issue 63 fall 2005
DESCRIPTION
The Purple Flower gang Monkees Fan Club Monkee ShinesTRANSCRIPT
Monkee Shines
Editor: Cindy Bryant
With a little help from my friends The PFG Road Crew, The Crazy Lot!
Monkeeing Around Since 1987
Fall 2005 Issue 63
Sexiest Musician Sexiest CEO
Sexiest Vocalist
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Monkee Shines
Membership dues are $10 (US &
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the only notice you will get.
Monkee Shines
is printed by
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Depot
Table of Contents
Letter From The Editor ............................ 3
Mr. Jones ................................................... 4
Great Moments In Monkee History ........ 5
Pen Pals ..................................................... 12
Peter News ................................................ 14
Mike News ................................................ 15
Micky News .............................................. 16
David News .............................................. 17
Hey Remember Me .................................. 18
Micky Dolenz Is A Believer .................... 20
Jones: The Next Generation .................... 23
Egan, Minnesota ....................................... 25
Lockport III............................................... 28
I’ll Be True 2U Rewards .......................... 40
Olease Come To IA .................................. 42
Let Them Be Little ................................... 43
Letter From David .................................... 44
New Gig For This Monkee ...................... 46
RSVP ......................................................... 47
Miracle On Hollywood & Vine ............... 48
My sincerest thanks to all who made this
issue possible: As always The PFG Road
Crew– Bonnie Borgh, Kimmi Wright,
Janet Litterio, and Colleen Johnson and
their families, Pat Smith, Gail Friel, Julie
Harris, Jenni Scott, Sabra Bunger, Hazel
and Robert Wilkinson and Peter, Micky,
Mike, and David who give us more inspi-
ration than they will ever know! And all
of you who read our rantings and ravings
too!
http://purpleflowergang.tripod.com/
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Monkee Shines
Dear Gang, People Magazine had a slight problem with their Sexiest Man issue in November so it was the PFG to the rescue. The ACTUAL cover is
reflected on the cover of this issue of Monkee Shine. No thanks necessary People! We were happy to do it! In honor of the Monkees 40th Anniversary Pat Smith thought it might be fitting for at least one talk show to invite the guys on to talk about it so that it does not go uncele-
brated. We would like to ask all of you with internet access to go online to the Ellen Show web site and email Ellen asking her to bring the guys on. What have we got to lose! Those without email write to:
From the Editor!
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.
The Ellen DeGeneres Show PO Box 7788 Burbank California 91532
Attn: Fan Mail Now that I think about it Tony Danza might be another fun one. You can go to the show web site to email or here’s his mailing ad-dress:
The Tony Danza Show Ansonia Station P.O. Box 230767 New York, NY 10023-0013 Once upon a time I worried about filling these pages and now it is all about when to stop. We have so
much fun with our craziness and hope you enjoy it also. The Road Crew is getting together twice in the next couple of months and no doubt you will be reading about the “Crazy Lot” in the next issue of Monkees. But for now, I hope you enjoy this issue which includes a story from
Hazel and a letter from David, as well as, another episode in the con-tinuing saga of the PFG Road Crew.
Cindy
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Monkee Shines
A horse is a horse, of course, of course And no one should bet on a horse, by force That is, of course, unless the horse belongs to the famous Mister Jones. Go right to the Downs and bet on his horse For a Win/Place/Show without remorse They’re always on a winning course Listen to Mister Jones! Bookies go yakkity yak a streak and waste the money you pay But Mister Jones will save the
day; You can bet your last bale of hay! A horse is a horse, of course, of course But one from his farm will beat any Porsche You’ve never heard of a Jones’ bred-horse? Well Listen to The Band and Just ask Mister Jones!
MISTER JONES (Mister Ed Theme Tune Lyrics)
By: Bryant and Borgh
Imagine that; wrong show! (We’ve got too much time on our hands…)
(Wrong group too!)
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Monkee Shines
January 1 The Monkees show premieres in England and Japan
(1967) 1 Bobbi Boyce 3 Stephen Stills 4 Michael Stipes 5 The Monkees reunite at the Hard Rock Cafe in LA to
receive five Platinum Records. 5 Davy on the Tonight Show (1995) 5 Henry Corden 7 Davy Jones on The Farmer's Daughter on ABC
(1966) 7 Kenny Loggins 8 "Fairy Tale" (1968) 8 Ami Dolenz (1969) 8 David (Jones) Bowie 9 Jerry Yester (MFQ) (1943) 9 "The Case of The Missing Monkee" (1967) 9 Bill Cowsill 10 More of The Monkees' album released (1967) 11 Pat Smith 13 Lester Sill 13 Rip Taylor 14 David Jones at Prairie Meadows Racetrack, Altoona,
Birthdays and
other special
events
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Monkee Shines
Iowa (1999) 15 More of The Monkees receives Gold Record (1967) 15 "Monkees Watch Their Feet" (1968) 16 "I Was a Teenage Monster" (1967) 17 NBC-TV buys "The Monkees" series (1966) 17 Robyn Millan 19 Phil Everly 19 Janet Carbert 21 DJB&H on "The Dinah Shore Show" (1976) 22 "The Monsterous Monkee Mash" (1968) 23 "Find The Monkees" (1967) 24 Neil Diamond 24 Lynda Moore 25 Hallie Torkelson (1970) 26 Vito Scotti 27 David Jones at Moraine Valley College, Palos Hills,
Illinois (2001) 28 The Monkees first appearance on the cover of TV
Guide (January 28-February 3, 1967) 28 David Jones in "Rock and Roll Pom Pom Show", At-
lantic City, New Jersey (1994) 29 "The Monkee's Paw" (1968) 29 David Jones in "Rock and Roll Pom Pom Show", At-
lantic City, New Jersey (1994) 30 "Monkees in The Ring" (1967) 31 Christian Nesmith (1964)
February 1 Don Everly 2 Graham Nash 4 Jonathan Nesmith (1968) 5 The Monkees (as a Trio) on the Glen Campbell
"Goodtime Hour" on CBS (1969) 5 "The Devil and Peter Tork" (1968) 5 David Jones at The Lady Luck Casino, Bettendorf,
Iowa (1999)
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Monkee Shines
6 "The Prince & The Pauper" Rodney Bingenheimer appears as Davy's double (1967)
6 John London 6 Fabian Forte 6 David Jones at The Lady Luck Casino, Bettendorf,
Iowa (1999) 7 David Jones in "Real Live Brady Bunch", Champaign,
Illinois (1994) 8 "Teardorp City" is released (1969) 8 David Jones in "Real Live Brady Bunch", Charleston,
Illinois (1994) 9 Davy on "The Ed Sullivan Show" as the Artful Dodger
from "Oliver!" The Beatles first U.S. appearance (1964) 9 Deborah Stidham 9 Carole King 9 Barry Mann 9 Jack Winter 10 Davy on "Laugh-In" on NBC (1969) 10 Beryl Leigh 11 Gerry Goffin 12 "Monkees Race Again" (1968) 13 Peter Tork (1942) 13 "Monkees at the Circus " (1967) 13 Joe Perry 13 David Jones "Evening With David Jones", Decatur,
Illinois (1993) 13 David Jones in "Real Live Brady Bunch", Holiday
Star, Merrillville, Indiana (1994) 14 Davy on "This Is Tom Jones" (1969) 14 DJB&H on "Don Kirshner's Rock Concert." (1976) 14 Rick Klein 15 "Instant Replay" is released (1969) 15 Michael Nesmith at Cubby Bear, Chicago, Illinois
(1992) 16 Linda Jones 16 Ronda Russell
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Monkee Shines
16 Sonny Bono 17 Gene Pitney 18 Bobby Hart (1939) 19 "Monkees in Paris" (1968) 19 "The Monkees" begin filming their first feature film
"Changes," then called "Untitled," later retitled "Head" (1968)
19 Lou Christie 19 David Jones in "Real Live Brady Bunch", Mt. Pleas-
ant, Michigan (1993) 20 "Captain Crocodile" (1967) 21 Bob Rafelson 22 MTV Pleasant Valley Sunday Marathon airs 45 epi-
sodes (1986) 23 The Monkees renewed for a second season (1967) 24 Michael wins first time ever Grammy Award for Video
of The Year for "Elephant Parts" (1982) 25 George Harrison 25 David Jones at Circa 21, Rock Island, Illinois (1991) 26 Cyrus Faryar (MFQ) (1936) 26 David Jones at The Ingersol, Des Moines, Iowa
(1991) 26 Johnny Cash 26 "The Monkees Mind Their Manor" (1968) 27 DJB&H on "The Mike Douglas Show" (1976) 27 "Monkees a La Mode" (1967) 27 David Jones at The Ingersol, Des Moines, Iowa
(1991)
March 1 Roger Daltry 2 John Cowsill 4 "Some Like It Luke Warm" (1968) 4 David Jones at Hickory Hollow Mall, Nashville, Ten-
nessee (1989) 5 David Jones, Decatur, Illinois (1994)
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Monkee Shines
6 "Alias Micky Dolenz" (1967) 7 Peter Tork joins Micky Dolenz and Davy Jones on
