Expect Monkees favorites at Micky Dolenz's Ashland show

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June 30, 2009

Drummer says hits important to him and his audience

Lee Ward/The Independent The Daily Independent Tue Jun 30, 2009, 11:28 PM EDT

Ashland — When former Monkees drummer Micky Dolenz performs in Ashland on Friday as part of Summer Motion 2009, he will respect the fans.

“I think there’s an unspoken bond with the audience to do all the Monkee songs ... all the same way,” Dolenz said. “These hits were very important to the audience and to me as well. We’ll also do some other songs that have played a significant part in my career.”

Not that his role as the goofy, curly-haired percussionist is Dolenz’s first — or only — show business accomplishment.

Ten years before he was cast in the Monkees in 1965, Dolenz starred in a Saturday morning children’s show called “Circus Boy.” He also played guitar in several rock bands before he was cast in the Monkees.

He required drum lessons before the show began filming.

“I played guitar,” he said. “In fact, my audition piece for the Monkees was Chuck Berry’s ‘Johnny B. Goode.’”

In the show, Dolenz and Davy Jones, Peter Tork and Mike Nesmith portrayed a struggling rock band trying to scrape together rent while getting involved in a crazy plot each week. The cast of the Monkees evolved into the pop band the Monkees, making nine albums plus a greatest hits collection and touring to sold-out shows during the television’s off-season.

The show ran until 1968, and Dolenz’s career in entertainment continued and included voiceover work for cartoon shows including “The Funky Fantom” and “The Scooby-Doo” movies.

“I loved doing it ... flexing other muscles,” he said. “I’d love to do more.”

But the end of the show wasn’t the end of the line for the Monkees, who faced two waves of Monkeemania — one from 1986 to 1989 and again from 1996 to 1997.

“When the show ended, I moved to the UK and became a director at the BBC for 15 years, so when I got back, I was in for a shock,” Dolenz said of the sustained interest in the Monkees. “It definitely interested me, as I thought it was a fertile area to re-explore ... and, more to do. You know, there could definitely be another wave. We had some of the best writers ever — Carole King, Neil Diamond, Nilsson ... it all starts with a good song.”

This summer, Dolenz is touring and working on a new album that is a tribute to Carole King titled “King for a Day,” due for release in September. He also appeared on CMT’s Gone Country series this year and is working with Peter Noone and Mark Lindsay from Paul Revere and the Raiders on a project called Teen Idols/Volume Two.

WIth such diversity in his career, Dolenz is hard pressed to pick a favorite project.

“Each one of those areas requires different instruments ... I actually love them all,” he said. “The musical theater part is fantastic. You know, the Monkees were cast almost as a play, with us playing our characters. There are many similarities.”

LEE WARD can be reached at lward@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2661.

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