#Tork Nesmith offstage variety act

[thislovintime]

The Monkees, 1966.

“‘Do you know, while we’re sitting here talking, I’m getting mad because I got kicked out of Disneyland because I have long hair?’ Dolenz asked. ‘Our show is going to go higher and higher in humor,’ Jones said. ‘We are trying to take Peyton Place’s audience away.’ ‘Mike wore a hat as a trademark,’ Tork said, ‘but as soon as he had to wear it, he got tired of it. So he began wearing a bowler in public.’ ‘I’m having the original hat bronzed,’ Nesmith said. ‘We’re doing a story about a kid who is tossed out of Disneyland because he has long hair,’ Dolenz said. ‘Micky has a monorail mind,’ Tork said. ‘Tell your readers to picket Disneyland,’ Jones said. ‘Don’t pick it, it will never heal,’ from Tork. Peter picked up his guitar and began to sing. ‘Peter sings at the drop of a hat,’ [Davy] said, dropping Mike’s green wool hat. They all joined in for a pretty chorus.” - Article by Joan Crosby, Hope Star, October 22, 1966

“[Before filming the pilot episode] they put us in a room with $20,000 worth of equipment and told us to sort out who would play what. I could sing but couldn’t play anything. I was trained as an actor. Micky Dolenz was a guitar player but we needed a drummer so he took up the drums! Peter Tork can play about 10 instruments so he got hold of the bass guitar while Mike Nesmith picked up a guitar, an instrument he’d taught himself.” - Davy Jones, Record Mirror, January 7, 1967

“[Peter’s] really a genius, a prolific musician — he plays about seven instruments.” - Micky Dolenz, Record Mirror, February 11, 1967

“The most important thing is that we’re such different people. Know how I see us? Well, I’m tall and skinny and ugly. And there’s Micky who’s wild and keen like a little chihuahua. And Davy who is cute and cuddly. And Peter who is the one who plays a dummy, though he isn’t a dummy and he sort of makes a comment on that.” - Mike Nesmith, Record Mirror, February 18, 1967

“It makes me mad and violent to hear people putting the others down. I know how darned good they are on their instruments and in their playing and in their acting. I don’t care for myself because I’ve been around long enough to be able to look after myself… but to say guys like Mike and Peter don’t play is just plain ridiculous.” - Davy Jones, Record Mirror, February 18, 1967

“I have a great deal of respect for Mike as a musician and a songwriter. He’s very good. He could make it on his own easily. Also he’s one of the funniest people I’ve ever met. Micky has a practical side that he tries to hide behind his jokes and imitations, but it’s there nevertheless. I’m not practical at all, so I admire this in him. He’s got his business affairs in order at all times and knows just what happens to all his money and things. I never do. I can’t keep track of how much money I have with me at a given time. Davy has a lot of guts. Internal fortitude if you prefer. I wouldn’t want to be as popular as he is. I mean, I’d like it, but it scares the heck out of me to see the way twenty million girls will rush him at once. What knocks me out is that it’s always me or Mike that’s trampled or ripped. Little Davy (oh, I hope he doesn’t see that) is never harmed, though there will be twice as many after him. I think it has something to do with small people being quick and light on their feet and big people being slow and plodding.” - Peter Tork, Flip, August 1967

[thislovintime]

Remembering Michael on December 10th. Pictured with Peter, Davy, and Micky, and Barbara Hamaker. Some photos by Gene Trindl, Michael Ochs Archives, Tom M. Morton, Colin Beard, Ali Cotton.

Remembering Michael.

“You should’ve heard Mike singing some of those old Jimmie Rodgers The Singing Brakeman songs. He was so good, that stuff was just — you know, that stuff just warmed the cockles of my heart, you know. He could just do that stuff all day long. Just — I could just sit at his feet and listen to that for hours.” - Peter Tork, WHNN-FM, 2012

“At the Troubadour […], Peter Tork strolled in, banjo on his knee. Later, in-between ‘Alvin’ and a great banjo finger-picker, Peter yelled a hello to Mike Nesmith, who was standing in the upstairs darkness and the two fell into a hilarious patter routine." - Ginni Ganahal, TeenSet Magazine, February 1968 (read more here)

