THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 7, 1996 TAG: 9608070025
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROY A. BAHLS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 103 lines
THE PREFAB FOUR vs. The Fab Four was only the beginning.
When Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Peter Tork and Michael Nesmith were hired in 1965 for a new NBC-TV series, the challenge was to become ``The Monkees,'' not to compete with The Beatles.
``The assemblage was half-music and half-acting,'' said Peter Tork, the group's guitarist, who specialized in looking befuddled on the show. ``Neither Michael or I thought of ourselves primarily as actors. Micky and Davy did. They didn't see themselves as members of a rock band. But Michael and I did. Now the musicians had to act and the actors had to play music.
``There was something about who we were as a bunch of musicians,'' Tork said, ``that is a much bigger deal than people sometimes think. We didn't just luck into the music side.''
But fortune has been with them since.
All 58 episodes of their Emmy Award-winning series have been released on video; their nine albums (including the first five, which went gold) have been reissued; and 10 years ago, three Monkees got together for a 20th anniversary tour.
The 30th anniversary edition - without member Michael Nesmith - arrives at the Virginia Beach Amphitheater Thursday night.
``We get all ages and they scream. They actually scream,'' Tork said recently from New York. ``It's amazing. Sometimes there's three generations sitting together. The age range has changed quite a bit since the '60s. Back then, it was, oh, 13 to 17 or so. Now, it's 13 to 46 or 47.''
They're screaming for ``Last Train To Clarksville,'' ``I'm a Believer,'' ``Pleasant Valley Sunday'' and ``Stepping Stone,'' the songs that put The Monkees on the charts.
Auditioning for ``The Monkees,'' back in August of 1965, didn't seem like such a big deal at the time.
``The chance came up and I said `OK - sure. I'll try out for this,' '' Tork said. ``But all my efforts were bent toward being a coffeehouse folk singer at that time. If I had gone on in that vein alone I would have become a coffeehouse rock 'n' roller in due course.''
It was Stephen Stills who helped direct Tork's future.
``We were buddies on the Greenwich Village stages,'' Tork said. ``He recommended that I try out for `The Monkees.' And I laugh. I say, `Poor Stephen, he had to settle for Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.' He suffered enormously for his sacrifice.''
Even before the series about a make-believe rock band, sporting long hair and catchy tunes, first aired on Sept. 12, 1966, the group's debut single, ``Last Train to Clarksville,'' was well on its way to No. 1.
The series was fashioned after The Beatles' movie, ``A Hard Day's Night,'' and they out sold The Beatles and The Rolling Stones collectively in '67.
Although each had some musical background, they primarily provided only vocals on their self-titled first album (``The Monkees'') released in 1966.
Because of their success they rehearsed the music and toured to their screaming fans, playing all of the instruments themselves.
Three more gold albums followed: ``Headquarters,'' ``Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones'' and ``The Birds, the Bees and the Monkees.''
But after two years of on-air antics and songs, NBC canceled the series. Suddenly what began as a TV show about a band, became a band without a TV show. The group survived only one more year.
They had a couple of reunion tours (minus Nesmith), including their 20th anniversary tour which was stimulated by reruns on MTV of their TV episodes. That same year their single, ``That Was Then, This Is Now,'' became their first Top 20 record since 1968.
This tour is almost like the good old days, except that Nesmith isn't on stage with them.
Nesmith is said to be in Nashville putting the finishing touches on the foursome's new disc, ``Justus,'' expected to be released this fall.
``The reason we are calling it `Justus,' '' Tork said, ``is because we think it is only right and fitting that we should have an album. Another reason is that we are the only writers, the only musicians and the only producers on the entire album.''
The disc features all new music except a remake of ``Circle Sky.''
``There is a chance that he (Nesmith) will tour with us to support that album,'' Tork said. ``We'll see. His enthusiasm sometimes outweighs his willingness.''
Tork is looking forward to performing in the area. It won't be his first time.
``Virginia Beach and Norfolk are very historic points for me in my life, he said. ``It was just about the first place I played as a professional accompanist.''
In 1964 he played guitar and banjo for a group named The Phoenix Singers at a Virginia Beach club called The Shadows.
The following year he performed his first out-of-town solo gig at a Norfolk club called the Folk Ghetto on West Freemason Street. A newspaper article at the time noted that he called himself ``Pe3ter Tork. The 3 is silent.'' Tork admits that he was pulling the reporter's leg.
He has his own new disc out called ``Stranger Things Have Happened.'' He said the album follows a ``love kind of a theme.'' The title comes from the fact that, ``stranger things have happened than that I should have an album out.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color file photo
The Monkees
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