In Part Four, we get into some really cool in-depth stuff about Davy trying to keep up with his image and the pressures of stardom. Very open and admits that it was never easy being Davy Jones.
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| "Give her an autograph and tell her, it's been nice knowing you..." (from "Star Collector," written by Carole King). |
The fans. There are several documented acts of kindness Davy has shown towards his devotees. the one involving the girls whom he visited in Phoenix after they were nearly killed crossing the streets with their Monkees albums is legendary.
In They Made a Monkee Out of Me, Davy wrote how he was hailed a hero for that incidnet but soon forgotten afterwards. The image Hollywood created for him was soon abandoned when the Monkee's star began to fade (about the time their movie, Head flopped and it was revealed that Davy had secretly been married for over a year and had an infant daughter.
"You don't want to be the person who doesn't live up to that image," he says. "I have very little respect for celebrities who say, 'I don't want to sign. I don't want to do this.' I've been this face now for 30 years. There's not a time I walk through an airport or down the street that somebody doesn't say, 'Hey, Davy Jones!' I'm always answering questions.
"It's no big hardship to me. But there are times you need to escape, like when I go to my home in Pennsylvania. It's very remote. There's only about 800 people living there. People say, 'Why do you live there? Why not Hollywood?
"Well, I have an apartment in Santa Barbara, but I rarely spend any time there. I like to be away from it. There's no happier time I have than when I'm brushing over my horses, wallpapering, painting or fixing the roof.
"There was a time I went to the bottle and went to excess. It was because I was rebelling against my own commitment of having to do this celebrity thing. I would no sooner have ended up in the gutter if not for having aunties, uncles, and sisters who are still telling me, 'Don't come back here with a big head. You're still David. You're still our little brother.' So I'm still pretty sound on who I am.
"They say you always lose your first fortune in rock and roll, and most people do. They don't realize the expenses that have been incurred for them to be who they are, and they just flow with it. They make $300,000 videos and they drive in limousines and stay at silly hotel prices.
"Most careers whether it be Judy Garland, Sammy Davis Jr., or Frank Sinatra, all the big stars have always had their ups and downs. I'm sure Geena Davis is biting her nails right now--three flops in a row. One more and you're out. She just bought a $25 million property in Santa Barbara. Most careers are like fish bowl. You go up and down. You find a very sensible little place halfway up that fish bowl that you're comfortable on and you hover there for a while. That's what a career is all about.
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| Davy and the Monkees sang lots of cool pop tunes with plenty of soul on their tv show, records and at concerts! |
"I'd rather sing and act and entertain the way I do than have the pipes that Michael Bolton has because he doesn't have any soul. He can sing but he doesn't have any soul. I may not be the world's greatest singer in the world but I got a lot of soul and what I put across comes from my heart. You have to surround yourself with people you trust, which isn't always the easiest thing to do. You've got to be able to live in the penthouse and in the basement. You've got to be able to adjust and never be bigger than yourself.
It's a tough thing. It's not easy being me. I'm very happy when I'm just swimming in a crowded pool or in line to pay my grocery bill. I have no problem with that.
"People say to me, 'What have you done for the last 30 years?' If I have to explain that, it's ridiculous. I am a working actor. I would rather be working on a Sunday night in transit, sitting in a hotel and my band would, too. We'd all rather be working and if it's not that, we'll pop off to a club someplace and jump up and do a set. It's only because that's what we do. When we're not doing it, we're unhappy. That's what people can't deal with--the unhappiness of not working after they have dedicated their commitment of being an entertainer.
"I saw an ad in the Hollywood Reporter, years ago: 'Actress needs work.' The name was Bette Davis and it gave a number--her personal phone number. That was when she started to do a few bits and pieces before she died.
"My daughter worked for a casting director for a number of years, Joanna Ray, in Hollywood, who casts a lot of movies. She said, 'Dad, you would be so surprised at the amount of people who come into this office looking for day jobs. The names that are coming in for $3000 or $5000 a day, auditioning, and not getting it.' She said, 'I'm embarrassed.'
"I don't think there's anyone out there that's got the idea that I can actually still sell tickets and put bums on seats. They have this image of a young guy with stars in his eyes. Well, I am quite youthful because I work on it. Sound body, sound mind. I know that eventually somebody will throw a script in front of me that won't entail that I have to be Davy Jones. There's no reason I couldn't have played The Riddler in Batman. When that happens, I'll be out there.
"I had a great experience that last couple of years when I played Fagin in Oliver (all over the United States). It was so great because the reviews said if you think you're going to see Davy Jones, Monkee, think again because obviously this guy knows his way around the stage and he's done his homework."
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| Doing what he loved best--entertaining his fans! |
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