R.I.P. Davy Jones...and thank you!

[Chris James]

The death of Davy Jones was announced today, and in my mind that ends an era of music some of us will always remember. The Monkees were not a great 1960's band, there were so many others with really good talent. But I didn't gravitate to that television spawned musical group because of their talent.

Davy Jones first appeared in my life when I was 15. Teenage girls in America went nuts over the short dark haired young man from England....and so did I. That crush gave me some anxious moments when I realized he was someone I idolized. I watched the television show and heard Davy's voice on the radio until I realized what I was feeling was right for me. I had never thought of loving a guy before.

I must admit that I also idolized Peter Noone from Herman's Hermits, but probably because of that snagletoothed smile he always had. Sigh, I was crushng on guys and that could mean only one thing. It was easy to worship from afar since there was never a chance of meeting either of these young stars. But while other boys around me looked at Playboy magazine, I was stealing those Teen Pop magazines off the drugstore shelf. You know, the ones only girls buy.

In time I grew away from the adolescent crushes and turned my efforts to real people who lived in the world around me. But I could never tell anyone that my life as a gay boy began with Davy Jones...and now he is gone at age 66.

[The Pecman]

I was only 12 when Davy Jones hit the scenes in 1966, and even I had to admit, he was a very cute guy back then. (Don't forget David Cassidy in 1970... yikes.)

The trades just reported today that Jones' heart attack was due to clogged arteries (atherosclerosis), which is also what killed my mother and father. Sad.