 Micky plays the Moog in the "Daily Nightly" video (Screenshot courtesy of The Sunshine Factory) I'm sure most fans are intrigued by "Daily Nightly" being in the set list for the upcoming tour. I did have an opportunity to view Micky's interview where he discussed its inclusion. To follow up on yesterday's post, he does say there will be a "surprise" in relation to the performance of the song, so it should be interesting. Also in the interview, Micky talks about early discussions of a so-called Headquarters tour that would have taken place after the 2011 tour, where The Monkees would play the entire album in concert. These discussions were apparently on the table before Davy's passing (and had Michael interested as well). Micky said the original idea for such a show was to start off with pre-Headquarters songs, then play the Headquarters album, and finish with post-Headquarters material. We'll know in a short time if that layout remains when the tour gets started next week in California.
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 Do you have your tickets to see The Monkees on their upcoming tour? There are some remaining seats at select shows only, so check out Ticketmaster if you haven't purchased your tickets. The 12-date tour starts on Thursday, November 8 in Escondido, California at the California Center for the Performing Arts (where less than 200 tickets remain available). The West Coast dates will be highlighted by a stop at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, site of the famous 1986 Monkees concert where Mike joined Micky, Davy and Peter for the first time during the 20th Anniversary Reunion Tour that year. The tour will move to the Midwest with shows in Minneapolis (less than 200 tickets remain), Chicago and Cleveland (both sold out) before moving to the East Coast for dates in Buffalo, Philadelphia, New Brunswick and Huntington. (All East Coast dates are sold out, and less than 100 tickets remain for Buffalo.) The tour will close on Broadway at the Beacon Theatre in New York City.  August 2012 Hollywood Reporter headline According to a member of the Steve Hoffman Music Forums, Micky was a guest on the Kevin Pollack Chat Show (a weekly interview program streamed online) where he confirmed that "Daily Nightly" from Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. will be a part of the set list, along with a "big surprise." Since the show isn't archived on Pollack's website yet, I'm not sure if the "big surprise" Micky referred to had to do with the performance of "Daily Nightly" or something else. But if the surprise is in relation to the song, will Micky be playing the Moog onstage as he did on the original recording??? (If "Daily Nightly" is played it will be the first time it has been performed live by The Monkees.) The tour's Facebook page has confirmed that the Head soundtrack will be played live during the tour. It will be interesting to see if Mike will sing "Daddy's Song" for Davy, as he was the original vocalist for the song. There have been murmurings online that shows on the 2012 tour will be recorded, but there has been no official confirmation of that from The Monkees.  Michael Nesmith played the second show of a short UK tour at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London last night. Check out a review of the show here.   Earlier this month, Micky Dolenz released his latest studio effort, Remember. Not being one that is usually fond of a covers album, this one not only works for me but is a highly enjoyable listening experience! The premise of Remember is that Micky is covering songs that have played an important role in his life and career. For instance, Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode" was his audition piece for The Monkees and he attended the sessions for "Good Morning Good Morning" with The Beatles. Other songs were apparently offered to him or The Monkees ("Old Fashioned Love Song" and "Diary") but were ultimately rejected for one reason or another. Even the (country-esque) reworks of Monkees classics "Sometime in the Morning," "I'm a Believer," and "Randy Scouse Git" are truly inspired, particularly "Randy Scouse Git." Though a bit showy in places, the new arrangement has really grown on me. A take on a Monkees song that was never officially released in the 1960s (though it was performed by Peter Tork on the 1969 Monkees TV special), "Do Not Ask For Love," is given an impressive vocals only rendition. The song has almost 30 vocal tracks on it, and as with the rest of songs on the album, Micky is the only vocalist. (He recorded all harmonies and backing vocals, and Micky is in fine voice on this album.) Perhaps the biggest highlight of the album is the title track, "Remember," written by Micky's close friend, Harry Nilsson. It's currently the #1 downloaded track of Micky's on iTunes, by the way. I have to say that I wasn't overly familiar with