Saturday, March 17, 2007

Case of the Colonists Corpse


Tony Isabella has written many stories over his career. His point of view is always entertaining and that is the case here with the Case of the Colonists Corpse that he co-authored with Bob Ingersoll. Captain Kirk faces a court-martial and a fragile peace treaty with the Klingons is broken when the Ambassador is found murdered. If you like science fiction and mystery then this is the book for you. Click here to buy the Case of the Colonists Corpse.

Friday, March 16, 2007

Micky and Davy walking in New York


This is a video of Micky and Davy from 1969. They are walking down the street in New York when an interviewer from Holland stops them. However the video isn't long enough and leaves me asking what group was it that they saw the night before and what Holland radio station is Micky talking about? We may never know. Still it was a plesant surprise to find this video. Since Mike is not seen this may be when they were promoting the Changes album.

Pepsi vs. Coke

Funny Pepsi Ad from the cola wars.

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Happy Belated Birthday Selina Kyle











Yesterday was Selina Kyle's birthday. As all comic book fans know that is the real name of Catwoman. In celebration I am giving you a view of some of Catwoman's many looks.

This Day in Music History: Tommy Roe and Dizzy


When ABC Records bought out Dunhill records they asked producer Steve Barri to stay on as producer for the ABC artist. One that he was excited to work with was Tommy Roe. Roe’s earlier recordings, before he had hits with bubblegum tunes like Sweet Pea and Hooray for Hazel, reminded Barri of Buddy Holly. He recorded some songs with him that were like Buddy Holly tunes but none of them did very well.
Earlier Tommy Roe had written a song called Dizzy. He was having trouble finishing it till he met up with an old friend on Dick Clark’s Caravan of Stars. It was Freddy Weller of Paul Revere and the Raiders who helped him finish the song. Roe told Barri that should be their next single. It was one of Barri’s least favorite songs that he recorded with Roe but since the Buddy Holly songs didn’t do well he took a chance. Before it was released he had Jimmy Haskell to add some strings to the arrangement. Barri said “Dizzy came to life for me when we put the violins on.” It was the most successful song of Tommy Roe’s career. It sold over six million records and was #1 on the charts on March 15, 1969 on this day in music history. He had other top 40 records after that but none of them did as well. He was a successful recording artist living in a beautiful Malibu beach house but he was not happy. So he moved back to Georgia to be with the people who knew him before he was famous. A few years later he moved back to Los Angeles and released a song called Dreamin’ Again. However, the song did not return him to the charts and he moved back to Georgia and played the local clubs. Click on the video below to see him preform the song.

Davy Jones sings I'm Gonna Buy Me a Dog

It looks like it is a clip from an apperance he may have done on Farmer's Daughter. The kids seem to be taking the song very serious but Boyce and Hart really wrote it as a joke.

