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datclassicrockfan42 · 8 months

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Who are the monkees?

YESSSSSSSSSSSS

DEAR LORD YES

(Sorry I don’t get this question very often)

Anyways, allow me to introduce you to The Monkees

They were a 60s rock band with a TV show(like the Aquabats). Originally created to make money and sell records but after a rebellion from their music producer, they truly(at least in my eyes) became a true band. Unfortunately a lot of factors caused the bands decline in popularity and their dissolvement. They did get back together in the 80’s and 90’s with a little surge in popularity, and thoughout the 2000s and 2010s they continued to tour. Currently the last remaining Monkee(Micky) is doing shows to honor the band these years.(this is definitely a cliff notes version bc(well I kinda lost my Monkee Autism for MCR autism and there’s no way I can fit the entire story into a single post, we can keep talking about this through dm through)

Now for the members. This group consists of four members. Davy, Micky, Peter, and Mike

Here’s a photo

The first member is Davy Jones.(Bottom Right)Short, British, and babyfaced. He’s basically the “Paul McCartney” of the group, the one that all the girls love(at least when the show first aired). In the band lineup, he does vocals, tambourine, and maracas(usually has like fifty maracas) In the show, he’s the group’s hopeless romantic. Always going after a girl and falling in love. However that whole “Davy falls in love and now it’s our problem” is much more of a season one plot line than season two(not to say doesn’t happen there too.)

Next is Micky Dolenz.(Top left). The bands…(for really lack of a better term here) wild card. He’s very energetic and comedic. In the band he’s the drummer but also does vocals most of the time. In the show, he’s wild, chaotic, and the jokester of the group.

Next is Peter Tork( bottom right). Sweet, sensitive Peter. Look at him isn’t he cute? In the band, he’s the bassist, but also plays a multitude of instruments. In the show he was the dummy. The butt of the joke all the time. His shy, awkward(auto fill suggested knees here, and I’m questioning everything), personality and lack of social skills was a constant joke during the series. Actual Peter is pretty intellectual.

Last but certainly not least(especially on this blog) is Mike(top right, in the green wool hat) the second Michael in my life(Mikey was the first). Ah Michael Nesmith. Where to start? Stoic, quiet,aloof, but a total goof sometimes.(starting to sound familiar here)He has what this website calls…autism swag. Usually wearing a little hat(okay now that I type this here I’m starting to realize the similarities between the two Michaels in my life), this Texan is the “serious one.” The dad of group basically. In the band he plays guitar and actually wrote a few songs(oh we’re gonna talk about this). In the show, he was basically the voice of reason. Not really focused on that much,but he had his moments. I should mention that he got rid of the hat around season two, but you can still identify him by his massive sideburns.

Look at these

Look at the size of them

NOW THE SHOW AND MUSIC.

The show: The show aired from 1966-1968 with two seasons. They also had two tv specials and one hella trippy movie. Currently a lot of the episodes have been taken off YT(damn copyright) but we have archive.com and many drive folders containing these episodes. Episode plots can go from “guys Davy’s in love again and now it’s our problem” to “Crap we can’t pay the rent” to “crap we gotta save America from spies”. And season two only gets weirder. Each episode usually contains two “romps” which are basically music videos that showcase songs(like I said made to sell records)

(I do gotta warn you tho. This show was made in the 60s…so some of the content is not actually…politically correct according to today’s standards. So yea just be prepared for that)

Episodes I’d personally recommend for beginners are

Season 1 Ep 8: don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. A simple episode. Displays each of the characters personally traits pretty well. Has good songs.

Season 1 ep 23: Captain Crocodilez a pretty funny episode. Got a lot of that typical Monkee rapid fire random humor(which is kinda Aquabatsish). Some good romps and I find this ep quite enjoyable

Season one ep 12: I’ve got a little song here. This is a Mike focused episode and is a little bit sadder than the majority of eps, but is overall good. It’s got the bands superhero personas, the Monkeemen. Good songs too.

Season two episode 16: fairytale. An iconic episode.(so sometimes the guys would dress up in drag to make their schemes work and there’s lots of that in this episode) it’s a bit more off the walls(which is normal in season two) but still overall a good episode.

Here’s the link for the archive(kinda bad quality but pretty accessible)

Edit: so i checked and something is wrong with the link….so yea

Ummm if yall want I can dm you a link to one of the drives

NOW FOR MUSIC

(Buckle up)

So the group(in the tv show years) released(holy shit) 9 albums.

