the season ending Joan Jett and The Blackhearts.
"It's like a twisted sense of the '60s - surf music vs. '60s MTV," Dempsey said. "It's going to be very interesting so come out early and support all the bands."
"I love rock 'n' roll," she smiled. The 2004 Waterfest season has something for almost every musi-
Photo by Shane Worden 35
Monkee Shines
Shoe Suede Blues in Oshkosh 36
Photos by Shane Worden
Monkee Shines
David’s News Between horse racing and family weddings, David still finds the time to perform extensively. Look for him to appear in the following venues: Sat 09/11/04 Westbury, NY Westbury Music Fair Sat 09/18/04 Springfield, IL Sangamon Auditorium Sat 09/25/04 Monticello, IL Monticello Schools Sat 10/02/04 Las Vegas, NV Silverton Casino Sat 10/09/04 West Sacramento, CA Raley Field Sat 10/16/04 USS Hornet--California Sat 10/23/04 Lockport, IL East High School ...and look for the PFG road crew here, too!!!.... Sat 11/13/04 Biloxi, MS Isle Of Capri Casino Sat 04/02/05 Staten Island, NY College Of Staten Island Check out www.davyjones.net for information on Jones' three new solo efforts: Live, Daydream Believin' and Justme 2. David has also been writing periodic columns for the website entitled "Keeping Up With The Joneses" which updates his life and times. One final note: There was to have been a Monkees convention held at the Silverton Casino in Vegas that coincided with David's appearance there. While the concert will still happen, the convention has unfortunately been moved. The new dates and venue are October 29th through the 31st in Woodland Hills, CA. Interested people should visit http://monkeesconvention04.tripod.com on the internet for more information.
Visit www.davyjones.net for the latest Davy news! 37
Monkee Shines
Micky’s News By the time you read this, Micky's long tenure with AIDA, first in the national touring company, and then on Broadway, will have come to a close. The long running hit musical by Elton John and Tim Rice closed in New York on September 5th. Look to see Micky in other dramatic stage roles in the coming months and years. In the meantime, there are still a couple of solo shows that Micky has scheduled. September 25th at the Hollywood Greyhound Racetrack in Hallandale, FL, October 8th in Maryville, TN at the Foothills Fall Festival, and October 29th at the Westbury Music Fair in Westbury, NY. All these shows include Coco Dolenz, as well. Speaking of Coco, check out her brand new website at www.cocodolenz.com . Coco has reissued both of her solo albums, In The Silence and One Voice on compact disc. There are even bonus tracks of live material that she has been singing in her stage act with Micky on these releases. These CDs have been available at recent Micky & Coco shows, and should be ready for purchase on the website soon. Micky's autobiography, I'm A Believer: My Life of Monkees, Music and Madness, has been reissued with updated sections recently, and is available on amazon.com and in fine bookstore outlets everywhere. The April-May-June issue of Vintage Drummer magazine has a five page article that features Micky. Contact vintagedrummer.com for availability of back issues.
Visit www.mickydolenz.com for all the latest news on Micky!
38
Monkee Shines
Mike’s News Unfortunately, there's not much to report on the Nez front this time around. There has been talk within recent months that Michael may be having second thoughts about making the songs from his yet unreleased "Rays" project an internet download only endeavor, but what form these songs take and when has not yet been determined. The entirety of Nez's previously released solo work has been made available as downloads from Videoranch, so if there are gaps that need filling in your collection, now is a great time to take advantage of that. Or you can check out your local music store, as Videoranch has been extending it's reaches into retail outlets and offering Mike's work for purchase in music store chains nation-wide. Jason Nesmith has reported on his mailing list that he is 3/4 of the way done with a new studio solo effort, and hopes to have it completed within the next few months. In the meantime, he has a line of merchandise available for purchase on the internet through cafepress.
Visit www.videoranch.com for the latest on Mike!
