[Steely Tom]

The Monkees TV show went on right after I started sixth grade in a wonderful suburban school district; compared to the declining city school district I'd been in, it was an incredible experience.

I couldn't believe the other boys were all totally into the show. They collected Monkees playing cards; if you collected them all they could be assembled mosaic-style into a groovy Monkees poster for your pad!

Unlike the aging and cranky teachers in the city school, my new sixth-grade teacher was young and hip. She looked a lot like Karen Carpenter, and was married to a doctor.

One of the things that was a total culture shock was that she let us play records on the class record player before class if we got there early.

There were only a couple of records there for us to play. One was Donovan's Mellow Yellow. To this day, when I hear it, I can go right back to September of 1966.

[ifinnegan]

“Unlike the aging and cranky teachers in the city school, my new sixth-grade teacher was young and hip. She looked a lot like Karen Carpenter, and was married to a doctor.”

Karen Carpenter wasn’t famous when the Monkees were on.

(I enjoyed your post, don’t get me wrong).