*** Nesmith News On-Line *** Thanks for checking the automated Michael Nesmith News source. December 2000 Michael Nesmith posted a playlist of his favorite holiday music on www.myplay.com with a personal audio greeting to the listeners. Fans got to listen to holiday songs from Dean Martin, Darlene Love, The Beach Boys among others. A recent 16 minute interview with video footage of Mike (it is not your computer making weird sounds- Nez has a cold during the interview) talking about Copyright, MP3, etc could be found at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/hitchhikers/av_music.shtml An article about Michael Nesmith and his involvement in the Council of Ideas was featured in the December 2000 issue of WIRED magazine. November 2000 Michael Nesmith was quoted in the November issue of Vanity Fair magazine for an article on the birth of MTV. September 2000 WFAA-TV in Dallas, Texas aired a story on Michael Nesmith and his bi-annual Council on Ideas event. August 2000 Previously unseen Michael Nesmith interview footage from the early 90s was used in the VH-1 series "20 to 1" for their episode on Teen Idols. Michael Nesmith gave a brief interview on KPIG radio out of Monterey, California. The interview also aired on the internet and was able to access in the archives at KPIG's webpage located at: www.kpig.com Nesmith was also heard on a radio commercial for Videoranch that was aired frequently on KPIG. Michael Nesmith was one of the people involved in doing a special commentary on the DVD release of "Repo Man" released in the Summer by Anchor Bay. Michael Nesmith's composition "Different Drum' is listed in the August 2000 issue of UK magazine MOJO as one of the 100 Greatest Songs of All Time coming in at #80. There was a vintage photo of Michael and first wife Phyllis in the magazine. July 2000 Michael Nesmith held the bi-annual Gihon Foundation's Council on Idea's event at his ranch in New Mexico. The press conference/reading of the statement was streamed over the internet at www.gihon.com. The event was later covered in the Albuquerque Journal and the Santa Fe New Mexican newspapers. May 2000 Michael Nesmith was interviewed for the documentary about the history of music videos "Video Killed the Radio Star" which aired on VH-1. Nesmith is seen in part 1 of the multi-part documentary. March 1999: The foreman at Videoranch sent out news that Nez is going to be on the Jonathon Brandmeier radio show Thursday (April 1, 1999) at 11:15AM Pacific, 1:15PM Central on the CBS radio stations in Los Angeles (97.1FM KLSX) and Chicago (105.9FM WCKG). The foreman also announce a possible article in the L.A. Times on May 3rd. Also announced this month: On April 8th in the U.K. the Camden label will release Nez two albums (Magnetic South and Loose Salute) on 1 CD. This will include an unreleased bonus track "First National Dance." This is not to be confused with First National Rag which is also on the CD. The Catalogue number is 74321 660442 It will be a mid-price CD and sell for around UK9.99. On March 17, Nez appeared as a guest on the Court TV show "Pros & Cons" discussing his recent court win against PBS as well as saying that he would not partake in any future Monkees reunions. Nez was a guest on the radio show "The Live Mike" with Mike Romigh on March 2, 1999) at 10:00 PM Eastern Time for an entire hour on KDKA AM 1020 in Pittsburgh, PA In the March 8, 1999 issue of People Magazine on page 50, there was a negative review of The Long Sandy Hair of Neftoon Zamora. February 1999: Nez was on the celebrity news show "Extra" the weekend of Feb. 27, 1999. There was a blurb about the Nez vs PBS victory in People magazine for the week of 2/22/99 on pg. 85 The February 8th issue of Video Business Magazine, a trade publication for the video industry, printed an article on Nez's victory over PBS. On February 2 a federal court jury found PBS guilty of fraud and awarded Nez $47 million. January 1999: Nez appeared on the NBC "Weekend Today" show on January 30, 1999 On January 29, Nez appeared on WOR-radio (710 AM) on the Joan Hamburg show right before his booksigning appearance at 12:30 pm at Barnes & Noble, New York City. January 25 Nez had a booksigning at Book Soup in West Hollywood, CA earlier in the day Nez was interviewed on KTLA news in L.A. Nez was mentioned in the UK newspaper Daily Telegraph on Jan 4, 1999 where he talked about the most important invention in the past two thousand years. November 1998: A CD titled "Michael Nesmith Best" which is a compilation of his RCA music was released in Japan on Nov 21. On November 19, 1998 Barnes & Noble hosted an online chat with Nez to discuss his novel The Long Sandy hair of Neftoon Zamora. In November Nez's first novel The Long Sandy Hair of Neftoon Zamora was released. August 1998: Elephant Parts on DVD was delayed until the first week of September. The copies sold via videoranch.com will be signed by Nez. The Long Sandy Hair Of Neftoon Zamora novel will be out in stores starting the end of October to mid-November, depending on how long it takes for them to ship from New York on October 19th. Videoranch has a new live web cam operating at: http://www.videoranch.com/html/cam.html July 1998: An article about Nez and the Gihon