In honor of Henry's birthday today, here's one of his photos taken during production of the second season Monkees episode, "Hillbilly Honeymoon," in September 1967:

"Hillbilly Honeymoon" eventually aired on NBC on October 23, 1967:

Happy Birthday, Henry Diltz! Read more about Henry and his legendary photographic work in the archives of The Monkees Live Almanac (scroll down after clicking on the link)!

The wonderful team who oversees Peter Tork's official Facebook page has just announced that "Peter Tork: A Celebration of Life & Community" will take place on Sunday, October 20, 2019 at Club 66 in Edgewood, Maryland (near Baltimore) to honor the memory of Peter. Details can be found below, and stay tuned to The Monkees Live Almanac for more information about this special event.

​A CELEBRATION: Peter loved his Torkees fanbase and was proud of the wonderful community and friendships that developed as a result of people traveling to see him perform in Monkees and Shoe Suede Blues shows. He was always concerned about the well-being of his fans, friends and loved ones. When thinking about the time he would no longer be on this earth, Peter often said that he would not want any glitzy or flashy events, nor sad or solemn ceremonies. He wished, instead, that people would simply gather in a comfortable place to remember him in fellowship, enjoy good food, listen to music, and share fun memories. We'd like to honor Peter by giving him his wish... and we invite you to help us.

In a gathering similar to his beloved Fan Parties, we welcome you to join us on Sunday, October 20, 2019 @ 1:00-5:00pm ET at Club 66, Edgewood MD (near Baltimore) for Peter Tork: A Celebration of Life & Community, as we enjoy one more visit with our favorite Blues Boy in celebration of his life and deep love and appreciation for all of you! This laid-back, casual celebration will include a buffet lunch, the showing of a never-before-seen-in-public video of a Shoe Suede Blues concert on a big screen (featuring Peter, Arnold "AJ" Jacks, Joe Boyle, and Sturgis Cunningham), lots of Peter Tork/Shoe Suede Blues music, time to chat and reflect on good memories, and a few other activities.

We have chosen Club 66 for this celebration because it was Peter's favorite place to play, as well as the host to most of the band's fan parties. The owners, staff, and members of the Club were always so supportive and welcoming to Peter & SSB, and the vibe so electric there, that the band truly considered it their "home away from home." If the timing would have worked out, Peter had even hoped to host a CD Release Party for "Relax Your Mind" at the Club. Because of all this, we couldn't think of a more appropriate place to bring people together to celebrate, remember and heal.

We are aware that Micky Dolenz will be performing in the “It Was Fifty Years Ago Today” tour in Bethlehem PA on October 19th, and in Washington DC on October 20th. Edgewood MD is located between these two locations, approximately 2.5 hours from Bethlehem and 1.5 hours from DC. We have adjusted the timing of our gathering to make it possible for fans to attend as many of the happenings as they wish to, without causing a conflict.

Please email our team at fiorepro85[at]hotmail[dot]com for ticket information and additional details. We hope you will be able to join us in celebrating Peter and being a part of his world! ~ptfb team #ShineOn #WeAreOne #PeaceLoveAndTork

(Photo: Sherri Hansen)

​Since 1966, the press and purported "serious" music critics have reveled in stories about The Monkees and their musical prowess. But after the group's triumphant 45th Anniversary Tour in 2011, progressive journalists have reassessed The Monkees' musical catalog and many now choose to celebrate this cast of actors, singers, and musicians and their metamorphosis into an authentic recording and touring project.

As longtime fans already know, and contrary to urban legend, the individual members of The Monkees all played multiple instruments with varying degrees of skill. Peter Tork cut his teeth in the early 1960s Greenwich Village folk scene, gigging with the likes of a then unknown Stephen Stills in The Buffalo Fish and jamming onstage with Mama Cass in her pre-Mamas and Papas project, The Mugwumps. Tork was a multi-instrumentalist who mastered the banjo, guitar, bass, piano, and even the French horn with exuberance. His stunning instrumental contributions are undisputed highlights of the Monkees catalog: the beloved piano lick from "Daydream Believer," the ominous organ solo on "Words," the breezy harpsichord on "The Girl I Knew Somewhere," the propulsive banjo on "You Told Me," the aggressive bass on "You Just May Be The One," the majestic piano on "Shades Of Gray," the rolling keyboards on "The Door Into Summer," the tense electric piano solo on "Pleasant Valley Sunday," and the famous guitar-intro to his own composition, "For Pete's Sake," which became the closing theme for The Monkees television series in its second season. The list goes on and on!

