The King of Zor he called for a war...

Have I ever told you about my love for the Monkees? That's right.. that 60's made for TV band, I love them! I've seen their members in concert 14 times. Which, when you think about it, is a lot considering their TV show was on from 1966-1968 and I wasn't born until 1987.

Ugh! Just so darn cute!

 See! There they are in all their 60's glory. I can tell you from this picture that it was taken after the 1st season of the show. Why can I say that, you ask? Well, because Micky's hair is longer. They made him straighten it in the first season, but in the second he was allowed to go all hippie and grow it longer and curlier.

In the Summer of 1997 Nick at Nite added The Monkees to their block party summer. It didn't last long and half-way through the summer it was replaced with Green Acres, but that's okay. It didn't matter I was hooked. I went online (AOL!!!) and found a whole wealth of knowledge about the Monkees and a ton of Monkees fans. Including some that would tea. I already explained what teaing was here, and also how I met my best friend, Carolyn, online while teaing. I remember finding out via her AOL profile that she lived in the same city as me and while chatting we realized that she was friends with my soccer coach's daughter. I remember being at practice and her coming to visit but I was at practice and we never met.

In November of 1997 the Monkees gave a concert at the Universal Ampitheater in Los Angeles. It was my first concert and my mom took me. We had 4th row seats, off to the left, but it was so awesome. I was one of the youngest people there but it didn't matter. This was the tour right after their 30th anniversary tour and album which they did with Mike Nesmith (the guy in the green hat), unfortunately Mike hasn't toured with them since that album so I've never seem him perform live.

Just pretend Mike isn't there. He's the one on the left.

I then saw Davy Jones in the Summer of 1998 with Peter Noone (from Herman's Hermits) and Bobby Sherman at the OC Fair. I saw both shows. I remember going with my friend Marissa and going straight to the fair from girl scout camp. Dedication I tell you!!

After that it was a while before I saw any of the Monkees live again.  I saw and met them in 2001 in Arizona. My parents drove me there to see them and participated in a charity auction that allowed me to meet them and get a signed guitar. I'll have to get up to my parent's house soon and take a picture of it.

Carolyn and I finally met in high school at auditions for a theater production. We bonded over the Monkees, the Ramones, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Slayer, The Velvet Underground, The Beach Boys, The Who and more.

Davy and Micky played a few shows while I was in high school and Carolyn and I went. We were only supposed to go to the early show because we had class the next day but we were having such a good time that the people at the venue invited us to stay and watch the second show. Our parents were cool enough to let us stay and we had a blast.

They even played at the Grove of Anaheim and filmed a concert DVD at that show. Carolyn's dad was even seen in the DVD. Which come to think of it.. I don't think I own! I must fix that. :)

Davy and Micky also played 6 shows over three days at Disney's California Adventure  in 2002. I went to every show and got to the park as soon as it opened in order to get good seats. Carolyn and her family met me for some of the shows, and I think my mom even came to one.

The marquee at the Greek

Mommy and me!

And finally my mom and I went to a show last week, for their 45th anniversary tour. It was a blast. They played for 2.5 hours and played songs that I didn't think they would play live. It was great, they still got it. The show was filled with fans of all ages and every seemed to be having a blast. I wouldn't consider myself a huge Monkees fan anymore, but I still love them a lot (much to the annoyance of my older brothers). They were/are fun, zany, silly music and it's part of my childhood. It connects me to my best friend and they were my first real "obsession" (if only it got better as I got older, my obsessions have just gotten weirder).

Hey hey we're the Monkees!