magicdog

Sorry Mindthinkr! Plus - Petunia13, there is always the option to send the poop!!!

Yes, I saw the documentary about the family. I felt awful for Susan!

Any chance you could replace the gum with spicy gum or nasty tasting joke gum? I also like the idea of recording it and uploading it to your page.

That reminds me of a friend of mine and her finance. They went back to his hometown in Texas and met his friends and family. She has told both her friends and fiance that she hates Chinese food and would not eat in a restaurant that serves it. Her fiance loves it but respected her wishes. When they got home and met up with friends, they immediately wanted to go to their favorite Chinese restaurant! Her fiance was VERY adamant they not go. Believe it or not it took a while for the friends to get the message that she wasn't going to eat in a place she knew she wouldn't enjoy. Props to her fiance for sticking up for her!

I remember that! Did you know that the manager, "Rudy" was played by Bing Russell - father of Kurt?? I'd heard about this promotion (it was recreated in the VH-1 TV movie about he Monkees). I had also read about it in Micky's memoirs; it mentioned that they would take on passengers, travel up the line and back while they played. Unfortunately, the drums weren't tied down and Micky had a heck of a time trying to keep stable. On the deluxe version of their first album, a radio announcement for that event is included between songs.

That is an awesome story funky-rat!!

Hee! As a matter of fact, in the beginning, I didn't know that his wool cap was indeed his! I had thought when I first saw the show as a child that it was a gimmick for his character. When I saw his audition video, there he was wearing it! I had since read his grandmother made it for him - and he'd often wear it to keep is hair out of his eyes when he was on his motorcycle. I also remember an interview in which he had mentioned he'd lost the cap at some point, although wardrobe had given him at least two other knit caps during the show's run. He also mentioned someone actually had reunited him with the original many, many years later. It's one of my faves as well. I prefer the one that sounds more psychedelic rather than the country-ish one. I also enjoy St. Matthew and "If I Ever Get To Saginaw Again" (even though he didn't write that one).

The "Deluxe" versions of their albums tend to have more versions of certain songs or alternate takes. Believe it or not, I liked the first version of Valleri more than the polished version that was eventually released on The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees album. As far as romps go, I'd always enjoyed the one from "The Spy Who Came In From The Cool". It seems to have all the relevant clips of them at their zaniest and it flowed well to the song, "Saturday's Child". I do wish that current repeats would try to dub in the more current tunes (from their 2016 Good Times album). It would make sense since it was normal to do that when the show was in its original run to boost new releases. Some YT fans dubbed in "Our Own World" over the romp from "One Man Shy" and it fits almost perfectly!

I can't understand why anyone would scream about it either. Jags aren't THAT hard to get (expensive, but not unobtainable).

David Letterman had a Top Ten list of greatest tambourine players. I think Davy won 1st, 3rd and 5th. I had the fortune of meeting Davy twice and he was kind to me both times. He signed an autograph for me on a napkin after a solo performance about 15 or so years back. The second time occured during my time at a local TV station. I heard he was in town and suggested we get him on. He obliged. Being a big Monkee fan I offered to make to set look better with some props - my personal Monkee memorabilia collection! I included Davy - specific items like his solo album he recorded in 65 before officially joining the Monkees (Davy joked on air that the album cover showed him during his Frankie Avalon period!). I was so thrilled to meet him again! He even autographed everything I brought and gave me a warm hug!! I was on Cloud 9 for days!! Maybe I caught him on good days? I had figured he was accustomed to dealing with fans and signing memorabilia for them. I'm not saying that's easy to deal with (I'd be annoyed by it after a while), but I'm glad that my meetings with him were good ones. I had heard about the heavy drinking that occurred in the years before he died. There was a rumor some of it was related to his last marriage to one Jessica Pacheco. No one seemed to like her and thought her an opportunist (even the other Monkees and Davy's older daughters chose not to attend their wedding). There was also a rumor (never validated) that Davy's brother in law (his third wife's brother) was involved in shaking down venues for money during the 2011 tour and pocketing it. His wife was also suspected of physically abusing him. During one of their last Monkee tours, his wife would do flamenco dances in between sets and fans were not too pleased seeing this "interloper" perform. I've never been at those concerts, but from what I'd heard this was her way of horning in on the act and few if anyone in the audience enjoyed the performance. TBH, something like that doesn't fit into a Monkee concert anyway. The concerts for decades never changed significantly in that it was the Monkees as a group singing songs from the show/latest album, and each Monkee separately singing a song that was more personal to them. Peter sang folk songs (like "Cripple Creek"), Mickey would do an R&B tune (although in the 90s he used to love to sing "Since I Fell For You" by the Vogues), Davy would do a show tune (although many fans begged him to sing "Girl"!), and Mike would do Country or R&B ("Can't Judge a Book By It's Cover"). Flamenco dancing was never in the equation. I'm no expert, but based on rumor alone, it seems Davy was lonely and didn't want to grow old and alone, which lead him to marrying the wrong woman.

