Micky Dolenz & The Holstein Shuffle

Much like that time or two I blogged about Boxcar Willy (here & here), I STILL have more to say about The Monkees.  And then I’ll stop.  Until I think of something else that I may have forgotten. 

Although Davy Jones was hands-down the undisputed favorite Monkee for most girls in the U.S. (and I agree that he was pretty darn dreamy, God rest his soul), I was more of a Mike Nesmith kinda gal.  I appreciated his underplayed and intelligent sense of humor, his Texas accent (which someone on the internet recently compared to Jim Parsons' accent, which is totally true...Parsons plays Sheldon Cooper on Big Bang Theory), and his bold choice of head covering.  Later I would be thankful to Mike Nesmith for coming up with the idea that was behind one of the greatest time-sucks of my life between August 1, 1981 until approximately August 19, 1987...MTV.  And I’d also be thankful for his sweet momma Bette Nesmith Graham for coming up with the utterly brilliant Liquid Paper, which would save me much time and money in the typing up of my early college papers (yes, I had to use an electric typewriter until I could afford my first computer).

Now, having said all that, my second favorite Monkee, the one who I could really relate to because he acted so darn spastic sometimes (much like myself) was Micky Dolenz.  His songs were my favorites.  If you watch Dolenz sing Randy Scouse Git (words which sounded cool, but held no meaning for me until I looked them up not long ago) in this episode, you will know what I mean.  The image of Dolenz scatting during this song very nearly makes me wet my pants every time I hear it.  Clearly, this is a guy who just doesn’t take himself very seriously and enjoys having some fun.  But he is sincerely a talented singer.  And when Dolenz sings the song Goin Down, well, I just want to get up and start dancing like he does in this live performance, doing that crazy jazz shuffle that I’ve only ever seen one other time in my life being danced by a man for whom I have great respect and admiration, a man with whom I would travel for a two-week anthropological-college-course-credit camping trip in the Four Corners area of the Southwest back in the early 90s...that man being the legendary JSU archaeology professor Dr. Harry Holstein who, when in his cups would dance a dance so jazzy, nay, so shuffly, all of his students (myself included) would forever dub it The Holstein Shuffle.  You can't ever undo seeing The Holstein Shuffle as performed by the Holsteinizer himself...