#dolenz she/he/they/it

[beedlemania]

Davy tells the guys he’s disappointed he’ll never experience American high school so Micky shoves him into and locks the wardrobe to give him the full experience

[savebatsfromscratch]

Interviewer: Peter, how similar was your personality... on camera, your character that you created, uh, [compared] to that of your own personality?

Peter: Um.

Peter: I created that character to, uh, so that I co- if I told a joke and it fell flat, I'd be able to go- [makes face]

Peter: Uh- uhm. [Raises eyes to sky]

Peter: I'm a-

Davy: Insecurity.

Peter: Insecure yes. It was- it was- it was it was a security blanket against my own insecurity. And uh, I brought that character and I think I was hired because of the character, so it was really from some part of me! I mean all characters are.. from within the actor someplace. But it, ah, it generally was not me at all. I'm swave, distinguished-

Davy(?): Sophisticated.

Peter: Debonair

Davy: Debonair.

Peter: Sophisticated.

Davy: Illuminated.

Peter: Is there an echo here?

*crowd laughs*

From the 1986 Solid Gold interview with The Monkees.

[justforbooks]

Teri Garr

American actor who brought superb comic timing to her roles in film classics such as Young Frankenstein and Tootsie

The American actor Teri Garr, who has died aged 79, once said: “I’ve spent a lot of time clawing my way to the middle.” That remark could have sprung from the lips of any of the fizzy, dizzy, nakedly neurotic women who were her speciality from the mid-1970s onwards.

In Mel Brooks’s horror pastiche Young Frankenstein (1974), she was Inga, the bubbly laboratory assistant who, when proposing a roll in the hay, means precisely that and nothing more. She played the wives of troubled men in two very different fantasies from 1977.

In Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind, she tries to keep her children chipper while their father (Richard Dreyfuss), a UFO obsessive, descends into madness. In the comedy Oh, God!, in which her husband (John Denver) is visited by the wisecracking Almighty (George Burns), she says tearfully: “I went to empty the garbage and two people blessed me. And then one of them blessed the garbage.” In both instances she invested stay-at-home sidekick roles with abundant warmth, humour and generosity.

Younger audiences came to know Garr as the mother of Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow) in the 1990s sitcom Friends, but her career high point was Tootsie (1982), starring Dustin Hoffman as a cross-dressing actor. Playing Sandy, his sometime lover waiting for her big acting break, Garr was touchingly grounded. She improvised some of her funniest moments, such as being locked in the bathroom and then resolving to use the experience in her acting work, and made comic capital out of the way in which the tiniest knock could send Sandy’s self-esteem plummeting. Most magically, she brought dignity to a part that could have come across as a doormat. Garr was Oscar-nominated but lost out to Jessica Lange for her performance in the same film.

The production was famously troubled, passing through so many writers and potential directors that there were rumours of an “I Also Wrote/ I Almost Directed Tootsie” club in Hollywood. Hoffman and the eventual director, Sydney Pollack, spent most of the protracted 100-day shoot either at loggerheads or communicating only through intermediaries.

Garr found Hoffman exhausting. “It’s not enough to give in to him,” she said. “You have to like what he wants too!” Such off-screen troubles only made the delightful end result all the more miraculous. In the escalating mania of the picture’s final stretch, Garr came into her own with her killer timing and gasping indignation.

She was born in Lakewood, Ohio, to showbiz parents: Phyllis Lind, born Emma Schmotzer, was a dancer with the Rockettes, while Eddie Garr, born Edward Gonnoud, was a vaudeville performer and actor who starred alongside a young Marilyn Monroe in Ladies of the Chorus (1948). After he died when Garr was 11, the family moved from their home in New Jersey to Hollywood, where her mother became a wardrobe mistress for film and television.

From an early age Garr harboured aspirations to be an actor and dancer. At 13 she performed with a professional ballet company in San Francisco. She was educated at Magnificat high school, Ohio, North Hollywood high school and California State University at Northridge before appearing in the West Side Story road show and Donald O’Connor’s revue at the Cocoanut Grove club.

Garr’s earliest film appearances were as a background dancer in Elvis Presley movies; she appeared in nine including Fun in Acapulco (1963), Kissin’ Cousins, Viva Las Vegas (both 1964) and Clambake (1967). She began taking acting lessons and found herself in the same class as Jack Nicholson, who was writing the deranged film Head (1968) as a vehicle for the Monkees. He doled out small parts to his classmates, providing Garr with her first speaking role as a woman who suffers a snakebite. (“Quick,” she tells Micky Dolenz, proffering an injured finger, “suck it before the venom reaches my heart.”)

She became a regular in the early and mid-70s on The Sonny & Cher Show – she based Inga’s accent in Young Frankenstein on Cher’s German wig stylist – and appeared on sitcoms such as The Bob Newhart Show and M*A*S*H.

