RIP Davy Jones

So about an hour ago I saw a tweet about Davy Jones being dead, I have to say I was pretty surprised by it.  For those of you who don’t know who Davy Jones was, I’ll give a short explanation.  Jones was a member of a pop rock band that was put together for a TV show named the Monkees, I believe they were the first completely fabricated band, many have appeared since then.  The thing with the Monkees was that originally only one could play an instrument or write, Davy wasn’t that one, hey usually played the tambourine or sang.  By the end of the show, they were all playing their own instruments.  Funny, in today’s world of pop music, no one seems to play their own music, but back then it was kind of a big deal.  So, in tribute to him (I always liked some of his music) I thought I would do a little tribute.

Jones was born in Manchester England in 1945.  His first acting gig was on Coronation Street, a very popular and long running soap opera, when he was 11.  Sadly, when he was 14, his mother passed away.  He soon left acting and due to his short stature, 5’3″, he started training as a jockey.

Eventually he returned to acting and played The Artful Dodger in Oliver!  After the London run of Oliver! he also starred in the Broadway version in the states, this led to him being on Ed Sullivan.  Lucky for him, it was the same show The Beatles were on, and as a young lad standing on the side of the stage watching The Beatles and seeing the girls go crazy, he decided that he wanted that.  Because of the Sullivan appearance he was noticed by Columbia Pictures who then signed him to a contract, also, at the same time he recorded an album for Colpix Records, while Davy couldn’t play instruments (well at least not well) he could sing.

Shortly after the record and signing with Columbia, in 1965, he joined the cast of the Monkees.  his popularity sky rocketed and girls everywhere loved him, giving him his wish from that day on the Ed Sullivan show.  The TV show that Monkees ran for 3 years and went off the air in 1968, but by this time the group including Davy could all play there own instruments and continued to record.  They even had there own movie, Head.  The movie was no where near successful, I’ve never scene it and I really don’t have plans to but apparently it has become a cult hit.

Davy continued to tour and record throughout most of his life, putting on a great show and playing a mix of classics from the Monkees catalog as well as from his own records.  I believe he even had a stint in Vegas.  There were multiple Monkees reunions also, some with others without the full line up.  There was even a new album in 1996.  The band reunited, all of the members, for the first time in along time, in 2011 for a North American tour and UK tour that was successful.  Sadly some dates were to be rescheduled for 2012, but with the death of Davy Jones, from a heart attack today, those shows may never occur.

So there it is, the short version.  Davy Jones accomplished quite a lot in his time, and both he and the Monkees influenced many current and past bands.  If you don’t know who The Monkees or Davy Jones are, why not give them a listen.  The most notable tracks would probably be, Last Train to Clarksville (one of my favs), I’m a believer (which was remade for one of the shrek movies by Smashomouth), (I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone (another of my favs) and A Little bit Me, A Little bit You.

Well, I hope you’ve read enough to be a little interested in The Monkees and Davy Jones.  RIP Davy and I’d like to thank everyone for reading.

John

What did we learn this week? week 3

Well, its Friday, so it’s another edition of what did we learn this week? Well first off…..

Incest might not be best…..but it might be the only choice in Iceland!  Apparently its hard to find someone to date….in Iceland.  The population is so small, roughly the size of Pittsburgh, that people will sometimes start dating someone only to find that they are a long lost relative!  So to help this problem some very nice people have started a searchable database…for the link to the full story please visit my good friend, anacristina79’a blog at http://anacristina79.wordpress.com/2012/02/11/icelanders-avoid-inbreeding-through-online-incest-database/

I now pronounce you sausage and green peppers.  If you and your significant other are really into pizza and have 10k you now can have Pizza Hut take care of that pesky ring for you with their engagement package.   Yup you heard right.  Want to know more? Once again anacristina79 can be thanked for this one!  http://anacristina79.wordpress.com/2012/02/13/pizza-huts-10000-engagement-party-package-includes-a-ring-fireworks-and-pizza/

From the “you can never have enough bacon” department.  Well I love bacon, but I even think this goes a bit far.  Apparently Jack in the Box now is offering an extremely limited time bacon shake….yup you read that right.  They didn’t say how limited, so if you’re a bacon fan and want one you might want to visit the Jack in the Box website to find out where to get your fix!

