It's been about a week since Peter passed. I'm still in shock.
Most of the PT fans I know have been with him for the latter part of his career. That’s right-he HAD a later part of his career. Since the beginning of the 21st Century, he’s (he HAD-past tense), been playing in an amazing Blues band called Shoes Suede Blues.
He'd get on stage as an old man and play his music. And there would always be a moment where the music just takes off and becomes transcendent. I've NEVER seen a happier person, anywhere.
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Watching ‘One Man Shy”-the 1st season episode where he falls in love with a rich socialite and is too shy to tell her. He steals her picture and learns how to “treat a lady” -with the lady’s help-during a (fantasy?) romp to “I’m a Believer”. The Boys help him out at the party when all he can think to discuss is the plot of Hamlet. REALLY! Honestly, a Danish prince, “and then his mother drinks the poison-and SHE dies”. The joke is not that he DOESNT know what Hamlet is, he is just too nervous to recap it well.
He was the only one who had taken any college courses; he had dropped out but later was given an honorary degree. He came from a family of teachers and moved back into his parents’ house in Storrs, CT-near UConn, where his father had been a Professor of Economics.
In the episode, after The Boys play their best roles as a stockbroker, tailor and captain of his yacht, he admits that its all a lie-but the girl gives him the Mr. Rogers Line: I like you just the way you are/for being yourself.
“Me?”
His response is that of a young actor, surprised and sweet and eager to love someone who loves him. He's a good actor, but that moment is good because he's not polished at pretending.
And then there were years of a fall from fame, the Monkees sacrificed at the altar of Raybert, in the name of Hollywood success-which they had granted (5 easy pieces/Easy Rider) but which has faded into film history.
His response is that of a young actor, surprised and sweet and eager to love someone who loves him.
He's a good actor, but that moment is good because he's not polished at pretending.
Then the 80’s-when they return AS OLD MEN-they were 40! (Saying that now, when lots of us fans have already hit our own mid-life crises, it’s too ironic) they are popular-AGAIN. And then they fade out again, periodic reunions, are they as good? Are they copies of the Beatles and why/why not?
I never understood the comparison. The Beatles never had a TV show-so they couldn’t have been as popular. (That was a joke, kid-except not). But also as a young kid who wanted the illusion of getting to know a favorite singer-the TV show offered time spent with the band. And granted, I KNEW their lines were scripted, but there were the moments in between, the improv, the fan interviews in the magazines, the reaction shots-SOME of that had to be real, right?
The Monkees TV show allowed us into their personas-which were close enough for crushes. Close enough, closer than any other music/tv personality. We felt like we KNEW them-and when they die, they take a piece of us with them.
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He was modest in later years about his fame. He was just happy to be performing. And if anyone had felt awkward about seeing a “has been” or that copycat band or whatever-all doubts disappeared quickly as soon as the music began.
And then-EVERY SHOW-they would get to the BEST part. It was usually the second to last, when all the band members had fully warmed up, gotten into the groove, etc. There would be a round of solos, and during Tork’s solo-I swear-the heavens opened up. The music became the most beautiful thing in the world-everything and everyone was focused on every note-more present in that moment than they had been during most of their lives. And I could SWEAR, there was a glow coming from him. Not just a smile, not just the music, but a sense of complete command and focus. A person who made have been more famous, more rich, more whatever in other parts of his life-but THIS was what he was existing for. Creating music on that level and sharing it. Creating that kind of moment for others-completely selfless.