 "It Was Fifty Years Ago Today," a tribute to The Beatles' White Album, co-starring Micky Dolenz, Christopher Cross, and Todd Rundgren, is currently on the road, stopping this evening in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with plenty of more shows to come! Micky and company recently discussed the tour, their love of The Beatles, and more with The Maine Edge. UPDATE 10/5/2019: Media Mikes reviewed the show and noted the set list from the Kansas City, Missouri performance, and Forgotten Hits provided a recap of the tour's stop in St. Charles, Illinois. UPDATE 10/9/2019: The Glorious Corner reviewed the performance at Connecticut's Ridgefield Playhouse, noting Micky's performances of "Rocky Racoon," "I'm So Tired," and "Why Don't We Do It In The Road." UPDATE 10/25/2019: Parklife DC recapped the final show of the first leg of the tour at the Warner Theatre in Washington, D.C., and also included a full rundown of the set list. The tour resumes on November 30 in Greensburg, Pennsylvania.
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"White Album" tribute tour, co-starring Micky Dolenz, opens this weekend in Atlantic City (UPDATED)9/18/2019  (Photo courtesy of GLASS ONYON PR) "It Was Fifty Years Ago Today," a tribute to The Beatles' White Album, co-starring Micky Dolenz, Christopher Cross, and Todd Rundgren, is currently in rehearsals and will debut this Saturday in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The articles linked below take a closer look inside the presentation of the upcoming tour, songs you can expect Micky to sing, along with notable quotes about potential future projects and releases. And if you are attending one of these special shows, be on the look out for longtime Monkees touring guitarist and musical director, Wayne Avers, who will be playing in the band! Will 'The Monkees Present the Mike & Micky Show' return? Absolutely, Dolenz enthuses, although there’s "nothing on the books" at the moment. This is Dolenz’s second high-priority project this year. The first was his first-ever teaming with fellow Monkee Michael Nesmith on a worldwide tour last year. The trek was interrupted after Nesmith suffered health issues, but resumed this year. Before the end of the year expect to see a live recording via Rhino Records. Following the [White Album] tour, look for a Dolenz-fronted reprise of his 'A Little Bit Broadway, A Little Bit Rock & Roll' show in New York City. Dolenz added that as far as he’s concerned, when it comes to rock drummers, no one supersedes [Ringo] Starr. "Ringo was the greatest," he insisted. "I mean, my God, he almost defined rock drumming in the ‘60s." Dolenz isn't giving away his selections yet and will only say "I'm very happy with what I ended up with." His own view of The White Album meanwhile, is it "was pretty unique in many ways. It was very diversified, as you know, so it's hard to say. There was so much good stuff. Frankly I was just always a big Beatles fan. I loved every album and listened to them religiously." "The Monkees were preparing to go on tour in England in 1967, and I went over by myself, first, to do some early press junkets," says Dolenz. "One of the publicists who worked with both us and the Beatles thought it might be great to get a photo of me together with them, as there had been some bullshit competition between us that never truly existed. Something stupid." McCartney must have caught wind of this, and wound up calling Dolenz personally, and invited him over for dinner. "Just he and I — and our handlers — having a casual chat. I ran into him a few years ago during his rehearsal for Coachella, and he remembered everything about the dinner… down to watching television."  Micky Dolenz "really looking forward to" White Album tribute tour with Todd Rundgren and other stars Among the White Album songs Dolenz will be performing are “Rocky Raccoon” and “Yer Blues,” plus two or three more. He says “Rocky Raccoon” stands out for him because it was “one of the songs I would sing my little kids as a lullaby.” As for his own songs, he says he’ll probably be singing the Monkees hits “I’m a Believer” and “Pleasant Valley Sunday.”  (Click the image above for tour dates and ticket links) Tour Dates & Ticket Links: "It Was Fifty Years Ago Today" co-starring Micky Dolenz (UPDATED 11/9)6/5/2019  (Photo credits: Larry Marano/Shutterstock, Greg Chow/Shutterstock, Brandon Nagy/Shutterstock) "It Was Fifty Years Ago Today," a tribute to The Beatles' White Album and co-starring Micky Dolenz, Christopher Cross, and Todd Rundgren, will be on tour this September and October. Tickets in most markets go on sale Friday, June 7! Rolling Stone covered the announcement of the tour: First LegSeptember 21: Golden Nugget / Atlantic City, New Jersey September 24: Ruth Eckerd Hall / Clearwater, Florida September 25: Au-Rene Theater at the Broward Center / Fort Lauderdale, Florida September 26: MSU Riley Center / Meridian, Mississippi September 28: Akron Civic Theatre / Akron, Ohio September 29: Norton Center/ Danville, Kentucky October 1: Arcada Theatre / St. Charles, Illinois October 2: Pabst Theater / Milwaukee, Wisconsin October 3: Muriel Kauffman Theatre / Kansas City, Missouri October 5: The Cabot / Beverly, Massachusetts October 6: Capitol