Copyright The Boston Globe
In the 1960s, the Monkees were all the rage. The quartet’s popular television show and chart-topping albums launched them into pop superstardom with hit songs including “Last Train to Clarksville,” “I’m a Believer” — both with lead vocals by drummer Micky Dolenz — and “Daydream Believer” — with Davy Jones as lead vocalist. The death of Michael Nesmith in 2021 left Dolenz, 80, as the only surviving member of the band. (Jones died in 2012, and Peter Tork in 2019.) And while he has collaborated, performed with, and sang covers of songs by many other artists throughout the decades — including releasing an EP in 2023 called “Dolenz Sings R.E.M.” — he said he loves performing and celebrating the songs he recorded with the Monkees. During a recent phone call, he said that people often tell him those songs are the soundtrack to their lives. Dolenz and his band — which includes, on vocals, his sister, Coco Dolenz — will perform at City Winery Boston on Nov. 11 and 12. The shows, “Of the Monkees — Songs and Stories,” will include popular Monkees numbers. “That’s a given at all of my shows. … People know they’re going to get the hits, which means I can also pepper the concert with other material, including some deeper cuts, songs by other artists, and stories related to the songs and artists,” he said. “It’s a lot of fun. It’s not a one-man show, but a rock ‘n’ roll concert.” Dolenz said he is looking forward to playing Boston, “eating a whole lot of seafood as many times as we can,” and visiting his daughter and her family, who live in a Boston suburb. We caught up with the Los Angeles native and father of four/grandfather of four — who lives in LA with his wife, Donna, an artist and retired flight attendant — to talk about all things travel. If you could travel anywhere right now, where would you go? There are very few places I’m passionate about going because I travel so much for work and have been to so many places. But there have been some special places that I like and have revisited. Japan is a good example — the history, the people, the food. … But really, I like being home or going to my little local lake, fishing, camping. … Not making a road trip or flying somewhere. Advertisement Do you prefer booking trips through a travel agent or on your own? My wife books things sometimes, but mostly my tour manager and head of operations handles travel plans — on tour and on vacation. Thoughts on an “unplugged” vacation? Not sure you’d call it a vacation, but all my life I’ve been an avid wilderness camper/trekker. When I was younger, I’d put on a 70-pound backpack and climb up Mount Whitney (in the Eastern Sierra Nevada mountain range in California), but now I have an off-road vehicle that I can drive out into the wilderness and go camping. I like to go to wilderness destinations, not campsites. I try to avoid heavily populated areas. What has been your worst vacation experience? It wasn’t a vacation, but the first time we were in Japan on tour, in 1968, there was a lot of turmoil going on in the world, including in the Far East. The Japanese government … had taken over a bunch of farmland outside of Tokyo to build an airport. There were huge protests, and somewhere along the line, protesters started blaming the West and Americans, and capitalism. We had a police escort from the airport to our hotel, and we thought that was cool — until we found out it wasn’t because of our fans — and we had, and still have to this day, a huge following in Japan — it was because there were death threats against us. I remember going to play at the Budokan, a huge concert hall, and there were all these shields around my drums … just in case. Advertisement What is your favorite childhood travel memory? Yeah, I have a couple of them, but I will just focus on one: When we were very young, my father took us — I was the oldest of four — camping. I remember the first time we caught a fish and cooked it right there at the campsite. I’ve been hooked ever since. Do you vacation to relax, to learn, or for the adventure of it all? Let’s call my camping trips my vacations. So not to learn. I would say relaxing, but fishing and camping out in the wilderness is a lot of work — but I really love that part of it. I love the survival element, and I don’t mean survival like staying alive. I mean having a water purifier, backup food in case I don’t catch any trout. … I love going where there aren’t any people, where you never see another human and you’re out of range for cellphone use. Now that I have grandchildren, I love taking them. What book do you plan on bringing with you to read on your next vacation? I can’t read books anymore. I used to read a lot, but now, my attention span, like a lot of people’s, sucks. With a book, I will keep trying to swipe the pages and click on links that aren’t there. So yes, I do a lot of reading online. I’m a big science geek; I’ve always loved science, physics, astrophysics … and I’m currently taking a course on philosophy and listening to a master class [taught by] Neil deGrasse Tyson. If you could travel with one famous person/celebrity, who would it be? I would say [Albert] Einstein because of my interest in science — especially my interest in physics. I would have 100 million questions for him and want to talk about time dilation and general relativity. Advertisement What is the best gift to give a traveler? Money, and absolutely first-class air transportation. And a membership for an airline lounge. What is your go-to snack for a flight or a road trip? When I’m driving, I like to eat sunflower seeds — low salt and shelled. And for flights, I don’t really snack. I try to eat a good meal before I take off. What is the coolest souvenir you’ve picked up on a vacation? I went to New Zealand with friends of my parents when I was a kid, and one of the coolest things I got — and still have to this day — was a ruler made out of all the different woods of New Zealand. It was made by Maori [artisans]. What is your favorite app/website for travel? There are a bunch of websites I use for camping, but my favorite is The Dyrt [app], which I use to find wilderness campsites. What has travel taught you? I would say the realization that even though we have different cultures, languages, behaviors … people are more alike than they are different. Like the French say, vive la difference. That’s what makes people unique and different and makes it interesting to go to other places, experience other cultures, eat different foods … different ways of living that are not better or worse — just different. What is your best travel tip? Make a packing list. I have lists of lists and find, especially in my case, where I will be literally home for two to three days, have to unpack, clean [my clothes] and things, and hit the road for another tour in another part of the world. The trick is not just having a list, but doing it by category, so, for instance, I have electronics, clothes, toiletries … and I have little check marks where I check the items I want to bring, then another check mark when I actually put it in the suitcase — not nearby, but in the suitcase. That has helped me enormously. Advertisement
