This is Now : Stories and reviews from UK 1997

March 31, 2011 by raj
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Daily News (New York)

January 22, 1997, Wednesday

SECTION: Television; Pg. 69

LENGTH: 528 words

HEADLINE: LOOKING BACK TO MONKEES’ ‘HEY, HEY’-DAYS

BYLINE: BY DAVID BIANCULLI

ONE NEW THING tonight’s Disney Channel documentary brings to the story of the Monkees, television’s Fabricated Four, is a delightfully witty bunch of sound bites.

“Hey, Hey We’re the Monkees” (at 8:30) starts by having the four Monkees members describe their own peculiar pop-culture ’60s phenomenon.

“Was it a TV show? Was it a musical group?” ponders lead guitarist Michael Nesmith. “It was neither and it was a little of both.”

Drummer Micky Dolenz has an even better perspective: “It’s like Leonard Nimoy really becoming a Vulcan.”

My favorite quote of all, though, comes when Nesmith recalls the time the members of the Monkees, after relying on session musicians to provide all the music for their first two albums, finally became a legitimate pop-rock act in 1967 and played their own instruments in concert. The opening act for the Monkees then, at least until he quit in disgust after playing eight shows in front of screaming teenyboppers, was Jimi Hendrix.

Hendrix, Nesmith recalled, would sing the word “Foxy” from his psychedelic “Foxy Lady,” and 20,000 squealing voices would shout back “Davy,” being much more obsessed with teen-idol Monkee Davy Jones.

“Oh, man,” Nesmith says, chuckling, “it was a seriously twisted moment.”

This may shatter rather than strengthen my critical standing in this regard, but I was at one of those very concerts 30 years ago as a 13-year-old Monkees fan.

(As a matter of fact, I consider the moment I reached emotional maturity to be the time that summer when I had enough money to buy only one album, and had to choose between the Monkees’ “Headquarters” and the Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” I went with the Beatles.)

The TV series “The Monkees,” as tonight’s documentary makes clear, was a blatant ripoff of the Beatles in general and the visual style of Richard Lester’s “A Hard Day’s Night” Beatles film in particular. However, as ripoffs go, “The Monkees” went amazingly well, creating some enjoyable and durable TV comedy and some equally long-lasting music.

“Hey, Hey” writer Chuck Harter makes room for lots of complete song clips, which is nice. He also mentions most of the surprise names connected with the Monkees, from Hendrix and Stephen Stills (a close friend of Monkees keyboard player Peter Tork) to Jack Nicholson (who co-wrote the group’s surprisingly experimental 1968 “Head” feature film) and Carole King (co-author of the group’s “Pleasant Valley Sunday” hit). He also covers most of the bases, from the group’s genesis to its 1986 comeback on MTV and its current revival, the first reunion with all four original members.

Clips, auditions and outtakes from the 1966-68 TV series make tonight’s “Hey, Hey We’re the Monkees” a lot of fun to watch. My only complaint is that some bits of neat musical information go unrecorded here, like the fact that Billy Preston played with the Monkees three years before he played with the Beatles. Or that the group’s early session players included Leon Russell and Glen Campbell. Or that one would-be Monkee who failed his audition was Steven Stills himself.

And happily so, I’ll wager.

GRAPHIC: READY FOR PRIMATE TIME: The Monkees, 30 years later, on the Disney

Channel

LOAD-DATE: January 23, 1997

The Irish Times

January 22, 1997, CITY EDITION

SECTION: NEWS/FEATURES; Pg. 13

LENGTH: 1627 words

HEADLINE: ‘I was a Monkees fan in the Sixties’ ‘I was Peter Tork’s kid brother’s friend.”

Caroline Walsh comes out as a fan of this squeaky clean US band soon to appear in Dublin on stage together for the first time in 30 years.

BYLINE: By CAROLINE WALSH

HEY, hey, what the hell. Some secrets get too hot to handle. Maybe it’s bye-bye to many and colleagues I value highly but it’s true: I was a Monkees fan in the 1960s.

Set to roll into Dublin to play at the Point on March 10th, it’s all part of a nine-venue tour of Britain and Ireland that will culminate in the 12,000-seat Wembley Arena a few days later.

The last time I thought about these guys I was a 14-year-old with poor skin – can’t bear to say acne – and black-rimmed, Dame-Edna-style glasses, recently transplanted from an all-girl Irish secondary school to a New England high school every bit as zappy as Degrassi High. While half the world my age was turning on, tuning in and dropping out, I was sitting in front of the TV set cravenly singing along to “I’m a Believer”.

They were the original put-together band, formed as a result of a 1965 ad in Daily Variety in LA for a TV pilot sitcom with “running parts for four insane boys aged 17 to 21”. Charles Manson, better known later as a serial killer, was one of more than 400 who applied, as was Stephen Stills who with Crosby and Nash were to become my real heroes when I pulled myself together and grew up.

The Monkees hadn’t met in high school; hadn’t spent hours together jamming in someone’s garage to the annoyance of their parents; hadn’t driven through the night in beat-up old vans to downbeat venues to play their early gigs. They weren’t fused forever by having gone through those classic tribal rituals together; the first thing Micky Dolenz had to do when he was hired to play the show’s singing drummer was learn to play the drums. Still, they went on to notch up four consecutive number one albums and the show, which ran for more than 50 episodes, won an Emmy.

Even back then I knew suggestions that they were America’s answer to the Beatles were wrong, even had a slightly immoral ring – but suggestions that they were the Boyzone of their day seem out of line. Only in their genesis is there a similarity.

The Monkees phenomenon was apparently dreamed up by TV executives to provide clean, all-American TV and lyrics for a generation that had suddenly begun to wear its hair long, run around in open-toe sandals and refuse to go to war – and started smoking some weedy kind of thing that could lead to worse. Understandably, parents loved the Monkees.

Within five minutes of arriving in the US for that first time, I’d bought Barry McGuire’s album Eve of Destruction, got hold of a black maxi coat and was driving my mother crazy talking about heading out to Haight-Ashbury. Still it was hard not to sing along when the Monkees came on screen singing Last Train to Clarksville.

Micky Dolenz was definitely the sexy one. Davy Jones was the one all the American girls wanted but even then, were we to have come face to face, I knew I’d be taller than him (he’d been a jockey in another life). Coming from Ireland, he being a Mancunian didn’t have for me the cachet it seemed to have for all those blonde Connecticut girls I was in school with: they were in awe of him, I was in awe of them.

Mike Nesmith might have been more attractive if he’d taken off that woolly hat; anyway he was always the serious one, the one who after three-and-a-half years paid $ 160,000 to buy his way out and go back to folk music. Though the other three have done things together in the intervening period, the key to this full regrouping is a deal whereby this time they wrote and recorded their own stuff for Justus, the new album to be released on this side of the Atlantic next week.

In charge of their own show at last … it’s comforting to read about it. I mean if they had to wait until their 50s to do something like this “completely on their own terms”, there’s lots of hope and scope for the rest of us.

I can’t say I’d go as far as their fan club president, Kirk White, who calls the reunion a great event. Can’t say I’ve been actively missing these boys/ men over the last 30 years and certainly can’t answer any questions in the 40 Monkees Trivia questionnaire. Sample question: “In what popular Broadway musical did Davy have the lead role?” (Answer, so you won’t die wondering: Oliver!) Still notwithstanding the labels now being thrown in their direction (such as “fossil” and “artifact”) it’s hard not to remember what it was like being a Daydream Believer.

Then there’s the survivor syndrome. The sheer admiration for the fact that they’ve come through life’s trials and tribulations. Davy Jones jokes that the money made from the reunion will come in handy for alimony. Peter Tork talks about the bumps on the road but, hell, they’re still prepared to get up on stage and shake a leg.

To me it’s all tied up with that time of high adolescence as a sophomore at E.O. Smith High School where, within hours of being parachuted into its gleaming corridors thronged with confident teenagers, I’d made a friend in Chris Thorkelson: lots of hair, steel-rimmed glasses – and the kid brother of Peter Tork. And so I lived my own personal version of “I’ve danced with a man who’s danced with a girl who’s danced with the Prince of Wales”.

At the outset it has to be said that in spite of visits to the Thorkelson home I never met the mop-haired Pete which I was sorry about then and, reading about him now, am sorry about still. He sounds interesting: those years he put in prior to the Monkees, hanging around Greenwich Village, playing in a folk group with Stephen Stills, and all those things he has to say now about the difference between the grunge and alternative music of today and the folk songs of 30 years ago – one being that they had room to believe in love today “it’s all angst”.

I’ve seen Chris twice since 1968. Once shortly afterwards when he arrived at my home in Ireland with a carpet bag one Christmas morning, stayed a few days and painted a picture. I still have. The second time was a few years later when, with my first pay cheques from The Irish Times, I did what I had wanted to do all along and got a plane back to the US – only to discover that whatever about not being able to go home again, it isn’t always the same when you try to revisit the landmarks of a golden youth.

Most of the kids and families I’d known had gone, moved on, in that uprooted way that can be part of America. But Chris was there and we walked the old sleepers of the abandoned railway line and talked about David and Sue and Janet – and Jeanie with the nut-brown hair from New Haven.

So things come round – sometimes – and now it’s time for a Monkees revival; a revival with a vengeance. There’s the coffee table book, the career retrospective CD-Rom and a full-length TV documentary. And Rhino, the company behind much of it, has released limited edition box sets of 21 videocassettes containing all 58 episodes of the TV show. There’s even talk of a Spielberg movie with the director using Supergrass to play the boys when young.

Who’ll go to the Point is hard to say. Today’s 12-year-olds, ageing Monkees fans or 1960s groupies who want to hear some classics from their halcyon era and don’t mind who sings them?

The Eagles did it, so did the Everly Brothers. The promise in the advance material is that, free of those who sought to control them 30 years ago, what’ll be heard on stage now is the music of a band that has “at, last, won creative control of their destinies”. After all the music industry manipulators, the outside song writers and the session men, this time they’re getting up on that stage pretty much on their own. Good luck to them.

$$$

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

LOAD-DATE: January 23, 1997

USA TODAY

January 22, 1997, Wednesday, FINAL EDITION

SECTION: LIFE; Pg. 3D

LENGTH: 222 words

HEADLINE: A lighthearted look at ‘Monkees’ business

BYLINE: Matt Roush

BODY:

The trade ads announcing auditions for The Monkees in 1965

were about as subtle as the show would turn out to be: “Madness!!

. . . Running parts for four insane boys age 17-21. . . . Have

courage to work.”

It took more than courage — chutzpah and a wide streak of sophomoric

recklessness also were required — to pull off the 1960s’ most

peculiar pop-culture sensation: a TV show, inspired by the Beatles

and A Hard Day’s Night, about a fictional rock band that

became an actual rock band. Or did they?

Whether The Monkees were for real is the weighty trivia question

occupying much of this jaunty remembrance, every bit as scattershot

and jumbled — and somehow goofily enjoyable — as the giddy NBC

series that aired from 1966 to 1968.

All four Monkees are interviewed, and some remain skeptical about

what it all meant. “It was a TV-recording-touring-merchandising

project,” Peter Tork says. “What was making it work was the

size of the machine, of the marketing,” Michael Nesmith says.

And yet.

Despite backstage struggles over control and recording-industry

resentment over the pre-packaged quartet’s rapid ascent up the

music charts (always higher than the TV ratings), there’s something

cheerful, even wistful about reliving this swift, short-lived,

unlikely success story.

GRAPHIC: PHOTO, B/W, The Disney Channel

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

LOAD-DATE: January 22, 1997

Chicago Tribune

January 22, 1997 Wednesday, NORTH SPORTS FINAL EDITION

SECTION: TEMPO; Pg. 6; ZONE: CN; Channel surfing.

LENGTH: 248 words

BYLINE: By Steve Johnson, Tribune Television Critic.

BODY:

“Hey, Hey, We’re the Monkees:” The strange saga of the television rock/comedy

group manufactured in the image of the Beatles’ “Hard Day’s Night” is recounted

with verve and some candor in this new documentary for Disney Channel (7:30

p.m.)– despite it being produced in part by Rhino, the record company that

carries the Monkees’ retrospective package. From prefab idolhood to rapid

rebellion and an insistence on playing their own instruments to cancellation of

the TV show after two years on ABC (1966-68) followed by an experimental,

image-destroying film (“Head,” co-written by Jack Nicholson), the Monkees (Davy

Jones, Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork and Michael Nesmith) lived several rock

lifetimes in just a few years. But along the way they made some genuinely potent

television comedy, rooted in a sensibility that, with prescience, exposed most

every gear and valve in the entertainment engine. Conversely, they also made a

handful of great pop songs, powered by top songwriters and ex-child actor

Dolenz’ surprisingly expressive singing voice. After “Head” flopped and a lame

ABC television special aired, first Tork left, then Nesmith (whose interesting

post-Monkees career is ignored), then there was sort of a fadeaway until one

comeback in 1986 and another a decade later. But as Rhino understands, for this

“band”-turned-band, three decades ago remains the moment of relevance. Of that

time, Dolenz says: “It’s like Leonard Nimoy really becoming a Vulcan.”

