Why Disparage the Monkees After Davy Jones Death?

Article first published as Why Disparage the Monkees After Davy Jones' Death? on Blogcritics.

The death of Monkees lead singer Davy Jones at 66 is another sad loss for those of us who love music. In recent years we have lost Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, George Harrison, Amy Winehouse, and many others. I tend to look at all this starting with the death of Elvis Presley - all this referring to not only a loss of innocence but perhaps the loss of what defined our youthful days. Certainly the murder of John Lennon turned the page in a way that many of us never saw coming, and since then things have changed the world in ways (many of them not good) that Lennon could never have imagined (yes, I know).

Thinking back to the Monkees and their brief and soaring brush with fame, they were for many of us a poor cousin to the Beatles, but any relation to the Fab Four would be welcome in our homes. When the TV show came out in 1966, the Monkees were a fabricated band (perhaps truly the first boy band) that threw together Peter Tork, Mickey Dolenz, Mike Nesmith, and Davy Jones. The Beatles had started to leave the mop-top look behind, but the show was meant to capitalize on the band and the good natured fun of their films A Hard Day's Night and Help.

The Pre-Fab Four (as the jokes were made back then) had to have a British lead singer, so enter Jones. The TV show was what could be called a zany, Marx Brothers type of musical comedy, with the four guys getting caught up with spies, assorted other bad guys, and pretty girls. The show shrewdly featured videos of their songs, beating all those lip-synching videos one would see on MTV by fourteen years. Songs like "Last Train to Clarksville," "I'm a Believer," and "Pleasant Valley Sunday" became great big hits, and to this day they always bring a smile to my face when I hear them on the radio.

For two years the show was on and then, like many fads, the thrill was gone and the show went off the air. For kids like me, it was gone way too soon as was Batman, Planet of the Apes, and Star Trek, but those shows helped define a generation and pave the way for new incarnations in the years to come.
The last few days I have heard so many people on TV and the radio disparaging the Monkees and their TV show. Surely, they have no legacy as do the Beatles, Rolling Stones, and the like, but The Monkees was a children's show that was entertaining, and we kids pushed our parents to buy the lunch boxes, the singles, and other paraphernalia associated with the group. They may have been a joke to some but to us we were in on the joke, or at least we thought as much, and that was all that mattered.

Once the show was gone and the group disbanded, Davy Jones went on to have a decent career and the Monkees would eventually reunite and tour (minus Mike Nesmith). I know my sister and countless other girls still had Davy's picture up on their bedroom walls next to ones of David Cassidy, Bobby Sherman, and Donny Osmond. And who could forget when Jones guest starred on The Brady Bunch, making Marcia (Maureen McCormick) and all the little girls around the country squeal in delight? Of course, The Brady Bunch was on the same time on Friday nights as my beloved Planet of the Apes, dooming it to cancellation after one season, but that's another story.

Still and all the Monkees and their TV show hold a place in TV and musical history. Yes, they didn't play the instruments on their recordings (session musicians did); they didn't write their songs (but people like Neil Diamond and Carole King did), and their fame didn't last long. They were prefabricated and no Beatles (not even Herman's Hermits) to be sure, but they did have a memorable presence in our lives for a time and remain beloved by those who watched the show all those years ago, so I just wish people would stop knocking them and let their fans enjoy their memories.

Rest in peace, Davy Jones!

Photo Credits - The Monkees/NY Times; Davy Jones - FOX News.com

Protesters in Zuccotti Park - Will This Be Their Valley Forge

Article first published in Blogcritics


I know lots of people who said the protesters in Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan wouldn't last beyond Columbus Day, but they are as wrong as those people who once said that the Beatles were just a fad and would be forgotten in a few months. Now, after the first snowfall of the season and close to freezing temperatures, the protesters are still encamped in the park, even after the FDNY took away their generators because of "safety" precautions.