Whitney Houston died? What should we do? Well if your the same company I bitched at last week for not offering a UMD game exchange program in the US (yeah I’m talking about you Sony!) you raise the prices on her CD’s, well at least until you get caught!  Sony put the prices back then apologized but seriously Sony wise up will ya?  The link can be found here at my friend anomic office drones blog, if you want the full story http://anomicofficedrone.com/2012/02/13/you-stay-classy-sony/

For all of you Grateful Dead fans with….cough….cough…. Glaucoma…The US is close to legalizing medical marijuana everywhere as long as it abides by the Washington DC rules….I would tell you more about it, but to be honest typing this is making me hungry so head over to http://anacristina79.wordpress.com/2012/02/14/congress-oks-medical-marijuana-everywhere-with-dc-rules-attorney/ for the link to the full story!

D’oh! Guess who got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame?  That’s right Chelsea Handler…..er no….wait….I mean Matt Groening!  Yup the creator of The Simpsons and Futurama has finally been awarded his very own star on the walk of fame.  I may not be a huge fan of the last few seasons, but I love the older ones and think this star was a long time coming and well deserved, kudos Matt!   For more check out http://anomicofficedrone.com/2012/02/14/matt-groening-just-got-a-star-on-the-hollywood-walk-of-fame/

The Godfather part 4, What do you do if you’re a Sicillian drug dealer on the run from the Sicilian mafia…..er…..government?  Well if you’re an idiot like Michele Grasso, you run to London then post pictures of your escapades showing famous places….oh did I mention he even labeled a photo album Christmas in London?  Yup pure genius and now you can guess who’s being extradited back to Sicily.  The full article is over here at my other good friend Danny Carbons blog http://dannycarbon.com/2012/02/15/sicilian-fugitive-deported-after-london-whereabouts-revealed-on-facebook/

They do exist! Well according to Timothy Good anyway.  The best part? He says that Eisenhower had 3 secret meetings with them! Yup, he appeared on a BBC2 program discussing it.  The article also has some other info, how true it is I don’t know but its a good read! So check it out over at Ray Alex’s http://reinep.wordpress.com/2012/02/15/former-us-president-eisenhower-had-three-secret-meetings-with-extra-terrestrials/ and enjoy!

Put them in the Iron Maiden! Yup you Bill and Ted fans know that statement, and also you know I ain’t talking about the torture device either!  Iron Maiden announced their Maiden England World Tour! Yup so look to see if they’re coming to a city near you!

Be honest, you didn’t really buy the electric car to save the world….did you?  Because if you did guess what?  You may be making it worse!  Yup, a study that focused 34 Chinese showed that the amount of fine particle emissions produced to make the electricity for the electric cars was worse then from regular cars.  If you want the full story the link can be found here http://anacristina79.wordpress.com/2012/02/15/study-shows-impact-of-electric-cars-is-worse-than-petrol-powered-vehicles/

Thanks to the good folks over at http://larryfire.wordpress.com/2012/02/15/did-you-know-that-it-costs-2-4-cents-to-make-one-penny/ I now know that it takes 2.4 cents to make a penny!!! what the F#$%? why are we still making them!? they can be found on any street in the union! pay the homeless and unemployed to pick them up and return them! I mean we actually lose money making the things, no wonder we’re broke, any way head over to the above link for the full story!

So I find its funny that everyone seems to focus on movie and music piracy hurting the respective industries, but why is no one talking about technology knock offs?  Well my friends at the Ramblings of a Techie blog discuss this very topic, http://theatretechgeek.wordpress.com/2012/02/17/chinese-rips-off-damaging-the-industry/  enjoy!

And on the lighter side….er darker side?  Forbes magazine put together a list of where exactly the Galactic Empire and Emperor Palpatine went wrong! So enjoy!

Oh, and the last thing I learned this week is that when UPS says 2 days guaranteed means “we’ll get it there when we damn well please”  I find it funny that a company that loves logistics they don’t know what the f they are doing.  See, my package shipped on the 15th, 2nd day air.  I live near Chicago so imagine my surprise when I saw it landed in Des Moines Iowa, instead of at Ohare airport, then hopped on a truck to go from Des Moines, back to….Des Moines! yup it departed then a half hour later arrived there again! then departed like 10 hours later to come to Chicago by truck! WTF happened to the air part of the 2nd day air?!  So once again, UPS is late getting me a package, and before you jump on me, the original date that THEY said it would be delivered was the 17th.  So UPS gets the middle finger award for the week!

Enjoy your weekend!

John