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Location: Yucaipa, California | ...sigh....
No Reunion :( :( :( |
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Location: GA USA | Cheer up, Sleepy Tim. |
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| Seems like I heard somewhere that Micahel Nesmith was actually a good guitarist... |
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Location: CT | Davy Jones is a little brat. My wife went to see him at the local mall a few years ago because let's face it, the show was a hoot (ok, it was a hoot compared to anything else on TV back then). He was all bitter and angry because eveyone loved him from the Monkees, even though he was touting all his other accomplishments "...I'm a Jockey,...I have my own music,...I do charity work,...I do blah-blah-blah...." Doesn't he know that if he went right from High School or College into charity work or Jockeying, no one would know or care who he is? The fans love him for being a Monkee, show some appreciation and gratitude for pete's sake. |
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Location: GA USA | But he plays some mean maracas. |
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Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | Most of Mike Nesmiths best work is post Monkees.
Joanne - Mike Nesmith & the First National Band
Elephant Parts - THE seminal music video
Pacific Video Arts
More at Mike Nesmiths Video Ranch
Then, of course, there's the thing about his mom inventing White-out... |
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Posts: 1792
Location: Rego Park, NY, | For those who don't know
www.inventors.about.com/od/lstartinventions/a/liquid_paper.htm
also
http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/story046.htm |
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Location: Upper Left USA | Phil,
If someone told me that I'd have to call bull!
That is excellent!
Will sniffing those bottles make me a better guitar player? |
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Location: Cicero, NY | Do what I do, Woody - hand them out to anyone listening. Sure, the giggles are a little bothersome but their aim is a lot worse! |
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Location: Fayetteville, NC | Unfortunately, The Monkees have been ripped by inner turmoil for a very long time. anytime i had seen a concert it was Dolenz, Jones and Tork.
During the last Tour with the 3 members Tork gave notice he was leaving to take care of his prior commitments(namely-his own band had been booked anticipating the end of teh tour) Teh tour of course as always had added dates and had carried the tour 3and 1 months longer than he had committed for. There was apparently some very bad feelings about Peter leaving. Jones and dolenz finished the tour off. In the dolenz biography he painted Jones as someone who cariies grudges a very long time and has a mean streak to match his ego. namely very large. While I'd love the chance to see even teh three of tehm on stage again...i don't think i'll hold my breath. |
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Location: Scotland | Originally posted by fillhixx:
Most of Mike Nesmiths best work is post Monkees.
Nesmith is one of my heroes. He's a true visionary. He pretty much single-handedly created country-rock long before those who are regularly credited with it's creaton (Gram Parsons, Dillard and Clark, The Byrds, The Eagles etc) Take a listen to "Papa Gene's Blues" on the first Monkees album, as well a most of the stuff writtem by him on their subsequent records. The first 6 Nesmith solo albums (excluding the waste of vynyl that was "The Whichita Train Whistle Sings")are essential country rock classics, unsurpassed IMHO by anything in the genre before or since. Those albums are worth hearing just for Red Rhodes's pedal steel work alone. His film output has been consistently above average (Repo Man, Timeriders, Tapeheads) He had an option on "Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy" for many years and I'm sure he would have made a better job of it than the crap that came out last year. He also was pretty much responsible for the creation of MTV. He's produced a few clunkers as well, "The Prison" and "The Garden" albums are unlistenable pretentious bollocks and his novel "The Long Sandy Hair Of Neftoon Zamora" is complete twaddle.
I have a spare copy of a Nesmith biography called "Total Control" If anyone wants it drop me an email. It's a good read and he comes across, unsurprisingly, as somewhat uncompromising and a bit of an asshole.
I think there's probably more chance of a Beatles reunion than a Monkees reunion. |
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Location: Scotland | Nez bio has been claimed! |
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Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | Darn! Wanna send it on when you're done?
