#vr3d

15 hrs

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Next to last Monkees show last night at Four Winds Casino.

Tonight is last for this tour then Mick and I have to decide what to do --- if anything. I committed to an Australian tour but I am expecting that will be it for me. The shows are fun, the songs are good and fun to play -- but things are a bit long of tooth now -- not that that is a bad thing -- but it’s a bit like trying to learn new dance steps. Monkees-itis is still alive and well after all these years, and touring is arduous --- to say the least. Reviewers who are angling for approval in that idiot wind are at least annoying and generally don’t get it.

I have a good time --- so does Mick I think -- but there is less of a sharp point in these days of Television. I spend days watching MSNBC and the horror show that is Washington DC at its most dangerous and stupid. An idiot wind indeed.

I start to feel curmudgeonly more and more and less and less suited for singing pop songs --- clever and happy and fun to play as they are --- but is a bit like singing Happy Birthday over and over. Combine that with the fact that Television Music was never my first pursuit. People who like my work have another clear window they can see through -- if they choose.

But -- in any case -- the shows wear me down.

So its back home and into hiding for a while --- till I leave the hemisphere for the upside down land. Maybe it’s just road rummies -- at least that is how it feels -- but it feels like playing Yesterday every day -- or the Chicken Salad Sandwich scene from Five Easy Pieces; there is only so much length to that rope.

I like the Net giving me a voice since I feel like a heretic when I bring The Monkees up. At least you all know it’s me -- and not some bonehead whining about how poorly I play.

I’ll get back to work on my book about Television and Television critics. So far so good --- need to focus and the bad road food is toxic to fun or good ideas.

Michael Nesmith

9 December 2012 at 01:03

It may be that a brutish or loutish advance will ignite the passions in some, but I have found that the truest love has a gentleness, a tenderness, and a kindness that for me is the most attractive element of character.

I suppose we treat each other harshly with our permissions sometimes -- rough play, rough sex, rough language -- but even with permission, something goes wanting, and the small quiet voice is often silenced when it needs to be heard.

This is specifically why I don't enjoy pranks, ridicule, or mockery in humor. The practical joke is not a joke to me; never has been. I can't understand why we would knowingly make a fool of each other. It's hard enough when we really are foolish, but to be held up as a fool is torture. I know. I have been on the receiving end of many jokes. They do not make me angry -- they make me sad.

We are fragile creatures, all. We have very little time together in the scheme of things.  Should we not at the very least choose the graceful and courteous in our exchanges? By this I mean more than "just getting along". I mean the outreach of good will and trust, and the encouragement of appreciation and approval.

We are entering our gift giving season for the next few weeks -- revisiting old friends and distant relations -- and exchanging tokens of affection. I find there is much to learn here -- how to receive and give and how to avoid the sharp word and censure -- even if it is said in jest.

It has made me retake my own vows to be even more gentle, sensitive and careful with another's frail and unsuspecting heart.

Michael Nesmith 26 May 2019

A personal view of the new merch from Videoranch.  While it’s good that VR are producing new stuff for the coming holiday season, we have some reservations

. 1 . It is obvious the earlier post on the Vr FB page asking for suggestions was simply a ruse to increase traffic on the site, the merchandise had already been chosen and ordered. 

2 . Why is it all, again, (except for the calendar) based on 70′s Nez ? Personally, we would have loved a shirt with one of the photos from the Redux tour. Like the photo above. Do they have something against promoting present day Nez ? I do hope their insistance on focusing on older Nez acomplishments doesn’t make him think fans are not interested in what he’s done since. Why no t shirt with the Redux band ?

3 . Great photos on the calendar but why can’t it be autographed ? Nez has always very generously signed for free things bought from videoranch. But increasingly, items presigned now cost much more.

4 . Do we really need another 70′s themed t shirt  when there are already 18 (!) t shirts for sale on the site ? Seems someone is overstocking .