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Neko Chohlis first met Micky Dolenz when the two attended college together in Los Angeles in the early 1960s. From that friendship with Micky, Neko became involved in the Monkees project, traveling with the group throughout 1967, and later providing artwork for Monkees albums and picture sleeves (seen below). Today, Neko is known for his work as an abstract artist. Recently Neko was a guest on Plastic EP Live TV where he gave a fascinating interview that included his recollections of meeting Paul McCartney, John Lennon, and Jimi Hendrix while on tour with The Monkees, his dealings with Colgems Records, how Davy Jones befriended Jan Berry (of Jan and Dean fame) after Berry's auto accident, his previously unknown contributions to The Monkees' 1968 single, "D.W. Washburn," and much more! 
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Cover art and track listing revealed for "Dolenz sings Nesmith" coming this May from 7a Records3/10/2021  (Artwork by Tim Johnson from Silver Parrot Creative Services) 7a Records is pleased to announce the release of Dolenz sings Nesmith – Micky Dolenz's first new solo studio album in nine years. The album is comprised of songs Michael Nesmith wrote throughout his career, all beautifully reimagined. Produced by Nesmith's son, Christian Nesmith, this is the album Monkees fans have waited years to hear. The Album Dolenz got the idea for the album a long time ago. As Micky says "I think I first mentioned it to Nez years ago, I don’t know where the idea came from, maybe from my friend Harry Nilsson and his Nilsson Sings Newman album. I thought to myself, 'Wow, Dolenz sings Nesmith.'" The new album, which was recorded between September 2020 and February 2021, features songs written throughout Nesmith’s long career, including many from the critically acclaimed Michael Nesmith & The First National Band albums, as well as a few Monkees deep cuts. And who better to produce the album than Nesmith's son, Christian Nesmith, who has done an incredible job in coming up with fresh and completely new arrangements for all of the songs. The global release date for Dolenz sings Nesmith is May 21, 2021. (Courtesy of 7a Records) The Track Listing
 (Courtesy of 7a Records) Pre-Order Now!
 Back cover (Courtesy of 7a Records)  In this sequel to Long Title: Looking for the Good Times; Examining the Monkees Songs, One By One, authors Michael A. Ventrella and Mark Arnold look at the careers The Monkees had outside of the TV show and the band: From Micky’s early appearances as "Circus Boy" through Peter’s financial and legal problems to become a respected performer with his band Shoe Suede Blues, to Davy’s frustration with record labels and his many solo albums for his fans, to Michael’s evolution from country rock founder to the creator of MTV and video technology ahead of many others. They look at the various reunion concerts, the movies and plays, and the ups and downs of their varied careers, all with insight and humor. Below is commentary found on the back cover of Headquartered: A Timeline of the Monkees Solo Years, courtesy of Dean Friedman: "Some people are so ignorant as to imagine that The Monkees are not a 'real' band. That’s crazy! That’s like saying that lemon meringue pie is not 'real' food. They’re both an inspired synthesis of disparate wholesome, delicious, natural ingredients combined, orchestrated and executed with expert skill and sublime results. What this book makes irrefutably clear is that all four Monkees were consummate professionals – talented musicians and skilled performers, all – producing strong, creative, original, yet inexplicably unheralded, music recordings and video content before, during and after their frenzied 'Monkees' moment. Never underestimate a 'pop star.' There’s always more to them than you could ever imagine. This book proves it. I will always love lemon meringue pie. And I will always love The Monkees." 
October 2: Lobero Theatre / Santa Barbara, California
October 3: Largo at the Coronet / Los Angeles, California October 5: Fremont Theater / San Luis Obispo, California
A pre-sale for the Santa Barbara concert will take place Thursday, July 25. The code for the Lobero Theatre presale is "LEO." The pre-sale begins Thursday, July 25 at 10am PT, and ends at 10pm PT that evening.
(Artwork by Dawn Aquarius & John Sellards / Courtesy of Videoranch)
Andrew Sandoval spoke about the upcoming shows on Instagram:
"Alex Ross’ official Twitter account showed off this lithograph celebrating The Monkees — and while not much information is known right now, we were told that the plan is for it to be a San Diego Comic-Con 2019 exclusive."   Throughout the month of April, Vincent Ferrito hosted the Monkees Music Tournament on Facebook. Consisting of 32 songs and multiple rounds of voting, "Pleasant Valley Sunday" ultimately prevailed and was announced as the winner on April 24. Below are the images used to represent each song in the tournament, and as I told Vincent, I thought it would be nice to preserve his great artwork! You can also click on each image to listen to the track or watch a video for it:                                  (Original artwork by Bernard Yeszin / Above reinterpretation by Rob Silva) The Monkees' official Twitter account has been sharing these images over the last week or so in promotion of Christmas Party. Enjoy!
A big thanks to (who else?!) Ben Belmares for sharing his scans of the Target version of The Monkees' new holiday album, Christmas Party.                     In the fall of 1969, The Monkees television series premiered in syndication on CBS. Post Foods quickly conducted a cross-promotional exercise through their various cereal products like Alpha-Bits, Honeycomb, and Frosted Rice Krinkles by releasing Monkees cardboard singles that were printed onto the outside of the cereals' boxes. Sometime in 1970, Post began a special offer for The Monkees Golden Hits, which collected all of the cereal box singles onto one exclusive vinyl LP that was unavailable in record stores. A coupon inside their cereal boxes advertised the album, which could be purchased for $1.50 and 2 box tops from any of the Post cereals. Thanks a lot to Monkees collector Ed Reilly for sharing scans of the coupon found inside an Alpha-Bits box below:   Issued by The Monkees' label Colgems Records, The Monkees Golden Hits is hard to find nowadays in mint condition and is a sought-after collectible:  (The Monkees Golden Hits images courtesy of Monkee45s.net)   (From the September 1967 issue of Monkee Spectacular) Long Title: Looking For The Good Times; Examining the Monkees Songs, One By One by Michael A. Ventrella and Mark Arnold, is now available for pre-order. A release date is not yet confirmed, but you can follow their Facebook page for further updates.  (Click to enlarge)  (Joe Eisma/Archie Comics)  (Mike Allred/Archie Comics)  (Original photo by Henry Diltz - above creation by Barbara Lorraine)  (Original photo by Henry Diltz - above creation by Barbara Lorraine) |
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