"[July 1, 1967] At this point Peter proudly produced a fan letter for Mike a rare occurrence. Mike looked vaguely impressed with his fan letter and read aloud, ‘Dear Mike. We saw the Monkees at the airport on Wednesday and my sister Linda touched Micky’s arm and then I saw you and threw up…’ ‘Hey,’ said Peter, ‘let me see that! You’re not that bad looking. I don’t believe it.’ Peter read from the letter, 'Dear Mike. We saw the Monkees at the airport on Wednesday and my sister Linda touched Micky’s arm and then I saw you and threw up!’ The letter did not, of course, say this but it’s all part of the Tork-Nesmith off-stage variety act.” - NME, July 8, 1967 (read more here)

Peter and Michael on KDWB-AM in August 1967, here.

Peter and Mike on their favorite Monkees episode, "Fairy Tale" - here.

“Michael used to run a hootenanny at the Troubadour in West Hollywood, and so I met him there. But that’s all, just to say hi to, pretty much.” - Peter Tork, GOLD 104.5, 1999

“I have a great deal of respect for Mike as a musician and a songwriter. He’s very good. He could make it on his own easily. Also he’s one of the funniest people I’ve ever met.” - Peter Tork, Flip, August 1967

“I really get along with Mike best. He’s married and enjoys his evenings at home with his family. My favorite date is to stop by his place, have some coffee, play cards, and listen to groovy music.” - Peter Tork, Hullabaloo, September 1967

“I remember staying at Mike’s house in Hollywood when we first started filming the series. It was the upper story of a two-story building on a little hillside. Mike’s wife, Phyllis, was wonderful. Mike and I laughed a lot and played music together. I remember that time very fondly.” - Peter Tork, When The Music Mattered (1984)

Q: “Being that your tastes were similar, and you both were the first to leave the group, why didn’t you form a group with Peter Tork?” Michael Nesmith: “I don’t like Peter Tork — never have liked him, I don’t like him as a man. I have to qualify that now: Me not liking somebody doesn’t mean that they’re bad people — he could do a lot of wonderful things for and to me. Not liking someone to me is a very gut reaction — a very visceral attitude. The first reaction to Peter was one of dislike. I don’t like him, I have never liked him, and I probably will never like him. I didn’t enjoy playing in a band with Peter, and I still don’t. Our tastes were much the same, our political beliefs were similar, our ideas of fun, pleasure, our intellectual capacity, our ability to talk to each other — we were very much alike. I have a great respect for Peter — his technical abilities on an instrument and the positions he took were well conceived ideas, always a posture with a motive, never emotional. I don’t like my mother. She happens to be a very nice lady — never done anything that would make me not like her — but I don’t. I like my wife.” - Hit Parader, February 1972

“It was something that was known on the set. They knew Pete and I went our own ways. This wasn’t a dislike of someone who had committed some infraction against me or some sort of crime. It was just, ‘Oh, this guy eats those little noodles and I don’t like ’em and I can’t eat with the guy.’ It was kind of an off-putting thing. It was, ‘Oh, he likes to play paintball and I don’t like to play paintball.’ So we never played paintball, but every once in a while we’d find ourselves in the same paintball park because we owned it, so we had to keep it clean and do all the stuff we had to do and we did do it. We didn’t have too many civil words to say to each other, but we also didn’t fight all the time. We just didn’t say much. There wasn’t a lot to say. Peter would play me the songs that he thought were good and I didn’t. And I would play him the songs I thought were good and he wouldn’t. Then we just left it at that. Partners in silence.” - Michael Nesmith, Rolling Stone, December 3, 2019

“Michael was very kind to me at the outset. He put me up through the entire shooting of the pilot process. He and his wife had a wonderful little apartment just big enough for a guest on the day bed, which overlooked Hollywood. I remember a Thanksgiving Day when the air was crystal clear in a way that I’ve never seen it before or since in L.A., and you could see all the way out to Catalina. It was wonderful. That crystal clarity symbolizes the whole era for me. Mike and I wrote a few things together. We were very comradely and very buddy buddy, and it was a wonderful time, with Mike’s then wife, Phyllis, and Christian, their little infant baby. The early days of the pilot shooting were just great by my lights and I had a wonderful time.” - Peter Tork, quoted in Hey, Hey, We’re The Monkees (1996) (read more here)

