Micky Dolenz will appear at Philadelphia's Citizens Bank Park on July 1, 2018 to sing the "Star Spangled Banner" before the start of the Phillies-Nationals game at 1:35pm that day. Tickets are now on sale, and Jodi Ritzen is offering a special package where you can spend the game with Micky and family inside the Bill Giles suite, complete with food and drink and autograph opportunities. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

The Live Almanac first reported about Peter's involvement with the movie in December 2013.

Hello everyone! Things have been more quiet than usual as of late here on the Live Almanac's blog, but with good reason. Over the last couple of weeks I have been revamping each one of the tour pages found on The Monkees Live Almanac website. It's been a long time since these individual pages have received specific attention, and with dead links piling up, a desire to provide the most current information and relevant resources, along with a need for general house cleaning, well, the time was right to give everything a second look. The changes are mostly subtle, but you might recognize some new scans, videos, and a general tidying up of each page's layout for what I hope makes for the best viewing experience.

I'm still working on essays for the 2015 concerts and the 50th Anniversary Tour, but I haven't had a lot of time to write and the essays require dedicated research and editing. All in good time, though! Speaking of future additions to the site, Jennifer Winkle has recently shared a vast amount of photographs from concerts in 1986, 1987, 1996, and 1997. I look forward to sharing these pictures down the road!

Meanwhile, please feel free to check out the individual tour pages that are organized by decade below. I welcome your feedback and suggestions. Maybe it's been a while since you've perused these pages, or perhaps you're new to them altogether - enjoy!

On Friday July 6, Micky will also be appearing at a 50th Anniversary screening of The Monkees' 1968 feature film Head at the Regent Theatre in Arlington, Massachusetts.

Michael Nesmith's 11th studio album, The Garden, was issued in 1994 by Rio Records and is meant to act as a companion release to 1974's The Prison. Both The Garden and The Prison are written to have the music complement a novel included with the release (written by Nez) and to read the novel simultaneously while listening to the recording. In their review, AllMusic delved into the inner workings of the album:

The Garden (1994) is Michael Nesmith's companion release to The Prison (1974). Both works are a departure from his more traditional releases, as the music is specifically designed to aurally complement an equally engaging written novella/short story -- included in the extended liner notes booklet. The idea is for consumers to commence reading Nesmith's prose while simultaneously listening to the recording. The concept may at first seem unusual, although the results are nothing short of profound. No special speed-reading skills are required. Rather, the most useful thing that a potential enthusiast can bring to the multimedia project is an open mind, sense of adventure, and respect for the infinite possibilities inherent within such an subtly demanding correlation . As Nesmith is quick to point out in his preface, The Garden is not a sequel in the strictest sense of the term -- meaning that there isn't a true continuation of the narrative which began in The Prison. Instead, they are correlated thematically and stylistically as both are presented in a linear and consecutive approach. Each of The Garden's seven chapters are also visually enhanced, if not somewhat inspired by a series of Claude Monet paintings. There is a much more subtle connection between the prose and these unqualified masterworks, yet he is able to relate them in a contextual sense. The music retains Nesmith's inimitable and signature sound, yet compared to his most concurrent effort, Tropical Campfires (1992), The Garden is exceedingly ethereal and more often than not instrumental. There are vocals that feature not only the artist, but also his children Jason -- who is likewise the central character in the short story -- Christian, and Jessica. The backing band also includes Christian Nesmith as well as most of the musicians the senior Nez had collaborated with on the aforementioned Tropical Campfires, most notably Desert Rose Band string man John Jorgenson (guitar/sax/bassoon/mandolin/oboe/bandurila/mandocello), Joe Chemay (bass), and John Hobbs (keyboards), as well as studio maven Sid Page (violin).

Earlier today, it was announced that The Garden is once again available on compact disc courtesy of Videoranch, packaged as a 2-CD set with accompanying booklet.

Below is the text of Micky's Facebook post about Stephen Hawking:

I had the pleasure of meeting Stephen Hawking as he and I were leaving a restaurant in Cambridge, England sometime around the year 1980.

He, of course, had no idea who I was but I was well versed in who he was as I have always been, and continue to be, a student of science and particularly quantum physics and cosmology.
Needless to say, we have lost one of the greatest minds in science (which, BTW, is a word directly translated from the Latin word “scire” which simply means - “know”.)

