Wherever a Monkee decides to go, one thing is inevitable. He’s gonna be asked to meet the ladies and gents of the Press. Everything else, like languages and scenery and food and weather, may change but there is always a Press reception. And that’s where the boys often find themselves in difficulties.
Take Davy’s recent visit to London. Rumours and counter-rumours flew around before he actually made it on British soll. Fans wanted to know where he was. Journalists wanted to talk to him. So Davy, ever-willing, agreed to meet the Press.
Questions Permalink
He sat, perched on a desk in a London office, and faced the question-happy writers. Now to set the scene properly, one has to understand what is in the minds of those scribes. They’re told by bosses: “Go see the Monkees. Chat ’em up. Look for an angle. See if there’s any chance of a split or break-up. Check whether they think they’re losing popularity. You know the sort of stuff…”
So far, so good. We can’t expect national newspapers to act as unpaid publicity agents for pop stars. If there’s a story there, a REAL story, and it’s interesting enough to feed through to the public, then obviously it’s going to be printed.
Davy’s a good talker. He fairly bubbles with enthusiasm and explains just where he’s been and what he wants to do… and chucks in little jokes and little gestures. It’s really a one-man performance. When he talks, we make notes and the results are published in Monkees Monthly. But often he is interrupted, as a journalist wants to establish a certain point.
“If you had a really good offer, a tremendous offer, to make a film or go in a show on your own, what would you do? Take it?” Davy thinks a moment, then says: “Oh sure I would. But, right now, it can’t happen. There are three other guys that I’m very involved with. We are the Monkees. The Monkees are a group. No sir, that couldn’t happen right now.”
And on to a bit more bubbling over about the people he’s met and the sights he’s seen. But, a couple of journalists return to the point about what he’d do if he had a really SUPER offer. Davy clears it all up again. If, in the FUTURE, the way was clear for him to accept, he’d accept. He says that he’s very ambitious and that entertaining people is his whole life… which is something we FANS have always taken for granted!
But, despite Davy’s efforts to qualify his “Future plans,” he was reported as being quite ready to leave the Monkees if the right offer came along and that leads to further problems for the fans. Later I expect you all saw him on the Simon Dee Show when he stressed that the report was all wrong. He saw his future right now was with the Monkees and that the boys were planning all sorts of goodies in the year to come, including a world tour… which they are determined will include big towns in Britain.
Mike Nesmith is pretty good at Press receptions but sometimes finds he’s being lulled into answering questions which are double-edged. Peter Tork takes all things very seriously. But Micky is about as bouncy as Davy and he knows only too well the difficulties there are in being interviewed.
Tired Permalink
Maybe you remember how Micky arrived, all on his own, to face the first-ever barrage of Press questions—that was around mid-day at the Grosvenor House Hotel, in Park Lane. He’d just flown umpteen thousand miles, was obviously very tired, and he met a fairly ANTI set of reporters who wanted him to own up about how the boys had not played on their first records. Micky coped admirably, explaining that they’d not played because of lack of time—not lack of talent.
But a storm blew up, all the same. It was a BIG story. Then somebody asked how it was that his hair used to be blond and was now dark brown—the change from Circus Boy to Monkee. Micky explained how different producers wanted different things and he had to change his appearance to order. “Guess you could say, the time I’ve been in this business, that I’m a Hollywood phoney from way back”, he said.
That word ‘phoney’ made pens bite deep into notebooks. It tied up well with the admission that the boys hadn’t Played On Their Records. The Headlines read: “I’m a Hollywood Phoney”, says Monkee Micky.
See the problems of being interviewed? Usually it’s one Monkee against maybe ten reporters. He has to keep switching from one question to another, still managing to keep his wits about him and not allow himself to be “caught out”.
Bad tempered Permalink
Also, they have to be careful not to get bad-tempered. Mind you, the boys accept that Press interviews are all part of the job. They know, too, that often a reporter will write a good story only to have important bits cut out before it gets in the paper…
But basically there are two sides to being interviewed. The artist talks about what HE thinks is interesting; the interviewer often has completely opposite views.
I’ve watched the boys being given a kind of “third degree”. And remembered that this happens wherever they go. And marvelled at their patience and their courtesy even when coping with people who sometimes don’t even LIKE the Monkees, let alone admire them! But it gets a real drag when the boys have to go over the same old ground because the reporters haven’t done their homework on checking basic facts! Anti Monkee press people are bad enough, but ignorant ones are a real drag!!!