Peter’s News Peter has a couple of appearances with James Lee Stanley lined up for the near future: September 18 Grape Jam Wine & Music Festival Dobson, North Carolina September 19 Six String Cafe and Music Hall Cary, NC September 21 Jammin' Java Vienna, VA More Shoe Suede Blues and Two Man Band appearances are anticipated and expected, so keep checking the usual places on the web for new gigs as they are confirmed. James has reported through his mailing list that he and Peter have finally recorded a live show on their last tour together that they are happy enough with to release. James plans to put in some production work on that in the near future and have it available for release in a short while Visit www.petertork.com for the latest news on Peter & Shoe Suede
39
Monkee Shines
Micky Dolenz Honors Unspoken Contract With Audience
King, Boyce & Hart, Neil Diamond, Harry Nilsson," he said. "You can't go wrong if you start with that great material."
By Jim Lundstrom Post-Crescent staff writer
When "The Monkees" debuted on NBC in September 1966, it was the first time a television show about a group of young adults was aimed at young adults.
Micky Dolenz points out that when he finishes his run as Zoser in "Aida," he will have spent more time in the Broadway show than he spent as lead singer of The Monkees. "Aida" had been scheduled to close in June, but star Deborah Cox extended her contract through Sept. 5. "It's been a great run," Dolenz said. His understudy will take his place tonight when Dolenz and his sister Coco headline Waterfest in Oshkosh. "I am taking a night off to do it," he said. "I had booked this concert before they extended 'Aida.' I told them I had a concert and I want to do it. I really wanted to do this. I love doing the show and it's a break from 'Aida.' Eight shows a week, that's a lot of work." Dolenz said while he enjoys the new world of musical theater, he still loves doing the rock 'n' roll concerts. "We do all the big songs," he said. "You have to. It's very important. You have this unspoken contract with the audience. I figured that out a number of years ago. You just have to fulfill that contract." And none of this medley stuff either, he said. "After you do the hits, you have the freedom to do different kinds of material," he said. "I've tried different material over the years, but what I've settled on is something to do either with my childhood, or that influenced me when I was young, that I wrote, or that I sang, or that I remember my mother or father singing. They were both singers. You bring the audience along with you and they understand why you're doing that." Dolenz said he also tells some stories about being a Monkee. "I talk about The Monkees and the songs, and especially all the amazing songwriters who wrote those hits. Those were songs written by some of the best - Carole
"It was fairly innocent by today's standards, but we represented the counterculture at the time," Dolenz said. "It's bizarre to think about it, but it's true. The only time you saw kids with long hair on television, they were being arrested." Dolenz said he's proud of The Monkees. "The show was about this imaginary group that didn't really exist, only in the imagination of the writers," he said. "It was a about a group that wanted to be successful, that wanted to be The Beatles. We even had a poster of The Beatles up on the set. That's what the show was about. It represented all those kids in garages and bedrooms and basements all over the world that were trying to be successful. "On the television show, it's interesting to note we were never successful," he said. "It was always about the struggle for success, which I think had a lot to do with making the show so successful." Dolenz said it started turning weird when they became a real band. "In the real world, of course, we did go out and start performing and playing and recording," he said. "At one point this imaginary group suddenly became a real group, which is really weird. It's like Leonard Nimoy really becoming a Vulcan."
40
Monkee Shines
Songs From the PFG or Plagiarized For Your Enjoyment with special thanks to Weird Al for the inspiration Take The Last Train To Clarksville or Take I80 East From Our Court Take I80 east from our Court And we'll meet you all in Lockport We can be there in two hours Cause we want to see the show Don't you know We won't drive slow Come on let's go! Cause we won't forget to bring cash Our cameras, film, and flash We'll be stocked with tins of Altoids so our breath is kissing sweet Should our paths meet Don't you know We won't be slow Cause we haven't seen a Monkee for so long! Take the roads without the tolls And look out for the Rolls There's no time for traffic back-ups, tickets, or detour routes, although Don't you know We won't drive slow Find the seats in the venue We're ready for the big "shoe" We can't wait to Listen to the Band Hear "walk along the sand" We're feeling grand But doesn't it seem Somewhere in between And we don't know if it's live or just a dream On the way back to our home All our phones will be on "ROAM" We must confess We will be talking until we are breathless About the show Don't you know We'll miss him so Cause we're all somewhere "Over The Rainbow" Take I80 east from our court And we'll meet you all in Lockport You can't wait for our report!