Francis Ford Coppola gave her a small role in his surveillance thriller The Conversation (1974) and she was also part of the ensemble cast in two ramshackle US comedies by British directors: Michael Winner’s star-studded Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976) and John Schlesinger’s Honky Tonk Freeway (1981).

After playing the young hero’s mother in the lyrical Coppola-produced adventure The Black Stallion (1979), Garr became part of the director’s Zoetrope Repertory Company, appearing in other films produced or directed by him.

“Instead of getting a big chunk of money for a movie, I’d take a weekly cheque or a small amount, because we were all going to share the profits later. After a while, even the small cheques stopped coming.” Zoetrope productions in which she starred included The Escape Artist and the stylised but commercially disastrous musical One from the Heart (both 1982). Of the latter, Garr said: “It was over-rehearsed. After you have done a scene 25 times, you have no energy left, you don’t care.”

She was one of the leads in The Sting II, a lacklustre sequel to the 1973 con-artist comedy film. She briefly reprised her role in The Black Stallion Returns and played the wife to a house-husband (Michael Keaton) in Mr Mom (both 1983).

A rare foray into straight drama came as a divorced woman taking up with a cad in Michael Apted’s Firstborn (1984), and she was wickedly funny in Martin Scorsese’s black comedy After Hours (1985) as a Monkees-obsessed, beehive-sporting waitress whose cupboards are stacked with cans of hairspray (a touch that Garr herself suggested).

In Miracles (1986), she and Tom Conti played a couple who reassess their relationship when they are kidnapped on the brink of divorce. Further roles included the gentle drama Full Moon in Blue Water (1988) and the crime caper Out Cold (1989), as well as supporting parts in Dumb and Dumber (1994), the Watergate comedy Dick (1999) and Terry Zwigoff’s wry comic-book adaptation Ghost World (2001).

In 2002, Garr announced that she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Three years later, she published an autobiography, Speedbumps: Flooring It Through Hollywood, which she originally planned to title Does This Wheelchair Make Me Look Fat? In 2006 she suffered a brain aneurysm that inhibited her speech and movement, though she recovered both after months of rehabilitation. Her last film appearances were in two well-liked indie comedy-dramas, Expired and Kabluey (both 2007), made before the aneurysm.

When she expressed her dissatisfaction with the roles that she had been offered, it was sometimes hard to tell if she was being comically self-deprecating. “Directors would tell me, ‘We want you to play a character a little less complex than you are.’ Yeah, sure. What they mean is, ‘You’re playing a dummy.’” No part inhabited by Garr, though, was ever so easily pigeonholed. Her particular talent lay in introducing a sparkling comic complexity far beyond what existed on the page.

She is survived by her daughter, Molly, from her three-year marriage to the actor John O’Neil, which ended in divorce in 1996.

🔔 Teri Garr, actor, born 11 December 1944; died 29 October 2024

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[rock--lobster]

Monkees headcanons part two

If left unattended around them, Mike will consume a dangerous amount of pretzels. His body cannot deal with the amount of sodium he will ingest in one sitting and start shutting down. One time he ate too many and Davy had to drive him to the vet (they cannot afford a human doctor)

Sometimes Micky would get really high and wander onto film sets, and people were too scared to ask him to leave. This is how he ended up in night of the strangler, he thought it was just a really intense episode of the Monkees.

Coco Dolenz is secretly the leader of an underground rooster fighting ring. She has a prized fighting rooster named Gustavo that has never lost a fight, and has taken at least one human life.

Davy uses entire bottles of febreze brand air freshener as cologne

The pad is haunted but so much weird stuff goes on in there anyway that no one notices

Micky can recite the entirety of cats the musical from memory, as well as do all the choreography. Sometimes he does this as an encore for their shows. No one wants him too though.

While living in a dumpster for a while, Peter befriended several rats and has trained them all to roll joints for him. He is planning to get one under Mike's hat to see if he can get a ratatouille situation going.

The sparkles Davy gets in his eyes is actually his astigmatism acting up

Mike will sometimes catch flies out of mid-air and eat them as a snack. He calls this going "toad mode". Phyllis hates when he does this.

Sometimes they put Peter on a leash they call "the Peter leash" so he doesn't run away to sell his soul for a harp or plan orgies or whatever

[coolcherrycream]

Micky's Very Favorite Person from Tiger Beat (May 1968)

No matter where he travels, no matter how many people he knows or meets, in Micky Dolenz' heart there is one person who is, and always will be, one of the most important people in his life.

His devotion to his Grandmother--or "Mamoo" as he's nicknamed her--has developed from childhood when she was his babysitter and playmate, to today when she's his confidant and friend.

When Micky was a child Mamoo devoted all of her attention to her first grandson...

