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I wrote this up in a Word Document last night but finished too late to try posting it here afterwards. I was hoping to have at least some of the pictures ready to post today too, but it looks like they're going to take at least another couple of days.


Micky and Coco Dolenz Live At the Rhythm On The River concert at

The Hebrew Home At Riverdale (NY) -- September 7, 2008 - 2:30 PM

This was a free, outdoor concert that is part of an annual Grandparents' Day festival and tradition at the Hebrew Home, which is a senior citizens' residence that includes both independent living and nursing care. It seemed an unlikely place for Micky to perform, but basically this festival is geared to get all the generations of residents' families together for a joyful experience, and it is also open to the public and probably brings a lot of good will and positive attention to the Home, as well as some money through sales of carnival tickets, food and snacks, flea market items, and crafts made by residents. Because this was a free, daytime, family-oriented event, I was able to bring my husband and kids along with me. My mother also joined us shortly before the concert began, along with one of my oldest friends (not oldest in age, but she and I have known each other since we were both in second grade, and she has become virtually part of our family).

It was a beautiful, sunny, warm (but not hot) day - absolutely picture perfect, which was a great relief, because yesterday it had rained miserably! Amazingly, though, the ground wasn't even wet when we got there this morning! I had been worried that it would be hard to get and save good seats for everybody, but it turned out to be pretty easy. We got there early enough in the day to stake out front row seats (about 11:30 AM, after the festival had officially opened at 11 AM, and the concert was scheduled for 2:30 PM) and one or some of us would usually be around to hold onto the seats (6 seats total, so we placed various belongings on the ones we weren't sitting on) while the others participated in other events at the festival. There were food, rides, and games, and the grounds there are strikingly beautiful, overlooking the Hudson River with the New Jersey Palisades on the other side of the river. Our seats were originally in the shade of a lovely, sweeping, weeping willow tree, though by the time the concert started, the sun had shifted in the sky and we were sitting in bright sunlight. (I'm ashamed to say that I had completely neglected to apply sunscreen to any of us before we left home or to bring any with us, so we did get a bit sunburned. We all had hats on, but my older son's arms got redder than I've ever seen them, and my nose and lips are feeling a bit of a sting tonight.)

After making sure that my husband and kids felt comfortably settled into the carnival area of the festival, I felt at ease enough to sit and watch the band doing soundcheck. Wayne Avers (lead guitarist) and Sandy Gennaro (drummer) were there, and they had someone new (a woman) on keyboards and of course, a new bass player. I never did catch their names. I was disappointed not to see Dave (Loafy) Alexander, but the keyboardist did a good job. Later, after the concert and autograph-signing, I had a chance to talk to Wayne a little bit and asked him about Loafy. He told me that Dave wasn't feeling well today but was still in the band and that this was the new keyboardist's first gig with them. (I could sort of tell during soundcheck that they seemed to be kind of going over the ropes with her about the way they do things, but she picked up on it all and did just great.) I told him I hoped Dave would feel better soon and also expressed my sympathy regarding the loss of Jerry Renino.

Coco joined the soundcheck process after a while, and I heard her do snippets of both "Different Drum" and "White Rabbit." Someone cried out in disappointment when the song stopped, and she responded in what sounded to me like it may have been an attempt at a New York accent and with some appropriate hand waving: "Later!" (Late-uh!) It's sort of hard to explain, but it was cute. A guy who looked to be about my age, wearing a Peace sign T-shirt, came over and started talking to Coco after she finished the little bit of "White Rabbit," saying, "I never thought I'd hear that song done at an old age home!" and then going on to discuss certain ways in which he felt our current era was similar to the 60s. She seemed perfectly willing to talk to him, so I felt emboldened to go over and talk to her myself after he had walked away. I introduced myself, shook her hand, and told her that I was a big fan of hers and Micky's and that I had seen them perform together a few times. I started to say more, but then the band started up with another song, and she indicated that we'd have to postpone the conversation until later. Sure enough, she allowed me to approach her again after soundcheck, and we had a chance to chat for a few minutes. I introduced her to my family, and she took an interest in my 14-year-old son's beach-tag-covered hat, so we explained what that was all about. My husband asked if she would pose for a picture with me, to which request she graciously obliged, and my husband actually managed to snap two pictures - one with and one without my sunglasses. I asked her if she thought we'd get a chance to talk to both her and Micky after the show, and she said yes. Unfortunately, she didn't come out later on when Micky did the meet-and-greet after all, so I was extra happy that I'd gotten up the nerve to talk to her before the show and that my husband had had the foresight to get those pictures. From my experience with her I would say that she is every bit as kind, sweet and gracious as others here have described her before, and I was so glad that I finally had a chance to meet her! (She also totally rocked the house with both "Different Drum" and "White Rabbit" - but more on that later.) I felt bad that I didn't get a chance to talk to Sandy Gennaro, because I didn't see him after the show, and when I might have had a chance to say something to him before the show, it was when I was talking to Coco.