41
Monkee Shines HE SAID SLASH SHE SAID The Review By: Shane Worden With a little help from his friends Bonnie Borgh, Cindy Bryant, Kimmi Janvrin, and Janet Litterio
Shane: These new releases are a mixed bag at best. Bonnie: What did I just say? Shane: There are many things that I like about them and a few things that I don't.
Shane: The summer concert season is upon us yet again. A time of year when one's fancy lightly turn to thoughts of road trips, front row seats, and merchandising. Well, okay, maybe we tend not to think of the merchandise so much, but I'm sure the people who produce and sell it do. It's a time of the year when people are "Out and About" (with apologies to Tommy and Bobby) much more, and hence, a good time to unleash new items for concert going fans to take home with them.
Bonnie: I think there is some genuine validity to that statement. Shane: Our goal here is to alert you as what to look for (and where) and let you make the decision about "Who Will Buy" from there. For me personally, my griefs tend not to be issues of quality as they are about content. Bonnie: I think that is another valid statement. Shane: The best album out of the whole batch is LIVE!!! This CD captures the state of David's solo show as it exists right now, with inclusions of the two newest songs that he's been performing in concert: Van Morrison's "Bright Side Of The Road" and Freddy Fender's "Wasted Days And Wasted Nights". The price of the CD is worth it just for those two new songs alone.
David appears to be first out of the gate this year with a series of three brand new CDs that fans are going to want to check out. There's a new LIVE!!! album, a collection of hits and rarities entitled Daydream Believin' and the sequel to Jones' Justme album, entitled appropriately enough Justme 2. All three of these CDs should be available to fans for purchase all along the tour trail this year, as well as on the official Davy Jones website [davyjones.net.] Bonnie: plug!
Bonnie: I concur. I feel David is really “Gettin’ In” to those two selections. Those two songs have his name written all over them. They totally suit his style
I think that was a
42
Monkee Shines and his vocal abilities.
would just not let go of for half of forever?]
Janet: Without a doubt, listening to LIVE is the next best thing to being in the audience at one of David’s shows. David has truly put his personality into each of of the two songs mentioned and made them his own.
Bonnie: I think it’s all a part of that “Rocky Horror” theatrical format. “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it,” I say! Janet: The band is a wonderful group of very talented people. I thoroughly enjoy the skits, however I would like to see something other than the “Edith and Archie” sketch. Sandy and Dave do a great job, but I would just like to see them capture other characters as well as they do Edith and Archie.
Cindy: I only wish that once they would record a concert just as it is given with no edits. Even with the mistakes and things that do not go just as they would like there is NOTHING like David live performances. His quick wit and all the unexpected moments make a show so memorable. And, David, dump some of the old Monkees standards and add more songs like Bright Side Of The Road and Wasted Days!
Cindy: Sorry Bonnie but Edith and Archie and Meatloaf are getting very old. Shane: The only real complaint that I have about this CD at all is that it's almost completely focused on the music without much of the in-between song chatter being included. As we all know, David is a master story teller. Many times I find myself enjoying Jones' concerts for the humor and the stories as much as I do for the songs. It seems a shame that more of that couldn't have been kept in the final product. But still, this is a good CD to have. I highly recommend this one.
