A Few Of Your Mid-Week Comments

The Zombies have just signed Soren Koch to be their new bass player, replacing long-time member Jim Rodford, who passed away last month.

That means we'll be seeing this new Danish bass sensation when The Zombies hit The City Winery on March 19th and 20th.  (Both shows are sold out but The City Winery does offer a ticket "wait list" should tickets become available at the last moment)

http://www.citywinery.com/chicago/tickets.html#/page/1

Just added to The City Winery …

It’s The Ides Of March – May 3^rd

Other shows we’re excited about …

Christopher Cross – March 31^st and April 1^st

Al Jardine (of The Beach Boys)  -  April 2^nd

And this weekend we’ll be checking out Sergio Mendes … who is doing TWO shows on Sunday (February 25^th).  More information via the link above.

And, speaking of upcoming shows, The Eagles have just added five more stops including a return trip to Chicago on October 15th.  (I just KNEW they’d be heading back here!!!)  Honestly, there are no real surprises here … I’m expecting even more shows to be added.  (They’re up to 52 dates already!  Let’s face it … by October I’m sure these guys will be nearly out of money … so it only makes sense to extend the tour!!!)

In any event, here is the COMPLETE tour schedule as it currently stands … looks like another pretty good thaw for hell this year!

3/12 - Indianapolis, IN, Bankers Life Fieldhouse
3/14 - Chicago, IL, United Center
3/15 - Grand Rapids, MI, Van Andel Arena
3/18 - St. Louis, MO, Scottrade Center
3/19 - Kansas City, MO, Sprint Center
3/21 - Des Moines, IA, Wells Fargo Arena
3/23-24 - Nashville, TN - Bridgestone Arena
4/8 - Columbus, OH, Nationwide Arena
4/10 - Lexington, KY, Rupp Arena
4/11 - Charlotte, NC, Spectrum Center
4/14 - Orlando, FL, Camping World Stadium – with Jimmy Buffett

4/16 - Columbia, SC, Colonial Life Arena
4/17 - Raleigh, NC, PNC Arena
4/19 - Birmingham, AL, BJCC Arena
4/21 - Miami, FL, Hard Rock Stadium - with Jimmy Buffett
5/3 - Salt Lake City, UT, Vivint Smart Home Arena
5/5 - Portland, OR - Moda Center
5/8 - Spokane, WA, Spokane Arena
5/10-11 - Vancouver, BC, Rogers Arena
5/14 - Calgary, AB, Saddledome
5/15 - Edmonton, AB, Rogers Place
5/17 - Regina, SK, Mosaic Stadium
6/15 - Houston, TX, Minute Maid Park – with Chris Stapleton

6/17 - Tulsa, OK, BOK Center
6/20 - New Orleans, LA, Smoothie King Center
6/23 - Dallas, TX, AT&T Stadium - with Chris Stapleton
6/28 - Denver, CO, Coors Field - with Jimmy Buffett
6/30 - Minneapolis, MN, Target Field - with Jimmy Buffett
7/14 - Buffalo, NY, KeyBank Center
7/15, 7/17 - Toronto, ON, Air Canada Center
7/20-21 - Boston, MA, TD Garden
7/24 - Pittsburgh, PA, PPG Paints Arena
7/26 - Washington, DC, Nationals Park – with James Taylor
7/28 - Philadelphia, PA, Citizens Bank Park - with James Taylor
9/8 - Phoenix, AZ, Talking Stick Resort Arena
9/12, 9/14 - Inglewood, CA, the Forum
9/15 - Inglewood, CA, the Forum  (NEW)
9/18 - Sacramento, CA, Golden I Center
9/20 - San Francisco, CA, AT&T Park - with the Zac Brown Band
9/22 - San Diego, CA, Petco Park - with the Zac Brown Band & the Doobie Brothers
10/6 - Hartford, CT, XL Center
10/9 - New York City, Madison Square Garden  (NEW)

10/12 - Newark, N.J., Prudential Center  (NEW)
10/14 - Detroit, MI, Little Caesars Arena  (NEW)
10/15 - Chicago, IL, United Center  (NEW)
10/18 - Milwaukee, WI, Wisconsin Entertainment and Sports Center
10/20 - Cleveland, OH, Quicken Loans Arena

And here’s a first …

I’ve seen Micky and Davy … Micky and Peter … Micky, Davy and Peter … Micky, Peter and Mike … and each of them in various solo shows … but for the first time EVER Micky Dolenz and Michael Nesmith will team up to tour as a duo this summer!  (Now THIS is a show to see!!!)

