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"To create their 50th-anniversary LP Good Times!, the Monkees turned creative control over to lifelong fans of the group, like producer Adam Schlesinger and songwriters like Rivers Cuomo, Paul Weller, and Noel Gallagher. The result is, improbably enough, the greatest album of the 2010s by a Sixties band, highlighted by the achingly gorgeous love ballad 'Me & Magdalena,' by Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard. The voices of Michael Nesmith and Micky Dolenz blend together as perfectly as they did in the Sixties. And now with decades of wisdom and tough loss underneath their glossy exterior (beloved members Peter Tork and Davy Jones are no longer with us), they somehow mean more than ever." —Andy Greene

Last week, in celebration of Record Store Day Black Friday 2019, Rhino Records issued Christmas Party Plus! featuring Monkees holiday songs past and present. The two 7" singles are pressed on colored vinyl (one red/one green) and housed in a gatefold: "Unwrap You At Christmas (Radio Mix)"/"Unwrap You At Christmas (Andy Partridge Demo)" along with "Riu Chiu"/"Christmas Is My Time Of Year (1976 Mix)."

Live Almanac contributor Ben Belmares scanned his copy and shared it with the site. Thanks, Ben!

​Earlier this afternoon, Rolling Stone magazine's website published an interview with Michael Nesmith conducted by Andy Greene. In it, Nez speaks openly about a wide array of topics and people, including the post-Monkees days with Red Rhodes, his relationships with Peter Tork and Davy Jones, touring with Micky Dolenz in early 2020, the scope of The Monkees' legacy today, the recently issued Cosmic Partners live album from 7a Records, and much more:

UPDATE: Rolling Stone followed-up their interview with Nez by putting the spotlight on the opening track of his 1972 album, And the Hits Just Keep on Comin':

This January, SF Sketchfest in San Francisco will pay tribute to The Monkees with a Q & A session featuring both Micky Dolenz and Michael Nesmith. First held in 2002, the San Francisco-based event has grown into a nationally recognized comedy festival that mixes national headliners, local favorites, and the best up-and-coming groups from throughout North America for a month of sketch, improv, stand-up and alternative comedy. Micky and Nez will appear at the festival on Sunday, January 12, 2020. Click the link below for more information and to purchase tickets:

Zilch host Ken Mills welcomes Videoranch's Ed Heffelfinger and 7a Records co-founder Glenn Gretlund as they talk about 7a's Cosmic Partners - The McCabe's Tapes, available this Friday on CD and vinyl. And, a special guest turns up - Michael Nesmith himself!

Al Bigley and Alan Williams are back with a packed episode, speaking with Jerry Blavat, who guested on the second season episode "Some Like It Lukewarm," and Peter Rafelson, son of Monkees co-creator Bob Rafelson. Plus, the duo catch up with Jodi Ritzen who talks about the upcoming Dolenz/Nesmith 2020 tour, along with much more!

Earlier this fall Glenn Gretlund and Iain Lee of 7a Records announced their latest release, Cosmic Partners: The McCabe's Tapes, a previously unreleased concert recorded on August 18, 1973 at McCabe's in Santa Monica, California. Featuring Michael Nesmith and a group of supporting musicians, including his longtime friend and musical partner, legendary pedal steel player Red Rhodes, the recording has been remastered by Christian Nesmith.

This long lost performance originates from a mini-concert tour that was in support of what was to be Nesmith's final album for RCA, Pretty Much Your Standard Ranch Stash. Nez is accompanied during this one-of-a-kind show by a rhythm section featuring Danny Lane on drums and Colin Cameron on bass, along with Rhodes on pedal steel, and they deliver performances of an array of Nesmith classics including "Joanne," "Silver Moon," "Some of Shelly's Blues," and "Grand Ennui."

Cosmic Partners will be released in the United States this Friday, November 22, on compact disc with a 24-page booklet featuring previously unseen photographs and liner notes by Michael Nesmith. It will also be available as a limited edition 12" vinyl picture disc (1,000 copies). ​Customers in the United Kingdom can purchase the set right now!

Check out a full preview of "Grand Ennui" from Cosmic Partners, courtesy of the Videoranch YouTube channel.

If you are in the area, join Coco Dolenz, her brother Micky, Monkees keyboardist Alex Jules, and guitarist Peter Andrews as they take the stage at The Coffee Gallery in Altadena, California this Saturday, November 16. Check out the link below for more information and how to obtain tickets to the show!

Coco Dolenz "Songs from My Music Stand" Matinee Performance

Thanks a lot to Jodi Ritzen for gathering the available information regarding pre-sales, general on-sales, and more for Micky Dolenz and Michael Nesmith's upcoming concert tour, "An Evening With The Monkees," in April 2020. If you do not see a pre-sale code for a particular concert date, please contact the venue. And be sure to check out yesterday's Live Almanac coverage of the tour announcement, along with details of a new live album!

