​Next to last Monkees show last night at Four Winds Casino.

Tonight is last for this tour then Mick and I have to decide what to do --- if anything. I committed to an Australian tour but I am expecting that will be it for me. The shows are fun, the songs are good and fun to play -- but things are a bit long of tooth now -- not that that is a bad thing -- but it’s a bit like trying to learn new dance steps. Monkees-itis is still alive and well after all these years, and touring is arduous --- to say the least. Reviewers who are angling for approval in that idiot wind are at least annoying and generally don’t get it.

I have a good time --- so does Mick I think -- but there is less of a sharp point in these days of Television. I spend days watching MSNBC and the horror show that is Washington DC at its most dangerous and stupid. An idiot wind indeed.

I start to feel curmudgeonly more and more and less and less suited for singing pop songs --- clever and happy and fun to play as they are --- but is a bit like singing Happy Birthday over and over. Combine that with the fact that Television Music was never my first pursuit. People who like my work have another clear window they can see through -- if they choose.

But -- in any case -- the shows wear me down.

So its back home and into hiding for a while --- till I leave the hemisphere for the upside down land. Maybe it’s just road rummies -- at least that is how it feels -- but it feels like playing Yesterday every day -- or the Chicken Salad Sandwich scene from Five Easy Pieces; there is only so much length to that rope.

I like the Net giving me a voice since I feel like a heretic when I bring The Monkees up. At least you all know it’s me -- and not some bonehead whining about how poorly I play.

I’ll get back to work on my book about Television and Television critics. So far so good --- need to focus and the bad road food is toxic to fun or good ideas.

I’m in St Louis today --- barbecue for lunch! :)

(Photo by Henry Diltz)

There are no words right now...heart broken over the loss of my Monkee brother, Peter Tork.

I am heartbroken.
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​Peter Tork died this AM. I am told he slipped away peacefully. Yet, as I write this my tears are awash, and my heart is broken. Even though I am clinging to the idea that we all continue, the pain that attends these passings has no cure. It's going to be a rough day.

I share with all Monkees fans this change, this "loss," even so.

PT will be a part of me forever. I have said this before -- and now it seems even more apt -- the reason we called it a band is because it was where we all went to play.

A band no more -- and yet the music plays on -- an anthem to all who made the Monkees and the TV show our private -- dare I say "secret" -- playground.

As for Pete, I can only pray his songs reach the heights that can lift us and that our childhood lives forever -- that special sparkle that was the Monkees. I will miss him -- a brother in arms. Take flight my Brother.