It’s being billed as “The Monkees Present” tour.  (Peter Tork is sitting this one out and Davy Jones, of course, left us a few years ago.)  But I’m expecting quite a bit of magic during the Mike and Micky Show.  (Dolenz sang a huge portion of the band’s best-known music … and Nesmith was the most prolific songwriter in the group … featured music will go back to their earliest days and feature songs they did together on last year’s “Good Times” album, including the popular duet track “Me And Magdalena,” one of the LP’s highlights.)

This press release (sent to us by Micky’s PR Man, David Salidor) gives you more on the inside scoop … as well as the announced tour dates thus far.  (Thankfully the show hits Chicago on June 14^th at The Copernicus  Center … so we’re hoping to catch them there!)  Again, don't be surprised if more dates are added ... those listed only encompass the month of June at this point.  (kk)

THE MONKEES PRESENT: THE MIKE & MICKY SHOW

Michael Nesmith And Micky Dolenz 

Will Tour As A Duo For The First Time

This Summer, Playing Monkees Music Spanning More Than 50 Years
Tickets And VIP Packages Go On Sale February 23

Michael Nesmith and Micky Dolenz of The Monkees will hit the road in June for their first-ever national tour as a duo. Billed as “The Monkees Present: The Mike & Micky Show,” these 16 special performances will feature songs that span the group’s entire career – from its 1966 eponymous debut to 2016’s Good Times. The shows will highlight many of Nesmith’s compositions, including some that have never been performed live. The tour also includes two shows in Canada, which represent Nesmith’s first “Monkees” concerts since the band played there in 1969.

Tickets and VIP packages will go on sale February 23 at www.monkees.com. VIP Packages include access to soundcheck, a signed, hardbound copy of the tourbook, early entry to the show and a commemorative VIP laminate.

"I love being on stage with Micky,” says Nesmith. “We’ve been collaborating for over 50 years, so it’s hard to believe it’s never been just the two of us. I’m excited to dust off some tunes that I haven’t played for a long time too. These are going to be some fun shows.”

"Right from the get-go, I admired Mike's songs. When we used to get together around the campfire to sing in the early days, we were always doing his songs,” says Dolenz. “We always had such a great a vocal blend; he was the one who encouraged me to write songs of my own. I've always been a big fan and now we finally get to do the Mike & Micky show that we riffed on back when we were shooting The Monkees."

Original Monkee Peter Tork will not take part in the tour. Instead, he’s focusing on Relax Your Mind, a new album by Peter Tork and Shoe Suede Blues that honors the music of Lead Belly. The album is available now via CD Baby and Bandcamp.

“I have in general made no secret of the fact that all these recent years of Monkees-related projects, as fun as they’ve been, have taken up a lot of my time and energy. Moving forward, I have blues projects that I want to give my attention to, hence Relax Your Mind. So, I’m shifting gears for now, but I wish the boys well, and I’ve learned to never say never on things further down the line.”

“The Monkees Present: The Mike & Micky Show” is the latest chapter in Monkee-mania, a saga that began in 1965 when four young men were cast in a television show about a struggling rock band that was inspired by the Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night. Few could have predicted the impact the Monkees would have on music and pop culture at large, one that still reverberates more than 50 years later.  

Formed in Los Angeles for the eponymous television series, the quartet of Dolenz, Nesmith, Tork and the late Davy Jones brought a singular mix of pop, rock, psychedelia, Broadway and country to their music. The Monkees’ first single, “Last Train to Clarksville,” was released in 1966 and their debut album quickly headed for the top spot of the Billboard charts, where it would ultimately sit for 13 of the 78 weeks it remained in the Top 200. (Two decades later, in the midst of a new burst of Monkee-mania, The Monkees popped back onto the charts, bringing the total number of weeks to 102.) 