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Scandal

This was on http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,258664,00.html It was in an E-mail that I got from The60sshop@aol.com as they are running a series on how the nominations need to be improved.
Rock Hall Voting Scandal: Rock Group Actually WonAccording to sources knowledgeable about the mysterious ways of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, British Invasion group The Dave Clark Five and not Grandmaster Flash finished fifth in the final voting of the nominating committee and should have been inducted on Monday night. According to sources, Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner, who recentlyappointed himself chairman of the Foundation after the death of Ahmet Ertegun, ignored the final voting and chose Grandmaster Flash over the DC5 for this year's ceremony."Jann went back to a previous ballot instead of taking the final vote as the last word," my source insisted. "He used a technicality about the day votes were due in. In reality, The Dave Clark Five got six more votes than Grandmaster Flash. But he felt we couldn't go another year without a rap act."R.E.M., Van Halen, The Ronettes and Patti Smith were the top four vote-getters, with Grandmaster Flash finishing fifth when the votes were counted on the first date ballots were due in to the Rock Hall office. But when all the ballots were counted a few days later, the DC5 had pulled ahead. Wenner decided to ignore that and stick with the earlier tally."We begged Jann to allow all six acts to be inducted. But he insisted that he couldn't because there wouldn't be enough time," my source said. "He wanted to have Aretha Franklin come and perform in memory of Ahmet Ertegun."The Ertegun tribute, while very nice, was deemed unnecessary by members of the main committee because the Atlantic Records co-founder will be memorialized in New York on April 17. "But Jann wanted to do his own tribute. It was insane, especially since he took over Ahmet's position on the board before Ahmet even had a memorial. Jann simply sent papers around informing everyone that he was now the chairman," my source said.The Dave Clark Five ballot tampering, however, stings the most. The group, part of the British Invasion of the '60s, should have been inducted long ago for their hits like "Glad All Over," "Bits & Pieces" and "Catch Me If You Can." Making them wait has turned out to be a huge mistake, as their fortunes have not been great.In December 2006, sax player Denis Payton succumbed to cancer at age 63. Lead singer Mike Smith has been paralyzed since 2003 after falling off a ladder at his home in Spain. In August 2005, a terrific fundraising effort for Smith at B.B. King's in New York was supposed to be the prelude to finally recognizing the group that had several memorable hits in the mid-'60s.Wenner's cruel axing of them from the show and the Hall of Fame should be painful to many who are intimately involved with the Hall, like Paul Shaffer, who runs the Hall of Fame band and produced and emceed the Smith tribute.So what happened here? My sources also say that Wenner's motivation may have sprung from a controversial speech that was delivered by new administrative head Joel Peresman to the nominating committee last winter. "He stood up there and told us that we should vote for who we thought would be most commercial, and who be best on the TV show," a source said. "It was outrageous. Some people tried to stop him and asked him to leave, but he wouldn't. He said, 'I'm not leaving.' The director is never supposed to speak to the nominating committee."Peresman came to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation last year when Wenner arbitrarily ousted the long-time chief of the group, Suzan Evans Hochberg, after two decades of loyalty. "We couldn't believe Jann stood up there last night and said Suzan wasretiring. But when the seating plan went crazy the other day, Jann called and begged her to come in and help. Peresman knows nothing about the business," a source said.Peresman came to the Foundation from gigs booking shows at Madison Square Garden and with Clear Channel, the radio giant that many feel has strangled the music business with intransigent radio play policies and suggestions — actually, government investigations — of payola. In the old days, such a hire would have been considered anathema by Wenner.None of this should come as any surprise to those who have followed the roller-coaster world of the Rock Hall. According to the group's most recent tax filing, for example, they gave only $9,000 to indigent musicians from their $11 million in holdings. Even worse: Wenner sent a tax-free $10,000 to something called Jazz Casuals in San Francisco. It's really just the archives of Ralph J. Gleason, the late jazz writer who periodically wrote for Rolling Stone in its early days. It was the only donation made by the Foundation to any group last year. "Again, outrageous," a source said. "With all of Jann's money, he could have just sent a check. He didn't need to use the Foundation's money."By contrast, the Foundation gave only $53,000 to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum in Cleveland. Attorney Allen Grubman's law firm took another $50,000 for legal services rendered. Evans received her usual $300,000 salary. Peresman is said to be receiving even more.And then there's the matter of who has left on the nominating committee. I'm told that nearly half the group is gone, leaving 32 members. Many of the remaining members are former or current Wenner employees, like Rolling Stone's Nathan Brackett, David Fricke, Jim Henke, Joe Levy, Brian Keizer and Anthony DeCurtis. Jon Landau, Bruce Springsteen's manager and a former Rolling Stone writer, is the chairman of the committee and considered the last truly mediating influence on Wenner. There are only three actual musicians: Paul Shaffer, Steven van Zandt and Robbie Robertson. Three are female. One of them is black. There are only two other black members: journalist Toure and Reginald C. Dennis. Wenner, I'm told, "weeded out everyone he didn't like." He even got rid of the veteran New York Post and Vanity Fair writer Lisa Robinson. Wenner almost bumped Claudia Perry, a Newark Star Ledger sports writer and former pop music critic. After a scuffle, she managed to hang on, which was good news. As a black woman she fulfilled two minorities on the board (Edna Gundersen and Elyssa Gardner of USA Today are the other females). "This is the opposite of what Ahmet would have wanted," a source said. "He liked a big committee that reflected lots of different tastes."

