Posted on 02/21/2019 8:32:11 AM PST by Red Badger
Peter Tork, a blues and folk musician who became a teeny-bopper sensation as a member of the Monkees, the wisecracking, made-for-TV pop group that imitated and briefly outsold the Beatles, died Feb. 21. He was 77.
His death was confirmed by his sister Anne Thorkelson, who did not say where or how he died. Mr. Tork was diagnosed with adenoid cystic carcinoma, a rare cancer affecting his tongue, in 2009.
If the Monkees were a manufactured version of the Beatles, a prefab four who auditioned for a rock-and-roll sitcom and were selected more for their long-haired good looks than their musical abilities, Mr. Tork was the groups Ringo, its lovably goofy supporting player.
On television, he performed as the self-described dummy of the group, drawing on a persona he developed while working as a folk musician in Greenwich Village, where he flashed a confused smile whenever his stage banter fell flat. Off-screen, he embraced the Summer of Love, donning moccasins and love beads and declaring that nonverbal, extrasensory communication is at hand and that dogmatism is leaving the scene.
A versatile multi-instrumentalist, Mr. Tork mostly played bass and keyboard for the Monkees, in addition to singing lead on tracks including Long Title: Do I Have to Do This All Over Again, which he wrote for the groups psychedelic 1968 movie, Head, and Your Auntie Grizelda.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Daydream Believers: The Monkeys Story
A good bio film if you can find it.
I am very sorry to hear this. He was my favorite Monkee. I saw him a couple times in small concerts near LA and got his autograph. He had just turned 62 then. He has been living on borrowed time for years due to the cancer and its a blessing he had as many extra years as he did.
Mike Nesmith died?
IIRC she invented the original white out.
from CT
Daydream Believer. Written by John Stewart of The Kingston Trio.
As originally written the lyric was “O what does it mean for a Daydream Believer and an Old Closet Queen”.
Obviously that had to be rewritten for 60’s prime time TV.
Oh, thank God.
He was my favorite.
Of all the weird things to own, I have a baseball cap that was given to Davy Jones, by Alice Cooper, while they were playing golf somewhere.
Mike Nesmith - the Monkee whose mother invented Liquid Paper and made a fortune for the family.
Hanamizu, your FR name, is Japanese, I believe, for the Dogwood tree.
Wow, White-out is a savior for those of us who remember typing on a typewriter. They are all in museums now, I imagine. Of course, when someone invented the white-out ribbon that you could just type over the mistake, well, that was really great.
I am so old.
The qwerty key board was actually designed by an employee of the L C Smith shotgun company. They made typewriters too.
“I must be old.”
The Milky Way is thought to be ~13.51 billion years old. Everything is relative. You are a spring chicken!
I always loved the Monkeys! I also used to watch their goofy TV show. Much simpler times.
I was never a Beatles fan.
RIP Peter.
#MeToo!
I’m proud of every encroaching grey hair or stubborn wrinkle.
Badges of honor that ‘I was there’ when popular music was the very best.
Mike Nesmith still here.
That’s hysterical!
I think Neil Sedaka wrote songs for them as well.
I know who has his Bass.
The Wrecking Crew played on most of their hits.
Yup. Nesmith collected a royalty on every bottle of White Out sold until sometime in 1999 or 2000, I think.
Same here. That means you ARE Old ! :)
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