This is the second time I've heard about Micky being a jerk to people. As you mentioned, everyone has bad days and all, but it hurts when one is treated badly. The Blockbuster Buster was doing a review of The Tick cartoon series (in which Micky voiced The Moth for the first season) and mentioned that Micky had a bit of a jerk reputation in the VA community. He related a comic con in the past in which voice actors were talking about their experience with Micky. Click here and go to 11:17. Based on how VA Candi Milo reacted to him, I think she sounded like a 6th grade mean girl! To be fair, I think Micky was going through his second divorce around that time so it could have made his attitude a little less than chirpy. I'm not excusing it, though.

It was because the other three had grown beards during their film break (they had been busy recording Headquarters during the time they filmed the intro). I guess someone thought it funny to make them wear fake beards over the real ones (since they had a clean shaven image to keep) rather than make them shave. Also to note that much of the action that took place off stage was faked for the episode. Sort of a proto-"reality TV" thing. Peter acknowledged in a DVD commentary that their director (Bob Rafelson) would tell them to remark about the area around them, to make things look interesting for TV ("Say something 'green' Peter" was one of those). The hotel the group stayed at was completely booked for the guys and the crew. No other guests whatsoever.

At the time, TPTB (Kirshner in particular) thought Mike and Peter were the weakest vocalists and thought Micky and Davy were the most commercial in terms of selling records. I still enjoy Mike's vocals - as he tends to shine best on the country rock he helped pioneer but he's far from awful. Here's his vocals on one of the earliest recording of his song, "Girl I Knew From Somewhere". While I understand going with Micky's rendition, it's still pleasant to hear and is a nice switch up from time to time. Peter was a decent vocalist (you had to be able to sing to audition for the group after all!) but at the time it was more limited compared to the other three. He could do folk tunes well enough and he sounded great singing his part of "Shades of Gray", and hilariously OTT for "Auntie Grizelda". But he was limited in register - especially for rock and pop music which as The Monkees bread and butter. There's a song which was not included in original release of More Of The Monkees album called "I Don't Think You Know Me". The song had three different vocal versions - one for Mike one for Micky and one for Peter. I think Mike's version is the best and honestly it should have been included on one of their early albums back in the day. I do admit Peter's version has been growing on me despite its flaws. Peter has improved a lot over the years and he can still wow-em at concerts.

IRL there are plenty of people who have little more to do than make certain people miserable. Others seem to want to prove to themselves who really has it better. I noticed in the podcast the mention of wanting to know about "throwing a shoe". It occurs occasionally when a horse's shoe isn't nailed properly into the hoof, or the horse was close to outgrowing them and the hoof forced them upwards. They are essentially the equivalent of a fingernail and can indeed crack if not cared for properly. I have no doubt that Nels would truly be in the 7th circle if Nellie lost (and lost the heirloom - which Laura graciously returned to them). During the podcast summary there was a mention about how the Olsens came to marry. Especially since you can't imagine Harriett not having always been a bit haughty and believing she and her kids need to live like Vanderbilts or a random robber baron. I can't help but wonder if Nels married her because he "soiled" her (touched a body part he shouldn't have after meeting her) and was compelled to marry her ASAP. He had to live with the consequences ever since. On castor oil.... It was indeed often prescribed by old time doctors and nagging moms for decades! My dad told me he was given the oil to keep him "regular". Fortunately there are better ways to use castor oil - like thickening and lengthening eyelashes!!

Congrats Hero! What kind of work is it?

It would have been prevented if someone's parents had taught their son and daughter how to behave in public and not threaten people who caught them in bad behavior.

I'm with Maharincess on this one - it's just a scare tactic from the [not] trustworthy media. If you decide to use it, find the best quality available - one that doesn't have fillers, preservatives, etc. . Remember the old saying, about not stealing (because the government doesn't like competition!)? Well, it's kind of the same thing with the very politicized CDC, the ATF, and the FDA. If something comes on the market (like an herbal supplement) Big Pharma can't make money from, then they'll do everything to make it unavailable. Also, keep in mind that for every board member of a major pharmaceutical company, they're often also serving on boards for rehab clinics!!

I'm not sure. If anything, I think he would have played the character far straighter. The closest I can think of how the character might have been would be from an episode of Adam -12 in which Micky played a biker ("Dirt Duel"). He tended to play the character cool and subtle. I don't think the character or Happy Days would have turned into what it became had Micky won the part. Funny that in an interview years later, Henry Winkler thought he'd lost the part of The Fonz because he'd heard/seen Micky audition for the part.

