Micky and Mike and Magdelena Concerts

Micky always jokes about HEAD, and asks the audience if they know what it's about, and if they can explain it to him. It always gets a laugh.  But at the most recent set of shows done by him and Mike, there was a lovely deep dive into HEAD-which in and of itself feels like a good happy/high-low point in the whole journey. Beauty-diving in, being in over yr head, near-death, rebirth, mermaids rescuing you-feeling suspended in a very specific moment. That's the amazing experience that happens when I'm watching and listening-I get transported to my past self-but I'm very in the now.

I was lucky to catch some of the last few concerts.  Boston (Medford) and NYC (The Beacon). These were the rescheduled events from last year, postponed due to Mike's cardiac incident-and a perfect confluence of other emotional days. Peter's passing on Feb 21, the anniversary of Davy (Feb 29, 2012 for the record), and on the upside-Micky's Bday on March 8.

After all these years of attending shows, including Shoe Suede Blues, the previous reunions and incarnations, this felt like a great reunion of sorts for all of the fans-at least all of the familiar faces I saw in the audience.

And the show's set list was a love letter to the fans-alternating the big hits with more obscure yet well loved songs. I can't believe Micky seemed to miss a few lines from some Clarksville, but I was amazed at how Door Into Summer is a song about ME as a grownup business person.

I ran into Eric Lefkowitz after the show, who said he felt old. If anything, I feel rejuvenated-I feel like I had just dived into something timeless-a way to preserve & relive the memories and still be rescued by the mermaids.

Peter's GLOW

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.

"The Real Peter Tork" on Facebook

So, I'm finding all sorts of usefulnesses from fan pages on FB.  They post (way too many) videos from Youtube and lots of funny pictures on a regular basis.  (Sorry that I don't, there are already WAY too many fansites that are FULL of visuals).

But Peter's actual online presence has generally been growing VERY slowly.  Glacially, in fact.  (I first saw Shoe Suede Blues in 2005 and back then, they barely had a website.  In fact, NOW, they barely have a website)

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So the nice people running his FB page put up a Trivia Quiz to celebrate him getting to 25,000 likes.  (Which seems like a bit of work, rather than a reward)

The questions and SOME of my answers
1. What were the names of Peter’s parents?
2. Who called Peter “the most talented Monkee”?
3. In what year did Peter release his first solo album, Stranger Things Have Happened, and on what label?
4. In what year was Shoe Suede Blues created and what was their first show?
5. Derek Lord and Lauren Ellis have performed with Shoe Suede Blues from time to time. In which other of Peter’s bands did they perform?
6. In what year did was the first CD released that included Peter as a member of Two Man Band? Who else was a member? What was the name of the CD?
7. In addition to The Monkees, name 3 other TV shows Peter has appeared on.

1.  He is the son of Virginia Hope (née Straus) and Halsten John Thorkelson (Wikipedia)

2.  Everyone, but here you may be referring to Jimi Hendrix.  Or Mike.

3. According to my personalized copy, 1994, Beechwood (which has me singing "Beechwood 45789")

4, Maybe 2000??, and I'm guessing California.  My friend, their #1 fan who has been to 99% of their concerts (I will gladly use her name if she wants me to)  who I have dubbed the SSB Unofficial Historian says that "Tadge, John Palmer, Michael Sunday, Richard Michaels & Peter were all living in CA then."

5. Better question:  What do they play?? Derek Lord (drums!) & fabulous Lauren Ellis on Guitar and Repair (PT Project)

6.(Buy the cd!!)  James Lee Stanley is amazing!!

7. (Too obvious)

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My trivia questions for PT:

Has PT ever seen "Searching for Sugarman"?

Any extant recordings from Dashboard Saints???

Can the prize be that the winner gets the first copy of Peter's Autobiography?

Or can it be that he writes one??

My real question is: Why are so many of these questions too difficult to find on the internet?

ie No pages for PT's old bands & members, and no links to his former bandmate's pages.  Which is really ironic, because he is a VERY generous performer onstage.

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Later that same day:

All answers posted:
1. What were the names of Peter’s parents? 
Virginia and John Thorkelson

2. Who called Peter “the most talented Monkee”?
Jimi Hendrix

3. In what year did Peter release his first solo album, Stranger Things Have Happened, and on what label?
1994, Beachwood label

4. In what year was Shoe Suede Blues created and what was their first show?
1994, benefit dance. 

5. Derek Lord and Lauren Ellis have performed with Shoe Suede Blues from time to time. In which other of Peter’s bands did they perform? 
Derek Lord – The Peter Tork Project
Lauren Ellis – Dashboard Saints

6. In what year was the first CD released that included Peter as a member of Two Man Band? Who else was a member? What was the name of the CD?
1996, James Lee Stanley, Two Man Band

7. In addition to The Monkees, name 3 other TV shows Peter has appeared on.
The Uncle Floyd Show, 7th Heaven, The List, King of Queens, Wings, and Boy Meets World, California Dreaming, The Steven Banks Show, The Bradford Exchange, VH1's The List, Prime Time Country (with James Lee Stanley), The Rosie O'Donnell Show (with The Monkees), Tonight with Jay Leno (with The Monkees), The Mike and Mattie Show, the Today show (performing with Davy and Micky), Behind the Music, Rachel Maddow Show