Peter Tork: A Celebration of Life & Community, October 20, 2019

On October 20^th, 2019, Club 66 in Edgewood Road, Maryland, hosted the event ‘Peter Tork: A Celebration of Life & Community’. It was organized by the members of The Real Peter Tork Official Facebook page who helped Peter keep direct contact with fans through Facebook. Club 66 was a favorite venue for Peter and his band Shoe Suede Blues to play whenever they were on tour because of its intimacy. Capacity was limited to less than 200 fans to attend and remember Peter Tork who had passed away on February 21^st, 2019, ten days after his 77^th birthday on February 13^th. 

Free gifts of photos, special commemorative tickets and pins, bracelets and key chains were given to the attendees. Raffles were held to raise proceeds for the Davy Jones Equine Memorial Fund (DJEMF), among the items were CD’s signed by Peter and other memorabilia. I donated one of my Monkees books which I dedicated to Peter and Davy’s memories. Memorial Books and cards were available for fans to sign and give their regards and condolences to Peter and Davy’s families. A special barbeque banquet was set up for the fans to enjoy. 

On a big screen set up at one side of the club were screened photos of Peter Tork and fans while Peter’s music played over the sound system. Live video was shot to be streamed live over Facebook for fans who were unable to attend to watch online. The main entertainment was a special video of a Peter Tork & Shoe Suede Blues performance from the State Theater in Bay City, MI on September 8^th, 2012 provided by Sherri Hansen. It was wonderful to see Peter doing what he loved most, performing music in front of an appreciative audience. Later in the day another rare video was shown of Peter and his partner James Lee Stanley performing one of their Two Man shows. James is currently going through his own health issues and was unable to attend.

Among the personal items displayed on stage were one of Peter’s guitars and the white suit Davy Jones persuaded Peter to buy for photo shoots that Peter spilled wine on and never wore again but kept because of its attachment to Davy. The suit is going to be donated to DJEMF to be auctioned to raise funds for Davy’s charity. The suit was gracefully accepted by Jennifer Ann Dawson on behalf of Davy’s daughters and a group picture was taken with the fans and Jennifer holding the suit. It was a lovely moment of community with the fans that Peter loved. 

Fans from around the country attended to meet and share memories of Peter with other fans.  Among those in attendance were Sarah Clark and Christine ‘The Button Queen’ Carlson Wolfe from the Monkees Zilch Podcast, photographer Sherri Hansen who is going through her own cancer therapy and which Christine sold a special button to raise money for Sherri’s treatments. Tadg Galleran from Shoe Suede Blues shared his thoughts about Peter. Fans were happy to see that Maggie McManus of the groundbreaking and greatly missed Monkee Business Fanzine was also in attendance. 

The entire event was lovingly put together by Peter’s official Facebook group members who offered their own tearful remembrances of their “Boss”.

Club 66, where Peter loved to perform, surrounded by the fans who love and miss him, was the perfect venue to honor and celebrate the life of Peter Tork. 

“We were born to Love one another. Love is Understanding” – Peter Tork, 1942-2019.

Fred Velez, 2019.