A Tiger Beat Monthly Column
The Monkees write to YOU… by Davy, Peter, Mike and Micky
Micky talking: Permalink
Favorite things are a favorite topic of all the fan books and it’s funny because no one has asked me for almost three days what my favorite things are. In that space of time I’ve almost forgotten. But here’s my own intimate personal private list that no one knows about… except me and now you.
My favorite things are:
Wire: Here is something that you can do so many things with. I use it in my sculpture all the time and it’s so groovy to bend into different shapes. Have you ever thought of how many uses wire has. It’s in so many things that I can’t even begin to name them all.
Air: Fresh air is very important to me. Without it I can’t breathe. And without air you can’t fly or sail or keep cool.
Sand: Warm sand on your body is the grooviest feeling in the world except when you’re wet. I’m kind of a nervous type so it’s hard for me to sit still. But when I’m lying on a warm beach I’m always perfectly relaxed.
Electric plugs: These are very important in my life because I like different kinds of lighting effects and without the plugs there wouldn’t be anything like this.
Saws: Saws make changes and I like changes. Saws are important to me.
Pillows: Pillows make things soft and life is very hard. It’s nice to have groovy pillows around.
Smells: I like beautiful odors. Perfume that suits a girl… incense… cookies baking in the oven… barbecuing Hamburger… hot chili.
Animals: Animals are alive and anything that’s alive is necessary to everything else.
There are many other things that I love, but I guess you can tell by my list so far that the really important things are simple and basic ones. Actually, the old phrase, ‘the best things in life are free’ isn’t too far from wrong.
Peace
Micky Dolenz
Davy talking: Permalink
Colors are fantastic things. When I’m in different moods, I like to wear the color that best suits that mood. Mostly I like blue, but there are times when it just doesn’t seem right. For instance, blue rooms are kind of depressing. Have you ever been in a place with blue walls and lots of blue furniture? I think you’ll see what I mean if you spend some time there.
But when I’m wearing a blue sweater I feel good. It’s kind of a relaxing feeling… very calm. Also, I love girls in blue. It brings out so much of their eyes, that is, if they have blue eyes… and I like blue-eyed girls.
The funny color is red. Too much red can really turn you off. It’s a wild color, but a little of it goes a long way. You’re always conscious of red whether it’s a car or a red dress or red shirt or anything like that.
I know it’s not a color, but when I wear black, it seems to get the most reaction. I once wore a black turtleneck sweater for a photo shooting and someone put it on the cover of a magazine. That sweater got more reaction than anything else I wear. So I guess you never can tell.
Also on the Monkee TV show, we’ve noticed that certain segments which are more colorful go over better with the audience. You know at the end of the show where we do a number? Well, the specialty of the lights jumping around where we all wore white pants and sweaters was very groovy. At least the letters we got said so.
And speaking of letters, it’s strange how the color of stationery can affect whether or not you read a letter. In fan mail for instance, when I get a letter written to me on dark-colored stationery like a deep rose, my eyes get tired. Letters on bright yellow stationery have a glare to them and are hard to read.
Most of you have black and white sets so you probably don’t see what I mean about the show, but you can look at other colors and understand. Oh, and one last thing, even colors of cars tell a lot about the people who own them. Everyone usually buys a car in the color that will be most attractive to him, and you can tell a lot about his personality.
Start thinking about what effect colors have on your state of mind. I’ll bet you’ll be surprised.
David Jones
Peter talking: Permalink
Does it really bother you to have teachers and parents tell you what to do? Have you ever said to yourself, “I can hardly wait until I grow up so I can be my own boss”?
Well, if you haven’t, you’re probably in the minority. I know I used to say that and I was always pretty independent and I did what I thought was best for myself. Sometimes this didn’t pan out, but that was the kind of person I was and still am. But this doesn’t mean that I don’t have people who tell me what to do. I DO.
People say it’s groovy to be a Monkee because you can do anything you want and you have all the money you want to spend. What they don’t think about is that the Monkees have bosses, too. There are people who tell us what time we have to be to work and tell us what we’re going to do when we get there. This is always true in life no matter how far up the ladder you go.
Just look at the President of the United States. He’s the big boss, but he still has to answer to the people of the country and to Congress. This isn’t an easy task.
But you don’t have to go around feeling sorry for yourself, because deep inside each of us knows what kind of a person we want to be so we choose our own paths. If I didn’t want to be a Monkee and take orders from the people who hired us, then I wouldn’t have to be. I could quit. But I don’t because I don’t want to. So I have to go along with what the authority over me wants. Sometimes when I think something is unreasonable I can complain and they always listen. You can do the same with parents. But you must complain tactfully.
I’ve always found that the people over you are pretty understanding when you can communicate with them. It’s only when this communication stops that things go badly.
As far as this goes, all of you out there are also kind of bosses to us in a way. We listen to you and try to do songs and shows that please you. If we didn’t care and just tried to please ourselves, it wouldn’t be very bright.
We hope you know this when you watch the show or listen to our records.
Peter Tork
Mike talking: Permalink
A couple of months ago I asked you you to write and ask me about the things you wanted to know. One letter I received sort of caught my eye. The girl who wrote it asked me how I could be happy in a place like Hollywood after being raised in a nice quiet state like Texas.
Well, I kind of thought about that for awhile. I had never remembered Texas being that quiet… at least not the people I knew there. It’s a big, vast state and not crowded like California, but I never thought it was quiet. Which brings me to the point I want to make.
My house is in Hollywood, but my friends, family, and life is my home. I mean that Hollywood doesn’t really change your friends or your family or you for that matter. I wanted to be doing just what I’m doing even when I lived in Texas. Just because I’m in Hollywood most of the time hasn’t changed me.
The Monkees’ success has made me able to do the things I want on a bigger scale and I’m very grateful for this. I couldn’t have done this in Texas.
The people in Hollywood are different from the people back in Texas mainly because most or all of them are interested in show business. But when I lived in Texas all of my close friends were interested in show business, too. So nothing is really that different.
When we went on tour last summer, I didn’t notice that the audiences and the fans we met in different states were all that different. Mostly they were all groovy people having their own type of fun. Sure, the states have different appearances. Some are flat, some are hilly, some are hotter than others, but by-in-large the people don’t change from state to state.
So I hope that answers your question about Texas and Hollywood. In my opinion, they’re both great places and anyone could be happy in either.
Mike Nesmith