About a half hour or so before the concert started, I recognized Jen (Pickwickian) walking by and called out to her. We greeted each other, and then she introduced me to Miki (FrodisCaper), whom I'd heard so much about but hadn't met before. I introduced them briefly to my family, and we also had a chance to talk further and take some pictures together after the show. Soon after that my mother and friend arrived, and my whole family began to settle into our seats to watch the Grandparents' Day presentations. Several local politicians spoke and introduced the winners of the "Grandmother of the Year" awards. The winners were selected on the basis of essays written by their grandchildren, and I have to say that all of the essays were really quite moving, and it was a nice presentation. And then… without further ado, the band came on and a member of the event staff introduced Micky!

The concert was fantastic! I wasn't checking the time, but this concert was scheduled to last about an hour, and I'm sure it was at least that long. Here is the set list:

Micky entered as the band played The Monkees' Theme

1. That Was Then, This Is Now

2. A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You

3. She

4. Words

5. Sometime In The Morning

6. Last Train To Clarksville

7. Johnny B. Goode

8. Purple Haze

9. The Girl I Knew Somewhere

10. Different Drum - Coco

11. I'm Not Your Steppin' Stone

12. Goin' Down

13. White Rabbit - Coco

14. Oh Darlin'

15. D.W. Washburn

16. Daydream Believer

17. Pleasant Valley Sunday

Encore:

18. Gimme Some Lovin'

19. I'm A Believer

I had jotted down some of the songs I had heard the band doing during soundcheck, and one of them was "For Pete's Sake," but Micky didn't perform that one after all. It could be that the show was running a little long and they didn't have enough time for it.

Micky and Coco both looked and sounded great! Micky was in great vocal form and definitely looked slimmer than he did the last time I saw him. I was so impressed with his ability to move and dance around on stage and to give his all to a long performance, wearing all black (including a hat and jacket over a T-shirt) out in the bright sunshine on a warm day! He did take off his hat briefly to wipe his sweat with a towel every now and then - and yes, as he'd done at the concert Nora, Tom and Molly went to, he joked after pretending to be about to throw the towel out into the crowd: "No way, man. I'm gonna sell it on e-bay! Genuine Monkee sweat!" A few songs later he did throw that towel to someone in the audience, but not in my direction. He had another one standing by to use for the rest of the concert, but I don't think he ever threw that one. I also noticed that he took a little break after "Goin' Down" (which must be really hard to perform!) and went offstage for a bit while Coco sang "White Rabbit." That seemed to me to be a very sensible way of pacing himself and getting a little rest before coming back on to do another half dozen songs. I have to say that as much as I enjoy seeing Youtube videos of Monkee performances (and I hope there will be some from this concert), the ones I've seen and heard simply cannot do justice to the way Micky, Coco and the band actually sound live. They are phenomenal! I remember how wowed I was by Coco's performance of "Different Drum" at B.B. King's in 2005, and her rendition today was at least as good, if not better, and so was her performance of "White Rabbit." I have a CD of her singing some much softer style songs, and of course I loooove her harmonies with Micky on the "She'll Be There" demo, but she can also really belt out these rocker types of tunes with the best of them, and after she sang each one, I could overhear several people in the audience commenting on what a great performance she did! I also felt a greater appreciation than ever at this concert (perhaps because I was sitting so close?) of the spectacular talents of Wayne Avers and Sandy Gennaro.

I realized tonight while writing this that I had never seen a full-length Micky/Coco solo show before. When I saw them at B.B. King's, it was as part of the Micky Dolenz In The Morning 100^th show WCBSFM live radio broadcast, which, though four hours long, also featured a lot of other entertainers and general DJ stuff with Micky's & Coco's performances with the band interspersed between the other acts and events. When I saw them in Westbury, Long Island, they were one out of several featured acts for the evening, so they didn't do a full-length show then either. Another difference I just realized is that Micky's band did not have the horn section that it had when I saw them both times in 2005. I'm not sure if this is a permanent change in the make-up of the band or if it just depends on the venue or the availability of the musicians. Perhaps someone here who has been to a lot of Micky concerts would know? It was also awesome to be in the front row, not very far away from a relatively low stage! I really felt an almost intimate connection to the performers onstage, even though they were playing to a rather sprawling crowd of hundreds, spread about a large outdoor area. And the energy and enthusiasm of the crowd was wonderful - especially considering that the venue was the lawn of an old age home! Some of the people sitting near me (including my mother) were indeed senior citizens and many behind me were certainly residents of the home and their family members, but there were plenty of young families, middle-aged singles, couples and families, teenagers and basically people of all ages there too. I don't know if anyone else in the crowd besides Jen, Miki and me were diehard Monkees/Micky fans or not, but that didn't matter. There were lots of people who were pleased to count themselves as Monkees fans when Micky asked, and the enthusiasm of the crowd made it clear that they were all enjoying the performance! There were a few little kids who got up and danced on the grass in front of the stage during a few of the songs, and Micky seemed to really appreciate them. At one point when he didn't see them he asked, "what happened to my little group of dancers here?" But actually I think the only reason they'd stopped dancing at that point was that he'd stopped singing and was in the middle of one of his stories or something!

