Are you planning on attending the David T. Jones Memorial/Monkees Convention this weekend?  If so, please feel free to contact me to submit pictures and reports from the event. Both Micky and Peter will be appearing.

For last minute information and tickets, click here.

The first picture was taken within walking distance from the set of the TV show and even closer to RCA Studios. The group is coming from lunch together (see the second picture) while either taking a break during Headquarters sessions or rehearsing for their first concert tour.

I always thought Davy should have recorded this song for Pool It!  Instead, it appeared as a solo single in Australia in 1987 and later on Davy's 1988 album, Incredible!  Ultra '80s pop!

This fairly rare performance of "I'll Be True To You" comes from a show held in the Netherlands on April 21, 1989 during The Monkees' tour of Europe that year.  It's sourced from a widely circulated bootleg of the show (which was also broadcasted on European radio and filmed for Holland television).  Enjoy...

Here are a few photos of Davy's red bass guitar that was specifically designed for him by Gretsch. For more information about this unique guitar, visit the Monkees Instruments & Gear page.

You can also view it here.

MICHAEL NESMITH’S “NEZ SOLO” SPRING 2013 TOUR TO CROSS U.S. MARCH 23–APRIL 17
 
In first U.S solo tour since 1992, Monkees and First National Band veteran to perform songs from 50 years of writing and recording.
 
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA — Michael Nesmith will launch the month-long Nez Solo Spring 2013 Tour on March 21 outside of Nashville as Nez’s Solo Spring 2013 Tour prepares to take him to the metro areas of New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.
 
Nesmith’s kick-off show at the Franklin Theater sold out an hour after tickets were available.
 
Nez’s Solo Spring 2013 Tour followed an invitation from a British promoter/agent to play the British Isles last year. The solo tour sold out immediately after it was announced, causing American concert promoters to take notice and make offers for the Nez Solo Spring Tour.
 
“The songs I’ll play are a touch chronological and a touch thematic. I picked my favorites to play, the ones I have come to love over the years, and the ones that are most requested by fans of my solo work,” Nesmith says.
 
The focus of the show will be on his latter-day song writing and recordings, but Nesmith did select one song he wrote for the Monkees’ — “Papa Gene’s Blues” — as the opening of the concert. “I hope Monkees fans are not disappointed but my solo recorded music is extensive and the songs that were part of the Monkees era comprise only a tiny part of it.”
 
Fans of Nesmith’s ground-breaking First National Band and later work will find much to look forward to, including “Joanne,” “Silver Moon,” “Propinquity,” “Grand Ennui” and “Thanx for the Ride.” This last song will include specially programmed software so the original pedal steel solo by Red Rhodes plays along with Nesmith and the band as they play the song live. Also look for songs from the albums And the Hits Just Keep On Coming, Photon Wing and Infinite Rider, as well as Elephant Parts, Tropical Campfires, The Prison and Rays — approximately 90 to 100 minutes of live Nez music in all.
 
In the Nez Solo Spring Tour the songs will be presented with short introductions that include a cinematic setting. According to Nesmith, “The songs live in my mind like mini-movies— vignettes — that associate themselves with the emotions of the song.  I want the audience to share that.”
 
Michael Nesmith tours may be few and far between, but he greatly enjoys the onstage connection. “I have found nothing like a live performance in any other expression of the arts,” he says. “When it is done right, it is a most joyful and happy event — like a good meal, a fine conversation or a lover’s kiss.”
 
“A word sung is worth a thousand pictures,” he concludes.
 
Nesmith is a musician, songwriter, actor, producer, novelist, businessman and philanthropist, well known for his start as the singing, wool-capped, Gretsch guitar-slinging co-star of the Monkees television series (1966-68).
 
His songs were recorded not only by The Monkees (“Papa Gene’s Blues,” “The Girl I Knew Somewhere,” “Mary, Mary,” and “Listen to the Band” among others) but also by Linda Ronstadt & the Stone Poneys (“Different Drum”), the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (“Some of Shelley’s Blues”) the Butterfield Blues Band and Run-DMC (“Mary Mary”). 
 
He executive-produced the movies Repo Man (1984), Timerider, and Tapeheadsand founded Pacific Arts, a record, film and video production house and book publisher. He was the first and only winner of the Grammy Award for Video of the Year for his 1981 long-form video Elephant Parts. He is also the inventor and founder of Videoranch3D, for which he holds a patent.
 
In addition to the regular concert tickets there will be a very limited number of tickets sold for after show receptions where Nesmith will sign autographs, talk with fans, and pose for pictures with them.
 