By the time the series aired its final new episode on March 25, 1968, the Monkees had seen three further albums top the charts — More of the Monkees, Headquarters, and Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd. All were released in 1967, staggeringly enough, racking up several more hit singles, with “I’m A Believer,” “(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone,” “A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You,” “The Girl I Knew Somewhere,” “Pleasant Valley Sunday,” “Words,” “Daydream Believer,” “Valleri,” and “Tapioca Tundra” all finding their way into the Billboard Top 40. The final tally: 16 million albums and 7.5 million singles sold in a mere 2 1/2 years.

After the series’ two-season run, the group went on to star in the cult feature film Head (co-written by Jack Nicholson) and a TV special (33 1/3 Revolutions per Monkee) while also continuing to record new material. But as the ’60s gave way to the ’70s, the members of the Monkees eventually gave in to their individual musical interests and went their separate ways . . . for awhile.

In February 1986, after MTV broadcast a marathon of “The Monkees,” Dolenz, Jones, and Tork reunited for a 20th anniversary tour, with Nesmith joining them onstage for the Los Angeles date of the tour. In 1996, all four members of the group reunited for a new album (Justus) and TV special (“Hey, Hey, It’s the Monkees”).

In the wake of Jones’s death on February 12, 2012, the surviving members of the Monkees reunited and performed a series concerts. The shows were received so triumphantly that Dolenz, Nesmith and Tork returned the following summer for a tour dubbed, “A Midsummer’s Night With the Monkees.”

To celebrate the Monkees’ 50^th anniversary in 2016, the surviving members of the band recorded the critically acclaimed album Good Times. Much like the Monkees’ early albums, it featured tracks written for the band by a group of gifted songwriters, including Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie), Rivers Cuomo (Weezer), Andy Partridge (XTC) and more. To support the album, Dolenz and Tork launched a successful tour that featured Nesmith beaming in remotely via Skype for a few songs during some of the shows.

THE MONKEES PRESENT: THE MIKE & MICKY SHOW 

ANNOUNCED TOUR DATES (all June):

1     Chandler Center For The Arts - Chandler, AZ

2     The Orpheum - Los Angeles, CA

3     Humphrey’s - San Diego, CA

5     The Grove - Anaheim, CA

6     The Mountain Winery - Saratoga, CA

8     Bob Hope Theatre - Stockton, CA

9     Harrah's Lake Tahoe - Stateline, NV

12    Paramount - Denver, CO

14    Copernicus Center - Chicago, IL

15    Rose Music Center - Huber Heights, OH

16    Cain Park - Cleveland, OH

18    Sony Center - Toronto, ON – Canada

19    Centre In the Square - Kitchener, ON – Canada

21    Keswick Theatre - Philadelphia, PA

22    Beacon Theatre - New York, NY

25    Count Basie Theatre - Red Bank, NJ

Photos taken backstage at Star Plaza 

of me and Micky and me and Mike  

The most recent act to announce their retirement is The Chi-Lites, who will call it quits next year after 60 years on the road!  (Retirement seems to be the fashionable way to go this year … but I’ll tell you what … I’d rather run 200 more retirement notices than a single obituary!)

My advice to you … See these artists while you still can.  If they’ve given you ANY amount of happiness over the years, use this opportunity to support them and thank them.  (kk)

Kent,

I thoroughly enjoyed your posting of the two year old that was able to name the Beatles' tunes that he heard. It immediately reminded me of the following, if I may get personal with you.

When I was two years old, three, up to about four - five, I would sit on the front porch of our house with my parents and each car that drove by on the street I was able to name the Make and Model. I don't know how I did this but I just knew the name of the cars. My dad thought this was so cute and funny that he would roll over on the ground from laughter. Both of my parents are gone but I have an Aunt left who would verify this. The thing about this is that nowadays, the opposite is true. For all practical purposes, I can't tell you the make and model of a car or truck without doing up to it and reading the nameplate.