Monkees Kool Aid Commercial


Here is a Kool Aid commerical that I never saw till just now.

SNL Skit Sinbad as Black Lightning

Here is a skit from Saturday Night Live on the Death of Superman. Sinbad appears at the end as Black Lightning. It is very funny and I posted it originally on Black Lightning Limited. For fans of Black Lightning you can go there for all you Black Lightning needs.

Micky Dolenz and Miller's Outpost

Well He had to make money somehow after the Monkees broke up. Here are some humorous ads for a store called Miller's Outpost that had Micky as their spokesperson.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Oh My My video directed by Micky Dolenz


This is a rare video directed by Micky. Enjoy!

Red Rhodes Plays


Here is Red Rhodes of Mike Nesmith and the First National Band. He is on his own here and shows why he is the greatest Steel Pedal Guitar play of all as he plays Sweet Georgia Brown.

Monkees on Rowan and Martain's Laugh In

The Monkees doing comedy on Laugh In.

Monday, March 12, 2007

Monkees on the Glenn Campbell Goodtime Hour

The Monkess from 1969 singing Teardrop City on the Glenn Campbell Goodtime Hour.

Rest In Peace Richard Jeni


I just read on News From ME that the very funny comedian Richard Jeni was shot to death yesterday. They are not sure if it was suicide or murder. Either way it is a sad way to end a very funny comedians life. I didn't get to see his act very much but he was always funny and I have waited a long time to see him in something again. Anything to help forget his short lived and dreadful TV show on UPN the Platypus Man. However, even that bad show had moments where Mr. Jeni shined. For those of you who have not seen the show it was sort of a mixture of Emeril Live and Home Improvement. Perhaps his funniest moment in a film was when he co-stared in The Mask as Jim Carrey's best friend. When Jim throws the Mask back in the river it is Richard who dives in after it. Perhaps the second film would have been funnier if they picked up where the first left off and had him as the lead instead of Jamie Kennedy. Who knows Mr. Jeni may still be alive today if that had happened. I remember when I worked in customer service for AT&T. A woman who worked for him called up to order a part for a phone. I told her how funny I thought he was and she spoke of how kind a man he was. Mr. Jeni you will be missed, as the many postings on blog sites like this and people who knew you can attest to.

Sunday, March 11, 2007

God Protects His People

He will rescue you again and again so that no evil can touch you.
Job 5:19 NLT
About this week's promise
From terrorist attacks to the abduction of children in broad daylight, random acts of violence seem to fill the news reports day and night. Is anyone really safe anymore? Scripture reveals God to be concerned about and committed to our safety. But to more fully understand the concept of safety, we must recognize who we are—eternal beings wrapped in mortal bodies. While God is concerned about what happens to our body, he is much more concerned about what happens with our soul. Once we have confessed faith in Jesus and the Holy Spirit comes to live within us, he is at work protecting our soul from beings snatched away by Satan. God is concerned about the safety of our physical body, and we probably experience his hand of protection more than we realize. But ultimately, physical protection will come only when we are given our new body in eternity.
adapted from TouchPoint Bible with devotional commentary by Ron Beers and Gilbert Beers, Tyndale House Publishers (1996), p 1265

Monkees Christmas Medley

I wish I saw this in December to put it up for Christmas but alas I did not. It was filmed with many of the cast coming from MTV. You will get a kick out of seeing Downtown Julie Brown, Martha Quinn etc. Amy Dolenz is in the video but the real surprise is who is playing Santa.