Peter's singing and songwriting however, were met with a different response. With a questionable pitch and a lovable but infrequently utilized voice, Peter became the Ringo Starr of The Monkees, an ace in the hole who was lucky to score a single lead vocal on any given album. In his heyday, Tork was an inspired but seemingly frustrated songwriter. Overshadowed by the prolific and somewhat dominant Michael Nesmith (who just happened to title Peter's signature composition "For Pete's Sake"), some of Peter's quirky, folksy, and bluesy gems were initially left unreleased until The Monkees' incredible resurgence in 1986 that ultimately opened the studio vaults. After that unprecedented commercial resurgence, Tork was able to spread his wings as a solo artist, exploring his folk roots with longtime friend and musical partner James Lee Stanley, tackling the roadhouse blues with the tongue-in-cheek titled band Shoe Suede Blues, and finally bringing his peculiar vision to life with 1994's Stranger Things Have Happened.

In February of this year, we lost Peter Tork to a longtime battle with cancer, but his music survives. The following is a retrospective of his career for fellow fans to enjoy. As Peter wrote, "To say that you can dig it, is to make your soul to fly . . . to heaven."

Monkees fans are likely to recall the name Paris Stachtiaris, co-host of Headquarters ("The only radio show in America dedicated to The Monkees") that originally aired on 90.3 WBAU-FM, the radio station of Adelphi University in Long Island, New York, from 1987 to 1990. Cassette tapes of the program, which featured interviews with Monkees luminaries like Chip Douglas, Ward Sylvester, Jim Frawley, Coco Dolenz, Lester Sill, Monte Landis, Gerry Goffin, the individual Monkees themselves, and others, were frequently traded among fans in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

And now in 2019, Paris is back, with co-host Ben Brown, producing a special in honor of the 50th Anniversary of Woodstock that will air Labor Day Weekend on HCS internet radio. Paris and Ben's premier guest is the renowned rock photograher Henry Diltz, the official lensman of Woodstock who also has photographed The Monkees extensively since the 1960s. Paris has informed the Live Almanac that he is planning to play Rhino's recently released (and now sold out) 38-disc box set, containing nearly every note played at Woodstock, during the special.

The Woodstock Radio Special will air on HCS internet radio beginning Friday, August 30 at 5:00 PM through Monday morning, September 2, and you can preview the interview with Henry from the special right now! And don't miss a selection of Henry's photographs from Woodstock, courtesy of his website. 

Thanks to Paris for keeping everyone informed about his latest project, and be sure to check out the archives of the Headquarters radio program here at The Monkees Live Almanac!

The Monkees Live Almanac is happy to pass along the news that Monkees archivist and producer Andrew Sandoval is currently working on a revised edition of his exhaustive book on The Monkees, originally published fourteen years ago. Andrew recently announced through various social media channels that he hopes an updated edition of The Monkees: The Day-by-Day Story of the '60s TV Pop Sensation is ready for publication in late 2020.

Andrew's first Monkees-related project came in 1990 when he acted as co-producer (along with Bill Inglot) for 1990's Missing Links Volume Two collection, which also featured liner notes penned by Sandoval. Since then, he has produced numerous Monkees projects for Rhino Records, including CD reissues, multiple box set treatments of Monkees music, and DVD and Blu-ray collections of the group's 1960s television series and feature film, Head. He is responsible for The Monkees' triumphant return to the concert stage in 2011, and produced subsequent tours for the group in 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, as well as the "The Mike & Micky Show" that was a hit at venues in North America, Australia, and New Zealand throughout 2018 and 2019.

Years of research and dedication resulted in Andrew's 2005 tome on The Monkees. In it, the band's recording sessions, live concerts, filming dates, public appearances, and much more from 1965-1970 were all richly documented. Considered to be the primary resource for anything and everything Monkees, Mojo said Day-by-Day was "The only Monkees book you need . . . Essential reading and a poignant primer in how the template was set for today's shooting stars . . . as close as you'll get to the official word . . . an engaging document of one of the '60s most important phenomena."

