#if you like ann check out my monkees fanfic starring her!

[idasessions]

Famous Muses & Groupies in Rock Music Pt. 41

MUSE: Ann Moses (full name Ann Marie Moses)

Ann was born on February 3rd, 1947 in Long Beach, CA and grew up in Anaheim, CA with her older brother and their parents, where she wrote for her junior high and high school newspapers. When Ann was still in high school in 1962, one of her first jobs was working at Disneyland. Walt was still active around the park then, and she even got to meet the legendary man himself. A couple years later in 1964, she broke through her journalism career as a freelance writer for the local newspaper Rhythm & News, where she got to interview music icons like James Brown and Jackie Wilson. Through this gig, Ann caught the eye of music publicist Derek Taylor who recommended her to the teen fan magazine Tiger Beat, where she was quickly hired. At the same time, she had just finished a year of junior college at Fullerton College and enrolled at San Jose State. But she ended up choosing the writing gig over school when she realized it would be a fulltime position. Ann worked at Tiger Beat for the next six years (1966-1972), and began as their most frequent contributor before eventually promoted to associate editor and eventually head editor. Simultaneously, she was also co-editor and contributor for Monkee Spectacular magazine for its whole run in 1967-68, and also penned her own column for NME magazine from 1968-71. Throughout her career, Ann met and interviewed many popular music acts and also got a few additional perks, like: attending the Monterey Pop Music Festival in 1967; traveling with the Monkees, the Raiders and the Standells; socializing with the Dave Clark 5, the Who, the Rolling Stones, Jefferson Airplane, the BeeGees and Herman’s Hermits; being in the audience for two Elvis tapings; and co-hosting an episode of “Battle of the Bands” with Bobby Sherman in 1969. Ann even helped participate in the clapping heard throughout the Monkees’ 1967 song ‘Daydream Believer.’ One of her close friends back in the ‘60s was famous LA seamstress Genie Franklyn.

Besides being one of the most recognizable women in 1960s music journalism, Ann also became friends with a lot of the popstars she covered back in the day. The band she was most closely associated with was the Monkees from 1966-68, whom she got to regularly interview and profile on their TV sitcom set, in the recording studio and on tour. The two band members she was friendliest with were Davy Jones and Peter Tork. Ann’s said that one of her favorite memories is when she rode around the Monkees set with Davy on his bike. Peter apparently was the nicest bandmate and was always accommodating whenever she was on set. He also occasionally gave Ann offers to try acid with him, which she always turned down. Around the time Peter left the band in 1968, Ann once visited his house where he allegedly opened the front door completely naked and acted like it was no big deal. (#cringe) This was during the peak of his hippie period, and she doesn’t think of it as a metoo type incident.

When Ann and Peter reconnected in 2013 after a concert, she joked about him offering her acid and he supposedly was like “yeah, I shouldn’t have done that,” lol. (She also mentioned that they kissed on the lips that same reunion, which makes me wonder if they were ever ~more~ than friends, buuut that’s pure speculation on my part because they’re so adorable.) Ann was also one of the first media figures to publicly coin Mike Nesmith as ‘the difficult Monkee,’ for always being a pain to interview and generally dismissive when she was around. He even attempted to make her go away once by saying he’d do one of her interviews if they slept together, which made her go ‘uhhhh.’ Apparently after filming the band’s movie Head (1968), Mike told her that he was difficult to help make her a better reporter, but she didn’t believe him, lol. Ann doesn’t have many stories on Micky, but he did ask for her phone number the day she first met the group, but he never called her, heh.

But wait, that’s not all! Even though Ann always refers to herself as a ~friend of the stars, she also went out with a few of these guys. In 1966, she spent 4th of July with bassist Karl Green of Herman’s Hermits, and they made out in front of fireworks at the end of the night (cute). Later that year she lost her virginity to lead singer/drummer Dick Dodd of the Standells, which she considered a disaster (though she still thinks high of him as a person). Ann’s frequently referred to Maurice Gibb of the BeeGees as her first big love when they were a couple in 1968. But then he became her first heartbreak too when popstar Lulu walked up to her at a party and nonchalantly told Ann that Maurice was leaving with her instead of Ann (what a bish). Also kinda funny he left her for Lulu because Lulu dated Davy for a minute a couple years earlier too. Ann also had a ‘platonic’ date with Harry Nilsson in 1967. Oh, and Roger Daltrey once blatantly asked her if she wanted to go up to his hotel room and she naively responded, “what’s in your room?” (lol)

In the early 1970s, Ann spent most of her time covering young stars like David Cassidy and Donny & Marie Osmond before retiring from journalism and leaving Hollywood for the bay area. Since the ‘70s, Ann switched to working in dentistry, married a computer engineer and raised their two sons near the Rocky Mountains. As of 2019, she and her husband live in Gilbert, AZ. In 2012, Ann revived her interest in writing with her own blog, which then encouraged her to pen her 2017 memoir Meow! My Groovy Life. She also occasionally contributes articles for the website Rocksbackpages.com. Mark her down as yet another mid-20th century chick I’m jealous of.