March 5, 2012

The very concept of "Ethics" has been relegated to the trash pile

We don't even have "situational ethics" anymore.

All we have is the "profit motive" which is the exact opposite to ethics, because it stops at nothing.

March 2, 2012

Weekend Economists Clean Out Davy Jones' Locker, March 2-4, 2012

We have lost our beloved Monkee Davy Jones...David Thomas "Davy" Jones (30 December 1945 – 29 February 2012)

The Monkees - I'm a Believer [official music video]

The Monkees were designed to commercially rip off the Beatles and their highly successful music video "Help!"..Conceived as an American pop rock group, the Monkees might qualify as the forerunner to the Boys Bands... Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork, and Englishman Davy Jones. The band's music was initially supervised by producer Don Kirshner... At the start, the four actors provided vocals for the songs that were played during the television episodes and released as records, but were otherwise given extremely limited performing and production opportunities. They eventually fought for and earned the right to collectively supervise all musical output under the band's name. The group undertook several concert tours, allowing an opportunity to perform as a live band as well as on the TV series. Although the show was canceled in 1968, the band continued to record music through 1970. The group reached the height of fame from 1966 to 1968, and influenced many future artists. In 1986, their 20th year, the television show and music experienced a revival, which led to a series of reunion tours, and new records featuring various incarnations of the band's lineup.

The Monkees had a number of international hits which are still heard on pop and oldies stations. These include &quot Theme From) The Monkees", "Last Train to Clarksville", "I'm a Believer", &quot I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone", "Pleasant Valley Sunday" and "Daydream Believer". Their albums and singles have sold over 65 million copies worldwide....

During the casting process, Don Kirshner, the Screen Gems head of music, was contacted to secure music for the pilot that would become The Monkees. Not getting much interest from his usual stable of Brill Building writers, Kirshner assigned Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart to the project. The duo contributed four demo recordings to the pilot, featuring their own voices. One of these recordings was &quot Theme From) The Monkees" which helped get the series the green light.

When The Monkees was picked up as a series, development of the musical side of the project accelerated. Columbia-Screen Gems and RCA Records entered into a joint venture called Colgems Records primarily to distribute Monkees records. Raybert set up a rehearsal space and rented instruments for the group to practice playing, but it quickly became apparent they would not be in shape in time for the series debut. The producers called upon Don Kirshner to recruit a producer for the Monkees sessions.

Kirshner called on Snuff Garrett, composer of several hits by Gary Lewis & the Playboys, to produce the initial musical cuts for the show. Garrett, upon meeting the four Monkees in June 1966, decided that Jones would sing lead, a choice that was unpopular with the group. This cool reception led Kirshner to drop Garrett and buy out his contract. Kirshner next allowed Nesmith to produce sessions, provided he did not play on any tracks he produced. Nesmith did, however, start using the other Monkees on his sessions, particularly Tork as a guitarist. Kirshner came back to the enthusiastic Boyce and Hart to be the regular producers, but he brought in one of his top east coast men, Jack Keller, to lend some production experience to the sessions. Boyce and Hart observed quickly that when brought in to the studio together, the four actors would try to crack each other up. Because of this, they would often bring in each singer individually.

According to Nesmith, it was Dolenz's voice that made the Monkees's sound distinctive, and even during tension-filled times Nesmith and Tork voluntarily turned over lead vocal duties to Dolenz on their own compositions, such as Tork's "For Pete's Sake", which became the closing title theme for the second season of the TV show. Former The Turtles bassist Chip Douglas was responsible for both music presentation—actually leading the band, engineering recordings, as well as playing bass on most of the TV-era recordings.

The Monkees' first single, "Last Train to Clarksville", was released in August 1966, just weeks prior to the broadcast debut. In conjunction with the first broadcast of the television show on September 12, 1966 on the NBC television network, NBC and Columbia had a major hit on their hands. The first long-playing album, "The Monkees", was released a month later and shot to the top of the charts. The rest is history...

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Davy Jones Interview

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Monkees singer Davy Jones suffered heart attack in stable; spent final days riding horses

http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/monkees-singer-davy-jones-suffered-heart-attack-in-stable-spent-final-days-riding-horses/2012/03/02/gIQARSW4mR_story.html



Monkees' lead singer Davy Jones reportedly to be buried in Florida

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/music/monkees_lead_singer_davy_jones_reportedly_CqDHtU8eFKfEx81U01UaYI#ixzz1o0GnbMhC


It was perhaps inevitable...smaller men are far more likely to die of heart attacks than their taller friends. I'm glad he was living the life he wanted when Death stopped for him...that's the best any man can expect.