Myself and Davy Jones, around 2008
I was about 12 when the Monkees were first introduced to me. It was a Saturday morning. I woke up and headed to the living room, where my dad and older sister were watching TV. MTV was having a marathon of Monkees episodes. My sister said she used to watch them every Saturday morning when she was a kid, and that I should watch them because they were really funny. About 2 episodes in I asked my dad for a VHS tape so that I could tape the marathon. That was the start of something that would snowball and change my life forever. Some time passed, and I made a new friend from my band class, Becky. She was a huge Monkees fanatic, and shared with me many of the Monkees episodes she had taped, as well as their albums that had been re released on cassette (yep, this was just as CDs were just coming out, so cassette tapes were the media of choice). I was hooked! We spent that summer hanging out at the pool at my mom's apartment complex during the day, and listening to our Monkees cassettes and watching episodes until late at night. Nick at Nite had started showing episodes twice a day, so I spent many hours starting play when a new one came on, seeing if it was a new one (if not I would stop and rewind the tape to begin the next new episode), and cutting out the commercials. I fell in love with Davy (as most girls did that loved the Monkees). Even though he was older than my dad, I was convinced that we would get married and live happily ever after some day. I hadn't even had a real boyfriend at that point, so what did I know... ;-)
Then, the best thing that could ever happen to me happened....the Monkees were coming to Louisville in concert! My first concert ever. It was amazing. There they were, live right in front of me! Later that summer Becky and I would get to see them again in Indianapolis. Here we got to sit in the front row for the last few minutes of the concert with friends of her dad (in their laps actually). They reached down and shook hands with people in the front row as they left the stage. I got to touch them! It was like a dream. There was screaming and crying involved from what I remember. The best thing that had happened to me ever!
My friend Becky would move away to live with her dad that summer, but I had befriended her cousin Karla who was also in band. Thank goodness, I had someone else to share my love of the Monkees with! Although I was in my last year of middle school, I got to march with the high school marching band that year. We spent many band trips sharing headphones and listening to our Monkees albums on the band bus. Other kids in my school had fallen in love with the Monkees as well, so we had special days where we would all wear our concert T-shirts. The Monkees had a rebirth in the 80s, a new generation of fans. This is unheard of, as far as I know, with any other musical group. Sure, people love the Beatles music, but they didn't have a TV show and band come back like the Monkees did.
At this point you're probably saying "Ok, so you had a teenage crush on a band. Big deal, what girl didn't at that age??". And at this point I would agree with you....except this is just the very beginning of my story. My love of the Monkees' music started my love of the Beatles, my all time favorite musically talented group to this day. My friend Karla was in love with the Doors, so I was introduced to them as well. Then came Herman's Hermits, the Who, the list goes on. I adore music from the 60s and 70s to this day. Being at the beginning of my experience as a musician at that time this shaped the rest of my life. To this day I can still hear certain songs that bring such strong emotion, which all started with the Monkees.
My high school years passed and I began my college days. I, of course, shared my love of the Monkees music to my music school friends (because that was our life after all at that time). A few years into college I found out that Davy was going to be in the Broadway production of Grease in our city. I convinced my best friend Ginger (also a musical lover) to go with me. When we walked into the concert hall there was Davy on stage, 5 or so rows in front of us, playing oldies music and dancing around on stage before the show. I was a giddy teenager again! He was still just as good looking as he was during the 60s, and even better looking than the 80s (mullets were a dark time of that decade, lol). We watched the first half of the play, then stepped out for intermission. We were standing outside the doorway of the auditorium talking before we went back to our seats. All of a sudden, without any warning, the side stage door busted open right beside us and out came Davy. There we were, just the 2 of us and Davy! As he walked by he said cheerfully "Hello ladies!" Ginger smiled and said "Hello!" right back to him. As I tried to ignore the shock I was in and say something similar, hopefully more clever and witty, all I could muster up was "aahh...". Way to go, I just blew the moment of a lifetime! Ginger couldn't help but giggle at me. And looking back, it makes me giggle too.
Several years later I found out that the Monkees were back together yet again and touring over the summer. Well of course I HAD to see them! Ginger agreed to go with me to see them perform at the Cincinnati Zoo. We got there that morning because it was general admission. We had to get great seats! There were several other Monkees fanatics waiting with us, playing their music, wearing their T-shirts, etc. Both of us were new to all of this, Ginger especially since she just came along for the ride pretty much. We file in to our seats and watched the show. It was AMAZING. Of course I loved their music already, but all 3 of them, Micky, Peter, and Davy, knew exactly how to entertain the crowd! I wasn't the only one that thought this...Ginger had instantly become a huge fan after that concert as well. A couple weeks later they were performing at the Columbus Zoo. So we wrangled up tickets (again general admission, yay!), called in sick to work (cough, cough!) and away we went! This time Peter came back to the crowd during the sound check and signed autographs. So exciting! Then during the concert Davy came down and sang to the front row of the crowd. Yay, I got to shake his hand again! It was such a rush! Later that summer my college sweetheart and I broke up. I was heartbroken. Ginger came to the rescue. What would make me feel better? A Monkees concert of course! We headed to NC this time. There we got to go to a CD/Book signing and saw Micky in a hotel bar we stopped at. It was just getting better! Later we went to another concert where the guard to the backstage befriended us, and eventually let us in to the green room after the concert. We got our pictures made with all 3 and got their autographs. Peter was the most personable that night. He looked through the picture book I had just purchased (he had never seen it before) and talked about the different people he was with in the photographs. So cool!
