More Monkee Concert Reviews

Each year my husband, David and I participate in The Carl Wilson Foundation's Walk Against Cancer. It is a great event that happens each October in honor of Beach Boy Carl Wilson, who died in 1998 of lung & brain cancer at the age of 51. This is the 5th year of this event, which this year included a 3 mile walk in Santa Monica, an auction, beach party and benefit concert, starring Brian Wilson, Eric Clapton, Matthew Sweet and Sugar Ray. The foundation raises money for The City of Hope and other organizations, benefitting cancer research and cancer victims. David and I always have a great time at these events because it is a chance for fans to mingle with friends, musicians and family members of the Beach Boys. It has become a large extended family. This year, something totally unexpected happened. Saturday, I was up on a platform videotaping the auction which was nearing its end. All of a sudden I hear David calling my name from the table he was sitting at across the room. I knew it had to be important so I hurried to him. He whispered to me that Peter Tork was there! I didn't believe him at first, thinking he was hallucinating. But, David has been dragged to enough Monkees concerts to know the real thing and sure enough, there stood Peter talking with his girlfriend and a member of the Beach Boys tribute band, The Beach Toys. I tried to find something for him to sign--all of my Monkee memorabilia was at home, as this was strictly a Beach Boys event. I grabbed a card from the table--an advertisement for Beach Boys' offspring band, In Bloom, and nervously hurried over to Peter. Peter was in an excellent mood, smiling and laughing and had no problem in signing my autograp h. I was so nervous (even after all these years of meeting them in every part of the country) that all I could think of to say was, "I'm a huge Monkees fan". He said, "You're not so big" and proceeded to joke with me about how a lot of the Monkees fans are much larger than me. I touched Peter gently on the arm and told him that we (collective Monkee fans) missed him at the Monkees concerts. He looked flattered and was about to say something profound to me when we were interrupted. Ugh! Knowing Peter, it would have been something interesting. Anyway, I left him shortly after that--feeling euphoric that by some weird twist of fate I had gotten to see my favorite Monkee, even for just a short while. After the auction came the Beach Party. Every year, 2 long time Beach Boy musicians, Billy Hinsche and Jeffrey Foskett, lead the fans in a sing-a-long of requests. It's a lot of fun and fans are encouraged to participate with guitars or any other musical instruments. We basically just sit on the beach and sing our hearts out while they accompany us. I had hoped that Peter might stay for the beach party and he did. He seemed to love jamming with the musicians, even if he didn't always know the words. Everyone kept shouting out Monkee songs for him to play, including "Zilch" and "Your Auntie Grizelda". He finally did "I'm a Believer" and got a nice round of applause. It was just a joy to watch him having fun with some new friends on an exquisite Southern California day. Unfortunately, he was not in attendance at the benefit concert on Sunday night, but I'm thrilled that for a few moments, my 2 favorite interests came together.& nbsp; It was a wonderful weekend and I hope Peter makes future appearances at the Walk. --- Monique McCormick (mdmccormick@hotmail.com)