Shane: Fans will also find new live recordings of songs that we've kind of made crowd favorites at his solo shows through recent years, including "Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby", "It's Nice To Be With You", and his nice treatment of Nesmith's "Papa Gene's Blues". For fans of the band, you'll also be happy to hear that there is an entire track devoted to the "Archie and Edith" sketch between Sandy Genarro and Dave Alexander that we've all grown to love (or hate) so much. [Side note: Is it just me or has this little bit become the modern-day equivalent of the old "Tarzan joke" that David
Bonnie: I second that emotion. David is so spontaneous and quick-witted. I absolutely love to hear the dialogue he does between songs (especially 43
Monkee Shines when it is as clear to understand as it is in this particular release.) I think if it is going to be a “Live” recording, it should be kept in tact and unedited. I would like to think the reason certain parts were eliminated is due to “No Time” allowance for the actual songs on the CD.
interest and offer up filler for the remainder, i.e. material that fans have already heard and no doubt already possess multiple copies of. As I have noted above, the choice of material is not a matter of quality. The songs that are chosen, particularly on the Daydream Believin' album, are indeed good glimpses into David's recording career. No doubt casual fans that perhaps may not have seen Jones in the past couple of years will indeed find these albums particularly good additions to their collections. For us, the diehards, the folks who come out to see him year after year and buy CD after CD, feel that a better choice in marketing could have been made.
Janet: In my humble opinion, what makes each show special, different from the others, is not so much the music, rather the dialogue between David and the audience, David and the band. Listening to David sit down on the speaker and share his thoughts is to me, and I am sure the others will concur, just as worthwhile as hearing him sing. It would be wonderful to have that on an album, or better yet, a new video! But I will agree, I highly recommend LIVE for the music, and what banter is contained therein. You cannot help but feel uplifted listing to this album.
Let me start with the Justme 2 album. Basically, it's about the same as the first Justme album. Nine of the album's thirteen tracks are no more than remixes from Justme or the earlier Just For The Record (JFTR), Volume 4. Is it just me or are these remixes remarkably subtle?
Cindy: See...what did I just say?
Bonnie: As I said above, “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it!”
Shane: I wish that I could be as optimisitc about the other two releases. It seems to me that Justme 2 and Daydream Believin' take their cues from the Monkees' catalogue on Rhino. In that company's grand tradition, they offer a couple of tracks on each album that are truly of any great
Shane: Granted, I have not gone back to the original albums to compare mixes, but whatever remixing there is seems to be minor. I am just not detecting copious amounts of change to the songs as they were originally presented. 44
Monkee Shines There are, however, four brand new songs to take note of. "Run To Me" is a nice cover of the Bee Gee's hit, utilizing a pleasant sounding high school choir to good effect. Bonnie: Me”.
"folky" acoustic guitar sound and a laid back "pop" groove that suits the song very well. Bonnie: I agree; It’s a nice remix. My favorites on Justme 2 are both on Justme, i.e. “Hurry Up Slow Down” and “I Wanna Be Me”. I am glad there was no cosmetic surgery done on those. I love those two just the way they are.
Yes! I like “Run To
Janet: Ditto!!! Cindy: Having always been a big Bee Gees fan from the beginning, I also LOVED this one and hope someday we will get to hear it on stage.
Shane: How I wish I could say the same thing for the fourth and final new tune, "When All Else Fails"! "When All Else Fails" has had quite a history among David's fans. He added this song, originally recorded by Australian songster John Farnham…
Shane: "It's Just A Matter Of Time" originally appeared on the aforementioned JFTR, Volume 4, but the version presented here has been totally rerecorded, with a new arrangement that isn't that bad. I don't like it any less or more than the first recording, though. It's just a different way of doing the same song.
Bonnie: Excuse me, Shane, but I didn’t know that. We thought that David wrote it, and if he didn’t, he should have. Cindy: Bonnie, you thought David wrote that? I knew he didn't.
Bonnie: I guess I need to drain the chlorine from my ears. It sounds the same to me.
