1 So...Davey Jones walks into a bar...
2 I've few words. Great, spirited entertainer and a wonderful band that was seemingly invented and then who made their own mirth.
3 Sad. Especially when a heart attack grabs someone.
4 Thoughts go out, and all the rest.
5 Another fond memory dissipates for a moment, but grows with time.
6 A great piece of trivia about Davey Jones is that he had been cast in Oliver! at a theater in the West End of London, and was actually nominated for a Tony Award before he was ever a Monkee.
7 He eventually landed on Broadway. On February 9, 1964, he appeared with the Broadway cast of Oliver! on the Ed Sullivan Show. Interestingly, that cast took a back seat to another act:The Beatles, who made their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show that very same night.
8 According to Wiki, Jones purportedly said, "I watched the Beatles from the side of the stage, I saw the girls going crazy, and I said to myself, 'This is it, I want a piece of that! ' "
9 I remember thinking that although the Monkees were clearly a teevee clone of the Beatles, that each actor still had to have enough talent to get the part. It was an odd thing, and somehow it worked.
10 Jones actually sang lead on many of their hits, including the classics I Wanna Be Free, and of course, Daydream Believer.
11 It is the middle of the night, as always, so my statistics are at best hazy, but I remember a concert perhaps ten or twelve years ago at Candlestick Park in which the Monkees played pre-game, and they absolutely blew me away. They played a mini-concert, but it was filled with nostalgic tunes mixed with some amazingly jazzy numbers. Massively talented, and energizing. And at a Giants' game to boot.
12 When I heard yesterday's news, I must say that I stopped and stared at the online pics of Jones, who looked pretty good.
13 AnywayZ...
14 In 2004, when I was advisor to the Class of 2005, we made a float for FANTASTICS. Our chosen theme was Pirates. Along with colorful displays, a blow-up chick dressed as a pirate duct-taped to the front of the truck, and a bunch of jewelry and nonsense, we had a trunk with buried treasure, and a picture of Jones taped to it with a sign, "Davey Jones' Locker".
15 I knew almost nobody would get it, but still insisted we include it, even if it was a sort of inside joke.
16 So there ya go. Attention to detail, and it now means more to me than it ever did.
17 Davey Jones was a massive talent, and I hope somewhere up there he is still entertaining and enchanting people with his charm.
18 See ya man.
19 See ya.
20 Moving On, Part the First: 2004. Wow. That was eight years ago. Anyone feelin' it?
21 The world just stopped. I almost want to get off.
22 Moving On, Part Two: I wish I could report that my preparation for Teen Angel in Grease went well yesterday.
23 The song from Grease that I have to sing is Beauty School Dropout, a monster tune that moves from chest to head voice erratically. I had been given the 1998 revival version to practice, and wasn't too concerned with the crossovers. My voice handled it pretty well, not as well as I would have liked, but well enough that I got my breathing down.
24 I was much more concerned with lyrics. Anybody who knows me knows that I get paranoid about lyrics of songs I'm not that familiar with. I had heard Beauty School Dropout a million times, but never paid attention to the lyrics. Who would? It always seemed to me like a bit of a mean song.
25 It always seemed that it sort of badgered the character of Frenchy, who is actually a sweet, dumb sort of girl who just didn't know how to live.
26 The revival version has the character of Teen Angel delivering with a mockingly angry tone, almost implying that this misunderstood kid was akin to a "hooker".
27 At the risk of overthinking, I saw her from a teacher's perspective, a girl who wasn't given all the intellectual or social tools to deal with life, who wanted to be good at something, who failed, and who didn't even listen to her fantasy fairy godfather's advice to go back to high school.
28 The original score has the Teen Angel character much more sympathetic, despite some of the cruel lyrics. I won't go into a lot of detail, but these are things that actors have to deal with.
29 The other day, Kelly Shi, the brilliant actress playing Frenchy in our version, brought some amazing detail to the character, bringing in an insecurity and sadness that made me re-think the song.
30 Yesterday morning I was handed a CD of the original Broadway cast recording of the song, along with the piano accompaniment. I instantly put it in my computer and gave it a listen.
31 It was in a higher key than what I had practiced for the past month, and my first rehearsal is today.
32 Don't get me wrong; I assumed that I would have to do the original 1972 score, but it wasn't available on iTunes. It somehow never occurred to me to hit You Tube, because I wanted it in my iPhone. Sometimes I go stupid, and I think I went stupid on this one.
33 So I practiced it all yesterday during my prep period, and was REALLY insecure about being able to reach the notes today.
34 I was already struggling with the lyrics. I am convinced that my trouble with lyrics is psychological. I've always struggled with songs that are sort of vague, and that have complicated lyrics.
35 Even familiar classics like Hotel California, or American Pie. I could easily nail side two of Abbey Road, or any Sinatra tune. But there are certain songs that just haunt and taunt.
36 Yesterday I spent almost five hours working on Beauty School, and I'm sorry to say that it just got worse and worse. I had to re-work my breathing, and correcting my lyric errors, which increased ridiculously. I began forgetting the simplist things, like the third or fourth line that I had nailed two weeks ago.
37 I'm pretty sure that I was trying to do too much, adjusting to the higher key, the breathing, and the lyrics. But it was also a case of allowing lyric demons to fly into my head on every single line.
38 When you learn a complicated song like that, you have to stay focused, and you have to concentrate on the next line as you are singing the previous line, at least early into a tune.
39 And there are certain songs that have the devil in them. Beauty School Dropout is one such song. So is Hotel California.
40 I'm certain that with a little more time, I could completely nail this one, but as of right now, I was ready to tell David to get another guy. I nailed it twice, but must have messed up over fifty times.
41 Pretty disheartening.
42 I even tried directing myself. The trouble was that I wasn't consistently missing in the same areas. After I got into a pattern of expecting lines to interrupt, it became a self-fulfilling prophecy, a demon that must needs be conquered.
43 As a role model, I am upset with myself, because I wanted to go in today and show the students how it's done.
44 After all this preparing and practicing, I still am not sure if I have it or not. I had to stop last night, because I saw the pattern, and assumed it was the result of putting too much pressure on myself. Another hour would have resulted in still more random interruptions and nonsense. I knew that, and broke down the mic and amp and all the rest.
45 I know from experience that practice does indeed make perfect, but I also know when to stop and give myself time to gather it all together.
46 That's what performers do. That's what winners do. And yet, I still didn't hit the deadline for the tune. At least not as of this writing.
47 I have a long day ahead. I need to teach, and I need to practice before my rehearsal.
48 It is daunting. It is a good sort of daunting, because it's just a silly song.
49 We'll see how it goes.
50 Wish me luck.
51 I apologize to all the people I used to kick in the ass for not trying hard enough. It's probably pretty refreshing karma for a lot of you. Hey, I deserve it. I used to throw the kitchen sink at people, sometimes literally.
52 For the record, I'm much calmer these days, and at the other end of the situation.
53 Thank you for all your wonderful performances over the years. I always loved taking all the credit for your talent!
54 I say this boldly, and with absolute glee.
55 Show biz, folks.
56 Hope I turned this into a lesson.
57 Gotta go. I'll report back.
58 Peaceout, homies.
~H~
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