Gary Owen's Blog

In 1965, 437 hopefuls auditioned for what became the sitcom known as "The Monkees" . As we all know, four guys: Michael Nesmith, David Jones, Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork passed said auditions. .  Bla bla bla. Old news. Recording sessions for the project began in June, 1966 with the first single "Last Train To Clarksville" released that August. The TV show debuted on Monday, September 12, 1966. This was after "Clarksville" had already reached #1. The first LP was released that October and- along with the follow up "More Of The Monkees" - is still one of the biggest selling albums in history. Bla bla bla. Old news. Now, here's where my thread gets interesting...... Because of silly union rules, The Monkees were not allowed to perform the instruments on the first two albums and singles. This did not sit well with Nesmith and Tork. In fact, Nesmith made sure he would produce some of his original tunes and that they be included on the...

Yes! Summer is on it's way! With that, let's celebrate by singing along with this groovy song from The Monkees new album "Good Times!"

With Michael Nesmith (2015): Click here:  Grand Ennui - Michael Nesmith & The First National Band  Click here:  Grand Ennui - Gary Owen

By 1968, The Monkees TV show was winding down and the band began filming their first and only full length feature film "Head" . They had also abandoned the "group unity" approach to recording and resorted back to the early days of having session players lay down the recording tracks. This time, it would be under their own direction. Every so often they would add guitars and such but- essentially- they slipped back to being the same fake studio band they were in 1966. back then, this was common practice for many units but The Monkees are always the guys who get the short end of the stick with all that. The basic tracks for "If I Ever Get To Saginaw Again" were recorded in March, 1968 and remained unfinished until January and March of the following year when strings and a new electric lead guitar were added. Michael Nesmith was then ushered in to sing the lead vocal. The reason behind all this activity was that Glenn Campbell had been doing rather well w...

One of my favorite pastimes is performing tribute shows. The band I am a part of- The Blue Meanies- have done a few interesting performances of this type. We've done Monkees, Kinks, CCR, British Invasion and obligatory Beatles tributes. Sometimes we'll do an entire album by whichever artist we choose. For Abbey Road On The River 2011, we performed the entire "Ringo" album- including the non-LP "B" side "Down And Out" . Click on the links to hear "Have You Seen My Baby (Hold On)" and "Down And Out" from that show: Have You Seen My Baby (Hold On) Down And Out