New Year, New Podcast!

Here it is, 2013! This marks year 7 of the World of Wonder. I never thought I would make it this far! (though it did look like I wasn't going to make it through year 6) I have a bunch of items to post this coming year so don't worry, the World of Wonder is alive and well. That being said, I do think this will be the final year of the blog as my time is just getting less and less free. However, I will take this year to bring you lots of fun stuff. Starting off with the latest Podcast. Here is podcast #31. To be honest, I have no idea what is in this one as I made it way back in October. It's been sitting around waiting to be posted and I just lost track of all time with being on the road and being a dad. So, here it is. Enjoy!

Dartman's Wacky Podcast #31

See You On The Road in November!

Podcast 25

Hot on the heels of podcast 24 is podcast 25! Fun for all with tracks from She and Him, the Breeders, Robert Gordon, Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention, Elvis (re-imagined as a modern day pop star), Bill Cosby, Leonard Nimoy, Tom Jones (in a repeat performance from Podcast 23), Ruth Buzzi, Neko Case, Victor Borge, the Ramones, a special clip of Micky Dolenz performing live at Epcot Center from this past May (with yours truly on the drums) and much, much more! And for all of you audiophiles, this podcast is ripped at 320 to make it the best sounding one yet! Enjoy!!!

Dartman's Wacky Podcast #25

Podcast 23 Is Here!

Here's the latest podcast featuring all kinds of fun stuff! As I stated a while back, my schedule has become sooooo intensely busy that I have very little time to devote to the World of Wonder yet the podcasts are something that I can work on little by little so I will continue to do these. Thus these newer podcasts have a bit of a different feel to them. And also as I stated, they are pretty much straight forward audio clips, comedy and music without any dialogue from me. I just don't have the time. That being said, this podcast is really cool! Featuring songs from Cheap Trick, Carol King, Jame Minoudis (a friend and fellow Creamed Corn member), 'Til Tuesday (recently remastered and sounding amazing), Bill Cosby, T. Rex, Nirvana, Frank Zappa, John Travolta, Tom Jones and Jack White. With some comedy from Lawanda Page, Don Adams, Avery and Schrieber, and some cool mash-ups featuring Johnny Cash, ABBA, Van Halen and a really special performance from Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork from the Davy Jones Memorial Concert in NYC. And so much more! There's a lot packed into this one. Enjoy!

Dartman's Wacky Podcast #23

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

Hello all
I've debated for the past several months about what to do with the World of Wonder. I have very little time to devote to myself let alone the blog but I didn't want to end it. I tried something new by posting an e-mail address so that people could post items to share and make it more of a public blog. A majority of e-mail that I received was spam involving me inheriting millions of dollars from foreign investors, how to land single woman over 60 and how to make my penis larger. In between those were e-mails from people asking me to repost items that are no longer available. I had one person share something but I couldn't get the link to work. So, sadly, I am abandoning that part of the blog. I enjoy working on the blog and I do welcome comments and love hearing how people enjoy it. We recently hit the 200 subscriber part. I don't want to let it go entirely but I can't commit the time to it that I once did. I toyed with shutting the blog down but the one thing that I really wanted to keep going were my podcasts. I love them and love putting them together. I feel that by continuing to do these, I can still share great pop culture audio with all of you and still manage to keep the blog running. So, from here on in, I will be posting mostly new podcasts. Occasionally I may post an album or single or a video or what have you, but the majority of new items on the blog will be new podcasts. That being said, the reason I am downsizing to just podcasts is the lack of I time that I can donate to the blog. It's easy to put a series of songs, comedy bits, commercials, etc into a "mix tape" for a podcast but it takes time to sit down and speak to you through them as well. As a result, I will pretty much not be talking through any new podcasts that I post. If I find the time and feel like telling a funny story or two, I may one day set up my microphone and add some commentary but don't be surprised if you don't hear my voice in any of the new podcasts. In addition, it also takes time for me to tell you exactly what it is that I put into the podcasts and keeping track of it is just as time consuming as going back and listening to it to find out what is in it. So, don't expect a play list on the podcasts. If there is a specific track that you are interested in knowing, send me a comment asking about it and I will do my best to let you know who and what it is. Otherwise, treat it like listening to the radio and not hearing the DJ tell you what it is. Let it be what it is meant to be; entertainment for your ears.
In regards to all of the requests to re-up any past sharities that have dead links or are no longer working - all I can say is I'm sorry. I simply do not have time to go back and re-up any of them. Once they are gone, they're gone. Odds are they are out there on-line somewhere as the "sharity blog" community is a pretty incestuous bunch and we all re-use each other's items. Again, it's nothing personal, it's just that I have no time at all to do that. I wish I could go back and re-up everything that has been taken down but it doesn't look like that will happen in the immediate future.
So, thank you for helping me keep the World of Wonder alive and hopefully we can keep it going at least a little bit longer.
That being said, here is the newest podcast. Podcast 22 delivers a lot for your money. Featuring some great songs from William Shatner, Mi Carame, Barnes and Barnes, the Police, the Monkees/Adele and a heaping portion of comedy this time around. Enjoy!



