Micky Dolenz
One day at work a few years ago I was asked on short notice to attend a luncheon- a gathering of TV and radio execs, agencies, etc. I said sure, and as we were going to catch a cab one of my co-workers said, “Oh, did anyone mention that Micky from the Monkees is going to be at our table?
I told him ‘no way’ and he informed me that was really the case. Only in New York, right? You get up and go to work and next thing you know you’re having lunch with a Monkee.
The event was at the Marriott Marquis in a HUGE ballroom and there had to be three thousand people packed in there. The noise was deafening- it was like everyone in the room was talking many times louder than normal.
We got to our table, which was set for about 12 or 14 people, and there in this sea of noise and people meandering all around was Micky Dolenz sitting there, kicked back, arms crossed, with just one other person who turned out to be his agent or publicist. I figured, what the heck and took the seat to his right and said hi.
He said hi back and asked where we were from – we told him WABC-TV, and he talked about how excited he was to be getting into a new media job the next day, hosting a music show on WCBS radio. He said the only thing that he was worried about was actually getting up in the middle of the night for this gig and we talked about the crazy hours people have to work in the media business.
I asked him about the TV and Radio group the luncheon was on behalf of– I’d actually never heard of it, and he explained what it was all about. He was courteous and chatted with a few of us around the table. He was a little more serious than I might have expected, not at all goofy or “on,” just a guy who was there to give a speech at the event.
Then, just to add to the strangeness of the day, the emcee for the whole thing took the podium and it turned out to be a former boss of mine. As he started talking, we realized that no one was shutting up! All these TV and Radio types just kept blabbing away at high volume– and even when he ASKED them several times to pipe down they didn’t!!! It was just very odd. I’ve been to so many work events, but i’ve never seen anything like that.
Micky looked at me and I could see he wasn’t looking forward to having to go up there with this dull roar for accompaniment. He said, “Wow, this is a tough crowd!” and I nodded, wide eyed. We were all just looking around like, ‘what the…’
My former boss introduces Micky and he goes up to give his keynote speech- and though the crowd did quiet down a tiny touch, it was still a dull roar in there. He did his whole speech, about five minutes long, with more than a thousand in the crowd just chatting and laughing and hooting and hollering.
When he came back to the table he said something like “Can you believe this?” He wasn’t insulted or huffy or taking it personally or anything, just really bemused.
And that was it for the formal part of the luncheon – food came, people ate it, we talked a little more and then said goodbye to Micky and got the heck out of there.
It was the strangest work event i’ve ever been to and I’m willing to bet if you asked him about it he’d remember it too and would say the same thing- “How weird was that?!!!”
This post was submitted by carolann.
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I met Micky at a drive-in one night in Flint Michigan. He was suppose to be there to sign autographs etc. The sad thing was hardly no one was coming in. He just sat there on a bench in the concession stand and telling jokes and being very sweet. My friend and I parked right by there so we could watch the show and him. I would have been down that no one was coming in but he seemed to take it all in stride and really enjoyed being there.