NEZ SOLO SPRING 2013 TOUR
Thurs., March 21  FRANKLIN, TN  Franklin Theater – SOLD OUT
Sun., March 24 AGOURA HILLS, CA Canyon Club
Tues., March 26 SANTA CRUZ, CA  Rio Theater
Wed., March 27 SAN FRANCISCO, CA  Palace of Fine Arts
Fri., March 29  PORTLAND, OR   Aladdin Theater
Sat., March 30  SEATTLE, WA  Neptune Theater
Wed., April 3  BOULDER, CO  Boulder Theater
Fri., April 5  ST. PAUL, MN  Fitzgerald Theater (Sue McLean & Assoc.?)
Sat., April 6  CHICAGO, IL  Old Town School of Folk Music – SOLD OUT
Sun., April 7  FERNDALE, MI  The Magic Bag - SOLD OUT
Tues., April 9  MUNHALL, PA  Carnegie Music Hall of Holmstead
Thurs., April 11  NORTHAMPTON, MA  Iron Horse - SOLD OUT
Fri., April 12  RAHWAY, NJ  Union County Performing Arts Center
Sat., April 13  SOMERVILLE, MA  Somerville Theater
Mon., April 15  PHILADELPHIA, PA  World Café Live - SOLD OUT
Tues., April 16  NEW YORK, NY  Town Hall
Wed., April 17  WASHINGTON, DC  Birchmere

Here's an article that circulated around the wires in September 1989.  It discusses the dissension that formed within The Monkees over management issues, which ultimately caused the band to stop working together.  

After reforming in 1986, Micky, Davy and Peter went their separate ways in 1989 after a busy summer that included a tour of North America and Japan, a reunion with Michael Nesmith in Los Angeles, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

This performance of "Goin' Down" comes from a show held in the Netherlands on April 21, 1989 during The Monkees' tour of Europe that year.  It's sourced from a widely circulated bootleg of the show (which was also broadcasted on European radio and filmed for Holland television).  Enjoy...

...during the 20th Anniversary Reunion Tour.

Here's a complete concert from the 1997 UK Justus Tour in Bournemouth, UK at the Bournemouth International Centre on March 16, 1997. There have been various bootlegs from this tour floating around for years (both audio and video), but I have never seen video footage of the Bournemouth show.  

This was uploaded on YouTube by Monkees fanatic Suzanne Gee.  Thanks, Suzanne.

Peter Tork is debuting a new show, which is being co-produced by Monkees historian and archivist Andrew Sandoval.  Only one date has been scheduled as of this blog post, in New Hampshire at the Capitol Center for the Arts, on Friday, May 10, 2013.  Tickets for the show go on-sale on Friday, March 8 at 11am.  Here's the press release that appears on the Capitol Center for the Arts website:

The Monkees’ Peter Tork skyrocketed to fame in 1966, but the stories and musical heritage of this gifted, articulate musician and storyteller have remained unheard --and unseen-- until now. Still breaking new ground in a five-decade career, Peter Tork lifts the veil on stage with “In This Generation: My Life in the Monkees and so much more." Previously unseen photos and footage, unheard songs, and hits fans know and love come together powerfully and gracefully as Tork weaves the tale of a musical education in folk and pop that culminates with his early years as a performer in the clubs of Greenwich Village.  But it is a move to California, and a recommendation by friend Stephen Stills, that leads Peter to audition for a part in a TV series.

“Madness!! Auditions. Folk & Roll Musicians -- Singers for acting roles in new TV series. Running Parts for 4 insane boys, age 17-21. Want spirited Ben Frank's-types.”

He passed the audition of course, and alongside Mike Nesmith, Davy Jones, and Micky Dolenz, became forever known as one of The Monkees -- chart topping media sensations in both the 60s and 80s, with seven platinum albums to their credit.

“In This Generation: My Life in the Monkees and so much more”  brings to life onstage the roller coaster ride of blistering TV ratings, concert tours, recording sessions, magazine covers, The Beatles, The Wrecking Crew, Jimi Hendrix, Jack Nicholson, MTV, Japan, Reunion tours, and 45 off-again on-again years with the group that the late Davy Jones called “The brothers I never had.”

His early romance with blues and folk intensified Tork’s interest in songs and songwriting, and many of his own compositions reflect that early dedication. Tork's song "For Pete's Sake" was the closing theme of the TV show's second season --a well deserved placement and a considerable compliment, knowing that songs written by Carole King, Boyce and Hart, Neil Diamond, Harry Nilsson, and John Stewart all were in the running for that honor.  The stories behind those songs are among the wealth of insights featured "In This Generation.”

Reissue producer and writer Andrew Sandoval, who has overseen the legacy of the Monkees for over 20 years and arranged their acclaimed 2011 and 2012 tours, is producing the show alongside Peter.

...with his banjo during the 20th Anniversary Reunion Tour.

Here's an article on Michael by David Boissondade (circa 1991) that I believe appeared in a UK music magazine.

For easier reading, click on the image and then click on it again.

Al Bigley recently submitted a Bernard Yeszin photograph (seen above) that inspired the cover art for the Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. album in 1967. Andrew Sandoval wrote the following in the liner notes of the Pisces deluxe edition in 2007:

Al also shared his modern-day interpretation of what he thought the cover of the Pisces LP might have looked like if the original photo had been used instead of the silhouettes of The Monkees: