Rant #2,168: Do the Monkee (Not)

I'm back!

This June has been a very, very busy month for myself and my family, and it continues this week.

Happily, June will soon end, and we will move into a hopefully more sedate July.

But Friday was another one of those ultra-busy days, or at least what we all thought was going to be an ultra-busy day.

I took the day off from work--I alerted by workplace about this months and months ago--in anticipation of my wife, my son and I traipsing into the big city to see the Monkees--or what constitutes this act in 2018--perform at the legendary Beacon Theater in Manhattan.

The day was all laid out for us. My wife also took the day off, and after my son ended his workday at 2 p.m. as he normally does, we were going to pick him up and go directly to the Long Island Railroad Station, where we would wait for a train to take us into Manhattan.

From there, we would walk over to my son and my favorite Manhattan eatery, Clyde's Wine and Dine, Walt Frazier's restaurant, we would eat an early dinner, and then walk over to the venue.

We would see the show, and make our return trip back home.

It was going to be a long, but fun day in the Big Apple ... but it was not meant to be.

On early Thursday evening, word had gotten out that one-half of the current Monkees configuration, Michael Nesmith, had taken ill, so much so that he was hospitalized for a still-undisclosed ailment.

I did read that he had "breathing problems," and as you know, that can mean just about anything.

Anyway, I was alerted to this by a close friend, checked up on it, and found it to be true--Nesmith was ill, and the show had been either postponed or canceled--later confirmed to be postponed by the venue itself, until January, although that has yet to be officially confirmed--so we did not have to go into Manhattan after all.

So the day was wasted, or so we thought ...

Weeks prior to the announcement that the Monkees--Mike and Micky Dolenz--would be touring this summer, the annual "Happy Together Tour" multi-act show was announced, and as usual, it was playing Westbury, right in our own backyard.

I immediately bought tickets, and kept those tickets until the Monkees show was announced--for the exact same evening.

I ended up selling the Happy Together tickets, and I thought that was the end of that.

But with the unfortunate circumstances we were now in, I thought that what comes around goes around, and that I could make the day a successful one by once again getting tickets to the Happy Together tour at Westbury.

And that is just what I did!

We didn't have the greatest seats this time--the show was about 98 percent sold out--but once again, the Happy Together tour lived up to its goals, which is to cram as many acts as possible into a roughly two and a half hour format, have each act sing their hits, and have each act move on as another one took the stage.

The Cowsills. Mark Lindsay, the Association, Gary Puckett, Chuck Negron, and the Turtles with Ron Dante appeared, sang their hits and moved on for the next act in rapid succession.

Look, the show is a no-brainer. You literally get what you pay for here, there are absolutely no politics involved, and it is a very relaxing evening, and that is what we got.

So, even though it was a circuitous path to us getting to this show, it all worked out for us.

We still have the Monkees tickets--at least right now, I have not turned them in for a refund--and if all stays good, we will be seeing Mike and Micky in January.

We wish Mike Nesmith well, hope it was just a temporary setback, and hopefully, we won't have a major snowstorm or at least inclement weather in January, if, in fact, that is when the show has been rescheduled for.

This whole episode proves that you can turn coal into diamonds ... with a bit of luck on your side.

Now, it is back to another busy week for me, and I will tell you about that as the week unfolds.