And by the way, you were right about one becoming addicted to Ronnie Allen's Snippet Game. It's like trying to eat just one potato chip or putting one coin in the slot machine. Years ago, 2013 to be exact, I got into Ronnie Allen's Snippet Genius Hall of Fame. I got a score of 492 with the POP HITS: 60's just as one example. I did make copies of my scores just for the proof. I am sure that score has been surpassed.

Larry Neal

Well, I've still yet to get a perfect score … but I'll keep trying!!! (kk)

Thank you for featuring the Portraits song Runaround Girl.  That should have been a hit.  A Four Seasons / Happenings sound with a Davie Allan guitar could have been a winner.

Phil Nee - WRCO

kk …

Scott Shannon is off today and Dan Taylor sitting in. 

He just announced that 86 year old William Shattner has signed with a Nashville record label … album coming soon.

Maybe he's going to sing " Star Songs. "

Frank B.

Caught Dennis DeYoung, live onstage at the packed Genesee Theater!

Great show!

Jim Peterik

Kent,

I recently watched the Eric Clapton biography, titled Eric Clapton in 12 Bars, on Showtime. Though not a huge Clapton fan, I found this film fascinating.

Clapton himself provides the narration and there a many, many photos, film clips and musical inserts. Clapton’s life story is very, very interesting and his candor in discussing the ups and downs of his life is amazing.

For Clapton fans this is a must see and I highly recommend it for any pop, rock, or blues fan (in other words, everyone).

Bob Verbos

Then let me next recommend that you read his biography … every bit as insightful.  (Just for fun, I read HIS biography and then immediately read Patti Boyd's, just to see how differently they might approach some of the same subject matter.  Surprisingly, both told the same story, accurately, painfully and candidly.  Check it out … https://www.amazon.com/Clapton-Autobiography-Eric/dp/076792536X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1519098783&sr=1-1&keywords=eric+clapton+autobiography

You can pick it up for under ten bucks at Amazon.com.  (kk)

UPDATE:  We caught about 45 minutes of this new Showtime special last night ... fascinating, "warts and all" stuff.  (In fact, things you wouldn't think an artist would want to share with their fans.)  Now we've gotta check out the whole thing.  (You guys should, too!)  kk

Asking for the most overrated group opens a big can of worms! Everyone

has their favorites and as a dj I have tried to remember that over the

years.  I can go home and listen to my faves anytime I want.  A

listener’s favorite group may not be mine; however, if they are good

enough to listen and contribute to the program, then I give them what

they want without judging. 

Since growing up with pop radio, I have always been a fan of the three minute song.  I would often get very bored with groups who would cut the 7 - 10 minute jam or even the whole side of an album.  For me Pink Floyd has always been a group I could take or leave.  They had a few that were played on pop radio that are o.k.   Maybe I should have been smoking the wild wood flower and then I

would have appreciated them more.

Phil – WRCO

Hi Kent,

Has the gentleman or group of people who compiled the weekly top 100 hits for 1967 created a summary of the top 100 hits for the year?

Thanks.

Jerry Reuss

We ran a list of The Top 67 of 1967 compiled from those weekly charts we ran ...
You can find it here:  The Top 67 of 1967
Unfortunately we have not been able to devote one minute to reconstructing the 1967 series for permanent posting … I'm not sure that I could get it done if I worked on absolutely nothing else for the next six months … which is virtually impossible with all the new mail we get each day.
But if we ever DO get around to posting the entire series, we will definitely let all of our readers know.
Meanwhile, if you simply search by date throughout 2017, you’ll find the corresponding feature from exactly 50 Years Ago under each date … so hopefully that’ll keep you going for awhile!
And, we’ve been listing 50 Year Ago Musical Memories as part of our new Saturday Surveys feature, too.  Along with a vintage chart you also get a recap of the top music stories for that week in 1968.

And finally …

DON’T FORGET TO GET ON THE LIST!!!
If you haven’t already done so, drop us an email at kk@forgottenhits.com and let us know if you’d like to receive occasional reminders about new postings, notices about special topics … local ticket offers if you happen to live in the Chicagoland area … or, if you’re a deejay or artist, get on THOSE lists to help promote some of your upcoming shows and releases.
We’re trying to cover it all in Forgotten Hits … so GET ON THE LIST!!!  (kk)