As a young actor and singer, he appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show with the cast of Oliver! the very same night that Beatles made their American television debut. His desire to get “a piece of that” would later manifest itself when he was cast in the TV show The Monkees. Although expressly created for series, The Monkees would end up producing chart-topping albums and remained a viable act from 1965-71.

Still, my favorite Davy Jones appearance was of course the one in which he played himself meeting Marcia Brady on The Brady Bunch, performing the hit single Girl.

It was clear that Davy Jones was quite a nice guy, and not just out for a quick buck. In fact, he was signing items that fans brought for just $10 each. Photos that he was selling were $20, and there was no charge for posing for photos with him. He did seem a little put off when Bob asked him to move out of the backlight for my picture though. I’ll have to write about him in my diary, just like Marcia did.

Celebrities of the 2009 Hollywood Show will continue…

Four of the albums from 1966-68 actually topped the charts at #1, with a fifth reaching number three. It was only their decline in the very late 60′s and early 70′s that kept them from achieving the popularity of the Beatles. Nevertheless, as chart-topping contemporaries of the Beatles, I found it amazing that I was able to meet one of the Monkees at the Fall Hollywood Collectors Show on October 4, 2008.

Although I have heard an uncomfirmed story from a friend that Mickey Dolenz had actually served as their limosuine drive a few years ago, claiming to not get any residuals from his work in The Monkees, I still was amazed to see this celebrity selling his autograph at a show such as this. Don’t get me wrong: I’m very grateful that he was. I was glad to plunk down $20 for the signed a photo and an additional $10 to get a photograph with him.

Micky has done other things since the Monkees, including numerous voice-overs, directing, auditioning (he was considered for the role of Fonzie in Happy Days), numerous musical projects, and acting (most recently he appeared in Rob Zombie’s Halloween) – but frankly I was just amazed to be standing in the presence of one of the original Monkees, whose TV series and music I still love.

Celebrities and autographs from the 2008 Hollywood Collectors Show will continue…

But as it was, Dick did manage to spot him taking a brisk morning walk through Holmby Park in Holmby Hills, not even a mile from the Playboy Mansion. As soon as it registered in my head what Dick had just said, I asked…or rather demanded…that Jimmy pull the car over. As Dick had just given us a tour of the Playboy Mansion, I had grown accustomed to asking his permission to take photos, etc. – so my first thought was to ask Dick if he thought it was okay if I approached Brian Wilson.

Dick’s response: “I wouldn’t…he’s nuts!” After considering this for about two seconds, my response was: “I don’t care. I’m nuts too.” I handed Jimmy my camera and we got out of the car and approached him. As we had pulled ahead of where he was walking, we were now approaching each other by foot on the sidewalk. Before he could turn and run, I shot out my hand and said “Hi Mr. Wilson, how are you?” He looked a little surprised that he had been recognized. In fact, he looked rather disheveled, walking slightly erratically (mostly due to his stroke I assumed), and was dressed very modestly. He was just a guy out for a morning walk, mumbling a little bit to himself – perhaps writing his next opus as I lived and breathed. But still, he shook my hand and said hi back at me.

I had nothing for him to sign and I really had nothing to say. What do you say to a man like Brian Wilson, who with the Beach Boys had written some of their most popular and creative music, the genius behind the unbelievably incredible Pet Sounds, the prodigy who kept the album Smile in his head for forty years before completing it? I asked him if he would mind posing for a picture with me, and he said “sure.” And so I, Brad, stood next to Brian Wilson with my arm around him for three seconds while Jimmy snapped our photo.

Meeting the legendary Brian Wilson. Who would have thunk…?

I then thanked him and told him that I was a huge fan of his incredible music. He thanked me and moved along on his brisk, morning walk, That was that. Five minutes earlier I had never met Brian Wilson, and then suddenly I had. This was nothing but fate, pure and simple. Both Dick and Jimmy had professed that in all the years they had been living in California, neither had ever seen a celebrity of any significant fame roaming the streets like that. Amazingly, if you check my MySpace page, you will find a list of people whom I would like to meet. Among the seven, Brian Wilson is listed. Morrissey was also listed – and I shook his hand in 2007. Perhaps it will be Bob Newhart, Robert De Niro, Bill Clinton, Paul McCartney, or Jerry Seinfeld next year.