Read more

[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 :)

[neilphen]

mike nesmith trans man micky dolenz nonbinary he/they davy jones trans butch lesbian peter tork nonbinary she/they

[strawberryfields4now]

sometimes you have a really weird day at work so on your way home you decide to walk 20 blocks out of the way to go to the record store and see if you can pick up the new Beatles single but they don’t carry it so you buy a copy of Dolenz Jones Boyce & Hart and you bring it to the counter and the old man who owns the store is like “oh, I used to be friends with Michael Nesmith in the 80s” and you say “oh my god he’s my favorite Monkee” and somehow that’s not even the craziest part of the conversation because he then goes “so I assume you’re familiar with Boyce and Hart’s work” and you say “yes I love their albums and I have a few singles” and you discuss their work with the Monkees and then he says “but I’m sure you’ve never seen their guest spot on I Dream of Jeannie” and you say “no but I have seen their guest spot on Bewitched” and he tells you to walk around the counter and pulls up YouTube clips of Boyce and Hart and Jeannie performing for Phil Spector and he is shocked that you find I Wonder What She’s Doing Tonite to be a better album than Test Patterns and then you thank him and leave and get on the train and have to be so normal about it.

[repurposedmeatlocker]

top 5 monkees episodes??

OMFGGGG

Gonna rate these in a combination of "cinematically significant" as well as a good dose of my personal opinion :P

Monkees on Tour - I really dig this one! I love how they went for a kind of "cinéma vérité" style. Stylistically one of the episodes that stands out the most from the rest of their usual show format, and all the better for it. I also feel that it is probably the most "honest" look at each member as a real person. The whole thing with The Monkees is how they blur the line between real and fake, to the point that even hardcore fans have trouble telling the difference. I think this episode is the closest they all got to being a little honest. Maybe overblown in the dramatic interview portions, but the intent is still there. Now if only we can get the full live footage of those concerts...I know some vault has them...my personal white whale.

The Devil and Peter Tork - What HASN'T already been said about "The Devil and Peter Tork"?? It is kind of THE Monkees episode. I am not gonna talk too much about all the inner meanings behind the narrative and how it reflects on The Monkees trying to gain acceptance in music history, or how Peter's deal with the devil reflects the band's own downfall. I will just say that the "selling soul to the devil" plot-line and trope is one of my favorite media allusions. It never fails. Also Mike Nesmith's speech. Yeah that's it.

Mijacgeo or The Frodis Caper - Their last episode being not only one of their best and most unique, but ALSO directed by Micky Dolenz just makes it so awesome. The humor in it seriously holds up the way a good ytp does. I love how crazy and insane it is. The aliens, the eye controlling people through the television, the weed references. It is so 60s. I want to explore Micky's mind.

Some Like It Lukewarm - Ok this one is EXTREMELY biased. I know that a lot of elements with the narrative do not age well and sit wrong. I am still peeved how their idea of a "mixed gender group" is just having the girls stand around and dance like...ok...BUT I think that it is certainly a hilarious episode. Their outfits are some of my favs, Davy is in drag, and I love their performance of "She Hangs Out". It is so cute and fun. Also Davy is in drag.

Success Story - Super early episode compared to the others here, but I think it is EVEN MORE IMPORTANT because of it. It is kind of a traditional format episode by Monkees standards. Monkees deal with a conflict, go through musical hijinks to solve it, win in the end yay. But man...Davy put his ALL in acting for this. When he is told he has to leave and go back to England and is saying goodbye to them...Like, holy shit man. I am crying because of the mf Monkees show. The fact that they decided to air an episode of this emotional magnitude so early in the show's run, and the fact that it could carry such an emotional impact, really just says a lot about each member as an actor and the relationship they built onscreen. I don't know if people realize how entertaining these guys are as actors, and how well they built a believable onscreen relationship with one another. I think this episode is kind of a testament to that.

[multifandomrandomgirl]

"Don't you ever go running out on me again." - Michael Nesmith x female!reader

Masterlist:

“If you weren’t always out touring then maybe we wouldn’t be having this argument again.” Y/N says, tears threatening to fall as she argues with her husband.

“I’m not the one who hasn’t done anything today. You know, you could have made dinner, you could have made the house more presentable.” Michael’s voice rose.

“Mike, I was out working all day. I had no idea that you were coming home today, you hadn’t written, or called to let me know. I’ve been working my arse off to pay the rent for this place whilst you’ve been away. You can’t expect me to tell the fucking future.” The tears pour out.

“Don’t fucking pin this on me you bitch. You should expect me whenever, this is my house. I don’t care if you were fucking around working for that shoddy newspaper. I expect the house clean and dinner on the table when I walk in. It’s the bare minimum.” Michael’s face morphs into one of extreme anger. She flinches.