stage at The Starwood Club in Hollywood (1977) 7 Michael Nesmith's "Television Parts" premieres on
NBC (1985) 7 Donna Loren 8 Micky Dolenz (1945) 8 "Little Bit Me, Little Bit You" released (1967) 8 Celi Cabot 9 Mark Lindsay 9 The Monkees top N.A.R.M. award winners in three
categories: Best Selling Album, Best Selling Single, and Best Selling American Group (1967)
9 "Valleri" #3 (1968) 10 Dean Torrence 10 David Jones at Ameristar Casino, St. Charles, Mis-
souri (2005) 11 "Monkees Blow Their Minds" (1968) 13 DJB&H on "American Bandstand" (1976) 13 "Little Bit Me, Little Bit You" receives Gold Record
(1967) 13 "Monkees Chow Mein" (1967) 13 Neil Sedaka 13 Carolyn Travis 14 Arch Johnson 15 Mike Love 17 John Sebastian 17- The Monkees tour England for the first time since Ju-
ly 2, 1967 (1989) 18 A repeat of October 23, 1967 "Hillbilly Honeymoon" 19 Irene Davidson 20 "Monkee Mother" 20 Diana Scharp 22 The Monkees (as a Trio) on Happening '69 (1969) 23 Bruce Kessler 23 Shane Worden 25 "Little Bit Me, Little Bit You" #2 (1967)
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Monkee Shines
25 "Mijacogeo (The Frodis Caper)" The second and final season ends (1968)
25 Elton John 26 Diana Ross 26 David Jones, Suffern, New York (1994) 27 "Monkees on The Line" (1967) 30 Eric Clapton
April 1 David Jones in "Real Live Brady Bunch", Chicago,
Illinois (1994) 3 "Monkees Get Out More Dirt' (1967) 3 Jan Berry 3 Jeff Barry 3 Jan Chilton 5 Micky's second album "Broadway Micky" released on
Kid Rhino (1994) 5 Coco Hinzelmann 6 Micky appears on "My Three Sons" (1972) 6 Phil Leeds 6 Michelle Phillips 9 Carl Perkins 9 Julie Harris 10 "Monkees in Manhattan" (1967) 10 David Jones at Municipal Auditorium, Nashville, Ten-
nessee (1992) 11 David Jones at Mid-South Coliseum, Memphis, Ten-
nessee (1992) 12 First Tork-less concert in Charleston, West Virginia to
capacity crowd of 6000. The Monkees backed by Sam and The Goodtimers
12 David Cassidy 12 Tiny Tim 12 David Jones at Hirsch Coliseum, Shreveport, Louisi-
ana (1992) 13 David Jones at St. Louis Arena, St. Louis, Missouri
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Monkee Shines
(1992) 13 Diane (Hildebrand) Roland Skye 14 One-hour special "33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee"
airs on NBC on Monday night (1969) 14 Shorty Rogers 14 David Jones at Municipal Auditorium, Kansas City,
Missouri (1992) 15 "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" #39 16 David Jones in "Real Live Brady Bunch", Slippery
Rock, Pennsylvania (1994) 17 "Monkees in The Movies" (1967) 17 Don Kirshner 18 Alex Singer 19 Mark Volman 20 Monte Landis 22 Jack Nicholson 22 Glen Campbell 24 "Monkees on Tour" First season ends (1967) 24 Last show of the U.K. tour at Reading where they re-
ceive a Gold Disc on stage for their "Hey Hey! The Monkees Greatest Hits" LP and CD (1989)
26 "Someday Man" b/w "Listen To The Band" released 26 Donna Lee Bascalla 26 Bobby Rydell 29 Tommy James 30 Bobby Vee
Hope your great moment is the greatest!
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Monkee Shines
Write to your favorite Monkee at: Davy Jones PO Box 400 Beavertown, PA 17180 Peter Tork 524 San Anselmo Suite 102 San Anselmo, CA 94960 Mike Nesmith Video Ranch 8 Harris Court Suite C1 Monterey, CA 93940 Micky Dolenz Agency For The Performing Arts 9200 Sunset Boulevard 9th Floor Los Angeles, CA 90069
Diane Klosak
2101 Nicholas Ct
Bettendorf, IA 52722
Rick Schwinden
3275 Valley Ridge Drive
Egan, MN 55121
Ronda Russell
2031 Glen Avenue
Beloit, WI 53411
Susan Bragga
4222 West Robin Meadows
Lane
Eau Claire. WI 54701
Maria Tereza Pinho Gomes
Da Silva
Rua Dominges Ferreira 159
Apt 902
Copacabana
Rio De Janeiro
RJ Cep22050-970
Brazil
Diane Scharp
14850 Phelps Drive
Bridgeton, MO 63044
Jenny Hersey
31 Prescott Street Apt. 23
Concord, NH 03301
Beverly Ann Clark
2710 Crestmont Drive
Garland, TX 75040
Nina Totaro
137 Long Point Road
Stevensville, Maryland
21666-3639
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Monkee Shines
Debbie Kolbaba
PO Box 89
Holstein, IA 51025
James Elswick
5017 W 2nd Street
South Bloomfield, OH
43103
Kathy Brewer
1198 Turkey Blind Road
Crossville, TN 38572
Colleen Johnson
9104 Lemona Drive
St. Louis, MO 63123
Susan Jensen
210 Washington Street
Audubon, IA 50025-1133
Shane Worden
306-A Waugoo Avenue
Oshkosh WI 54901
E-mail Pals
Maria Tereza Pinho Gomes Da Silva:
Shane Worden:
Janet Litterio: [email protected]
Barbara Woerner:
Nina Totaro:
If you would like your email address listed in Email Pals please let me
know.
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Monkee Shines
Shoe Suede Blues:
Thursday, February 23rd at the Painted Sky Recording Studio in Cambria, CA
Friday, April 14th at The Handlebar in Greenville, SC
Thursday, April 20th at Bamboo Room in Lake Worth, FL 33460
Two dates in September are tentatively scheduled in Ocean City and
Greenbelt, MD.
Peter Tork :
Meet-and-Greet Tentative!!!
Birmingham
UK
March 23 through 27 - TENTATIVE!
Sounds of the Blues!
LISTEN!!! : MP3 versions of songs from the Shoe Suede Blues CD Saved by the Blues
are now available. Check out petertork.com for more information.
A Beachwood Christmas CD
A Beachwood Christmas ... with performances by Peter, James Lee Stanley,
Pamala Stanley and Tom Paxton. It features Peter performing "I Remember
Christmas", a five string banjo instrumental version of "Angels We Have
Heard On High" and his own creation titled "PT's Noel" (aka "Masters In
This Hall"). Ordering info and further detail available at petertork.com
Something to Write Home About "Something to Write Home About" is a riveting collection of per-sonal baseball memories told in handwritten letters from various well-
known personalities to author and songwriter, Seth Swirsky (son of base-
ball player Steve Swirsky). Some of the contributors to this fascinating
book include Buzz Aldrin, President George W. Bush, Senator Edward
Kennedy, Sir Paul McCartney, Tom Seaver, Peter Tork and Barry Wil-
liams, just to name a few. Available now at Amazon:
Inside the book you will find many interesting, personal stories
from people of all walks of life, and their connection to the game of base-
ball. You will also find yourself seeing life through the eyes of these people
and perhaps learning something about them that you didn't know before!
"Something to Write Home About" is filled with more than 170 rare pho-
tographs and roughly 80 letters. It is a must for baseball fans, a thrill for the fans of its contributing writers, and a great little slice of Americana of
which the author can be very proud. The cover price for the book is listed
as $25.95 (hardback). For more information about Seth Swirsky, please
visit his website at seth.com.
Peter News
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Monkee Shines
THE WORLD QUESTION CENTER 2006
What is your dangerous idea?
MICHAEL NESMITH
Artist, writer; Former cast member of "The Monkees"; A Trustee
and President of the Gihon Foundation and a Trustee and Vice-Chair of the
American Film Institute
Existence is Non-Time, Non-Sequential, and Non-Objective Not a
dangerous idea per se but like a razor sharp tool in unskilled hands it can
inflect unintended damage.Non-Time drives forward the notion the past
does not create the present. This would of course render evolutionary theo-
ry a local-system, near-field process that was non-causative (i.e. effect).
Non-Sequential reverberates through the Turing machine and computation,
and points to simultaneity. It redefines language and cognition. Non-
Objective establishes a continuum not to be confused with solipsism. As Schrödinger puts it when discussing the "time-hallowed discrimination
between subject and object" — "the world is given to me only once, not
one existing and one perceived. Subject and object are only one. The barri-
er between them cannot be said to have broken down as a result of recent
experience in the physical sciences, for this barrier does not exist". This
continuum has large implications for the empirical data set, as it introduces
factual infinity into the data plane. These three notions, Non-Time, Non-
sequence, and Non-Object have been peeking like diamonds through the
dust of empiricism, philosophy, and the sciences for centuries. Quantum
mechanics, including Deutsch's parallel universes and the massive parallel-
ism of quantum computing, is our brightest star — an unimaginably tall peak on our fitness landscape. They bring us to a threshold over which em-
piricism has yet to travel, through which philosophy must reconstruct the
very idea of ideas, and beyond which stretches the now familiar "uncharted
territories" of all great adventures.
Michael’s latest production “Rays” is now available on the videoranch
website.
