Louisville
We stayed at the Sherwin Hotel in Louisville, and the boys took naps before the concert. They all slept very lightly on tour because they were nervous. Mike changed a lot on the trip. He went from being quiet and introverted to becoming really turned on by the crowds. He loved singing in front of the live audiences. Peter helped out at all the concerts by asking the kids to remain in their eats. He was really concerned that no one got hurt.
At the end of every performance, Davy and Mike threw maracas into the audience for the fans. They had to stop this toward the end of the tour because we were running out of maracas. The boys wore the same costumes at every performance, but David Pearl, who was in charge of wardrobe, had them cleaned and pressed in each town.
Phone Calls from Fans
In Winston-Salem, at the Robert E. Lee Hotel, all the fans tried like mad to get calls through to the Monkees. The girl at the switchboard was instructed to put through only the calls to Mr. Ward Sylvester, their personal manager. Ward would then decide which calls would be taken by the boys.
It was a funny thing, but the boys never did get a chance for a really sit-down type meal. They always used room service in the hotels and lived mostly on sandwiches.
At the concert in Winston-Salem, Micky hurt his back on stage. When he did his slides in his solo number, he landed too hard. He also ripped his pants. All through the tour, Mike and Peter had a hard time keeping hold of guitar picks, and I was constantly going looking for them.
Talks With Micky
On the plane between Winston-Salem and Pittsburgh, Micky and I talked about cars. I’m very interested in cars, and so is he. He used to be a Mercedes-Benz mechanic, and right now his secret ambition is to build a Formula 3 racing car. He’s already drawn up some plans.
Davy was constantly drinking tea on the plane trips. He takes one lump of sugar in his tea in case you ever get the chance to entertain him. None of the Monkees drink coffee. They prefer soft drinks.
A pretty frightening thing happened to Micky in Pittsburgh. At the Hilton Hotel where we stayed, Micky and his stand-in, Rick Klein, went out for some food late at night. When they came back through the lobby, they were mobbed by fans. They were pushed up against a plate glass window. “For the first time,” Micky admitted, “I was scared.” But he came out laughing, and neither of the boys was hurt.
That day at the hotel, Mike and Davy celebrated their birthdays together, which are both on December 30th. Everyone got together in Davy’s hotel suite. We had a cake with 21 candles on it, which is Davy’s age. Davy gave Mike a gold sword for his birthday. Davy unwrapped the present; Mike gave it to him privately, so I don’t know what it was. That day at the concert, everyone sang “Happy Birthday” to both boys on stage Cincinnati.
After playing Cincinnati, where we stayed at the Terrace Hilton, we were delayed at the airport because it was foggy. The airport let us use a special lounge, and Davy took a nap on the floor. The rest of the boys played what they call the SHOOTING GAME. One Monkee points his finger at another Monkee, and the Monkee who’s shot falls dead. It was really funny when Mike went up to the magazine stand to buy something, and Peter came up and pointed his finger at him, and he fell down dead (pretending, of course). A lady, looking on, nearly fainted. She thought the whole thing was for real.
New Year’s Party
In Nashville, where we stayed at the Dinkler Andrew Jackson Hotel, we had a great time. Brenda Lee invited all of us over to her New Year’s Eve party. She held it in the warehouse of her husband’s electrical store, and everyone came in costume. We wore the clothes we had on, but I guess some of the guests thought we were in costume anyway.
They had a rock and roll band playing, and it was mostly older people. Peter sat in on guitar with the band, and Micky did his solo, complete with dancing and falling down. (His back was better by now.) Davy did his number, and then Brenda Lee sang a few songs. It was really great, and the Monkees didn’t mind being away from home so much on New Year’s Eve because of it.
One thing we all wanted to do while we were in Tennessee was to look for Elvis Presley. But everyone advised against it. We figured if the people of Memphis didn’t even know how to locate Elvis, that we couldn’t find him.
Tulsa and Home
We stayed at the Mayo Hotel in Tulsa, and everything went great. The concert went off without a hitch. By now, the boys had things down to a science. They were so relaxed that in the hotel, no one even cared much about sleeping. Davy spent most of his time out by the elevator talking to fans.
On the way back to Los Angeles on the plane, I noticed that the Monkees had really changed. Before the tour, they actually didn’t know how well they could perform together. But they found out. They found out that they are truly a group, and even if they won’t say so, I will… a great group.
The hard life of touring brought them closer together as people. The little beefs that they may have had before on set had now completely disappeared. It was as if the four of them had gone through a big initiation week and came through it with flying colors. Believe me, it couldn’t happen to four nicer guys. I feel lucky to be around them.
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