Michael Nesmith At 2014 Monkees Convention!

I think it's win win.

Celebs get compensated(sometimes a much needed income source) and fans can get decent amount of face time in a reasonable manner. Waiting hours in a back alley for 5 seconds of face time and a hastily scribbled signature is not for everyone.

 

Here's a tententive schedule of the programming:

Friday March 14, 2014
Registration wi...ll start at 1pm
Vendor Room will Open at 3pm for VIP 4pm for General Admission.
Ballroom will open at 4pm with entertainment.
6pm Introduction
6:15 Nez Q and A
7:45 Buddy Blanc and Romeo Delight with Special Guest Micky Dolenz will perform.
9:15 Circe Link and Christian Nesmith along with their band take the stage for a full concert.

Saturday March 15, 2014
Registration 10am
Vendor Room will open at 10am for VIP and 11am for General Admission.
Ballroom will open at 12
12:15 Ceremony for the Induction to the American Pop Music Hall of Fame
Things on Saturday to look forward to....
Micky Dolenz Q & A , Dolenz Daughters Q & A, performances by Jonathan Nesmith performing songs from Mother of Winter and The Outer Spaces along with his band and Jessica Nesmith. Coco Dolenz will perform and in the evening Movies of Mind at 9:30.

Sunday March 16, 2014
You can expect Q & A's from the Nesmith family, Circe and Christian will perform, Here we Come stage show, Tribute to Davy, Rare never seen before videos, and special surprises.

All guests WILL be signing autographs all three days. Professional photo ops will be available as well. There will be performances and Q & A's with the special celebrities throughout the weekend.
We hope this will help in deciding which if not all the days you would like to attend the convention.
VIP is only available on line while limited supplies last.
Movies of the Mind is selling out quickly as this holds only 1000 people total.

There will be sign ups for autographs and photos to avoid lines over the next few weeks.
To ensure you have tickets, please order at the official website monkeesconvention2014.com


That's all folks!

 

Not that it matters, but I misspoke (mistyped?) above -- I forgot 1988 and 1990.

 

Amazing how the death of Davy Jones effected Nesmith, and made him (all of a sudden, and over night) embrace the M0nkees legacy with open arms.

 

He's really done a 180 on the whole thing. Even in the '80s, his enthusiasm was clearly not at the level it is now. He seems to have finally accepted the Monkee mantle in a cheerful way.

 

Can you sent it Monkees items to get signed? Other autograph conventions offer that option.

 

Not sure. Send the organizers an email. They have been very responsive, thus far.

[email protected]

 

I bought in on this. I hope it goes well. I attended the "Head" screening in L.A. going on five to six years back, where I was able to get autographs from Davy and Peter. This seems like my best opportunity to meet Micky and Mike. It will be an expensive proposition, once I figure in hotel and airfare. I haven't been out of Florida in the winter since I was five years old, so I'm hoping to avoid any possible driving in New Jersey in March, lest I careen off a icy highway.

Anyone else prepared to set up for the weekend at the hotel? And anyone want to split the cost of a double?

 

Two new guests announced for the Monkees Convention:

Andrew Sandoval and Bobby Hart!

 

In not going to the convention, but I'm going to the Nesmith City Winery show.

It's on sale.

 

MORE stuff to get signed!

 

I'm biting the bullet and going, thanks to frequent flier miles. The actual cost of the event seems pretty steep, but I've never been to one before and I'll never go again. Just looking to get my albums signed by Nez.

I just hope he doesn't charge an arm and a leg for his autograph.

 

These days here in Australia whenever a big name celebrity comes to a convention and signs autographs its always a minimum of $40 and upwards to $80! and that's without purchasing a photo! That's also the reason I rarely go to conventions anymore - its highway robbery. Thankfully the majority of all my autographs I got face to face at gigs and never had to spend a dime for them including Davy, Micky and Peter's so I'm really hoping Mike tours Oz so I can add his autograph to the others on my "Head" and "Pisces.." LP's and have it done for free too There's nothing wrong with conventions (they are super cool when done right) outside of the autograph money grabbing scenario. I would probably prefer the meet and greet option after a gig where you do actually seem to get more value for your dollar. Actually what do people prefer.. meet & greets or convention autograph "sessions"?

 

Good for Michael for making himself accessible to the fans. I wish I could be there but it does make me smile knowing he's going.

 

I think it cost about $100 for the meet and greet after the shows he did in November of 2013.

 

I'm in the same boat. Just got my Winery tickets - very, very psyched he's doing an NYC show as I had to miss the Nov. Long Island gig at the last minute.

 

I hope the autograph prices are not unreasonable. Micky is selling signed items on eBay starting at $35. Most autographs I've ever paid for start at $20.
As noted earlier, Nez's meet and greets at shows were about $100. Since the convention will probably be more of a volume operation, I imagine the price might be different. Though I could imagine a combo of an autograph and photo op could cost about $100. I'll be happy with just the autograph.