This was the most unexpected surprise of the trip, and well worth the cost of the plane ticket alone. But as amazing as this story is, the post script is almost equally as incredible. After we met Brian Wilson, Jimmy, Dick, and I spent a few mintues pontificating on how unreal the event that had just taken place was. Finally I jokingly told Dick to stop talking and keep his eyes focused out the window to see who else he might spot.

And sure enough, seconds after I said that, Dick said “Well there’s Dick Van Dyke. No it just looks like Dick Van Dyke. It is Dick Van Dyke!” I looked out the car window and there was Dick Van Dyke, walking along in a commercial area of Beverly Hills. But this story is a bit anticlimactic because tried though we did (at my frantic urging), Jimmy could not find a space to pull the car over. We circled the block, but by that time Mr. VD had been swallowed up into one of the restaurants or shops on Beverly Drive.

After dropping Dick back off at home, Jimmy and I decided to explore Beverly Hills for a bit, naturally canvassing that area to no avail. We browsed the shops for a bit while we waited for a phone call which would send us on our next adventure. One dream had come true by design that morning, another fantasy had come true by luck or fate, and now a second dream was about to come true – lunch with someone I had long hoped to meet. But first a brief stop in Beverly Hills to check out some Hal Roach movie locations…

To be continued…

I had recommended that one of my bosses Dee Ann Booher send away for some autographs for a charity auction for her daughter’s school. She had some moderate success and Lisa and I actually attended the auction on Friday, May 3. We actually came away winning some of them – a Gerald Ford signed photo for Lisa (which I now own), a Playbill program signed by Helen Reddy, and two signed color photos of Hulk Hogan, one of which I gave to my Dad. I think in total they cost under $30. This day also happened to be May Daze so we wondered by foot over to some of the parties in the WSU campus housing.

Two days later we held our monthly tent meeting at Dad’s house where we featured The Big Noise and a few shorts. This one had been delayed from April as we made the move from one apartment to the other.

Lisa and I each got involved with playing softball, both of us participating in our family Frickers team on Sunday afternoons and Lisa playing on my Mom’s women’s softball team. Lisa often got extrememly frustrated with herself because she had been a great fast-pitch softball player in high school, but could never manage to get good hits off of the slow pitchers. The first game that I played in since grade school was on May 19 – and we lost.

By Friday, May 10, we had already gotten into the Summer party mode, attending a good one at Susan Tafini’s boyfriend Mike’s apartment and then hosting one ourselves the following Friday on May 17. This was a good way to break in our new apartment and introduce it to our friends and co-workers. We had my sister Denise, Jeff and Eric Flinn, Susan and Mike, Carl Lichtenburg, and fellow Kroger chums Trishia White and her friend Jenny, Gary Green, Russell Hicks, Rebecca Bard, Erika Bierley, Renee (?), and Lee Ann Timmons. I was particularly inebriated and remember going up to Meijer with Jeff and Gary (whom I took along for no reason at all) and stumbled through the store. Jeff accidentally smashed a 40oz. beer on their tile floor.

Lisa turned 20 years old the next day on Saturday, May 18. For her birthday, I bought her a brand new kitchen table and chairs (which sit in my kitchen to this day) which we didn’t pick up until May 24. We went out to our favorite spot The Olive Garden for dinner.

We were proud to play hosts in our new digs and saw Christi and Joy visit to check out the place on Tuesday, May 21, and then Lisa’s parents came back for another visit on Saturday the 25th.

I will spare you the documented evidence of how obsessed I was during this time with listening to music, watching movies, and recording rented Laserdiscs (but the complete list of all of them exists if you are interested!). But I will share the tale of Wednesday, May 22 when I went to return a few laserdiscs to the video store in Arbor Shopping Center after running few errands. Much to my dismay as I pulled them out of my back seat, I was horrified to find that they had all but completely melted in the hot car. That is, they were warped beyond all recognition. I ended up having to pay for them and then set about trying to find a place where I could return them. I think I eventually had success with one of them (after re-melting it and shaping it back to look like a flat disc) at a video store in the Dayton Mall. Always the wheeler-dealer, I also traded my old broken Laserdisc player for twenty free rentals with the guy at Maytag around this same time.