Micky Dolenz and Michael Nesmith are returning to the concert stage in 2020 for a three-week tour dubbed "An Evening With the Monkees." Andy Greene of Rolling Stone confirmed the news earlier today on the magazine's website. The duo's latest round of dates, which follows previous worldwide runs in 2018 and 2019, will commence April 3 in Vancouver and close April 26 in Nashville. Tickets go on sale this Friday, November 15. The complete tour schedule can be found below.

Along with the announcement of more concert dates, Rolling Stone also confirmed the release of a brand new live album, The Mike & Micky Show Live, which will arrive April 3, 2020 on compact disc, as a digital download, and via streaming services. Produced by Monkees archivist Andrew Sandoval and mixed by Christian Nesmith, the album includes 24 tracks culled from performances throughout March 2019 of the "Mike & Micky Show" tour. Fans who purchase concert tickets will automatically receive the album either as a digital download or a physical CD.

​Here is the official track listing:

Billboard and a multitude of other media outlets covered the announcement of the tour and live album.

LOS ANGELES – Michael Nesmith and Micky Dolenz of The Monkees will launch a new tour and release their first-ever live album as a duo on April 3. Billed as “An Evening With The Monkees,” the tour will feature songs that span the band’s entire 50+ year career – from their 1966 self-titled debut to 2016’s Good Times.

THE MONKEES – THE MIKE & MICKY SHOW LIVE will be available on CD for $16.98. The 24-track collection will also be available digitally and via streaming services.

Tickets and VIP packages for “An Evening With The Monkees” tour dates go on sale this Friday, November 15. Every ticket purchased for “An Evening With The Monkees” includes your choice of a CD or digital copy of THE MONKEES – THE MIKE & MICKY SHOW LIVE. You’ll receive instructions via email on how to redeem your album after ticket purchase. In select markets only.

Produced by The Monkees’ archivist Andrew Sandoval & mixed by Christian Nesmith, THE MONKEES – THE MIKE & MICKY SHOW LIVE was recorded live in March 2019. The collection includes performances of all three of the band’s #1 hits: “Last Train To Clarksville,” “I’m A Believer” and “Daydream Believer.”

In addition to those hits, the live album also spotlights many of Nesmith’s finest compositions, including several songs that were never performed live during the Monkees’ heyday, like “St. Matthew” and “Auntie’s Municipal Court.” Other Nesmith-penned tunes on the collection include live versions of “The Girl I Knew Somewhere,” “Listen To The Band,” “Papa Gene’s Blues,” “You Just May Be The One” and “You Told Me.”

Dolenz takes the spotlight singing hits like “Pleasant Valley Sunday,” “Randy Scouse Git,” “Mary, Mary,” “Goin’ Down,” “For Pete’s Sake,” and “Porpoise Song.” The collection also features live versions of “Me & Magdelena” and “Birth Of An Accidental Hipster” from The Monkees’ most-recent studio album, Good Times (2016).

“An Evening With The Monkees” is the latest chapter in Monkee-mania, a saga that began in 1965 when four young men were cast in a television show about a struggling rock band that was inspired by the Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night. Few could have predicted the impact the Monkees would have on music and pop culture at large, one that still reverberates more than 50 years later.

Formed in Los Angeles for the eponymous television series, the quartet of Dolenz, Nesmith, the late Peter Tork and the late Davy Jones brought a singular mix of pop, rock, psychedelia, Broadway and country to their music. The Monkees’ first single, “Last Train To Clarksville,” was released in 1966 and quickly headed for the top spot of the Billboard charts as a part of the band's self-titled debut album, where it would ultimately sit for 13 of the 78 weeks it remained in the Top 200. (Two decades later, in the midst of a new burst of Monkee-mania, The Monkees popped back onto the charts, bringing the total number of weeks to 102.)

By the time the series aired its final new episode on March 25, 1968, the Monkees had seen three further albums top the charts — More of the Monkees, Headquarters, and Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd. All were released in 1967, staggeringly enough, racking up several more hit singles, with “I’m A Believer,” “(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone,” “A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You,” “The Girl I Knew Somewhere,” “Pleasant Valley Sunday,” “Words,” “Daydream Believer,” “Valleri,” and “Tapioca Tundra” all finding their way into the Billboard Top 40. The final tally: 16 million albums and 7.5 million singles sold in a mere 2 1/2 years.

