As you may have read here before, I loved the Monkees as a kid, and Peter was my favourite. I still have my 'Monkees box', the cigar box my sister decorated for me to keep my Monkees stuff in. Sadly, my mom threw away the contents: my bubble gum cards, my pages torn from Tiger Beat and 16 magazines, and my fake autographed picture, which my sister and I had sent away for.
My sister gave me all her Monkees albums in the late 70's. I introduced Emma to The Monkees TV series when she was little and she didn't care for it much. When I tried again when she was a little older, she got hooked. I passed those albums on to her, along with other albums and 45s, my 1986 concert program and t-shirt, and all the photos I took at the show. Since then Emma has gathered a collection of Monkees records and collectibles.
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| Part of Emma's collection. The Mike and Davy dolls are Mego-like dolls made by Figures Toy Co. The Monkeemobile model is a reproduction one of her friends got her one year. |
They became her favourite band, and one of her favourite things overall. She has been to see them many times, in various combinations of members. (She even flew to San Francisco once just to see Mike Nesmith sing with another of her favourites, Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie.) We got her a Meet and Greet ticket for her birthday one year, so she got to meet Peter, Davy, and Mickey. Unfortunately, the Meet and Greet came as a surprise to the band, so even though they complied and did the Meet and Greet,a very tired Peter,(who had recently been suffering from cancer),signed, but declined to pose for pictures.
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| Emma and Mickey. She has had a couple of other opportunities to meet Mickey, and even interviewed him by phone for her music blog. |
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| Davy isn't wearing a nurse's cap. That's the doorway behind him. |
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| Emma, on the right, talking to Mike Nesmith. |
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| When it came time for the picture, Emma's camera battery died and her phone had no charge. She was going to give up, but Mike insisted that one of his people take their photo and email it to Emma. |
Emma really needs to get a case to protect that in. (In which to protect that?)
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| Emma's Monkees Wacky Wobblers bobble heads by Funko,which she has had since she was a teenager, and her Monkeemobile. |
Peter Tork was born Peter Halsten Thorkleson, in on February 13,1942. Although born in Washington,D.C., Peter grew up in Connecticut. Peter started studying piano at the age of nine, and became accomplished on several instruments, including Banjo, piano, guitar, and bass guitar. He eventually moved to Greenwich Village, where he became friends with another musician, Stephen Stills, later of Crosby Still & Nash. When Stephen auditioned for a new TV show about a pop group he was told his hair and teeth wouldn't do. But, the producers asked, did he know anybody who looked similar to him? Stephen suggested his friend Peter. Peter went along to the auditions, for the show "The Monkees", and the rest is history.
You can watch the first episode of the series HERE.
While it's usually told that none of The Monkees were allowed to play on their first couple of albums, Peter actually played some guitar,(although, not lead.) on the first album. On subsequent albums he played banjo, guitar, bass guitar, piano, and harpsichord. Peter also wrote the song, "For Pete's Sake", which viewers of the show might be familiar with as the second season closing theme of the Monkees TV series. You can see the closing credits and hear the song HERE. You can hear the full song in a 'romp' clip from the show HERE.
Although The Monkees broke up,(a little at a time, as members kept leaving,),many years ago, they also kept reuniting. When MTV aired the series in the mid 80's,there was a Monkees resurgence. The band toured and even recorded a new album. Ten years after that they recorded another new album in their 30th anniversary year. Fans bought the albums, but the real gem of their later output was the critically applauded "Good Times", released in 2016. Songs were written for the Monkees for that album by successful modern musicians who had loved The Monkees for years. Contributors included Weezer's Rivers Cuomo, XTC's Andy Partridge, Noel Gallagher of Oasis, Paul Weller of The Jam and Style Council, Death Can for Cutie's Ben Gibbard, and Fountains of Wayne's Adam Schlesinger,(who also produced the album). Last year there was a new Monkees Christmas album released, "Christmas Party", which included songs by some of the same contributing songwriters.
-Peter also toured for years with his own band, Shoe Suede Blues. Ten years ago Peter was diagnosed with a rare type of cancer called Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma. Today, he finally passed away from complications of the disease.
I will see you all tomorrow.
Farewell to another good one! He fought a good, hard fight.
ReplyDeleteI was a fan of the Monkees as a child and always tried to watch their show on tv. When I was a young 16 year old I worked for Rank Film in Wardour Street, Soho, London and remember one lunchtime standing in line next to Micky Dolenz in a local sandwich bar. Of course me being me, I was too shy to ask for his autograph, and probably thought it wouldn't have been 'cool' to do so back then LOL!!! Now I wouldn't have hesitated!
ReplyDeleteDay Dream Believer was probably my favourite of their songs, although there were a few others that I used to like too.
It's sad that Peter Tork died quite young by today's standards, thank you for the information you've supplied on him :)
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Peter had ten more years than we were afraid he's have,after that cancer diagnosis,but it still came as a surprise. He's one of those people who have been around practically my whole life,and you sort of start to feel they will be there forever. I'm sure Mickey would have been very forthcoming with the autograph. He's quite a friendly guy. We met him at a free concert when Emma was in high school and we took her all the way to Cleveland to see him. And when he played at the theatre here in town he ate at the restaurant where Ken works,and they spent a good while reminiscing about England.
DeleteThanks for sharing this information. I remember the Monkees. They always looked like they were having fun when they were performing.
ReplyDeleteI was a fan of the Dave Clark 5 and the Miracles.