The fantastic Monkees Pad Show has returned, this time with special guest Coco Dolenz. Host JR's conversation with Coco covers the Dolenz family's entertainment roots, her solo and Monkees career, philosophy of life, and much, much more in this exclusive interview.
Coco's history with The Monkees traces back to the 1960s. She provided harmony and background vocals on such Monkees tracks as "Shortly Blackwell," "Little Girl," "Midnight Train," and "Mommy and Daddy." She wrote for teen magazines at the height of her brother's fame, and in the late 1970s, Coco toured with Micky and Davy after the dissolution of Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart. In 1987, Coco released her own album, One Voice. She joined The Monkees onstage in a supporting role when Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork reunited in late 2012 for a series of concerts after the passing of Davy Jones. Enjoy this interview with Coco via the link below, and be sure to follow The Monkees Pad Show on Facebook and Twitter!
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Monkees historian and producer Andrew Sandoval has announced a special musical tribute to Michael Nesmith that will air on his long-running Come to the Sunshine radio program tomorrow, December 20, 2021 from 6-9 PM Eastern (3-6 PM Pacific). You can listen to the show on WFMU's Rock'N'Soul Radio.
Andrew shared the following preview on Facebook:
UPDATE 12/20/2021:
Andrew Sandoval's special, "A Musical Meditation on Michael Nesmith," along with the playlist and accompanying chat session, is now archived courtesy of WFMU.
Between October 3 and 4, 1968, The Monkees performed three shows at the famed Budokan Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Thank you very much to Monkees author and collector Ed Reilly for sharing this photo!
Sandoval takes fans behind "I'm a Believer" recording session + "Day-By-Day" shipping update8/20/2021 In a recent email to subscribers, Andrew Sandoval, author of The Monkees: The Day-By-Day Story, provided a detailed update on the shipping status of his new book, which is now expected to arrive in early September. As an added bonus, Andrew takes us back to the fall of 1966 with a compelling account of the initial recording session for The Monkees' signature hit single, "I'm a Believer." Andrew's message appears below, and there's still time to pre-order a copy of Day-By-Day! Greetings Beatland Readers! As July 1966 ended, only Don Kirshner was sure of the Monkees’ success. When his trusted record makers – Snuff Garrett, Mickie Most, Carole King & Gerry Goffin – fell away, he remarkably switched gears to pull together an exceptional album – The Monkees – in just four weeks. And should the resulting release have any kind of success, he also had twelve songs (“All The King’s Horses”; “The Kind Of Girl I Could Love”; “I Don’t Think You Know Me”; “So Goes Love”; “I Won’t Be The Same Without Her”; “You Just May Be The One”; “I Can’t Get Her Off Of My Mind”; “Mary, Mary”; “Of You”; “(I Prithee) Do Not Ask For Love”; “(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone”; “Whatever’s Right”) already in progress to comprise a second album. “Everybody seemed enthusiastic, except Mike Nesmith. [He had] a big attitude right from the beginning and he said at one point, ‘I’m a producer too, and that ain’t no hit.’ So, it was like, ‘Oooo.’ To break the tension I made what I thought was an obvious joke. I said, ‘Well, Mike, it’s not finished. You’ve got to picture this with the strings and the horns.’ Which I thought there wasn’t going to be strings and horns [on it, but he would understand that] and he goes, ‘Well, maybe it could be something with strings and horns.’ Then he realized everybody laughed and the relationship goes down from there.” It is unknown if allowing Nesmith to sing at all was a bit of psychological theater staged by Kirshner and Barry to get what they ultimately wanted (Micky on lead vocals). Either way, Donnie would later learn he was playing with fire if his intention was indeed to play Nesmith. “We got in the studio,” recalled Davy in May 1967, “and Mike didn’t sing it the way Donnie wanted him to sing it and Donnie asked Mike to sing it a certain way and Mike didn’t sing it that way. And during a break Mike just split; he just left…He wasn’t taken off lead. He chose to be taken off himself by leaving.”
The latest episode of The Monkees Pad Show features an exclusive interview with Barbara Hamaker, who worked in The Monkees' front office and also traveled with the group during their legendary 1967 summer tour. Known back then as "Barbara Monkee," she talks to host Joe Russo about her experiences with The Monkees during the height of Monkeemania, her interactions with luminaries like Jimi Hendrix, Bob Rafelson, and Bert Schneider, watching The Monkees jam with Frank Zappa, and much more. Enjoy this fantastic conversation via the link below, and be sure to follow The Monkees Pad Show on Facebook and Twitter!
The deadline is fast approaching to officially pre-order your copy of Andrew Sandoval's 740 page opus, The Monkees: The Day-By-Day Story. And don't forget: the various editions of Day-By-Day will be produced in limited combined quantities. There is no plan to keep this book in print perpetually and an electronic version will not be offered. Pre-order now via Beatland Books!! In the meantime, check out the latest news update from Andrew about Day-By-Day and much more, and then be sure to view the official unboxing video for the three distinct versions of the book, which also happens to feature a very interesting soundtrack! Andrew has also previously provided two other updates about Day-By-Day, accompanied by exclusive photographs, through the Beatland Books email list. These are must reads! (UPDATED 9/21/2021 to include latest information)
The Monkees' kicked off their 1969 concert tour, the first as a trio after Peter Tork left the group in late 1968, at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver, BC, Canada on March 29, 1969. These photos of Davy, Michael, and Micky are courtesy of Photos by Vlad:
The Monkees are photographed below during a break in filming "It's a Nice Place to Visit," which ultimately became the first episode of the second season of their Emmy award-winning television show.
Last month The Monkees Pad video podcast debuted and was a resounding success, welcoming its first-ever guest, Monkees historian and author Andrew Sandoval. Now host Joe Russo has returned in Episode 2, featuring none other than Chip Douglas! Long revered by Monkees fans, Douglas acted as producer of two of the group's most acclaimed albums, Headquarters and Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd., along with some of their best single sides, including "Daydream Believer," "Goin' Down," "Pleasant Valley Sunday," "Words," and "The Girl I Knew Somewhere." Joe's brand new interview is all the more special since Chip has granted relatively few interviews in recent years. Highlights include an inside look at the recording sessions for Headquarters, original video, plus an exclusive airing of an unreleased vintage Davy Jones recording, "Bright Sunny Day." Listeners can look forward to a "Part 2" of the interview where Chip discusses his work on the Pisces album and much more. For now, enjoy Joe's conversation with Chip Douglas below, and don't forget to follow The Monkees Pad podcast on Facebook. You can also read more about Chip in the archives of The Monkees Live Almanac. The Monkees completed production for their first and only motion picture, Head, with the filming of the "Circle Sky" concert scene at the Valley Music Hall in Salt Lake City, Utah on May 17, 1968. They performed the Michael Nesmith original (seen below in video, complete with graphic images from the Vietnam War) several times for the cameras and the assembled crowd of four thousand fans. The final episode of the first season of The Monkees, "Monkees on Tour," was a documentary that chronicled the group's appearance at Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix, Arizona on January 21, 1967 during their earliest live performances: "The primary purpose of the SoCal Music Hall of Fame is to honor, promote and commemorate California's musical heritage. Micky Dolenz of The Monkees is more than worthy of this coveted recognition."
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