“Don’t fucking cry. It’s ridiculous. I’m going to sit down in the garden, when I come back, I expect food and a tidy house.” Michael picks up a book from the sideboard and storms out into the back garden, slamming the door behind him.

Y/N’s tears fell heavier as she trudged her way upstairs to the bedroom, she pulled out a bag and a suitcase and began to pack some clothes and some books in them, she decided she was going to leave for a while to calm down, she couldn’t be in the same house as her husband if he was going to treat her like this.

Y/N slunk downstairs, lifting the suitcase just above the ground so Michael couldn’t hear her leaving and try and stop her. She opened the front door and the cool early evening breeze hit her as she quietly left. Y/N walked over to the bus stop just as the bus into town pulled up.

Getting off the bus, Y/N made her way to a hotel, hoping that there would be a cheap room free for the next God knows how long. 

-----

“Honey? I can’t smell food. What the fuck are you doing?” Michael had stormed back in, it had been thirty minutes and he was starving. When he entered the house, he couldn’t see his wife anywhere. She wasn’t in the kitchen or the front room. 

“Y/N? Sweetie?” Michael’s tone changed, this wasn’t like Y/N, even when she was annoyed with him, she wouldn’t ignore him. Michael checked the bathroom, the bedroom and the spare room but his wife was nowhere to be seen. He noticed their wardrobe was open, half of her clothes were gone as was the suitcase that usually laid across the bottom of the piece of furniture. 

“Shit. Shit, no. Y/N, no. Fuck, please no.” Michael felt his eyes watering, had his wife really left? Had he taken too far this time? He sat down on the edge of his bed, hands clasped together and his forehead leant against them. He had fucked up significantly. He knew he shouldn’t have expected her to have made him dinner, after all, he hadn’t told her he was coming home. As for the mess, he didn’t care, he’d been sharing a room with Micky for the past few months for crying out loud. 

“Y/N, please. Where the fuck are you?” Michael threw himself back on the bed as the tears fell freely, he was such a shit husband, leaving her alone for weeks on end, demanding things of her and not taking into consideration how she felt or the fact she’d been working too. 

He hadn’t been in the best of moods admittedly - he and Peter had had another argument with Don Kirshner. However, this wasn’t an excuse for how he treated his Y/N. His lovely Y/N who had the sweetest smile he had ever seen. His Y/N who was so nice to everyone he met. His Y/N.

He knew he had to find her, he didn’t know how or where to start so he pulled on his boots and headed downstairs to grab his car, he knew she didn’t have many friends in the area, she was only really friends with the partners of Davy Jones and Micky Dolenz. He knew she wouldn’t have gone to either of their houses, she wouldn’t want him to find her that easily. Michael decided he would have to scour the hotels in town and hope she had stayed within the area.

He parked the car and made his way over to the nearest hotel, he walked up to the receptionist and coughed to get her attention. “Excuse me, ma’am, I believe my wife Y/N Nesmith is staying here, would you be able to tell me if she is?”

Five hotels later, he was being shown upstairs by a member of the staff, he was left by a door, and he nodded an appreciative thank you to the staff member before composing himself. He took a deep breath and knocked on the door. He could hear footsteps coming closer to the door before it swung up. Y/N.

Her mascara was smudged, she’d been crying. He’d made her cry. Y/N’s mouth dropped open in shock, she quickly closed it. “What the fuck are you doing here?” She stepped to one side and beckoned him to come in, he closed the door behind him and stood in front of her. He took in her appearance. She looked angry, sad and tired. Yet, she still looked beautiful.

“Y/N.” Michael put out a hand, going to touch her face, but he pulled it back tentatively. “I came to apologise, I mean it this time. Please, let me apologise to you properly.” She gave him a ‘go ahead’ nod.

“Look, I’ve always been a massive dick to you. I’m always bossing you around, expecting things from you when I know you’re busy yourself and I never take it into consideration that you too have feelings and do things. It’s disgusting of me to be quite frank. I also know that I’m rarely around to help you or even spend time with you and I hate that. I’m also sorry for today, I was pissed already as Pete and I got into another argument with Kirshner, I know that isn’t an excuse. I meant to surprise you with my coming home, but I was so angry with Don that I acted out, I really shouldn’t have expected a clean house, or food, or anything. You had no clue I was coming home. I am so sorry for having treated you like shit our entire marriage, please believe me when I say this. I want to be a better husband, if you gave me the chance, I’d try my hardest to become the best husband ever. But I understand if you’ve had enough of me, I really do, my heart dropped from my chest when I realised you were gone. But I love you so much, Sweetheart.” Both of them were crying by this point, Y/N lurched forward and pulled her Texan into her arms, sobbing into his chest.

