RIP Peter Tork

[beefheart]

Aw, this is sad. I knew that Peter was battling cancer and was not doing well, but still a bit stunned. I was able to see The Monkees a few years back when Mike Nesmith and Peter Tork and Mickey Dolenz were all together, it was a great and fun show.



https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/peter-tork-endearingly-offbeat-bassist-and-singer-in-the-monkees-dies-at-77/2019/02/21/479cf4ae-35ee-11e9-854a-7a14d7fec96a_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.a21f9520fb24

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 group’s 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 group’s psychedelic 1968 movie, “Head,” and “Your Auntie Grizelda.”

 

[Amelia]

This is going to hit my husband hard. We saw them several times on tour in the 90's. Travelled 500 miles for one of their concerts.

 

[tres borrachos]

Aw, this is sad. I knew that Peter was battling cancer and was not doing well, but still a bit stunned. I was able to see The Monkees a few years back when Mike Nesmith and Peter Tork and Mickey Dolenz were all together, it was a great and fun show.



https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/peter-tork-endearingly-offbeat-bassist-and-singer-in-the-monkees-dies-at-77/2019/02/21/479cf4ae-35ee-11e9-854a-7a14d7fec96a_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.a21f9520fb24

OMG! This is SO sad! He was awesome. An adorable moppet and a likeable man.

Rest well Peter. Say hi to Davy when you get there.

 

[beefheart]

OMG! This is SO sad! He was awesome. An adorable moppet and a likeable man.

Rest well Peter. Say hi to Davy when you get there.

Mickey was on Gilbert Gottfried's podcast (going to see his act tonite!) a few months ago and he was talking about how Peter wasn't doing so well. Fortunately, Nesmith is still in pretty good shape, he has had a few health scares as of late but is doing OK, he did the podcast a few years ago, he rarely does stuff like that.

If you ever get to see the film "Head", do so. It is a fun film, a total mess, but it has great music, and Frank Zappa is in it. The producers named the movie "Head" because, they wanted to advertise their next movie as "From the people that gave you "Head"":2razz:

 

[Rogue Valley]

Vocals, bass guitar, piano, keyboards, banjo.

RIP Peter Tork.

 

[Chomsky]

As the mid sixties' pop music scene morphed through 67's psychedelic explosion, and then the later sixties' anti-war "serious" music, it was so easy to dismiss the Monkee's bubble-gum pop fad moment. In fact, it was easy to look at them with disdain. But I always liked them. But then I always like The Turtles, too!