Come along with Lynne and the guys as they storm through the South and Southwest on their American tour!
So much happens when you’re with the groovy Monkees that one hardly knows where to begin so I’ll just reach out with my butterfly net and start catching dreams for you. First off, I’d like to introduce you to one of the Monkees’ best friends, and probably one of the greatest hair-stylists around.
Haircut line-up Permalink
His name is Michael Graber (for lots more about him, see Page 14) and he went on the Monkees’ summer tour to keep their “locks” in shape. Mike is one of those all-American guys we Australian girls only hear about. He’s great-looking, tanned, and loves the sun and the surf. He’s always smiling and is an excellent hairdresser. On tour, his room was more like a beauty salon than anything else. He always works in his brightly-colored surf trunks, wearing his Indian tribal beads around his neck.
You really would have fallen apart laughing if you had arrived at his door in Miami one morning, as I did. There, standing in line, were the following: Peter Tork, David Pearl and Mike Nesmith! I would say that Michael’s salon was doing pretty good business, wouldn’t you? Anyway, my turn finally came and he gave me a lovely trim. He has promised to dream up a groovy new hairdo for me. Hope he doesn’t forget!
“Flower” policemen Permalink
We really had a ball in Dallas. Everywhere we went the police were very nice to us, but in Dallas they seemed especially friendly and helpful. They didn’t push any of the fans around and, at the same time, they took good care of the boys. On the night of our concert there, the Monkees left the hotel carrying bouquets of mixed flowers and they gave every Dallas policeman they saw a flower to wear. It was really very nice to see those great big officers wearing white carnations and roses and the like!
While we were in Dallas, everyone on the tour took over radio station KVIL for a day. I managed to put in three hours between announcing and answering phone calls. It was rather amusing, because it was hard for me to understand that thick Texas drawl—and it was just as hard for our Texan friends to understand my funny Australian accent! The Sundowners did a turn on KVIL, and then the Monkees took over. Can you imagine what it’s like to hear Micky deliver the news, Davy announce the records, Mike take over the farm reports and Peter answer the phones? Well, it came off a gas, and the deejays were so delighted that they gave us a party back at our hotel later. One KVIL deejay, who called himself “Your Leader,” got on very well with the Monkees and nailed himself some fantastic interviews. If you look carefully at the picture in which he appears on this page, you’ll see that Peter is wearing his famous combination—two different colored pairs of socks!
Mick Dolenz presents Permalink
One of the high points of our tour was a party the boys gave for Raybert V.P. Howard Sylvester’s adorable secretary, Barbara Hamaker. Barbara got lovely presents from everyone on the tour—and after the party she went around “ringing merrily,” wearing a necklace of bells that 16’s editor Gloria Stavers gave her. The “program of entertainment” at Barbara’s party proved to be quite unusual. Micky Dolenz showed us all the color pictures he had taken on the tour with his brand-new Nikon camera. There were literally hundreds and hundreds, and each one was more fascinating than the one before. I predict that Micky will really become a great photographer one day. With all his joking around, he is quite deep and serious and sees much more through the camera lens than we “ordinary” people see with our eyes.
Co-pilot Nesmith Permalink
As I told you last month we were flown on the tour in our own private DC-6—and the flight from Dallas to Houston was unforgettable for one particular reason. Somewhere up in the air, about midway in our journey, Peter suddenly noticed that Mike was missing. “Hey, where’s Nesmith?”. he asked, jumping up from his seat (as you can see from the picture here, Peter has become a fanatic collector of beads, beads, beads). Anyway, we all knew where Mike was, but we weren’t about to tell Peter—so we let him frantically search about for a while. When he couldn’t find Mike anywhere in the passenger section of the plane, he stalked forward and threw open the cockpit door. There (to his surprise and dismay) sat his good friend Mike Nesmith at the controls of the airplane!
“Just take it easy, son,” Mike said, in his best Texas accent, “Uncle Mike here is gonna look after biz-ness.” Peter did one of his marvelous W.C. Fields “takes”—and lifting his eyebrows disdainfully, he walked slowly back to his seat and sat down!
There never seems to be enough space to tell about all the wonderful Monkee adventures I’ve been lucky enough to share. Right now, I’m back in L.A., working hard at my career as a singer, and hope to cut a hit record that you wonderful 16-ers will really dig. Meanwhile, I’ll do my best to keep an eye on those mighty busy Monkee-men of ours and, hopefully, I’ll soon be telling you more, more, more about their magic Monkee world! ’Til then, stay cool. Luv ya’.