Shane: to his solo show circa 1999, to immediate and strong positive fan reaction. It's dramatic, it's touching, and the lyrics just lend themselves to be the ultimate closing number for Jones' solo shows. We here at PFG central just loved it, and were very disheartened when all of a sudden the song just seemed to disappear once David got back on the road as a solo act following the Monkees'
Shane: My award for best song on the album goes to the new recording of "Leaving It Up To You". This tune originally appeared as a vocal and guitar demo on the JFTR, Volume 2, and the more produced, professionally done update presented here sounds amazing. I particularly like the arrangement. It has just the right mix of the 45
Monkee Shines 2001 reunion tour. Imagine how excited we were when we learned that this song was going to be a new recording on Justme 2! Well, speaking for myself, my excitement turned to mediocre acceptance when I heard the song as presented on the album. There's something about the arrangement that I just don't like. Maybe more to the point, there's something about the arrangement as performed by David's backing band at the time that I liked so much better. The version presented on Justme 2 just does not seem as dramatic and reverent as I remember hearing it live. The synthesizer opening sounds cheesy (coming from Wisconsin, I know my cheese), the tempo seems a tad too fast, and Cassie Blair’s, the wife of producer, Johnny J. Blair, backing vocals seem way too overpowering in spots. Towards the end of the song, the arrangement finally hits the pocket with a pseudo-gospel sound that actually does sound kind of nice. However, by then, it's too late; I've lost interest. I don't think it's a matter of it being a weak vocal performance from Jones; the vocals sound alright. The arrangement is just not inspired. Sorry, David! I hope you'll try that one again someday.
ward to having a mint CD version of the VHS version I have from David’s concert at Prairie Meadows in Altoona, Iowa (January, 1999). I absolutely loved the way David performed that song in 1999. Of course, I was three months pregnant at the time so perhaps my hormones were askew. I remember David performed “When All Else Fails” with such passion. The newly recorded version grated on me. I feel the song lost it’s sincerity with the artsy accompaniment. Perhaps I’m just not appreciative of that particular musical style. Will the real Davy Jones please stand up? Cindy: The first time I heard David do If All Else Fails at Prairie Meadows it was raw....they had only done it a few times. It had an honesty that polishing has removed. There is something to the "unplugged" idea....less is more. I was disappointed in this "new" version. Some of my favorite performances were songs the band was doing for the first time. Later down the road they get too slick. Shane: Now I turn my attention to the Daydream Believin' collection. The good news is that there are a number of rarities and newer tracks that are going to make this album a point of interest for fans on this release. Again, the bad news is that almost all of the rest of it is re-
Bonnie: I repeat, “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.” I was very disappointed in “When All Else Fails”, too. I was looking for46
Monkee Shines hash…
CD release.
Bonnie:...I’m telling you, hash will get you in trouble every time.
Bonnie: Do any of you have the video of that Japanese concert (December 5, 1981)? It’s great!
Shane:…we've already heard on past releases. Five of the album's fourteen songs are already included on Justme 2, and the majority of the rest can already be found on Don't Go, David's previous compilation album, or the JFTR series. The average concert-going Joe Schmoe…
Shane: Nice inclusion there, however, I want more, more, more! How about "Rainbows" (one of my favorites from that time period), "You're A Lady", or "Who Was It"?
Bonnie:…Is he any relation to John Doe?
Cindy: Bonnie! Bonnie! Bonnie! You call yourself an undying Davy fan and you don't know these songs! Tsk! Tsk! Tsk!
Bonnie: “Rainbows”? “Who Was It”? Those are rarities. I’ve never even heard of those!
Shane: will probably find some enjoyment out of this release. The rest of us, however, well, we probably could have just as easily burned our own hits and rarities compilations on our home computers.