“Fuck, Michael. I was so upset, I really was. I love you so much though, I can’t imagine being away from you, I’ll give you the chance, I will. I forgive you, I do.” Michael pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

“I love you, more than you know. Now, don’t you ever go running out on me again Honey, I was so scared I’d lost you.” Michael tightened his grip on her.

“I won’t. So long as you don’t ever act like that again.”

“I promise you now, I never will.”

[motownfiction]

awakening

The word awakening gets tossed out a lot in college spaces.

Daniel doesn’t hear it a lot in his business classes, but when he needs to visit the humanities for some lower-distribution credits, they’re always talking about awakening. And it’s never just about how you woke up this morning. It’s always about your first sexual attraction.

When Daniel takes Introduction to Literary Criticism in his second year at Michigan, he falls in with a pretty interesting crowd. They all know Lucy from classes here and there, and they’re more than happy to welcome a guy who’s been her friend for so long. They joke that he surely has secrets about how to bring her down. Daniel laughs, but he never follows up. He has a sneaking suspicion they’re not kidding, and Daniel knows too much.

But they make him feel welcome, anyway. He never says much, but when he does, he knows they’re listening. And he listens to them. He learns all about why they’re majoring in English, who their favorite writers are, which professors they want to be like, which professors they’d marry if they lived in an alternate universe where everyone was just a brain in a jar. They’re all madly in love with the guy who teaches classes on the Brontë sisters. Daniel doesn’t always know what they mean (or why they mean it), except for on the days that he does.

Like today, when they’re all talking about sexual awakening.

Daniel no longer remembers how they got on the topic. One of the women in the group said something about falling in love with Micky Dolenz in syndication and crying when she realized he no longer looked like he did on The Monkees. Got everybody talking. Eventually, one of them turned around and asked Daniel where he found his sexual awakening.

He still hasn’t answered.

Where would he even begin? Not with his crush on the cartoon version of Betty Cooper. He was too young for that. His crush on Princess Leia was more out of respect than lust. Even his crush on Pamela Sue Martin, back when she was on The Nancy Drew Mysteries, felt pretty chaste. He hardly ever cared about any of the girls at school until Melissa Kaminski asked him out. He didn’t have time before she taught him what time was.

But was it really Melissa Kaminski? Daniel must have been attracted to her. He was even hurt when she didn’t care about hooking up with him again. But she can’t have been the first girl he felt that way about. Did he feel any way about her at all? Sometimes, when he thinks back to that night all those years ago, he wonders if it was just about himself. Proving something. That he could grow up without someone watching him. Judging him. Melissa Kaminski was a girl, and she was pretty. Hardly an awakening, though. Just a nudge.

Or did Daniel awake to new thoughts, new people, new insecurities every time he took another girl around? What was he thinking? What was he doing? Did he look at them and think I want it all? Or did he let them flock and then beg them to love him, just for an hour or two, just for a night? He feels like a joke. He never thought back to any of those encounters after they were through. Only if he wanted to punish himself – pretend like he regretted it. They were beautiful girls, sometimes even very nice girls, but they awakened nothing. Just kept it alive.

Daniel remembers the first time sex was different.

And he finally has an answer.

“Must have been Sadie.”

(part of @nosebleedclub december challenge -- day 6! obsessed with me never being able to catch up with anything)

[singeratlarge]

HAPPY HEAVENLY BIRTHDAY TO DAVE "LOAFY" ALEXANDER + SATURDAY MATINEE MUSIC VIDEO “My Love (She Means Everything)” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVAX_iK8NVE Between 1993 and 2003 Davy Jones and I worked on 40 of his original songs. Most of the work was recorded and issued on 3 albums, the best known being JUSTME and JUSTME2 (refracting on JUSTUS, the 1997 Monkees reunion album). David and I had a give-and-take communication on the arrangements—sometimes he’d let me run wild with tempos and instrumentation, other times he had a song mapped out and I topped it off. His eclectic tastes went into country to r’n’b to Latin styles, and we explored glam, British rock, and old school Britpop. Many of the songs were new while some were songs he started in 1968, designated for The Monkees but not used. "My Love" (a newer one) was inspired by "Hurricane" Smith and ELO. This is one of my personal favorites and features key members of his road bands: myself, Aviva Maloney (sax, vocals), and two people no longer with us, the late well-remembered Jerry Renino and Dave “Loafy” Alexander—whose birthday was yesterday (9/22). When I made this “My Love” video for I intended for Dave and Jerry to have significant face time.