Mike News
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Monkee Shines
04/29/06
Wildwoods Fabulous 50'sWeekend Salutes the 60's
4501 Boardwalk,
Wildwood, NJ, 08260
Call toll-free 888.729.0033 or visit
http://www.fabfifties.com/
Micky & his sister Coco
5/19/06
Railroad Daze in Franklin Park
Franklin Park, IL visit them online at
http://www.villageoffranklinpark.com/events/
Micky & his sister Coco
06/03/06
FrankenMuth, MI Micky & his sister Coco
09/23/2006
Super Run 2006
Henderson Events Plaza
Hernderson, NV http://www.superrun.com/
http://www.mickydolenz.com/http|//www.hendersoneventsplaza.com
Micky & his sister Coco
Micky News
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Monkee Shines
United States
Wednesday February 1st
Toledo, OH (private)
Saturday February 18th Paramount center for the arts
Peekskill, NY
Friday March 31st
Laporte Civic auditorium
Laporte, IN
May 12th Epcot
May 13th Epcot
May 14th Epcot
May15th Epcot
Orlando, FL
Saturday May 27th
Art Fest 2006 sponsored by KLUV
Dallas, TX
Tuesday July 4th
Freedomfest
Wheeling, IL
Saturday July 22nd
Lowell, MA
Canada
Thursday June 22nd
Club Regent Casino
Winnipeg
Saturday June 24th
Del Crary Park,
Peterborough, ON
David News
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Monkee Shines
This article is courtesy of Sabra Bunger
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Monkee Shines
Micky Dolenz is a believer—
and a survivor, too
Chicago Tribune June 24, 2005
Article courtesy of Diane Klosak
By: Stuart Shea Special to the Tribune
If anything can be said about former Monkee Micky Dolenz, it’s that he’s a show biz survi-vor. The former Monkee, who comes to the Marie Irwin Center in Homewood on Friday, learned three weeks ago that he was out as morning man at WCBS-FM 101.1 in New York, as the station switched to its new “Jack” format.
But don’t write off the singer of “Last Train to Clarksville” just yet. Similar pronouncements were made when his pre-fab rock group, invented for the NBC-TV series, called it quits in 1970. Yet since that time, Dolenz has refused to slow down (other than a brief, frus-trating stab at retirement). Dolenz’s post-Monkees resume includes more than a decade in England as a highly respected TV director and a recent ap-pearance on Broadway in “Aida”. As well as recently fin-ishing a children’s book, he spent five months on the air WCBS; he’s also a painter and inventor. Dolenz, 60, is now on his first-ever solo singing tour, appear-ing with his sister, Coco, who sang on some Monkees’ re-cordings. Dolenz recently spent an hour discussing his carer; family, and what he called his “restless creativity.”
Q Do you have a guiding
principle in your showbiz ca-reer?
A Well, there is no “only thing”
that I want to do. Aside from the music, the directing, and the acting, I have a children’s book coming out this year...A British production company just called me about a reality TV show they want me to create and host. I get attracted to a pro-
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Monkee Shines
ject, a property, and the content of it interests me-the role I’m gonna play, as it were.
Q [Former Monkee] Peter
Tork has called you an intuitive genius.
A Well, that’s generous, but
growing up in the business, it’s not that unusual to work in many fields. Look at Barbra Streisand, who sings, writes, directs, acts...it’s not uncom-mon these days. Even when I had the radio show, or the Monkees tours, I was doing things...I have to be busy. I tried retiring once, when I lived in England, and I was never so bored in my life. It was horrible. On the 1986 Monkees tour I wrote a screen-play because there was nothing else to do during the day. The most important move I ever made was going to England after “The Monkees”...I was partying all the time with lots of people who are now dead-Keith Moon, Harry Nilsson, and John Lennon-back in the early ’70’s in L.A. I met an English girl [later his second wife] and went to England to do a musical, Nilsson’s “The Point”. I had previously directed an episode of “The Monkees” and some commercials, and by luck I got a job directing for the BBC. I went to England for three months and stayed for 15 years.
That was huge chance; I had a psychic tell me that going to the U.K. literally saved my life. It saved my career. Soon I be-came known as Michael Dolenz, the TV director, which enabled me to detach myself from believing that I was “Micky, of ’The Monkees’.” You can start believing that you are the character. If Britney Spears starts believing she’s “Britney Spears,” that’s very dangerous.
Q Tell me about your act
with Coco.
A The meat and potatoes is
Monkees songs, the big hits. I always do them and I stay faith-ful to the original recordings. You owe it to the fans to play them. Coco and I have been singing since we were kids. My mom used to sing us “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy,” by the Andrews Sisters, and so we do that and I tell a story of my mom teaching it to us. Coco sings a couple of tunes herself, like “Different Drum,” which Michael Nesmith wrote and Linda Ronstadt rec-orded [with the Stone Poneys].
Q [Rolling Stone editor]
Jann Wenner’s anti-Monkees bias has basically barred you from the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame. You’ve heard that R.E.M. would not accept in-duction until the Monkees are
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Monkee Shines
inducted?
A I don’t think The Monkees
should be in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame. They should be in the television hall of fame. “The Monkees” was a TV show about an imaginary group that lived in an imaginary beach house and had imaginary ad-ventures. We used our real names, which confused the issue; as an actor, it was harder to audition after “The Monkees.” People thought I was a drum-mer, but I was an actor playing a drummer! Of course, we went out and toured and became a group; I took about a year to learn the drums. But I approached it as an actor, as I would approach any role...If I was offered a role as an airplane pilot, I would have taken flying lessons. The Monkees were an imagi-nary band that wanted to be The Beatles. We never “made it” on the show; it was all about the struggle. Lots of kids were
doing the same thing in their garages and basements, trying to be The Beatles. Frank Zappa got it immediately. John Lennon was the first to liken us to the Marx Brothers. The smart people, musi-cians...got it. The journalists never got it, and probably still don’t.
Q How are things between
you, Mike, David and Peter? Are the Monkees a family?
A It is like a family, with all the
relationship issues that come along with that. Sometimes you love them, and sometimes you hate them. It’s much like that. There are no plans to get back together as a group. I’ve learned never to say never, but at this point it is very unlikely.
Thanks to Diane Klosak for sharing this article.
For Sale!
Entire Monkees Collection
Videos, Programs, Scrapbooks, Toys, Shirts, Etc.
All prices negotiable -
Email: [email protected]
23
Monkee Shines
through the very busy city. I hadn’t bee through there since Ken and I had driven into the backstage area of the Man-chester Arena when David and Micky were last there in con-cert. Lots of new buildings had gone up and trams were run-ning through the streets. I was so pleased to spot the Hotel Arora (owned by Cliff Richards) and within minutes of leaving the bus I was in Anita’s room having a coffee and catching up on the news about Jessica and Phoe-nix who were on holiday with friends in Spain, and sharing photos. Anita looked well and her hair was longer, but had recently lost her mum and had not been able too get to Ken’s funeral so it was quite an emo-tional meeting. Annabel joined us after catching up with her beauty sleep. They had traveled by train to M/C and the week be-fore had been hectic. We went out to lunch and found the area the Club (One Central Street) was in. Looking round the city there
By Hazel Wilkinson
PFG foreign correspondent
Hey, Hey, you seekers of Jones Entertainment!... ...I thought, why should they have all the fun?, so after receiving a phone call from Anita (September 26th) I knew what I would do. Anita told me Annabel had entered a competition for young singers/song writers that week at Brighton, out of 60 had come in the top 12 musicians, and was invited to come to Manchester to a showcase for new talented artists where there would be promoters and agents present. The venue was still to be confirmed but I already de-cided I would meet up with them, after all it had been 12 months since we met at Bever-ley’s wedding. I arranged to meet sis-ter Beryl and cousins Gerald and Geraldine Jones, as they were keen to support Annabel. Three days later I was on the bus to Manchester (poor Robert had to work) just one hour’s journey down the motor-way to meet my youngest niece and see Anita. The bus passed
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Monkee Shines
was a huge music festival on in all sorts of venues and lots of people from the music industry were in town including Anthony Wilson from the “Hacienda Club”, famous in M/C and the manager of “Happy Mondays’, a M/C group and I think “Simply Red.” Back at the hotel Beryl and cousins, Gerald and Ger-aldine, had arrived and we shared the good news that Ber-yl will be a Grandma in March. We set off all together for the club. The owner greeted us and seemed quite bemused to see us OLDIES...it’s a young peo-ple’s club. He brought us huge jugs of orange and cranberry juice and bottles of lager. Noth-ing stronger because I think he was wondering how we would react. People started to arrive and the sound people were get-ting their equipment set up. The first group to per-form were from Sweden and quite loud. Annabel was 2nd on and sat on a stool looking quite nervous. Two of her friends accompanied her—Gregg on cello and Dave on acoustic gui-
tar. Once they got the sound right Annabel sang quite sweetly and I think it was called “The Rudest Boy I Knew” and part of another song she had written. It went off quite well and she chose only one to sing later. I think out of the 12 acts Annabel had the most support-ers Beryl, Anita, and I went for a walk outside as it was get-ting quite crowded. We wan-dered around the tourist office and picked up some postcards of M/C and flyers of the festival. Annabel wasn’t due to do her spot in the evening until 9 PM, too late to hang around for us oldies so we said our goodbyes and set off for home. Beverley and Matthew joined Anita in the evening and supported Annabel. It all went off well and there was a lot of interest Anita told us. They were invited to a private party after with Rio Ferdinand, a M/C United footballer as host. I certainly enjoyed my nieces performance and hope she is spotted soon—Ken would have been so proud of her I’m sure and I certainly was. I’ll keep you posted!!!!
