Tribute to Davy Jones

When I walked out of the living room just now the image frozen on the TV was of a woman around my age with her arms up in the air. I paused the DVD to cry, & come write this. The DVD is the 2002 summer live concert tour of the Monkees. Davy Jones had just sung "Girl." During the song a woman was standing up, had made her way down the aisle to the stage. Davy got down on his knees, leaned down & hugged & kissed her. In that moment, he created one of the biggest if not the biggest thrill of her life, a dream come true. I can only imagine, & have more times than I can count.

I was probably 10 when the first episodes aired. Usually I was the last one to catch on to anything of my age group & peers but not the Monkees. The advance publicity was so big that I watched the first episode & every one thereafter. For me, it was all about Davy. My first teen (well, almost) crush. When they began touring, I ached to go to a concert, for them to come to my town. And they did, after I moved halfway across the country, to a place they'd just been. I never got to see them back then.

I have all the original albums. I used to play them constantly, & took great care of them. I had a friend who adored Jack Lord (Hawaii 5-O) & we'd take turns playing the show & the Monkees, every other day for an entire summer. By then I was 13. I'd buy every teen magazine & I saved the posters of Davy - still have them too. Now I have it all the music on CD but I won't get rid of my albums. One of my favorite albums, "Pool It," came out in the 1990s I think. Haven't been able to find it on CD.

I have VCR tapes of Davy in interviews & shows in the years after the Monkees went off the air. During a time of reruns, I tried to tape every episode, had them all cataloged. I never got over my crush. As he aged, so did I. He took excellent care of himself & stayed a great performer. I got to go to my first concert in 1986. The Monkees (minus Mike, never seen him with them) were also in concert with Gary Puckett & the Union Gap & another group or two. I know it was 1986 because I was very pregnant with my son & he kicked so hard during the Monkees portion that I wondered if he would be born that night.

I got to 2 more Monkees concerts in the years that followed, & one in which Davy performed solo. He shared the concert with Peter Noone, & Bobby Sherman, a later crush of mine. In 1988 I stood in line for hours to see Davy at a book signing & have my picture taken with him. I made friends with the woman in line behind me, & she was president of his local fan club. Soon after that I got my 2 year old & my 7 year old up in the middle of the night to drive from Annapolis to Baltimore to pick her up. Then we drove all the way up to Cherry Hill, New Jersey to again wait in line for many hours to see Davy again. This time he autographed one of the pictures & I gave him a gift for the baby his wife was about to deliver. A few months later I received a hand-written thank you note from him!

I was nuts to make the Cherry Hill trip with the kids but they were such troopers. Davy was especially pleased to see my young son. He loved children, babies. The reason why I made that trip was how he acted at the first book signing. Davy Jones truly loved & appreciated his fans. He was loving & gracious, the whole package. He was such a great performer. Watching the DVD reminds me again of what a great showman he was & how much he loved performing, what a great show he always put on. He brought us so much joy, & really gave of himself to the audience. I also loved his sense of humor. I love people that laugh at themselves. He was a serious performer who didn't take himself too seriously.

I read his autobiography cover to cover. I truly wanted to know him, the man. I believe I also read it more than once. I truly loved him. I just can't quite grasp that he's gone. He was going to visit his horses when he had the heart attack. They were one of his great loves, as we were, as were his children I believe. Oh how I wanted to be one of his great loves! (Or in truth, to even have just a one-night-stand with him!) But you know, as one of his adoring fans who got to interact with him for a few moments, I guess I truly was one of his great loves.

Performers are not the characters they play. It can be quite disappointing when you find out that a performer you admire is nothing like the wonderful characters they play. I'm not an autograph hound or star-struck & never have been, although I've certainly crushed on some. I've also gotten to meet & more than meet a bunch of stars - musicians, actors, singers, Cal Ripken. I have to really admire the person as a person as well as the performances to really be impressed, stand in line, make the trip. The trip to Cherry Hill was worth every minute driving, taking care of the kids, & standing in line. I'd do it again tomorrow if I could. But now I won't have the chance ever again. I'm very sad. I know women in my age range, & even younger ones, are mourning our loss.