Of course, I got Davy and Peter for free, so I'll just dollar cost average my total expenditures to add the other two.

If anyone is still making plans on this, the special rate at the hotel itself appears to no longer be available. I'm guessing all the rooms they were allotted had been booked. The best current rate seems to be $169/night. Searching to see if a better rate could be found, I discovered that a few hundred feet away was an Extended Stay America. Since I am pretty easy going about hotels as long as I have a place to sleep, this was a perfect option for me. Booking at their website revealed an even lower rate than I found at first, overall making it about $200 cheaper than being in the Hilton itself - money I can have to get the autographs!

 

Mike's post-gig meet and greets are not free.

 

I did the same thing. I don't think walking across the parking lot will be a big deal. See ya there!

 

Latest message from Michael Nesmith's Facebook page:

I have been busy finishing up the collector’s edition CD's of my Movies of the Mind concert live album. It’s been a long time since I have worked on releasing a CD. It seems odd. Weirdly old fashioned. Things have changed so much.

I think the three Editions are coming along well and they look nice. They are signed and numbered like an artist’s run of prints, beautifully packaged with collector's goodies and they are priced like first editions are – which is to say expensive -- but there are only a few hundred of each.

The landscape of recorded music is such unusual territory these days it is hard to know what to do. For instance part of the Super Deluxe Edition – sold out, thank you for that – has a vinyl LP in the set.

I put it there because of the advice I was getting from Andrew Sandoval, the producer of the Editions, as well as collectors and fans who said it would be a good addition.

It’s a puzzle to me.

I remember how happy I was when the CD came along and made the LP obsolete. No more pops and scratches – no more hiss – no more distorted highs and muddy lows. I was thrilled.

Then software started popping up to reintroduce all those things digitally and finally the LP itself knocked at my back door.

“Who’s there?” I wondered. “You!!?? I thought you left.”

“No” said the LP, “I have been hanging out in the back yard with the compost pile until I saw the light from your computer inviting me back in. It really smells out there. I don't belong with all that garbage. Can I come in?”

What could I say? I let him in. (The LP is male – figures)

So there is a 12” inch LP in the Super Deluxe Edition of 200. I put songs on the LP that I have been sketching for a while and some performances from the Spring Tour.

The “new” songs have been around for awhile. They are part of a section of my music garden I have been working on and are still fragile buds – tiny – I'm not even sure what species – maybe a fruit – maybe a vegetable – some kind of plant, in any case. They are pretty little things and have a good aroma and they are attractive.

The first song-bulbs are split and now repotted in the LP but still in the download section of Videoranch. The Videoranch files are digital of course – they don't sound like the LP. Nothing does, actually.

As I say there are three collectors’ Editions and the Super Deluxe and Deluxe are sold out. There are around 200 of the Standard Edition still available.

I will bring those last 200 with me to the Monkees convention. They don't have the vinyl LP but they are a lot cheaper than the other two.

I worry, too, about bringing my solo merch to the Convention. I figure Monkees fans want Monkees stuff and not my solo work. My Monkees fan friends assure me this is not the case so I am bringing Nez stuff -- but I have real trepidations about it.

Those same trepidations apply to my solo show and the Q&A Session that are set up for the Convention. I’ll do the Movies of the Mind show like I wrote it but I decided at the last minute to throw in an extra Monkees song.

The Q&A session was a bit of a problem to solve. I didn't know quite what the Convention hosts wanted but they gave me pretty much free reign to set it up however I wanted so I took it.

I thought a long time and finally decided to invite Rachel Rosenfelt Publisher and Editor of The New Inquiry magazine to ask the questions. She is bringing another editor from TNI with her; Rob Horning. I gave Rachel and Rob the permission to ask me anything.

The three of us will be talking about all things Monkees from what I hope is a high and interesting perspective. Both Rachel and Rob are wicked smart, both are young – Rachel is 28 and just recognized by Forbes magazine as one of the brightest and best “30 under-30’s in the U.S." – both are deep thinkers and avid Monkees fans. I think it will be a good session.

I hope they don't ask me about LP’s though. I am clueless as to the appeal. If they do maybe I will just bust into a crazy non-sequitur song like “Shrimp Boats are A’Comin”. That makes as much sense to me as a vinyl LP.

Still, overall I am happy to be working hard on this Editions release and the Convention. I am getting more and more excited to be going – the LP mystery notwithstanding. See you there.

 

Great! I can buy the new album @ the show! I got my tix! Now to book a flight!

Anybody else here going? Rollcall???

 

Yep! I figured that this will be my first and last convention.

 

Yes I will be attending again.

 

Booked my flight! Dang yo, the day before the price dropped I should have book and saved $100!

But, the total would have been $666 something cents, so maybe it was a good thing I didn't?!?

I'm gonna party like it's 1967!

3 days of Monkeemania!

 

Wait, didn’t he have serious serious health issues until just shortly before Davy’s passing? I seem to remember that he was very nearly blind, or was this just fan mythology?