On Sunday the 26th, it was already time for the next Laurel and Hardy meeting at the home of Charles Sexton. This was a very unusual and unique meeting as we showed only two classic shorts and the rest of the evening was filled with animated cartoons in which Laurel and Hardy made an appearance. This meeting was meant to correspond with a special ‘Art Issue’ of Dante’s Info, but with all of the moving and partying that was going on, this issue wasn’t completed until July!

Although the first day of Summer wasn’t technically until June 21, I always consider it officially summer when June hits. The Spring quarter at Wright State came to an end for me – and two of my cousins graduated high school. Danny and Ben had a joint graduation party to celebrate their escape from high school on June 8. I was dragging a bit during the party as my friend Matt Bohlander had been over to visit our new apartment the night before and we were up drinking and smoking until the wee hours of the morning.

Ashleigh’s kindergarten year at Shaw Elementary School wrapped up too. This gave her more time for play practice in a local Kettering community theater in which she was participating with her grandmother Joy. The role: one of the orphans in Annie.

On Sunday, June 16, I was vindicated for our previous softball game loss (and the three cancelled games in between) as our Frickers team was victorious in our second game. And more importantly I managed to actually get two hits.

As usual, there was an obsession brewing in the back of my head: the Big Seven. That is, both collecting Big Seven CD’s and no doubt using my deposit refund from Woodman Park to save up some money to blow at an upcoming Styx concert. This concert was actually scheduled for Friday, May 24, but it had been cancelled. I had paid a pretty penny to get these seats from a ticket broker. They were only about ten rows from the stage, so I wasn’t happy that it had been cancelled. This gave me a sinking feeling that it would never really happen, but fortunately everything turned out quite swell.

Two years earlier I had seen a great concert at MacGuffy’s in Dayton of Styx lead guitarist James Young. During that show, I got to meet Young’s tour manager Keith Marks who told me that there would be a Styx reunion concert coming up and that he would be their tour manager as well. “How would I get to meet them?” I asked. He responded, “just ask for me.”

So Lisa and I traipsed off to Riverbend Music Center in Cincinnati, on Tuesday, June 18, for the rescheduled Styx concert. I had it in my head that I was going to meet them so I brought along a batch of CD covers to get signed. The show was awesome and our seats were spectacular for this Return to Paradise world reunion tour. This was the first time that Tommy Shaw had toured with the band since the early 1980′s, so it was really cool to see him on stage with former bandmates Dennis DeYoung, James Young, and Chuck Panozzo. Unfortunately drummer John Panozzo was ill and was not touring with the band. In his place was Todd Sucherman, who remains in the band to this day. Lisa never let me live it down that she managed to catch Todd’s drumstick during the show. But I had the last laugh as I own it today!

Photo I took during the acoustic performance of Boat on the River of Dennis, Chuck, Todd, James, and Tommy

Kansas was the opening act and as they performed, I was obsessed with getting ahold of Keith Marks, asking everyone I could if they could get him for me or get a note to him. I had no luck. One younger gentleman who was working the lights for Styx was a bit more help. He said that yes, he knew Keith, but couldn’t leave his post. I told him exactly what I needed him for and he meekly replied “Well I have a backstage pass you can have.” I literally almost jumped out of my socks as he slipped it out of his pocket (seen at the top of the posting), until I realized the problem with this: he only had one pass, and I had Lisa with me.

Although willing to leave her out while I went backstage, I still begged and pleaded for this gentleman to get me another pass and he told me that he would see what he could do after the show. I thanked him wholeheartedly and asked his name. He said something like Matt Dion – but Lisa heard it differently…and correctly: Matt DeYoung, son of lead singer Dennis DeYoung.

So as the story goes, he did get us a second pass. Ironically, I ran into Keith Marks as I entered the backstage area and he had no idea who I was. So we filed back to the outdoor greeting area. I had purchased three new CD’s while at the show, CD’s that I had been looking for for ages: Tommy Shaw’s early discs Girls With Guns and What If, and Dennis’ new offering The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Before the band came out, everyone waiting (which was about 100 people) were given 8×10 glossies to have them sign. They also gave us pizza.