Dartman's Wacky Podcast #22

RIP Davy Jones

It's with a heavy heart that I acknowledge the passing of a true icon. Having worked in "the organization" it touches me greatly and I am in an extremely sad mood today. My thoughts are with my good friends and Davy's family.

Dartman's Advent Calendar 2011: Day 21

Christmas is a special time of the year. No other trio put it better than the one that's hiding behind flap 21. Recorded a decade before they would be all the rage for the second time in their career, this sentiment can be found by opening the window. Enjoy!

Advent Calendar 2011 Day 21

The Original Formula With Added Monkees

Tomorrow night I start off a series of several shows playing for the one and only, Micky Dolenz. I am super excited to get back to playing with Micky. We start off with a free concert in Copiague, NY at a place called Tanner Park. If you are in the area come on down to the show and come say Hi afterwards. To celebrate the start of the "Season", I am posting another Monkees item. This time around it's a complete concert from 1989. What was special about this concert was it was on July 9, the day the Monkees received their star on the Walk of Fame. The "three-kees" played through half of the show and then were joined by the fourth Monkee, himself, Mike Nesmith. The Mike portions of this show have been circulating for years under the title, "Original Formula". The sound quality of the boot was ok but it was great to have for historical reasons (kind of like Elvis' last concert). However, I recently obtained the complete show from that date and the sound, though not amazingly perfect, is still really good. I present it for you now. Here is "The Monkees - July 9, 1989." Enjoy!

The Monkees - July 9, 1989
The Monkees - July 9, 1989: Part 2

A Head Full of Monkees

Friday night I was able to take in The Monkees 45th Anniversary Tour (or the 25th anniversary of the 20th anniversary tour) and loved seeing my buddy, Micky, having a ball with his old cohorts. I had thought that maybe it was going to be the same old same old that they have always done when they reunite but this show was truly great. It was a lot different watching a Monkees concert being a member of the "inner circle" and it was a great feeling to know I was watching friends up on stage. Anyway, I thought I would throw you a generous helping of Monkees stuff so here goes:
RHINO Handmade put out an amazing box set for HEAD last year that featured not only the original soundtrack in both MONO and STEREO but also had a bunch of great alternate mixes and unreleased items. It was great to get the "official" version of a lot of these items but there were still a lot that they left off. Two bootlegs that were released long before RHINO's box set contained not only the items released in the set but also a lot of others that didn't make the cut. Here are those tracks that didn't make the RHINO version from those two bootlegs. Here are "Head Shots" and "HEAD Deluxe". Enjoy!

The Monkees-HEAD Shots

The Monkees-HEAD Deluxe (part 1)
The Monkees-HEAD Deluxe (part 2)

The Best of The World of Wonder: The Monkees Come Alive

A few years back, Rhino Handmade released a box set of all of the Monkees concerts that were recorded during their 1967 tour. Sadly, I missed out on the collection but I was able to gain a copy of a bootleg of their 8/12/67 concert in Mobile, Alabama as a birthday gift from my brother-in-law! I have no idea if there is a difference between the bootleg recording and the one featured in the box set. I do know that this boot rocks! Although the balance between the lead vocal and the back up band is at times almost non-existent (with the vocals being up front while the band sounds like they're in another auditorium) it still provides a look at what my cousin has referred to as "the first punk band" playing their hearts out to screaming kids and their parents at a Monkees concert in 1967. Enjoy!