Dave was a proud flag-bearer for all things Monkees. My friendship and work history with him began in 1994, and (for 19 years) we intersected on Monkees spin-off gigs (including Davy’s first symphony pops concert in 2005). When I first met Dave, he had hair like a male Rapunzel. Davy needed a quick-study keyboard player for his band + an upcoming Brady Bunch musical tour. Jerry (then Davy’s music director) found Dave and introduced him as “the perfect person for the job,” arriving with bonus skills on guitar, ukulele, and very strong vocals. It helped that Dave had the temperament of a gentle giant, which was tested as he was often the brunt of Davy’s jokes—from the “short/tall man” vignettes (“I can see right up your nose”) to the Archie & Edith routine that always killed audiences. Then there was Dave’s spot-on Meatloaf parody, which may or may not explain why Dave’s nickname was “Loafy.” 

In time Dave became deeply imbedded in touring with The Monkees and with solo Micky Dolenz, and Dave took the Monkees songbook to heart. Speaking of heart, he and I had confessional conversations, and there are stories about him that range from hilarious to unbelievable (they’re still talking about the “Lefty & Loafy gig” in Green Bay WI). Yet even when he was living on the edge in private, he was always on point for the music. I could count on his uncanny memory for musical details, and there was no guile or competitiveness with him. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVAX_iK8NVE Meanwhile, heavenly HB Dave and thank you for always making me feel like a brother. See you on that great stage in the sky. 

#davidalexander #davealexander #loafy #meatloaf #davyjones #mickydolenz #monkees #justme #mylove #johnnyjblair #jerryrenino #birthday

[thislovintime]

Photo by Bob Willoughby.

“The boys’ suite on the 20th floor [of the Hilton Hotel] was literally cluttered with gifts from fans. There were coloring books, toys, a large homemade cake in the shape of a guitar and, of course, bananas. Peter Tork, ‘Monkee’ guitar player, views the longhairs’ loyal following as a sign of popularity. ‘Before, popularity for me was measured by the amount of money in my basket,’ explained Tork, a former folksinger at a ‘pass-the-hat-house’ in Greenwich Village. […] Dolenz believes the reason for ‘The Monkees’ success is that ‘we are playing ourselves and are natural.’He spoke admirably of his partners in ‘Monkee’ business. ‘We’re really the best of friends,’ he said, ‘of course we’re four distinct personalities and we do have occasional squabbles, but they’re only minor.’ […] Tork, the son of an economics professor at the University of Connecticut, is known to have strong feelings about Vietnam in particular, but he is beginning to realize he is skating on thin ice whenever he makes a statement.” - article by Ed Romanoff, The Washington Reporter, January 5, 1967 “‘I thought that we had no business being in Vietnam, and I said so to the New York Times,’ Tork recalled. ‘I was asked (by Monkees’ management) to retract the statement. I called the Times and did that.’ It was, said Tork, a question of honor; he had signed a contract, and he would abide by its terms.” - We all want to change the world: Rock and politics from Elvis to Eminem (2003) Peter: “Well, they wouldn’t let us criticize the war in Vietnam.” Q: “Really?” Peter: “Really.” Q: “Did you want to?" Peter: “Yup. I actually did, to a New York Times reporter, and they made me, asked me very seriously, very strenuously, to call her and ask her to withhold that section of the interview. And I did, and she did, she was very kind about it. But it was… I look back on it and it seems kind of silly, but I think that the whole point of the project was: don’t make waves. Look like revolutionary, look like something new, but don’t make waves. On the other hand, in the experience of an awful lot of our audience, we were something new. So I can’t knock that.” - NPR, June 1983 (the NPR interview - part 1 & part 2)

[krispyweiss]

“From the Monkees to the Hollywood Bowl” Looks at Pre-fab Four’s Odd Coupling with Pre-fame Jimi Hendrix

- Short doc previews forthcoming Jimi Hendrix Experience: Hollywood Bowl August 18, 1967 LP

Micky Dolenz reckons Monkees fans watching opener Jimi Hendrix felt much same way he did watching the Doors open for Johnny Rivers.

“These were all 10-, 12-year-old kids and they all wanted to see Davy (Jones),” Dolenz says of the disconnect. “It wouldn’t have mattered who in the hell it was.”

Dolenz is speaking in “From the Monkees to the Hollywood Bowl,” a 12-minute documentary that looks at a pre-fame Hendrix - Dolenz first knew him only as “the guy that plays guitar with his teeth” - opening for the pre-fab pop band on tour before he and the Experience warmed up the the Mamas & the Papas’ audience at the titular bowl.

That gig will be released Nov. 10 as Jimi Hendrix Experience: Hollywood Bowl August 18, 1967; hence the doc.

“I thought (joining the tour) was great because the Monkees were huge in America at that point,” Noel Redding says in the film. “They had their own aeroplane with Monkees written on the side, so I thought it was lovely.”

Former Monkees publicist Barbara Hamaker said experiencing Hendrix put her through a “huge transformation” and she was disappointed when the ill-fitting guitarist was pulled from the tour.