Shane: All good songs from that much overlooked era of David's recording career that really need to find a home on CD. Also included are a couple of tracks from the also overlooked Incredible! album, namely "Valleri", "After Your Heart", and "I'll Love You Forever". Two of those songs, having also been covered by the Monkees at different times during their recording career, are the most instantly recognizable to casual fans. But for my money, it's the album's remaining five tracks that haven't seen CD release on any of David's recent offerings that need to be heard by present day fans the most. For example, songs like "Look Inside Yourself", "Hippy Hippy Shake" and the title track, "Incredible", are great pop tunes
Bonnie: Excuse me, again, Shane. I think we need to add the “daffynition” for “burned” in our PFG’s ABC Dictionary For Computer Monkees. Is “burned” another term for copying or is “burned” what you get when you get caught? Cindy: Both! Shane: There are, however, a couple of bright spots. Daydream Believin' marks the first ever appearance of the rare Japanese solo single, "Dance Gypsy Dance" on a legitmate 47
Monkee Shines that showcase David's versatility and prove that he need not depend on the Monkees’ moniker. These songs really need to be reissued, and it's a shame that they haven't appeared on any CD release thus far.
should be commended for being innovative, I’m a Believer, “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it!” “Daydream Believer” is The Monkees’ SLASH David’s signature song. It’s like The National Anthem to Monkees’ fans. Perhaps it’s a generational thing, but I feel the “techno pop” interpretation violates the sanctity of the song. I would expect such a recording to be featured in “Shrek II”. I would venture that the millennium version is a real paradigm shift for the majority of die-hard Monkees’ fans. Perhaps it would appeal more to second or third generation Monkees’ fans unless they would consider the recording outside of their genre since the artist appeals primarily to Baby Boomers. Will the real Davy Jones please stand up again, please?
Shane: Daydream Believin' closes with a 2001 techno-pop recording of "Daydream Believer". Bonnie: Is that what you call it? How come everyone seems to know all the current musical jargon except me? Perhaps I have been listening to too much Monkees’ music for too long. [Larry (the desk clerk) from the Bettendorf Life Fitness Center is constantly telling me that I need to diversify. While some people need caffeine in the morning, I need chlorine. Just Hafta Swim.]
Janet: I must be showing my age….the 2001 edition of ‘Daydream Believer’ while yes, it was original and an innovative release, I did not care much for it. Perhaps it’s that particular type of techno music in general of which I am not particularly fond. Especially with David’s signature song presented that way, it was not something I will play over and over again. Different, yes, but not a favorite of mine.
Cindy: Tech? NO! Crap! is the real term! Shane: It’s a collaboration between Russian and Swedish producers. Bonnie: So that’s it! You cross the likes of Tchaikovsky and ABBA, and that’s what you get! Shane: It may do something for the younger generation that digs that kind of thing. It did nothing for me. Sorry. Bonnie:
Cindy: Showing my age or not, David don't mess with the Gospel according to The Monkees. Daydream Believer is our an-
While I think David 48
Monkee Shines them, it is sacred...please don't change it! I am all for hearing new music but if you are going to experiment, PLEASE don't experiment with the classics!
Red” (1986). Janet and I agree “Over The Rainbow” (from the Wizard of Oz) (1939) needs to be a definite consideration for David. My curiosity is peaked with Shane’s suggestion of “Rainbows” and “Who Was It?”
Shane: I suppose that the long and short of it all, at least to my way of thinking, is that the truly interesting tracks from Justme 2 (i.e. the four new tunes) and the truly interesting tracks from Daydream Believin' should have been combined together to make one CD. I would have been more enthusiastic about that, i.e. kind of a "Then and Now...The Best of Davy Jones" if you will, as opposed to the two compilation albums, Justme 2 and Daydream Believin’. It has been suggested by Bonnie and Cindy that we [The PFG] should compile a hypothetical "Just 4 Us" album, a collection of music that we, the fans, would like to hear.