"After [Peter] went down for the first interview, I asked how how he felt he did and he said, ‘Well, it looks good. I’ll see how things go.’ And they kept calling him back. He liked Michael Nesmith. That was the first thing that happened." - Stephen Stills, Tiger Beat, July 1967 (read more here)

“I did give Peter a voice audition on Saturday’s Child but I had to finally say, ‘look Pete, I can’t play banjo and you can’t sing. If I played the banjo I’d sound like you singing, I have to erase the tape.’ So Peter left in a huff and came back with Michael, who pulled off his motorcycle helmet, crashed it down onto the console and demanded ‘why don’t you let Peter sing? You guys never let us come to the sessions, it’s just you two with Davy and Micky.’" - Tommy Boyce, Monkeemania: The True Story of The Monkees (1997) (x)

"Mike joined us in the UK for our 30th anniversary tour in 1997. I enjoyed that tour very much; it was a good time. Nevertheless, Mike never said anything to me when he decided to leave the band after the ’97 European tour, and I still don’t know why he left.” - Peter Tork, Medium, 2017

"Yeah, I’d rather have him in, all things considered. I think that it makes an event when he’s there that, that isn’t when he’s not. [...] I think, you know, Mike changed his mind for reasons that I don’t quite understand, but what the heck." - Peter Tork, GOLD 104.5, 1999 (x)

"I still have a lot of respect for Michael." - Peter Tork, WDBB, February 2006 (x)

"I will miss him — a brother in arms. Take flight my Brother.” - Michael Nesmith, Facebook, February 2019 (x)

[thislovintime]

The Monkees arriving in Honolulu, Hawaii, December 1966.

A companion post to the previous closer look at the Honolulu concert, here.

“Mike also does a very funny imitation of L.B.J. and during the hour and a half takeover of KPOI by the Monkees, he demonstrated this in what has to be the funniest newscast ever, anywhere. ‘Peter Tork, Honolulu, and Mike Nesmith, Honolulu,’ did a Huntley-Brinkley five minutes that proved their ad lib and improvisational ability. Mike reported, ‘President Johnson called the United Nations today and asked U Thant if he might be a little more familiar with him and call him “U.”’ Peter chimes in, ‘And he replied, “Nu.”’ [Micky] Dolenz was having such a ball playing disc jockey [(]’Hi there everybody, this is the [Micky] the D show on KPOI’) that he begged for permission to come back and do the all night show. […] During their hectic airport arrival last week, the Monkees were mobbed when several hundred screaming teenaged girls broke through a restraining rope. Their limousine was surrounded, but all the boys got inside except Peter Tork who was forced to climb on top [of] the car in the rush. One of the show’s promoters saw the car start to pull away and leaped on the trunk to try to keep Peter from falling. As the car sped down the runway, a safe distance away from the mob of girls still chasing after it, Peter turned to the passenger clinging to the trunk and said calmly, ‘Tom Moffatt, I presume?’ He was right! During the ride in from the airport, some enterprising dan pulled alongside the Monkees’ car and handed a wool hat to Mike Nesmith, who still clutched it as they checked into the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. As they rested in their rooms on arrival, devouring fresh pineapple as if they hadn’t eaten in weeks and listening to the radio, Mike said in his Texas drawl, ‘How come it’s so low?’ Although it seemed a normal level to me, he walked over and turned it louder than radio has ever been in the Royal. The Monkees clown among themselves just as much as they do before an audience. The Saturday night show was sold out even before the group arrived Thursday afternoon. The Monkees demonstrated that they were actors, performers and showmen, and in live performances, that is what’s important, what with all the screaming that inevitably goes on.” - Dave Donnelly, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, December 7, 1966

[thislovintime]

undefined

Excerpted from the complete recordings available (here), Peter Tork and Michael Nesmith on KDWB-AM on August 3 & 4, 1967. Essentially, an audio example of what NME called "the Tork-Nesmith off-stage variety act."

[thislovintime]

Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork onstage in St. Louis, August 1967. Photo by Tom M. Morton.