Pretty soon we are going to start thinking of these people as a new breed of protesters. Perhaps they are not even protesters anymore, but revolutionaries, freedom fighters in every sense of the word similar to Washington and his men at Valley Forge. If they can last the winter there it will be amazing, and then who knows what kind of long term change can come out of this?

Of course, life for the Occupy Wall Street gang is not all land of milk and honey stuff. I hear from people who work down there that the encampment is actually split into two distinct groups: the original protesters who are hunkered down for the long haul, and the drop-in variety of hangers-on who got the notion to get in on a good thing, grab some free food, and crash the party. The committed group is on the East side of the park, and those with little interest in the cause (and some of them committing crimes) are on the West side.

Of course, this is to be expected. Hundreds of people are living in a small space, and as the temperature drops things are going to get harder. Still, those whose voices have shaken not just this city but the world are in position not to be taken for granted. Too many people have shrugged off the notion of the 99%, but celebrities and politicians have shown their support, and the truth is that the 1% folks better face the reality that this protest has brought into focus: these people are mad as hell and clearly not going to take it anymore.

I think that the protesters in lower Manhattan are evolving, and the more committed they are to their cause the stronger they will become. All over the country and all over the world they have inspired others to do the same thing. These tent cities filled with people who are raging against the machine are not an aberration, so maybe those fat cats on Wall Street and on all those other streets where the wealthy look down on the people in the streets from their ivory skyscrapers, will not take them seriously, like those who mocked the Beatles by wearing the mop-top wigs. However, something that started as a protest has become a movement, something that the 1% cannot fathom or appreciate, at least not yet.

In the end, and yes, the Zuccotti Park gang will eventually disperse, it is not how long that they are camped out but the fact that they did it at all, and Mayor Bloomberg and all his 1% pals could do nothing about it. The Zuccotti Gang are there until they choose to leave, and then it will be on their own terms. Whenever that happens is not the point, and the truth is that change is coming. Long ago those men who were freezing at Valley Forge knew it, and the Zuccotti Park crew know it too. Before King George knew what hit him, America was lost; perhaps the 1% will be in for a similar awakening.

Photo Credits: Valley Forge - archives.com; Zuccotti Park - Reuters

Knicks Knack: Anthony Debuts in 114-108 Win Over Bucks

Article first published as Knicks Knack: Anthony Debuts in 114-108 Win Over Bucks on Blogcritics.


There are magic moments in sports; sometimes we get to experience them, and sometimes we wish that we did. Can you imagine seeing Don Larsen's perfect game during the World Series? My father saw that one. What about being there when Lou Gehrig said he was the luckiest guy in the world? My great moments include when Cleon Jones caught that last ball of the 1969 World Series. Another was when Bill Buckner of the Boston Red Sox let a ball hit by Mookie Wilson roll through his legs. Those were the days.

Last night such a moment happened: Brooklyn-born Carmelo Anthony came home, and what a homecoming it was. He scored 27 points, had ten rebounds, and helped lead the New York Knicks to a 114-108 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks. This was not a blowout, but that was not necessary. The Knicks are now 1-0 in the Carmelo Anthony era; let's hope there are many more wins to come in the weeks ahead.

Even if the Knicks win 20 of those last 27 games, they aren't going to catch the Celtics, but that is not why Anthony stepped on that court last night. It is all about perception and intention: team owner James Dolan wanted to let the fans know that he is committed to win, and nothing makes that more clear than seeing the new forward wearing that number 7 in a Knicks uniform.

Anthony got the welcome we would expect from New York fans. Madison Square Garden was rocking last night, and many fans have not heard that kind of thing for too long at MSG. I remember one other time in my life when a sports arena rocked like that; it was when Mike Piazza came to Shea Stadium for the first time. Old Shea rocked like it hadn't since the Beatles played their songs on a stage erected over second base. It was that wild and that loud and Piazza brought the same kind of hope to New York that Anthony brings now.