Cindy: Yes, indeed! David we would love to sit down with you and generate a set list for JUST4US! Give us a call! I believe you have the number. "Take a chance, baby, take a chance! Janet: I would love to hear David sing ‘You Sang To Me.’ I can just imagine the passion and flair that David would put into that particular tune. More than that, Bonnie is right…..we would absolutely LOVE to hear David sing “Over The Rainbow.” I can think of a few shows in the next 6 months where he can try it out and see the audience reaction:-) Another song I would like to see on an album is something more of a religious song. David shared a verse of this song with me at a booksigning in Chicago in May 2002. When he sang part of the song to me, I was completely overwhelmed. The song is called “Why.” Simply breathtaking, a beautiful song about friendship and betrayal!
Bonnie: Cindy and I realize the belief of actuality probably makes us candidates for the psychiatric ward at “All Jones, All The Time”. The mentally insane oftentimes appear quite normal. Isn’t that right, Ken? Seriously, Cindy and I would love to generate a set-list for a “Just 4 Us” CD. We would love for David to record Marc Anthony’s “You Sang To Me” (1999). A selection that David performed for awhile in the mid 1990’s that I would like to see on a CD would be Chris De Burgh’s “The Lady in
Cindy: I would sell my soul to see and hear David perform Marc Anthony's You Sang To Me. The frst time I heard the song I thought of David. Bonnie 49
Monkee Shines Kimmi: Short, sweet and most sincere, the LIVE! album rocks!! It has found a comfortable, little home in my car stereo and doesn't seem to be in any hurry to leave. Nor am I eager to escort him out. The only thing that seems to be missing is the fun, little tune that was our anthem at one time, "Somebody Slap Me!" Davy, you seem to have misplaced it. Try looking under your bed first (easiest place to cram stuff). If it's not there, perhaps the trunk of your car (please don't ask). Other than this, Davy, you rock!!
and I have been fortunate over the years to hear David sing a number of his own songs or songs he has made his own both on and off stage. There are so many I would love to have on CD. The Eyes Of A Woman in Love (from Guys and Dolls - David said his father used to sing it to his mother and David does such a lovely version), Somebody Slap me, My Funny Valentine.....So how about it David? JUST4US? Shane: May I suggest, for my part, the inclusion of the five remaining Incredible! tracks that need a CD home, i.e. "Look Inside Yourself", "Make The Woman Love Me", "Incredible", "Hippy Hippy Shake" and "She Believes”. Also, a couple more of those rare 45 rpms: “Rainbows", "You're A Lady", "Who Was It?", "I'll Believe In You", and perhaps some new studio recordings of the more recent concert tunes. How cool would a nicely done version of "Bright Side Of The Road" be?
Shane: Overall, the new CDs have a little bit of everything for everybody. By all means, check them out, but also keep in mind that there is still more where some of this stuff came from that is languishing in the dungeon with Princess Gwen… Bonnie: Once Upon A Time… David told us that Elvis lives in his basement, but he never mentioned Princess Gwen! [Speaking of “Dream World”, Janet called my attention to the black SLASH white picture contained within “Daydream Believin’”? Does anyone recognize the purple framed picture (hangin’ on the wall) in this picture? It’s the photo I took when Cindy and I saw David and Jessica (on stage) at Burlington Steamboat Days (June 17, 2001). I’m very honored by that.] Until “Just 4 Us”!
Bonnie: Actually, I loved the “Live!!!” version of “Bright Side of the Road”. Janet: Ditto…that is such a happy, perky tune, and it sounds even better hearing David put his personality into it. Bonnie: As Kimmi would say, “David rocked!”
50
Monkee Shines
51
Monkee Shines
More From the PFG Songbook The Letter Gimme me a quarter for the pay phone I ain't got time for the dial tone E-mails goin' down Mailman's outta town And Davy just wrote me a letter. I don't care how much money I gotta spend Got to get back on the cell phone again Daytime minutes gone Weekend's comin' on And Davy just wrote me a letter Well, he wrote me a letter, And believe you me I even checked for forgery Listen, sister, can't you see I gotta get out of this dream fantasy...someday So gimme a quarter for the pay phone Ain't got time for the dial tone E-mails goin' down Mailman's outta town And Davy just wrote me a letter.
52