On January 5, 1995, Micky, Davy, Michael, and Peter attended a ceremony at the Hard Rock Cafe in Hollywood. The group's first five albums had been re-certified as platinum and multi-platinum sellers by the Recording Industry Association of America, and The Monkees were presented with the awards by Rhino Records founder Harold Bronson.

Circa 1969...

Here's Micky and Davy in their '60s throwback clothes on the set of the "Heart and Soul" music video in 1987...

Here's a backstage pass from a 1996 Monkees concert in Cleveland, Ohio at Nautica Stage (now known as Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica).  Thanks to Troy for the submission!

Thanks, Troy!

The Monkees were profiled in the February 15, 1997 issue of TV Guide during the leadup to their ABC television special and the UK concert tour.  The group twice appeared on the cover of TV Guide in January and September 1967.  (Click each image to enlarge.)

Despite a friendship with MTV in 1986 that helped make The Monkees one of the biggest music stories of that year, things went sour in 1987 after an apparent misunderstanding between the band and the cable music network. Despite heavy airplay of the music video for The Monkees' 1986 comeback single, "That Was Then, This Is Now," MTV refused to play the video for "Heart and Soul," the lead single from the 1987 album, Pool It! Clearly MTV's lack of support for the video (at a time when MTV still screened music videos and played a larger role in making 'hits') had a negative impact on the single, a strong pop song that most likely could have been a bigger hit that summer. TV Guide reported the dispute, and the clipping above appeared in a late 1987 edition of the magazine.

The following story, originally published in Monkee Business Fanzine issue #43 in December 1987, goes into further detail.

Here are the venues for the 2013 tour.  The information below comes from Nez via Facebook:

Here are The Spring Tour dates and venues

Tickets on sale February 8th

Thu-Mar-21 The Franklin Theater- Nashville, TN
Sun-Mar-24 Canyon Club - Los Angeles, CA
Tue-Mar-26 Rio Theater - Santa Cruz, CA 
Wed-Mar-27 Great American Music Hall - San Francisco, CA
Fri-Mar-29 Aladdin Theater - Portland, OR 
Sat-Mar-30 Neptune Theater - Seattle, WA 
Wed-Apr-03 Boulder Theater - Boulder, CO 
Fri-Apr-05 Fitzgerald Theater - Minneapolis, MN 
Sat-Apr-06 Old Town School of Folk Music - Chicago, IL 
Sun-Apr-07 Magic Bag (seated) - Detroit, MI 
Tue-Apr-09 Carnegie Music Hall of Homestead - Munhall, PA 
Thu-Apr-11 Iron Horse - Northampton, MA 
Fri-Apr-12 Union County PAC - Rahway, NJ 
Sat-Apr-13 Somerville Theater - Boston, MA 
Mon-Apr-15 World Cafe Live - Philadelphia, PA 
Tue-Apr-16 Town Hall - New York, NY 
Wed-Apr-17 Birchmere - Alexandria, VA

Today Michael posted the following message on Facebook, which includes dates and cities for his upcoming solo tour.  Nez has scheduled multiple dates across the country in many major markets.  More information will be posted here on the Live Almanac blog as it becomes available.

From Nez:

Here is The Spring Tour

Me, Joe Chemay on Bass, Paul Leim on Drums, Boh Cooper on Keys 

I’ll post the venues and ticket outlets later today or tomorrow.

This is the tour to break in the show, see if you like it, earn the promoters confidence, and see if anybody comes.

If it goes well we will keep going later in the summer/fall and hit the states we missed on this half-lap of the US.

If it goes poorly we will stare blankly into the future and post pictures of cute animals and food.

