The Monkees kicked off the start of the summer with a high energy concert is downtown St Louis, MO. Davy and Micky headline the May 26th entertainment of the annual Rib America Festival. It's a five day event that gets a lot of publicity. Newspaper ads, radio commercials and media coverage presented this year's schedule of great food (award-winning barbeque) and great concerts - including the Monkees! Radio station KLOU-FM sponsored their free concert. Davy hit the airwaves at KLOU on May 23rd. The "Morning Show" crew, Smash, Karen and Brian, enjoyed talking, laughing and telling jokes with Davy. Karen said that she felt like Marcia Brady when she called Davy on his cell phone for the interview.

Smash: Davy Jones and Micky Dolenz are going to be at the Rib America Festival on Sunday. Opening is Barry Williams, do you know this guy?

Davy: Yes, I was with him all weekend in Lexington, Kentucky. We hosted a gold tournament and took part in a couple of other charitable events. Yes, he's a heck of a guy.

Smash: He's a good singer, he sang the "Star Spangled Banner" on the Celebrity Boxing event. (Cable television had recently aired several boxing matches between celebrities, including Barry Williams).

Davy: He should have worked a little bit on his boxing. I'm just waiting on the call from Danny Bonaduce (from the Partridge Family), so we can end all this silliness.

Smash: Oh yes, Davy Jones and Danny Bonaduce. Whop him, no problem.

Davy: The Manchester Cowboy.

Smash: I'm looking forward to the Monkees on stage this coming Sunday at four o'clock.

Davy: We like to call it "back to the Monkees". It's Micky Dolenz and Davy Jones, and Barry is there. He actually does quite a couple of numbers. He has a fun time on stage. The audience reminisce with him. He's still Greg Brady to a lot of people.

Smash: Yes, to these guys in the studio. You were, at your time on the Monkees, the cute Monkee. Did you consider that a blessing or a curse, Davy?

Davy: Well, Micky Dolenz' mother didn't say that. It's good that one of us was good looking. I got picked up so many times, I started to grow handles. Now, my back goes out more than I do. (everyone laughs)

Smash: How old are you, Davy?

Davy: I'm 29. I started in the Monkees when I was four years old.

Karen: You look fabulous!

Smash: Davy Jones, one of the great things I always dug about you was that you were a great singer for the style of music you did, but you had a tambourine in one hand and one maraca in the other. Why only one maraca?

Davy: That's because times were tough in those days. As a young boy I used to live in a shoe box in the middle of the road. It's very difficult. I've got very small hands, so just one maraca and one tambourine - that's enough for anybody. They make horrible noises, those things. Why would you want to shake two of them?

Karen: When you were at the Fox Theatre about a year ago, Brian and I were at the concert. It was just amazing to look around. The women were in tears. These 40 year old women. You brought back all of these childhood memories for them. What's the biggest thing you hear when you go on the road and tour?

Davy: Just the happiness that the Monkees brought them, at a time in their lives when they needed somebody to identify with. It was not brain surgery. It was just four guys trying to have a bit of fun. And, that's what we are still trying to do in our middle age. Right now, it's just an excuse to get out of the house.

We do it because we are having fun. Obviously the Monkees songs were written by great songwriters, and people reminisce, and kind of identify with times in their lives and songs that they hear, and the Monkees had quite a lot of hits. We'll be singing them in St. Louis. We'll be singing "Clarksville", "I'm a Believer", "Steppin' Stone", "Valleri", "A Little Bit Me", "Daydream Believer", they're all
there. They're all in the show. Make sure you brush up on your lyrics.

Smash: Ready, buddy.

Brian: You guys were kind of mavericks. Didn't you really do the first music videos?
You guys were putting music behind your show.

Davy: We had our own sort of "American Bandstand "every week. We never did any of those kinds of shows, obviously before the Monkees hit. We did "Shindig" and allthose other pop shows. I think I was on Dick Clark's "American Bandstand" at one point, back in about '64 or '65. But, they got very smart after a while. Instead of putting different songs in the shows every week, they would take the
hit of the month, whether "Believer" or "Clarksville", or "Daydream Believer", and they would add that to each show, every week, for four or five or six weeks in a row. So, that was instant promotion and very smart publicity for each and every one of those songs. They had their thing together. They're all probably living in the Bahamas, in their mansions, and driving their Rolls Royces. We're out on the road still working and doing what we do, and that's entertain.