Let’s hope it’s not the END!
Hazel and Annabel a few years
ago…..okay maybe a few more than
that...who’s the guy in the background?
Photo courtesy of Hazel Wilkinson
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Monkee Shines
September 23,2005—
Davy Day is here! Shawn Little-
field (a new Monkee recruit) and I
left Pine Island, MN at 10 AM. We
met Jennifer Scott at her house in Hastings, MN we all went out to
lunch.
After a lunch of pizza we
left for the concert at 1 PM. The
concert was at Faithful Shepard
Catholic Church in Egan, MN It
was a benefit for the Sunday
school with a carnival and a band
called “Heartbreaker” and “Davy
Jones”.
We got there at quarter to
3 PM. We were loaded down with signs we made for him and flow-
ers. We walked around and talked
to church workers and fans. We
heard Davy wouldn’t be perform-
ing until 9 PM.
At 5 PM Davy’s limo
pulled up. Davy and the driver
went to the big tent so he could
rehearse with his band. He warmed
up singing Day Dream Believer,
I’ll Love You Forever, Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t My Baby, and a
couple of others I didn’t hear be-
cause we were busy talking to oth-
er fans while waiting in line
to get into the tent.
Tickets were $25 and
Jenni got ours ahead of time.
Sounded like around 600-700 were sold so nice money for the school
was raised thanks to our beloved
Davy Jones. Anyway, needless to
say that Jenni, Shawn, and I were
the first ones in line to be let into
the tent and the only ones with
signs and gifts.
They weren’t very orga-
nized so seating was left up to us
ticket buyers but eventually every-
one was seated somehow, whether
it would be folding chairs or brought along camping chairs or
blankets. Somehow being first in
line, we ended up in 2nd row seats
just off center, but who’s com-
plaining?!
The concert was being
filmed for a tv special and there
was a professional photographer
there besides taking shots.
The band, Heartbreaker (a
local band from Hastings, MN), started at 7 PM. We rocked our sox
off to “Sing Me Away,” ”New Girl
Now,” “Dark Side”, “You Love
Me Too,” “Every Rose Has It’s
Thorn” “867-5309,” “Doctor, Doc-
tor,” “ Rock and Roll 911”, “Hurts
So Good,” “Hotel California,”
By Julie Harris
Photos in this article courtesy of Jenni Scott
26
Monkee Shines
“Vertigo,” “Selector,” “Jessie’s
Girl,” “Some Kind Of Wonderful,”
“Dead Or Alive,” “Hard To Han-
dle,” “No Matter,” “Boys Are
Back In Town,” “My My My,” “Thank You,” “ “Wild And Sow
My Oats,” and “Purple Rain.”
They were really great! They were
made up of 5 guys and the key-
boardist was also the organist for
the Faithful Shepard Catholic
Church.
Davy started at 9:30 PM
to a standing ovation! Davy came
out wearing a reddish colored shirt
and black dress pants.
He sang “I’m A Believ-er,” “Look Out Here Comes To-
morrow,” and “Valerie." He then
joked around about how people are
so flustered when they see him
they think he looks like other stars.
He sang “Wasted Days
And Wasted Nights,” then talked
about becoming a Monkee from
the start in 1966.
He sang “Nice To Be
With You.” Then he talked about his caterer, Robin, and his vegetar-
ian meal and his band’s meal.
He sang “She Hangs out”
and joked about his daughters and
grandsons.
He sang “Let Them Be
Little” and talked about his child-
hood and his recent Japanese con-
cert.
He told us to bet on his
horse in the Kentucky race and
being in the Broadway Show “Oliver!” which led into the song
“Consider Yourself” from the
show.
He talked about being a
vegetarian and how he recently
took up gardening.
He sang “A little Bit Me,
A Little Bit You,” and then he
talked about mothers and he sang
“Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t.” The he talked about Fa-
ther Charles and how they met on
the plane and how he had come to
do the benefit.
He called Sister Pat up
from the audience on stage and
teased her about being a Monkee
fan but snag “Girl” to her and held
her hand and hugged her.
He sang “Bright Side Of
The Road” and winked at us be-
cause of our signs we made him. He sang “I Wanna Be
Free”.
He also talked about writ-
ing 200 songs of his own. He
played guitar and sang, “I’ll Love
You Forever.”
The next songs he sang
without interrupting himself—
”Papa Gene’s Blues,” “I’m Not
Your Stepping Stone,” “Day
Dream Believer,” “I’m A Believ-er,” and “No Time.”
Davy ended the concert at
a quarter to 11 PM. Jenni, Shawn,
and I stood in a long line for a
“Meet & Greet” session. From a
quarter to 11 PM to 11:35 PM Da-
vy signed my notebook. While I
said, “David, you’re incredible,”
he said, “Thanks, babe.” ‘Oh what
a night’ with an “Incredible” Davy
Jones!
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Monkee Shines
28
Monkee Shines
Bonnie: For the third year in a row, David was scheduled to perform a fundraiser concert at Lockport East High School in Lockport, IlliNOISE. This year’s concert was slated for October 15, 2005 (Sweetest Day). The Gang had been counting down the days since the last CEOTJK (Close Encounter of the Jones Kind) in Oshkosh, Wisconsin on June 23. Janet: Which truly seemed like
yesterday!!! Oshkosh 'B Gosh was a ton of fun, and then some! Bonnie: Unfortunately, due to
circumstances be-yond Cindy's con-trol from her be-loved employer,
she decided she would not be able to join us due to financial reasons. Like-wise, Shane was
added to the list due to monetary limita-
tions. Kimmi and Kev-in were unable
to justify a road trip because of a previous commitment on No-vember 5. (Whatever hap-pened to the line…No wed-dings, no funerals, no Bar Mitz-vah's, no school nights, etc.?) Janet: Work… weddings… what’s up with that?? Seriously, even though I barely had time to say a quick hello to my own family and friends. We missed
The She Said Edition By: Bonnie Borgh and Ja-
net Litterio
Photo by Bonnie Borgh
29
Monkee Shines
you all! Cindy: Thanks! We were there in spirit and we knew you would represent us well! Bonnie: Who would I write notes to during the concert? Janet: I keep saying we need to bring Etch-A-Sketches to the shows. I’ve done A LOT of talk-ing to myself in the weeks lead-ing up to Lockport III….I’ve come to realize I’m quite the conversationalist if I do say so myself. We took some pretty good notes in Oshkosh 'B Gosh last June though…we should publish the notes we take dur-ing the shows in one of the newsletters!!!! Those would be a great read!!! Bonnie: Personally, I think they were all just trying to get out of contributing to our He Said SLASH She Said docu-mentaries! I hope you were taking dutiful notes, Janet! Cindy: Didn’t work did it?! Janet: I am edging toward 50, but I think I can manage to re-member a few things from my mental notebook…let’s see, if I can only remember where these darn letters are located on this keyboard… Bonnie: Craig, Hannah, my Mom, and I departed Bettendorf mid morning on Saturday, Octo-ber 15. We arrived at our desti-
nation at 1:00 pm. However, we were unable to check in at that time. We finally agreed to do a little shopping at the mall down the road. (We were given the pool key, however, without a room to change and shower in, it was not a favorable idea.) Before leaving, I thought it would be a golden opportunity to leave a little parcel at the front desk for David since the coast was clear. Somehow Hershey's chocolates didn't sound appealing left in the car to melt. We returned promptly at 3:00 pm. As we pulled up, a white limousine was stationed at the entrance to the hotel. How do we time these things? We greeted the Jones band in passing, but there was no CE-OTJK to report. You know the line, "Stars never do sound checks." Janet: The official timeline needed some last minute ad-justments…airplanes, go fig-ure… Bonnie: Of course, we had to visit the swimming pool prior to dining at (Hannah's favorite restaurant) The Texas Road-house directly and conveniently located across the parking lot from the hotel. We enjoyed an early dinner. By the time we exited, there were multitudes waiting. You would have thought Davy Jones was in town or something! Janet: Do you mean THE Da-
30
Monkee Shines
vy Jones? I don’t know what it was, but nearly every call I had the week of the show, people asked “Is it really THE Davy Jones that’s coming back to Lockport?” “I would like to buy tickets to see THE Davy Jones.” “I read in the paper that THE Davy Jones will be in town again, is it true?” I was begin-ning to wonder myself. When David arrived at the school, I thought I would have to wel-come him by saying “Welcome Back THE.” Bonnie: My Mom was gra-cious enough to entertain Han-nah for the evening. Craig and I had not been to one of David's concerts together (in its entire-ty) for quite some time. I was ready to depart for the venue, but Craig had disappeared somewhere in the hotel. I thought perhaps he was in the lobby watching the various foot-ball games since Disney was featured in our room. I asked the woman at the front desk if there were any other television sets in the hotel. She escorted me to one in the bar and was in the process of turning it on for me. I said, "Oh no! I don't want to watch it! I'm just trying to find my husband." She did not think there were any other (communal) televisions in the hotel, so I returned to our room. Shortly thereafter, Craig re-turned. I said, "Where were you?" He said he was watching "the game" in the exercise room. Before departing, I told