Thu-Mar-21 Nashville, TN
Sun-Mar-24 Los Angeles, CA
Tue-Mar-26 Santa Cruz, CA 
Wed-Mar-27 San Francisco, CA 
Fri-Mar-29 Portland, OR 
Sat-Mar-30 Seattle, WA 
Wed-Apr-03 Boulder, CO 
Fri-Apr-05 Minneapolis, MN 
Sat-Apr-06 Chicago, IL 
Sun-Apr-07 Detroit, MI 
Tue-Apr-09 Munhall, PA 
Thu-Apr-11 Northampton, MA 
Fri-Apr-12 Rahway, NJ 
Sat-Apr-13 Boston, MA 
Mon-Apr-15 Philadelphia, PA 
Tue-Apr-16 New York, NY 
Wed-Apr-17 Alexandria, VA

Thanks to our friends at Monkees Bootlegs, we have some never before seen footage of the 1968 Australian tour.  There are bits and pieces of this that have been used for other releases over the years, but most of it appears to be previously unseen.  Check it out!

Here's Micky at a celebrity tennis event that was sponsored by The Eagles.  Not sure on the date for this, but it's sometime in the mid-1970s.  Thanks to Al Bigley for the submission.

Davy with Micky's daughter, Ami, at her wedding in 2002...

The Live Almanac's YouTube channel has surpassed half a million video views since going live in December 2011.  Wow.  Thanks for visiting...

Check back here tomorrow (Monday, January 28) for cities and dates for Michael's much anticipated spring solo tour.  

I found this on the website of the New York Times today about a Monkees event taking place in Stamford, Connecticut on Thursday, January 31.

STAMFORD Avon Theater “Legends of Rock Live: The Monkees: Rare Clips (1966-1970),” screening and discussion with Bill Shelley. Jan. 31 at 7:30 p.m. $6 to $11; Carte Blanche members, free. Avon Theater, 272 Bedford Street. (203) 967-3660; avontheatre.org.

 And from the Avon Theater's website:

ABOUT THE FILM: In recognition of the death of performer Davy Jones of The Monkees, The Avon Theatre will present a special evening celebrating the music and fun that The Monkees brought to their fans. This program will blend song promos, ads, and live performances to create a salute to the group, with time at the end for fans to share their memories and insights. Some of the songs that will be included will be “The Monkees,” the theme song for the show, “Last Train to Clarksville,” “I’m a Believer,” “Pleasant Valley Sunday,” Daydream Believer,” “A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You,” “(I’m Not Your) Stepping Stone,” “Valleri,” and many more. Although Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork, and Micky Dolenz were hired for the television show to act the part of a band, each had the talent and dedication to go beyond the limits of their contract by working hard to make their fictional band into a reality. A year after the show started, The Monkees were able to perform together in live concerts, creating a commercial success. In 1966, they outsold the Beatles in the U.S. The Monkees’ first four albums went straight to #1 on the Billboard charts and multi-platinum sales.  In English | 105 minutes.

ABOUT BILL SHELLEY: Bill Shelley has been filming since the 1970s when he recorded bands Twisted Sister and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, then he directed music videos for Public Enemy. Shelley Archives was started in 1985 and today the company has over 100,000 reels of original 35mm and 16mm films in its archives and over 10,000 hours of rare concerts, television shows, promos, interviews, out-takes and home movies. Preservation of films and music clips is the main focus of the organization.

Released in 1992, Tropical Campfires is described by AllMusic as "one of the finest and most underrated albums of the 1990s."  Here's an ad sent in by Troy for one of the concerts promoting the album in Florida at Ruth Eckerd Hall.

Thanks, Troy!

In February 1996, Davy Jones, who trained as a jockey before The Monkees, won his first race on Digpast at Lingfield Park Racecourse in Surrey, United Kingdom.  Troy sent in this article talking about Davy's win.

A new interview with Micky was published today on Variety's website. In it Micky discusses the 2012 tour, Davy Jones and also broaches the topic of future Monkees projects. Here's a quote from the piece, which is available to read here:

As for future Monkees projects, however, Dolenz defers to Nesmith. "I think he's going to do some solo dates to play his own music. Peter and I would like to record with Mike again but we presently have no plans. We recorded all the shows, so there might be a live album coming out. I don't think getting a deal would be a problem. We just have to agree on new music that we'd all want to record."