A look at Peter in 1967, through the lens of Michael Nesmith:

“I don’t care whether or not I’m liked by people. Davy knows he’s liked, Micky wants to be liked, while Peter, perhaps, is more troubled than any of us. He wants to be liked by the people he likes and he wants the people he doesn’t like to jump into a lake. He’s terribly sensitive and behaves the way his sensitivities lead him. He often gets so mixed up in his behavior toward people that he doesn’t relate to them the way he wants to at all.” - Michael Nesmith, Seventeen, August 1967

[thislovintime]

Peter Tork at the Troubadour. Photos 1 & 2 by Nurit Wilde (photo 2 is a screenshot from Laurel Canyon: A Place In Time); photo 3 courtesy of Disc and Music Echo.

“Tork ‘goes solo’ — and sings ‘Lady Madonna’ On Monday I visited the Troubadour for hoot night. Things were pretty grim, with nary a very talented performer in the room, when at about 11.30 Peter Tork himself appeared. He was a charming breath of fresh air and assurance. He started out with ‘Lady Madonna’ (he told us they wouldn’t let him do it in the movie) and then sang an old Dylan song, his brothers’ song ‘Alvin the Alligator’ (which isn’t on their new LP, much to Peter’s chagrin), picked a banjo and whistled, sang one of his new songs, ‘Lady’s Baby,’ and was called back for an encore. ‘I’d like to do a real old folk song,’ he said, ‘which was written way back when folk songs were… real and old…’ He was delightful and looked great (he’s growing a mustache again).” - Judy Sims, Disc and Music Echo, May 18, 1968

“At the Troubadour […], Peter Tork strolled in, banjo on his knee. Later, in-between ‘Alvin’ and a great banjo finger-picker, Peter yelled a hello to Mike Nesmith, who was standing in the upstairs darkness and the two fell into a hilarious patter routine. Peter climbed out long enough to display great talent, great warmth, great humor and, in general, a great personality. Mike did the same when, later, I asked him how the album was coming. ‘Album? Oh, Uh huh. Nice weather, yes? Album’s gonna be good. How are you. Hi, Pete, how’s the album?’” - Ginni Ganahal, TeenSet Magazine, February 1968

[thislovintime]

Peter Tork and Michael Nesmith in Australia, September 1968 (photos by Colin Beard); Peter, Reine Stewart, Phyllis and Mike, and Davy Jones at the premiere of Head in New York City (on November 6, 1968) and in Hollywood (on November 19, 1968), (all?) photos by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images; Micky, Peter, and Michael at the SiriusXM Town Hall with The Monkees on May 16, 2016 (photo by Rick Diamond/Getty Images for SiriusXM).

“The first time I met Peter was at the Troubadour where he performed, long before the auditions. I’ve always liked his warmth and honesty. And he’s always been very kind to me. Both Davy and Peter have lived with us and Peter was always very considerate, helping with the dishes and all.” - Phyllis Nesmith, Fave magazine, January 1968

“Michael used to run a hootenanny at the Troubadour in West Hollywood, and so I met him there. But that’s all, just to say hi to, pretty much.” - Peter Tork, GOLD 104.5, 1999

“I have a great deal of respect for Mike as a musician and a songwriter. He’s very good. He could make it on his own easily. Also he’s one of the funniest people I’ve ever met.” - Peter Tork, Flip, August 1967

“I really get along with Mike best. He’s married and enjoys his evenings at home with his family. My favorite date is to stop by his place, have some coffee, play cards, and listen to groovy music.” - Peter Tork, Hullabaloo, September 1967

“I remember staying at Mike’s house in Hollywood when we first started filming the series. It was the upper story of a two-story building on a little hillside. Mike’s wife, Phyllis, was wonderful. Mike and I laughed a lot and played music together. I remember that time very fondly.” - Peter Tork, When The Music Mattered (1984)

Q: “Being that your tastes were similar, and you both were the first to leave the group, why didn’t you form a group with Peter Tork?” Michael Nesmith: “I don’t like Peter Tork — never have liked him, I don’t like him as a man. I have to qualify that now: Me not liking somebody doesn’t mean that they’re bad people — he could do a lot of wonderful things for and to me. Not liking someone to me is a very gut reaction — a very visceral attitude. The first reaction to Peter was one of dislike. I don’t like him, I have never liked him, and I probably will never like him. I didn’t enjoy playing in a band with Peter, and I still don’t. Our tastes were much the same, our political beliefs were similar, our ideas of fun, pleasure, our intellectual capacity, our ability to talk to each other — we were very much alike. I have a great respect for Peter — his technical abilities on an instrument and the positions he took were well conceived ideas, always a posture with a motive, never emotional. I don’t like my mother. She happens to be a very nice lady — never done anything that would make me not like her — but I don’t. I like my wife.” - Hit Parader, February 1972” - Hit Parader, February 1972