the woman at the front desk, "There's a television in the ex-ercise room! That's where he was!" She laughed and said, "Oh yeah! I forgot about that one!" Janet: Go figure, men and TV's!! Girls and Davy…what more needs to be said???? Cindy: Makes perfect sense to me! Bonnie: When we got to the concert, Craig and I saw Tom near the backstage entrance. Janet: Poor Tom, I keep telling him he’s got to stop being one of those “stage door johnnies.” But does he listen to me…NO! Actually he was working VERY diligently letting our sponsors in early. Twas a tough job, but he had the help of our two sons, both boys, and the three of them made a fabulous team!! They always band together, most often it’s the three of them against lil ole me!!! I am always out numbered no matter what. My friend recently called and shared some advice on how to “win” when you’re outnum-bered….. “don’t say a word, then they have nothing to hold against you.” I’ve used the wise advice...and it works. I have to remember to thank him for his words of wisdom the next time he calls. Bonnie: We stopped over briefly to say, "Hello!" and
31
Monkee Shines
shared with him that we almost hit a man who was jaywalking in the middle of the street. Janet: See…it’s not only us who can’t think straight when The Major Babe is around!! I don’t think we’ve managed to jaywalk or hit a jaywalker….yet. Bonnie: Tom shared with us an experience he and Janet had driving amongst construc-tion barrels whilst avoiding a semi during their trip to Osh-kosh last June. Janet: Yea, Tom was practic-ing to race my 1994 Mustang Convertible at the Joliet, Illi-NOISE Motor Speedway next summer as we dodged the con-struction barrels last June. Ac-tually, thank God we weren’t in my Mustang for the Oshkosh 'B Gosh adventure, we had a close encounter, however not of the Jones kind. Bonnie: By the time we reached the entrance of the high school, a white limousine had just pulled up at the exact location we had just been. It would seem Elvis had reached the building! Janet: Oh noooo…ELVIS???? I was expecting THE Davy Jones. That doggone limo com-pany must have picked up the wrong group at the airport… Bonnie: Renee was in charge of the merchandise table, and
we spoke briefly. She said, "David got your candy/flowers." [We thought David just had to have some purple Tall Bearded Davy Jones irises for his grounds.] I introduced Craig to Renee. We excused ourselves to find our seats. I ran into Debbie Garey, and we had a nice little chat. She was seated two rows behind us (at least until she relocated to the front row). I said, "Do you know anybody here?" She said, "Yeah!" I said, "Who?" She said, "Sue Duckworth, Karen Brostrom, etc." as she pointed to their location. I said, "Oh!" I visited briefly with them as well. It's always nice to see familiar faces. Craig and I had fourth row seats. However, just be-fore the show started, a volun-teer told us to move up to the second row to fill the unoccu-pied (sponsor) seats. Janet: We aim to please here in IlliNOIS!!!! Bonnie: During a phone inter-view on WJMK Chicago on Oc-tober 14, David shared with his listeners his past and current weight. He had lost fourteen pounds. [Wouldn't that be a stone, Hazel? Do you think Santa will bring him a nice pur-ple rock for Christmas?] Need-less to say, he looked very tan and trim. He was dressed as dashing as ever in a silver shirt (part of that Las Vegas ensem-ble, I’m sure) and black pants.
32
Monkee Shines
He was also wearing a neck-lace he said was blessed by The Pope. For the record, David sang: I’m A Believer Look Out Here Comes Tomor-row Valleri I Wanna Be Free (I’ll) Love You Forever (dedicated to Maxine, Deb Turner's grandmother) David introduced the band I Love You, Like I Love New York City Consider Yourself (tune from Oliver!) It’s Nice To Be With You Wasted Days and Wasted Nights Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t My Baby? She Hangs Out Let Them Be Little (Words in this issue) Bright Side of The Road Papa Jean’s Blues A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You (I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone Daydream Believer and last but not least No Time In the middle of the show, Da-vid said, "The Purple Flower Gang is here again. Thanks for the chocolates and flowers…" He spoke about Cindy and said, "Cindy's here; I'm sure she's here." While she was certainly there spiritually (and enjoying the first bit of the concert via my cell phone), she was not there
physically. He said, "And yes, I'll get those questions to you sometime…like it's been some-thing like four years ago now!" Janet: Time seems to go by SO fast… Bonnie: In a twinkling of an eye? Let's enjoy it while we can! Janet: Was that four years ago that you gave David those questions??? Bonnie: Four score and seven years ago… Cindy: It seems the poor guy is a bit postally challenged. It couldn’t have been stamps! We provided them! It must have been that he couldn’t find a mailbox. Janet: Maybe it was the octo-genarians that knocked him out of the line at the post office. You know how they push and shove their way to the front of the line. Now, I may be way off base, remember my notes were not all that dutiful…and my mental notebook was just about reach-ing maximum capacity at that point, but I was touched by Da-vid’s mention of the PFG and Cindy. I’m glad you got to hear part of the concert, Cindy. Bonnie: David said he would sign autographs for anyone who wanted one after the show,
33
Monkee Shines
and "anyone who didn't, could just go home"! You must be joking! Janet: Really though, judging by the length of the autograph line, I don’t think too many peo-ple did go home right after the show…most of the audience wanted to meet “THE.” Bonnie: After the show, I talked a bit with Mike but mostly Beverlie Bush (probably no re-lation to George). There was a woman with a little girl talking with them at the time. She had a nice photo (copyrighted by Michael G. Bush and every-thing) in her hands of David and her daughter taken (I'm A Be-liever) at the concert in Lock-port last October. It was a nice (yet very much your average) photograph. The little girl was about Hannah's age. After the woman showed us the picture, I shared with them our most re-cent picture of Hannah. When Craig and I finally reached David in the autograph line, I said, "I just wanted to say, 'Hello.'" I shook David's hand. Again, he said, "Thanks for the candy and the flowers and the pictures…" He men-tioned how Hannah is growing up. I said, "She's six years old now." He said, "Wheeeew!" I told him Cindy was unable to be there. David sang this incredi-ble "new" tune called "Let Them Be Little", and I told him I loved the song. He said, "Did you like
it?" I said, "I loved it!" Craig asked David to autograph a program for his sister, Kristy (for Christmas). We'll make a Monkee fan out of her yet! Da-vid said, "Thanks for coming." In parting, he said, "I'll get those interview questions to you." I said, "Oh, it's been taken care." He said, "What did you do? Write your own answers?" I said, "We did!" He said, "Good!" Renee piped in, "You have to do that with him!" [Please see "Truth or Consequences" (What Hap-pens What A Teen Idol's Letter Gets Lost In The Mail" in Issue 61 (Winter/Spring 2005) pages 53-56 of Monkee Shines.] Cindy: He was warned! Janet: I too stood in the auto-graph line. I had to replace one of my CDs that was well worn, and I asked David to sign it for me so I would have a little me-mento of our show. I had asked David to sign a few things for our crew and people at the school before he started the autograph session, but I wanted get something signed for myself, so I joined the troupes in the lobby. As I stood there, I couldn’t help but re-member standing in an auto-graph line a few short years ago remembering my very first CEOTJK. Bonnie: Ignoring my "ROAM" indicator, I phoned Cindy on the ride back to the hotel. Typical-
34
Monkee Shines
Craig was in search of free cof-fee, and about 8:45 am he re-turned with an eye witness re-port of an actual sighting in the lobby. I said, "Well…did you say 'Hi' to him?" He said he didn't because David was busy loading the car. We finally got everybody out of the door by 9:00 am and were enroute to Blackberry's Pancake House just down the street to eat breakfast. Craig mentioned Tom and Janet were in the lob-by so we stopped to say, "Hi." Janet: We had just arrived in the lobby. We were on “official business.” We had been asked to do a very short leg…no pun intended as I’m about 5’1 on a tall day…of transport. So we were there to pick up our pas-sengers du jour and help where/when we could. Brian, our oldest son-all boy-was with us as well. I think you must have met him about seven times that weekend….Brian, have you ever met…yea Mom twenty-five times…ok, so I ex-aggerated, it was only seven times. One of these days I’ll get it right…see it DOES pay to talk to yourself…Usually I don’t get an argument. As it turned out, Brian had the experience of his lifetime that morning, something that he will remember for many years to come. Come to think of it, so did I. I must be a very good driver, as when our passengers reached their destination and
ly, the Gang gathers post con-cert to babble. Janet: Babble???? I think we make perfect sense. Ahhh…oohhh…uuhhhh…Ok, like three paragraphs ago…remember 50 is looming on the far horizon…you mentioned a new song that David sang, “Let Them Be Lit-tle.” Goodness gracious me oh my…was that not THE most beautiful song? I don’t think there was an adult with a dry eye in the house. Thanks to my youngest son David-all boy-- who was seated next to me, people three rows behind us heard “Hey look, Mom’s cry-ing.” He felt the need to share that information with his brother-all boy-- that was seated on the other side of him. Let Them Be Little…yea, like before you learned to talk!!!!! Bonnie: It's so difficult to un-wind after a CEOTJK regard-less of how many times one has had a sighting. Craig and I got back to the hotel about 11:30 pm and all was calm and dark. Unfortunately, no Jones movies played on The Dream Channel. The next morning, I was up red-eyed (and bushy tailed) and swimming in the pool at 6:00 am. Kudos to the hotel for early morning pool hours! Hannah woke up and joined me at about 7:30 am. We swam until about 8:20 am before we showered and dressed for breakfast.
