#Tork banjo

[thislovintime]

Photos from The Monkees Monthly and by Paul Undersinger.

“It was an aluminum Ode long neck with a solid, arched top. I love that banjo—there’s nothing like it today. It picks better than any frailing banjo, and it frails better than any picking banjo I’ve ever heard. You can’t replace it. I had to borrow $125 from my grandma to buy it, and I’ve had it for more than 55 years now.” - Peter Tork, Guitar Player Magazine, October 2016

[harrisonarchive]

Photo by Neal Preston.

“[George] said, ‘Oh, John would be a Wilbury in a second.’” - Tom Petty, Rolling Stone, January 17, 2002

“John Lennon was and always will be [a candidate for the Wilburys]. Peter Tork is a definite candidate. Michael Nesmith only if he gets back in his jeans and cowboy boots. Arlo Guthrie is most definitely a Wilbury (after all, his father, Woody, was an ancestral Wilbury). The MFQ, Flo and Eddie and Jan and Dean are definite Wilburys. Ron Wood, Keith Richards, Bill Wyman, Leadbelly, Fats Waller, Billie Holiday, Bessie Smith, Ethel Waters, yep.” - Audrey Zelenko, Daily News, March 9, 1989

“You might think the Wilburys myth satisfies some longing for the one experience George missed as a Beatle — a bunch of friends playing music for fun, unencumbered by the trappings of success. ‘In a way,’ he concedes. ‘But more than that it was that thing that went on in the late ‘60s and ‘70s, the big craze of supergroups and super jams and everything was super duper. Just getting some famous people together doesn’t guarantee success. More often than not it’s just a clash of personalities and a big ego detour. ‘So I thought we should play it down. Rather than the record company’s natural choice: Look what we’ve got! It took a while to give them the idea of ‘Let’s lighten up a bit.’” […] ‘What I saw as the Wilburys was an attitude, basically. I see loads of people out there who have what I call The Wilbury Attitude. Somebody wrote in a paper things like, ‘Little Richard is a Wilbury, Madonna wouldn’t be a Wilbury but Cyndi Lauper would be.’ It was quite funny.’” - Musician, March 1990 (x)

[ninetimesbluedemo]

Peter Tork's Higher and Higher

[willtolove1977]

watched the man who fell to earth last night and the song I'd been learning all day on banjo played in the film???? crazy beautiful world....

[mickgaydolenz]

asia it gets worse I haven't spoken to that guy in over a year and am very happily in a relationship BUT. I literally have one of his banjos. in my closet. in an ill-fitting guitar case.

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[aquarianshift]

got to go up on stage tonight and sing cripple creek with a banjo player who looked &sounded absurdly obscenely like an older peter tork. all this because i heckled him a month ago. nezgirls ill translate this for you. imagine you go to a hootenanny and theres a guy who resembles 2010s mike in every respect except the color of his eyes. he asks the crowd for any requests and you yell out pretty little princess. he says he doesnt have the right guitar for that and everybody laughs. a month later you go back and he comes up to you and says i brought the right guitar this time and i want you to come up and sing pretty little princess with me. and youre like yeah ok

[jokerlennon]

monkee-beatle relations run on a scale from john lennon and michael nesmith (some amount of freak mismatch but they both have bad enough vibes to be friends. scary to see and comes with quotes that make you sick) to george harrison and peter tork (two princess dianas teaming up. calming image. peace and love on planet earth forever. made me watch a whole movie bc of peters 15 second banjo solo on the soundtrack)

[propiniquitydemo]

here you go then. is this what you wanted. who needs peter tork. nothing matters anymore. autism be damned my little orange fellow voiced by 30 rock Kenneth or whatever can play the banjo

OVER YONDER????????