The Monkees - Mobile, Alabama - 8/12/67 (part 1)
The Monkees - Mobile, Alabama - 8/12/67 (part 2)

Monkee-ing Around The US

6/3/2011 Chastain Park Amphitheatre Atlanta, GA
6/4/2011 Ruth Eckerd Hall Clearwater, FL
6/5/2011 Pompano Beach Amphitheatre Pompano Beach, FL
6/6/2011 Florida Theatre Jacksonville, FL
6/8/2011 Innsbrook Pavilion Glen Allen, VA
6/9/2011 The Community Theatre At Mayo Center For The Performing Arts
Morristown, NJ
6/10/2011 Mohegan Sun Arena Uncasville, CT
6/11/2011 Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort Niagara Falls, ON
6/12/2011 Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort Niagara Falls, ON
6/15/2011 Lowell Memorial Auditorium Lowell, MA
6/16/2011 Beacon Theatre New York, NY
6/17/2011 NYCB Theatre At Westbury Westbury, NY
6/18/2011 Borgata Hotel, Casino & Spa / Event Ctr. Atlantic City, NJ
6/19/2011 Filene Center At Wolf Trap Vienna, VA
6/20/2011 Hershey Theatre Hershey, PA
6/22/2011 Stage AE Pittsburgh, PA
6/23/2011 Fox Theatre Detroit, MI
6/24/2011 Lifestyle Communities Pavilion Columbus, OH
6/25/2011 Aronoff Center For The Arts Cincinnati, OH
6/26/2011 Murat Theatre Indianapolis, IN
6/29/2011 Genesee Theatre Waukegan, IL
6/30/2011 Star Plaza Theatre Merrillville, IN
7/1/2011 Minneapolis Zoo Minneapolis, MN
7/2/2011 Minneapolis Zoo Minneapolis, MN
7/5/2011 Paramount Theatre Denver, CO
7/8/2011 Pantages Theater Tacoma, WA
7/9/2011 Sleep Country Amphitheater Ridgefield, WA
7/10/2011 The Mountain Winery Saratoga, CA
7/13/2011 Majestic Fox Theater Bakersfield, CA
7/14/2011 Chumash Casino Santa Ynez, CA
7/15/2011 Morongo Casino Resort & Spa Cabazon, CA
7/16/2011 Greek Theatre Los Angeles, CA

The Three-kees of '89

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted anything. I've been incredibly busy with all kinds of different things and getting a chance to post something on the World of Wonder has been almost impossible. I do promise that it is worth the wait. As you noticed in my last post, The Monkees (or the Three-kees as they have become known) are reuniting this summer for their 45th anniversary with a tour of England and possible the states! To celebrate, I dug into my bag of Monkees goodies and have brought forth this most impressive radio broadcast of a show they did back in 1989 in Holland. Here is The Monkees Live In The Netherlands, April 21, 1989. The sound quality is fantastic and it features a very special intimate acoustic set with just the three guys and no backing band in the middle of it all. Here is that show! Enjoy!

The Monkees Live In The Netherlands, April 21, 1989

They're Back!!!

THE MONKEES MAY TOUR DATES

May 12th Liverpool Echo Arena

May 24th Manchester Apollo

May 15th Newcastle City Hall

May 16th Glasgow Clyde Auditorium

May 19th London Royal Albert Hall

May 20th Sheffield City Hall

May 21st Birmingham NIA Academy

May 23rd Plymouth Pavillions

May 24th Cardiff CIAgoodma

May 25th Nottingham Royal Centre

Breaking Bread

Here's a trailer for a new short film starring my friends, Roxanne Albee and Valerie Kairys Venet (aka Toby from The Monkees). It looks pretty funny. Just thought I would share it with you! Enjoy!

Getting Back to My Podcasting Roots

Well, ELVIS MONTH 2010 is over and even if it didn't go quite as I had planned, it was still pretty successful. Today is the first day of September so I thought I would start off the month with my latest and greatest Wacky Podcast. This time around I didn't do anything special. I just went back to the original way I did the podcasts. The only thing different here is the length. It runs a gigantic one hour and 6 minutes making it the longest podcast, yet. Chock full of goodies from Thurl Ravenscroft, the Breeders, BRAK, the Who, Boyce and Hart, Billy Idol, Elvis, Micky Dolenz and so many more great artists, this is a super fun one! Here it is for you now. Here is Podcast 15! Enjoy!

Dartman's Wacky Podcast #15

The Dartman and The Monkee

Singles Collection Episode 8: Micky Dolenz vrs. The Vampire! (re-post)

Seeing as how I'm drumming for Micky Dolenz this Saturday night in Bangor, Maine, I felt that I would re-post this special Micky Dolenz edition of the singles collection. This time out it's Micky singing Harry Nilson's "Daybreak" from the 1973 film, "Son of Dracula". Apparently, this was the only original song used in the film. This single is the promo edition which features a different mix than the released version! I have always been a huge fan of this song and Micky sounds amazing on it. Enjoy!