35
Monkee Shines
everyone was getting ready to leave on the next leg of their journey, I was given a beautiful bouquet of roses… Bonnie: Excuse me, Girl, but there has to be a comment here about "how hard it is to get pur-ple flowers." Janet:…A heart-felt thank you, and yes indeedie ladies, a smooch. Hey, this drivin’ thing ain’t too bad!!! Flowers….a smooch…it pays to drive good. Bonnie: Girl, look what you've done to me! Now you've got me singing, "Baby you can drive my car…" So Janet, tell us a little more about all of those draw bridges you en-countered… Janet: Let me tell you, as you know, those drawbridges can be very tricky to maneuver if not navigated with extreme caution. Everything needs to be lined up so carefully in order to maneu-ver properly. However, each time a drawbridge was encoun-tered in or around Lockport, it remained in the closed, or locked position. I don’t ever anticipate said drawbridges being open upon an encounter, I would be unsure how to properly navigate an open drawbridge. I would not want to end up in the waterway, or stuck in the plump embankment due to improper navigation. Lockport is an old town that
was founded because of the Illinois/Michigan Canal, hence the drawbridge reference….and you’re all getting a little history lesson here, folks. Bonnie: Meanwhile, Craig and I talked to Tom for a few minutes. Craig was so excited to share with him the highlights of Saturday's big (football) games. We were preparing to leave when David came in. He walked straight up to my Mom, took off his baseball hat, and said, "How you doing? How's it been going?" He talked very reflectively about "Today being the first day of the rest of your life..." I asked him how his horse (that raced the night be-fore) did. He said, "Jessie came in third." He talked about furlongs which I didn't quite un-derstand. Janet: I’ve heard that term before, what exactly IS a fur-long? Bonnie: I wondered that my-self. According to my friend, Webster, it's a unit of distance equal to 220 yards (about the length of two football fields). David said something very sort of like, 'If they would have done what I told them to do, she would have done what she should have done, and she would have won. But, there's only one person who knows what to do, and you know who that is…' I said, "And that would be you!" He said, "AND
36
Monkee Shines
THAT WOULD BE ME!" Simi-larly, he laughed and said, "If there's going to be a drunk in the house, it's going to be me!" He told us that Indiantown Jones was racing October 27 at Churchill. I said, "Oh, I'll have to check out the website." He said, "No, you have to bet a hundred dollars (on him)!" Hum…more "Dollars for Davy!" Janet: I know of an OTB close to home. I’ll have to go in and put some money down on Indi-antown. However, the draw-back is I know absolutely noth-ing about horseracing. Bonnie: I know nothing about show biz. Janet: Next time, there will be a fundraising concert for the Litterio’s…poor family, they lost their house, the 1994 Mustang, Janet should never have stopped at that OTB…oh dear. If she only knew what a furlong was….. Bonnie: He looked over at Hannah who was cowering be-hind my left side and said, "Hi precious!" He said, "She's tall." I said, "Yeah, she's in first grade now." He couldn't be-lieve it. I repeated, "I told you last night that I loved that song you sang 'Let Them Be Little'." He started to sing a little bit of that and said, "You've never heard that?" I said, "No." He said, "Yeah, I should record that." I said, "Yeah, you
should." Then he thought per-haps not. I told him we were going to leave to eat breakfast; He said he'd eaten at 6:00 am. The early bird gets the bagels, I guess. I extended my hand to say "Goodbye", and he gave me a kiss on the cheek. He had to give "Mom" a hug and a kiss on the cheek as well, and he insisted on giving Hannah a kiss on the cheek, too. I told him, "Remember when you held her when she was a baby? That would be the last time." He said, "Oh that's okay…I've got four daughters (I was wait-ing for him to say 'all girls'), and it's okay." I was just thankful she didn't kick him or some-thing. Where have I erred? David needed to settle his ac-count at the front desk. On the way out, I told him, "Cindy said to say, 'Hi!' and she was sorry she couldn't be here.' He said, "Give her my love for me." It was so nice to see him again. Thank you, David, for some more wonderful memories. Craig, Hannah, my Mom, and I had a lovely breakfast at the pancake house. Believe it or not, Craig had "green eggs and ham". Who writes that stuff? I chose pumpkin nut pancakes with whipped cream. I opted for nut-free pancakes, but appar-ently the nuts were already in the batter. You know how hard it is to get rid of nuts! Hannah had chocolate chip pancakes. My Mom chose strawberry SLASH banana pancakes.
37
Monkee Shines
Mmm mmm good! We returned to the hotel to check out. Since we were in the neighborhood, we visited Starved Rock State Park. The fall foilage was al-most peak. It was actually pret-tier last year, but the Lockport show was a week later in Octo-ber. The weather was abso-lutely gorgeous. David no doubt warmed up the midwest. We ate dinner at the Starved Rock lodge. It would have been very nice except we shared it with a hundred thou-sand flies. I guess they were dining in, too. We returned home by 8:15 pm. It seems our Monkee adven-tures always pass so quickly. We find ourselves thinking the same thing, i.e. "Did we really see David this weekend?" Di-ane Klosak asked me after-wards, "Did you ever think when you were six years old watching 'The Monkees' that one day you would have an opportunity to actually meet him (David)?" I said, "That's a good question," but really there was no question about it. I had to see him. I can honestly say I like him with just as much en-thusiasm now as I did then, and I still get "shocked" from his kisses! Janet: Yes, our “Davy” or may-be I should say our “THE” ad-ventures do indeed pass FAR too quickly. I was just a tad old-er than you when I watched the TV show, I was ten. “The Mon-
kees” show was rerun in Chica-go this summer every afternoon during the week. There were several times when I tuned in where I just shook my head in disbelief with all that has hap-pened in recent years…thinking back to when I was little-ok, younger-- watching the show at home-and my Mom hollering upstairs to me, “Janet, TURN THAT MUSIC DOWN.” When David was singing “Let Them Be Little” my parents and brother were sitting behind me, one of my lifelong friends was behind them…and at one point during the song, my Mom nudg-es me, I can hear her sniffing. I looked over at my own nearly grown children/men sitting next to me-of course my youngest son announces to the theater that Mom’s crying…but even with all that wow, what a mo-ment. Never, ever did I think that when I was ten years old watching David on TV that there would come a day where I would see him singing in front of me---doing a fundraiser for our church which I organized-- with my parents and brother sitting behind me, and my own grown children sitting next to me. But moments such as these keep us young and younger…and I (as you, Bon-nie) am shocked by his kisses, heartened by his warmth to everyone, so grateful that he continues to share his talent with all of us. THANK YOU David…and Mark, Dave, Aviva,
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Monkee Shines
Felipe and John. Bonnie: I think the saying goes, "We'll love you forever." Cindy: And thank you Bonnie and Janet, for the play by play and making us all a part of a wonderful show!
Photos by Tom Litterio
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Monkee Shines
David sings to Gail Friel in Lockport Photo by Robin Sheldon of Sun Publications
The always humorous Dave Barry mentions the Monkees in his 2005 year
in
review --
"With the horror of Katrina fresh in everyone's mind, a new hurricane,
Rita, draws a bead on the Gulf Coast, causing millions of panicky
Texans to get into their cars and flee an average distance of 150 feet
before they become stuck in a monster traffic jam, where some remain
for more than 12 hours. "It was hell," reports one traumatized
victim. "The classic rock station played 'Daydream Believer,' like, 53
freaking times."
"President Bush, after an aerial tour of the devastated region, tells
reporters that he always kind of liked "Daydream Believer."
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Monkee Shines
tions: ♫ Completing and return-
ing official PFG documents such as (but not limited to) interviews, questionnaires, cards, R.S.V.P.s, etc.
100 points ♫ Any spontaneous writ-
ten communications such as (but not limited to) notes, postcards, letters, e-mails, pictures, etc.
200 points ♫ Any initiated or sponta-
neous phone conversa-tions.
300 points ♫ Any Close Encounters
of the Monkee Kind. 400 points
3. Reward Yourself
With the various ways you have to earn points, your I’ll Be True 2U Rewards account can build up very quickly. Some of the great opportunities the four men can enjoy with their accumulat-ed points are provided. How To Redeem Your Points: 1. We’ll automatically keep
track of your points for you and publish them in our quarterly newsletter.
2. Review the Rewards sec-
tions to see what’s availa-ble to you at your point lev-
I’ll Be True 2U Rewards Just4Monkees ONLY
Sponsored by: Borgh and Bryant
Welcome to I’ll Be True 2U Rewards! In honor of The Monkees’ 40th Anniversary in 2006, we are proud to an-nounce The PFG’s official Just4Monkees rewards pro-gram! As We Go Along, I’ll Be True 2U Rewards offers many ways for Micky Dolenz, David Jones, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork to earn and redeem points with our unlimited op-portunities. Be sure to visit us at our website: http://purpleflowergang.tripod.com. We’re sure you’ll find it reward-ing!
1. Earn While You’re Here As a participant, you’ll be re-warded points for any concerts you perform or any guest ap-pearances you make in Iowa SLASH IlliNOISE. For every engagement in our neck of the woods, you’ll earn 500 I’ll Be True 2U points that you can redeem for a wide variety of incentives. 2. Earn While You’re Away
There are a variety of ways you can earn even more points just by doing Monkee business with The Gang. The following are some wonderful sugges-
41
Monkee Shines
el. 3. Choose the reward you
prefer and follow the easy steps to redeem your points.