The Monkees(a classic album of songs from the show) notable tracks include Last train to Clarksville, Saturday’s child, Sweet Young Thing, and Papa Gene’s blues

More of the Monkees(another classic, once again full of songs from the show) notable tracks include Mary,Mary , I’m not your stepping stone, the kind of girl I could love, and(you probably know this one) I’m a believer(yep the song from shrek was a Monkees song)

However, these albums were made with little to no creative control. Opting for studio musicans and writers than the actual guys themselves(who were all pretty good musicans) but after some rebellion, the producer getting fired, and a hole in a hotel wall(before the producer got fired,(guess who did this one lol). The band was able to play their own instruments.

Which brings us to an era which I personally consider the bands finest:

Headquarters: a masterpiece with the group playing almost of all their own instruments. Notable tracks include: Sunny Girlfriend, for Pete’s sake, and Randy Scouse Git

Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones(thats actually all the members zodiac signs, expect Davy’s bc him and Mike are both Capricorns and they actually share a birthday(Dec 30): this is their psychedelic album(hey it’s 1967 everyone’s doing it) Notable tracks here include: Pleasant Valley Sunday, Love is only sleeping, Star Collector and the door into summer.

The Birds, The Bees, and The Monkees: another classic👌. Notable tracks here include: Daydream Believer, Tapioca Tundra, and Dream World.

We then have the HEAD(that trippy movie i was talking about(that’s a little advanced tho, stick to the show for now) soundtrack: notable tracks here include: Porpoise Song, As we go along, circle sky, and daddy’s song.

Now for some mythbustijg bc oh boy

They didn’t play their own instruments: actually a lot of the guys were originally musicians before the show(Mike and Peter were folk singers, and Davy worked in broadway(not an instrument but still cool to know). We kinda already debunked this one though so let’s move on to the next:

They didn’t write their own songs: kinda true. The studio did bring in some studio writers to write songs, but the guys actually wrote some songs themselves(mainly Mike, but the others did too)

Ok well I’ve been typing for quite a while now and my hands tried soo ima leave this here. DM me if you want any more info(I have a master degree in the history of Micheal Nesmith with a minor in the band and show history)

#sorry for the Monkee introduction master post I just got excited #also probably not my best but blame the autism wanting Mikey Way instead of Mike Nesmith #(yea so this is my orginal classic rock/Monkee autism blog #the one you know me for this is my MCR/Mikey Way/Killjoy Ocs/Aquabats autism blog #Monkees introducry master post #the monkees

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markwatkinsconsumerguide · 5 years

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Consumer Guide / No.83 / Canadian singer-songwriter Suzie Vinnick with Mark Watkins.

MW : How did you find the pros and cons of Crowdfunding?

SV : I have done presales and crowdfunding for every album that I’ve recorded (six solo albums, and a number of collaborative projects). It is a great way to raise money for an album – it brings your supporters together in support of your art and enables them to be a part of making something happen. In a practical way, it also helps us artists keep from going into more debt as when you receive the monies in advance you don’t have to hit up your credit card (well maybe not as much ;-).

There’s not really any big cons; there is some administrative work but it feels good to send all the perks out (CDs, t-shirts, etc) knowing you have all this support for your music and art out there.

MW : Tell me about the tone & texture of the resulting album, Shake The Love Around...

SV : I have released six solo albums and another eight albums with other projects; Shake the Love Around is my latest roots and blues album and it’s a full band album (though I play a big part in the ‘band’).

My last two albums, Me ‘n’ Mabel and Live At Bluesville are both acoustic albums. Me ‘n’ Mabel is voice and guitar with some special guests and Live At Bluesville is just me and my little Larivee parlour guitar. I wanted to do an album that featured my voices – as a singer, as a guitarist, as a bassist and songwriter. I also played some lap steel on a few tunes.

I co-produced the album with my friend Mark Lalama which was a great experience. Mark is really easy going, I could bounce ideas off of him, he’d suggest things to me and we had a lot of flexibility to play with different musical ideas as the album was recorded at his home studio.

We chose songs for the album with as much of a positive message as we could – I had been through a few dark years and it was important to me to try and put some lightness out into the world. The album isn’t all ‘Pollyanna” and has a couple of darker leanings but is pretty positive for the most part. The title Shake The Love Around was named after a friends meal-time grace tradition. They’d have us all hold hands as someone said grace then at the end they’d say ‘shake the love around’ and invite everyone to shake their hands around, kinda like the wave. I always liked how my friends created community through their meal times and I thought that it’d make a fun title for the album.

