Monkee Memory

Today I was reminded that it's a Monkees' birthday....Peter Tork.

Happy birthday dude. 
 
Glad to know he's still circulating, playing music and even touring with David and Micky from time to time. 
I've heard they're gearing up for a tour in 2011....sure would be nice to see them play after all this time.

The Monkees 1967

Those were exciting, phenomenal years.....all beginning with a hair-brained idea.   I wanted to write a book about the band.  See, I was sick of the old "they don't play their own music" thing....but even more. They were and remain an important part of the 60s music scene, were influential in how television programs were made (quick camera tricks, character bases, interspersing alternate realities, etc.), and were interesting as people, too.

I felt they'd gotten a raw deal in a lot of ways and wanted to help set the record straight.  Little did I know there were others who, to one degree or another, were out to do the same.

So that's how Diane and I got started on the whole Monkees thing. When we moved to L.A., part of the reason was for me to be nearer the research locations....at the time the internet wasn't anywhere like it is today.

I still have the research and outline for the work; have kept photographs of the collectibles but donated all but a few of my personal things to a proposed Monkees museum in Southern California. Some day I'll get back to the book....at the time (1986-1989) I was so busy helping with the Press Club, Conventions and so on there wasn't much time to do any other writing but the newsletter and keeping up with the mail.

There are many good books out there on the market already; David Jones wrote an autobiography way back in the '80s-which I'm sure is due for an update. Sure would be great if the other guys-Micky, Peter and Mike (Nesmith)-would consider autobiographies too.  Nothing like getting it from the horses' mouths, so to speak.

The most important thing that came out of all those years were the wonderful people we met, people who became friends and who Di and I have always considered family.  I'm kinda lousy at correspondence; this blog is an exercise in trying to cure that, too. But every one of those people are always in my heart, my prayers and thoughts.

So for today, Fifty Five Is The New Monkee Memory....hey, hey happy birthday Peter. y vaya con Dios!

Task At Hand

    String Dance Tile Design by rcw

      I've tried to minimize political things in this blog; partially because I've felt we're all inundated by it too much already and partially because of my own confusion.
     I'm still confused, still looking myself in the mirror and wondering if the thoughts in my head are the ones coming out of the same face I've known all these years.  I used to consider myself a high-grade liberal; a tree-hugging, pavement pounding, engaged and enraged human being ready to carry my protest sign at the first call from the phone tree.
      I was a  real Yippie (remember them) from the old days; then a member of the Student's Mobilization Committee-worked on the Moratorium even. I have been a union member and up until just the past few months, I'd never cross a picket line, always volunteer for a like-minded candidate during an election and was even known to work on a petition drive or two.



     Now? I'm not sure what to do.  I feel betrayed by those who I thought were motivated by selfless causes, betrayed even by the opposition because they're sounding more and more like how the folks I thought were  in my "camp" used to sound, and even betrayed by the extremists on all sides because of the additional venom given to their uber-violent or ultra-biblical stances.
     We see law being broken on television every day; voters' intimidation at election polls with no legal prosecution, public endangerment being passed off as an oil spill, and so on.  To the point where I wonder if we're not desensitized, just a bit.  Are we confusing the daily goings-on in Washington DC for some sort of entertaining reality show? 
     I am trying to see how all "sides" cover the news; limited a little by our very basic t.v. programming . What I notice is a great deal of arrogance and patronizing on the part of those in "power," and a great number of questions being raised from all sides of the constituency.  Republicans, Democrats, Independents, Greens, et al are wondering What's Going On?

     There is a violent tone to the world these days; an edge that really doesn't have to be there...but it is.
We're all angry and we've all got a lot to be angry about....all over the world.  Terrorism, hunger, unemployment, huge debt, droughts/floods/climate changes, under-and-unemployment, housing issues, racial issues, sexist issues, relationship issues, lifestyle issues, cultural and geographic issues...and don't forget the Boogey Man-whoever that is this week 'cos it seems like there's somebody out to kill somebody else all the time....yep! A lot to be angry about, and scared about.

     This is when we need to keep our wits and senses about us most. We have to learn how not give in to these things that put us at each others' throats. I know it's hard because fear is an anger-generator. There I go sounding all hippie-dippy.  But it's true.  We need to turn our heads around a little and look at things from a common sense standpoint rather than from a politically expedient standpoint.

     I say let's see what has makes our nation work and what doesn't make it work...then do something astonishing; let's fix it.

     Let's put all the information on the table....how bad is it really? Let's  make sure our leaders read the laws they've been elected to enforce, and/or all laws which have been placed before them for review before commenting or acting upon them.  Let's make a few decisions as a people, and as citizens of this nation we are indeed a people, as to what we want and make it so....but let these decisions be based upon our Constitution, on which our nation was founded, rather than any politicians' interpretations of our founding documents.