Foundation appeared in the Dallas Morning News on July 26, 1998. The Neftoon Zamora book gets closer, is sceduled for release in October, and signings at bookstores are still a possibility. He has also named his next book "The America Gene", reported to revolve around a concept he calls "the Elvis Paradigm." This month the Gihon Foundation (which he chairs) is holding the biennial "Council On Ideas" meeting in New Mexico on July 17. He is reported to not be working on any new music projects at this time. May 1998: According to the Fall 1998 St. Martin's Press catalog, Michael Nesmith's novel "The Long Sandy Hair of Neftoon Zamora" is now scheduled for publication in November 1998. Due to the vagaries of the book-selling industry that means that you should actually find the book on your bookstore shelves in late September or October. Their press release says: "Reality and fantasy sweetly merge in this southwestern tale of one man's spiritual journey from an original member of the legendary band - The Monkees. "A musician, entranced by an intriguing voice he hears on an old tape, embarks on a mission to find the ever-mysterious Neftoon Zamora, whose voice he has been listening to. Beginning in Mississippi, he soon finds himself traveling through the New Mexico desert, encountering strange and mystical inhabitants who all have conflicting yarns to spin about the ephemeral Neftoon. Is she an Indian High Priestess? Is she part Martian, part Delta blues singer? Was she born in Mississippi - or on Mars? "As the story continues, Neftoon's spirit grows stronger, gradually encompassing everything. People, animals, objects - all are affected by her legend, and all are imbued with a greater meaning beyond their mere existences. Therein lies the beauty of the Neftoon myth. By encircling all, it excludes none. Ultimately, this is a look at a unity so complete, a peace so profound, that we cannot bear to look away. "Michael Nesmith is a member of the legendary band The Monkees and is also a successful solo blues musician. He divides his time between Santa Fe and Los Angeles." February 1998: Michael Nesmith's web page and online store: www.videoranch.com has a new "FAQ" (Frequently Asked Questions) section with lots of information about Nez. Also, he is selling a new line of Mocassins at the Neftoon Trading Post. December 1997: No news direct from Michael himself, but his assistants at www.videoranch.com, his online store, have given us the following information. Michael's book "Neftoon Zamora" has been delayed a bit because he changed editors. When I asked why, the answer wasn't divulged. She said they aren't sure of the release date, they're "just saying sometime in '98." The book will be accompanied by a book signing tour. He is reportedly working on two movies in LA. Videoranch is trying to license the "Austin City Limits" episode with he performed on. They will also be soon offering the poster of "...tropical campfires...". June 1997: Michael has done interviews where he has stated that he is working on the screenplay for the upcoming Monkees movie. He is not expected to perform live in concert with the Monkees at all following his apperance on the UK tour. No Monkees albums are currently in the works, but Nez reports that he is working on a new solo album featuring a "latin country" sound. His VideoRanch web site continues to get his attention, with a recent find of old LP's of "The Prison" in the original box, cassette tapes of "Live At The Palais" and 45's of "Rio". Of visual interest, Nez was seen for the first time since 1971 in public without a beard (clean shaven) on a UK talk show. In fact, on other UK talk shows he did before and after this one, he had grown it back. A video clip of this can be seen on The Monkees Home Page listed below. It is downloadable in QuickTime format. For those of you who follow The Hellecasters, a group supported by Michael on his record label, they have a new album called "Hell III - New Axes to Grind", and will be released August 5th on the Pharoah records label. Their first two albums are already back in print on this label, and tour dates are expected shortly. Details at: www.hellecasters.com. May 1997: Since deciding not to tour with the Summer Monkees shows in the USA, Michael has thrown himself fully into working on the web site marketing his own line of products. He has just announced availability of the entire set of Television Parts episodes, as well as coffee mugs and other items will soon be available on his web page for on-line ordering. In addition, he has moved the Neftoon Zamora web page to Videoranch and added a new 7th Chapter. The final book form of this work with the remaining chapters will be available in December from St Martens Press. New Neftoon page: http://www.videoranch.com/html/zcoverpge.html Michael Says: "There are six more chapters of Neftoon which will be published later this year. These seven are the only chapters which will be published at Videoranch for now. Of course the links which are here will not be published with the hard copy of the book, so it works out in a strange way." "As those of you know who have been following Neftoon from the first, this draft, which is nearly final, has changed