[mystical-one]

peter tork shouldve been in the traveling wilburys but only to play banjo and look super pretty and cute and sit at the front to make everyone in the audience go awwww the scrimblo

[echoesdistant]

tagged by @willtolove1977 what feels like forever ago oops but thank you and Hello!! :)

last song: rainin' here this morning- the dillards

favorite color: i like orange and green (warmer+teal-y tones especially)🍊🍐

currently watching: sporadic monkees episodes and nirvanna the band the show rewatch yayy

spicy/savory/sweet: savoryyyy

relationship status: redacted

current obsession: well i've been playing bass and guitar consistently again so naturally i am obsessed with wanting to learn every instrument now, specifically piano & banjo <-torking out..... reading the vampire chronicles. birdwatching! everyone is coming back from vacation! i saw a bald eagle the other day very cool...

tagging @paramountives @chrysochromulina @desertsquiet @shakestheclown @doublydaring @hellpenis900 @emptycathedralsestel @samcalavicci @timrothencrantz

[idontdrinkwaterfishhavesexinit]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PETER TORK!! 🌼🌟🌼

My favorite monkee, bassist, banjo player 🧡

I fucking love him so much we need to bring him back from the grave

[thislovintime]

From The Monkees' Kansas City concert on July 14, 1987: "Good Clean Fun," with Peter on lead vocals and banjo on this Nesmith tune (originally released after Peter had left The Monkees). Footage courtesy of the Monkees Live Almanac.

“I have a great deal of respect for Mike as a musician and a songwriter. He’s very good. He could make it on his own easily. Also he’s one of the funniest people I’ve ever met.” - Peter Tork, Flip, August 1967 “Mike’s a song writer, one of the best in the country.” - Peter Tork, The San Francisco Examiner, November 23, 1968 “Nesmith is an astounding artist, and he’s very funny.” - Peter Tork, Monkees Convention Q&A, 1982 “There are two common and, to me, repugnant notions about the Monkees. Number one, that I was the only one who had any talent, which is patently absurd. It’s as unfair and as unkind as it is stupid. The other one is that I was the only musician. I wasn’t the only musician and I wasn’t much of a musician. Peter was a much more skillful player than I was by some orders of magnitude.” - Michael Nesmith, The Monkees Tale

[harrisonarchive]

From Peter Tork’s banjo contribution to the Wonderwall Music soundtrack (featured only in the movie, not on the album). The photo in this video is from that session.

The creation of Wonderwall Music, a series marking the 55th anniversary of the recording sessions - part 5:

“George was working on the musical score he wrote for the movie, “Wonder Wall.” When Peter arrived at the studio George asked him if he would play five-string banjo on one of the cuts. Peter was more than delighted and after a time they put down some beautiful sounds. Peter mentioned to George that he’d like to see the ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ film so George made arrangements for Peter to have a private screening at the hotel. Peter really flipped for the Beatles’ fantasy film and watched it through several times. One time he even took color slides while it was being projected on the screen.” - Monkee Spectacular, May 1968

“I remember [Peter Tork] from The Monkees played banjo on a session. Peter was so nervous that his hands were shaking.” - Colin Manley, Beatles Gear (2001)

“I remember George asking me, ‘Why don’t you come back and play banjo on this session [for ‘Wonderwall Music’] I’m producing in December?’” - Peter Tork, Medium, August 3, 2010

Peter Tork: “George invited me to play banjo on Wonderwall. He was working on the soundtrack for Wonderwall, and he invited me to come and play, and I did. You can’t hear it on the album, you can’t hear it on the album, but apparently — and I never have seen the movie.” Q: “But it’s in the film.” PT: “It’s in the film.” Q: “Yeah.” PT: “I think it was Paul’s banjo. Paul had a five-string banjo, which he had strung backwards of course, being left-handed. But it was alright with him if I restrung it. So… and British five-string banjos are different from American. The fifth string, instead of having a tuning peg right in the middle of the neck, it hits a tunnel and the string goes through a tunnel to a fifth string peg at the regular peg head. Very interesting, very weird. But it was okay. Got some music in, that’s all that mattered.” - Breakfast With The Beatles, June 16, 2013

“‘[George] invited me to his house. He played the sitar and said: ‘I’m working on a soundtrack album, I’d love to have you play a little banjo.’” Tork had traveled without his instrument, so Harrison borrowed McCartney’s five-string banjo for the session — ‘which Paul couldn’t play — at least conventionally, because the folk five-string banjo can’t be restrung in reverse order for left-handers, it must be custom made. I played for 45 minutes, George said, “Thanks very much,” and we went our separate ways.’ 
Tork’s breezy contribution didn’t make the record, but it can be heard 15 minutes into the film, after Collins is chided by his mother for spying through the wall. ‘And I did not get paid,’ he laughs. ‘George said: “We’ll figure that out later.” He knew that the honor itself was payment enough!’” - The Guardian, March 23, 2017

“[George] was as kind and as gentle a man as you could imagine.” - Peter Tork, Liverpool Echo, November 28, 2011 (x)

More on two July 1967 meetings between George and Peter here and here.