In the end we fans all want the same thing: a championship. It almost happened for Piazza in 2000, but the Yankees got in the way. Now it's Anthony's turn. He needs to do a lot more of what he did last night, but his stature and the confidence that he brings to the team is immeasurably important. Now the Apostrophe Boys ('Melo and Amar'e) can work together for the cause. We believe because in essence we see something that makes us do so.

This 114-108 victory is a great start. There are more wins coming, and fans can feel it. We know the playoffs are coming too, and that's something Knicks fans haven't been able to feel sure about for a long time now. Stoudemire started this whole thing. If he were not here, Anthony wouldn't be either. Now things have changed dramatically, and next year the Celtics will be on notice just as the Patriots will be. The Jets are for real and now so are the Knicks. That gives New York fans something to smile about this morning.

Photo Credit:
Theodorakis/News

The Night John Lennon Died

Article first published as The Night John Lennon Died on Blogcritics.

It is inconceivable to me that it has been thirty years since a maniac came out of the night and assassinated John Lennon. What's worse is it happened in my city. This was the place where John and the Beatles first broke into the American consciousness, and now in this his adopted city he was taken much too soon. I still can't even believe that he is gone, but his enormous contribution to music and his amazing spirit certainly lives on and on.










The night before John died I had what I've always thought was a foreshadowing of his death. I was on the phone with my friend Ralph. He was in the Air Force and home on leave. We were talking about how we were going to get together the next night to celebrate his return, and I was sitting on my sofa looking up at the shelf on my wall, where I had the four individual pictures of the Beatles that came with the White Album in frames. As I was talking with Ralph the frame with John's picture in it toppled off the shelf. Nothing precipitated this event: no rumble of the subway below, no bus going by outside, no helicopter flying low overhead. It just fell.

At the time I thought it was weird but nothing else. When I got off the phone I got up and put the picture back in place, staring briefly at John's face and remembering when I saw him in Manhattan a couple of years before. It the only the second time I had ever seen him in person (the first being when he walked on stage during an Elton John concert at Madison Square Garden). He had been walking down the street, hands in pockets, rather nonchalant and happy. When I saw him he looked at me, and he knew I recognized him even in his sunglasses and hat pulled down a bit. He gave me a little smirk and something like a nod, and I wanted to say something, but my tongue was infinitely tied in knots, and it is best I did not blurt out something stupid. John kept walking and so did I, my hands shaking for blocks. I had just seen John Lennon.

The next night Ralph and I met some friends in a bar in Queens in the shadow of Shea Stadium, where John and his mates once rocked the house. We were there to ostensibly watch Monday Night Football, but the bar was filled with people and music. It was decorated for Christmas, and there was a jovial mood filling the place.

We all talked and talked. Ralph told us about life in the Air Force. He was stationed in Greenland and he couldn't talk about this and that. We started talking about high school and various teachers, and the night went by very quickly. As it started getting late, our friends who had to work the next morning left. Ralph was on leave and I was in college and had no classes on Tuesday mornings, so we sat at the bar and started watching the football game.

Only a few minutes had gone by when there was a special news bulletin that broke into the program. The announcer spoke stiltedly as she said that there was word that John Lennon had been shot outside the Dakota Building. He was being rushed to the hospital. Ralph and I just looked up at the screen, and everyone in the bar stopped and stared at the screen with us.

The game came back on for a time. Someone pulled the plug out of the jukebox, and the patrons all crowded around the bar and watched the TV waiting to hear an update. I don't know how long it was until the next news bulletin came on, but the grim face of the news anchor Kaity Tong told it all. Before she spoke, the room was so quiet, I could hear the taps dripping behind the bar.

She confirmed that John Lennon had died at St. Luke's Hospital. I felt myself shaking, worse than when I had seen John on the street; I felt like I was convulsing. Ralph hung his head and stared at his hands. Behind me I could hear some of the girls crying, the men too, and the bartender who looked like a professional wrestler complete with bald head and tattoos kept wiping the tears from his eyes.

