Film, television actor Steve Franken dies at 80
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Sixties
Ann-Margret consults with costume designer Don Feld before a screentest, 1965
Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, Laurel Valley Country Club, 1965
Atomic bomb house
Sixties Singer Scott McKenzie Dies
Scott McKenzie, the man behind the sixties flower power anthem
San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair) has died in Los Angeles.
The 73-year-old passed away on Saturday. A statement on the singer's website read: "Scott had been very ill recently and passed away in his home after two weeks in hospital.
"It has been our pleasure to maintain this website over the past 15 years and this is the hardest update of them all. Farewell our much loved and wonderful friend."
McKenzie was born Philip Blondheim and spent his early career in the band The Abstracts, who later became The Smoothies, before he turned down the offer of joining his close friend Jon Phillips in The Mamas & The Papas.
However, he continued to work with Phillips, who wrote his biggest hit in 1967, San Francisco.
The single reached number one in the UK in July of that year and went on to become an anthem of the Flower Power era.
The song was to be his only major hit in the UK and in the US and he stopped recording in the 1970s.
However, McKenzie did co-write the eighties hit for the Beach Boys, Kokomo.
He spent much of the 1990s touring with the band he could have originally joined, The Mamas & the Papas. Eventually, with no original members left, the group disbanded.
In retirement, McKenzie lived in LA and became a big fan of Facebook where he had many friends in his "Asylum".
The singer had been in and out of hospital for the last two years after falling ill with Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a disease affecting the nervous system.
It is thought he may have had a heart attack earlier this month. His last Facebook message included a poem written just days before his death entitled The Final Ride
Mia Farrow
“When I first saw Mia
on the set I thought she was ravishing, just breathtaking. The New England
summer sun was hitting her face under this chiffon lilac hat and she looked
just like my father’s Daisy should look.” Frances
Scott Fitzgerald (daughter of Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald), after visiting
The Great Gatsby set in 1974
Gregory Powell dies
Gregory Powell dies. Powell was one of the notorious murderers whose 1963 slaying of an LAPD officer near Bakersfield was chronicled in Joseph Wambaugh's book "The Onion Field," Powell spent the rest of his life in prison for the crime.He was 79.
Monkees Tour: Band Announces
The Monkees will tour without Davy Jones, who passed away this year.
NEW YORK — The Monkees will perform their first live shows since star Davy Jones died in February.
Michael Nesmith, Micky Dolenz, and Peter Tork announced Wednesday that the group will launch a 12-date U.S. tour in November. It's the band's first tour since 1997.
Jones died of a heart attack on Feb. 29 at age 66.
The group starred in its own NBC television show in 1966 as a made-for-TV band seeking to capitalize on Beatlemania sweeping the world. Jones rocketed to the top of the music charts with The Monkees, captivating audiences with hits including "Daydream Believer" and "I'm a Believer."
The tour kicks off Nov. 8 in Escondido, Calif. It wraps on Dec. 2 in New York. It will highlight Jones "in the show's multimedia content."
An Evening With The Monkees - Fall Tour Announced
Twelve Exclusive Dates Announced For U.S
Michael Nesmith, Micky Dolenz, and Peter Tork return to the concert stage this November for a historic, twelve-date tour of the United States. These performances will mark their first concerts together since 1997. The jaunt kicks off at Escondido’s California Center for the Arts on November 8 and wraps at New York City’s prestigious Beacon Theatre on December 2.
The trio’s shows are set to feature a selection of their classic hits (such as “Last Train To Clarksville,” “I’m A Believer” and “Pleasant Valley Sunday”), deep cuts from their first five platinum albums (including some performed for the first time since the 1960’s) and fan favorites from the soundtrack to their cult film classic Head and their Emmy®-award winning television series. The show will encompass a full multimedia evening of music, rare films, and one-of-a-kind photographs.
Since the dates fall forty-five years on from their epic struggle to become legitimate music makers, the concerts will be highlighted by a set performed by just Nesmith, Dolenz and Tork. In 1967, the year the Monkees outsold the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, they issued two #1 albums (Headquarters and Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd) which primarily featured the Monkees as a self-contained, musical unit. Each evening’s trio set will showcase numbers from these albums and present the Monkees’ electric garage band sound that they developed on their mid-1960’s tours. To open and close the show, the Monkees will be augmented by a stellar crew of players to play the hand-picked setlist each evening.
These dates comprise the first U.S. Monkees tour to feature Michael Nesmith since 1969. He has reunited with the group over the years; his last stateside concert with the band was a rare private show in support of 1997’s Justus album. These dates also follow the unexpected passing of their musical comrade Davy Jones in February. Plans call for Jones to be saluted in the show’s multimedia content.
Although Davy’s absence will undoubtedly be felt by the Monkees and their fans, these concerts will be an opportunity to share their memories amidst the music and the movies that brought them together. Moreover, the band look forward to performing for their many new fans who have discovered their music through repeats of their TV show on Antenna television, classic rock radio, or via social media. One thing is for certain, these concerts will be a once-in-a-lifetime series of shows that are not to be missed.
The Monkees 2012 Tour Dates
November
8 - California Center for the Arts, Escondido, CA
9 - The Arlington Theatre, Santa Barbara, CA
10 - Greek Theatre, Los Angeles, CA
11 - Flint Center for the Performing Arts, Cupertino, CA
15 - State Theatre, Minneapolis, MN
16 - The Chicago Theatre, Chicago, IL
17 - Lakewood Civic Auditorium, Cleveland, OH
18 - The Center For The Arts, Buffalo, NY
29 - Keswick Theatre, Philadelphia, PA
30 - State Theatre Regional Arts Center, New Brunswick, NJ
December
1 - The Paramount, Huntington, NY
2 - The Beacon Theatre, New York, NY