[androcola]

did any of the boys have a band before the monkees? did any of them have a band “after”? do they still play music together as old men for an audience/with each other? do they ever teach the girls how to play music

mike and micky played around at venues as a duo in 1965 as Nesmith and dolenz! we later when they met peter, they were both very impressed by peters banjo talents and his multi instrumentalism so they both figured he'd be a great addition! so they became Nesmith, dolenz & tork, and when davy came along,it was Nesmith dolenz tork & jones before micky eventually decided on the monkees to shorten and zazz it up

although before all of them met eachother, no one had any bands, they were all in school and while they were getting into music, they never had any previous bands. they're all eachothers first band!

when they're older, specifically in the 80s, they sorta realize that music isn't gonna keep them afloat their whole lives so 3/4 of the guys get jobs while mike is very Stay at home cuz he can't work. but they don't abandon music all together! and they still gig every now and then sometimes for benefit events or just for themselves to get a little extra cash on top of the money they already make. they're pretty comfortable in their older age. by the 90s and 2000s it's kinda the same, until mike becomes too old and too disabled to play much anymore. they still do play with eachother at home sometimes! they do that a lot in the 80s and 90s

they do teach the girls to play! but the only one to really pick it up was Cici, who went on to form a sorta punky band in the late 80s. the guys attend all of her shows and she plays like a FREAK in a good way :)

[ninetimesbluedemo]

omg monkees questions: 8 (fave solo work), 10 (fave lyrics), 29 (fave running gag)? also secret bonus question fav peter moment :3

8: Favourite solo work?

ouggghhhhh i think... well.... it might even be Wichita Train Whistle Sings. if you can believe it. but i am in love with the peter tork and james lee stanley albums if those count as solo.

10: Favourite lyrics?

"Silhouettes and figures stay Close to what he had to say And one more time, the faded dream Is saddened by the news It cannot be a part of me For now it's part of you" from Tapioca Tundra

29: Favourite running gag?

fourth wall breaks: looking at the camera, breaking character, pulling out the script, making reference to the fact they're in a tv show...

secret bonus question fav peter moment?

in the show: rainbow room daydream believer when davy is sitting with peter on the bench and peter looks like he couldn't possibly be happier.

irl: the mtv tork-touch method how to play the five-string banjo <3

[multifandomrandomgirl]

The Ropes That Bind Us - Peter Tork x female!reader PART 14

Masterlist:

Taglist: @strawberry-sunset-skies

“Hey, Y/N! We’re going out for our gig now. Are you sure you’re going to be alright here?” Peter asked, tying his shoelace. The Monkees were going to play at a local restaurant, they were leaving Y/N at home so that she could have some time to herself and relax. 

“I’ll be fine! Don’t worry Peter. I honestly think I’m just going to have an early night, I’m shattered!” Y/N smiled, she’d been at the beach all day with Peter and Micky. They’d spent most of the time playing silly, childish games and building sandcastles. They’d only come inside when Mike called them in because they had spent all day outside without any skin protection and Mike, ever the parental figure, was scared they were going to get burnt.

“Okay! Well, we’ll be back at around half-eleven! Have a good evening.” Peter ran and hugged Y/N before picking up his bass and his banjo and heading out of the front door, following Davy and Micky towards the Monkeemobile.

“Have fun!” She called after him.

“See you later, Y/N.” Mike smiled at her before he closed the front door behind himself. Y/N glanced around the empty Pad. She had no idea that it could be this quiet. Y/N had a quick shower before she changed into one of the old shirts that Davy gave her and curled up in bed.

Soon rough, Y/N was flat out, not a single sound could disturb her, not even the sound of someone trying to break down the front door.

“Damn it.” A male voice snapped as he failed again to pick the lock of the Pad. He was determined to get into the house and take Y/N back. In his eyes, the Monkees didn’t need Y/N. He believed that she was useless to them and they only took her out of feeling guilty that she wasn’t like Peter. He wanted her back though, he needed her back in that basement room that he had held her in for the past three years, where she belonged. He knew she didn’t deserve the Monkees, and even if they did care about her, would they go back for her again? He could hurt them again, like he hurt them when he took Peter. Maybe he could get Peter back, the kind boy would surely chase after the girl which would then land him into the trap and then he’d be back in the dark room. He decided that this time, he would gag the girl and the bassist so that they were unable to communicate, he wanted them to suffer and to feel alone. He really would make the pair suffer this time.