“Michael was very kind to me at the outset. He put me up through the entire shooting of the pilot process. He and his wife had a wonderful little apartment just big enough for a guest on the day bed, which overlooked Hollywood. I remember a Thanksgiving Day when the air was crystal clear in a way that I’ve never seen it before or since in L.A., and you could see all the way out to Catalina. It was wonderful. That crystal clarity symbolizes the whole era for me. Mike and I wrote a few things together. We were very comradely and very buddy buddy, and it was a wonderful time, with Mike’s then wife, Phyllis, and Christian, their little infant baby. The early days of the pilot shooting were just great by my lights and I had a wonderful time.” - Peter Tork, quoted in Hey, Hey, We’re The Monkees (1996)

“Michael's in a force field of his own and not much gets in there.” - Peter Tork, TV Guide, June 2000

"I still have a lot of respect for Michael, I’m not, this is not to say that he’s proven to be useless as a human being or an artist, but… And I still have a lot of affection and respect for the other two guys as well, and if something came up, I’d be glad to be hanging out in their company. It’s a lot of fun touring with those guys, they’re funny, funny men, you know, the two of them, just hilarious.” - Peter Tork, WDBB, February 2006

Q: “What prompted Michael Nesmith to rejoin the Monkees in 1996 for the Justus album?” Peter Tork: “Mike had become boyfriend-girlfriend with this woman who listened to a cut of ‘Circle Sky’ [penned by Nesmith, a significantly less dynamic studio version of ‘Circle Sky’ appeared on the Head soundtrack in December 1968]. She listened and exclaimed, ‘Who is playing bass on that?’ Michael said, ‘Well, Peter.’ She quickly replied, ‘Well, who wrote the part?’ And he responded, ‘Well, Peter.’ Soon he was sort of enjoying what we had done before. He thought, ‘God, these guys are pretty good.’ So he invited Micky and me, and we took over a rehearsal hall. The three of us banged away for a couple of hours, and danged if we didn’t sound just exactly the same as we did when we left off nearly 30 years previously. And next thing we knew, Michael wanted to be back in the band for a little while. Michael is very much into, ‘What’s the best you can get right now?’ He is kind of aggressive about getting the best studio, the best equipment, and the best approach to sound. So we produced and recorded the Justus album on tape and transferred it to digital afterwards in an effort to keep it as warm as possible. I’m not so interested in the sound per se. If we had made it all digital, I couldn’t have told the difference myself. All I know is I hear the energy of the band. What’s interesting is for us to play together and make a record as best we know how. I played all the bass parts on Justus, Michael played all the guitar parts, Micky played all the drums, and Davy played tambourine and some acoustic guitar. If you hear keyboards or piano on a track, that’s me, too. I would play one instrument and then overdub the other. There are a couple of things I would have done differently, but all in all, I think it stands up pretty well. So there’s the Justus album for you. Mike joined us in the UK for our 30th anniversary tour in 1997. I enjoyed that tour very much; it was a good time. Nevertheless, Mike never said anything to me when he decided to leave the band after the ’97 European tour, and I still don’t know why he left.” - Medium, 2017

"What I made the decision to do [in the last year or so of Peter's life] was to stand by his side, be a friend and give him as good a send-off as I know how to give from this plane of existence." - Michael Nesmith, The Courier Mail, April 10, 2019

"I am told he slipped away peacefully. Yet, as I write this my tears are awash, and my heart is broken. Even though I am clinging to the idea that we all continue, the pain that attends these passings has no cure. It’s going to be a rough day. I share this with all Monkees fans this change, this 'loss,' even so. PT will be a part of me forever. I have said this before — and now it seems even more apt — the reason we called it a band is because it was where we all went to play. A band no more — and yet the music plays on — an anthem to all who made the Monkees and the TV show our private — dare I say “secret” — playground. As for Pete, I can only pray that his songs reach the heights that can lift us and that our childhood lives forever — that special sparkle that was in the Monkees. I will miss him — a brother in arms. Take flight my Brother." - Michael Nesmith, Facebook, February 2019

[thislovintime]

The Monkees and Lulu on the set of Head, 1968. Photo 1 by Ron Thal (from an old eBay listing).