While we all anxiously wait for a revised edition of his book, be sure to listen to Andrew's internet radio show, Come to the Sunshine, and check back with The Monkees Live Almanac for future updates!

This summer, Rhino Records has been celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Woodstock. To commemorate that moment in popular music history, Rhino launched their "Summer of '69 - Peace, Love and Music" retail campaign on July 9 with a series of limited-edition vinyl releases available exclusively at participating brick and mortar retail outlets. On July 23, the soundtrack to The Monkees' 1968 feature film, Head, was issued on silver vinyl as part of Rhino's celebrations.

Thanks a lot to Live Almanac contributor Ben Belmares for sharing his scans of this latest issue of the Head soundtrack.

Yes, we’re a little late for Christmas in July, but hey, we’re early for Christmas in general! The Monkees’ first-ever Christmas album, CHRISTMAS PARTY, is coming to 180-gram vinyl for the very first time on September 13 in a few different formats:

Good ol’ black 180-gram vinyl at most retailers
A limited-edition red or green version exclusive to independent record stores
A red and white “candy cane” exclusive, available only at Monkees.com!

​Our Monkees.com red and white “candy cane” version is strictly limited to just 1,000 copies, so don’t wait for Santa to snag it for you.
​
CHRISTMAS PARTY is pressed on 180-gram vinyl tucked into a beautiful gatefold sleeve by comics legend Michael Allred. It includes all the new holiday favorites from last year’s collection, with the addition of The Monkees’ shining moment “Riu Chiu (TV Version)” as performed live acapella on the Christmas episode of their show.

In 2014 the former president of The Monkees Unofficial Fan Club (published in the early 1980s), Michael Luciano, passed along images and newspaper articles to the Live Almanac from his private collection that documented The Monkees' appearance at Curtis Hixon Hall on August 1, 1969. Yesterday, in honor of the 50th anniversary of that particular concert, I shared the post from 2014 on the Live Almanac's Facebook page, which generated considerable attention. 

And now, Michael has been kind enough to provide the Live Almanac with more exclusive coverage of this show, starting with this piece originally published on August 7, 1969 in the St. Petersburg Times:

Also from the August 7, 1969 issue of the St. Petersburg Times is a photo of Micky Dolenz performing in Tampa:

And thanks to Michael, we can enjoy this wonderful photo of Davy Jones onstage with the band that supported The Monkees in 1969, Sam & The Goodtimers:

Finally, here's a photo of fans and the crowd assembled at Curtis Hixon Hall:

Thank you very much to Michael Luciano for sharing these fantastic pieces from his collection with The Monkees Live Almanac!!

Thanks a lot to longtime Monkees fan Corey Kaplan for sharing this unique piece of memorabilia from his collection!

Here is a wonderful artifact from the past: a complete issue of A Book of Davy Love, a newsletter devoted to Davy Jones. Iain Lee, British broadcaster and co-owner (along with Glenn Gretlund) of 7a Records, is currently scanning items from his Monkees collection and shared this particular piece with the Live Almanac. 

It's easy to forget that in the pre-internet era of the 1970s through much of the 1990s, fan clubs and their newsletters were the ultimate source of Monkees news and information. I fondly recall, as a new fan in the '80s during The Monkees' 20th Anniversary resurgence, eagerly awaiting the latest issues of Monkee Business Fanzine and The Monkees/Boyce & Hart Photo Fan Club. Imagine all of the work involved in collecting submissions, typing stories, inserting pictures, and getting copies of the final draft printed, stapled, folded, and mailed!

This issue of A Book of Davy Love, published in 1976, includes a detailed "News" section with lots of updates about the activities of Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart at the peak of their touring and recording career, including a promotional photo and fan reviews for their 1975 single, "I Remember the Feeling." Other parts of the newsletter include "Poetry Corner" and "What It's Like Being a Davy Fan Abroad." "The First Time" documents stories about fans meeting The Monkees during their 1969 tour as well as details surrounding the filming of Davy's 1972 TV special, POP! Finally, "Memorable Concert Moments" highlights The Monkees in concert in 1967 and 1969, along with Michael Nesmith & The First National Band at KRNT Theatre in Des Moines, Iowa in 1970.

Thanks again, Iain, for taking the time to scan this newsletter and for sharing it with the Live Almanac. And don't forget, coming soon from 7a Records: Davy Jones Live in Japan, now available to pre-order!