“To my mind, they (the Experience) were so much more important than the Monkees,” she says. “I probably shouldn’t say that. But to my mind, this was real. … Jimi was from another world.”

Back on Earth and off stage, Hendrix was “totally different,” Dolenz said, describing his friend as quiet, gentle and demure.

“But that character that he evolved on stage was just phenomenal.”

10/30/23

[greensparty]

2023 MusicCon Collectibles Extravaganza Wrap-Up

Over the years I’ve been lucky enough to cover the Northeast Comic Con (read my coverage here), a fun cool convention for lovers of comics, pop culture, and collectibles. This past March, I attended the Spring edition of NECC. Over the weekend of June 30-July 2, the folks who do the NECC held the 2023 MusicCon Collectibles Extravaganza, a big celebration of music and collectibles (two of my favorite things!). 

Here is my lightning round of guests I got to speak with at this year’s con:

Micky Dolenz talking to some fans

The big guest this year was Micky Dolenz of The Monkees. I’ve always loved both the music and the TV show of The Monkees and Micky is now the last Monkee standing after the passing of Davy Jones, Peter Tork and Michael Nesmith. Fans of The Monkees are fanatical and it’s no surprise that he had fans who came from all over, waited in long lines, for pictures and autographs or photo ops with the Monkee Mobile. Sadly I didn’t get to talk to him. Maybe next time!

Not really a musician, but actor Butch Patrick fit right in at this convention thanks to the Munster vehicles including the Dragula that were on display at this convention. He has acted in a ton of things, but he will forever be known as Eddie Munster on TV’s The Munsters. I asked him about Ben Stiller’s impression he did of Eddie Munster on SNL and The Ben Stiller Show. “I never talked to Ben about it, but I met him briefly at the TV Land Awards, just in passing, but we never had a conversation about it.” Very cool that he had a great sense of humor about it!

Actor/musician Chasen Hampton is no stranger to pop culture, he was in the Mickey Mouse Club from 1989-1992 (Keri Russell was one of his fellow Mouseketeers), a member of the 90s pop group The Party and has appeared in numerous movies and TV shows. In 1997 he appeared the season 1 episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer “The Puppet Show”. He said of that episode “It was awesome! When I auditioned, what I had over most people is that I could juggle and they were doing a talent show episode, so they needed people with weird side talents as well. But I was really into special effects makeup as a kid and getting to hang out with the cast and the makeup department was awesome”.

Singer/actress Cherie Currie is a music legend. She was the singer for The Runaways from 1975-1977, as well as an accomplished solo artist, and she has also acted a ton notably in the 1980 film Foxes. I asked her what it’s like for her to know that “Cherry Bomb” is still appearing in numerous movie and TV soundtracks (Guardians of the Galaxy and Dazed and Confused to name a few) and pop culture as a whole and to know the music she made in the mid-70s is still having a lasting influence? “It’s so great to be recognized for doing something in this business. It really felt like it was all for naught for a very long time. So to now see that song become so iconic and appear in so many movies and TV shows continues to be such a gift. Very grateful!” In addition to music, she also is an accomplished chainsaw artist as well!

Drummer Richie Ramone has a massive fanbase, mainly because he was the drummer for The Ramones from 1983 to 1987. He has also done some solo albums, appeared in movies (including last year’s Friday the 13th Vengeance sequel) and written some memoirs as well. That mid-80s era was a very strong one for The Ramones. I asked if he had a favorite album? “Well, Too Tough to Die brought the band back to where they were originally. Animal Boy I love because ‘Somebody Put Something in my Drink’ [written by Richie] lead off the record”. Full disclosure: prior to this convention I had been in touch with Mr. Ramone about a potential project. While it didn’t work out, he was super-nice and supportive and he remembered me when I stopped by his booth. Very cool guy!

Michael Des Barres is like the 6-degrees to so much pop culture I love: he replaced Robert Palmer in the supergroup The Power Station for their 1985 tour (that’s him performing with them at Live Aid and in that episode of Miami Vice), he co-wrote Animotion’s “Obsession”, hosts a radio show on Little Steven’s Underground Garage, and acted in a ton of movies and TV shows (notably David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive and “The Smelly Car” episode of Seinfeld among many others). I asked him about the 1988 episode of Alf in which he played the older boyfriend of Lynn? “Well, working with a sock was very different. Suddenly this sock became Sir Laurence Olivier. It’s very hard to work with a puppet, but I found it so hilarious because at that time I was doing so many sitcoms, but I never thought I’d end up literally with a glove [laughs]. But it was a lovely lovely time and I had a great time doing it. I became very friendly with the puppeteer, which is a science in and of itself. The thing with acting and music is it brings you joy, so if you enjoy it, the people watching will enjoy it too.”

me with Mr. Sam J. Jones

When I went up to the booth of NFL-player-turned-actor Sam J. Jones, known for the title character in the cult film Flash Gordon, I reminded him that he and I actually worked on a movie together, Ted 2. Jones played himself in the first Ted and he returned for the sequel, which I worked on in the location dept. in Boston and the production office in NYC. He immediately lit up, shook my hand and wanted to take a picture. Very cool actor!