I played guitar and I tracked the bed tracks along with drummer Gary Craig (Anne Murray, Blackie & the Rodeo Kings, Tom Cochrane). Afterwards, I added bass guitar, acoustic and electric guitars where needed and background vocals. Mark is a keyboard player and added some organ and accordion. Other players that contributed to the album were John Johnson, a Toronto based saxophone player; Kevin Breit and Colin Linden (a couple of my guitar heroes) played solos on a couple of tracks, and two of my album co-writers, David Leask and Dean McTaggart, sang some background vocals on the album.

MW : All your music releases to date are self-released. Is that by choice? Also, what are the advantages of such independence? Would you rule out going with a label?

SV : I’ve managed to have a full time career for almost 20 years as an independent artist. I get to choose what I do, when I do it, I own all of my recordings; there is definitely freedom in the independence.

The flip side to that is that being on a label may offer more support with bookings, promotion and support financially as well, so there might be less admin work and more time to create, perhaps? More show opportunities may come your way with more people working on your behalf.

I wouldn’t –not- consider it, but it would have to be a really good deal for me to consider going with a label.

MW : How long does the buzz last after coming off stage?

SV : I might have a bit of an adrenaline rush for a couple of hours after a show. It really depends how much travel I’ve been doing, how late my nights have been. Sometimes I will crash shortly after a show if it’s been a busy time, if there are time changes from the travel show to show.

MW : How do you usually unwind after a gig?

SV : After gig varies a bit as sometimes I end up heading back home so there’s not a lot of unwinding until we get home and hit the hay. But on a gig where I’m staying in town, after tearing down and packing up the merch I’ll usually head to the accommodations. If we’re being billeted we might sit and have a visit with the hosts or my band mates and have some snacks and a drink (maybe a shot of irish whisky, or maybe just a water lol) ; and, if I’m doing a solo performance and staying at a hotel I dive into my PJs, brush my teeth and cosy up in bed.

MW : Where do you usually shop for groceries? What are your main staples? Treats?!

SV : I buy groceries from the grocery store or Costco Warehouse; we live in the country so I tend to buy more stuff and store or freeze it to save us money and save us from have to drive back and forth to town.

Main staples tend to be fruits and veggies and the treats are chocolate and Chapman’s Vanilla Bean with Salty Caramel frozen yogurt – yum!!

MW : Thoughts on the sad passing of Peter Tork...are you a Monkees fan?

SV : I was sorry to hear of Peter Tork’’s passing. I used to watch The Monkees TV show every once in a while when I was a kid and am familiar with their music. I haven’t followed Peter in more recent years, but I do remember him being pretty funny. I’m originally from Saskatchewan (a province in Canada). I read that his father taught briefly at the University of Saskatchewan Regina campus and that he would come to Regina to visit him on occasion.

MW : List your Top 10 fave albums of all-time in order of merit, saying something about your No.1 choice…

SV :

This is my current list, but it changes…

10 Joni Mitchell – anything by her 9 Paul Simon – Still Crazy After All These Years (1973) 8 Heart – Greatest Hits (1998) 7 Stevie Ray Vaughan – Soul To Soul (1985) 6 Foo Fighters – Greatest Hits (2009) 5 Pink Floyd – The Wall (1979) 4 Rickie Lee Jones – Rickie Lee Jones (1979) 3 David Gray – A New Day At Midnight (2002) 2 Ry Cooder – anything by him 1 Supertramp – Breakfast In America (1979)

I first heard Supertramp when I was eleven; The Logical Song was their single at the time. Not sure why it resonated for me at that young age but I loved it. I was learning saxophone in school band and the music seemed accessible to me. I also loved singing along with Roger Hodgson and consider him a vocal influence.

MW : To round off, tell me about where you live and what’s to see & do...

SV : I live in an 1880's brick church in the Niagara Region of Ontario in the Township of Wainfleet.

When I am off the road touring, I like to go walking in the countryside. There are a lot of farms around here and big skies. It's quite beautiful.

When it's warmer, my boyfriend James and I might head to Lake Erie which is about 10 minutes south of our place and walk the beach or go for a swim and maybe have an ice cream.

There is a little town called Dunnville 10 minutes away where we'll go on occasion to hear live music and occasionally we'll drive to Welland (about 30 minutes away) to catch a film in the theatre.

The cities of Hamilton and Toronto are 1-1.5 hours away so sometimes we'll drive into the city to catch some music or head to a gallery but for the most part we stay close to home.

http://www.suzievinnick.com/

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