Today is a sad day for me. It seems like I’m always the learning of news — bad news — later than the rest of the world. I had been in a meeting. I got back to my desk and checked my Twitter feed on my phone. Then I read a Tweet from a local radio station — “Davy Jones dead.”
WHAT?
Davy is the little guy at the bottom.
Davy Jones was a member of “The Monkees,” a comedy series from the 1960’s about a band of the same name. 
I enjoyed watching the show. Davy was the “cute” one. He was the only Brit of the clan and stood only about 5’3″ or so. He was a jockey years before being a Monkee. In many episodes, the ongoing joke was that he would pretty much fall in love with every pretty girl. He’d get a twinkle in his eye.
In every episode, there was a musical montage, which seemed like an early version of music videos. One of my favorite Monkees songs is actually sung by Davy Jones. It’s titled I Wanna Be Free. It’s a somber little song, and I love its simplicity.
In 1997, almost 30 years after the last Monkees show was on the air (it ran from 1966 to 1968), I went to my first concert. It was The Monkees (sans Mike Nesmith). It was a great time. Davy seemed the most youthful looking of the three. He was funny and really got the crowd going. It was such a memorable time, so much that it renewed my Monkee fandom.
So, when I heard the news today, my heart sank and I could almost feel tears well up in my eyes. Just the other night, actually, I heard a commercial on the radio. “Davy Jones sings the Monkees hits” at La Mirada Theater some time in March. I thought I might actually like to attend. I was going to look into it.
Mike Nesmith actually posted something great on his site about Davy. I too would like to think that Davy has crossed over into another life, that death is not final.
Rest in peace Davy Jones — wherever you are.
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