Hey, Hey: It's Micky, and Mickey

First up, Micky Dolenz of the Monkees, who was the star attraction at Monday night's annual We Are Family Foundation gala at the Hammerstein Ballroom. Micky fronted Nile Rodgers and Chic, played "I'm a Believer," "Last Train to Clarksville" and "Pleasant Valley Sunday" to a room full of boogie-ing, twisting, frug-ing adults, including Deepak Chopra (in a Nehru jacket), DJ Donna Cruz, songwriter/fundraiser Denise Rich and dozens of record company/media types.

The evening's honoree was Patti LaBelle, who reunited with Sarah Dash and Nona Hendryx to rock out on their 1975 hit, "Lady Marmalade." ...

There's another Mickey, with an "e." She's the 23-year-old dynamo daughter of Sting and Trudie Styler who is going forward full-force with her acting career. Mickey Sumner is her name and don't forget it. She looks more like a young Meryl Streep than Streep's actress-daughter, Mamie Gummer.

She's also very talented. Her mom and film-student brother, Jake, were in the standing-room-only audience on Sunday night at Anthology Film Archives to see a 30-minute short narrative film Mickey co-starred in with Corey Sullivan called "The Escapists," directed by Andrew Gori. (Sting had already left to begin rehearsals with the Police in Canada for the last leg of their tour, but he'd attended a private screening earlier.) She got raves.

I'm telling you, watch out for this family: Joe leads rock group Fiction Plane, Kate is already acting, Jake has just finished his first screenplay, and 17-year-old Coco is a fledgling rock star. She'll play at the Rainforest Foundation fundraiser on May 8 at Carnegie Hall along with some other famous kids: Ben and Sally Taylor, whose parents are Carly Simon and James Taylor. ...

As we all know, the 2008 Spring Arts and Music Festival is coming up this weekend. And this year's headline act is Mickey Dolenz, of The Monkees.

Since both Micky and I both have hectic schedules, it was a bit hard to get an extended interview with him. However I was able to quickly ask him a few short questions off the top of my head.

Read what he has to say below!

411 chats with Micky Dolenz

• How did you get the Hoboken Gig?
  I've been doing more and more shows each year … and, this event came into our view … and, we went for it. I love playing on the East Coast … so, here we are. Should be a terrific show … am really looking forward to it. I'm intrigued by the whole affair.
• Have you been to Hoboken before? If so, where did you go?
  I'm told I had a very good time … the last time. Truth is, it has been a while, but I know it will be terrific. Great audiences and fans there.
• What songs do you plan on singing at the festival? Would you take a request from Hoboken residents?
  When I play live, I believe I have a responsibility with the audience to play the old songs … and, play them the same way. No reggae version of "Last Train To Clarksville." Actually, we have a few surprises in store too. As far as requests go … let's see what happens.
• I understand you are also a film director. What do you enjoy more? Performing or directing?
  I enjoy them both equally. Directing is another thing entirely … I love directing and intend to do more. Its working another set of muscles, if you will. Just like Broadway, which I'm doing more and more of, AIDA, PIPPIN' … it is a great exercise.
• What's going on with the Hall of Fame? What will it take to get you inducted? How can we help you?
  The Rock & Roll thing is a private club … and, we've not yet been invited to the party.
• If you're still performing in the year 2016, will there be a 50 year Monkees reunion?
  I've learned 'never to say never.'

Thanks Micky, we look forward to hearing some of your classics this weekend! Weather looks perfect too!

JOURNAL ARTS EDITOR

While fans may cherish Micky Dolenz's career as a drummer for The Monkees, the celebrated 1960s made-for-television band, eye-opening entries on the entertainer's resumé may surprise you.

Did you know Dolenz finished second to Henry Winkler in auditions for the role of 'The Fonz' on the hit show "Happy Days"? Or that he was under heavy consideration to play The Riddler in the "Batman Forever" film? And who knew that in the early 1980s, he directed a stage show featuring a 14-year-old who would later become an Oscar winner. Her name: Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Indeed, there are other shades that color Dolenz. However, when he performs as a headliner at this weekend's annual Hoboken Arts and Music Festival, he'll stick to his bread and butter script: making magical Monkees music.

"I am quite careful about doing the Monkees' songs as people remember them," Dolenz says. "I don't do medleys or change the songs around. It was great fun when we were together as a band and doing those songs and it's great that I'm on my own doing them, too."

On the playlist, Dolenz may throw in a Chuck Berry number he used in his Monkees' audition years ago. Or perhaps a song from the catalog of Jimi Hendrix, who - in case you didn't know - opened for a Monkees' tour back in the 1960s.

"I do a little bit of 'Purple Haze,'" Dolenz says of his current solo act that features his sister, Coco Dolenz, as a background singer.

"We do stuff our mom taught us as kids," Dolenz says of his sister.

Now 63, Dolenz was a mere 6-year-old kid when he had his first screen test. When asked to measure where The Monkees' show ranks in television lore, Dolenz demurely says he leaves that up to others to figure out.

"I'm way too close to it," he says. "Through the years, I believe the show has stood up well, and I'm proud of the work I did. But you could say the same thing about a show like 'I Love Lucy' or 'Star Trek.' It's hard to take things apart like that and reduce them."

However, Dolenz stresses that the show's success likely rests in a script built around the group's earnest yet fruitless attempts to make it big.

"We were an out-of-work garage band trying to get work," he says. "We wanted to be The Beatles. That struggle for success, I believe, endeared people to us. There was a sense of camaraderie among us."

Since the early 1980s, Dolenz and his Monkees bandmates - Davy Jones, Mike Nesmith and Peter Tork - have performed in a series of reunion concerts; the last one was in 2001.

Could another reunion of The Monkees be in the works? Don't bank on it, Dolenz says.

"However, I've learned to never say never," he says. "Over the last few years, people have inquired, but I've really been unavailable to do it. You know, we are all free agents. It usually takes a promoter calling us up and saying, 'Do you guys want to get together?'"

Unfortunately, reruns of The Monkees' shows seem like your best shot of ever seeing the tightly-knit quartet as it once was.

"I've bumped into Peter (Tork) a few times but haven't talked to Davy (Jones) much in a while," Dolenz says. "But, you know, we don't live in the same corners of the world anymore."