Gather ’round as we dig up the newsiest scoops on the gearest groups.
BACK on the groovy gossip scene, your fav groups are just hopping with all sorts of newsy doings and hot happenings. So, get set for the latest info . . .
On the Monkee parade. . . THE MONKEES’ favorite games are wall-creeping and hall-crawling—strictly for hotels! . . . DAVY JONES is having a special sports car built for him by Ford. It just goes to show that he’s one Monkee with a lot of drive! . . . And don’t tell a soul, but MIKE NESMITH has a super knack for talking policemen out of giving him tickets! . . . MICKY DOLENZ, as well as being a good comedy writer, likes to lend a helping hand with The Monkees’ scripts! . . . As for PETER TORK, his latest craze is playing the organ between scenes on the Monkee set. He keeps it right in his dressing room, and it’s not odd to hear sounds of Bach preludes floating out the door! On that note, we take Monkee-leave!
PETER BLAIRE BERNARD NOONE (HERMAN, to his fans) has gotten pop journalists to help him serve in a bar! Sound strange? Well, actually, the bar is part of Herne Bay Hotel a seaside resort Herman bought for his parents!!! . . . Those amazing BEATLES have now passed their 200 millionth mark in record sales around the world. (An LP is counted as six singles and an EP as two). That’s not even counting their latest album, “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” which was released after the grand tally. That’s an awful lot of disc-spinning, fans! . . .
BEACH BOY BRUCE JOHNSTON sang fellow-BB CARL WILSON’s special solo, “God Only Knows,” when Carl was late for their performance on a Dublin stage. It turned out to be a rather embarrassing moment for Bruce—he forgot the words!!! . . . WILTON F. (FREDDY) WELLER, who’s the newest RAIDER (having replaced JIM “HARPO” VALLEY) is a smashing success! He’s the first Southern Raider, tends to be on the shy side and plays a mean lead guitar. And just for the record, gals—he’s single!!! . . . TROGG’S CHRIS BRITTON won’t be leaving the group as he had planned. Seems as if he has a three-year contract which he can’t get out of right now. But, now that it’s all settled, Chris is glad that he’s still with the group and so are we!!!
The super ROLLING STONES cut their own manes ’cause they’re afraid that a real barber might snip too much off. And that, fans, would be a “hairowing” tragedy! . . . Rumor has it that CASS ELLIOT of THE MAMAS AND PAPAS, and LEAH COHEN, Monkee Peter Tork’s steady, are sisters! It’s not known if that means full-sisters, half-sisters, or sister-in-laws—no comment from the sis . . . ooooops . . . gals! . . . THE MOVE, who threw bananas at the audience, were shocked at receiving their latest grocer’s bill. Wouldn’t be surprised if the song “No, We Have No Bananas” is part of their next act!!!
DAVE DEE, DOZY. BEAKY, MICK and TICH had to fly back to Britain for a rest right after their Australian tour. The boys were all suffering from exhaustion, especially BEAKY and TICH, who were also suffering from sunstroke. And that’s red-hot news! . . . ERIC BURDON and THE ANIMALS delivered a shock announcement to British fans. In the future they plan to spend only a limited amount of time in Britain—mainly to do recording and film work. Tours may be out altogether! Guitarist VIC BRIGGS explains it this way: “The scene here in Britain is very bad for us. We’re trying to express ourselves more as a group now. The trouble,” continued Vic, “is that the British people want the old Animal hits—which isn’t us anymore!”
Breaking up, THE WALKER BROTHERS once pointed out in one of their songs, is so hard to do. But they’ve just proved that it really isn’t—by finally splitting up to go their separate ways! The ironic thing about it all is that the last single they did together was “Baby, Make It The Last Time” and it was!
Little has been heard of THE KINKS in the past six months or so. Legal difficulties have prevented the release of follow-up records, and other difficulties have restricted their personal appearances. MICK AVORY told us all about what the guys have been doing during this quiet spell! “Having a break like this,” explained Mick, “has given us a chance to discover ourselves, to discuss the business side of our work, the money and the kind of work we’d like to do in the future.” Mick continued, “We would all like to make a film and in the future we will probably make just one British tour a year. During this slow period, I played golf when the weather was good and took up painting in oils! . . . as for RAY and DAVE DAVIES, they’ve taken up football as a hobby and continued with their songwriting . . . PETE QUAIFE has joined an amateur film society, and produces short films for fun!” So ends The Kink story!
