New release Permalink
Colgems have announced that they will release a new Monkees’ single at the end of February in the States. The ‘A’ side will be “Listen to the Band” which is one of the numbers from their TV Spectacular.
Mike’s TV set up Permalink
As the MONKEES MONTHLY reported several months ago, Mike has a close-circuit TV set-up. This has been extended now so that he has cameras covering every gate, door, swimming pool and main room in the house, so that he and Phyllis can see exactly what their two children are getting up to at any time.
Mike is busy working on another L.P. which he hopes to start producing in the New Year. It will be another Mike special, featuring the sort of music that he loves. He has already written many of the songs.
Peter to leave Monkees? Permalink
It is believed that the TV Spectacular will be the last appearance that Peter Tork will make with the Monkees.
For some time now, he has been wanting to go back to playing his earlier type of music in his own sort of way, and we understand that he will shortly be forming his own group which may well have his girl friend, Reine, as drummer, John [sic] Anderson [sic]—who has been Assistant Director on many of the Monkees’ TV shows and who is currently working on the Flying Nun TV series—as guitarist, and another friend whom we only know as Lowell, also on guitar.
Stand-in drummer Permalink
Peter’s girl friend, Reine, who as we told you before is James Stewart’s daughter (This is probably not true), is a very good drummer. When the boys were filming their Spectacular, Fats Domino’s drummer failed to turn up and Reine sat in. She was so good that Fats wanted her to stay on and play with him regularly.
100 hippies Permalink
Jack Good wanted an unusual audience for the Monkees first TV Spectacular, which was recorded at the end of November. So, he sent a couple of buses to Sunset Strip and got 100 hippies who agreed, not only to make up the audience for the TV Spectacular, but also to join in with many of the numbers with the artists before the cameras.
Big bill Permalink
Micky told us that when he returned from their Far Eastern tour he went to the Pet Shop to pick up his and Samantha’s pets, which they had boarded there for the four weeks they were away.
They found that his mongrel dog, You, had given birth to six puppies and his cat, Shortie Blackwell, had four new kittens, so the total bill for the four weeks boarding came to $600—how about that! Ever since, he and Samantha have been very busy finding new homes for them all!
