by Jeannie E. Roberts
The Monkees Farewell Tour with Michael Nesmith & Micky Dolenz
Sunday, November 14, 2021, The Greek Theatre, Los Angeles CA
It was 1967, the year deafening screams overpowered the St. Paul
Auditorium as The Monkees performed for us and thousands
of other teeny boppers. I was eleven and lucky enough to attend
the concert with my older sister, Mary, and our neighbor friends,
Linda and Lisa. I recall wearing a mod-style dress, a shapeless
shift with vertical stripes in red and yellow. My purse matched
and attached to a faux gold, chain-link handle. I felt hip
in my tween-modernness as I waited to hear my favorite song
“Daydream Believer.” Instead, an audience of shrieking girls
made inaudible the four young men on stage. Even so,
their goofy antics offered a visual component to the performance.
Like their TV show, the band members wore capes
as they leapt across the proscenium with youthful effervescence.
After an hour or more of ear-piercing noise,
our hearing wasn’t quite the same. Still, it was worth it.
I liked Michael, the tall, introspective Monkee, the 12-string
electric guitar player who wore a forest green wool hat
with pompom. Hired for his vast musical talent, he was also a poet.
To me, Michael Nesmith seemed kind, thoughtful, and authentic,
in the end, qualities that really matter.
Jeannie E. Roberts lives in Wisconsin, where she writes, draws and paints, and often photographs her natural surroundings. She’s authored seven books, five poetry collections and two illustrated children's books. Her newest collection, As If Labyrinth - Pandemic Inspired Poems, was released by Kelsay Books in April of 2021. Her poems appear in Anti-Heroin Chic, Sky Island Journal, The New Verse News, and elsewhere. She’s an animal lover, a nature enthusiast, a Best of the Net award nominee, and a poetry editor of the online literary magazine Halfway Down the Stairs.