songs like "Diary" (originally performed by Bread) and "Old Fashioned Love Song" (Three Dog Night). I've heard them on the radio over the years, but they weren't songs I ever went back to for a second listen. In fact, I had never previously heard Nilsson's original take of "Remember," either. In other words, a lot of songs here are really fresh sounding and in some ways almost new to me. There are two new original tracks: the producer, David Harris, asked Micky to sing his "Many Years" and Micky adds a new self-penned song of his own, "Quiet Desperation." Both are worthy additions to the album, with the latter taking on a country feel. As for the musicians on the tracks, the recently deceased Bob Birch played bass. Phil Keaggy plays guitar on most of the album and Vinnie Colaiuta is the main drummer. Micky plays acoustic guitar on "Good Morning Good Morning," "Quiet Desperation," and "Johnny B. Goode." The CD is a digipak that includes a nice 20-page booklet where Micky discusses the reasons behind the selection of each song. It also includes a session list for each track and pictures of Micky before, during, and after The Monkees. Remember arrives after 2010's King For A Day, but what I really have always wanted from Micky is a rock album. Perhaps that is his next project, but Remember is a great way to pass the time until it arrives. It's available for sale on Amazon and other online outlets, and is downloadable on iTunes. Feel free to check out this link which covers all Micky Dolenz items in this blog, including reviews of Remember, interviews, and coverage of the concert in New York City (which was recorded) to promote the album.    Micky with Harry Nilsson Here's a picture of a shirt being sold at Mike's UK dates.  And check out this recording of Mike's show in Glasgow, Scotland on October 26.
Michael Nesmith played the first show of a short UK tour last night (October 26) in Glasgow, Scotland. Here is the Glasgow set list:
There are shows in London, England on October 28 and October 30 as well as a show in Manchester, England on October 29.  1979  Here's a review of Micky's show at B.B. King's. There are a couple of new pictures in the following sections of the website: 1969 North American, 1986 Greek Theatre (a color shot of the quartet onstage) and 1997 UK Justus (a great shot of Micky on drums). I just added this page to the LINKS section here on the site: Monkee45s.net. The site is an exhaustive look at Monkees picture sleeves and 45s from around the world. Highly recommended!  Today Andrew Sandoval confirmed for me that there will indeed be a program sold at the merchandise booth during the upcoming shows. No program was made available during the 2011 tour, so this is sure to be a nice memento from these special concerts.  'Head' promo photo  This past Thursday, Micky appeared on Good Day New York to promote his concert in New York City and the release of his new album, Remember. During the interview, Micky is asked about the upcoming Monkees tour, and when discussing Monkees songs sung by Michael Nesmith, it seems Micky might have been dropping some hints as to what songs are in the set list. Who knows for certain, but check out the interview below. Fast forward to 5:30 to hear Micky's comments on the tour.
 (Photo courtesy Micky Dolenz Facebook page) Last night, Micky Dolenz played at B.B. King's in New York City. Micky had already been in the city promoting his new album, Remember, and the show at B.B. King's was recorded for CD release. (Some outlets are reporting that it was also filmed for a live DVD, but I cannot confirm this. Was anyone at the concert, and if so, was it filmed?) Before the show, Micky appeared on WCBS-FM radio. Many topics were discussed, including Davy Jones, the upcoming Monkees tour, and Remember. Be sure to check out the website of David Harris, producer of Remember. Here you can listen to some behind the scenes info about the making of the album. During the sessions, Micky also re-recorded "Unlucky Stars" from Justus, and you can hear a sample of it at the site. Don't forget that tickets remain for select shows on the upcoming Monkees tour with Mike, Micky and Peter. Don't miss it! 
The 2012 Monkees tour is approaching...do you have your tickets yet? A few updates to the site: I added a new video to both the 1967 American/British tour section and the 1968 Far East Tour section, both courtesy of the Rare Monkees YouTube channel. The videos feature rare footage of The Monkees during their visits to England in 1967 and Australia in 1968. There is also a new picture in the '68 Far East Tour photo gallery of Nez onstage in Japan in 1968. Here's the title track from Micky's new album, Remember. It's a great cover of a song originally performed by Micky's longtime friend, the late Harry Nilsson. Here's an interview with Micky where he discusses his new album, Remember, as well as the upcoming Monkees tour.
