Monkees UK Summer Tour Announced

From: Fred V.

Here’s the official video announcement of the Monkees 2011 British Tour.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3D-DwX4zSydqc

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Announcements of The Monkees Reunion in the UK from rude to crude to
complimentary – with photos! Tickets go on sale tomorrow. USA dates
are to follow – one is already confirmed.

Monkees tour dates in the UK (plus the Wolftrap show in the US) are up
on Pollster!

http://www.pollstar.com/resultsArtist.aspx?ID=3D84806&SortBy=3DDate

Thu 05/12/11 Liverpool, United Kingdom Liverpool Echo Arena
Sat 05/14/11 Manchester, United Kingdom O2 Apollo Manchester
Sun 05/15/11 Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom Newcastle City Hall
Mon 05/16/11 Glasgow, United Kingdom Clyde Auditorium
Thu 05/19/11 London, United Kingdom Royal Albert Hall
Fri 05/20/11 Sheffield, United Kingdom Sheffield City Hall
Sat 05/21/11 Birmingham, United Kingdom The NIA
Mon 05/23/11 Plymouth, United Kingdom Plymouth Pavilions
Tue 05/24/11 Cardiff, United Kingdom Cardiff International Arena
Wed 05/25/11 Nottingham, United Kingdom Royal Centre
Sun 06/19/11 Vienna, VA Filene Center At Wolf Trap

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1359199/The-Monkees-45-years-1=
m-motive.html?ito=3Dfeeds-newsxml

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/columnists/reade/2011/02/24/are-the-monkees-ba=
ck-for-a-pension-115875-22944793/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/feb/21/the-monkees-60s-uk-tour

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/8337883/2917204Hey-Hey-=
Its…The-Monkees-reformation.html

http://www.spinner.com/2011/02/21/monkees-reform-concerts/

http://www.theimproper.com/19369/the-monkees-60s-era-tv-band-to-reunite-for=
-tour-video

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/music/news/hey-hey-its-the-=
monkees-reunited-15091809.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-the-t=
ale-continues-2221762.html

http://www.huliq.com/3257/hey-hey-theyre-touring-uk-monkees

http://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/Music/2011/02/21/Monkees-announce-10-=
date-concert-tour/UPI-30601298316685/

http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/story/monkees-reunite-for-british-tour=
_1203245

http://entertainment.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=3D281474979078=
072

http://www.gigwise.com/news/61518/The-Monkees-Reform-For-UK-Tour—Tickets

http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/news/2011/02/22/the-monkees-plan-shock-reuni=
on-115875-22940311/

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/hey-hey-its-thre=
equarters-of-the-monkees-2221704.html

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From: Fred V.

The Monkees were the guests on the BBC Radio Wales on the Jamie Owen and Lo=
uise
Elliott show talking about their upcoming 2011 tour talking about their 201=
1
tour. You can hear the show at the below link, the Monkees come in at the 2
hour, 20 minute portion of the show. The show will be up on the BBC Radio W=
ales
website until March 1st.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00ym6qd/Jamie_Owen_and_Louise_Elliott=
_22_02_2011/

Here is a piece from BBC Radio 6 about the British leg of the Monkees 2011 =
tour.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/news/20110223_monkees.shtml

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From: Kevin

There’s a major feature article on papa Nez in the latest Austin
Chronicle weekly alternative newspaper — here’s the direct link:

http://www.austinchronicle.com/music/2011-02-18/circle-sky/

I wonder if they will mention why they’re giving him all this
attention NOW but still haven’t placed him in their Texas Music Hall
of Fame?
best!

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From: Aaron Handy III

No sooner do we mourn one venerable Monkees guest actor than another
leaves us. Courtesy of The Associated Press:

‘Seinfeld’ actor Len Lesser dies at 88

LOS ANGELES – Len Lesser, the veteran character actor best known for
his scene-stealing role as Uncle Leo on “Seinfeld,” has died. He was
88.

Lesser’s family said in a statement that he died Wednesday in Burbank,
Calif., from cancer-related pneumonia.

Lesser’s lengthy list of television credits included parts on “Get
Smart,” “That Girl,” “The Munsters,” “The Monkees,” “The Rockford
Files,” “thirtysomething,” “ER,” and “Everybody Loves Raymond,” which
featured Lesser in a recurring role as the arm-shaking Garvin. His
film credits included “Outlaw Josey Wales,” “Kelly’s Heroes,” “Birdman
of Alcatraz” and “Death Hunt.” He most recently appeared on the TV
drama “Castle.”

He is survived by his daughter, Michele; son, David; daughter-in-law,
Julie; and grandchildren, Jonathan, Kayla, and Mayah.