“What is all that racket boys? It’s late, I will fine you!” Another male voice appeared, breaking the first one out of his thoughts. “You’re not the boys. Who the hell are you and why are you trying to get in my property?” Mr Babbit shouted angrily.

“Nothing, I’m just. I have something, someone in here that I need to take and the boys aren’t at home to let me reclaim them.” Lord Reynolds responded in annoyance. He was so close to taking Y/N back but the boys’ stupid landlord had caught him.

“You’re not going in there. I don’t care what's there that you want, you’re not having it. I refuse to let you damage my property, and as big of a pain those four boys are, I don’t want anything bad to happen to them, so you get a choice, you can continue, and I’ll call the police on you, or, you can walk away and pay damages. You’ve dented the door and I can see that the lock is dangling slightly. I’ll have to fix it. The choice is yours. However, I’d recommend you pay and then leave, otherwise things won’t be pretty.” Babbit threatened Lord Reynolds.

“You don’t understand, I need it badly. They took a girl from me and I need her back.” 

“I don’t think you do. I know these boys and I know they don’t act without reason. Now, I suggest you decide whether you want me to call the police or you want to pay damages and leave.” Mr Babbit crossed his arms, he made a mental note to ask the Monkees what was going on with that later on.

“I’ll pay, how much do I owe? I’m not having the police interfere.” Lord Reynolds snapped, Mr Babbit smirked. He knew that he’d choose that option and he decided that because the man looked so well off, that he was going to take a significant amount from him to cover rent for the boys.

“Good choice Sir. I’ll be needing ten thousand dollars Sir, you know, damage repair.” Babbit lied, nothing was actually damaged despite the fact he had told Reynolds it was before. He asked for two years worth of rent money for the Monkees. Lord Reynolds sighed and pulled a chequebook out of his pocket and filled in a check for Mr Babbit and handed it to him.

“Thank you Sir. Now kindly remove yourself off my property, if I ever see you around here again, I will phone the police.” Mr Babbit glared at Lord Reynolds. Lord Reynolds scowled and began to walk away.

He swore to himself that he would find a way to take Y/N back, even if it was the last thing he did. He wanted her back where she deserved to be. The money coming in from her parents for him to keep her locked up was good, very good. Although he was already rich, the extra money was nice to have anyway. Y/N’s parents paid him $2000 per day to keep hold of her, keep her out of their way for good. They had sent him a very angry letter when they found out that she had escaped and provided him with the address for the Pad so that Lord Reynolds could take her back.

They had originally paid him $10,000 to kidnap her, then continued to send money over as a sort of wage for keeping the daughter locked away. They had needed her gone, and fast. They had never really liked her much, any of the family, she’d never done anything wrong but they just despised her, and the opportunity arose for her to mysteriously disappear and so they took it with the promise of her never walking free and them never having to see her again.

After having kidnapped Y/N, Lord Reynolds’ adrenaline had made him want to take someone else, he had enjoyed kidnapping Y/N even though that had been planned. She hadn’t been too easy to take though. He was never able to find an easy target to take as a second victim, but when he saw Peter at the shop, he knew that he was a perfect victim, he didn’t appear to have a lot of common sense and so he looked easy to take. So he did take the bassist. He had half known who Peter was as he had seen some of their performances around a few pubs and a local park and so he knew he could hurt people by taking him. He had to admit, he admired Y/N for protecting Peter, a complete stranger, but that was beside the point. The point was, that he was in a lot of trouble for letting Y/N get away, and he was losing income for holding and torturing her. 

---

Three hours later, the four Monkees arrived back at the Pad, they brought in all their instruments and chatted amongst themselves about how well their gig had gone and the fact they had been booked back for the following week. They had just placed their instruments down on the bandstand when a knock sounded at the door.

They all looked at each other in confusion before Mike headed over to the door and looked through the peephole. “It’s Babbit?” Mike opened the door to their landlord.

“Boys, I know it’s really late and I do apologise, I just wanted to come and check on you all. Make sure you’re all safe.” Mr Babbit says.

“Safe? Why wouldn’t we be safe?” Davy asked from the sofa.