dramatically from the first time I posted. I hope you enjoy the rest of it when it comes out. I deliver to the publisher (St.Martin's Press) the end of June. It'll be out in time for the Holidays I'm told. Thanks for all the email and words of encouragement." April 1997: Michael has performed with the Monkees in concert tour for dates in the UK, but Monkees manager Ward Sylvester reports that there is no possibility that Nez will join the guys for any concerts this summer like he had announced. Nez tells us that "the producers of the movie have asked me to write the screenplay and I would stay home and do that in order to get the film out." Ward says, "There are no plans or even discussions about further live appearances to include him. I really can't speculate on what might or might not happen beyond that. What we thought last September is not what what we think now, so who knows what we may think in 1998?" Michael has opened his web page for selling his solo work. The site offers CD's and videos that Michael has performed in or produced. They are available for purchase on-line at: http://www.videoranch.com/ or you can phone in orders at: 505-455-2079 If you have questions, please contact the service at foreman@videoranch.com. February 1997: Michael has started development on his web page for selling his solo work. If you would like to see the early stages of the images and design, point your web browser to: http://www.videoranch.com/ This is a message from Michael with the latest news on his activities: "We are finished with the Special except for the final mix and will deliver it Wednesday night. The synopsis on the ABC page does not give anything away. We are all proud of it and think you will be surprised.We are most happy with the time slot, leading in to the Comedy awards, and think that anyone who tunes in will stay with us. "The songs in the Special are Circle Sky, You and I, Regional Girl (with a lyric change for ABC Broadcast Standards and Practices) and some other small tunes, Bill Martin's Antarctica and a couple of tunes Davy sings. The general idea of the show is that we never stopped making the show, even though we were off the air for thirty years, and this episode finds us as grown ups. There are some wonderful Monkee moments. "I have agreed to a short Summer American tour after July. Probably fifteen or twenty dates. No cities have been set. It will probably be a repeat of the show we are putting together for the UK, a forty or fifty minute set of the four of us playing, then a solo section with each one of us taking one number, then an augmented section where we will play as a quartet but with horns and other keys, then a finale. We are experimenting with big screen video, both pre recorded and live, and will bring that as well. "ABC has expressed their great pleasure with the special and there may be more, but as of now we have begun work on the movie, which should be out next year." January 1997: Michael is preparing to film the ABC special this month which will include a re-creation of the original Monkee Pad set used in the original TV show, but updated to the 90's as if they had lived in that house in all of the years since. The Monkees held a press conference at the Hard Rock Cafe in London Friday Jan 10th. All the major newspapers covered the event, and also BBC television news and the London commercial television channel. They also appeared on one chat show on Friday morning ("The Richard and Judy Show"). December 1996: Michael is expecting to finish soon a new web page to sell his collected works such as music CD's and videos. Everyone who has gotten this message will be notified as soon as more information on this web site is available. Michael is working on a Television special for ABC featuring The Monkees (all 4) with music from their latest album Justus. November 1996: All 4 Monkees performed an entire concert live in Los Angeles for the first time in 28 years, playing all of the instruments themselves in front of a packed house of fans and press to promote the new album Justus. October 1996: Justus, an album performed, written and produced by all 4 Monkees was released on Rhino Records. 2 Nesmith songs are featured, Nez sings "Circle Sky" with new lyrics, and his song "Admiral Mike" is performed by Micky Dolenz. Nez is interviewed on The Jonathon Brandmier Show in Chicago. A sound file of it can be heard at: http://www.mcs.net/~gneumar/nez.htm Nez is interviewed on The Janice Malone Show on the Internet. The archive of it can be heard at: http://www.audionet.com/shows/malone/ Nez announces the release of the Neftoon Zamora book he has been writing on his Internet web page (http://www.primenet.com/~nez) will be September 1997. June 1996: The Monkees (Micky Peter and Davy) begin a 30th anniversary tour without Mike, but repeatedly announce that he is mixing their new album in Nashville. *********** This report brought to you by The Monkees Home Page: http://www.monkees.net and The Michael Nesmith Home Page: http://www.monkees.net/nez neznews@flexquarters.com created by Brad Waddell. This is not a mailing list, it comes only when you request it, so request it as often as you like. It is also on the nesmith web page under News.