'This isn't Micky'
This is not an official Micky Dolenz myspace. Micky knows of this page, but I cannot guarantee that Micky will read the comments left for him. Per his request, he would like everyone to know that it is not run by him.
"After selling more than 65 million records worldwide as the star of THE MONKEES TV show, Micky Dolenz has continued to make his mark in other areas of the entertainment business, through his varied career as an actor, director, producer and performer.
Micky was born in Los Angeles on March 8, 1945. His dad, George, had starred in a number of films and in the mid 1950s in the television series "The Count of Monte Cristo." Micky first established himself as a performer at age 10 when, under the stage name of Micky Braddock, he starred in his first TV series, "Circus Boy," which aired on NBC from 1956-1958.
In his teens, Micky guest-starred on a number of television shows and also learned to play guitar.
"I was singing hard rock including songs by the Rolling Stones and the Animals," he says. "In fact, I auditioned for THE MONKEES singing Chuck Berry's Johnny B. Goode."
The Monkees audition took place in autumn 1965. Micky was one of four actors chosen out of 400 applicants who responded to a trade ad announcing auditions for a new TV show about rock 'n roll band. The concept was inspired by the Beatles film, "A Hard Day's Night."
"I was hired as an actor to play the role of a singing drummer," Micky recalls. "I had to learn to play drums."
The Monkees debut single, "Last Train to Clarksville," featured Micky on lead vocals, hit the charts September 10, 1966 and rocketed to number one. Two days later, the television show debuted on NBC to great success.
The TV ratings remained high for two seasons and Micky and the band starred in their own feature, "Head," a 1969 psychedelic romp written by a young Jack Nicholson. The movie is now considered a cult classic.
Ultimately, The Monkees achieved their greatest success as recording artists. Their first four albums (The Monkees; More of the Monkees; Headquarters, and Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd.) reached number one on the charts and they had three consecutive number one singles: "Clarksville," "I'm a Believer" (with lead vocals by Micky) and "Daydream Believer." The group's first five albums also went gold.
After the television show, Micky continued his acting career and also did voice-over work for some animated series.
In 1977, Micky flew to London to star in Harry Nilsson's West End Musical, "The Point." He planned to stay three months but remained for 12 years. During that time, Micky honed his behind-the-camera skills (which he first practiced by directing episodes of "The Monkees") by becoming prominent producer-director for the BBC and London Weekend Television. He also directed a feature film, "The Box," written by Micheal Palin and Terry Jones of Monty Python, and helmed numerous music videos.
"I had the best of both worlds," he explains. "It was great to have the opportunity to work in two very different forms of the same medium, the commercial and the non-commercial, and fuse the best of each into something uniquea new style, a new approach."
When Micky returned to the U.S., he continued his directing career with projects for the Disney Channel and Harmony Pictures, among others.
In 1986, MTV broadcast episodes of The Monkees show and exposed a whole new generation to Monkeemania. Micky and Peter Tork recorded new tracks for Arista Records and the single, "That Was Then, This Is Now," became their first Top 20 record since 1968. Micky, Peter and Davy Jones subsequently reunited for a 1986 summer tour that was so successful it sparked the reissue of all The Monkees' classic LPs as well as Pool It on Rhino Records. At one point in 1987, there were seven Monkees albums on Billboard's Top 200 LP's Chart.
In 1996, The Monkees again joined together this time for a "30 Year Reunion" summer tour around America. The response was such that they toured again the following year, this time finishing up in England.
More recently Micky has spent more time behind the camera, including directing for the Michael Jacobs Production ABC/Disney hit TV show Boy Meets World, staring Ben Savage."
Micky has worked in theatre playing the character Zoser in Elton John & Tim Rice's "Aida". He began with the national tour in 2003 and played the role until "Aida" closed the show on Broadway in 2004. In 2005, he became a radio DJ for CBSfm out of New York, until the station changed format. In 2006, Micky wrote two books, "Gakky Two Feet" and "Micky Dolenz' Rock 'n Rollin' Trivia", both can be found on Amazon.com . Micky went back to the stage to play King Charlemagne in "Pippin", which ended it's national tour at the beginning of 2007.
In movies this year, Micky has a cameo in Rob Zombie's "Halloween", out Labor Day. He plays gun slinger Derek Allan.
By Kelly Milner Halls
For what seemed like decades - in fact only two seasons (58 episodes) - Micky Dolenz played a drummer on the hit '60s television series, "The Monkees."
As an 8-year-old, I faithfully watched. After nap time with the Three Stooges, the Monkees' zany antics seemed familiar and made me smile. With that history disclosed, I give you "Gakky Two-Feet," a children's picture book by former Monkee, Micky Dolenz.
Gak is a guy unlike the quadrupeds in his hominid tribe. For him, walking on two feet feels more natural than galloping around on all four. It makes him oddly different, a fact his normal bug- and berry-eating counterparts never let him forget. But like most picture-book protagonists, his oddity eventually helps him save the day.