He can't be all that bad. He and Jimmy Buffet hung out together a bit. I think Mike was trying to help get a movie made out of Jimmys book 'Who Killed Joe Merchant." |
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Location: Scotland | I read that book. Neftoon Zamora & Joe Merchant are evidence that being a good songwriter does not necessarily make you a good novelist! Kinky Friedman is of course the exception that proves the rule...... except that Kinky was a pretty crap songwiter. I guess I haven't thought this through. It's late and it was a tough gig tonight. |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | I agree with you Mr Temp. |
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Location: NJ | I thought Joe Merchant was pretty good . . . especially the bit with the stiletto heels and the pizza box . . . |
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Location: Fayetteville, NC | I own the Total Control Book as well. It does give you a glimpse into NEZ. Though it's labeled as an unauthorized biography, Nez has never disputed anything in the book and seems to be on on friendly terms with Randi Massengill the writer of the book. |
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Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | Originally posted by cwk2:
I agree with you Mr Temp. What? You SAW that show!?! ;)
I guess I'm in danger of being a parrothead, as I own and enjoyed all Jimmys books so far. Though I'll agree with Temp. about Kinky Friedmans songwriting...very much belongs to its time and place. |
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Location: Illinois | Never did like that 'Limey' anyways. 'The Monkees' were done without him before. Why not do 'The Monkees' with just three now? |
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Location: Illinois | Originally posted by Steve:
Seems like I heard somewhere that Micahel Nesmith was actually a good guitarist... Nesmith always was a good guitarist. That's why he was the most frustrated with pick syncing for so long. His personal style was not that of 'The Monkees' as evidenced by his solo material.
Peter Tork was a good musician as well. Keyboards and drums, mostly. I think he even wrote some of their stuff.
Mickey Dolenz was first and foremost an actor. He hadn't played drums until he was on the set. and was told, "Sit here. Pick up those wood things and hit those white flat thingies. You'll do just fine." He seems to me to be the most passionate about 'The Monkees'. Eventually he learned to percuss like a pro(?).
Jones? Just a pretty face who was a top-notch tambouriner. :rolleyes: He also had that foreign accent the girls, back then, went ape doopy over. |
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Location: Scotland | The Monkees have toured as a trio and a duo, but never without Jones. More's the pity, he's a talentless little tosser. But without him there'd only be Dolenz left, and it would be stretching the bounds of credibility to have just a single original member. Having said that, I saw a band purporting to be Dr Hook, that involved only Ray Sawyer and a bunch of session players, and "The Byrds" where the only person with any connection to the Byrds in the 7-piece line up was Michael Clarke. Both shows were totally lame. |
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Location: Illinois | Originally posted by Paul Templeman:
[/qb]Nesmith is one of my heroes. He's a true visionary. He pretty much single-handedly created country-rock long before those who are regularly credited with it's creaton (Gram Parsons, Dillard and Clark, The Byrds, The Eagles etc)... [/QB] Nesmith? created Country-Rock? :rolleyes: Oh puleeeees. Nobody 'singlehandedly' created country rock, especially Nesmith. As much as I respect Nesmith, that title belongs to the likes of Bill Haley, Buddy Holly, Tennessee Earnie Ford, Orbeson, Johnny Burnett, ELVIS :eek: for God's sake, Johnny Cash, Buck Owens, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and the like. Nesmith wasn't even a twinkle in his mother's eye, when these boys were stirring the Folk, Country, Bluegrass, Western, Blues, Boogie pot. I think if we were to ask Nesmith, he'd agree.
I don't really mean to come out bustin' your chops, but history is history and shouldn't be re-written because someone's your hero. |
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Location: Kirkland, WA | I know the Monkeys had a hit TV show, popular movie and landed songs on the charts, but I'm amoung those that are not a believer. From what I understand the music behind their vocals was recorded by professional musicians (except for Michael they don't play well enough) and the group was packaged (still going on today)and sold. Most of the songs were written by pros like Neil Diamond's "I'm A Believer". Its amazing that there is still a following for them. To me they could not carry the gig bag of their contemporaries like CSN&Y, Rolling Stones, Byrds, Beatles or any number of talented musicians. |
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Location: Illinois | The initial iteration of "The Monkees" was a sit-com about some beach fellas making it as a rock band. The cast of actors was chosen by how well they might act, not their musical ability. Yes the music of the early shows was dubbed in by other musicians, but the musicians of the cast saw it another way, thus began the power struggle. The network eventually lost constrol of 'The Monkees'. Later shows used the actors as the musicans, much to the consternation of the network suits. (although it did follow the story line.. or did the story line follow real life?). Anyway, I think, at minimum, the first "Monkees" album was all not them. Their role in the album was standing still for the camera to take the cover photo. I can't say when that changed, but change it did.