There wasn't anything left to do or to celebrate. Ralph and I put on our coats, walked outside, and stood in the cold quietly watching a big city bus go down the street. Ralph seemed to snap out of a trance and turned to me and shook my hand. We parted without words because there was nothing left to say.
I went home to my room and sat on the floor, pulling all my records out of the cabinet. I threw Sgt. Pepper on the turntable and listened to John sing those prophetic words, "I heard the news today, oh boy..." I looked at all the albums spread on the floor, and I cried some more as I was shaken by the hopefulness of their early photographs.

I leaned my head back and stared at the pictures on my shelf, especially the one of John that had fallen the night before. I didn't know all the reasons why this felt like the loss of my brother instead of a stranger whom I had fleetingly met. John Lennon was a celebrity, one of the biggest stars of all time, and yet I felt like it was a personal loss. I had invested so much time and energy in the Beatles and then later John (and to a lesser extent the other Beatles) in his solo career.

To those too young (or too old) to understand, I can only say that John meant something personal to me. He had touched my life, and so many lives, with his work. Perhaps it was because we perceived he stood for something we believed in deeply, like his message of peace and love for the world that we got through his music. On a very big planet with very big problems, John seemed to stand for those of us who had no voice, and he spoke and sang what we wanted and needed to be heard.

Today, thirty years later, I stare at the skyline of the city I have loved all my life, and I know that John loved it too. He felt at home in New York, free to wander the streets unencumbered by the celebrity that had once threatened to overwhelm him elsewhere. Here John was free to be himself and to be what he saw himself as in the end: a New Yorker.

The world has changed in these last thirty years, as has this city. Today people will mark John's passsng in many different ways, but the way I shall remember him is not through public displays or even to watch reports about him on the TV or the Internet. The way I will remember him is to listen to his music, to appreciate what made him occupy that special place in so many hearts around the world.










So on this day I'm going to put on my headphones and turn up the volume. As I listen to his songs, I will not think about that night he died, but about the life he lived. And I will remember that one special day when two New Yorkers passed each other on the street, and in that simple everyday moment there was an acknowledgement of everything I had ever felt in a simple smirk and nod of the head that let me know that John knew what he meant, not just to me, but to everyone whom he touched in life.

You are still missed, John Lennon. In pace requiescat.

Rolling Stone Picks the Top Ten Beatles Songs

Article first published as Rolling Stone Picks the Top Ten Beatles Songs on Blogcritics.

If you are like me, when you see the list of top ten Beatles songs as chosen by Rolling Stone magazine, you will probably say, "Hey, what about ________?" Each person will no doubt fill in the blank with a song that is not on this list. While I believe all the songs on the list are wonderful, there are more than a few missing that I think merit being there.

Here is the list of the ten songs:

1. "A Day in the Life"
2. "I Want to Hold Your Hand"
3. "Strawberry Fields Forever"
4. "Yesterday"
5. "In My Life"
6. "Something"
7. "Hey Jude"
8. "Let It Be"
9. "Come Together"
10. "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"

Interestingly, two songs written by George Harrison are here (numbers 6 and 10). As most Beatles fans know, whoever sang lead vocals on the Lennon-McCartney collaborations was the writer of the song. That means John gets four songs in there (numbers 2, 3, 5, and 9), while McCartney comes in with three (number 4, 7, and 8). The number one song "A Day in the Life" features lead vocals by both Lennon and McCartney, signifying that they did indeed work together on that one.

Of course, the list could be so much longer, but the point of a top ten in anything is to narrow the field to the best of the best. Some would argue that some really excellent songs are missing, and I couldn't agree more. The group recorded more than two hundred songs, and this covered a period that while relatively short (1962-1969) really spanned the cultural change of the decade, adapting to - and sometimes influencing - the times and bringing fans that loved them along on their "Magical Mystery Tour" of music.

From that first song "Love Me Do" they recorded as a single to the last song "The End" that actually closed out the group's life as a band with the apropos lyrics - "And in the end/the love you take/Is equal to the love you make" - they spanned the spectrum of pop and rock and roll, and so many fans have favorite songs that it is difficult to ever come down to what would be a list everyone would agree upon.

