Tuesday/Dallas Permalink
We flew here from Des Moines, and headquartered at the Cabana Hotel. Mike’s friends were all on hand, of course, when we arrived because this is his part of the world. Mike spent a lot of time with them, while most of us just goofed around the pool. We decided to build a HUMAN PYRAMID in the pool! David Pearl, Micky and Mike Graber (Mike’s hairdresser) were on the bottom, a couple of The Sundowners and I were in the middle, and Davy clambered to the peak of the pyramid! It worked for a couple of seconds until we all splashed into the pool!
Wednesday/Dallas Permalink
The day of the concert at Memorial Auditorium. Seemed as if Mike was bringing half of Texas with him! Mike took all his friends and most of his wife Phyllis’ family to the concert. And they, like everyone, flipped out! It was a groovy concert.
Thursday/Houston Permalink
This was the city where the police kept giving us a hard time. They kept throwing us out of the Sam Houston College auditorium, even though we had passes and even though the show couldn’t possibly go on without the crew! David Pearl probably had the toughest time, but all of us were challenged by the police every time we made a move.
Friday/Shreveport Permalink
I have two memories of Shreveport: (1) We destroyed glasses at poolside with our usual wild fun and games and (2) the crew bought Davy a soccer ball. So, he promptly went out on the field, and his team (which also had Micky on it) beat a team led by Jim Edmundson (our chief security officer). We also played a lot of football on the lawn of the Shreveporter, our motel, before our concert that night at Hirsch Memorial Collage [sic].
Saturday & Sunday/Mobile & Detroit Permalink
After our concert in Mobile, we whipped off to Detroit for our concert which had been postponed because of the trouble in that city. In Detroit, it was an afternoon concert, our only one of the entire tour.
Monday/Nashville Permalink
We didn’t believe it! But our hotel was right next door to the YWCA!
So, of course, there were girls day and night in front of the hotel. But the “Y” had declared our hotel off-limits, threatening to expel any girls who entered. Everything worked out OK, anyway, and we were delighted with our next-door neighbors!
We stayed here three days, so that Micky, Davy, Mike and Peter could get some recording sessions in. But, other than that, the guys never stayed together, making it tough for me to track them down for you.
Davy rented a Mercury convertible and did a lot of antique shopping. Mike bought about $900 worth of rifles, and Micky and Davy each bought one, too, only to discover that there was no place to go shooting! They did go on a picnic, though, at a farm just outside of Nashville. But ants aren’t any fun to shoot at!
Thursday/Memphis Permalink
We were scheduled to arrive early in the day, but were late and didn’t get to the Admiral Benbow Inn until late in the day. Davy played golf with a local DJ and Jim Edmundson, our security man. And Mike, Micky and Peter went to Stack’s—Memphis’ famous recording studios. Booker T & The MGs are the studio recording group there, and the guys watched them record. Peter carried his own little tape recorder with him all summer, and he taped himself playing the bongos! We all had a good time in Memphis.
Friday/Tulsa Permalink
We were late here, too, and didn’t spend much time either before or after the concert in Tulsa. But Micky did manage to pick up some leather-crafts and tools in this part of the world where the Indian influence is great. All the boys, by the way, made beads throughout the tour. They have bead looms and, whenever they have a minute or are in the mood, they’ll work on them.
Saturday/Denver Permalink
Info Denver was The Monkees’ final concert before a five-day holiday, and they were determined to make it an outasite happening! And it was! The funniest event of the night was when a member of the crew, Neko Chohlis, walked on stage with a tray filled with cotton candy! 
Info Peter stuck his cotton candy into his electric organ, grabbing sweet bites in between songs! 
Info Mmmmm… does that taste good! First Davy eats a finger full of candy. 
Info Then, he uses it as a prop during a song! 
Info But Mike probably had the grooviest idea of all!
Our concert here was the last one before we took five days off in Los Angeles. And it was something else! First, David Pearl came on stage with Mike’s hat carefully tucked on top of a white pillow, like a King’s crown or something! Then Neko came out with four cotton candy sticks! Mike stuck his in the end of his guitar, as my pics show, and all the guys ate them between songs. Also, each Monkee had a foot-long flower. Mike had his in his guitar, Mick carried his, Peter wore his flower and Davy also carried his flower. Towards the end of the show, we threw the flowers out into the audience. Every Monkee show on the tour was outasite, but this one in Denver was just a little more special than most!