After the series’ two-season run, the group went on to star in the cult feature film Head (co-written by Jack Nicholson) and a TV special (33 1/3 Revolutions per Monkee) while also continuing to record new material. But as the ’60s gave way to the ’70s, the members of the Monkees eventually gave in to their individual musical interests and went their separate ways . . . for awhile.

In February 1986, after MTV broadcast a marathon of The Monkees, Dolenz, Jones, and Tork reunited for a 20th anniversary tour, with Nesmith joining them onstage for the Los Angeles date of the tour. In 1996, all four members of the group reunited for a new album (Justus) and TV special (Hey, Hey, It’s the Monkees).

In the wake of Jones’s death on February 12, 2012, the surviving members of the Monkees reunited and performed a series of concerts. The shows were received so triumphantly that Dolenz, Nesmith, and Tork returned the following summer for a tour dubbed, “A Midsummer’s Night With the Monkees.”

To celebrate the Monkees’ 50th anniversary in 2016, the surviving members of the band recorded the critically acclaimed album Good Times. Much like the Monkees’ early albums, it featured tracks written for the band by a group of gifted songwriters, including Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie), Rivers Cuomo (Weezer), Andy Partridge (XTC) and more. To support the album, Dolenz and Tork launched a successful tour that featured Nesmith beaming in remotely via Skype for a few songs during some of the shows.

In February this year, Tork died just eight days after his birthday.

"She Makes Me Laugh" was the lead single from The Monkees' album Good Times! and was premiered on Rolling Stone magazine's website on April 28, 2016.

Accompanied by a lyric video that featured scenes from Monkees comic books produced by Dell in the 1960s, the video recently passed 1 million views on YouTube.

​At the time of the song's release, Rivers Cuomo, lead vocalist, guitarist, keyboardist, and songwriter of the rock band Weezer, who composed "She Makes Me Laugh," talked about The Monkees' influence on his career:

Good Times! is available to purchase on compact disc, vinyl, and is also streaming on Spotify. 

Last year, The Monkees released Christmas Party, the group's first collection of holiday songs. This past September, the album made its debut on vinyl. And now, an official trailer for the LP was just uploaded on The Monkees' YouTube channel!

​Michael Nesmith and Micky Dolenz will bring their celebrated concert show back to the stage on April 26, 2020 at Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville, Tennessee! Dubbed "An Evening With The Monkees Featuring Mike Nesmith & Micky Dolenz," tickets go on sale on Friday, November 15 at 10 a.m. A pre-sale is currently underway. 

Special VIP packages will be offered for the Nashville show, consisting of one premium reserved ticket, access to soundcheck with Nez and Micky, a signed hardcover copy of the tour book, a commemorative VIP laminate, priority entry into the venue, and first access to the merchandise tables.

The symphony's website also includes the following teaser:

​Murmurs of a live album documenting the recent "Mike & Micky Show" tours throughout 2018 and 2019 have long been prevalent, but please note that to date there has been no official confirmation of a release from The Monkees or Rhino Records. 

Stay tuned to The Monkees Live Almanac for MORE information coming soon!!

Micky and Nez are two of many celebrities scheduled to meet and greet fans at the MEGACON Fanboy Expo in Orlando, Florida in August 2020. Tickets are on sale now, but special packages will be announced shortly. Keep an eye on this link:

On November 12, legendary musicians will gather at Nashville's Schermerhorn Symphony Center for "James Burton and Friends," a concert event benefiting the James Burton Foundation. Mr. Burton, who was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2001, is a famed guitarist who has played on numerous recordings, and he also acted as a session musician for The Monkees in the 1960s. The Burton Foundation supports music education for those in need through guitar donations and music instruction to schools, hospitals, and community service organizations.

Micky Dolenz is scheduled to be a part of the benefit concert and will take the stage with Mr. Burton, Sammy Hagar, Brian May (Queen), Joe Walsh (The Eagles), Jason Scheff (Chicago), Paul Shaffer (The Late Show with David Letterman), and many more. Tickets are still available!

UPDATE 11/14/2019: Footage and more from the Burton benefit concert:

The label Music on Vinyl has issued a limited edition (500 numbered copies) of Michael Nesmith's debut album with The First National Band, 1970's Magnetic South, on 180 gram audiophile transparent vinyl. It is currently available to order from Deep Discount.
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Thanks a lot to Live Almanac contributor Ben Belmares for providing his scans of the release. 

Each version of the LP is tucked into a gatefold sleeve designed by comics legend Michael Allred. The Monkees’ stunning version of "Riu Chiu (TV Version)" as performed live a capella on the second season episode, "The Christmas Show," is tacked on as a bonus track.

Christmas Party is also available on compact disc and for streaming on Spotify. 

Thanks very much to longtime Live Almanac contributor Ben Belmares for providing his scans of each version of Christmas Party on vinyl!