Hotel Rewards:
As an I’ll Be True 2U partici-pant, with 1000 points, you are eligible for a free night’s stay at the Isle of Capri in Bettendorf, Iowa. You will be glad to know that you can enjoy a free night’s accommodations at any time. Participants should note the hotel reward is valid only for the room rate and room tax for one standard room. All other (carrying) charges and expens-es must be paid for by the indi-vidual.
Dining Rewards: An I’ll Be True 2U participant may redeem 500 points for a free dinner at Lunardi’s Italian Restaurant in Davenport, Iowa. Of course, you’ll have to eat with us, too!
Entertainment Rewards:
For merely 300 points, a partici-pant is eligible for one free movie ticket (no restrictions apply) at the Showcase Cine-mas at the 53rd Street location in Davenport, Iowa.
Charitable Donations Re-wards:
With 2000 earned points, chari-table donations will be sent di-rectly to the charity of your choice. Redemptions of points for the purpose of affecting a donation to a charity are gener-ally not tax deductible. Re-ceipts stating the dollar value of the points redeemed for the charitable donation will not be issued. (Who writes that stuff?) The Purple Flower Gang recog-nizes and humbly appreciates all of the interest the four Mon-kees have shown toward “our crazy lot” in the past. However, to be fair and impartial, accrued points for the four participants will only be accepted after Jan-uary 1, 2006. Please be sure to look for the following box in subsequent issues of Monkee Shines.
I’ll Be True 2U APB (Acquired Point Breakdown)
Spring 2006 Name Points Micky Dolenz 0 David Jones 400 Michael Nesmith 0 Peter Tork 0
42
Monkee Shines
It is purely coincidental if this tune bears any resemblance
to David Loggins’ song “Please Come To Boston”
Please come to our town be-fore springtime. We’re gathering here with friends, and we’ll have lots of fun. You can sell us all your memo-rabilia; We’ll debut a new game that we have just re-done. Please come to IA! Don’t say, “No!” Won’t you come for tea? He said, “You crazy lot, why don’t you just calm down? I may be comin’ to your town! I ain’t old, and there ain’t no-body like me! Since you all know, I’m the cute Monkee!” Please come to our state in the summer. We’ve traveled all o’er the country; there’s no place we can’t find. We’ve been through burning dands and sesserts. We’ve driven through the night; we didn’t seem to mind. Please come to our state! Don’t say, “No!” He said, “You crazy lot, why don’t you just calm down? I may be comin’ to your town!
I ain’t old, and there ain’t no-body like me!” Since you all know, I’m the cute Monkee!” Now the years and years go on and on, And we pray it’s never gonna stop, But of all the dreams we’ve dreamt or thought And all that we’ve forgot... We still yearn for Just one concert more. Please come to IA; We’ll Love You Forever! We’ve treasured all those times before, we hope there’s just one more. We’re only fourteen hours away. It’s faster if you take a plane or drive your own car. Please come to IA! Just don’t say, “No!” Man, won’t you come quickly? And he said, “You crazy lot, why don’t you just calm down? I may be comin’ to your town! I ain’t old, and there ain’t no-body like me! Since you all know, I’m the cute Monkee!”
By the way,
“Who writes this stuff?”
Please Come To IA
43
Monkee Shines
LET THEM BE LITTLE
(Lyrics courtesy of Janet Litterio)
Artist: Lonestar Album: Let’s Be Us Again
I can remember when you fit in the palm of my hand Felt so good in it, no bigger than a minute How it amazes me, you’re changing with every blink
Faster than a flower blooms they grow up all too soon So let them be little ‘cause they’re only that way for a while Give them hope, give them praise, give them love every day Let them cry, let them giggle, let them sleep in the middle Oh just let them be little
I’ve never felt to much in one little tender touch I live for those kisses, prayers and your wishes Now that you’re teaching me things only a child can see Every night while we’re on our knees all I ask is please Let them be little ‘cause they’re only that way for a while Give them hope, give them praise, give them love every day Let them cry, let them giggle, let them sleep in the middle Oh just let them be little
So innocent, a precious soul, you turn around It’s time to let them go So let them be little ‘cause they’re only that way for a while Give them hope, give them praise, give them love every day Let them cry, let them giggle, let them sleep in the middle Oh just let them be little
Let them be little
44
Monkee Shines
45
Monkee Shines
Dear Bonnie Cindy & Gang,
Thanks for keeping in touch — Work plans are underway for
2006 and we are excited about the up coming season—If you live in a
cave, you won’t have heard the EBAY commercial featuring Day-
dream Believer on the IT! Commercial. What fun - I’m working on a new album — also editing footage from the
Monkees concerts in England — a couple of book ideas —
www.davyjones.net will give you a direct line to plans as they un-
fold—be sure to check in from time to time —TV Land have done
some filming at the house Life after TV Land — due to air in March
2006 — I was listening to some Monkees albums and quite amazed at
the different style of material we used. I appreciate more and more the
simple genius of Mike’s songs — Peter’s sophisticated chord changes
and style. Micky’s amazing vocal range as well as his story lyrics. My
all time favorite Micky song ‘My Life — a true classic — I salute all
three of my x partners with great respect as writers — even though our
lives now take different paths the proof is in the pudding — “Good things stand the test of time.”
Stay safe — Be loving —
Be loved
Kisses & Hugs
David Jones
2006
46
Monkee Shines
bought one of his CDs and had
him sign it. It’s there among my
other CDs now, including one
from the Monkees; it’s a slender
thread to my childhood, when our living room, like millions of oth-
ers at that time, would be tuned in,
and discussions (or debates, take
your pick) would focus on the vari-
ous merits of each Monkee, and
whether they really could play, and
whether they were bigger than the
Beatles, and so on...
That came to mind when
I sat in that front-row seat and
wondered what teenage girl from
the 60s would sell their soul for a seat like this, to be this close to a
real, live Monkee, even a Monkee
who was older, a bit gruffier and
more bent on playing chord-
ripping blues than a few bars of
"Daydream Believer."
Much has happened in
the last 40 years. The Monkees
ceased to be a cultural phenome-
non a long time ago, but Peter
Tork carries on. And fans, both classic rock and blues, are happier
for it.
The last time I sat this
close to Peter Tork, he was filling
a 12-inch TV screen. He also had
no beard, no glasses and no blues
on his guitar - just the bubble gum pop that filled the airwaves when
he was on "The Monkees" TV
show in the 60s. He was the
dopey-looking guy who was al-
ways getting into trouble, the guy
who rarely got to sing lead, just
play the bass or piano or harp and
play along with the rest of the
gang.
Not so last Saturday
night, as Tork joined the Jeff
Pitchell Band for two sets of scorching blues at The Center for
Arts in Natick.
Tork didn’t just sit in
the background thumping a bass,
either. On guitar, and sometimes
on harmonica, he delivered his
own take on things, including a
bluesy twist on "Last Train to
Clarksville."
He performed before a
mix of former teenyboppers and blues fans, present and future,
who will remember Tork for num-
bers such as these and not for
running around like a cutesy ma-
niac in some quirky, long-ago TV
show.
Tork also had neither
pretense nor entourage; between
sets, he met with fans in the lob-
by, having his picture taken and
signing autographs.
Yes, I was one of them; I
New Gig For This Monkee By Maureen Sullivan / Sullivan’s travels
Friday, February 10, 2006
47
Monkee Shines
R.S.V.P. or as Elvis
would say “Return To Sender”
By: Miss Etta Cut [or is that Etiquette?]
And now a word from our spon-sor…This public service an-nouncement was brought to you courtesy of The Purple Flower Gang.
In a world so inundated with acronyms, Miss Etta Cutt (no relation to Miss Manners) clear-ly delineates (according to vari-ous websites) the origin and intent of the four-letter term commonly known as R.S.V.P.
R.S.V.P. stands for the French phrase Répondez s’il vous plaît (“reply, please”), so it doesn’t need an added “please.” How-ever, since few people seem to know its literal meaning, and fewer still take it seriously, it’s best to use plain English: “Please reply.” It is a mistake to think that this phrase invites people to respond only if they are planning to attend; it is at least as important to notify the person doing the inviting if you cannot go. And no, you can’t bring along the kids or other uninvited guests. (Who writes this stuff?)
Another website indicated the
following:
R.S.V.P. stands for a French phrase, "réspondez, s'il vous plaît," which means "please reply." The person sending the invitation would like you to tell him or her whether you accept or decline the invitation. That is, will you be coming to the event or not? Etiquette rules followed in most Western cultures re-quire that if you receive a for-mal, written invitation, you should reply promptly, perhaps that same day. For hosts who are planning a dinner party, a wedding or a reception, this is important from a practical point of view, because they need to know how many people to count on and how much food and drink to buy. More im-portant, though, is the simple courtesy of responding to someone who was nice enough to invite you, even if it is to say that you regret that you will not be able to attend.