Center for the Arts / Concord, New Hampshire October 7: Collins Center for the Arts / Orono, Maine October 8: Ridgefield Playhouse / Ridgefield, Connecticut October 10: St. George Theatre / Staten Island, New York October 11: Berklee PAC / Boston, Massachusetts October 12: NYCB Theatre at Westbury / Westbury, New York October 13: Mayo PAC / Morristown, New Jersey October 15: Keswick Theatre / Glenside, Pennsylvania October 17: Count Basie Center for the Arts / Red Bank, New Jersey October 18: Garde Arts Center / New London, Connecticut October 19: Wind Creek Event Center / Bethlehem, Pennsylvania October 20: Warner Theatre / Washington, D.C. UPDATE: A second leg of the tour has been added! Second LegNovember 30: Palace Theatre / Greensburg, Pennsylvania December 1: Aronoff Center / Cincinnati, Ohio December 2: Arcada Theatre / St. Charles, Illinois December 4: Verizon Wireless Theatre / Grand Prairie, Texas December 5: Paramount Theatre / Denver, Colorado December 6: Celebrity Theatre / Phoenix, Arizona December 7: Westgate Las Vegas Casino & Resort / Las Vegas, Nevada December 8: Magnolia Performing Arts Center / El Cajon, California December 11: The Wiltern / Los Angeles, California December 15: Jackson Rancheria / Jackson, California  
In this video, Circe Link, Christian Nesmith, Alex Jules, and Coco Dolenz harmonize on the Beatles classic "Nowhere Man" before the show at the Bob Hope Theatre in Stockton, California on June 8. They are joined for some comic relief by John Billings:
Were there any particular records or films that inspired the album? Sean Lennon: Les got a telepathic communication from Buzz Aldrin. Les Claypool: A big inspiration was us sitting down and watching the Monkees' Head. Sean Lennon: Head is, like, my bible. Any project or important thought I've ever had was inspired by Head. We were talking about the amazing revelation that Buzz [Aldrin] revealed on C-SPAN. He said, "There's a monolith on Phobos with a tiny, potato-shaped moon that's revolving around Mars." It's the most mind-blowing thing I've ever seen on television. We were just hanging out watching that video, and Les came back the next day with a full song about it.  (Image by SirQ and shared with the Live Almanac)  Warwick Hotel in New York City during the 1967 summer tour (From "The Monkees '67 Concerts Photo Album")  Janis Joplin and Peter Tork at Monterey (Photo by Michael T. Denham)  The Monkees check out "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" while filming the episode "It's a Nice Place to Visit")
The Beatles community is celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and REBEAT helps us find Nez during the sessions for the iconic track, "A Day in the Life":
In June 1968, Davy attended a Beatles recording session for "Revolution" with Lulu, who opened The Monkees' shows at Wembley in June/July 1967.  “I’d met George when he was visiting Cass Elliot in Los Angeles, and I was dating Cass’s sister, Leah,” Peter Tork says. “Later, the Monkees met the Beatles in England, and he invited me to his house. He played the sitar and said: ‘I’m working on a soundtrack album, I’d love to have you play a little banjo.’” Tork had travelled without his instrument, so Harrison borrowed McCartney’s five-string banjo for the session – “which Paul couldn’t play – at least conventionally, because the folk five-string banjo can’t be restrung in reverse order for left-handers, it must be custom made. I played for 45 minutes, George said, ‘Thanks very much,’ and we went our separate ways.” Tork’s breezy contribution didn’t make the record, but it can be heard 15 minutes into the film, after Collins is chided by his mother for spying through the wall. “And I did not get paid,” he laughs. “George said: ‘We’ll figure that out later.’ He knew that the honour itself was payment enough!”  Peter Tork on his fellow Monkees: “Well, I’ve never been really close with Michael [Nesmith] for some reason. You know, I have a lot of respect for him and admiration. But somehow we’ve never integrated. We’ve never been warm with each other. We worked together and did pretty well at it really. But Micky on the other hand, I enjoy hugely. We have some very good times together. We laugh a lot. We pay attention to what each other is doing on stage and so there’s communication there. Micky’s always been a lot of fun.” Tork then shares a warm sentiment on his late friend, Davy Jones, who passed away at age 66 back in 2012. “Who I miss is Davy of course. Davy is the guy who…I’ve always said I loved, liked and respected [the band members] in different proportions but Davy actually kinda got my heart.” Micky and Peter talk about their friendship with The Beatles, and Ringo Starr in particular: Both Monkees seem to agree on their favorite Beatle: “I would say by far the person I spent the most time with probably would have been Ringo,” Dolenz shares. “He moved out to L.A. and spent a lot of time there in the 70’s and we had a lot of mutual friends like Harry Nilsson, the singer/songwriter. I also spent time with John and Paul.” Tork is quick to share on his affection for good old Ringo: “He is my favorite Beatle. It truly was Ringo that I found to be the most open and human.”
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