Seeing I was a true fan, Chuck asked me my name and wrote it in the bottom left. Drummer Todd Sucherman signed the photo even though he’s not in it.

Everyone applauded when the members of Styx came out. The band plopped down at a table and began signing autographs. I had a boatload of stuff and didn’t know how well this would go over, but the first thing I did was to show off the solo albums that I had with me so they knew that I was a real fan. They bought it.

Dennis DeYoung even said “wow, you must be a real fan” and he asked me my name. I told him, but unfortunately what he heard was ‘Brian’ and thus inscribed my Hunchback CD incorrectly. Tommy Shaw commented that even he didn’t own a copy of the rare CD Ambition which I had brought along. He signed that along with the two solo CD’s that I had purchased there (which I’m embarrassed to report that I later sold for quite a tidy sum). James Young was a little baffled when my Styx CD’s crossed his path – already signed by him from our previous meeting. So I explained that I had met him before. Lisa proudly had Todd Sucherman sign the drumstick.

 Inside of the Hunchback CD – to Brian

Autographed Boomchild CD

A CD so rare at the time that Tommy didn’t even own it

The only bad thing about having Todd Sucherman sign the Styx CD’s (on which he didn’t play) was that in the confusion, I thought that his signature said Tommy Shaw, and thus only had Tommy sign one Styx CD. The only other bad thing was that in all the excitement I left the Styx tour shirt that I had just purchased sitting on the table. We got all the way out to the car and I had to go back. Unfortunately by that time it was gone.

 This was the only CD that James Young actually signed that night for me – as did Dennis, Chuck, and Todd

 James had signed the disc above and below two years before

 The grand prize: The Grand Illusion, signed by original members – and only original members – Tommy Shaw, Dennis DeYoung, James Young, and Chuck Panozzo

This was the one and only time I had ever managed to get backstage at a Big Seven concert – or any concert for that matter – and despite the minor pitfalls, I think I certainly made the most of it, giving me a memory that I will treasure for the rest of my life – and a batch of CD’s I will either treasure…or have made a few bucks on.

Back at home after the show, showing off a Hunchback postcard I picked up at the concert

1996 will continue…

 Bob arrives at the Dayton International Airport, two hours late

So after loading him and his lone bag into the car, I drove for a couple hours as we headed north toward Grand Rapids, Michigan. The objective was to make the nearly five-hour trek, find a motel, and then head out on our five-day journey on Saturday morning. Even though Bob’s flight was late, and even though we stopped at the obligatory Cracker Barrel (reuben here), and even though I was way too tired to drive all the way, Bob – who was still in California time – was able to get us there by around 1am.

Enjoying a late meal at Cracker Barrel. Bob thought gravy was a beverage until he was twelve.

This put us back in prime position to depart to our first destination that morning: The Gerald Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids. We got there around opening time after enjoying a nice continental breakfast at the Best Western. In fact the breakfast made up for the fact that they had given us a room where the toilet didn’t flush, forcing us to change rooms, during which time the dog across the hall kept continuously waking up and barking at us. And that’s not to mention the Boy Scout belt and buckle, sunglasses, and empty Coke can we found in our new room. So after barely five hours of sleep, our first stop was the Ford Museum. Further details can be found in the posting Gerald R. Ford and Me.

 Ketchup on eggs indeed

 Hard-boiled egg and nut

Bob and me at the Ford Museum with a chunk of the Berlin Wall. Bob nearly blends in.

Our next stop was in the Michigan capitol city of Lansing. I was working toward completing my state capitol visits and this one was right on the way between Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor (and the Detroit area) making a visit here a no-brainer. Unfortunately, it was CLOSED. I found this amazing and appalling that a state capitol building would be closed on the weekend. In addition, the roads of Michigan were just as bad as I had remembered them from my last visit in 2004. Cutbacks indeed. I was ticked at the entire state from that point forward. I gathered some photos outside the Capitol – but unfortunately it didn’t really count toward completion of my goal. Now I’ll have to go back there again some other time. Ugh.

 ’Nuff said

 In front of the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing. Too bad this doesn’t count

Disgusted at this state…of affairs

In lieu of visiting the capitol, the state had seen fit to leave the Michigan Library and Historical Center open on the weekend. Admittedly, this museum was actually rather impressive. It was an interactive museum tracing the history of both Michigan and the country with some very nice period displays. I always enjoy playing in museums like this.

