Former Monkee has plenty of stories to tell

Count Micky Dolenz among the hardest working people in show business.

Dolenz, who was the wacky drummer in the 1960s band and TV show “The Monkees,” has spent his career touring, recording albums, acting on TV and in films, performing on Broadway, and directing and producing stage and TV shows.

“You have to keep moving because a moving target is harder to hit,” Dolenz quips.

The truth is, he credits his father for instilling in him a strong work ethic. Dolenz’s parents were both actors and singers, so for him, show business was the family business.

“I saw my father scrambling to get work,” Dolenz said during a phone interview. “He would say to me you’ve gotta follow the fish, because the fish aren’t going to follow you. You have to make your own way.”

Dolenz will make his way to Laguna Woods this Friday, Oct. 11, for a show that pays tribute to the Monkees along with other musicians who became his friends in the 1960s.

Expect the biggest hits of the mop-top pop band in their entirety, he said, including “Last Train to Clarksville,” “I’m a Believer,” “Daydream Believer,” “(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone” and “Pleasant Valley Sunday.”

Then there are songs by Chuck Berry, Stephen Stills, Jimi Hendrix, Elton John, maybe even a Beatles tune.

The concert is dubbed “An Evening of Songs and Stories” – Dolenz will not only be singing songs, but he’ll be telling stories related to those songs.

“All the songs have a point, and the stories go along with the songs, and there’s video to go along with that too,” he said.

The Chuck Berry song “Johnny B. Goode,” for instance, is the song Dolenz played when he auditioned for the Monkees in 1965.

“That’s a really good story, so is the Stephen Stills story,” he said.

Dolenz wouldn’t name the Stills song he’ll be singing, but the two met when Stills auditioned for the Monkees. (For what it’s worth, Stills was rejected, then went on to form Buffalo Springfield with Neil Young and eventually Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.)

Dolenz met Hendrix when the guitar god was the Monkees’ first opening act, on the 1967 tour.

As for the Fab Four, “there’s a great story about me meeting the Beatles and going to a recording session,” he said.

Along with reminiscing in songs and stories, Dolenz took a look back on his life in his recent book “I’m Told I Had a Good Time: The Micky Dolenz Archives – Volume One.”

“It’s a picture book of my life in pictures, most of which I took, like photos of Hendrix,” he said. “And also pictures of when I was young, which my parents took.”

The Monkees started out as a fictional band created for TV. Along with Dolenz on drums and vocals, the band consisted of Davy Jones on vocals, Mike Nesmith on guitar, and Peter Tork on bass and keyboards. The sitcom, which won two Emmys, aired from 1966 to 1968 (the members were paid $400 a week, Dolenz said). The Monkees went on to sell more than 75 million records worldwide with four chart-topping albums and three No. 1 hits.

Dolenz, 79, is the last surviving member of the band. Jones died in 2012, Tork in 2019 and Nesmith in 2021.

“The death of Davy was a big shock. Peter not so much because he had been sick for a while. Mike also had health issues,” Dolenz said.

“I’m not sure if I have really digested it all yet. I’m not sure if you ever really do,” he said. “My dad died when I was 17, and that sort of tempers you for life in general.”

For Dolenz, playing live is still a lot of fun, though he says he needs to work to keep up his health and follow a diet and exercise regime.

It’s the logistics of touring – the organizing and planning of shows and the travel – that has gotten harder on him.

“Over the years I’ve had to really look when an offer comes in for a gig,” he said. “I have to look at it a little more carefully – look at the location, the flight, the ground transportation. If it happens to be one show on a Saturday and it’s back East, that’s three days out of my life for a two-hour show.”

Overall, he said, “it’s not a bad life – that’s why they call it ‘playing.’ The tough part is the travel. I get paid to travel – I do the shows for free.”

Dolenz performs An Evening of Songs and Stories for Laguna Woods residents at the Performing Arts Center on Friday, Oct. 11, at 7:30 p.m. The PAC is offering limited $10 seating. Tickets are available at tickets.lagunawoodsvillage.com or at the PAC box office, open weekdays 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Credit/debit card fees apply. Email recreation@vmsinc.org or call 949-597-4288 for more information.