GRAPHIC: PHOTOPHOTO: Micky Dolenz

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

LOAD-DATE: January 22, 1997

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

January 22, 1997, Wednesday, FIVE STAR LIFT EDITION

SECTION: EVERYDAY MAGAZINE, Pg. 06D, GAIL PENNINGTON ON TV COLUMN

LENGTH: 593 words

HEADLINE: THE MONKEES PROVIDE TRIVIA GALORE IN SHOW

BYLINE: Gail Pennington

BODY:

A DARK secret from my past, only now being revealed, is my passion for the

Monkees. Sure, I was at an impressionable age when they hit TV in 1966, and yes,

they were cute – I wanted to marry Peter Tork, and to tell you the truth, he

still looks pretty good to me. But I really loved (no snickering) their music.

Enter the Disney Channel to make me feel less alone. “Hey, Hey We’re the

Monkees” (7:30 tonight) both celebrates and dissects the Prefab Four, a band

that was created for a TV show but exploded into something like the American

Beatles before quickly burning out.

Davey Jones, Micky Dolenz, Mike Nesmith (whom you’re unlikely to recognize)

and my beloved Peter all reminisce for the 70-minute retrospective, which looks

at the Monkees and “The Monkees+ 1/5 1/5 1/51 1/5stage (we see him, very young,

singing for Merv Griffin) and that Nesmith played “Circus Boy,” did you remember

that Jimi Hendrix was once the Monkees’ opening act? Or that Jack Nicholson

co-produced their movie disaster, “Head”? I didn’t.

The special, with no narration, lets each of the four speak for himself, and

it’s full of entertaining clips from the TV show, aptly described as “very out

there for its time.”

The Beatles were at their hottest and “A Hard Day’s Night” was a huge hit

when producers Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider set out to translate the

phenomenon to U.S. TV. The sitcom would feature four zany guys, living in a

beach house and trying to make it in music, and they’d be called the Monkees.

Instead of going for established musicians, the producers recruited four

young men with distinctive, offbeat personalities, turned musical control over

to iron-fisted Don Kirshner and saw “Last Train to Clarksville” became a hit

even before the TV series made its debut. More t op-sellers, including the

immortal “I’m a Believer,” quickly followed.

Although the series never got big ratings, it won an Emmy. But by the first

summer hiatus, the guys were playing to huge crowds and feeling the pinch of

fame. (“Too intense,” Jones says.) Concert clips reveal a different Monkees from

the ones we saw on TV.

Then, the fall: Critics cast the Monkees as the Milli Vanilli of their day,

“a disgrace to the pop world” because they didn’t play their own instruments.

The accusations, which the special deals with at length, didn’t bring the band

down so much as they caused the group to self-destruct. But they made Torkfeel “bogus,” and they made me ashamed ever since to be a Monkee-phile.

No more – after seeing “Hey, Hey We’re the Monkees” and hearing the songs,

I’m a believer again.

If the writers of “Contagious” (8 tonight on USA cable) packed one more

cliche into their plot, it would explode like a cocaine-filled balloon in a

courier’s stomach – just one of the familiar story lines in this would-be

medical thriller.

Lindsay Wagner is the tightly wrapped virologist, trying to save the United

States from cholera while fighting her own demons (memories of plague in Africa)

and battling hostile doctors, oblivious cops, pushy reporters, self-serving

corporations – you get the idea. She’s also saddled with a naive, eager-beaver

assistant, plus two hostile stepchildren who manage to get stranded in the

wilderness with their ailing dad (Tom Wopat).

Wagner, unfamiliar with auburn hair, does her best, and so does Elizabeth

Pena as the police detective who pitches in on the case. But in the end, all

you’re likely to take away from “Contagious” is a warning never to eat shrimp

cocktail on a flight from Bogota.

GRAPHIC: PHOTO, Photo – The Monkees (from left): Mickey Dolenz, Peter Tork,

Michael Nesmith, Davey Jones.

LANGUAGE: English

LOAD-DATE: January 22, 1997

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

January 21, 1997, Tuesday

SECTION: STYLE; Pg. 3E

LENGTH: 961 words

HEADLINE: Disney Monkees around

BYLINE: Michael Storey

BODY:

Trivia time for baby boomers: Where were you on that momentous day of Sept.

12, 1966?

Yours truly was a couple months shy of 17 and just starting my senior year at

Little Rock’s Hall High School. It was a wild time of youthful high spirits and

rebellion. I recall I’d let my hair grow over the summer and it was almost

touching the tops of my ears.

Like millions of other American teens, I was perched in front of the tube on

Monday, Sept. 12, of that year, watching NBC in anxious anticipation of “The

Monkees.” They were the latest highly hyped thing and Monkeemania was running

rampant. It was a tough viewing decision for some; “The Monkees” came on

opposite “Gilligan’s Island” and VCRs were still a ways down the road.

Now those of us within spitting distance of 50 can spend an hour reliving our

childhood at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday on the Disney Channel when “Hey, Hey We’re The

Monkees” takes us back to yesteryear.

The fast-paced retrospective features plenty of clips from the sitcom’s two

seasons and revealing interviews, then and now, with the guys — Davy Jones,

Peter Tork, Mickey Dolenz and, yes, even Michael Nesmith.

Nesmith, longtime fans will recall, has been the most reticent ex-Monkee over

the years, preferring to move on to other projects and not dwell in the past.

But he makes up for lost time with this special.

Although never a top 25 hit, “The Monkees” was nonetheless an instant smash

among the younger set. Inspired by the Beatles’ film, “A Hard Day’s Night,” the

series used an eclectic jumble of film techniques, including fast and slow

motion, distorted focus, comic inserts, non sequiturs and just plain goofy stuff

to showcase the four musicians.

The special features surprisingly candid behind-the-scenes insights into how

the four were brought together for the show and their reaction to criticism that

they were “manufactured” by Hollywood and didn’t play their own instruments

(they did, but weren’t allowed to on the early records).

Handpicked from more than 500 would-be rock stars during auditions held in

1965, the lads practiced for months before the series premiered.

Dolenz (who got stuck on drums) and Jones (who wielded a mean tambourine and

maracas) were actors. Dolenz had starred in TV’s “Circus Boy” (1956-58) under

the name Mickey Braddock and Jones, an erstwhile jockey, had appeared on

Broadway. Tork (bass) and Nesmith (lead guitar and wool hat) had previous

musical experience.

Viewers learn about the falling out with their handlers and their

collaborations with such entertainment movers and shakers as Jack Nicholson,

music producer Don Kirshner and Neil Diamond and Carole King. Also shown are

highlights of their concert tours and performances of their numerous hits,

including “Last Train to Clarksville” and “Daydream Believer.”

“Hey, Hey We’re the Monkees” will take a lot of folks deep into deja vu and

may even send them scrambling to find that old Silvertone from Montgomery Ward

to see if they can still plunk out the chords and hit the high notes with “Cheer

up, sleepy Jean, oh what can it mean, now, for a daydream believer and a

homecoming queen. …”

Musical chairs

Here’s another from the “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” file.

NBC is all set to scramble its lineup to showcase a couple of new offerings

and ABC is also playing fast and loose with its top dogs, much to the ire of

those involved.

NBC is putting “ER” and “Homicide: Life on the Street” on the bench to let

two new players into the game. On Feb. 28, Kellie (“Christie”) Martin’s new

drama, “Crisis Center,” will take over “Homicide’s” 9 p.m. Friday slot for six

weeks, and on March 6 “Prince Street,” starring Joe Morton, will bump “ER” (9

p.m. Thursdays) for five weeks.

The networks usually order only 22 episodes of a show each season and that’s

not enough to have a new one each week. To stretch across the 30-week season,

they either have to pre-empt a show, air reruns or take it off the air. Some

network executives believe it’s better to take a show completely off than

frustrate viewers by airing a hodgepodge collection of new shows and repeats.

There’s more confusion.

From March 13 to April 3, “Law & Order” will move into “ER’s” 9 p.m. Thursday

spot while “Prince Street” shifts over to “Law & Order’s” regular slot of 9 p.m.

Wednesday. During its Thursday run “Law & Order” will get out of town, sending

the boys from New York to Los Angeles to investigate the murder of a Hollywood

movie mogul.

Meanwhile, ABC has announced it’s yanking “NYPD Blue” (9 p.m. Tuesdays) off

the air for two months starting March 4 so the new legal drama, “The Practice,”

can get a fair sampling. “NYPD Blue” will return in time for May sweeps. ABC was

criticized last season when “NYPD Blue” went into seemingly interminable reruns

before sweeps time.

In addition, ABC will shelve “Ellen” (8:30 p.m. Wednesday) beginning March 5

for eight weeks, giving Arsenio Hall’s new show (no title yet) a tryout.

The network plans didn’t sit well with the series’ stars.

“Blue’s” Dennis Franz fumed that viewers “don’t like to have their habits

broken” and “Ellen” star Ellen DeGeneres reportedly stomped off the set when she

got the word.

In other ABC news, the network plans to have an early season end to the

underappreciated “Murder One.” The show will cease its run as a weekly series at

8 p.m. on Thursday and finish up as a six-hour, three-part miniseries on April

13, 14, 17. I would be surprised to see “Murder One” return next season.

Michael Storey’s The TV Column appears every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday.

You may e-mail him at:

michael — storey@ziggy.ardemgaz.com

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

LOAD-DATE: January 21, 1997

St. Petersburg Times

January 20, 1997, Monday, 0 South Pinellas Edition

SECTION: CITY & STATE; REVIEW; ENTERTAINMENT; Pg. 2B

DISTRIBUTION: CITY & STATE; METRO & STATE; TAMPA & STATE

LENGTH: 326 words

HEADLINE: A concert for old, new

BYLINE: GREGORY A. PEREZ

DATELINE: CLEARWATER

BODY:

If the Monkees could be remembered for one thing besides their timeless hits

and classic TV show, it would be for narrowing the generation gap.

Since the debut of their hugely popular show 30 years ago, the made-for-TV

Monkees have rounded up a considerably diverse legion of fans and found a

place in pop culture then and now.

Baby boomers were bumping elbows and singing along with teenagers spoon-fed

on Nick-at-Nite reruns and MTV Monkee marathons, as the Monkees brought their

classic humor and timeless rock hits Sunday to the yelping 2,173 in attendance

at Ruth Eckerd Hall.

The cute one (Davy Jones), the shy one (Peter Tork) and the funny one (Micky

Dolenz) were missing a link in the Monkee chain (Michael Nesmith is said to

abhor touring), but it didn’t seem to matter to the nostalgia-hungry fans who

ate up the rocking 2 1/2-hour show.

Rolling in with the jangly Last Train to Clarksville, The Monkees were never

short of energy. Tork, Jones and Dolenz were all rock and smiles, careening

through classics such as A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You, Pleasant Valley

Sunday and Daydream Believer.

Oddly, there was little mention of their newest record, Justus, the heralded

30th-year reunion with Nesmith last year. However, Jones did launch into It’s

Not Too Late, the sole peep out of the Justus songlist.

Each of the Monkees got his chance to shine in the spotlight. And for anyone

wondering, they did, in fact, play their own instruments. Except they didn’t

play their own instruments. Backed by a solid five-piece band, Dolenz opted for

the guitar, as did Tork, while Jones stayed true with his maraca/tambourine

routine.

As for the fans, Monkeemania was in full swing for the older and the younger

set.

Before introducing 1966’s I Wanna Be Free, Jones asked, “Who were you

walking the beach with when this song was No. 1?”

“I wasn’t born yet!” yelped a girl from the front.

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

LOAD-DATE: January 21, 1997

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

January 20, 1997, Monday, ALL EDITIONS

SECTION: FLORIDA WEST, Pg. 1E, ON TV

LENGTH: 538 words

HEADLINE: HEY, HEY, THEY’RE THE MONKEES

BYLINE: Jay Handelman

BODY:

Some phenomena are impossible to understand or explain, such as the

popularity of The Monkees. The mid-1960s rock band was created soley for a TV

show that never did as well as the group’s records.

“The Monkees” lasted two seasons on NBC, from 1966 to 1968, but the band has

lived on in our memories, on radio, and in occasional reunions. At 8:30 p.m.

Wednesday, the Disney Channel salutes the group, the show and Monkee mania in

the entertaining documentary “Hey, Hey, We’re The Monkees.”

I remember watching the show every week for those two seasons, not realizing

until a few years later that the group was a spoof of the Beatles and the show’s

style was taken right from The Beatles’ film “A Hard Day’s Night.”

Even though producers Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider assembled the quartet

from actors auditioned for the TV show, The Monkees were chart toppers, hitting

No. 1 with “Last Train to Clarksville,” “I’m a Believer” and “Daydream

Believer.”

The Disney special features interviews with all those involved in the show to

give a sense of the frenzied work behind the creation of the series, the fun

they had, the disappointments and shifting allegiances.

When Micky Dolenz, David Jones, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork were cast,

they were formed into a group and managed to work well together. After the first

season produced a couple of hit songs, the group members started making more

demands. Records sales fell off, and the show was canceled.