Many wedding invitations come with a response card that you can mail back right away. Other written invitations will carry the host's telephone number so you can call with your reply, alt-hough under strict etiquette rules, a written invitation re-quires a written reply. Nowa-days, invitations often carry a "regrets only" notation at the end. That means that the host will count on your being there unless you tell him or her other-
48
Monkee Shines
wise. Some people even use "R.S.V.P." as a verb, as in "Have you R.S.V.P.ed to that invitation?"
You might wonder why we use the initials of a French phrase in an invitation that is written in English. You could say that the French "invented" etiquette, although that would be a simpli-fication because there have always been rules of courtesy to follow in civilization. In fact, an Italian diplomat, Conte Bal-dassare Castiglione, (Does an-ybody know him?) wrote the first book about proper behavior among nobility in the 16th cen-tury. Many of the practices of Western etiquette, however, came from the French court of King Louis XIV in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. At Versailles, his palace, (It’s a lovely pad, I might add.) Louis
XIV had the rules for court be-havior written on what the French referred to as "tickets," or "étiquette." The tickets either were signs posted at Versailles or were the invitations issued to court events with the rules of behavior printed on the back; experts give different versions of the origin. And French was the language of refinement and high society through the 19th century in the United States. Judith Martin, the author of eti-quette books and a syndicated newspaper columnist known as "Miss Manners," thinks that "R.S.V.P." came about as a polite way of reminding people of something that they should already know: If you receive an invitation, you should reply.
(And that’s all we’re going to say about that! :-))
I was performing almost
as soon as I was walking. I was
born and raised in Los Angeles. By
age two I was enrolled in tap-
dance class, and danced in my first recital.
At age four, I had won
a beauty pageant, acquired an
agent, and begun doing some local
television work.
At age six, however, an
event changed my life forever: I
was in a near-fatal car accident.
The school at which I took my dance classes used a van to pick up
the students. On my way to class
one day, a car ran a red light and
hit the van. I was thrown from the
Miracle at Hollywood & Vine
January 20, 2006
By Sandy Jacobson
49
Monkee Shines
vehicle on impact, and hit the curb
headfirst.
My injuries were con-
siderable. I sustained a skull frac-
ture, a cracked collarbone, and the bridge on my nose was broken. My
cheekbones were pulverized, I lost
the skeletal floor and ceiling
around my right eye, and my right
eyelid was paralyzed. After five
hours of surgery, the doctors told
my parents that they had done all
they could, and that it was "in
God's hands whether I lived or
not."
Statistically, I should
have died from my injuries. Hav-ing lived, statistically I should
have been brain-dead, kept alive
on life support. But I survived.
Though my right eyelid was per-
manently paralyzed shut as a result
of the accident, my mind and spirit
were intact.
The first time that I was
able to see myself in the mirror
three months after the accident, I
knew I'd never be able to follow my two great passions in
life: to act or dance professionally.
I spent the next two
years recovering, housebound ex-
cept to go to school. After that,
until the age of thirteen I had a
number of reconstructive surgeries.
When I first came home
from the hospital, my two older
brothers took their life savings and
bought me a brand new color TV.
The Monkees was airing at the time, and it was one of the few
things that made me laugh and
forget about what I was going
through. A song from their first
album -- "Take a Giant Step," writ-
ten by Carole King -- was the sin-
gle greatest influence on me want-
ing to recover.
My favorite Monkee
was Peter Tork. His TV character reminded me of one of my broth-
ers. More than anything, I wanted
to see the band in concert just
once, and hopefully someday meet
them.
Through tremendous
support from friends, family, and
community, I got on with my life. I
went to college, got married, and
began a family. I had a daughter.
Not able to live my dream, I wanted to help her live
hers. I believe that one of the
greatest gifts that I could give my
daughter was to help her find her
passion, and support her in
that as far as it would take her.
I exposed my daughter
to some of my passions, but also to
things that I knew absolutely noth-
ing about, and learned with her.
She had piano lessons, soccer, Brownies, art lessons, ballet, musi-
cal theatre, and the opportunity to
audition for TV and film.
I participated in her life
as much as possible. I was a parent
volunteer for most of her activities,
including being a member
of the ballet company guild of her
ballet training school. At one
point, I was president of the organ-
ization, and was responsible for
overseeing all aspects of the pro-duction for the 120+ cast families.
At age twelve, having
just completed the lead role in a
national commercial, my daughter
decided that she wanted to focus
50
Monkee Shines
exclusively on ballet. I'm proud to
say she has pursued that passion
into adulthood. This year, at age
21, she is in the middle of her
fourth season as a professional dancer with a ballet company, as
well as holding SAG and Equity
affiliations.
But my dream was still
in the background.
My adult life has taken
many twists and turns. The last
few years, in particular, have in-
cluded some bad experiences
counterbalanced by good ones. In
retrospect, a series of unrelated
incidents prepared me for what was about to unfold in my life.
Five years ago, I was in
another car accident -- a car
rear-ended mine. The accident
triggered flashbacks and night-
mares from my childhood experi-
ence.
However, around the
same time, I had the opportunity
tofinally see Peter Tork perform --
first with his Two Man Band with James Lee Stanley (during which
he even sang my favorite song,
"Take A Giant Step"), then with
Davy Jones and Mickey Dolenz
during their 2001 Monkees Reun-
ion Tour.
After the show I got to
meet Peter and the others. Since
then, he and I have established a
professional relationship. By his
own example and through conver-
sations, Peter has taught me some valuable life lessons and helped
me see a larger vision for my life.
During this time, I
found another life-affirming influ-
ence. I read the book This Time I
Dance!: Trusting the Journey of
Creating the Work You Love by
Tama J. Kieves. The book details
philosophies of discovery and self-
fulfillment that I began to embrace. Soon, I had an opportunity to put
these ideas into practice.
Ever since my accident,
I have always hated having my
picture taken. But one day a friend
of mine was taking a photo class,
and called me in a panic because
she needed someone to pose for
her as an assignment. I told her
that if it would help, I was availa-
ble. (At the same time, I couldn't
believe those words escaped uned-ited from my mouth!)
On the shoot, though, I
decided to give her the best I had
to give to help her get an 'A' on her
assignment. Because I wanted so
badly to help her, I was able to
forget about my fear of being pho-
tographed.
Months later, I decided
to submit a video of myself to Ex-
treme Makeovers. Though two professionals, Bob Sherman and
Mike Carlin, put it together, I was-
n't selected. Even so, I soon real-
ized it was an important part of a
process of learning to accept and
be happy with myself and the
choices that I make -- regardless of
the outcome.
About two years later, I
found myself suddenly unem-
ployed. Faced with finding a new
job, I looked at my work history and quickly realized that, thanks to
my daughter's interest in
ballet, I had about ten years of
volunteer experience in live
production. I decided to try to use
51
Monkee Shines
that, so I began submitting myself
for P.A. or A.D. jobs.
Initially, the search
went nowhere. Frustrated, I spoke
with a producer I sought out to make sure that my resume was
"right." He said my resume was
fine, and to just keep submitting
myself.
Then, fate intervened.
Two weeks later the same produc-
er emailed me, suggesting that I
audition for Pirates of the Caribbe-
an II. I laughed for about thirty
minutes, then thought, 'No one else
is calling me for work right now.
Why not?' I only had 24 hours to
pull together a resume and head-
shot. My only credits were my
childhood experiences and one job
as an extra I had gotten dragged
into while my daughter was film-
ing something.
The headshot was more
challenging. The best I could come
up with was having a souvenir
photographer on Venice Beach take my photo for ten dollars.
On the way to the cash
machine, I ran into a friend I hadn't
seen in nine months. He asked
what was up. I frantically told
him my story, and he said, "Relax.
I've got my cell phone right here. I
can take your photo and email it to
you -- and it won't even cost you
the ten dollars!" He did, and amaz-
ingly the picture turned out great.
I went to the audition the next day, and saw the line
around the block. I suddenly knew
that I didn't belong there. I
wanted to run, but I needed to be
able to tell my friend that I had at
least shown up. The audition was
located near the intersection of
Hollywood & Vine.
I thought for sure this
was an episode of Candid Camera -- not a movie audition. (I later
heard there were 2,500 people
there that day.) But I decided to
have fun with the process, because,
after all, I couldn't take this whole
thing seriously.
But I got a part!
In February 2005 I had
my costume fitting and in March --
almost at the anniversary of my
childhood car accident -- I worked
as a Cantina Wench on Pirates of the Caribbean II. It wasn't a major
role, but I was performing!
My first day on the set I
realized that, even if I never did
another acting job, I had received a
huge gift. I suddenly felt peace
around the loss of my childhood
opportunities. I was completely
okay -- even if this job was noth-
ing more than a fluke.
Learning to receive help from others has been a huge
part of that journey. I used to be-
lieve that if I didn't do it all on my
own, I hadn't 'earned' it. But by
letting people in, and sharing the
dream and vision, I learned a valu-
able lesson. It is all about showing
up for what you want in life, with
the right attitude, and enjoying the
process without worrying
about the outcome.
By the way, I have con-tinued to work in front of the cam-
era. To date, I have worked in a
variety of projects, including
five feature films. I've also done
four episodes of Untold Stories
52
Monkee Shines
from the ER as a nurse.
Ironically, on one mov-
ie -- Jeff Brookshire's horror film
Awaken the Dead -- I actually let
them make me look as ugly as I felt after my accident.
And yes, Virginia, I am
working a "day job" -- but I am
also appreciating and enjoying the
acting jobs that have come my
way.