Smash: As I understand it, Davy, the mother of Michael Nesmith is the one who developed what we call White-Out. Was that so he could get out of his contract?

Davy: She was working as a secretary in an office, and came up with a wonderful idea. Wouldn't it be great if you didn't have to re-type this whole letter, so she put this formula together. Mike Nesmith would take it around from office to office in a bottle, and sell it for a dollar. They finally patented it and it was bought by Gilette. They aren't using too much of it these days with the computers they have. Obviously it was a good thing for them at the time. He obviously benefitted from it. He was always a little aloof. He was always a little distant from the three of us, and was always more interested in his own situation than he was in the collective situation. But, he wrote some great tunes, "Rio", "Joanne", "Different Drum" for Linda Ronstadt, a first hit for her. So, there was a lot going on at the time. Most people don't remember what happens last week, never mind 35 years ago.

Smash: That's Davy Jones. We're looking forward to the Best of the Monkees this coming Sunday, just part of the big ConAgra Foods Rib America Festival. Have you done any of these Rib Festivals yet?

Davy: No, I've been nursing a couple of broken ribs for the last couple of months. I am at the moment on the way to a racetrack in Virginia, Colonial Downs, where I'll be bringing a number of horses this year. It's my first year as a competing trainer. Last year I had a couple of horses, one here at Colonial Downs.
It's an hour out of Washington. It's a great little track, and this is where l'm going to start my American racing career.

Smash: Great.

Davy: In the show that we do, we try to incorporate a lot of the past with a lot of the things that we've done individually. The Monkees had some great songwriters with Carole King, Neil Diamond, Harry Nilsson, Sedaka, and Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart. It's very difficult to leave those Monkee tunes out, so we try to put in as many of those familiar songs as we can. Bring your memory with you, just in case there's one or two obscure ones that you half way remember. We have a great time. We're looking forward to coming to St. Louis and obviously we know that we've got a good crowd of people there who enjoy what we do. We're looking forward to them all coming out.

Smash: Davy Jones of the Monkees. We appreciate it here and we look forward to seeing
you.

Sunday, May 26th was hot! The temperature soared into the 90's by noon. Small crowds of people had already gathered for lunch, under shade trees. Rows of barbeque pits were fired up for a full day of activities-great food and great concerts. A large stage was set up in the middle of the street. It attracted a growing audience that included Monkee fans, music lovers, and people enjoying the food. My friend Colleen and I set up chairs in the first row. During the next four hours, several friends joined our group. Everyone enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere-an outdoor concert with no tickets, security checks or gates. Cameras were allowed, so I was able to take some great photos.

The tour merchandise stand was packed with items. Bright red and black T-shirts featured a photo of all four Monkees on the front, and "Monkeemania Tour 2002" on the back. The child's size shirt came in red. A "baby doll" sleeveless top was printed with the cover of the "Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd." album. Other items included a black cap, stuffed monkey wearing a T-shirt, keychain, "Live in Toronto" CD, and a poster of all four Monkees in bright, psychedelic colors. Barry Williams (.Greg Brady) opened with a half hour show of humorous stories, jokes about Davy and Marcia, singing and playing guitar. The Monkees band played back-up. His cool 60's Johnny Bravo character covered a variety of songs from "The Brady Bunch" to rap.

Before the Monkees set, Davy signed autographs from the backstage area. The band played "Listen to the Band" and "The Monkees" theme song. "The two cutest Monkees of them all" were introduced by Smash, a disk jockey from radio station KLOU-FM. A big round of applause, whistles and cheers came from the large crowd that filled the street. Davy followed Micky on stage, they shook hands and smiled.
"Last Train to Clarksville" and "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" started the one hour set. Micky welcomed the St. Louis crowd. He read a sign that said it was someone's birthday, and that they drove 200 miles to the concert. Micky asked the birthday girl what she wanted-besides Davy. The loud response was "you!" Micky replied "all right, hey, hey, hey". He looked great in a black shirt and pants, with a colourful shirt jacket, decorated with wide stripes of designs, and pictures of J. Malverde. Later he changed to a shiny, royal blue long sleeve shirt. During the show, Micky played the guitar, tambourine, and took a turn at the drum kit. Davy wore a shiny black shirt and black pants. He was full of energy, interacting with the crowd, back and forth across the stage. His well-known jokes were new to some people in the crowd-Americans talking funny ...kissing the TV set ...famous songwriters... He got a big laugh when he brought out two tiny, bright yellow maracas. During the show, Davy played the guitar, tambourine and maracas.

