Article: Hey, Hey, They Wrote The Monkees – Written By Magazine

My latest article for Written By Magazine is an interview with several of the writers who began their career on the writing staff of The Monkees. You can read the entire article by clicking the page below or downloading the entire issue as a PDF.

Writtenby monkees

Hey, Hey, They Wrote The Monkees
How a few writers changed the hair-length (and face) of television

Early 1960s television characters came in a one-size-fits-all,  squeaky-clean-cut style, from Dr. Kildare in his white lab coat,  to Hoss Cartwright in his white Stetson, to Sr. Bertrille in her  white habit. That lasted until 7:30 p.m. Monday, September  12, 1966 when four long-haired teenagers began dancing a Monkeewalk while singing, “Hey, Hey, We’re the Monkees.”

Though it looked simple enough, the comedy was about  more than four struggling musicians living in a beach house  they couldn’t afford, without adult supervision, and hoping for  success while engaging in Marx(Bros)ian humor. According to  star Micky Dolenz, the only actor with previous television series experience: “It brought long hair into the living room and  changed the way teenagers were portrayed on television.”

Dolenz’s opinion is backed up by psychologist and author  Timothy Leary in The Politics of Ecstasy: “While it lasted, it  was a classic Sufi[ism] put-on. An early-Christian electronic  satire. A mystic magic show. A jolly Buddha laugh at hypocrisy. And woven into the fast-moving psychedelic stream of action  were the prophetic, holy, challenging words. Micky was rapping  quickly, dropping literary names, making scholarly references.”

Read the entire article

Download entire Written By issue as PDF

Tidings Article on St. Cyril Vocal Ensemble Organist

The article I wrote about our church Organist and Music Director, Mr. Beck, assisting the school’s Vocal Ensemble is in this weekend’s issue of The Tidings with a photo that includes Joseph!
St. Cyril student choir excels with help from renowned organist 

In his position as organist and director of music for St. Cyril of Jerusalem Church in Encino, William Beck has been recognized for accompanying the congregation and 40-person choir each Sunday and producing more than six special concerts a year involving special guest conductors and world-renowned musicians and colleagues.

School parents are most familiar with him for accompanying the middle grade choir at Sunday Masses, working with each grade individually as they prepare their annual Christmas concert and taking the time every June to drive down to Anaheim to accompany the school’s Vocal Ensemble when they perform at the Forum Festival.

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Essay coming up in “Doctor Who and Race: An Anthology”

An essay I wrote called “When White Writers Write Black” is being published in a book called “Doctor Who and Race: An Anthology” edited by Dr. Lindy Orthia, lecturer at the Australian National University. Published by Intellect the collection is scheduled sometime in late 2012 or early 2013. It’s quite fun since I sat down one Saturday morning to write the 1,000 words and sent it off and she accepted it two days later!

My Written By interview with Russell T. Davies is here!

When Written By editor Richard Stayton asked me if I would enjoy interviewing Russell T. Davies for an article in the magazine, well, I won’t say it was like all my dreams come true – but certainly one of my dreams coming true!  Writing FOR one of his shows would be amazing but writing ABOUT Russell and his writing style was pretty fun.  I took that opportunity to ask him several questions that will help me write my chapter on Torchwood for the upcoming book Torchwood Declassified: Investigating Mainstream Cult Television. I also used the opportunity to ask about certain plot twists from my favorite Who episodes and basked in the fun of debating them with the man who invented them.  I must be turning into a true academic ’cause talking process was nearly as good as processing itself!

Read the full interview with Russell T. Davies – “The Doctor is in America”