He obviously loved to “know” things and will certainly be remembered right up there with all of the other greatest men and women who attempted to know the truth: Copernicus, Galileo, Ada Lovelace, Tycho Braye, Kepler, Newton, Madame Curie, Einstein, Rosalind Franklin, Feynman, etc.
Science is about knowing - or at least attempting to know the truth about our natural world: without subjectivity, without snake oil salesmen, without wishing and hoping.

Stephen Hawking exemplified this notion and, given the extraordinarily difficult reality of his physical existence, he will surely go down in history as one of the greatest knowers that the world has ever seen.

Micky Dolenz
Los Angeles, California

Shoppers at the official online Monkees store can no longer add The Monkees Present deluxe box set to their cart, which appears to signal that it's now sold out. Limited to 5,000 individually numbered boxes, the second post-Peter Tork Monkees album was newly remastered and expanded by Rhino Handmade in 2013. Produced by Andrew Sandoval and consisting of three CDs and 85 tracks (60 previously unreleased), the package also included an exclusive bonus 7" vinyl single for "Good Clean Fun (Alternate Mix)" b/w "Mommy and Daddy (July 1969 Stereo Mix)" in a picture sleeve.

A while back at the Monkees Store, the super deluxe box set for The Monkees remained available while asking shoppers to "subscribe to back in stock notification." That set, however, was never offered again at the store, and the same option is currently being shown for The Monkees Present. The page for The Monkees super deluxe has since been removed from the store's website, and it's likely just a matter of time that the same will occur for The Monkees Present. Box sets for The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees and Head have long been sold out.

Still available is the recent super deluxe edition of More Of The Monkees, along with the deluxe edition for 1969's  Instant Replay. Grab them while you still can!

Elephant Parts is a collection of comedy skits and music videos made in 1981 by Michael Nesmith. Nez produced and distributed the one hour long video through his company Pacific Arts. In 1982, Michael was the first to be awarded a Grammy for Video of the Year for Elephant Parts. The award was reserved for "video cassettes or discs in any format created specifically for the home video market."

Videoranch announced on Facebook today that Elephant Parts will soon be restocked featuring a new digital video transfer from the master tapes, along with new bonus features. Videoranch is taking a poll on Facebook asking fans which format is preferred: DVD or Blu-ray. Take a minute to vote in the poll below!

Micky has several solo dates coming up, including a free show on March 16 at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut:

You can also see Micky perform this weekend in The Villages, Florida:

Michael Nesmith has just posted a new message on Facebook where he talks about meeting with Micky Dolenz tomorrow to begin production for their June concert tour. Here what Nez had to say:

Heading to LA tomorrow for meeting and a hang with Mick. Have to cook up the M&M shows. Right now no clue what to do other than Monkees songs -- which are of course a lock.

I didn't expect to go out again singing Monkees songs -- but here I am looking at dates with Mick for the month of June -- the beginning of Summer, I think -- dates are posted at most of the Monkees sites and here -- but the set list doesn't exist yet.

M and I will sit around and sing, try to find out what makes sense with the two of us -- maybe the occasional guest.

As I write this I put on Chris Smither's "Live as I'll Ever Be" and its lifting me up into the skies of songs -- opening up settlements where we might perch and gaze out for miles and miles and sing and play the Music.

If all goes as planned I think we will put together a fine show.

I love singing with Mick -- this will be the first time an M&M show will be realized -- after all these years.

As I say I suppose we will play the deep cuts from the Monkees catalog -- and songs M&I have written over the years -- and as we are blessed we will find the space that the great live players find over the years -- those deep and real places that are undeniable, that leave no question unanswered -- and to me that is a definition of Smithers concert and his magic acoustic guitar. So I am listening closely to him-- learning what I can.

Maybe M&M can "Kill the Blues" like Chris --

Anyway, I'm looking forward to the trip and to seeing Mick appear singing along beside me in the same room. One of my life's gifts and blessings.

Andrew Hickey's Monkee Music, which examines The Monkees' catalog song by song, was originally published in 2011. A second edition of the book is now available. Andrew talked about the updated version and its new contents today on his blog:

As Andrew writes, Monkee Music can be downloaded at Amazon and a hardback is for sale at Lulu. A paperback is also available through Amazon.

Davy Jones passed away six years ago on February 29, 2012. The Monkees Live Almanac salutes the memory of Davy, and, like everyone, is still saddened that he's gone.

​Thanks, Davy, for all the memories, laughs, and good times.