“‘[In London in 1967] Peter and Micky got involved in a furious argument on pre-destination. Peter is terribly serious-minded and I’m afraid the whole thing was a bit too involved for me. I gathered they were arguing about whether everything in life is ‘mapped out’ and whether fate really rules our lives. I hope everybody doesn’t get to think that it was a serious row. It was just a clash of opinions, not of people. Later on everything was fine!’ […] ‘Micky was lovely and very sweet, exactly the same off-screen as he is on. ‘I thought Mike was lovely, too. Oh, I know it’s corny to keep saying that, but a lot of people don’t understand Mike. And he really is a nice person once you get to know him. ‘It wasn’t easy at first. He seems to be a bit wary of people, so I steered clear for a while. Then, eventually, we got into very chatty conversations when he found out I’d been to California. ‘Basically, Mike is the sort of guy who prefers to sit back and listen rather than talk. But he’s got a marvelously dry sense of humor.’ Lulu’s impression of Peter Tork? ‘The one I took to straight away,’ she says. ‘Peter would help you to converse with him, whereas if Mike doesn’t want to talk — he wouldn’t.   ‘I had a preconceived notion about Davy. For some reason I had it in my mind that he was big-time and sure of himself, but I was wrong. I found him bewildered by everything that was happening, and for a couple of days I suppose he more or less didn’t make any move to talk to me while I was around. But once he settled down, he was fine!’” - NME, July 22, 1967

[thislovintime]

The Monkees, press conference in London on June 29, 1967. Photos © Manchester Mirror/Mirrorpix/Newscom, LFI/Photoshot/Newscom, Dezo Hoffmann/Shutterstock, ANL/Shutterstock, CA/Redferns, F. Brooks, and Fox Photos.

“Monkees had a press conference, and handled it nice and cool, despite interruptions from the press… Peter Tork has proved a gas.” - Disc & Music Echo, July 8, 1967

Footage from the press conference.

“[At the hotel on June 30] Tork then proceeded to play ‘Eleanor Rigby’ on his guitar and eat from a bag of crisps which he invited were ‘chips.’ ‘Does anyone order fish and crisps?’ he smiled happily. ‘I’m going to throw the entire English language into reverse.’ […] Peter took a walk out onto his balcony across the hall to wave hello to the crowds gathered in Hyde Park. Mike declined. ‘I want to save myself so I can be attacked on the way to Wembley,’ he explained. He further explained that he gets embarrassed when he steps out on the balcony and no one screams. Mike revels in rolling around in his little old mud patch! I offered to report his deplorable lack of fan mail. ‘Don’t do that,’ he sad, ‘I’ll just get a lot of letters saying “Keith Altham says you don’t get any fan mail so I thought I’d write to you. Please say ‘Hello’ to Davy for me!”’ […] [July 1] At this point Peter proudly produced a fan letter for Mike a rare occurrence. Mike looked vaguely impressed with his fan letter and read aloud, ‘Dear Mike. We saw the Monkees at the airport on Wednesday and my sister Linda touched Micky’s arm and then I saw you and threw up…’ ‘Hey,’ said Peter, ‘let me see that! You’re not that bad looking. I don’t believe it.’ Peter read from the letter, ‘Dear Mike. We saw the Monkees at the airport on Wednesday and my sister Linda touched Micky’s arm and then I saw you and threw up!’ The letter did not, of course, say this but it’s all part of the Tork-Nesmith off-stage variety act.” - NME, July 8, 1967

[thislovintime]

Photo 1 © ZUMA Press, Inc./Alamy Stock Photo (by Gene Trindl?); photo 2 by Chuck Boyd.

A look at Peter in 1967, through the lens of Micky and Michael:

“To Micky Peter is quiet, with a sharp, subdued sense of humor, to Mike he is socially aware, concerned with the problems of the world and satirizing the plight of ordinary people through his television characterization.” - NME, May 6, 1967