With my brochure outside of the Michigan Library and Historical Center

Messing around in the museum

Elvis Satterfield

A mish-mash of displays in the museum. William Kellogg started his cereal company in Battle Creek, Michigan

No comment

The State Capitol isn’t the only attraction that will bring me back to Michigan against my will. The Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, which is located in Ann Arbor – our next stop – was closed as well. Although there is little more than research material inside (and I have been in there once before) and I gathered a couple photos outside of it, a revisit will be necessary here too. This will help me to feel like a complete man of Michigan.

Things didn’t get any better at our next stop at Woodlawn Cemetery in Detroit. By that time it was around 3:30 in the afternoon, and although the cemetery was still open, they had closed the Rosa Parks mausoleum already. Her grave was the main reason that we had wanted to visit the cemetery. While there we did get to see the gravesite of Edsel Ford, son of pioneer automaker Henry Ford – obviously after whom the Ford Edsel was named.

I’d have even sat in the rear of the mausoleum if they’d have just let us in!

Drifting off by Edsel Ford

Bob and I then decided that while in Detroit, we would visit the Motown History Museum. When we drove by it, there was virtually no parking and there were crowds lining up out the doors of the small building. We drove off and went to the Ford Cemetery, located in what appeared to be an abandoned churchyard – not only overgrown, but with a completely ripped-up and bulldozed area surrounding the cemetery. We trudged our way to it – and I posed on top of the Henry Ford grave, climbing up on the gate. My irritation with Michigan was making me a scofflaw.

Hovering over Henry Ford

We then went back to the Motown History Museum. It was still crowded but eventually we were herded in and the tour began. The room was packed to the gills and it was even worse once we went into a video presentation room where we had to stand for fifteen minutes packed in like sardines. From there we went up to the ‘museum’ area where gold records adorned the walls and Michael Jackson’s glove from his 1983 performance of Billie Jean on the American Music Awards was encased under glass. A different tour guide came in to speak and since the room was so crowded, we couldn’t even hear her.

At that point, Bob asked our first guide Peter if we could simply walk through the house quickly because we were under a tight schedule. He agreed and we took off through the original Motown house – the famous Hitsville U.S.A. house which served as the company headquarters from 1959-68. Peter then caught up with us and began to give us a private tour of the rest of the house including the recording studio where so many amazing Motown legends like Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, The Four Tops, and The Jackson Five had worked to develop ‘that Motown sound.’

Although there were no photos permitted in the building, this portion of the tour easily became the high point of the day, with Peter’s boisterous, enthusiastic, and dynamic presentation of the history of the house and studios keeping us both enthralled for nearly twenty minutes. It was fascinating to see photos of the performers who once packed into the little room to make some of the most memorable music ever committed to tape, hanging up on the walls of the studio in which we were standing.

 With Peter Williams, historian, lecturer, researcher, and our fabulous tour guide

I tried as hard as I could, but was never able to claim the $7500 per year prize

We headed south out of Detroit (and out of Michigan altogether), stopping briefly to take a photo of the half-destroyed old Tigers Stadium which looked like a pile of rubble in the middle of the city, and then headed back across the Ohio border. We stopped in Toledo to make a return visit to the famous Tony Packo’s Cafe, most famous for being mentioned on episodes of M*A*S*H by Jamie Farr as Klinger, whose hometown on the show was Toledo. We ordered the Bunker Buster Combo. Nice and filling it was.

 Pointing to Tony Packo’s – as if you couldn’t have figured it out

 With one of the many autographed hotdog bun displays. Note the Jamie Farr pennant at the top.

Two huge weenies

On the route out of Toledo, we made one brief stop in Pemberville to see the historical marker indicating where future-President William Henry Harrison and his troops camped while heading toward Detroit during the War of 1812. It was around 10pm when we arrived in Fremont, Ohio, where we would set up camp for the night at a Travelodge motel. Despite the smoky room, hard beds, and Bob’s snoring, I was able to get twenty or thirty winks.

Harrison slept here. We should have too.

The trip will continue…

Bypass the trip and continue with 2008…