Here are a few highlights from the interview regarding the tour: "The rehearsals for the new Monkee tour are going quite well. It's mainly been Mike and I and I'm, basically, teaching him his songs! (laughs) He hasn't done them in 40 years! He's very enthusiastic. We're taking it very slow. It's a really interesting, different dynamic (compared to Davy Jones being in the band). He hasn't done these songs in many, many years, these original Monkee tunes that he wrote and sang. David, Peter or I've been singing them over the years. So, we've been noodling and woodshedding (as he calls it) all of these tunes because I'm going to be playing drums on a few songs. Just the three of us because we're going to be doing a Headquarters (The Monkees classic 1967 album where they took over the reigns and played most of the instruments) mini set within the whole narrative of the show." "The show's going to be very interesting because it's kind of going to take the story of The Monkees through music. We're going to start with the early songs then, go into Headquarters, which just us (playing) and then, in answer to your next question, there will be a wonderful tribute, an homage, to the late, great Davy Jones in song and in video." "It kind of started out as a conversation we (the members of The Monkees) had at a (private) memorial for Davy about doing a memorial concert. We said, ‘Let's do a memorial concert.' This is, like, months ago. Actually, it started earlier than that. At the last Monkee tour, we talked about doing a 45 year anniversary of the release of Headquarters. These days, people perform a whole album (in concert). So, we started talking about that long ago. And, of course, David passed and then we had a (private) memorial and thought, ‘Let's do a memorial concert.' But where are you doing to do it? L.A., because David had people here? Or New York or England or all over the place? That sort of morphed into this twelve city tour. It's not the Official Davy Jones Memorial Tour but there is an element of that and there is this element of a tribute, an homage. So, if you haven't bought your ticket to The Greek, do it! (laughs) (Goes into his carny voice) I got yer tickets right here. I'm scalpin' them!' (laughs)" When asked how emotional the first few dates of the tour will be, Micky responded: "Well, I've been doing an homage and a little bit of a tribute to David in all of my shows since then. I've done quite a few of my solo shows since then. I sing a couple of his songs and we have video up that (Monkees manager/ historian) Andrew Sandoval did. They did some wonderful video for the last Monkee tour and I talk about him." "It's been a number of months now (since Davy's passing) and you don't ever get over it easily (or) ever because it's like losing a sibling and that's something you don't ever really get over. I have three siblings and they're all doing fine but I knew him for 45 years and I probably spent more time with him than some of my siblings after I left home. So, you never get over it. He'll always be there in my mind and heart." As for recording a cd and/or dvd of one of the concerts of the upcoming tour, Micky said that they were talking about all of that. "The short answer is, I don't know. Whether or not it goes past this twelve city tour, I can't tell you that either because we have to find out at the end of twelve cities, we haven't killed each other! (laughs) That's way down the road. Nobody's talked much further than these twelve cities because we all have other plans. Mike is going out on the road. He's doing a solo tour in England, which is wonderful. He said to me he wants to get back out there and start performing which is great because he hasn't done that in years. He also has a little spring tour going on in the States. We'll see what happens after that. In January, I'm doing Hairspray concert performances with the Baltimore Philharmonic and the Indianapolis Philharmonic. John Waters will be narrating, which will be kind of cool. So, who knows what happens after all of that." On January 13, 1983, Nez stopped by David Letterman's show to promote the movie Timerider. Michael also discussed Elephant Parts with Dave, as well as The Monkees and his mother's invention of Liquid Paper. Here's a portion of a recent post by Michael Nesmith on his Facebook page. 
More great footage from the Rare Monkees YouTube channel! The channel now boasts a video with behind the scenes and live concert footage from May 1968 in Salt Lake City, featuring The Monkees filming the "Circle Sky" sequence for their movie Head. I'll soon be adding this video below to the Salt Lake City page here on the website. Enjoy! Here's a great new interview with Micky Dolenz. Check it out here. Micky discusses the upcoming tour and how he has been working with Michael Nesmith over the last month, and also talks about a Gretsch guitar sponsorship for the tour.  Micky on the drums in 1987 |
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