Micky sang "The Girl I Knew Somewhere", followed by his story about meeting the Beatles and writing the next song, "Randy Scouse Git". He sang and beat out the tune on a shiny copper kettle drum-long after the band stopped playing. Davy tried to stop him as he went into a psychedelic hallucination. Micky shouted "the colors, the colors...wow!" He made noises when he heard the echo effect on the microphone, then asked Davy "who are you?" Davy said "this is your old pal. I'm Davy and we're here to do a concert." Micky snapped out of his slow-motion trance, and got very excited. "Davy Jones, oh, my God, it's Davy Jones of the Monkees! Oh! I used to hang your poster over my bed and every night ...never mind." He looked at someone in the audience with a camera. "Would you take a picture of me and Davy? Take a picture. Oh, the colors, the colors..." Davy said, "let me ask you something Micky, is there anything that I can get for you right now, that you need?" Micky answered "a gin and Prozac malt". Davy repeated his answer, then continued the set with "Mary, Mary". At the end of the next song, "It's Nice to Be With You", he added "it's so nice to be in St. Louis, too". Davy saw me taking photos while he was singing, so he posed until I took the shot.

"Goin' Down" and "Look Out, Here Comes Tomorrow" followed. Micky introduced the members of their' illustrious orchestra". Aviva was on saxaphone, keyboards and "funny looking things". Wayne Avers was on guitar. Sandy Gennaro was on drums and "destruction", and the horn trio was Sam, Eric and Greg. Musical Director and bass player, Jerry Renino "kept it all together. Unfortunately, sometimes it doesn't work". Last, but not least, Davy asked Dave Alexander, on keyboards, to come over to centre stage. He pointed to the "big man on stage" and himself as he said "ate the vegetables, didn't eat the vegetables". Micky added a new twist, "took the Prozac, didn't take the Prozac". Dave sang and played his best Meatloaf impression before stopping out of the spotlight.

Micky mentioned that "The Monkees" was shown in 40 different countries. "I know because I had to sing the theme song in nine different languages. I still remember them all...pick a language". Davy chose Italian, French and Spanish. Micky packed a lot of emotion into his three versions of "The Monkees" theme song. The audience loved it. "Papa Gene's Blues", "No Time" and "Circle Sky" followed in-rapid succession. Micky exclaimed, "just keep 'em rockin' and rollin'." It was fun to hear the Monkees sing
some old favorites that they don't often sing live.

Davy commented that "a lot of you, we haven't seen for a long, long time. As you may know, I'm into racehorses. I have some good horses this year and they're going to be winning some races. So, look out for those with the name Jones next to them. You'll know that they're mine. I'll be taking my trainers license out this year, so, who knows." He mentioned that they were working with Barry Williams for the past few weeks. They did meet many, many, ...years ago, and most people think that he actually married his sister, Marcia, Marcia, Marcia. "But it wasn't like that at all. In fact, after reading Barry Williams' book, they were all at it on the show. It was unbelievable. And, I was stuck with Micky, Mikey and Petey. And that little dance that I did on "The Monkees", I still do it. One of my daughters, Sarah, is going to make me a grandfather in July. The first Monkee grandfather, unbelievable. Ami Dolenz, Micky's daughter, is going to be married in July or August. We have a full, fun year ahead of us. Right now, I want to reminisce with you and see if you remember this one. This is the song I sang to Marcia, Marcia, Marcia, "Girl".

"That Was Then, This Is Now", "Valleri", "The Porpoise Song", "Listen to the Band", "Daydream Believer" sing-along, "Pleasant Valley Sunday" and "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone" were packed with energy. The entire audience was on their feet, clapping and singing through the finale, "I'm a Believer". Arm in arm, Davy and Micky did the Monkeewalk off the stage. Micky teased one of the horn players by putting his hand down his instrument. The band finished with "The Monkees" theme song.

Celeste Kocot