Several of the songs Micky sang this time were different too, and I had never heard him do them live before. I was absolutely thrilled that he did "Sometime In The Morning," which is one of my all-time favorite Micky songs - and did it beautifully, I might add! And I was equally thrilled with "She," which is one of my favorites in the Micky "rocker" category and "Words" (Wayne Avers sang Peter's part), which is another one of my favorite Monkees songs! "D.W. Washburn" has never been one of my favorite Monkees songs, but the way he and Coco perform it live, I am incredibly glad that they've added it to their concert repertoire! He introduced it after talking a bit about his experience on Broadway in Aida and in the Goodspeed Opera House production of Pippin and mentioned that it is a Lieber and Stoller song which he had been surprised to discover featured in a Broadway musical some years back. The way he performs it now it is absolutely Broadway style, and I just loved it! As a matter of fact, I remember seeing a video from an earlier era (I forget which) on Youtube in which he appeared with one or two of the other Monkees and did "D.W. Washburn," and I found myself loving it then too! I think it's the kind of song that really lends itself to live performance -- and once you've seen and loved it live, you are bound to appreciate the recording much more ever after!

For those who have seen Micky in concert before, seen Youtube clips of some of his concert performances, or read other reviews of Micky concerts, you may realize that a lot of his banter and stories stay the same from one concert to another. Many of his jokes and introductions were already familiar to me, but there were some subtle changes even in some of those. For example, he did his usual intro to a Beatles song about being "invited to visit the Royal Family in England -- no not that Royal Family, the other royal family - The Beatles!" When he described how he got all dressed up in his best hippie finery for his visit to Abbey Road Studios, he added touches such as "tie-dye underwear" and commented that he must have looked like "a cross between Ronald McDonald and Charles Manson!" This time he sang "Oh Darlin'." I have heard him do the same intro before to introduce "Good Morning, Good Morning," and in his autobiography he said that he honestly couldn't even remember which song they played for him because he was just so awed by it all, so I guess he sort of takes "poetic license" to use that intro for any Beatles song he chooses to perform. It's a good story, after all, and worth keeping in the act even when he decides to alter his setlist. Also, he usually lowers the microphone when he sings one of Davy's songs to indicate Davy's smaller stature. I've seen him do that while introducing "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You." This time he did it for "Daydream Believer." He also lowered it about as low as it could go and then actually bent down and pretended to sing into it that way for a second before lifting it up again! I don't think I'd ever seen him do that bit quite that way before.

A note about me. I tend to have a lot of anxiety leading up to events that I really look forward to, and this one was certainly no exception. However, once I got there and realized that things were going pretty smoothly, I was able to relax and just have a whole lot of fun! I was probably grinning and dancing in my seat like a goofball throughout the whole concert, but I was just so happy to be there, listening to the music I love, performed by entertainers whom I love and admire, surrounded by the family I love and just having a ball! I was also wearing my "Micky Dolenz In The Morning" T-shirt, and I know that my enthusiasm caught the eye (and the lens) of several photographers who were roaming around, including one from a local newspaper who came over and talked to me at one point. It also completely embarrassed my 10-year-old son, who was sitting next to me, but he admitted later that it really hadn't been that bad until the encore when everyone stood up, and several people danced, so I started to dance standing up and wanted him to dance with me too! He was having none of that, but my other son obliged, and it was a lot of fun! My whole family loved the concert and had a great time, and I felt so good about being able to share it with them! My husband was mostly in control of the camera and took a lot of pictures, and that kept me free to just sit and enjoy the concert and savor each song without having to deal with the distraction of picture-taking.

Afterwards, Micky did a meet-and-greet in two stages. First, there was a line to buy merchandise and get Micky's autograph, and then there was a second line in a slightly different location for picture-taking. When it was my turn for an autograph, I presented him with the Pippin poster that I'd gotten when I went to see him in Pippin at the Goodspeed Opera House. He seemed really surprised and pleased to see it, and since the poster has a black background, I had brought along my own silver Sharpie for him to use to sign it. He acknowledged that and used it, signing the poster perfectly in the center, below the words "An Extraordinary Musical" and then handing my pen back to me, saying, "here's your pen." "Thanks," I answered. (Duh.) My husband was with me and we both told him how much we loved Pippin and how good he was in it, and I mentioned that I'd brought that poster along today since I hadn't had an opportunity to meet him and ask him to sign it the night we saw him in the show.

When it was picture-taking time, Micky was nice enough to allow me to pose with him in two pictures - one with my husband and kids and one with my friend and my mother. I'd actually wanted to have one family picture that included my mother and one with just Micky, my friend and me, but my mother wanted to take the family picture with her camera for some reason, so then I made sure to include her in the other picture. J In between getting his autograph and the picture-taking, I walked around taking other pictures of Micky signing autographs and talking to people. Sometime around there is when I got a chance to talk to Wayne Avers also and tell him what a great musician I think he is and how great the whole band sounds, and I had some photo opportunities with him too. The festival was pretty much closing up after that, and my family was getting impatient to go home, so after spending a bit more time talking with Jen and Miki, off I went, feeling good and glad to have had such a wonderful day! J