     Personally, I don't want to be a completely socialist nation...I've read Atlas Shrugged and Animal Farm and have talked with a number of people who've  escaped those kind of places; it don't sound pretty.
     We don't have to destroy our nation in order to make the whole world a better place; that's just crazy. There is a better way to run things;  but we have to do something now. 

    But our actions can't be based on political agenda...and a great deal of what's going on these days feels like it is. And the way things are getting pushed through, I wonder what's really going on. Some of it stinks big of tyranny-but it seems we've been served that kind of fish before.

     Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

     Same dance different motivation.

    So what do we do and what does any of this have to do with Fifty Five being the New anything?  Lots.
We have the ability to take charge of our future, if we decide to do so.  We have the responsibility to our future to take that step and, to the best of our ability, work toward the future we seek.
    It's time to get away from televised reality and make our own version of the stuff by living it every day.
Don't take anybody's word for anything unless you've seen the proof for yourself. Don't let politicians blind with spectacular rhetoric or badger with some sort of guilt. Politicians are politicians...public servants are public servants. There is a difference.

For me, today Fifty Five Is The New Task At Hand....it's time to clean up our act.

    

Number Nine

2/9/1964...8 o'clock p.m....the Beatles on Ed Sullivan. I was 9 years old, sitting on the floor in front of my family's only t.v. set, eyes glued to the black and white picture.
Ed was enjoying himself, dangling the Fab Four's presence before his captive audience like so much fillet mignon before the starving masses...and starving they were! Pubescent and post-pubescent girls (some guys, too) squealing with each mention of John, Paul, George or Ringo.
Mom, from her perch on the sofa, asked "What's a Ringo?"
She soon found out. To my great relief, she liked what she heard and mostly liked what she saw. "They're nice looking young men." she'd say, "But that hair!" She insisted they only wore it long for "show biz," and that my brothers "shouldn't get any ideas." (they did, but that's another story)
Nonetheless she dug the Beatles, and through the years that's one thing we've always had in common, no matter what battles the Generation Gap threw our way.
I'd heard about the Beatles before seeing them, through the 45rpm records my cousins and sister collected and blasted with their friends. There was something world-changing in their music, the tight harmonies and musicality.
It's like they tripped a switch inside that made creativity a living, breathing necessity in my life.
I was stunned at how deeply significant that evening felt back then...it wasn't about screaming, it was all about listening...about hearing...about knowing my life would never, ever be the same.
So for today, Fifty Five is the New Number Nine...for life changing happenings and the dreams they inspire.

Fashion Statement

Interesting date, in a numerological kind of way.

The world is changing.....in big ways, bigger even than the '60s, when the Love Generation tried for center stage.
There was more to it than love beads and incense.  More than free love and white lipstick, go-go boots and tie-dyed shirts.  These things were mere trifles, ornaments for what was going on inside.

But this? What is one to wear to such an occasion as today's form of revolution? A HAZMAT suit with a bullet proof vest and riot gear accessories? (Camouflage neatly replacing tie-die swirls)  And don't forget the steel tipped boots! Bible, Koran or other book of religiosity in one hand, AK 47 or better in the other, gas mask strapped to the face, ammo pack strapped to the back....now THAT's a look to get attention.

These are the days in which we live.

So for today, Fifty Five Is The New Fashion Statement....every generation has one....how do we look today?

2012.....Sheesh

Having the flu recently gave me the chance to catch up on my History Channel stuff Wouldn't ya know Nostradamus and the Mayans showed up! Death and destruction, mayhem and ruination...all the big hitters were there in true End Of Days splendor.
Perhaps it was the sweating and chills brought on by fever, but those pictures of global warming and mushroom clouds really hit close to home!
The truth is we could all do something to make our world and our lives better.
But there are some processes (the earth's magnetic core shift among them) that act upon their own way and (so far as I know) nothing we can do will change anything.
So where does that leave us?
The easy thing to do is just chuck it all, act like nothing matters and be done with it. Cynicism can be fun, comedians and news casters do it all the time. But for some reason I just gotta be that cockeyed optimist. And considering how life's been sometimes ya gotta wonder if I'm optimistic or just dead and too dumb to fall over.
I'll take the former. The latter is too final.
Bottom line is, to me anyway, we make our own heaven and our own hell...it's here ...all around us; the tools we need, even the instructions for use-they've always been here at hand.
Behind the games we play on ourselves, beneath the layers of baggage build through years of hardship lies a very simple thing. Each of us is here, now. And that's what counts the most.