Nesmith Falls Ill

The remaining dates of the "The Monkees Present: The Mike & Micky Show" have been postponed after Mike Nesmith was hospitalized last night (June 21st) following the band's soundcheck at Glenside, Pennsylvania's Keswick Theatre. The Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey shows have all been postponed until January with details still to come.

Ultimate Classic Rock reported that Nesmith was suffering from "a minor health issue" and quoted an unnamed sourced at the Monkees' record label, Rhino Records, saying, "Michael Nesmith had a minor health issue today in advance of his tour date in Philadelphia (sic) tonight. He visited a local medical facility and, although the issue was not serious, was advised to rest for the next week, so unfortunately the remaining four dates on 'The Monkees Present: The Mike & Micky Show' tour have been postponed until a later date. Nesmith has been dismissed from the hospital and is traveling back to his home in Carmel Valley. He is in good spirits and thanks all the fans for their support and understanding. He looks forward to getting back on the stage again soon."

Several online reports suggested that Nesmith collapsed during the band's soundcheck -- but according to manager Andrew Sandoval, that simply is not the case. He posted on his Facebook feed: "I will not repost TMZ’s article, but to clarify: Michael Nesmith did not collapse at soundcheck, nor was he at the Keswick today."

Rodgers Replacing Morrison

Paul Rodgers will be saluting his early days fronting Free with the new CD/DVD and LP, Free Spirit, which drops digitally today (June 22nd), on disc on June 29th, and on vinyl on July 6th. The set features Rodgers' Royal Albert Hall gig from May 28th, 2017 and includes 16 timeless Free classics including such staples as "Fire & Water," "The Stealer," "Wishing Well," and the band's signature song, "All Right Now." Formed in 1968, Free featured guitarist Paul Kossoff, bassist Andy Fraser, drummer Simon Kirke, and Paul Rodgers on lead vocals. Upon their split in 1973, Rodgers and Kirke went on to form Bad Company.

Although Rodgers later went on to front Queen following the death of Freddie Mercury -- he revealed to Billboard, that he found out after the fact that yet another major rock band was seeking him out back in the day to fill in for its own fallen singer: "I didn’t know it at the time, but I did a show with a reformed version of the Doors. They came up to me, and said ‘You might not know this, but when Jim Morrison died, we flew over to England, and were looking for you to join us. But, we couldn’t find you.’ I was gobsmacked. I told them that I was in the country hiding away writing with Mick Ralphs writing songs for Bad Company. That was really amazing. What a compliment.”

Remembering Stu

Saturday (June 23rd) marks what would have been original Beatles bassist Stuart Sutcliffe's 78th birthday. Sutcliffe left the group in the summer of 1961 to continue art college in Hamburg, Germany. He died of a cerebral hemorrhage on April 10th, 1962 at the age of 21, with most sources attributing his death to a blow to the head which he received after a post show run-in with local Liverpool thugs -- not John Lennon as has been often been incorrectly reported. In the months leading up to his death, Sutcliffe, whose brain was literally swelling against his skull, would fall into incredible fits of rage due to the pain, and was often rendered blind by the agonizing attacks.

Sutcliffe, an award winning-painter was John Lennon's best friend and classmate at the Liverpool College of Art. It was with the prize money he earned from the sale of his work that Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison -- then still known as alternately as the Quarrymen and/or Johnny & The Moondogs -- convinced Sutcliffe to purchase a sunburst Hofner President 500/5 model bass guitar. According to numerous sources, it was Sutcliffe who named the band, "The Beatals" -- spelled with two "a's."

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