SHORT TAKES: IVY LEAGUE member PERRY FORD’s wife gave birth to a baby girl! Congrats! . . . PAUL and BARRY RYAN are on The Carnaby Street fashion pole for best-dressed stars! And that means double-snazzy! . . . THE NEW VAUDEVILLE BAND knocks BONZO DOG DOODAH BAND at interviews then tells reporters not to use any quotes because they “don’t want to give them any publicity.” Wonder what BDDB has to say about TNVB??? . . . PRETTY THINGS are representatives of Great Britain at Canada’s Expo ’67!!!
Recently, when THE HOLLIES’ publicist, ALLAN MCDOUGALL, was asked to set up an interview with GRAHAM NASH, he replied, “No. It’s not possible. A veil of secrecy will surround the Hollies for the next two or three weeks!” Wonder what could have possibly been going on??? . . . THE SMALL FACES had to flee from the stage of Glasgow Locarno after only one number. And the police had to be called in to Glasgow’s central station to help the group safely aboard the train. STEVE MARRIOT explained, “We were horrified when we arrived at the ballroom and found there were no crash-barriers. We were told there had never been trouble before.” Steve went on, “but before the revolving stage had turned us to face the audience, the kids were on it, and PLONK (LANE) was on the ground! We attempted to do a second number, but before we knew it, the stage became a free-for-all—with photographers and our road managers battling it out with the fans!” As a result of this, strict security precautions will be taken before the group accepts any other ballroom engagements!!!
DAVE CLARK of THE DAVE CLARK FIVE left for a three-week holiday in Acapulco following the rush-release of the groups’ new single, “Tabatha Twitchit.” Wouldn’t have minded having been “twitched” by Tabatha—to Dave’s side, that is!!! . . . THE BYRDS recording of “My Back Pages” is just tops! They always did sound their best when singing a song by BOB DYLAN—so we’re glad he’s feeling better and back on the music scene!!! . . .
HERB ALPERT and THE TIJUANA BRASS TV special, which was strictly four-star, provided an unembarrassing showcase for Herb—who’s terribly handsome, but camera-shy. Hope he’ll be doing more of them!
When MIKE D’ABO of MANFRED MANN needed a physical check-up, who do you think he went to see? No other than The Queen of England’s own doc!!! No doubt, he received royal treatment!!! . . . Here’s a funny! A national paper sent SONNY and CHER a cable which read like this: “HOW OLD, SONNY? STOP. PLEASE CONFIRM.” It was returned with the reply, “OLD SONNY FINE, STOP. HOW YOU?” and it was signed by Sonny, himself!!! . . . How much longer will THE YARDBIRDS stay together? They always seem to be changin’ their lineup!!!
What pals SNOWY, STEVIE and GEORGE of THE EASYBEATS have in common is that they emigrated from Britain to Australia years ago—and are all very happy to be back in their own native country! Another common point is that they don’t want to lose the accent of their home towns or cities! That means a Leeds accent for Stevie, a Glasgow accent for George and a Liverpool for Snowy! They were asked how they could be sure they had the right accent, and Snowy replied, “We check from time to time—by tape!” It all sounds pretty confusing!!!
JOHN and LAURIE SEBASTIAN, who are of The LOVIN’ SPOONFUL, have rented a home in South Hampton (the New York one) to use as a temporary residence before they move in to their new Vermont home!!! . . . SPENCE of THE SPENCER DAVIS GROUP keeps getting the same nightmare. It all started when the boys went to Germany and played in an arena that’s normally used for a circus. They could hear the animals roaring ’cause they were in their cages behind the stage. That really made our Spence feel scary! And just to make matters worse, the rest of the boys were kidding him that some of the animals had escaped. As a result, Spence has this dream: “Either I’m being chased across the stage by a lion,” Spence told us, “or I find a tiger in my dressing room or I come out of the stage door to find a gorilla waiting for my autograph.” And Spence was really nervous about it, you could tell by the way he “growled” out the story!!!
TERRY of THE RIOT SQUAD, recently tried to bring his TV set down to a more comfortable level by sawing a few inches off each leg. Unfortunately, he didn’t get them all even until after the fifth try—and the set finished up on the floor. Now he’s thinking of sawing the legs off the chairs so he can see it better! Well, there’s nothing like a good floor show!!!
That’s all for this issue fans, but we’ll be back next time with more of the latest in pratter and chatter. Till then, bye!
