Exclusive!
A new TiGER BEAT monthly column from us to you… by Davy, Peter, Mike, & Micky
Each month in TiGER BEAT the Monkees tell all about themselves and their lives… in their own words!
Exclusive!
Mike talking: Permalink
This month I’d like to talk about success. A lot of you think that the only way to get what you want is by being born that way or getting the right breaks or something. I get the impression from a lot of your letters that you think I always knew I would be a Monkee and have the fame and fortune that goes with it. That’s really a laugh.
When I grew up in Texas I was the most ordinary Texan you ever saw in your life. I did exactly the same things every kid growing up does: I had the same subjects in school, ate the same food, played the same games, wore the same clothes, everything. I wasn’t one bit different than you are today, not one single bit.
I had the same dreams then that you have now. But I did something about those dreams. I made mine come true, all by myself, and you can do t, too. I didn’t have any luck or anything like that, and I sure didn’t have any money, either.
You only have to do a few simple things to get whatever you want, but that’s the trouble. Everything is so simple that nobody does it. They think that anything worthwhile has to be hard, so they just sit around waiting for something hard to come by and they never get anything. It’s a big waste.
It doesn’t matter where you are now or how you look or what you’ve done or how much money you have. You just start from exactly where you are now, follow the rules and, Zap!, you’ve accomplished what you set out to!
What are these mysterious things you have to do? Well, the first thing is just to know what it is that you do want. Sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it? You think everybody knows what they want—don’t you? You’re wrong. Most people usually don’t have any idea what it is that they really want.
How do you find out what you really want? Write down everything you think you want—everything. It’s going to be a long list, so be prepared. Don’t think that something is too little, or too impossible, or too anything. Just write down whatever you think you want, no matter how long the list gets. When you have the whole list done put the things you want most at the top of the list and the thing you don’t want as much on the bottom.
Now, read the list every morning and every evening. Don’t skip reading it even once. Read that list carefully every single day, once in the morning before you go to school and another time before you go to bed.
You’re going to want to change some things on the list before long, and that’s ok. Add or take away whatever you want to. Make the list over as many times as you want to, but keep reading it twice every day.
It doesn’t seem like anything will happen from that, does it? It seems too simple, doesn’t it? Remember, I told you that everything was so simple most people never did it, so you be the one to do it and get what you want.
Next month I’ll tell you about the next thing to do, but that thing isn’t going to help unless you do this first step and do it until it’s a habit. Go make your list now, and I’ll talk to you again next month.
Love,
“Honest”
Mike Nesmith
Davy talking: Permalink
A lot of you have been asking about the future. “Monkees Forever!” you write on your letters to us, and we love you for it. But where are we really going? I’ll try to make a few guesses.
Will I always be a Monkee? Well, yes and no. The four of us have built a friendship that nothing will ever change, no matter what happens in the future. We started out just four guys who didn’t know each other and from that we’ve built a groovy relationship. That will never change. Whatever happens, each one of us will always be a Monkee, deep in our hearts.
What will I do when the Monkees finally stop making films, maybe years from now? Well, you probably know that I have my own record company now, although of course I don’t sing for it. I only sing with the Monkees. But my company makes records of other people and right now I’m having a lot of fun producing records fro them in my spare time.
It’s a wonderful feeling, a hard-to-describe feeling, when I take some paper with notes written on it, some kids who want to be stars but aren’t yet, some musicians who don’t know the people or the music and a man in the control booth and put all of these together and come up with a groovy sound that will make thousands of people happy. That’s what a producer does, and that’s why I’ll probably do a lot of producing in the future, as well as what I’m doing now.
What else will I do? Well, I’ll always be an actor. I may be a lot of other things on the side, but I’ll always be David Jones, the actor. I love entertaining people and making them happy.
There may be other things that I’ll do in the future, lots of things I don’t know about yet, but what ever they are you can be sure that they’ll be a groove for me and for you.
Love David Jones
Peter talking: Permalink
I hear a lot about parents and the problems you have with them. They want you to do things you don’t want to do, and they won’t let you do things you want to and all that. It’s a real drag. It doesn’t help a bit to know that everybody has these hang-ups, there’s still that clash and that’s the important thing.
Maybe if I let you in on something that worked for me when I had this problem it will help you, too. I hope so.
You have to think of everything as “bads” and “goods”. You’re probably giving out a “bad” every time you get “bad” now, aren’t you? Let’s think about that. What’s going to happen?
First of all, you’re letting the “bads” take over. If you give a “bad” for a “bad” then pretty soon everything will be “bads” and there won’t be any room for “goods”.
But if you give a “good” for a “bad,” no matter how hard it is to do, then you’ll find that gradually the “goods” will take over. You’ll find that things will be super-groovy in awhile.
Let me know how it works out.
Peter Tork
Micky talking: Permalink
There are a lot of you who are interested in Coco and me, so I thought this month I’d talk about brothers and sisters. There are lots of you that are only children, and there are lots of you who have brothers and sisters—which is better?
Well, I’m prejudiced. Now that I’m older I wouldn’t have changed to being an only child for anything. There were times back then when I thought I’d like to be an only child, but that only lasted for a little while, because then something would happen and I’d realize just how lucky I was to have my sisters.
Of course, there are lots of advantages to being an only child. You have all the attention and all the goodies, for one thing. You don’t have to fight with brothers and sisters over the telephone or clothes or anything because there’s only you.
But with all the things that do go wrong, I’d still vote for having brother sand sisters. They’re fun to play with, and when you need them around, they’re there. Even when you’re fighting it’s kind of fun. And there’s so much you learn from them—a lot more than you ever realize when you’re growing up.
I’d like to hear from you only kids about how it feels to be one. Do you wish you had brothers and sisters? Do you like being an only child? What do you feel about it?
Write to me here at TiGER BEAT, 1800 N. Highland Avenue, Hollywood, California 90028. I’ll be looking for your letters.
Peace
Micky Dolenz
