The loss of Davy Jones still hangs heavily over our heads and the outpouring of memories of a true icon have flooded the airwaves, filled TV screens, and consumed the internet.
CBS-FM was fortunate enough to have someone very close to Jones call into the studio when former Monkee bandmate Peter Tork spoke with “Brooklyn’s Own” Joe Causi this afternoon. The two spoke of Davy’s ability to handle the spotlight during the band’s rise to fame, his uncanny sense of humor, and shared a story of their first lunch together.
Tork sounded calm and composed on the phone, but admitted he has not been himself over the last twenty-four hours while dealing with the news of Jones’ passing.
“I am pretty much ‘OK.’ I’m walking around in some bit of a cloud, in a fog,” says Tork. “I’m not quite my usual self, it has been a shock.”
As a part of one of the biggest pop music groups of all-time, Tork notes that he and Jones handled the spotlight very differently, notably because his experience in the entertainment business paled in comparison to Davy’s, who had already made a name for himself across the pond at a young age.
“Davy had sort of eased into it. He had been a star at fourteen in Manchester where they taped the ‘Coronation Street’ soap opera… he was always in the public eye.”
A fond memory many have of Jones is his role on the show which made them all stars, The Monkees. Tork revealed to Joe that Davy was funnier off camera than he was in front of it, a true master of satire and comedic commentary.
Tork recalls the first time they met to shoot a commercial and shared lunch together.
“Mickey and I got our salads first. In those days I just stuck my fork in the bowl and whatever came up on the fork went in my mouth. Davy looked at us and said, ‘YOU PIGS!’”
Feeling embarrassed, Tork watched as Jones cut his salad into one inch strips, turned the bowl, then cut it into one inch squares. Expecting to be schooled in proper British etiquette, Tork explained what happened next.
“He grabbed a fistful and smashed it into his own face.”
As we at CBS-FM and those around the world continue to pay tribute to the great entertainer, Tork left Joe and our audience with one final, simple thought on his friend, Davy Jones.
“He deserves all of the honoring and memorializing we can give him.”
We will certainly do our best.
Read more: Peter Tork Discusses the Great Davy Jones with “Brooklyn’s Own” Joe Causihttp://wcbsfm.radio.com/2012/03/01/peter-tork-discusses-the-great-davy-jones-with-brooklyns-own-joe-causi/#ixzz1oDPYc58l