It's very possible. Peter admitted in a DVD commentary that Mike, Micky and Davy had never used drugs before and he was the one who "turned them on". I'm glad he's sober now, but for many years he was using pot, LSD, alcohol, cocaine and heaven knows what else during those days. I've heard from long time followers of both the band and Peter's solo band projects that Pete was also a very angry drunk and unpleasant to be around. He sobered up in 1981 and still appears at [AA] meetings and speaks to other sobiety groups. I can't help but think that from what little I know about his home life growing up, it sounds like his parents (or at least his father) were very cold and distant folk. In another commentary, when Peter mentions his telling his parents that he got hired as a Monkee, he described them as being "congratulatory" but not really happy for him about it. It also makes me wonder that's why Peter was such a rebellious soul - wanting to be more open emotionally (and expanding his mind with drugs), but his attempts nearly destroyed him.

Here's a dilly of a story! On Friday I was editing the morning show as usual. There is a reporter/part time anchor who is notorious for not communicating with editors for her morning video segments. She left the vaguest of directions in her script and didn't talk to anyone about how she wanted her material edited. My editing partner went home sick and that put more pressure on me to get the job done (I was given a substitute but he's not familiar with the pace the job typically demands and needed guidance from me the entire time). I'd been trying to contact the reporter - especially since we were getting closer and closer to air time. I finally went into the studio during commercial and asked her what she wanted for her segment. I'll admit I was "in the zone" and I'm under the gun to get everything right for air, but I assure you not once was I nasty about it. Just firm and direct. She tells me she'll just edit the segment herself. I said, "Fine" (but not in a snotty tone), and turned to return to my edit bay. Then as I'm leaving I can hear her say to everyone in the studio, "Ugggh! What an attitude!!". Mind you this is in front of her co-anchor, the weather reporter, the traffic reporter, the floor manager and intern running the teleprompter. I was livid!! I couldn't help myself. I spun right around and told her that it wasn't an attitude it was me trying to do my job. I went back to my bay to finish without incident but I was still steamed. Talk about unprofessional!! How is it that even all these years, people act like it's still the 8th grade and treat people like they were the unpopular kids? If she had told me in the beginning that she would edit the segment itself, this entire incident would have been avoided entirely! Naturally I want an apology but I don't expect to get one. I've never treated her or any of my co-workers badly. I've always spoken with them, joked with them, made small talk with them, and treated them IMO, like the professionals we're supposed to be, and I thought had been. I'm not saying we don't have bad days but this in my opinion is something that was over the line. Any thoughts on what I should do when Monday comes around?

It's just that her public breakdown seems to be similar to those of other celebs like Miley Cyrus and Britney Spears who coincidentally, also shaved their heads when their issues manifested. That's why I was so shocked seeing Rose's shaved head during the Dr. Oz interview. I felt like I'd seen all this before. I'm not saying these women don't have good reason to be upset or traumatized; it's just how they all chose to show it.

Damn! He was a local and performed on and off for decades! My Dad even met him while standing in line at the local bank!! Said he looked older than on TV but essentially the same and polite. Yes, the hair was real!!

No! No! No! No! HELL NO!!!!

I don't think it was so much that as the fact that the core members of the team were Vietnam vets and women would not have been in a combat role (certainly not tried or imprisoned together) with the men. Any women in the military during that era would have been working in offices (or as doctors and nurses in medical units) not slogging in rice paddies with Hannibal et al. There was Amy in early seasons who was a reporter who detailed their adventures for her newspaper and try to help them prove their innocence. It never bothered me (as a woman) that this wasn't a woman centric show. I agree with this! I also remember an episode in which Darrin and Sam are driving in the rain for a party and their car breaks down. They were no where near a gas station and Darrin and Sam got into an argument about her using her witchcraft to fix the car and get them where they needed to be. Darrin had the nerve to ask her to use her powers when he always insisted she do things the mortal way. She refused, and he was stuck getting wet in the rain to fix the car and arrived late (and wet) to the party. They briefly separate after a heated argument and Sam takes Tabatha and "goes home to Mother". Believe it or not, I sided with Sam on this. In fact, Darrin shouldn't have forbidden Sam from using magic if it were around the house - let her use it to cook and clean, dress in the coolest fashions available and make life a bit easier. They could have compromised by letting him work and trying to further his career, while she kept house in her own way - and perhaps use her magic for "security" (burglars and such). Funny... I remember my mom loved the show - if only because she loved the idea of being able to clean a house with magic!

Actually here were "boy bands" (actually boy groups since they didn't always play when performing) predating the rock era. There were the Four Lads, The Four Freshman, The Four Aces (four was a pretty popular number wasn't it?) and Doo Wop groups of the later 50s and early 60s. Technically, you could say the barbershop quartets of the turn of the last century qualify as such!