As I look at the list, it seems that the magazine tried to painstakingly take songs from each era of the band's history. With "I Want to Hold Your Hand" covering the mop-top years, "A Day in the Life" capturing their creative peak, and "Let it Be" closing out the songbook as it were ("Let It Be" was released after "The End" which is arguably their final song as a band).

I still have problems with the list. How can you include "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and leave out "A Hard Day's Night" and "She Loves You"? What about "All You Need Is Love" instead of "Yesterday"? Why is "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" there at the expense of "Get Back"?

Well, I could go on and on, and that is the whole point. It is probably impossible for any of us to ever come up with a top ten list of Beatles songs to please everyone; however, Rolling Stone has given us a somewhat definitive list that captures the essence of the Beatles over the course of their time as a band.

Sure, we can all squawk about what is left out, but perhaps we should sit back, enjoy the music, and just "Let It Be."

Concert Review: Jonas Brothers at Jones Beach, NY - 8/22/10

Article first published as Concert Review: Jonas Brothers at Jones Beach, NY - 8/22/10 on Blogcritics.


Would you wait in the pouring rain for twenty minutes to see a musical group perform? Well, back in my time I probably would have done that to see the Beatles and Led Zeppelin, and my Mom told me about the extraordinary measures she and her friends took to see Frank Sinatra, so I am not surprised that my daughter was totally willing to weather the storm - and then some - to see her favorite group, the Jonas Brothers, perform live at Jones Beach Theater in Wantagh, NY.

Jones Beach Theater is an ideal location to see a concert, providing that the weather is cooperating. I've seen a number of shows there, and the sound is excellent and the backdrop of the ocean is truly lovely; however, it was anything but for my wife and daughter Lauren, my wife's sister, and Lauren's three cousins. On this dark and oh so stormy night they braved the elements to see the Jonas Brothers and they were not disappointed.

What follows is nine-year-old Lauren's review of the concert in her own words.

"Jo Bro Night" by Lauren

So my cousins Tanina, Marina, and John and me with our moms went to the Jo Bro concert. They're also known as the Jonas Brothers. Demi Lovato and the cast of Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam were also there. It was a really rainy night, of course on the concert day.

We all went to our seats about twenty minutes before show time. We were worried that lightning would come and we would have to go home, but none ever came, so the show went on.



When it started, nobody in my family knew who the girl was on the stage, but then after she said her name, it popped into my head: Alyson Stoner. I love her! She told us all about the new Disney movie Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam and her other new movie Step Up 3D. I didn't even know she was in that.

Then she sang a song she wrote, but after that and a BOOM of thunder, the Camp Rock cast came out and took the stage with Alyson. They sang some songs from the movie and then Demi Lovato came out and sang her songs "Here We Go Again," "Get Back," and "Don't Forget." She had some help from the Jonas Brothers with her first album you know.

Then we had a big break so they could clean the stage. It felt like 80,000 minutes. Then finally the Jo Bro's manager came out and said he was their manager. When he said, "Here are the Jonas Brothers" we started screaming, really screaming! I mean we were there in that rain only for them.

They sang some of their best songs like "SOS," "Love Bug," and "The Year 3000" and many, many more songs. At one point Joe gave Nick a chance to sing his Camp Rock song, but he gave him only two minutes and twenty seconds and timed him, but Nick played it so fast and he did it.

At the very end they said this was their favorite show on the tour. We all clapped and screamed for them, and it was over and we ran in the rain through the parking lot. My cousins and I saw Demi, Joe, and Kevin plus Nick going on their tour bus with the police cars blocking them.

When we got home we had to use a lot of towels to dry off, and we had to peel our clothes off because they were so wet. I put my PJs on and went to bed thinking that even with the rain that was the best day of my life, and it had to be the best Jonas Brothers concert ever!