But before that came the lunchboxes, keychains, magazine covers and the

screaming women at concerts.

Though studio musicians played on their records, the group took its music

seriously. But Dolenz says with all honesty, “The Monkees were really the Marx

Brothers.” It’s the same description that John Lennon used when he met the

group during a Monkees concert tour. (Guitarist Jimi Hendrix was their opening

act for a while).

The fun and craziness lasted, as Jones puts it, “until Micky wanted to

direct, Mike wanted to write the music and Peter wanted to play on all the

records. And I was probably a pain, too.”

They reunited in 1986 for a tour and album, and they were back in the studio

last summer to make more music and rekindle some memories, as they do in “Hey,

Hey, We’re The Monkees.”

Cheap Thrills

Two made-for-TV movies hope to scare up ratings this week by trying to get

your hearts racing. At 8 p.m. Tuesday on Fox (WTVT-Ch. 13, WFTX-Ch. 36), you’ll

find “Runaway Car,” a knockoff of the film “Speed,” about a car with a bad

accelerator that won’t stop revving the engine.

Nina Siemaszko is the driver who finds herself driving like Speed Racer on

busy California highways. There are a couple of exciting moments, but we’ve seen

it before and better.

At 9 p.m. on the USA Network, Lindsay Wagner plays a virologist trying to

stop a cholera outbreak in “Contagious,” which features Elizabeth Pena as a

police detective. The story takes too many undeveloped turns. A stronger focus

on how they find all the people potentially exposed to the virus would be

better. But you probably won’t ever want to eat out again if you see the way the

food service workers depicted in the film treat the meals they’re serving.

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

LOAD-DATE: January 21, 1997

The Palm Beach Post

January 18, 1997, Saturday, FINAL EDITION

SECTION: LOCAL, Pg. 3B

LENGTH: 443 words

HEADLINE: GROUP HAS FUN SINGING, MONKEE-ING AROUND

BYLINE: CHARLES PASSY

BODY:

Apparently, the Monkees fans are still believers.

Why else would they gather for the group’s concert Friday night at the Coral

Sky Amphi-theatre? The event, which marked the opening musical festivities of

the 1997 South Florida Fair, was greeted with temperatures more suited for an

NFL playoff game than an evening of outdoor concertizing.

But then, the brand of bubble-gum pop The Monkees represent is nothing less

than sunny. Make that incessantly sunny. Next to them, Bobby McFerrin looks

worried and unhappy.

And so like a magician with rabbits to spare, the group pulled all the

greatest hits out of its collective hat: Last Train to Clarksville, She, A

Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You, Steppin’ Stone, Listen to the Band, Pleasant

Valley Sunday, Daydream Believer and, yes, I’m a Believer.

The result was an evening of pure nostalgia, but still not a bad night at

that.

Of course, The Monkees have tried to reinvent themselves somewhat for the

’90s. They now actually play their own instruments – what a novel concept! –

although they rely heavily on backup musicians. And they do have a new album

out, the rather uninspired Justus.

But what’s great about the new Monkees – here represented by Micky Dolenz,

Davy Jones and Peter Tork (Michael Nesmith was a no-show) – is what’s great

about the old Monkees: the smiley face lead vocals, the easy-on-the ear

harmonies and the goofy humor that keeps the package all together.

With the possible exception of Tork, the group has certainly lost nothing in

the singing department. Dolenz was the real delight of the night. He can find

all the subtle irony in an old charmer like Pleasant Valley Sunday and then come

right back and surprise you with a powerful bit of contemporary blues.

As for Jones, he’s still solid on what he likes to call the “ditties”:

Listening to him sing Daydream Believer or Little Bit Me is to truly feel 16 all

over again. As for Tork, well, even the Beatles had to contend with Ringo Starr.

The group’s jokes and joshing also were still there. At the start of the

night, when Jones wreaked havoc during one of Dolenz’s solos, Dolenz took one

glance at his fellow Monkee’s tight, leather pants and observed, “You looklike a matador.” Later, recalling how Jimi Hendrix used to open for the group,

Dolenz did his own imitation of the guitar great during that time, replete with

the shouts of “We Want Davy.”

We still want him – and the rest of the quartet. Unlike so many has-been acts

that have graced the Coral Sky stage in the past year, there’s something honest

and unforced about The Monkees. As bubble gum goes, their flavor lasts a long

time.

NOTES:

Did not run MSL.

GRAPHIC: PHOTO (B&W), RICHARD GRAULICH/Staff Photographer, The Monkees – Peter

Tork (from left), Davy Jones and Micky Dolenz perform at the Coral Sky

Amphitheatre Friday night.

LOAD-DATE: January 19, 1997

St. Petersburg Times

January 17, 1997, Friday

SECTION: WEEKEND; Pop Beat; Pg. 16

LENGTH: 1135 words

HEADLINE: Star power

BYLINE: LOGAN NEILL

BODY:

The weekend’s concert scene has a decidedly nostalgic look to it, proof that

no one ever really fades away in the music business.

Charlie Daniels will tell you flat out he’s not the least ready to retire,

even though you’ll find him on crutches this weekend at his annual celebrity

golf tournament and concert while he continues his rehabilitation from

December knee surgery.

“I’m having a ball,” says the the celebrated Southern rocker, who each year

gathers up his music business friends to raise money for Pasco County’s Angelus

Home, a group residence for severely handicapped adults.

“It makes me feel good to be able to help every year,” Daniels said from his

hotel in Colorado this week. “But to tell you the truth, I’ll be glad to be

anyplace where there isn’t 3 feet of snow on the ground.”

The Carolina native has spent most of his 60 years in the music business,

one of those you-name-it-I’ve-played-it guys who’s bounced around from genre

to genre. Recently, Daniels has been turning his effort toward spreading the

Gospel. His last two recordings, 1994’s The Door and last year’s Steel

Witness, both earned Grammy nominations, yet Daniels is careful not to

pigeonhole himself.

“You know, I’m not the preacher type,” says Daniels. “I really just had some

different things I needed to say, and I think there are people who needed to

hear them from me.”

Daniels’ deep drawl is well known to his fans, but over the years he’s

gained quite a reputation as an instrumentalist. He recently put his guitar

chops to work on a blues album that he says is near completion.

However, to most fans, Daniels is the stalwart rocker whose Southern-fried

songs like Long-Haired Country Boy, The Devil Went Down to Georgia and The

South’s Gonna Do It Again had audiences boogieing throughout much of the

1970s, selling more than 16-million units.

Through the years, Daniels received his share of criticism for his often

politically incorrect and socially outdated songs. (When Daniels heard that

the Ku Klux Klan was using The South’s Gonna Do It Again in radio spots,

however, he instructed his attorneys to “sue the Klan to hell and back.”) And

he made some changes of his own, too.

“When I wrote Long-Haired Country Boy it was a different time, and

references to drugs weren’t so unacceptable,” he said. “I know that was wrong,

so, when I sing the song now, those words aren’t in there anymore.”

Although Daniels won’t be on the golf course this year, fans will find him

onstage Sunday at Festival Park in Zephyrhills with country music friends such

as Mila Mason, Jeff Carson, Exile, Stella Parton, the Hager Twins and Tommy

Cash. The show starts at noon and runs until dark. Gates open at 8 a.m.

Tickets are $ 12 in advance, $ 15 day of show. Festival Park is on U.S. 301, 3

miles south of Zephyrhills. Call (800) 443-7957 for information.

STILL THE EMPERORS: The Temptations have rightfully earned their moniker the

“Emperors of Soul.” Over the past 35 years, they’ve carved a unique niche as

one of Motown’s most successful triumphs, sadly offset by also being one of its

most tragic stories.

The quintet was the result of a 1960 merger between rival Detroit R&B groups

the Distants and the Primes. The original lineup of Elbridge Bryant, Melvin

Franklin, Eddie Kendricks, Otis Williams and Paul Williams reached acclaim as

the stellar backup to singer Mary Wells before Berry Gordy discovered them and

signed them to his Motown label in 1961.

Over the next decade and a half, the Temptations steamrolled their way onto

the R&B charts, rivaled only by the Supremes and the Four Tops. Most

remarkable, perhaps, is how the group profoundly changed pop radio, so

dominated by white artists during the 1950s and early 1960s.

Starting with 1964’s The Way You Do the Things You Do and right through My

Girl (a No. 1 hit the next year with David Ruffin replacing Bryant), (I Know)

I’m Losing You, Get Ready, Psychedelic Shack, I Wish It Would Rain, Cloud Nine

and Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone, the Temptations became a mainstay of the pop

scene. But they also remained relevant to the progression of black music in

the 1960s and 1970s, with the social consciousness of their anti-poverty and

anti-war themes, in songs such as Runaway Child and Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone.

Sadly, time and fate befell them. Ruffin, whose angelic tenor graced My Girl

and I Wish It Would Rain, left the band in 1968 and died of a drug overdose in

1991. Kendricks, who left for a successful solo career in 1971, died of lung

cancer in 1991. Paul Williams and Franklin are gone, too, leaving baritone

singer Otis Williams as the lone original member.

However, the current Temptations lineup, which also includes Theo Peoples,

Ray Davies, Ron Tyson and Ali-Ollie Woodson, maintains the same drive as

always, including their trademark onstage choreography.

The Temptations perform tonight at Ruth Eckerd Hall, along with R&B legends

Little Anthony & the Imperials. Showtime is 8 p.m. Tickets are $ 35.50 and $

28.50.

YOU’D BETTER GET READY: Hey, hey, it’s the 30th anniversary of the

Monkees, the made-for-TV group that, if you can believe it, actually outsold

the Beatles and the Stones combined in 1967.

While they boasted four No. 1 albums, repeatedly hitting the charts with

classics such as I’m a Believer and Last Train to Clarksville, the Monkees –

Mickey Dolenz, Peter Tork, Davy Jones and Michael Nesmith – could never seem

to cruise above the criticism that they were lacking in the area of talent.

Yes, they did sing on their records, but only one member, guitarist Nesmith,

actually was proficient enough an instrumentalist to reproduce it consistently

onstage.

(True story: While onstage in 1967, as Nesmith related in an interview, “We

were playing a Chuck Berry song and, right out of that, launched into a version

of Pleasant Valley Sunday, just blasting through it. David went over to Peter

and said, “This sounds great! You want to start a band?’ We always had an

understanding of the irony.”)

But a successful afterlife in reruns and the burgeoning ’60s nostalgia

market has kept the Monkees alive and well. Last year, the quartet reunited

for real – playing their own instruments and writing their own songs for an LP

titled Justus.

Dolenz, Tork and Jones have embarked on a tour that comes to Ruth Eckerd

Hall at 7 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $ 35.50, $ 28.50 and $ 24.50.

Nesmith sent his regrets to Monkees fans via their Web site, saying that he

had other things to tend to at this time and that he’ll be doing “no guest or

surprise showings. Nothing. Nada. Nowhere. All rumors to the contrary are

simply that.”

GRAPHIC: COLOR PHOTO, MICHAEL WEIMAR; COLOR PHOTO; (1996) Charlie Daniels plays

a guitar; Mila Mason

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

LOAD-DATE: January 17, 1997

The Tampa Tribune

January 17, 1997, Friday, FINAL EDITION

SECTION: FRIDAY EXTRA!, Pg. 18

LENGTH: 1548 words

HEADLINE: Enjoy a pleasant Monkees Sunday

BYLINE: Mike O’Neill

BODY:

You say we’re manufactured, to that we all agree / So make your choice and

we’ll rejoice in never being free / Hey hey we are the Monkees, we’ve said it

all before / The money’s in, we’re made of tin, we’re here to give you more.

– “Ditty Diego – War Chant” from “Head”

The 30th anniversary celebration has been building for a couple of years.

Rhino Records now owns all rights to the television shows, the records, and all

outtakes, likenesses and logos. They’ve been steadily re-releasing every ’60s

Monkee moment in lavish annotated boxes. The latest round includes a “Hey, Hey,

We’re the Monkees” coffee table book, a CD-ROM and a documentary to air on the

Disney Channel on Wednesday.

The actual anniversary of the show’s first broadcast (Sept. 12, 1966) saw

release of “Justus,” a new record of original material written and performed

solely by the four ex-TV stars. “Justus” is mostly big drum sound ’80s pop with

a couple of stabs at grunge (leading off with a sloggy remake of Mike Nesmith’s

“Circle Sky”). Most fans will prefer the coffee table book.

Which is the beautiful thing about the 30th anniversary tour: It will be more

like the coffee table book than like the new record. Most people at Ruth Eckerd

Hall on Sunday will be there, not to discover anything new, but to rediscover

something from their past that once made them happy. There is nothing wrong with

this, it’s kind of sweet and sad. Let us hope, though, that they’ve ditched the

bad “Miami Vice” fashions sported on the 20th anniversary tour.

Do I Have to Do This All Over Again: “The Monkees” was a two-season TV show

conceived to steal a little magic from “A Hard Day’s Night.” In the hands of

producers Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider, it became a surreal half-hour break

from traditional TV: young people with no authority figure, racing around on

unicycles violating the “fourth wall” and all rules of logical plot. It won two

Emmys.