To we Monkeemavens, Leonard King Lesser will forever be recognized as
the bank robber George in Monkees episode #4704, “The Monkees In A
Ghost Town”, and the desperado Red in Monkees episode #4761, “The
Monkees In Texas”. To absent friends…

http://www.undercover.fm/news/13752-uncle-leo-passes-away-r-i-p-len-lesser

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From: Julie

Micky is going to Play a concert in Elk Grove Village (Chicago)

http://triblocal.com/elk-grove-village/2011/02/08/summer-concert-series-set=
/

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From: Aaron Handy III

We tip our wool hat in memory of another departed Monkees guest star.
Courtesy of The New York Times:

Charlie Callas, Zany Comedian, Dies at 83
Published: January 28, 2011

Charlie Callas, a rubber-faced comedian who cavorted on television and
the nightclub circuit in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, often punctuating
punch lines with sound effects emanating from his motormouth, died on
Thursday in Las Vegas. He was 83.

Michael Murphy, the coroner in Clark County in Nevada, confirmed the death.

A string bean of a man with a Cyrano-size nose, Mr. Callas appeared on
virtually every television variety and talk show in the days of Ed
Sullivan, Jackie Gleason, Merv Griffin and Johnny Carson. He was a
regular on “The Andy Williams Show” and “The ABC Comedy Hour,” a
semiregular on “The Flip Wilson Show” and a co-host of “The Joey
Bishop Show.”

Mr. Callas tried his hand at drama in 1975, opposite Eddie Albert and
Robert Wagner, as a former con man and restaurant owner, Malcolm
Argos, in the crime show “Switch.” But that was just a detour from the
zany.

“There were two things he could do that made his career,” Tony
Belmont, executive director of the National Comedy Hall of Fame in St.
Petersburg, Fla., said in an interview in October. “He could think
very fast on his feet, and he had an unbelievable number of sounds
that he made with his voice.”

For example, Mr. Belmont said: “He would tell a joke about two guys
hunting. If you or I told it, the joke wasn’t so funny. But Charlie
made it hysterical by sticking in these sounds; so you would hear the
gun cocking, the duck flying overhead, the explosion of the shotgun
and then the duck falling and screaming all the way to the ground.”

Jerry Lewis was so taken by Mr. Callas that, while both were appearing
on a talk show in 1965, he said, “You’ve got to be in my next movie.”
He was =97 in the 1967 production “The Big Mouth.”

Carson was also impressed by Mr. Callas, inviting him to appear on the
“The Tonight Show” nearly 50 times. Then came the night of Sept. 21,
1982.

With Mr. Callas bombing, Carson made a whistling-buzzing sound =97 as if
tracing a bomb’s trajectory. In comic desperation, Mr. Callas leaned
over and shoved Carson. Carson, almost always amiable on the air, was
so annoyed that on the spot, in front of his television audience, he
told Mr. Callas that he’d never appear on the show again. Carson kept
his word.

It was not the end of Mr. Callas’s career, however. Besides nightclub
gigs and guest spots on other talk shows, he went on to appear in
several movies. Among them were the horror-film spoof “Hysterical”
(1983), in which he played Dracula; “Amazon Women on the Moon” (1987),
a bizarre take on low-budget movies in which he did his own stand-up
shtick; and Mel Brooks’s “Dracula: Dead and Loving It” (1995), a
parody of the Bram Stoker novel. In 1981, Mr. Callas played the
soothsayer in Mr. Brooks’s dawn-of-man spoof, “History of the World =97
Part I.”

In the 1977 live-action and animated film “Pete’s Dragon,” Mr. Callas
provided the voice of the title character, a dragon named Elliot.

Mr. Callas was born Charles Callias in Brooklyn on Dec. 20, 1927. The
Associated Press reported that he is survived by two sons, Mark and
Larry, and that his wife, Evelyn, died in July.

Mr. Callas started playing drums as a teenager and, after serving in
the Army in World War II, performed around the country with major
bands, including those led by Tommy Dorsey and Claude Thornhill.

While performing he would engage in madcap antics, cracking up
audiences and musicians alike, inspiring him to turn to comedy in
1962. A year later he made his first network television appearance on
“The Hollywood Palace.” Soon he was opening for Frank Sinatra in
nightclubs around the country.

Mr. Callas was predictably unpredictable, Mr. Belmont said. In 1973,
when the crusty comedian Don Rickles was the target of a Dean Martin
celebrity roast on NBC, Mr. Callas stepped to the microphone and
decided to set aside his planned bit.

“Instead,” Mr. Belmont said, “he started rattling on as though Rickle=
s
=97 sitting at his side =97 had died. And as the mock eulogy ran, Rickles
was laughing so hard that he couldn’t lift his head off the table.”

At a roast for Frank Sinatra, Mr. Callas was introduced as Mr.
Sinatra’s former bodyguard, Carlo Cappuccino. Dressed in a
gangster-style suit and wide white tie, he told of growing up in a
neighborhood where “you could walk 10 blocks and never leave the scene
of a crime.”

Placing his broad-brimmed hat over his heart and looking toward
heaven, he said, “I’d like to say hello to Frank’s friends.”

Callas portrayed The Ice Cream Man in Monkees Episode # 4710, “The
Success Story”.

