Two Monkees turn Morristown theater into dance hall

Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork of The Monkees sing in Morristown. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork of The Monkees sing in Morristown. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
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Mickey Dolenz and Peter Tork of The Monkees sing in Morristown. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
Mickey Dolenz and Peter Tork of The Monkees sing in Morristown. Photo by Kevin Coughlin

 

By Kevin Coughlin

They say the show must go on. But a Monkees show without the late Davy Jones?

Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork managed to pull it off on Thursday in Morristown, with help from their video vault, a tight band, great songs and an enthusiastic crowd primed to re-visit happy childhood memories.

Micky Dolenz of the Monkees. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
Micky Dolenz of the Monkees. Photo by Kevin Coughlin

The audience at the Mayo Performing Arts Center may have been a tad smaller than the one that greeted the Monkees’ last visit in 2011, when Davy — teen heart-throb from the group’s 1960s sitcom — was part of the mix.

But the energy level was high and the vibe was warm, especially during Daydream Believer, a sing-along tribute to Jones, who died in 2012.

Micky, 70, and Peter, 73, also performed A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You, which Davy had sung with The Monkees.

Video: Fans remember Davy

And they sang the praises of their other absent Monkee mate, Michael Nesmith, with faithful renditions of his The Girl I Knew Somewhere and Papa Gene’s Blues.

Other highlights included Micky and Peter duetting on acoustic guitars.  They put an entertaining bluesy spin on Last Train to Clarksville, and were joined on another tune by Micky’s sister, singer Coco Dolenz. 

(The siblings have been performing together since the TV series Circus Boy in the mid-’50s. When Peter joined them at a gig in the 1980s, Micky wickedly dubbed the trio DDT … for Dolenz-Dolenz-and-Tork.)

Photo slideshow: Please click icon below for captions.

 

In The Monkees brief-but-prolific heyday, critics sniped that the made-for-TV Pre-Fab Four did not play their own instruments. Not in the beginning, anyway.

But Peter, who was recommended for The Monkees by Stephen Stills, a pal from the Greenwich Village folk circuit who got rejected for the role, showed off his guitar chops on Papa Gene’s Blues, Pleasant Valley Sunday and a few other numbers during Thursday’s two-hour show.

And while most of the lead vocals fell to Micky, who did his best to hit high notes that were his trademark nearly a half-century ago, Peter acquitted himself well on Saved by the Blues, from his solo career, and on For Pete’s Sake, the song that closed every episode of The Monkees second TV season.

He also proved adept at approximating vocals by Davy and Mike, which is all the more impressive when one considers Peter has battled a rare form of head- and neck cancer.

Micky delivered a delicious, vaguely lascivious lounge version of Sugar Sugar, a song meant for The Monkees that landed as a bouncy hit for the Archies in 1969. (“Stevia,” he cooed at the end.)

He also shared a lively duet with Vance Brescia, whose song That Was Then This Is Now, composed for his band, The Mosquitos, was a surprise hit for Micky and Peter for The Monkees’ 20th reunion in 1986.

At the Mayo show, Micky only made a couple of nods to his drumming days– tapping on a cajon while Peter sang, and pounding a kettle drum for Randy Scouse Git, just like on the TV series in 1967.

Peter Tork of The Monkees invokes his 'Auntie Grizelda' at the Mayo Performing Arts Center. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
Peter Tork of The Monkees invokes his ‘Auntie Grizelda’ at the Mayo Performing Arts Center. Photo by Kevin Coughlin

That title ran afoul of British censors, so the Monkees renamed it Alternate Title and the song hit No. 2 on the U.K. charts.

Only the “Royal Family” — “the lousy, creepy Beatles” — kept it from Number One, with a little number called Strawberry Fields Forever, Micky recounted with feigned disdain.

After a psychedelic detour into Porpoise Song, the Gerry Goffin/Carole King theme for The Monkees’ 1968 cult film Head, and the vaudeville-esque D.W. Washburn,  Micky and Peter made their way back to the gold mine.

“For those with us from the start, remember one thing,” Peter intoned with mock solemnity. “Any one thing.”

Remember, they did.

The whole place was singing and dancing as the show roared to a close with (I’m Not Your) Stepping Stone and encores Pleasant Valley Sunday and I’m a Believer, which, Micky reminded everyone, he recorded before the movie Shrek.

We remember.

HEAR OUR INTERVIEW WITH MICKY DOLENZ

Peter Tork takes a cue from Micky Dolenz at Monkees show in Morristown. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
Peter Tork takes a cue from Micky Dolenz at Monkees show in Morristown. Photo by Kevin Coughlin

2 COMMENTS

  1. Mike Nesmith was in the habit of wearing beanie caps. When my sis and a friend saw the Monkees at the Seattle Center in the early seventies, she had knit a cap for Mike and was able to throw it to the stage. He wore it off to the wings!

    Good, fun, rockin’ music. Bless ’em.

    Steve

  2. Wish I could have been there.
    I would had been there if I only had known and brought my sisters.
    Grew up to plenty of great shows and music in the 70s
    The Monkees were both. My two sisters and I were always glued to the t.v when they came on and we always would walk down the street like they would and sing “Here we come walking down the street. With the funniest looks from everyone we meet. Hey hey we’re the monkees”
    . Growing up in the 70s was so cool.
    I’m glad to have come across this site to see they still have concerts . Hope to know if they would be performing any time soon .
    We’ll be there “walking down the street ”
    Peace out

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