Mach Bell Experience performing live

Cowboy Mach Bell was the singer for Joe Perry Project from 1982-1984. I talked to him at the 2022 Collector’s Extravaganza. This year in addition to a booth and speaking on a panel, his band Mach Bell Experience performed a ton of his hits. Thrilled to see him still rocking after some health issues last year. 

Speaking of Joe Perry and Aerosmith, the Aerosmith Collectors Archive had an exhibit of their collection on display as well. For a lifelong Aerosmith fan like me, I dug looking over their memorabilia, some of which I was quite impressed with. They are an online museum, but in the last few years, they have had exhibits in Sunapee, NH for Aerosmith Day celebrations. I would love to see this become a brick-and-mortar museum one day!

Oh and did I mentioned there were loads of famous cars on display:

The Monkee Mobile

Munster Mobiles

and best of all, the BTTF delorean!

For info on MusicCons and other NECC events: https://necomiccons.com/

[kyriemrmister]

well

i've finally finished reading the crossover monkees RPF fanfiction (aka Time Prison Fic) that i liked that davy design from and um

how can a fanfiction be so unapologetically LGBT-friendly and anti-TERF and also hate women and sapphics so much?

it's also painfully obvious how much of a self-insert the fic's version of mike is (and tbh it also stinks of naruto harem fic except it's mike nesmith from the monkees instead of naruto and he's transmasc and there's more then women in the harem)

the earlier parts before mike came in were more tolerable (elaine kido is both a girlboss AND a girlfail. what a queen. i love her) but wow the monkees popping up and taking over the story ruined it.

mike literally has none of the babygirl and pathetic meow meow qualities he actually had (according to the monkees fandom on here) and is literally every poorly written alpha male OP self-insert harem smut fic lead on ffnet except he's trans, and surprise! he doesn't just like women! (props to that bit! but it's just an excuse for male and nb characters that half of the writing duo has the hots for to also get into mike's pants and be his cheerleader and do nothing otherwise like the women also do in this fic and almost any other harem fanfiction from ffnet)

there's also other Questionable Things, socks and his flanderization from genuinely good and interesting lead to 'heehoo funny meme guy', for one (i could write an entire dissertion on what the story lovingly calls the 'TFSP' oh man)

and whatever tf they did with micky dolenz (once she comes out as a woman in the fic she just becomes another cheerleader and porking object for mike and they disregard previous characterization for that. did i mention how much that half of the writing duo hates women and sapphics? because wow he sure does)

and tbh this fic also does davy dirty (he's just there for fetishization of fat people because the half of the duo who writes him has a weight gain and feederism kink and it's painfully obvious but he doesn't want to push it on mike because he doesn't want him being 'weak and helpless' or something)

peter is also done pretty dirty too tbh (literally he's just boiled down to 'hippie pacifist plantboy who puts up protective barriers and heals people', which is not a bad concept in itself, but it's executed so SO badly. like you gotta make socialist and bisexual autistic icon and avid woman respecter peter tork into a soft 'don't hurt me or i'll cry' boy to further elevate mike?)

and when a new character appears or an old character from earlier in the fic, 9/10 they're just there to be mike's cheerleader/pork mike/for mike to beat up

there's some genuinely good humor in this fic (the puns and wordplay are top notch in this fic, and they know the right time and place to slip in a meme or reference)

but wow. WOW. does the male half of the writer duo ever hate women and sapphics.

i'm currently reading the reboot of the story and tbh it also stinks of some of the same problems (mike somehow has the ability to turn straight men gay for him, which is funny, but also the ability also makes sapphics fall in love with him, a man, who isn't even close to being butch, fall in love with him too, which is kinda gross lol)

the only fun parts of the reboot of the story so far is the reimagining of the seiya and ikki rivalry as more of a bugs bunny and daffy duck situation (a very galaxy-brained but clearly not canon-compliant take on their rivalry. doesn't stop from making me love it though), women having more agency (when mike's not around lol), and the use of pizza tower as a new addition because peppino's pretty bang on characterization-wise so far and he's been frequently enjoyable as a character for the Most Part, as there's the One Misstep for the Crossover Mother of his OC Child because the whole 'don't age up children and ship them' discourse which taints the fic's version of peppino Slightly.

it's obvious the writers care a lot about representation but hm. there's a lot of woman and sapphic hate permanating this fic saga and its reboot (the reboot significantly less so but it still Stinks of it Slightly) and i think that's what ruins it.