Daybreak MP3

For those of you who are interested in coming this Saturday night, you can check out more about it here.

A Month of Monkees: Sold Only At Concerts Part 3

Well, we made it through "A Month of Monkees". Today marks the 43rd anniversary of the Monkees and also the last post of this mega-special month here at The World of Wonder. And we end it, fittingly, with the last original Monkees release. This time it's the live album, "MonkeeMania 2002 Live In Toronto." Fittingly, just as the last studio album of the original Colgems catalogue featured Micky and Davy, this last live album features the same two Monkees. After the "dismissal" of Peter Tork near the conclusion of the 2001 summer tour, Micky Dolenz & Davy Jones decided to continue their most recent reunion into 2002. Early in the year, the duo performed a few scattered dates in the U.S. & Canada. During one of their concerts at the Casino Rama in Toronto, Canada, as Micky Dolenz later explained, "everything came together." They just happened to be recording the show for reference reasons and decided not to let a good opportunity go to waste since Tork was no longer in the group, making the previous album out of date. The CD, which some say was done with more effort than the previous album, also brought some more joking and fooling around between Dolenz & Jones. When the tour visited the UK in March, fans had an opportunity to purchase the last remaining 2001 CDs as well as the brand new 2002 disc. By the time they came back to North America, the 2001 CD had been long sold out and the newer release was available for $15. It has since long gone away with no hopes of returning to the sale market. Therefore, as a public service to all of you wonderful Monkees fans, we here at The World of Wonder present that live album for your listening pleasure. We hope you have enjoyed this very special month. I know I have and I look forward to more "special months" in the future. For now, I am going to take a much needed break and will be back posting lots more pop culture fun in a week or two. Until then, enjoy!

Micky Dolenz & Davy Jones - MonkeeMania 2002 Live In Toronto

PS - Thank you to all who participated in the "pledge drive" auctions for The Richard S Dart Memorial Arts Scholarship. All total, our Monkees items brought in over $130! Thanks again!

A Month of Monkees: An Alternate Reality Part 8

Today we finish up the "Alternate Reality" of Monkees' records with a Greatest Hits collection. According to a March 21, 2009 Wikipedia entry, Colgems was slated to release a second Monkees greatest hits LP, but the plans were scuttled when the label folded. Apparently, in 1971, a test-pressing of another Monkees hits LP was planned. Like its predecessor, it contained 14 songs: four of these songs were key album tracks; five songs were issued on both singles and albums; the remaining five selections were previously released only as singles and would have made their album debut on this collection. While no official catalog number was ever assigned, the track listing was in place right from the start. Further documentation reveals that all 14 songs were in true stereo. Since we have been exploring this "Alternate Reality" of the Monkees, I decided that in that "alternate reality" Colgems did release this hits collection. As with the Alternate Reality HEAD Soundtrack, this is one that was put together from concept to cover art by myself. While I wasn't too keen on my cover art for the a.r. HEAD soundtrack, I absolutely love the cover art for this album. Since there was no official catalog number assigned, I just gave it the next number after Changes to "follow" the history.

(Theme From) The Monkees
Porpoise Song (Theme from Head)
Someday Man
Good Clean Fun
Oh My My
What Am I Doing Hangin' 'Round?
D.W. Washburn
For Pete's Sake
Listen To The Band
It's Nice To Be With You
The Girl I Knew Somewhere
Tear Drop City
Long Title: Do I Have To Do This All Over Again
Goin' Down

All songs are in stereo. Also, as a special bonus, in this "alternate reality", Colgems released the album with this exculsive pull out poster!



Please enjoy this last album in the "Alternate Reality" series!

The Monkees Greatest Hits No. 2 (Alternate Reality LP)

A Month of Monkees: Monkees Past Posts

As we near the end of "A Month of Monkees" here at the World of Wonder, I can't help but feel a sense of great accomplishment that I was able to do an entire month of posts featuring the Monkees without having to resort to re-posting any of the Monkees items that I have posted in the past. Every single day during this month, I featured (and will until the 12th) a brand new never before posted item. However, I could not let this month go by without giving the past posts a nod as well. Here are some Monkees items that I have posted in the past for you to enjoy just in case you missed them or have misplaced them! Enjoy!

33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee Soundtrack

The Monkees Live In L.A. 9/7/86

Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart LP

The Monkees - Mobile, Alabama - 8/12/67 (part 1)
The Monkees - Mobile, Alabama - 8/12/67 (part 2)

The Living Strings Play "I'm A Believer" and other Monkees Hits

Monkees Christmas Album