She’s So Far Out She’s In - Micky.
You Just May Be The One - Mike.
Prithee - Mike.
I Wanna Be Free - Davy.
Sweet Young Thing - Mike.
I Can’t Get Her Off My Mind - Davy (with a thick Manchester accent).
Take A Giant Step - Micky.
Mary Mary - Micky.
After Mary Mary, Davy goes up and takes over the drums and Micky comes down front. Then all the guys leave the stage except Micky, who introduces Peter. (By this time, Peter has switched to a white sweater and tight white slacks.) He sings a bluegrass tune and plays his five-string banjo. This is Peter’s “solo.” (At this point in the show, each of the Monkees does a “solo” number.) Next comes Mike, in a thick off-sweater and gray “gambler’s” slacks with thin black stripes running down them. He plays maraccas [sic] and sings You Can’t Judge A Book By Looking At Its Cover. Then Davy comes out dressed in a black tuxedo and a white lace shirt (with no tie) and sings one of his favourite Anthony Newley tunes. Davy then introduces Micky, who is wearing his Monkee grey suit coat (from the TV show) turned inside out!—and wildly striped pants. Micky is combing his hair and he throws the comb into the audience, causing a small riot in the front rows. Micky does I Got A Woman a la James Brown (Mike keeps running out on stage to pat Micky’s “fevered” brow and pretends to try to drag him off). When Micky finishes, all the guys are off the stage for less than a minute—then they bounce back on wearing their well-known Monkee outfits: grey pants and double breasted blue shirts. They then do:
I’m A Believer - Micky (Peter plays electric organ on this).
I’m Not Your Steppin’ Stone - Mickey [sic].
The boys then bow, say “Thank you very much,” place their instruments on the stage (except that Mike carries his $5000 12-string guitar off and hands it to his buddy, John London), and the Monkees make a made [sic] dash for the limo—which is already parked inside the arena. They leap in, the doors are slammed and the boys split for the airport.
In Denver we were met by our chartered ten-passenger Falcon jet (not Lear jet, as has been mistakenly printed elsewhere). Because of a low ceiling in Denver, we all had to wait in the airport lounge for 45 minutes. It didn’t seem that long for, as usual, Davy, Peter, Micky, and Mike were clowning about and making the time fly by. Soon we were aboard our luxurious plane, bound for Memphis.
After Memphis, the Monkees played Louisville, Winston-Salem, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Nashville, and Tulsa. All of the gigs were fantastic. We loved every city and the thousands upon thousands of Monkee-lovers we saw, heard and met. Since there isn’t enough room in which to write about each of these exciting events, I have picked two of particular interest.
While we were flying from Cincinnati to Nashville all the guys became bored (like in “the natives are getting restless, chief”). We all had a super supper of steak, baked potato and green peas. After eating all that, we were served a small cherry pie. Ric Klein sat looking at his with a bemused expression for a minute, then gave Davy Jones a sheepish grin. Davy looked from the pie to Ric’s face and slowly said, “You swine—you would do that.”
Whereupon Ric did just that. He dipped his fingers into his cherry pie and leaned over and painted Davy’s face with some of it. Not being one to ever miss a cue, Davy very calmly dipped his fingers into his pie—and the battle royal began! Soon, it was pie in the sky for everyone. I joined in next, and the rambunctuous [sic] Monkees were swift to follow. It was sheer honest-to-goodness Monkee madness for the next 15 to 20 minutes. Finally, we all ran out of pie and laugher, and ended up sinking into our seats to wipe away the damage with our napkins. Now it all sounds a little silly, but it really was one of the high spots of the trip—giving us all a much-needed opportunity to blow off some steam.
We arrived in Nashville at 11:30 P.M. and checked into the Dinkler Andrew Jackson. There we found invitations to a New Year’s Eve costume party Brenda Lee was having. We all piled into two limos and went to the address on the invitations—which turned our to be a huge warehouse! Inside, we found our adorable hostess Brenda, dressed as a clown and her husband dressed as a Civil War colonel. They had a groovy band and it didn’t take long for Micky to get up on the stand and start wailing away.
When he finished, Brenda got up and did a few numbers—and then the Candy Stripe [sic] Prophets got into the act. Quite a show for one and all! It was especially great fun for Davy, Peter and Micky (Mike had decided to cool it and catch up on his sleep that night), because it was the only chance they had to take some time off on the trip and swinging at a party was a heckuva lot more fun than being locked up in a hotel room.
Wow—once again I’m out of space. That means my fabulous story about the “sneak” weekend the Monkees spent with the Raiders in New York City will have to keep till next month. Hope you can stand it till then. That knock-out exclusive story will be in the June issue of 16, which goes on sale April 20. Reserve your copy now and the “Monkees & Me” will see ya’ then!
Magazine: 16
Author: David Pearl
Editor: Gloria Stavers
Published:
Volume: 8
Issue: 12
Publisher: 16 Magazine, Inc.
Pages: 3, 24–26