“There was a man here earlier who tried to break in, he said that you had a girl or something that he needed to take back from you four. I told him that I didn’t think he needed her back and that you don’t act without reason. Anyway, I threatened to call the police on him, but he paid me ten thousand dollars and I told him that if he came back, I would ring the police and hand him in. Let me know if he causes you any issues. The ten thousand will be used to cover your rent for the next two years. The least I can do. Just, be safe, okay?” Mr Babbit rambled, all four of the Monkees’ faces paled as their landlord explained to them the events of earlier that evening. “Anyway, I’ll be off now. Stay safe.”

“Thank you, Sir. For both the rent situation as well as informing us about the person trying to get in. Goodnight.” Micky called as Mike shut the door behind Mr Babbit.

“Was Mr Babbit just nice to us?” Davy looked up in utter disbelief, no one got a chance to answer as Peter stood up from his seat on the sofa and ran halfway across the room to check on Y/N.

“Come on guys, we have to check on Y/N. Who else would have tried to break into our house other than Lord Reynolds?” Peter yelled as he knocked on Y/N’s door, he opened it straight away without waiting for an answer, he was too anxious to wait for her to respond to him. He needed to know if she was okay.

Peter found that Y/N was still lying in her bed, fast asleep. He let out a relieved sigh as he focused on the girl.

“Hey Peter, you good babe?” Micky asked, resting a gentle hand on Peter’s shoulder as a means of comfort, Peter nodded before sitting down at the edge of Y/N’s bed and moved his leant over her, he moved some hair out of the way before stroking her face gently. She stirred at his actions and slowly opened her eyes.

“Pete?” Y/N yawned.

“You’re okay.” Peter smiled at her happily and pulled her into a tight hug, Y/N looked up at the other three boys behind Peter and they all offered her small smiles.

“Of course I’m okay, are you okay? How was your gig?” Y/N asked, moving over so Peter could sit next to her, Mike, Micky and Davy all sat on the end of the bed where Peter had previously been sat.

“Our gig was great, it was fine. Y/N, we came back and our landlord told us that Lord Reynolds came and tried to break in so that he could take you away.” Peter said softly, Y/N’s face fell. “I’m glad you’re here and alright though. Have you slept the entire time?”

“I did sleep the whole time you were gone, yes. Thank God he didn’t manage to get in, I can’t imagine being back there, I don’t want to imagine it.” Y/N shivered. 

“We’d have come for you again.” Micky assured Y/N who smiled at him gratefully.

“Mr Babbit said that if he comes back, he’ll ring the police on him for us. He charged him a lot of money which means we don’t have to pay the rent for two years. But as long as you’re safe and not back there, then I don’t care what happens.” Peter ran a hand through her hair, comforting the girl who was pulling bits of her skin off of her fingertips from the anxiety and thoughts of the fact she was nearly kidnapped again.

“Your landlord sounds nice.” Y/N said innocently, the four boys held back a laugh and nodded in agreement with her.

“Hey Y/N would you like to come and sleep in my bed tonight, so you’re safe?” Peter suggested, his question of course was innocent, but his bandmates knew he was trying to find an excuse to spend more time with her as well as getting to be close to her.

“If that’s okay? I’d definitely feel safer.” Mike, Micky, and Davy held back a smirk, they also knew that she was happy to find an excuse to be close to Peter.

Peter helped Y/N up and they made their way up to Peter and Davy’s bedroom, Peter quickly got changed and then the pair of them climbed into his bed. Peter lay on one side and Y/N was laying up against him, her head was resting on his chest as was one of her arms, both of Peter’s arms were wrapped tightly around her waist. They were both soon asleep.

Meanwhile downstairs, Mike and Micky were saying their goodnights to Davy and ensuring that their door was properly locked.

“Them two are ridiculous, they were both clearly looking for an excuse to spend time together and have physical contact but they’re both oblivious to the fact the other likes them back and they’re both too shy to admit it to each other!” Micky sighed, completely exasperated. 

“I know! It’s frustrating!” Davy agreed with Micky. Mike just rolled his eyes.

“Good night guys.” Mike said, he was desperate for his bed after the gig, his feet were killing him and he just wanted to sleep. Micky and Davy soon followed.

Davy reached his room and smiled at the sight of Peter and Y/N asleep, Peter was holding Y/N protectively, he was keeping her safe from the whole world.

“Please sort your shit out and get together.” Davy mumbled, flicking the light out and settling down in his own bed.