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Bassist Bobby Dick was a member of the 1960s music group, The Sundowners, who opened for The Monkees (along with Jimi Hendrix and Lynne Randell) on their 1967 summer tour. In this two-part interview from the Headquarters radio program (originally airing on August 18 and September 1, 1988), Bobby talks about his days with The Sundowners, touring with Jimi Hendrix, and what it was like being on the road with The Monkees in 1967. 
A promotional photograph of The Sundowners from their television appearance on “It Takes A Thief” in 1968: (front, from left) bassist Bobby Dick, vocalist Eddie Brick, and guitarist Dom DeMieri; (back) drummer Kim Capli and guitarist Ed Placidi
(From the Monkee Private Picture Book)
The RCA building in Nashville has recently been the subject of a potential sale to a developer, and has caused a movement to preserve the site located on Music Row. The Monkees recorded at RCA Nashville in the summer of 1967, and Michael later returned for his famed 'Nashville Sessions' in May and June of 1968. Musician Ben Folds wrote an impassioned letter (where he mentions The Monkees as having recorded there) urging the studio to be saved, and as of this weekend, plans are being reconsidered.  (1968)  The Monkees Live Almanac is now on Twitter! Are you following the site's account? Click the box to the left and then 'Follow' to insure you don't miss anything!  Debuting in December 2011, The Live Almanac's YouTube channel is drawing closer to 1 million channel views! Lately I've been uploading some additional items, including live versions of "You Just May Be the One" and "Sometime in the Morning" from the 1987 summer tour. And there's more to come. Be sure to click the box to the right and subscribe to the site's channel. Don't forget, too, that The Monkees Live Almanac is a mobile-friendly website. You can add the Live Almanac to your iPhone or Android home screen by following these (easy) directions.
Iain Lee, longtime fan and proprietor of Monkee Bootlegs, has been meticulously working on giving Keep Off My Grass, a 1972 cult film that starred Micky, a modern day release. The project is coming close to a conclusion, as noted in Iain's latest Facebook post below: "Very, very exciting news. I have been in talks with the producer of the 1972 Dolenz comedy movie Keep Off My Grass. I am being sent a copy of this movie in the next few weeks. I shall then be trying to organise a screening somewhere in London followed by a limited release on DVD. If anyone knows of a suitable venue in the UK for a screening or has any leads on getting a DVD release, please do let me know... American fans, do not worry. I shall do my best to secure a screening in the States (again, if anyone knows a of a venue in either LA or NY, please contact me) and a limited DVD release there as well. Please note, this will be a legitimate release and I will not be sharing for free. This has taken a LOT of work to not only track this film down but also win the trust of the people who own it. I really hope that when this does get released, you will respect the work, effort and time that has gone into securing this and not share freely. These are exciting times!"  Settling in for the summer simmer. No traveling for a bit — except for sight seeing maybe. But there is plenty around here that I would like to do and that needs doing.
I have to make myself stop from time to time and sit back, and like I say — simmer. Nice warm days here, not too hot, but good clear sun, and the sound of song birds. I will go back out again in September to the UK for a short string of shows. After that, not sure. Some things are in the pipeline, but nothing I am thinking too hard about. I’ll take the Movies of the Mind tour over to the UK. They haven’t seen it since it was all polished up. They deserve to see it now. When I first went over there it was still so ragged that I scared myself every night we played. Joe Chemay and Charlie Judge and I. This time it will be Joe on Bass, and Paul Leim drumming, Boh Cooper on Keys, Chris Scruggs on guitars, lap steel, and mandolin, and Christian on guitar. I decided not to play guitar this upcoming series of shows. It is so much more fun for me when I don’t play, and just direct the band and sing and wave my arms. I feel a bit like an old time band leader — except this band is pretty far from an old time band. Fact is, I don’t how to describe what we do — but it is a lot of fun, and I enjoy standing and singing in front of such players — like driving an F1 car, I imagine. So you can listen to the band here is a free download for you to have. This is “Listen to the Band” from the Movies of the Mind Show. This whole album is available for download, but it is a copy of the standard CD and ends at Grand Ennui. Listen to the Band was the encore and was not included in that record. Christian