The next summer they toured as well. We had a 3 day weekend where we went to concerts in 3 different cities, making a loop back home. The first concert was in Merrillville, IN. There we hung out with them in the hotel bar and got to see them up close and personal. The next night was Rosemont, IL. We found the hotel they were staying at again and hung out there (we were good at it by this time!). After a few drinks and an hour or so of being in the same place as the band I decided to pluck up the courage and go introduce myself to Davy. I walked up to him at the bar, introduced myself as a huge fan since I was a teenager, and it was an honor to meet him. He smiled and took my hand, and said it was very nice to meet me. He then told me a joke about a hippo and another animal, and I think there was alcohol involved in the joke. I was so starstruck I don't remember the joke! I thanked him, then he touched my cheek and smiled. I was giddy! He had paid attention to just me! They would tour again the following spring, after I had graduated from college and was working in the "real world". They were playing in Merrillville again, which was just a couple hours away and where they stayed in the same hotel, so of course we had to go to that one! This time they had an opening band. It was a boy band that also actually played their own instruments (imagine that!). We joked about which one we thought was the cutest, etc., but we were there for the opening act. After the concert we headed to the hotel bar as usual, and as usual the entire band was there. Including the opening band. We befriended 2 girls that knew some of the band members, and the next thing I know we are hanging out with the band, and the lead singer of the opening band was flirting and passing out shots to everyone. We were then invited back to one of their rooms to play cards and have a few drinks. On the way we passed Davy, and I was personally introduced to him, as "Stephanie the X-ray tech". "Well hello, Stephanie the X-ray tech!" Davy said, lol. We then hung out all night and played cards and joked around. It was a great time! I would then see them a few more times in concert that summer, and hung out with the opening band's lead singer a few times. Yep, a real life groupie. We got so used to being around the Monkees in the real world that it was almost second nature. Saying hello to their back up band because we recognized each other was just another concert day.
That was over 10 years ago, and those great memories never left me. I always went on about how great the Monkees were, how I was in love with Davy, how I now had a huge crush on Peter because he was so personable. Then last year they got together for another concert tour. The ticket prices were close to $100, and most of the dates were during the week. With real life setting in since the last time they had toured 10 years ago, I just couldn't make it to any of the dates. Maybe they will tour again next year, or the year after, and actually come to Louisville again, I thought.
Then 2 weeks ago I was coming back to work from my lunch break, just an average work day. I decided to check out Facebook before I clocked back in, and there it was. Less than 10 minutes before they had posted that Davy Jones had passed away. I stared at my phone. There is no way. It's just a rumor, or a mistake. He is the youngest. So I checked another source, and there was the same info. NO, it couldn't be. Then my phone went crazy the next 30 minutes. Karla, Ginger, my sister, everyone was texting me about the news they had just heard. Ginger found out that it was a heart attack. The rest of the day was a blur. I was numb from the shock. I talked to a few co workers that were from their original generation about it, and they were shocked as well (of course not as much as I was). I came home and started cooking dinner, and the national news started lighting up with the news as well. They had a tribute on one of the news shows for him. At the end they showed the clip of him in The Brady Bunch episode where he was in the recording studio singing "Girl". At that point I broke down. The love of my teenage years, one of the members of my idol band, the band I had spent so many summers worshiping, was gone just like that. Tim was unfortunate enough to walk in to my apartment at that very moment. He instantly walked into the kitchen with me standing there bawling, tears streaming down my face. "I'm ok" I muttered. Having listened to my Monkees stories before he understood my sadness and just hugged me. Oh the things our significant others put up with to be with us!
It's been a couple weeks now, and the shock still hasn't worn off. Sure, it's not losing a parent or other close family member, but it's pretty damn close. My entire life was shaped by my musical influences, which all started with my love for the Monkees. That's where my love of all music started, that's what brought light to my confusing teenage days, my depression of break ups and having to be out in the real world.
So as my closing, I just want to say a big THANK YOU to Davy. Thank you for everything you did, for being so friendly and personable and bringing joy to so many lives. You will live in our hearts forever. I will carry those great memories and experiences you helped bring to my life. You will be greatly missed, but never forgotten.