The Movie was 'The Monkees' cast. I wasn't a "Monkees" sanctioned thing. It was a Nesmith, et.al. thing created while on an acid trip. I believe it failed miserably at the box office. Too avant garde, (read boring) :p .
See the unauthorized movie for more or less factual detail. |
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Location: SoCal | The first albums made by the Monkees used studio musicians, namely the Wreaking Crew.... Carol Kaye, Hal Blaine, Glen Campbell, etc.... The last few albums might have had the actors actually playing on them....
But Nesmith was a guitar player from the beginning and one of the reasons he came to dislike the Monkees was that he couldn't play on the albums and didn't have much say in what was recorded. |
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Location: NJ | And Tork occasionally did duo gigs w/Stephen Stills (who recommended him when Stills passed on the part) . . . |
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Location: Scotland | Originally posted by TommyK:
[
As much as I respect Nesmith, that title belongs to the likes of Bill Haley, Buddy Holly, Tennessee Earnie Ford, Orbeson, Johnny Burnett, ELVIS :eek: for God's sake, Johnny Cash, Buck Owens, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and the like.
I don't really mean to come out bustin' your chops, but history is history and shouldn't be re-written because someone's your hero. You can bust my chops all you like but I'm afraid it's you who needs a little update in ETHNOMUSICOLOGY :eek: for god's sake
I agree that the people you mentioned were important figures in Country Music, Rockabilly and Rock 'n' Roll. But the term and indeed genre "Country-Rock" in the contemporary sense grew specifically out of, and was applied to the late 60's and early 70's Los Angeles music scene, in particular musicians associated with the Troubador club on Sunset Strip. (Ronstadt, The Eagles, Parsons, Nesmith, Emmylou, etc etc) I'm not rewriting history at all, it's just that your idea of history seems to grind to a halt in the late 50's
This is hardly definitive but it might help a little
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Country_rock
Ultimately all American music is a result of cross-pollenation, which has been happening forever. Western-swing was a bunch of white hillbillies trying to copy black guys playing jazz. Early soul was a bunch of black folks emulating white country music. Before they knew he was a white guy Elvis's early records were filed in the "race" section of record stores.
You can call music anything you like, it's just a name. Right now we have "Americana" and "Alt-country" Big deal, it's just marketing-speak for people who are too hip to admit they like country music. Country-Rock was of a time, and when I said "Country-Rock" I was referring very specifically to well-documented events which happened in LA 35+ years ago, not what happens historically, artistically, conceptually and culturally when musicians assimilate other musical forms. |
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Location: Yucaipa, California | And Tork occasionally did duo gigs w/Stephen Stills (who recommended him when Stills passed on the part) . . . ...hmmm Crosby, Stills, Nash and Tork.... :rolleyes: |
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Location: NJ | Mighta' been more like Crosby, Tork, Nash & Young . . .
(tho I doubt Peter woulda' survived . . .) |
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Location: Cicero, NY | Originally posted by cliff:
(tho I doubt Peter woulda' survived . . .) Talk about a wasted opportunity, eh? |
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Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | I think pop tunesmiths Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart toured with some amalgamation of the Monkees as well. Appropriate enough as they wrote a lot of the songs.
Nesmith has never, to my knowledge had anything to do with the Monkees since the disolution of the group. He has no need and a profound dislike for the project. |
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Location: Scotland | He toured with them to promote the "Justus" reunion album a few years ago. Pretty much stood at the back of the stage, hiding under a baseball cap playing a GK2-equipped Strat. He may as well not have bothered. Apparently it wasn't a great experience for any of them, it certainly wasn't for the audiences. |
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Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | Temp, wouldn't Ricky Nelson fall into that early country-rock genre? |
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Location: Scotland | Some of his 70's output I guess, the "Garden Party" album certainly would. |
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Location: Fayetteville, NC | The monkees took over playing on the lp's starting with the third lp headquarters. There was a power struggle between the 4 and Don Kirshner who oversaw the music. finally it was agreed upon that the single releases had to have the guys playing their own instruments. when Kirshner tried to release a single in canada with all studio musicians and just the guys doing vocals..Screen gems found out and fired kirshner. Thus was the beginning of allowing the guys to have control over their own music at least they were allowed to play. Michael Nesmith and Peter tork were Very Happy with the decison as they both wanted the unit to actually become a band. Dolenz and jones were indifferent but went along for the ride... and what a ride it was.. |
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Rats! My Hopes are Dashed once again!