There’s never a dull second when you’re with Davy Jones, that’s for sure! I’d only known him for one day when I found that out. The first weekend I was in Hollywood, Mike was busy, so Davy took it upon himself to show me the sights. Hooray for Hollywood! and all that. So, he and Phyllis and I hopped into Mike’s jeep and went out together.
Fun-seekers Permalink
We were driving up and down Sunset Strip and Hollywood Boulevard in this jeep. It was really wild! We were all broke. In fact, I had more money than anyone else at the time. We had just enough to go to one club, so we went down to the Whiskee-a-Go-Go, where Johnny Rivers was playing. But there was a real long line and it was three dollars a person, so we decided to pass on that idea.
Then we went around to some of the other hang-outs and ended up going into a club called the Brave New World. Wouldn’t you know it? It was a private club which means you had to know somebody who was inside to get in.
Davy, Phyllis and I walked up and the man at the door said, “Do you know anyone inside?” We said no and then he asked Davy if he was from England. When Davy said he was, the man said, “You should know some guy inside who’s from England, too.”
Good ole’ Bugleford! Permalink
This guy was just standing there a little ways inside, and suddenly Davy lunged at him in this big embrace and hollered out at the top of his lungs, “Bugleford! It’s been so long since I’ve seen you, Bugleford! What’s going on back home, Bugleford?” He was patting him on the back the whole bit and he’d never seen the guy before in his life!
Then Davy said “Let’s go inside and get something cool to drink,” so we all walked in behind him and nobody stopped us! After we got inside, Davy said “Thanks a lot!” and we sat down. The guy was totally dumbfounded. He just sort of wandered out again without knowing what had happened!
We sat around and listened to a band for awhile. There were a few people who had heard of the Monkees because of the record (the show hadn’t started filming yet), and they were coming around, asking questions.
Micky’s groovy (?) spot Permalink
From there we went driving around, looking for a place that was cheap because we were down to a couple of dollars. Then Davy came through, as usual, with a brainstorm-type idea. He remembered a coffee-house that Micky had found and had really dug. When we got there, nothing was happening. It had to be the deadest place in the world, but Micky had raved about it!
We had to have some excitement, because we were all so bored just drinking tea. So we decided we wanted to get into the private section of the club. We walked through the door and they promptly escorted us back out. So Davy walked up and said “I’m Davy Jones of the Monkees” and they escorted him out. Then I went up and said “I’m David Price from Texas” and they escorted me out. It was hilarious!
Mock quarrel Permalink
The club was so quiet that we decided to make some noise. So we started talking really loud about crazy things like the price of peas in April and stuff like that. Davy and I were getting into this gigantic make-believe argument and everyone was looking and saying “Hey, those guys are really having a good discussion!” When it reached its peak we got up and left.
That ended our wild, wacky night, but I had seen a little bit of Hollywood. And, more important, I had seen how Davy, who has become one of my closest friends, can turn a draggy evening into something really groovy and fun!