Sunday-Thursday/Los Angeles Permalink
This was the week that was! The first complete week off during the whole summer! And we all took personal advantage of it. Micky had had his whole family in Denver, and he went off with them to spend some time with relatives in San Jose during this free week. Davy spent a lot of his time looking for a beach house near Malibu. Malibu is one of the prettiest beaches in the world, and Davy would love to find a quiet escape there. Peter also was looking for a house on the beach, but he was looking for a permanent one. He’d love to get out of the city and live at the water’s edge full time. It’s only about a half hour’s drive from the Screen Gems Studio on Beachwood Drive in Hollywood to the ocean, so Peter could easily make it his home. But, as I’m writing this, neither Peter nor Davy had yet found what they were looking for. Mike spent the week quietly with Phyllis and Christian at home, taking it easy, shopping and generally just catching his breath.
Friday/Seattle Permalink
Info 
Info 
Info Mike looked out of the hotel window in Portland to discover he was looking right into FLIP’s candid camera! So, what did the most serious Monkee of all do? Gag it up spectacularly! Would you believe Mike Nesmith… smiling? 
Info Davy bought some fish lines and bait, and went fishing. Right out of his hotel window! Didn’t catch anything, but had lots of fun trying! 
Info 
Info Mad as ever, Micky practically jumped into the water for our camera! 
Info Once back inside, though, Mick “shot” back at us—with his own camera!
After the restful week at home, we just had three more concerts to go—our 31st, 32nd and 33rd of the summer! Seattle has a beautiful waterfront and on the afternoon of the concert, the guys went down to the waterfront and bought fishing lines and bait. No one caught anything but everyone had a good time. I think we also had a dandy shaving cream fight here in Seattle, although it may have been in Portland, which was our next stop.
Saturday/Portland Permalink
Info Micky invites you to come along with him as he has a roof-rave! Micky took time out for this foto fling while The Monkees were in Portland. Credit: Ric Klein
Info A photographer should never face the sun—except when another photographer wants to take his pic! Which is why Micky happily turned around for best friend Ric Klein’s FLIP lens! Credit: Ric Klein
Info A Monkee’s never alone! Even while Micky was scampering around the hotel roof, passers-by looked on. Credit: Ric Klein
Info Credit: Ric Klein
Info “Hi, there!” Credit: Ric Klein
On the way to Portland we had a “little” pillow fight, just three or four pillows were tossed until we decided to call a temporary truce. In Portland, Davy almost got into a real fight. He and David Pearl and some others had managed to elude our own security people, to spend some time on their own. But they ran into three rather unfriendly guys. Davy was ready to tackle the biggest one of the lot. Happily, there was no trouble, but it was touch-and-go for a bit. Spent the rest of the day making paper planes and little paper helicopters (and maybe we had the shaving cream fight here!) before going on stage at the Memorial Coliseum that night before 12,295 happy people.
Sunday/Spokane Permalink
None of us believed it, but this was the final show of the tour! We’d all worked very hard, we were all very tired, but we were all very sorry that it was about to end. The flight from Portland had been a very, very uncomfortable one. As soon as we were in the air, our ears started popping. The pilot turned around and flew back to Portland, where it was discovered that the baggage compartment was open, so the cabin hadn’t been pressurized! Our second flight out of Portland made an unscheduled landing because of some mechanical problems! So, we were all kind of relieved when we finally safely made it to Spokane.
Our equipment was beginning to disintegrate, which was understandable after the beatings of thirty-three action-packed concerts! Mike, in a fantastic burst of generosity, donated $7000 worth of equipment to a local group.
And then it was over!
The final concert.
The flight home.
And an unbelievable summer was over!
I’ve tried to share every moment of the tour with you. You were there whenever Davy, Mike, Peter or Micky did anything. You were backstage, on stage, off stage. You were really the fifth Monkee.
Davy, Micky, Peter and Mike will probably do between 30 and 50 concerts next year, and they’ll be going to the far east early in the spring.
Here’s hoping that you’ll be traveling with us then.
In the meantime, there’s much happening with The Monkees—and you’ll be sharing it all—starting next month in a brand-new column I’ll be starting in FLIP.
So, let’s make a date for December 7th. I’ll be waiting for you, along with Micky, Peter, Mike and Davy!