The Monkees were a group. First, they were just there on TV, playing that

same little club with the shiny orange curtain every week, lip-syncing to teen

fare cranked out by Don Kirshner’s hit factory. Some of it was good; with

writers such as Goffin/King and Neil Diamond, and L.A.’s top session musicians,

it was bound to be.

Then the actors started playing their own instruments and tunes. The music

still sold and, shockingly, got a little better, trading craft for authenticity.

Two records hold up fine (“Headquarters” and “Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn &

Jones Ltd.”), and there are moments on the others that still sound great on

oldies radio.

“The Monkees” is a franchise. It has been exploited with class (the Rhino

reissues), with an eye toward art (’68 film “Head” was strange, disjointed and

remains a cult classic), and periodically it has been wrung dry of money and

good will with a reunion tour

For Pete’s Sake: And here they come. Nesmith is once again a holdout, but he

was always the cranky Monkee and he really doesn’t need the money. Instead, he

spent the summer mixing the group’s new record. The rest of the boys hit the

road and probably had more fun. They’ll prove it at Ruth Eckerd, pitching in

with the crowd to rediscover a past that once made them happy. The money’s in,

they’re made of tin, they’re here to give you more.

(CHART) THE MONKEES

WITH: Orleans

WHEN: Sunday at 7 p.m.

WHERE: Ruth Eckerd Hall, 1111 McMullen-Booth Road, Clearwater

TICKETS: $ 24.50, $ 28.50 and $ 35; box office, (813) 791-7400; Ticketmaster,

(813) 287-8844

GRAPHIC: CHART; PHOTO 2(1C),

The Monkees’ TV show debuted Sept. 12, 1966, and lasted two seasons. Photo from

Rhino

TYPE: ON TOUR COMMENTARY MUSIC

LOAD-DATE: January 18, 1997

The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC)

January 16, 1997, Thursday, PREVIEW EDITION

SECTION: E, Pg. 8

LENGTH: 904 words

HEADLINE: Hey, hey: Monkees are back to set their records straight

BYLINE: Frank Wooten Of The Post and Courier

BODY:

Thirty years later, Mike Nesmith is still defending the Monkees’ musical

integrity.

Seriously.

In “Hey, Hey, We’re The Monkees,” airing at 8:30 Wednesday night on The

Disney Channel, the boys (actually they’re aging men now) explain why they

dismissed music producer Don Kirshner at the height of their fame.

Forcing a celebrated turning point in Monkees lore, Kirshner dared insist

that they keep making music his way by using studio players on songs from

mercenary composers. The group (Nesmith in particular) objected. Nesmith, during

this entertaining 70-minute special, recalls telling Kirsh-ner, in effect:

“Just get a grip, pal. This is not an enforceable covenant.”

Kirshner, who later unleashed “Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert” on a

too-vulnerable world, also appears, laughing about “the only time I ever got

fired.”

Nesmith argues that after the group began performing its own songs its own

way, the results got “better and better.”

Mickey Dolenz, however, injects a dose of commercial reality, admitting that

after the Monkees canned Kirshner, “Record sales plummeted.”

Sane fellows need not apply?

This special happily stresses those good old days, only slightly pumping the

band’s new album.

Viewers see the ad that attracted hundreds of aspiring actors/rock stars –

“Running parts for four insane boys, age 17-21.”

Viewers see the screen tests that won the Monkees their parts in this

thoroughly contrived American TV bid to copy the surprising success of the

Beatles’ zany, Marx Brothers-like film antics in “A Hard Day’s Night.”

And viewers see that somehow, this group that wasn’t a group turned into a

group.

Dolenz: “It’s like Leonard Nimoy really becoming a Vulcan.”

Davy Jones: “This was finding three brothers I’ve never had.”

Peter Tork, consigned to the dummy role on the 1966-68 ABC series, like

Nesmith still seems to carry residual resentment about the torrent of criticism

the Monkees absorbed from aghast, self-appointed rock purists (a contradiction

in terms?) who accused the lads of not playing their own instruments.

Tork remembers many musicians and critics belittling the Monkees’ success,

summing up their condemnation with: “It doesn’t count, it’s not real, it’s

bogus.”

Hey Peter and Mike: Get over it.

After all, the Monkees are still a hit (sort of), and Nesmith is now –

finally – back in the fold. Some of their old songs hold up pretty well. Those

manically funny scenes from that two-season (1966-68) run hold up pretty well,

too.

And how many other rock bands can brag that Jimi Hendrix opened for them –

for a while, anyway. Nesmith remembers the surreal Monkees-Hendrix billing:

“He walked into the beast. He walked into – there were the waving pink arms

(of the young girls), you know, 20,000 pink, waving arms like this (Nesmith

waves his own arms above his head), so every time he would say, ‘Foxy’ (from

“Foxy Lady”), everybody would go, ‘Davy!’, ‘Foxy,’ ‘Davy!’ Oh man, it was some

seriously twisted moment.”

Another truly twisted moment – that memorable sight from the series’ second

year of Frank Zappa (playing Nesmith) interviewing Nesmith (playing Zappa).

Holly makes her move?

Holly Anderson, who used to work nights on WAVF-FM 96.1 (96 Wave), surely

will start working mornings – on the air – soon (perhaps as soon as Monday) on

WSSX-FM 95.1 (95 SX). But she declined comment on her status Wednesday morning.

Ric Rush, Ryan Walker and Mary Russell, the recently deposed WSSX morning

team, will serve as hosts at The Comedy Zone tonight. Tim Wilson, whose TV

appearances include “The Tonight Show,” “Grace Under Fire” and “Evening at the

Improv,” is tonight’s featured comic.

Accomplished pianist Enrique Graf – born in Uruguay, trained in America,

based in Charleston – is host Marcus Overton’s guest on “Who Do You Know?” at

6:30 p.m. today on WSCI-FM 89.3.

The St. Louis Symphony soars through Richard Wagner’s rousing “The Flying

Dutchman” at 7 tonight on WSCI. And all of the musicians actually play their own

instruments.

Double trouble for Fox

“X-Files” creator Chris Carter says he wants out to make movies.

Fox Entertainment Group boss Peter Roth is determined to change Carter’s

mind.

Another problem for Roth: Tisha Campbell, who plays Gina on “Martin,” is

suing the series’ namesake star, Martin Lawrence, for sexual harassment.

A federal judge in Los Angeles last week rejected a move by HBO Independent

Productions, which produces the show for Fox, to compel Campbell to return to

her role as Martin’s wife pending a union arbitration hearing.

Campbell left the set Nov. 22, saying she could no longer tolerate Lawrence’s

behavior, which she described as “repeated and escalating” harassment, including

groping her and simulating sex acts with her in full view of cast and crew

members. Lawrence has denied Campbell’s charges.

Lawrence once fouled “Saturday Night Live” with vile references to

insufficient female hygiene during his guest-host opening monologue.

For the time being, new “Martin” episodes are excluding Gina under the

pretense of her “missing the boat” when Martin went on a cruise. But you can see

the couple together again on a rerun at 8 tonight on WTAT.

What took so long?

And while Carter plans his exit and Campbell makes hers final, “Dennis Miller

Live” returns to HBO under the apt heading “I Rant, Therefore I Am.”

And not a moment too soon.

GRAPHIC: PHOTO; One B&W Photo of The Monkees

LOAD-DATE: January 17, 1997

The Palm Beach Post

January 15, 1997, Wednesday, FINAL EDITION

SECTION: ACCENT, Pg. 5D

LENGTH: 440 words

HEADLINE: WHAT HAPPENED TO. . .

BODY:

Micky Dolenz

Age: 51

Before the Monkees: He played Corky in the TV series Circus Boy from 1956 to

1958.

After the Monkees: He spent the late ’70s and the ’80s in London, where he

was a producer-director for the BBC. But the Monkees go on for Micky. In 1975,

he and Davy Jones toured with songwriters Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, and they

did periodic appearances through 1979. In 1986, Mini-Monkeemania explodes again

for the group’s 20th anniversary, and in 1996, Mike Nesmith joined the group for

several stops of a 30th anniversary tour.

Quote: “The Monkees becoming a band is the equivalent of Leonard Nimoy

becoming a Vulcan.”

Peter Tork

Age: 54

Before the Monkees: He was a folk musician in Greenwich Village, where he

played with Stephen Stills.

After the Monkees: Tork quit the Monkees in December 1968. He worked as a

teacher and a singing waiter, telling the National Enquirer he was a

“professional has-been.” In 1976, he rejoined Micky and Davy to record a

Christmas song. The next year, he again found success in New York clubs.

Quote: “I wanted us to be a real live band. I call this my Pinocchio complex.

As soon as the Monkees were over, I went to Marin County (Calif.) and became a

street hippie again.”

Davy Jones

Age: 51

Before the Monkees: He was an apprentice jockey until he got his big acting

break playing the role of the Artful Dodger in Oliver! when he was in his teens.

After the Monkees: The Monkees have never really ended for Jones, “the

true-blue Monkee icon who never let the banner trail in the dust,” Mike Nesmith

says. He toured in Oliver!, Godspell and Grease, and played himself in the

1995 film The Brady Bunch Movie.

Quote: “The reason that I was teen idol was because I wasn’t threatening. I’m

a little guy and I’m not gonna jump on you and hurt you. It wasn’t a sexual

thing with the Monkees, not the fans that were looking at me, anyway.”

Mike Nesmith

(who won’t be performing Friday at the fair)

Age: 54

Before the Monkees: Worked the L.A. folk circuit.

After the Monkees: Though he became a multimillionaire when his mother, who

invented Liquid Paper, died in 1979, Nesmith kept working in music, movies and

video. He created the acclaimed film Elephant Parts, considered the precursor to

MTV.

Quote: Coming to terms with the iconography of the Monkees “took a long

time,” he told USA Today. “I finally decided there was zero downside. I point

back to the Monkees, even the juvenilia, with some degree of pride, like your

first prom tux.”

Sources: Palm Beach Post wire services, The Encyclopedia of Rock Stars, Hey,

Hey, We’re The Monkees book.

GRAPHIC: PHOTO (4 B&W), 1. Micky Dolenz (mug), 2. Peter Tork (mug) 3. Mike

Nesmith (mug), 4. Davy Jones (mug)

LOAD-DATE: January 16, 1997

The Palm Beach Post

January 15, 1997, Wednesday, FINAL EDITION

SECTION: ACCENT, Pg. 5D

LENGTH: 359 words

HEADLINE: MONKEE MANIA WINNER: MARY ANN JONES

BODY:

Mary Ann Jones practically has stars in her eyes.

“Thinking about The Monkees,” she says, “just makes me smile.”

Jones has been smiling all week, ever since a friend prompted her to enter

The Post’s My Favorite Monkee contest. She wrote a poem to win – but even better

than the tickets to the concert, she said, was the Monkee bonding that took

place among the women in her office at the South Florida Water Management

District.

“One woman, Beverly Miller, has Davy Jones’ autograph on a bulletin board,”

says Mary Ann, 40, who does computer drafting for the district. “Another

coworker is named Corki – after Micky Dolenz’s character in his first series,

Circus Boy.”

‘Just talking about The Monkees at work has brought back so many good

memories,” she says.

Like the time she was 11 and worked up her courage to ask a boy to slow-skate

with her at the roller rink. “We skated to Daydream Believer. It’s a very vivid

memory for me.”

Jones says she thinks The Monkees’ appeal has endured because they gained

fame at a crucial time – that last gasp of innocence.

“We were transitioning from groups like the Everly Brothers, with good,

wholesome looks, into something a little harder,” the West Palm Beach resident

says. “The Monkees had a cuteness about them. They were still wholesome.”

She met Davy Jones after she saw him perform at a Hurricane Andrew benefit at

the West Palm Beach Auditorium in 1992.

“I saw him the next day at the Holiday Inn on Singer Island, and I walked up

to him and thanked him for the memories,” Jones says. “Davy said, ‘Oh, you’re

the lyric lady’ – he had noticed me singing all the lyrics to his songs.”

So, to salute her favorite group, Jones wrote some new lyrics to The

Monkees’ Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow):

Davy, oh how I loved him

His eyes twinkled so sweet

Micky’s smile was inviting

On the pages of Tiger Beat

Peter’s blonde hair and blue eyes

Thrilled me with boyish charm

Mike was always the shy one,

Dreamed I was in his arms

I’ve seen groups come and go now

In my past 40 years

But memories of Monkees’ music

Helps me relive my teenage passion and tears

GRAPHIC: PHOTO (3 B&W), 1. Corki Ettinger of Greenacres still carries the

nickname of Micky Dolenz’s character from the TV show Circus Boy., 2. Mary Ann

Jones now, 3. Mary Ann Jones then.

LOAD-DATE: January 16, 1997

The Palm Beach Post

January 15, 1997, Wednesday, FINAL EDITION

SECTION: ACCENT, Pg. 5D

LENGTH: 809 words

HEADLINE: MY FAVORITE MONKEE

BODY:

Famous fans tell all. . .

Chandra Bill, news anchor on WPEC-Channel 12: “I liked Davy Jones the best

because he was cute and had that cute accent. The first concert I ever saw was

the Monkees in Augusta when I was 12 years old. I went with my cousins and we

all danced together. Everyone was screaming and yelling. My favorite song?

Probably Daydream Believer.”

Randi Rhodes, WJNO-AM 1230 talk show host: “I liked Peter Tork. I just

thought he was accessibly cute. He wasn’t out of my league. I started a Peter

Tork fan club.

“Once I mailed a letter to Peter and then I mailed myself an answer. And I

told my friends that I got a letter from Peter. To this day they tease me about

it. If I tell them an incredible story today, they say, ‘Peter Tork, uh-huh,

right.’ ”

Roxanne Stein, WPTV-Channel 5 morning news anchor: “I lived on a farm in

Pennsylvania. We’re talking rural! I used to dream Davy Jones would knock on my

door looking for directions, and I would have to take him everywhere.

“The show was great because I wasn’t embarrassed to watch it with my parents.

It was a family show. My favorite song was probably Last Train to Clarksville. I

have a Monkee CD (don’t tell anyone!). But I loved that song (sings) “Then I saw

her face, now I’m a believer.” I remember wishing Davy would say that to me.

“And, I remember I couldn’t wait to grow up – and now I wish I could go back

there. It was a simpler time.”

Rosie O’Donnell, talk show host: “Davy Jones. Why? He looks the most like Tom

Cruise.”

Jennifer Ross, disc jockey on WEAT-FM “Sunny” 104.3: “I liked Mike Nesmith. I

knew he was the brains behind the act. He looked like he’d be fun to sit down

and talk to.”

. . . And so do ‘Post’ readers

Eileen McGrory, 36, of Loxahatchee: “When my sister and I were 10 and 12, we

were crazy about Davy. We used to kiss the TV screen.”

Elissa Bollan, 37, of Boynton Beach: “I loved Micky Dolenz because he was the

funniest and the cutest. I would have died to see him when I was a kid, and I

would still probably die if I saw him today.”

Nancy DeProspo, 37, of Greenacres City: “It was definitely Davy because he

was the cute one and had that great English accent. I saw him at the Garden

State Art Center about 10 years ago and actually felt myself swoon that I was so

close to my childhood idol.

Beverly Orth, 45, of Lantana: “I was a big Monkees fan. I was a very insecure

adolescent, and Micky impressed me with his self-confidence.”

Jill Shadoff of Lake Worth: “I loved Davy Jones long before he was a

Monkee. I loved him when he was the Artful Dodger in Oliver! on Broadway. Every

Saturday I would travel from Long Island into New York City with a few friends.

We would wait outside the theater for intermission to end. As the lights dimmed,

we would blend in with the returning crowds and stand in the back of the

theater. I tingled with the joy and pain of a monstrous teenage crush as Davy

sang, danced and acted his way into the hearts of the audience.

“Once in awhile, we would wait for Davy at the backstage entrance. I would

lead the pursuit as we followed poor Davy onto a bus. We had special knowledge

of where our star lived – or at least where he got off the bus to avoid three

obsessed adolescent fans.

“I was thrilled when Davy became a Monkee. I shall always cherish those

magical Saturdays spent stalking Davy Jones.”

Barbara Davis, 42, of West Palm Beach wrote: “I was in eighth grade and madly

in love with Micky Dolenz. My room was plastered with his pictures. To this day,

my 80-year-old aunt will come to visit and say to me: ‘Barbara, remember when I

came to visit and stayed in your room and I had to look at all those pictures of

that Monkee boy you were so in love with?’ ”

Stephanie Field, 39, of West Palm Beach: “I was definitely a Monkee maniac. I

remember they were on TV Monday nights opposite Tom Jones, and my mother and I

had huge arguments over who got to watch the Monkees and who got to watch Tom

Jones.

“My girlfriend and I and her sister loved the Monkees, and we each got to

have our own Monkee. My friend, who was the more dominant one, got to have Davy,

and I had to have Micky, even though I really loved Davy. And her sister got

stuck with Peter and nobody wanted Mike.

“And my other memory was how much I hated Marcia Brady because she got to

have a date with Davy Jones. It was just too much for this Monkee maniac. They

were my favorites then and still are. And now Davy is mine!”

Karen Gray, 35, of Palm Springs: “Davy was the cutest, short like me. Micky

was the funniest, and Peter, everyone made him out to be the dummy and I felt

sorry for him, and Mike was the logical one. So they were all special.

Bruce Deger of Port St. Lucie: “My favorite monkey was Cheetah because he

always did what Tarzan said.”

– Compiled by JANIS FONTAINE

GRAPHIC: PHOTO (5 B&W), 1. Vonita Mack, 41, of Clewiston, with her Monkees

album: ‘Remembering the Monkees, and especially Micky, takes me back to a much

simpler life – one without deadlines, bills, cooking, cleaning, stress,

headaches. It is nice to visit that place again.’, 2. Randi Rhodes (mug), 3.

Roxanne Stein (mug), 4. Rosie O’Donnell (mug), 5. Stephanie Field (mug)

LOAD-DATE: January 16, 1997

The Palm Beach Post

January 15, 1997, Wednesday, FINAL EDITION

SECTION: ACCENT, Pg. 5D

LENGTH: 383 words

HEADLINE: IMPORTANT MONKEE BUSINESS

BODY:

Sept. 12, 1966: Monkees TV show debuts.

October 1966: Their first single, Last Train to Clarksville, hits No. 1 on

the U.S. charts.

December 1966: I’m a Believer hits No. 1.

April 1967: A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You hits No. 2 on U.S. charts.

June 1967: The Monkees wins an Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series.

December 1967: Daydream Believer hits No. 1

June 1968: The Monkees TV series is canceled.

November 1968: The Monkees’ feature film, Head, premieres. It is a box-office

disaster.

July 1975: Micky Dolenz and Davy Jones tour with songwriters Tommy Boyce and

Bobby Hart.

February 1986: To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the group, MTV airs

Pleasant Valley Sunday, a 22-hour broadcast of every Monkee’s TV episode. The

Monkees Greatest Hits recharts reaching No. 69 on the U.S. charts. Also that

year, Dolenz, Jones and Peter Tork reunite for a concert tour.

1996: At Mike Nesmith’s suggestion, the Monkees write and release a new

album, Justus.

Did you know?

John Lennon, who never missed a Monkees TV show, called them “the greatest

comic talent since the Marx Brothers.”

Stephen Stills auditioned to become a Monkee, but “I was not funny, and I

should not try to be funny,” he says in the book, Hey, Hey, We’re the Monkees.

“And then I said, ‘Listen, I know another guy that’s a lot like me … and he

might be a little bit quicker and funnier.” That was Peter Tork.

In their first year, The Monkees outsold the Beatles and Rolling Stones

combined, turning the band into a global phenomenon.

Their TV show and records circulated in 128 countries and 35 languages.

Jimi Hendrix was the band’s opening act on early shows. “He walked into the

beast,” Mike Nesmith says in Hey, Hey, We’re the Monkees. “There were 20,000

pink waving arms. He would sing, ‘Foxy,’ and they would shout, ‘Davy!’ – ‘Foxy’

– ‘Davy!’ … He lasted seven dates.”

From 1966 to 1970, The Monkees made 58 TV episodes, a TV special, a movie and

more than 200 recordings.

To this day, the band owns the record for having four No. 1 albums in one

year’s time. They were: The Monkees, from its debut until November 1966; More of

the Monkees, from November until February 1967; Headquarters, in June 1967; and

Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones, Ltd., late 1967.

GRAPHIC: PHOTO (B&W), The Monkees

LOAD-DATE: January 16, 1997

The Palm Beach Post

January 15, 1997, Wednesday, FINAL EDITION

SECTION: ACCENT, Pg. 1D

LENGTH: 170 words

HEADLINE: AFTER 30 YEARS, WE’RE STILL BELIEVERS

BODY:

News flash for every pre-teen who ever puckered up over a Monkees pinup:

While you were dreaming of kissing Davy Jones, he was kissing … nobody.

“My love life was like the Petrified Forest,” he reveals in Hey, Hey, We’re

the Monkees, a new book that’s long on musical details and short on the really

important things – like what Davy looks for in a girl.

Who cares if Davy and the boys are now in their 50s?

Ask any woman of a certain age which Monkee she loved, and the fantasies kick

back in quicker than you can say “Clearasil.”

“I used to dream Davy Jones would knock on my door,” confesses Channel 5

anchor Roxanne Stein. “I used to dream that he’d take one look at me and sing

I’m a Believer.”

Hundreds of Post readers did, too, Roxanne.

When they heard the Monkees were appearing at the South Florida Fair this

Friday, they felt a gush of girlie emotion.

“I felt like a teenager again,” said our No. 1 Monkees fan, Mary Ann Jones of

West Palm Beach. “Those songs just make me smile.”

GRAPHIC: PHOTO (7 C), 1. Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork, Mike Nesmith and Davy Jones

discuss their lives in a book and TV special. They perform Friday (minus

Nesmith) at the South Florida Fair., 2. The Monkees’ Headquarters album in 1967

signaled the group’s break from prefab four to real musicians. From left, Mike

Nesmith, Peter Tork, Davy Jones and Micky Dolenz, shown in Headquarters days.

Rhino Records re-released a collection of Monkees hits with this photo on the

album in 1982., 3. The Monkees, 4. Davy Jones, 5. Marcia Brady, 6. Chandra Bill

then, 7. Chandra Bill now

LOAD-DATE: January 16, 1997

The Palm Beach Post

January 15, 1997, Wednesday, FINAL EDITION

SECTION: ACCENT, Pg. 5D

LENGTH: 186 words

HEADLINE: DAVY DREAM DATE HEARTBREAK

BODY:

I’d waited 30 years for those 30 minutes.

Just me and Davy. Talking. Certainly, he’d find me charming. I’d gotten so

sophisticated since we last “talked” in 1969.

“I like all girls, luv,” he assured me from the pages of 16 magazine. “Just

be yourself.”

His public relations staff told me it was set: Call Davy Jones at 4 a.m. your

time on Tuesday. He’ll be in England.

Probably just finishing a nice brunch. Maybe french fries and a broiled

steak. I know that’s his fave meal. He “told me” all about his faves in 16.

Davy’s fave kind of girl: One with a great sense of humor.

That’s me. Surely, Davy would find me funny, he’d invite me backstage after

the Friday concert at the fair, maybe even write a song about me. My husband

would understand.

Then came the bad news, the stepping stone to heartbreak: Davy had to stand

me up.

“He’s in the recording studio. No interviews,” his staff said.

I couldn’t blame Davy.

Davy dislikes self-centered girls who only think of themselves.

Perhaps Monkees love is best left to the imagination, where it’s been all

these years.

– JAN TUCKWOOD

LOAD-DATE: January 16, 1997

The Palm Beach Post

January 15, 1997, Wednesday, FINAL EDITION

SECTION: ACCENT, Pg. 5D

LENGTH: 361 words

HEADLINE: HEY, HEY, HERE’S WHY THE MONKEES HAD STAYING POWER

BODY:

“TV show, rock band, cultural phenomenon, the Monkees were all of these, but

much more … ”

So says Harold Bronson, editor and producer of Hey, Hey, We’re the Monkees, a

new book and hourlong documentary special that attempt to explain why The

Monkees have endured.

Monkee Micky Dolenz found his answer after a concert, Bronson writes, when he

was approached by a young fan who was confused by the seriousness of Micky’s new

protest song Mommy and Daddy, which dealt with the plight of the Indian.

“She had tears in her eyes as she walked up to me and asked why we didn’t

record any of the good old songs you can dance to,” Micky recalled. “I realized

what the Monkees were all about. They were what a first-grade teacher is to a

child learning math. You can’t teach a kid to multiply until you teach him to

add … the Monkees were so successful because we filled a gap. The Beatles and

all the other groups were trying to appeal to a sophisticated audience. Nobody

was playing to the kids. We gave them something to listen to.”

The Monkees TV show lasted from 1966 to 1968 – and as long as they filled the

gap, Monkeemania grew.

But in 1968, The Monkees tried to get hip and released the movie Head, a

bizarre anti-establishment romp. It flopped – a slap in the face to teenybopper

fans.

Still, those kids remembered. Three of the Monkees – Micky, Davy Jones and

Peter Tork – launched a 20th anniversary tour in 1986. And Mike Nesmith joined

them in 1996 for a 30th anniversary tour. (Nesmith won’t be playing Friday when

the Monkees play the South Florida Fair.)

The Hey, Hey, We’re the Monkees special debuts on the Disney Channel Jan. 22

at 8:30 p.m. It features interviews with all The Monkees and clips from the TV

show. The 160-page book ($ 24.95, from Rhino Records), a companion volume, is in

local bookstores.

– JAN TUCKWOOD

Monkees at the fair

The Monkees play at the South Florida Fair at 7:30 p.m. Friday. They perform

at the Coral Sky Amphitheatre. Lawn seats for the show are free with fair

admission ($ 8 adults, $ 3 children under 12). Covered reserved seating is $ 8

per person. Phone (800) 640-FAIR or 798-FAIR.

NOTES:

Info box at end of text.

LOAD-DATE: January 16, 1997

The Daily Telegraph

January 13, 1997, Monday

SECTION: PETERBOROUGH; Pg. 19

LENGTH: 123 words

HEADLINE: Funky business

BYLINE: EDITED BY DAVID RENNIE

BODY:

ALTHOUGH the re-appearance of the 1960s band The Monkees is somehow like a

reverse Picture of Dorian Gray (their 30-year-old television series has stayed

youthful-looking while they have grown old), the comeback has sparked off some

esoteric speculation. Will the band now sing the unheard original version of

their 1967 hit Daydream Believer? There is a line in the song which runs: “Now

you know how happy I can be.” But, according to the song’s composer, John

Stewart, the original was slightly different: “Now you know how funky I can be.”

“For some absurd reason, the producers thought that would be a bit much,” a

friend of Stewart’s tells me. “He’s hoping the band will be brave enough to do

the proper grown-up version.”

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

LOAD-DATE: January 13, 1997

Agence France Presse

January 11, 1997 11:00 GMT

SECTION: International news

LENGTH: 267 words

HEADLINE: Sixties pop band The Monkees back with new album and British tour

DATELINE: LONDON, Jan 11

BODY:

The Monkees, the 1960s pop band who had a string of worldwide hits including

“I’m A Believer”, “Last Train to Clarksville”, and “Daydream Believer”, got back

together in Britain Friday, for the first time in 30 years.

Billed as America’s answer to The Beatles, they produced four consecutive

number one albums, selling 16 million copies, and three number one singles in

the 39 months they originally spent together.

The band was put together in 1966, not to make records but for a prime time

television series which recorded their fictional ups and downs for a total of 52

episodes.

Asked why they decided to make a new album, Davey Jones, 52, the only British

member of the group, said: “It’s not dollars and cents that matter, it’s a case

of enjoying what we do. The rewards are quite nice, it’s important for alimony

and kids’ schools, but it’s not the main motivation.”

Jones, Peter Tork, and Micky Dolenz have reformed several times since the

band split up, and toured Britain together in 1989, but Mike Nesmith always

refused to join them until last summer, when all four got together in America to

make a new album, “Justus”, to be released here later this month.

rm/mb

AFP

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

LOAD-DATE: January 10, 1997

The Times

January 11, 1997, Saturday

SECTION: Home news

LENGTH: 216 words

HEADLINE: Monkees return from the pop Ark

BYLINE: Damian Whitworth

BODY:

IT WOULD be easy to dismiss them as daydream believers but 30 years after

they split up, the squeaky clean 1960s pop idols the Monkees are back. Yesterday

they met in London to announce a British tour and a new album.

Peter, Mickey, Mike and Davey were manufactured by Californian marketing men

as the American answer to the Beatles and produced four consecutive number-one

albums and three number-one singles, I’m A Believer , Daydream Believer and Last

Train to Clarksville .

Their success came on the back of their own television series, which

recorded their fictional ups and downs. Their real-life fortunes in the

intervening decades have been mixed. Davey Jones, 52, the Manchester-born

guitarist and only British member of the group, said: “It’s not dollars and

cents that matter. It’s a case of enjoying what we do. It’s important for

alimony and kids’ schools, but it’s not the main motivation.”

There was an attempted reunion of the group in the late 1980s but Michael

Nesmith, who had originally split the band when he bought himself out, declined

to join. After recording the new album, Justus, he agreed to play live. Peter

Tork, the tall, mop-topped one, said: “We’ll be much better than before. We were

all right to start with, now we’re ferociously good.”

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

LOAD-DATE: January 11, 1997

Daily Record

January 11, 1997, Saturday

SECTION: Page 13

LENGTH: 320 words

HEADLINE: HEY, HEY IT’S THE WRINKLEES;

The Monkees in Britain

BODY:

Here they come, walking down the street…

But this time pop legends The Monkees are a bit older and greyer.

They met up in Britain for the first time in 30 years yesterday vowing:

“We’re better than ever.”

As revealed in the Record, the Monkees will play Glasgow’s SECC on March 8.

Fans will be treated to hits like I’m A Believer, Last Train to Clarksville

and Daydream Believer.

And the band, now in London, have even got a new album on the way.

Davy Jones, Peter Tork, Micky Dolenz and Mike Nesmith, came together for a

wacky 60s telly show and lasted just 39 months.

The lure of large wads of cash brought them back together.

Showing his age, Davy Jones, now 52, said: ” The rewards are quite nice.

It’s important for alimony and kids’ schools’ fees.”

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

LOAD-DATE: January 12, 1997

DAILY MAIL

January 11, 1997

SECTION: Pg. 19;19;19

LENGTH: 614 words

HEADLINE: Hey, hey, I’m the Grumpy and won’t Monkee around

BYLINE: Polly Graham

BODY:

THE Monkees rocked into Britain yesterday – together again after 30 years.

But while Davy Jones, Peter Tork and Mickey Dolenz were their old bouncy,

happy-go-lucky selves, Mike Nesmith wasn’t a believer in talking.

Appearing on ITV’s This Morning, the three others chatted and joked.

But bearded Nesmith – famous in the band’s Sixties heyday for his woolly hat

– defied all attempts by Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan to get more than the

odd word out of him.

He answered questions only when put on the spot, prompting Tork to quip:

‘Actually, the reason I am being so hyperactive is because Mike has decided not

to say anything.’

To which Judy replied: ‘Yes, we had noticed.’

When he did not respond to a question asking what his favourite song is,

British-born Jones jumped in with: ‘He likes them all.’ Nesmith then repeated:

‘Yes, I like them all.’

The Monkees were formed in 1966 to make a TV comedy series about a pop

group. But they quickly became real-life stars, with a string of hits –

including I’m a Believer, Last Train to Clarksville and Daydream Believer – and

were dubbed America’s answer to the Beatles.

But in 1969, Nesmith dramatically split the group by paying $100,000 to be

released from his contract to pursue a solo career.

A millionaire in his own right – his mother Betty Graham made a fortune by

inventing correcting fluid – he preferred to make critically-acclaimed, but

unpopular country and western albums and set up a movie and video company.

Despite repeated requests, he always refused to re-form the Monkees – until

now. Yesterday, asked why he changed his mind, he would only say: ‘Well, I have

been busy with other projects.’

The group’s British tour, coinciding with the release of a new album, starts

in Newcastle upon Tyne on March 7 and culminates at Wembley Arena on March 19.

GRAPHIC: MONKEE BUSINESS: IN THEIR HEYDAY (LEFT) AND (RIGHT) YESTERDAY. FROM TOP

IN MAIN PICTURE, DOLENZ, NESMITH, TORK AND JONES

LOAD-DATE: January 13, 1997

The Guardian

January 11, 1997

SECTION: THE GUARDIAN HOME PAGE; Pg. 4

LENGTH: 1254 words

HEADLINE: HEY, BELIEVERS, MAKE WAY FOR THE MONKEES

BYLINE: Stuart Millar

BODY:

POP memorabilia adorn the walls of the Hard Rock Cafe in central London.

Fifth Beatle Stuart Sutcliffe’s bass fights for attention with a leopard-print

jumpsuit worn by Rod Stewart in 1971.

But yesterday these paled into insignificance beside one of pop’s most

seminal artefacts: the Monkees.

Back together after 30 years, the world’s original manufactured band

descended on London to promote their first British tour. In a whirlwind career

in the 1960s, the group played here only once, at Wembley in 1967.

Now in their fifties, the four did their best yesterday to prove little had

changed. Older, greyer and rounder in the middle they may be, but Davy Jones,

Micky Dolenz, Mike Nesmith and Peter Tork managed to turn on the charm for the

cameras.

“The last time we were here was so long ago we came by zeppelin,” quipped

Tork. “This time, it’s good fun and hard work. And yes, the money promises to

be good.”

The Monkees were the first of a line leading to today’s production-line

groups like Boyzone and the Spice Girls. In 1965, Daily Variety newspaper ran an

advert for a pilot sitcom: “Madness!! Running parts for four insane boys, aged

17 to 21.”

Among the 436 who auditioned were Charles Manson, who was to achieve fame as

a serial killer, and Stephen Stills, later part of Crosby, Stills, Nash and

Young.

But the parts went to Jones (the diminutive singer born in Manchester),

Dolenz (the wacky drummer), Tork (the mop-topped shy one), and Nesmith (in the

bobbly hat).

With producers who used outside song-writers and session men to produce

Monkee hits, the group went on to sell more than 23 million records and make 52

episodes of their Emmy Award-winning television series.

It was partly the manipulation that brought the dream to an ignominious end.

Mike Nesmith paid pounds 160,000 to buy himself out of the Monkees. Until

yesterday he had refused to get involved in any of the Monkees’ later

incarnations.

This time, the group said, things would be different. They had written and

recorded all their own material for an album, Justus.

“We’ll be much better than before,” said Tork. “Now we’re ferociously good.”

Dolenz agreed: “We were never a real band. We started in a TV show about a

band, then we became one – in the same way Leonard Nimoy became Mr Spock. The

only reason we didn’t play on our first records was because the record company

wouldn’t let us.”

Despite this, there were signs that the group remained at the whim of

promoters. When the group was asked to do a song, a PR man intervened with a

resolute refusal.

But the diehard fans who carried battered LPs to be autographed were willing

to overlook details. “This is a great event,” said Kirk White, president of the

fan club, whose 300 members include 40-year -old housewives and 14-year-old

girls. “Who will be listening to Boyzone in 30 years?”

Update on Sixties swingers

DAVY JONES

The one they fell in love with, Jones continued with a solo career as well

as sporadic reunions with Tork and Dolenz. He also continued acting and wrote

two books. Originally an apprentice jockey, he last year won his first race at

Lingfield.

MICKY DOLENZ

An established child actor before a Monkee, Dolenz has since made his mark

as actor, director, producer and performer. Produced British duo Ant and Dec,

whom he tips as the next Monkees.

PETER TORK

Only Monkee to play a character different to himself in the show, appearing

as offbeat and shy. Regarded as the most musically adept, and has remained in

the industry, playing anything from folk banjo to rock keyboards.

MIKE NESMITH

Heir to the Liquid Paper correcting fluid fortune, Nesmith bought himself

out of the Monkees to return to folk music. An acclaimed artist, with more than

20 albums, and a sought-after producer.

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

LOAD-DATE: January 11, 1997

The Herald (Glasgow)

January 11, 1997

SECTION: Pg. 9

LENGTH: 387 words

HEADLINE: Hey hey it’s the Monkees again

BYLINE: By Lynne Robertson ;And Carlos Alba;

BODY:

LEGENDARY 1960s band The Monkees got back together in Britain yesterday for

the first time in 30 years and pledged to be better than ever.

Although it has taken promoters 30 years to get Davy Jones, Peter Tork,

Micky Dolenz, and Mike Nesmith together, the quartet has recorded a new album,

Justus, to be released on January 27, and begin touring Britain on March 7.

The Monkees, who had a string of worldwide hits including I’m A Believer,

Last Train to Clarksville, and Daydream Believer, lasted just 39 months together

before millionaire Nes- mith paid $ 160,000 to quit the band.

Asked why the band was touring, Davy Jones, 52, said: “For The Monkees, it’s

not dollars and cents that matter, it’s a case of enjoying what we do. The

rewards are quite nice, it’s important for alimony and kids’ schools, but it’s

not the main motivation.

“The Monkees will always have that happy singalong top 40 sound.”

Peter Tork, who was the tall mop-topped one, joked: “It’s good fun and it’s

hard work and, yes, the money promises to be good.

“The fame, the adulation, that’s the hard part. We’ll be much better than

before.”

The tour begin in Newcastle on Friday, March 7, and culminates in a show at

the 12,000-capacity Wembley Arena on March 19.

GRAPHIC: The Monkees today, above, Peter Tork, Mike Nesmith, Davy Jones, and

Micky Dolenz and, below, as they were in 1967. Main picture: FIONA HANSON/PA

LOAD-DATE: January 13, 1997

The Independent

January 11, 1997, Saturday

SECTION: NEWS; Page 3

LENGTH: 792 words

HEADLINE: Daydream believers back to pay the alimony and school fees; ‘We were

all right to start with but now we’re ferociously good’

BYLINE: Louise Jury

BODY:

The faces are familiar, but the lyrics will have to be changed. All four

members of the Monkees, were back together monkeying around for the first time

in 30 years yesterday.

The designer-confected band whose wholesome television show imprinted them

on many millions of young Britons in the 1960s and early seventies had

disappeared from public view as a foursome. Now they are back . . . and the

shock for the one-time fans is that they claim to be playing better than they

used to (though that may be a matter of opinion).

With hair greying and laughter lines a little more pronounced, the members

of the one-time “young generation” of the sixties are now all in their fifties.