Even if the plot premise isn't altogether original, the prehistoric setting most certainly is, as is the possible series Dolenz would like to see unfold. We caught up with Dolenz in a telephone interview to find out what inspired this delightful romp and the books that may soon follow.
Question: What inspired you to write a children's picture book?
Answer: A few years ago, during the celebrity book trend, another publishing house called and asked if I would be interested in adapting the lyrics to a Monkees song into a children's book. That presented several problems. First, I didn't write the songs so I didn't own the rights. Second, it didn't excite me much because I couldn't think of any that would lend themselves well to a children's book. The way I have to work in any field is my muse has to show up. She's a beautiful woman wearing a satin dressing gown and holding a 9mm semi-automatic weapon. She's tough. She wasn't there for that one.
Q: Enter Gakky Two-Feet. What changed?
A: I have a subscription to Scientific American magazine, read it faithfully. I read an article about the evolution of hominids and bipedalism, and a story popped into my head about the first hominid to walk on two feet. I've always had an interest in anthropology. I've always tried to imagine what it must have been like to be there for those pivotal moments in evolution; moments of epiphany, like when the first person manipulated fire or discovered how sharp flint could be.I knocked the first draft out in a couple of hours. A year later, I was introduced to editor Nancy Paulson at Elaine's in New York. I mentioned in passing that I'd written a story, and she said, "There are an awful lot of those books out there, but send it in." I did, then, lo and behold, I got an e-mail back saying she loved it and I should come in so we could talk about it.
Q: How did you feel about the editorial process - revisions, for example?
A: How I take revisions or any criticism depends on who's offering it. It's the same reason I don't really read reviews, good or bad. It goes back to getting a really great review from a writer who had seen and written about one of my shows. I was so pleased I called her up to thank her and to ask if she wanted to know the next time I would be in town to perform in a show. She was very nice but explained she wouldn't be covering other shows - that she was the food editor and was just sitting in for the entertainment writer for that show.So if I take criticism seriously or make revisions, the suggestions have to come from someone qualified to make them in the first place. From Nancy, absolutely, I paid attention.
Q: What changes did she suggest?
A: Most of them had to do with the mechanics of a picture book. For example, I had suggestions on illustrators, artists I liked. Nancy explained that it's customary for the editor to find a good match for the writer, and I loved what David Clark did - the illustrator she picked for the work. I gave him some reference materials because while I agreed it was important that the characters be kid-friendly, I also wanted them to be based on anthropological research. David and I e-mailed back and forth, and he came up with preliminary drawings.
Q: So all the revisions were based on illustrations, none on the text?
A: Some changes in the text were also made because I discovered to my pleasure and surprise, that some things are said in the illustration so the writer doesn't have to repeat them. It's a picture book, not a book with pictures in it. The whole becomes greater, more important than the sum of its individual parts. And while I made suggestions, you don't keep a dog, then bark yourself. I trusted David and Nancy. And I was beyond happy with the results. It was better than what I had ever imagined myself.
Q: What legacy do you hope Gak offers a new generation?
A: In this case, I guess the moral is, don't be afraid to be different because different may turn out to be to your advantage. That's what "natural selection" means, isn't it? When we say that nature selects, it doesn't come out of some office of selection - there is no human stamp of approval. It's more practical. It's born of necessity. "Different" has taken on such a negative connotation. I'd like to change that. Differences are not bad. I mean, there is a difference between a poodle and a great Dane, but one isn't better than the other. They're just different. If this book offers a legacy, I guess that would be it.
Q: You've coined the term, "anthro-mythology," to describe "Gakky Two-Feet." Are there other anthro-mythological tales in the works?
A: Yes, I hope so. I'm working on one about the first musical instrument, the first flute you could play and actually alter the pitch. It was discovered in a cave in France and dates back something like 65,000 years ago, to the Neanderthals. And I can see it as a great series - fun little stories that explore prehistoric firsts - first fire, first wheels, first flute. They aren't meant to be textbooks. They are playful. They are fables. Obviously, Gakky-Two Feet and the other characters I'll create didn't exist. But the evolutionary events that inspired them were real. That's what intrigued and interested me. Without that spark, I wouldn't have done it.
Q: Would you have liked "Gakky Two-Feet" if you had read it as a child?
A: Yes, I think I would have. I loved Dr. Seuss. I loved science fiction. I read Grimm, Golden Books. I read Bradbury and "War of the Worlds" at a very early age. I wrote in reaction to that reading, a story about these guys making a trip to the moon to discover great, giant lizards.Reading at school, especially about math and science has always been tough. They can be dry subjects - just the facts. It takes an exceptional teacher with a flare for drama and color to bring them to life, and I distinctly remember having a teacher like that when I was young, about 11. He was like Mr. Wizard. He'd make it interesting for me. I hope my children's books follow that same track.
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