is not playing on this version — but he mixed it. Jonathan and Susan are doing a video for it which I’ll post when its ready — I am hopeful I will get it Monday. So here it is— for free. You can really hear the band on this. It was a great way to end the set. Every night, night after night, they hit this altitude and I came off stage happy and singing and sailing on this song and the pure power of their musicianship. What a blast it was... For those of you in the UK — this is what we will sound like — so watch for us in September. The tour schedule is on the Wylie Music site here. Enjoy! Breaking today at the Beavertown, Pennsylvania Davy Jones memorial event...click on the image below to join the Facebook page for this event.  In the early '90s, I was in high school and beginning college. Becoming a fan in '86 after the initial MTV marathon of the TV show, my Monkees fandom was at a lull in 1991 when the Listen to the Band box set was released by Rhino Records to commemorate the group's 25th Anniversary. In 1995, after a couple of years of staring at the box in my nearby record shops, I took the plunge and purchased the set, which featured a lot of Monkees songs that (in 1991) had yet to be issued on compact disc. It remains to this day one of my favorite Monkees releases from Rhino.   Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork, and Mike Nesmith with Bert Schneider on the '66 promotional tour6/27/2014 Davy Jones is obscured behind Micky:  (Click the image above to read more about The Monkees' 1966 Promotional Tour)  1968 commercial for "Head" John Brockman is known in the Monkees world as the 'head' used in the initial promotional campaign for The Monkees' 1968 feature film, Head. You can read a detailed analysis of the Brockman campaign at SOTCAA. Peter Tork and Davy Jones held up a poster of Brockman during a late 1968 appearance on the Hy Lit Show in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:  (Click to watch video of the appearance) Here's a roadside billboard advertising Head and featuring Brockman, located in Hollywood on the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Crescent Heights (presumably photographed in late 1968):  (Photo courtesy of Andrew Sandoval on Facebook) Today Brockman works as a literary agent and author, and is employed by Michael Nesmith. In 1996 Brockman launched Edge, a website "devoted to discussions of cutting edge science by many of the world's brilliant thinkers." The following biography of Brockman can be found on the site: John Brockman is a cultural impresario whose career has encompassed the avant-garde art world, science, books, software, and the Internet. In the 1960s he coined the word "intermedia" and pioneered "intermedia kinetic environments" in art, theatre, and commerce, while also consulting for clients such as General Electric, Columbia Pictures, Scott Paper, The Pentagon, and the White House. In 1973, he formed Brockman, Inc., the international literary and software agency specializing in serious nonfiction. He is the founder of the nonprofit Edge Foundation, Inc. and editor of Edge, the highly acclaimed website devoted to discussions of cutting edge science by many of the world's brilliant thinkers, the leaders of what he has termed "the third culture." In 1997, Brockman made a cameo appearance in The Monkees' ABC television special that year:  Brockman plays a lawyer and can be seen 25 seconds into the show: The November/December 2010 issue of Shindig! featured an updated take of Brockman's Head promotional imagery:    Dave Evans was a screenwriter on The Monkees television series. He is responsible for the episodes "Your Friendly Neighborhood Kidnappers," "Don't Look a Gift Horse in the Mouth," "Too Many Girls," "I Was a Teenage Monster," "Find The Monkees," "Alias Micky Dolenz," "The Christmas Show," and "Monkees Race Again." He also co-wrote "The Frodis Caper" with Micky Dolenz.
Dave started his career as a greeting card writer. He was a staff writer for The Monkees the year the show won the Emmy Award for Best Comedy in 1967. He also penned the premiere episode of The Bill Cosby Show, was involved with Laugh-In, and wrote extensively for Love American Style. A special passion of Dave's is writing for animation. He was a staff writer for Bullwinkle producer Jay Ward, and though not involved with the Bullwinkle show itself, he worked to develop new animation projects for the studio. One of his credits includes being part of the team that created the Cap'n Crunch cereal concept and name. In this 1988 interview with Paris Stachtiaris and John Di Maio on The Monkees Hour, Dave reminisces about his work with The Monkees, his friendship with the group, and more. Peter is reading The Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda, a gift from Henry Diltz.  (Photo by Henry Diltz) |
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