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Peter at Comic-Con

http://www.nola.com/arts/index.ssf/2011/01/post_40.html

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The littlest Monkee is still going strong
By Steve Knopper, Special to the Tribune
January 28, 2011

About 40 minutes into a 45-minute phone conversation, Davy Jones
divulges a bit of blockbuster news, at least in Monkees World:
Three-quarters of the band will tour this summer. They’ll rehearse in
May, play 10 dates in England, then hit America in July. “We’re just
waiting for my signature on a paper,” Jones says, by phone from his
part-time home in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (At press time, the tour had
yet to be officially announced.)

The missing Monkee? Michael Nesmith, the tall Texan with the knit cap,
who always had something going on his career aside from nostalgic
reunions, from songwriting (Linda Ronstadt’s “Different Drum”) to
movie production (“Repo Man”). Jones, the group’s primary heartthrob
and Broadway-trained showman, will team up with drummer Mickey Dolenz
and bassist Peter Tork and an as-yet-unnamed Nesmith stand-in. “He has
a different idea,” says Jones, 65. “He’s going into his later years as
a philosopher, as a person of great sort of intelligence. And not that
we don’t have intelligence =97 it’s just that we are the entertainers,
Mickey, Peter and myself. He was more the father of the band, you
know, and now he’s more sit back and watch his sons go out there and
do it again.'”

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/events/ct-ott-0128-davy-jones-2=
0110127,0,7281388.story

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From: Amanda

Peter Tork arm-wrestling WWE Hall of Famer Tony Atlas
A skinny middle-aged guy behind a folding table is carefully writing
the words “OF THE MONKEES” under the name “Peter Tork” on his table
plaque. In the ’60s, Peter Tork was member of the world’s first
prefabricated boy band. He has his own band now: the Shoe Suede Blues.
In between, he did a lot of things, including temping.

A guy comes over and tells him that he saw him in Springfield at
United Fan Con. Tork doesn’t remember this. “Five, six years ago?” the
guy says. He pulls out a portfolio of eight-by-10 pictures and shows
it to Tork. All the pictures are of the guy with Tork. Tork still
doesn’t remember him.

“That’s you with my wife,” the guy says, pointing to one of the photos.

“How is she?” Tork asks. “Say hi to her for me.”

Photo available at:
http://thephoenix.com/Boston/life/113765-to-boldly-go-to-framingham-a-trek-=
to-fan-con-/?page=3D1#TOPCONTENT

The Monkeegirl, Monkeegirl.com

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Two of the Monkees issue statements on death of Don Kirshner

Both Micky Dolenz and Mike Nesmith posted statements online that were
available Wednesday about the death of music producer Don Kirshner.
Kirshner died Monday at age 76.

Micky Dolenz wrote, “In regards to the passing of Don Kirshner…..I
remember Donnie as one of the “suits” that originally came out the to
West Coast from New York and would appear at some of the studio
sessions. At first, I really didn’t know what he did. It wasn’t until
years later that I realized what a profound influence he had had on
the choice of material that The Monkees produced. And for that, I am
eternally grateful

Mike Nesmith’s statement: “Sad to learn of the passing of my old
adversary Don Kirshner. He was a formidable foe and I send my
condolences and sympathy to his family and his many friends. Donny,
where ever you are — I want you to know I put my fist thru the wall
just for dramatic effect. Apparently it worked. It is all behind us
now, and we wrote what we wrote. Rest in Peace.”

http://www.examiner.com/vintage-rock-n-roll-in-national/two-of-the-monkees-=
issue-statements-on-death-of-don-kirshner

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Nez playlist:

http://www.austinchronicle.com/blogs/music/2011-02-18/you-just-may-be-the-o=
ne/

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From: pat

I went to the concert in Cardiff back in 1997 and was very upset and
disappointed with the way the Monkees behaved that night. The sound
was also very distorted and they sounded terrible. A small group of
olders fans waited in the freezing cold after the show to wave and
maybe say hello. We were told that the Monkees would come out to see
us. We waited hours and could see Micky walking about inside but he
never once looked up and waved. Then all of a sudden the gates opened
and the road was shut off and the travelling group vans sped out at
speed out of the staduim like we were a threat to them. We were very
upset by the way we were treated. If the Monkees didn’t want to wave
to us or talk to us, we should have been told in the beginning when we
first started to queue and we would all have gone away. We were all
standing quietly in an orderly manner so there was no need for this.
I note that the Monkees are visiting again and I would love to go to
their concert, but I need personal assurance from them that they will
behave like they care and show respect to their fans. I came to here
them sing and to hear how their lives have been going, not for them to
be completely rude on stage. Hopefully, they have matured enough and
will send me an assurance of this. I am not talking about the way they
mess about like when they were on the Monkees show, but the
disrespectful way they behaved that night. It appeared like they were
all drunk ( I am sure they were not, but that is how it came across).
I hope you have some contact with the group and can let them know how
I feel. thanking you

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