“Hey, hey, we’re the. . .” they joked with mock memory-loss.

Yet there are rewards as well as disadvantages to the ageing process. Where

in 1966 the Monkees were the creations of television executives eager not for a

pop group but a hit series for the young, today they are the ones in charge.

“We ARE the corporation,” roared Peter Tork, the one with mop hair, with a

giant grin. However, Davy Jones, the band’s baby-faced lead singer, said it was

not the money that mattered. “It’s a case of enjoying what we do,” he said. “The

rewards are quite nice, it’s important for alimony and kids’ schools, but it’s

not the main motivation.”

Billed as America’s answer to The Beatles, they recorded 52 episodes of the

television series but also sold 16 million albums, 7.5 million singles and

notched up hits including “I’m A Believer”, “Daydream Believer” and “Last Train

to Clarksville”, in a 39-month career.

It ended when Mike Nesmith paid $ 160,000 to get out of the group. Though

Davy Jones, Mickey Dolenz and Peter Tork have reunited several times since, he

had always refused to join in. Until now.

He explained his change of heart yesterday, at a launch party at the Hard

Rock Cafe, central London, saying simply: “I just wanted to get back to

playing.”

Jones, Dolenz and Tork have reformed several times since, and toured Britain

together in 1989, but Nesmith always refused to join them until last summer

when all four got together to record a new album, Justus, to be released in

Britain on 27 January.

On 7 March, they embark on a 10-stop tour of the British Isles and Ireland

which continues in America over the summer. And a television special is also to

be made.

Jones, the only British-born member of the quartet, said that despite the

height of their fame being 30 years past he was still recognised everywhere he

went. “People still sing ‘Hey, hey we’re the Monkees’ if they see me in the

street.”

Tork, jokily claiming the fame and adulation were the hard part, promised

they would be much better than before. “We were all right to start with, now

we’re ferociously good.”

Dolenz added: “There are a lot of people who have tried to catch the

lightning and the bottle again. But it’s a very tough job to do and nobody has

been successful.”

Ward Sylvester, their manager and the producer of the original television

series, thought the Monkees reminded people of a certain generation of a happy

time in their lives. But as the series was always being repeated, it was still

capturing new generations. “They’re remarkably evergreen,” he said.

The Monkees only ever played one concert in Britain during their heyday – at

the Empire Pool, Wembley, in June, 1967 – but there is 300-strong fan club. Kirk

White, 44, a London council worker and the club’s president, loves everything

about them. “The television show, the music – it brings back memories of the

Sixties.”

The old men of rock who just can’t hang up their guitars

The Eagles

Asked whether the Eagles would ever re-form, Don Henley replied “when hell

freezes over” – the name of their latest tour.

The Rolling Stones

The Stones are due to tour the US this year. The nucleus of the band

remained from Brian Jones’s death in 1969 until 1992, when Bill Wyman left to be

replaced by Darryl Jones.

Yes

Despite numerous splits and reformations since 1968, Yes are to go on tour

later this year with the line-up which brought the band its years of popularity.

Jethro Tull

Formed in Blackpool in 1967, Jethro Tull were performing right up to the

summer of last year, when Ian Anderson collapsed in Sydney. The Scots- born

singer and flute player tore some cartilage when attempting a wild- man-of-rock

leap off a stage in Lima, Peru, and his injuries led to a blood clot which

threatened to block his heart.

The Everly Brothers

In the early Seventies, Phil Everly vowed never to perform with his brother

Don again. But three years ago they made their peace on stage at the Royal

Albert Hall.

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

LOAD-DATE: January 13, 1997

The Mirror

January 11, 1997, Saturday

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 12

LENGTH: 254 words

HEADLINE: HEY, GREY, WE’RE THE MONKEES;

MONKEES POP GROUP TO TOUR AFTER 30 YEARS

BODY:

They’re older and greyer but, hey, hey, they’re still The Monkees.

Sixties pop legends Micky Dolenz, Mike Nesmith, Davy Jones and Peter Tork

got together in London’s Hard Rock Cafe yesterday for the first time in 30 years

to prepare for a British tour.

Despite worldwide hits like Daydream Believer, Last Train To Clarksville and

I’m A Believer, the foursome, put together for a U.S. TV show, were dogged by

criticism that they couldn’t play.

Guitarist Peter Tork joked: “We’ll be much better than before. We were all

right to start with, now we’re ferociously good.”

There’s even a new album out soon – Justus – which is said to be “Sixties in

style”.

Well what do you expect from The Monkees – Jungle?

GRAPHIC: SIXTIES IDOLS: Fame in younger days;; WE’RE BELIEVERS: The Monkees back

together again yesterday

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

LOAD-DATE: January 14, 1997

The Mirror

January 11, 1997, Saturday

SECTION: LEADER; Pg. 6

LENGTH: 93 words

HEADLINE: BANANAS ..;

MONKEES TO RE-FORM: COMMENT

BODY:

Thirty years ago they trilled the world as “the American Beatles”.

Now the Monkees are to re-form.

If they think they are still teen idols, they really are daydream believers.

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

LOAD-DATE: January 14, 1997

The Scotsman

January 11, 1997, Saturday

SECTION: Pg. 3

LENGTH: 627 words

HEADLINE: Getting back to Monkee business

BYLINE: Sarah Wilson

BODY:

APPARENTLY, you are never too old to monkey around.

TheMonkees, the 1960s band that brought us Daydream Believer and Last Train

to Clarksville were in London yesterday to launch a new album and tour.

Predictably, America’s answer to the Beatles was spawned by a TV show rather

than nights of jamming in seedy pubs. Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Mike Nesmith and

Peter Tork, landed the job of actor/musicians for the 1966 prime-time television

series after answering an advert for “four insane boys aged 17-21”.

Though the manufactured group produced four consecutive number one albums,

selling 16 million copies, they only lasted for 39 months before Nesmith paid $

160,000 (L 94,000) to break his contract and pursue a separate musical career.

In their heyday, the Monkees only played one concert in Britain, at the

Empire Pool, Wembley, in June 1967. However, their new album, Justus, to be

released on 27 January, will be supported by a nationwide tour which takes in

the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre in Glasgow on 8 March.

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

LOAD-DATE: January 14, 1997

The Scotsman

January 11, 1997, Saturday

SECTION: Pg. 12

LENGTH: 427 words

HEADLINE: Monkee business

BYLINE: Leader

BODY:

Hey, hey are we pleased to see you back (even the tall one in the woolly

hat). Don’t pull a face: why shouldn’t we be? Didn’t we laugh at your antics,

lap up your records and tack pictures of you onto our walls? Oh, you’re not

pulling a face, you’re just 55. Sorry.

There is one thing, however. A small spot of bother we had while you were

away. You see you were the first “boy band” and, while you cantered gaily

through your recording career, others followed in a less stately fashion. It

started innocently enough, but by the time Bros had asked When Will I Be Famous?

there was a queue of synthetic boy bands stretching round the New Kids on the

Block.

It got worse. Take That, said the world’s pop svengalis, and that and that.

Last summer new depths were plumbed as the girls got in on the act. The Spice

Girls. So while we welcome you back, we do have a few bones to pick. That’s all

we want, all we really, really want.

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

LOAD-DATE: January 14, 1997

Press Association Newsfile

January 10, 1997, Friday

SECTION: HOME NEWS

LENGTH: 287 words

HEADLINE: WE’RE BACK – AND BETTER, SAY MONKEES

BYLINE: Simon Holden, Showbusiness Correspondent

BODY:

Legendary 1960s band The Monkees got back together in Britain today, for the

first time in 30 years – and pledged to be better than ever. Although it has

taken promoters 30 years to get Davy Jones, Peter Tork, Micky Dolenz and Mike

Nesmith together, the quartet have recorded a new album, Justus, to be released

on January 27, and begin touring Britain on March 7. The Monkees, who had a

string of worldwide hits including I’m A Believer, Last Train to Clarksville,

and Daydream Believer, lasted just 39 months together before millionaire Nesmith

paid 160,000 dollars to quit the band. Asked why the band are touring

diminutive Davy Jones, 52, said: “For The Monkees it’s not dollars and cents

that matter, it’s a case of enjoying what we do. The rewards are quite nice,

it’s important for alimony and kids’ schools, but it’s not the main motivation.

“The Monkees will always have that happy singalong top 40 sound.” Peter Tork –

who was the tall mop-topped one – joked: “It’s good fun and it’s hard work and

yes, the money promises to be good. “The fame, the adulation, that’s the hard

part. We’ll be much better than before. We were all right to start with, now

we’re ferociously good.” He dismissed rumours that the band members were at

loggerheads for long periods in the 1970s, saying: “We have always been

friends.” The tour begins at the Newcastle Arena on Friday March 7 and

culminates in a show at the 12,000-capacity Wembley Arena on March 19. Promoter

Paul Walden said at London’s Hard Rock Cafe: “The band like the idea of

controlling what they produce. For the first time this album is written and

produced by them, it has a slight sixties feel, but is certainly contemporary in

style.”

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

Press Association Newsfile

January 10, 1997, Friday

SECTION: HOME NEWS

LENGTH: 297 words

HEADLINE: HEY, HEY, MONKEYS TO TOUR BRITAIN

BYLINE: Tim Moynihan, PA News

BODY:

Top 60s group The Monkees have reformed with a new album about to be

released and a tour of Britain in March.

The group, comprising Davy Jones, Mike Nesmith, Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork,

was put together originally not to make records but for a prime time television

series, in 1966.

Billed as America’s answer to The Beatles, they recorded 52 episodes and

produced four consecutive number one albums, selling 16 million copies, and

three number one singles, I’m A Believer, Daydream Believer and Last Train to

Clarksville.

They lasted only 39 months before Nesmith paid 160,000 (L100,000) to break

his contract and pursue a separate musical career.

Jones, Dolenz and Tork have reformed several times since, and toured Britain

together in 1989, but Nesmith always refused to join them until last summer when

all four got together in America to make a new album, Justus, released here on

January 27.

The Monkees only ever played one concert in Britain during their heyday – at

the Empire Pool, Wembley, in June, 1967.

Baby-faced lead singer Jones, from Manchester, is the sole Englishman in the

group. The others are American.

Jones failed as an apprentice jockey at the age of 14 – but rode his first

winner last February, aged 50, at Lingfield Park. The horse, Digpast, was owned

by his actress daughter Sarah.

His first TV role was in Coronation Street in the early 1960s, playing Ena

Sharples’ grandson Colin Lomax for a year.

He landed the job in the Monkees after answering an advert for “four insane

boys aged 17-21”.

The TV show was screened in more than 30 countries and Jones says: “People

still sing ‘Hey, hey we’re the Monkees’ if they see me in the street.”

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

a Thomson Corporation Company

IAC (SM) Newsletter Database (TM)

M2 Communications

M2 Presswire

January 6, 1997

LENGTH: 366 words

HEADLINE: THE DISNEY CHANNEL: Disney Channel celebrates reunited ’60’s band with

“HEY, HEY WE’RE THE MONKEES”

BODY:

M2 PRESSWIRE-6 January 1997-THE DISNEY CHANNEL: The Disney Channel celebrates

COMMUNICATIONS LTD

RDATE:241296

* Premiering January 22

One of pop music’s most enduring bands, The Monkees, are poised to win over

another generation of fans with the special HEY, HEY WE’RE THE MONKEES, a

retrospective on their eclectic career, debuting on The Disney Channel

Wednesday, January 22 at 8:30 p.m. (ET/PT).

Featuring interviews with The Monkees — Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, Peter

Tork and Mickey Dolenz — HEY, HEY WE’RE THE MONKEES includes clips from their

Emmy Award-winning television series, famous for its in-your-face, fast-paced

style of film making with the four young, spirited, long-haired musical leads.

Plus, the program offers a behind-the-scenes look at the fascinating story that

brought these four individuals together to form the band. The special also

spotlights concert footage from their tours during the past three decades,

little-known trivia facts, and past performances of such No.1 hits as “Last

Train to Clarksville,” “Daydream Believer,” “I’m a Believer” and “Pleasant

Valley Sunday.”

HEY, HEY WE’RE THE MONKEES reflects on The Monkees’ fast climb to success,

and their subsequent collaborations, including involvement with such talents as

actor/film producer Jack Nicholson, music producer Don Kirshner and

chart-topping singers Neil Diamond and Carole King.

Harold Bronson serves as executive producer of HEY, HEY WE’RE THE MONKEES,

with Stephanie Bennett as producer. The special is directed by Alan Boyd and

written by Chuck Harter.

HEY, HEY WE’RE THE MONKEES is a production of Delilah Music Pictures in

association with The Disney Channel.

The Disney Channel is a subsidiary of The Wait Disney Company.

CONTACT: Lisa Caceci, The Disney Channel/New York Tel: +1 212 735-5390 Gina

Mace/Rachel McCallister, Rachel McCallister & Associates Tel: +1 213 939-5991

Jane Shaffer, The Disney Channel Tel: +1 818 569-7807

*M2 COMMUNICATIONS DISCLAIMS ALL LIABILITY FOR INFORMATION PROVIDED WITHIN M2

PRESSWIRE. DATA SUPPLIED BY NAMED PARTY/PARTIES.*

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

LOAD-DATE: January 09, 1997

The Palm Beach Post

January 5, 1997, Sunday, FINAL EDITION

SECTION: ACCENT, Pg. 5D

LENGTH: 91 words

HEADLINE: MONKEE MANIACS

BODY:

Hey, luv, did you dig Davy?

Or Micky? Mike? Peter?

Tell us which Monkee you loved and why. Winning Monkee maniac gets two

tickets on the last train to Clarksville or two tickets to the Monkees concert

at the South Florida Fair on Jan. 17.

Send your entry – with name, age, address and daytime phone – to:

Monkee Love

Palm Beach Post

Accent Department

P.O. Box 24696

West Palm Beach, Fla. 33416-4700

Or call (561) 820-4511. In Martin and St. Lucie, call (561) 337-0511. Outside

the area, call 930-2511. Enter code 5777.

GRAPHIC: PHOTO (B&W), Peter Tork (mug)

LOAD-DATE: January 6, 1997

The Times Union (Albany, NY)

January 5, 1997, Sunday, THREE STAR EDITION

SECTION: SHOWTIME, Pg. G5

LENGTH: 944 words

HEADLINE: Nesmith boards last train to success with revamped Monkees The

original four release a new record

BYLINE: PAUL FREEMAN; Entertainment News Service

BODY:

Shortly after its TV series debuted in 1966, the Monkees were outselling the

Beatles. Though the NBC show lasted just two seasons, the phenomenon never

ended.

Now celebrating its 30th anniversary, the band has reunited for a new album,

”Justus” (Rhino), and there are other exciting projects on the horizon.

Mickey Dolenz, Peter Tork and Davy Jones have involved themselves in numerous

Monkee reincarnations over the years, but this is the first time that Michael

Nesmith has returned to the fold.

Why did he pass up the previous reunions? ”The principal reason was

allocation of time,” the affable Nesmith says. ”I was always doing something

else I couldn’t get out of. During the big tour in ’86, I was dead in the middle

of producing a motion picture called ‘Square Dance,’ with Wynona Ryder.

”Add to that the fact that I don’t like to be out touring for long. So,

basically, I didn’t have the time and I didn’t want to do it. Now I do have the

time and I do want to do it.”

The four had remained in touch over the years. Now all are again based in Los

Angeles. For months, they talked about jamming for fun. Nesmith says, ”We

finally got into a rehearsal studio and it dawned on us, ‘Gee, we could make a

record here. This sounds great!’ ”

On the early Monkees’ albums, there tended to be four individual musical

directions. ”With this one, it wasn’t quite as disparate as it was in the

’60s,” Nesmith explains. ”It was very harmonious. We had a constitution for

the album. We would write all the material and produce it. Whoever wrote the

song would have the last word on it. And nobody would play on the album but

us.”

Thus the title ”Justus.” Which also is a pun that good-naturedly refers to

the fact that the Monkees, during its climb to the top, never seemed to get any

credit for making some of the era’s catchiest pop music. Monkees songs were

written by such talented tunesmiths as Gerry Goffin & Carole King, Neil Diamond,

Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart, and Barry Mann & Cynthia Weill, as well as the four

lads themselves.

The Monkees were criticized because they weren’t a real band; they just

played one on TV. ”There really never was a Monkees,” Nesmith says. ”It was a

fabrication, a television show about an out-of-work rock ‘n’ roll band with no

ties. . . . It was (all about) their high jinks.

”The media of the ’60s shouldn’t have regarded it as a scoop that we weren’t

a real band. There’s no such thing as the starship Enterprise and Laurence

Olivier’s not really the prince of Denmark.”

”I remember when we were on stage in Japan once, it was going particularly

well,” he said. ”We were playing a Chuck Berry song and, right out of that,

launched into a version of ‘Pleasant Valley Sunday,’ just blasting through it.

David went over to Peter and said, ‘This sounds great! You want to start a

band?’ We always had an understanding of the irony.”

After the Monkees’ run ended, Nesmith’s creativity soared. He recorded

numerous acclaimed solo albums and produced several well-received films,

including ”Repo Man,” which starred Emilio Estevez. He is considered a pioneer

in the field of music videos and is about to have his first novel published.

For Nesmith, there never was an ”I’m Not Spock” period. He didn’t mind

being stuck with the ”Ex-Monkee” label. ”I never thought of it as

pejorative,” he says. ”No, I was always real happy with my role in the show

and the show’s role in my life. It was terrific. It’s juvenilia. But that’s an

important part of growing up.”

With a hint of a Texas drawl, an abundance of sincerity and a wonderfully

quirky sense of humor, Nesmith played an important part in making the Monkees an

enduring success. He was responsible for such memorable songs as ”Mary, Mary,”

”Listen to the Band” and ”Circle Sky,” which was featured in the Monkee

movie ”Head” and gets a rocking reworking on the new ”Justus” album.

Now there are scheduled dates for live performances with his former partners,

which, like the album, will spotlight Nesmith on guitars, Tork on bass and

keyboards, Jones on percussion and Dolenz on drums. All contribute vocals. Still

averse to grueling tours, Nesmith would limit these jaunts to 10 cities at a

time.

Also in the works is a Monkees feature film. ”We would be an out-of-work

rock ‘n’ roll band, except we’re all grown up and still at it. But the impetus

and the narrative structure of the piece is probably not as similar to the

series as it is dissimilar. And it’s nothing like the ‘Brady Bunch’ movies.”

With the original series still airing around the globe and Rhino reissuing

everything the group has done on audio and video, the Monkees’ appeal shows no

signs of waning. ”A lot of people respond to our personalities as young men,”

Nesmith says. ”A lot of people respond to the music. And a lot of people

respond to the brand of humor.

”It seems to translate very well. That hasn’t happened often — Chaplin, the

Marx Brothers — but it’s really hard to export comedy. It works in so many

countries, so many languages. I’m surprised; but I’m happy when the check shows

up,” Nesmith says with a laugh.

He doesn’t focus on the 30th anniversary: ”I don’t think of it in a time

context at all. Measuring how many times I’ve been around the sun since I was

doing the television show doesn’t seem to have a lot of relevance for me

somehow.”

There is an engagingly timeless quality about the new album.

”With the music and the movie, we’re not revisiting the past at all,”

Nesmith says. ”We’re just looking at the legacy that’s there, pointing it out

and moving it forward.”

LOAD-DATE: January 6, 1997

The Independent

January 4, 1997, Saturday

SECTION: FEATURES; Page 5

LENGTH: 244 words

HEADLINE: HYPE ALERT

BODY:

In 1965 Variety ran an ad for a pilot sitcom which read “Madness! Running

parts for four insane boys aged 17 to 21.” More than 400 hopefuls auditioned,

among them psychopath Charles Manson, but even he might have baulked at joining

the ersatz “cult” band if he’d seen the costumes he’d have to wear. In the

event, it was Davy Jones, Mike Nesmith, Peter Tork and Micky Dolenz who spent

two years looking like the kind of thing you’d dangle from your windscreen

mirror, before splitting up in 1967. Now, after the 30 years in the fashion

recovery room, The Monkees (below left) are reforming to do their first tour

since the Sixties. It starts in Newcastle on 7 March.

June’s Meltdown festival at the South Bank shakes off its fusty image with a

roster of performance artists and adult popsters. Laurie Anderson is bringing

along a home made animatronic parrot (as a comment on her role as festival

director, perhaps?), and performers include Ryuichi Sakamoto, Lou Reed and David

Byrne.

The BBC launches a new record label this month to release the thousands of

original and live recordings it has in its archives. Accumulated since 1967,

the collection features artists such as the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and

Pink Floyd.

A number of “official” virgins are scheduled to gather at the Roman Catholic

Cathedral in Plymouth in May. The number of committed virgins in Britain is

estimated at 100 and the vow is not available to men.

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

LOAD-DATE: January 06, 1997

Copley News Service

November 04, 1996, Tuesday 09:53 Eastern Time

SECTION: Entertainment, television and culture

HEADLINE: WORLD OF MUSIC

Crows find success

isn’t that great

BYLINE: John Godfrey

BODY:

Back when Counting Crows were just another unsigned band playing the club

scene in San Francisco, frontman Adam Duritz publicly fantasized about being a

rock ‘n’ roll star: ”When I look at the television, I want to see me staring

right back at me,” Duritz sang in ”Mr. Jones,” the band’s eventual first hit.

A few bars later in the same song, he added, ”when everybody loves me, I’m

gonna be just about as happy as I can be.”

Six million albums later, Duritz has changed his tune. Drastically.

Apparently fed up with stardom, the dreadlocked crooner snivels about how

miserable he is throughout Counting Crows’ sophomore effort, ”Recovering the

Satellites.” Gone is the naive-but-poetic optimism that made ”August and

Everything After” such a special debut album. In its place lies world-weary

cynicism, bitterness and spite.

Whether it’s the grating self-pity of ”Daylight Fading,” the indulgent

introspection of ”Have You Seen Me Lately?” or the gloom and doom of the title

track, ”Recovering the Satellites” is a sour affair.

Coinciding with or maybe as a result of Duritz’ new state of mind, the other

four members of Counting Crows sound different, too. The lyrical, Van Morrison

vibe of the first record has been supplanted by a heavier, 1970s guitar rock

aesthetic. ”Angels of the Silences” is a cross between Cheap Trick and early

Tom Petty, while ”Children in Bloom” is ponderous in a Moody Blues sort of

way.

Duritz and company manage to cultivate a few beautiful blossoms: ”Goodnight

Elisabeth” is a painful, poignant love song that should be a radio hit and

”Another Horsedreamer’s Blues” possesses the kind of light touch this album

needs desperately. For the most part, though, ”Recovering the Satellites” is

barren and unsightly a garden full of weeds.

”Carnival Boy”; Tobin Sprout; Matador.

Alternative music fans know Tobin Sprout as the ”other guy” in Guided by

Voices the fellow who plays second banana to GBV’s Bob Pollard and occasionally

contributes a song or two to the albums. As the 14 tracks on his debut solo

effort reveal, however, Sprout is more than ready to step out of the shadows and

steal some time in the spotlight.

His ”Carnival Boy” is a haunting assortment of expertly crafted pop music a

stunning collection that calls to mind the naked passion of Joy Division, the

inscrutability of early R.E.M., even the piercing vocal strength of Art

Garfunkel. Go out of your way to find ”Carnival Boy” it is one of the best

albums of 1996.

From the exquisite strains of ”Hermit Stew” to the fuzzy, forceful guitar

chords adorning ”The Natural Alarm,” Sprout taps into a dizzying array of

musical influences. To his enduring credit, though, Sprout adds a distinctive

flavor to each of the genres he raids. As a result, there isn’t a derivative

note to be found on this record, and the combinations work well: Sprout finds a

way to include the Billy Bragg-like ballad ”Gas Daddy Gas” and the

noise-thrash of ”White Flyer” and makes the juxtaposition seem perfectly

logical.

While each track on ”Carnival Boy” seems thoroughly fleshed out and

substantial, it’s worth noting that all 14 songs come in under three minutes,

and three tracks ”Cooler Jocks,” ”The Bone Yard” and ”Gallant Men” are

less than 90 seconds long. Sprout isn’t selling us short, mind you, he has

simply stripped the music down to its essentials, leaving no room for fluff or

filler.

Each stone has been cut with precision, polished with care and displayed with

honesty. ”Carnival Boy” is a sparkling debut.

”Justus”; The Monkees; Rhino.

The Monkees’ blissfully bantamweight music transcended the silly television

show and made a substantial, if fleeting, impact on pop music. In the space of

30 months, these four actor/musicians sold 16 million albums and 7.5 million

singles, and generated a handful of classics including ”I’m a Believer,”

”Pleasant Valley Sunday” and ”Last Train to Clarksville.”

But a 30-year reunion? Complete with a Disney Channel retrospective, CD-ROM

and coffee table book? Puh-lease.

The master archivists at Rhino Records deserve all the credit in the world

for re-releasing the Monkees’ early material, but the new reunion album,

”Justus,” is Justabigmess.

Entirely written, performed and produced by the original members of the band,

”Justus” marks the first time holdout Michael Nesmith has recorded as a

Monkee since the early 1970s.

Alas, Nesmith is no savior. His offerings, including the tepid hard-rock of

”Circle Sky” and the droning, tired rhythms of ”Admiral Mike,” aim for

profundity but end up sounding a bit sad. Micky Dolenz’ Fats Domino-like

”Unlucky Stars” is nostalgic for the wrong decade and his ”It’s My Life”

comes perilously close to an unintentional parody of ”My Way.” Peter Tork and

David (formerly Davy) Jones also make a few lackluster contributions.

The sad truth about the 1996 Monkees is they lack all the qualities that made

them so special in the 1960s. It was their goofy, pointless youth that grabbed

our attention back then.

LOAD-DATE: January 10, 1997

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This is Now : Stories and reviews from UK 1997

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