THE TEN YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF MONKEES WEBSITE

Brad & Jackie Waddell

Monday, November 10 is the ten year anniversary of Brad Waddell’s

Monkees.net site – the preferred site to go for all things

Monkee-related.

Says Waddell, “Early in 1992, the Internet was getting a lot of buzz

and so as a computer programmer I had to get out there and see what

was happening. I re-discovered the Monkees fans from around the world;

hanging out on IRC chat and USENET (alt.music.monkees) and proceeded

to see what I could add to the mix. I created a Monkees mailing list

and began to help in scheduling Monkees parties online at scheduled

times in the chat.”

“In 1994 when the old menu systems of the Internet began to give way

to the new form of HTML web pages, I built the first Monkees-web site

and listed it on Yahoo and it was popular immediately because of the

ability to share photos, recordings and a few videos.”

Waddell says he’s met fans from all over the world and feels flattered

that his site has become something of a common ground.

He’s even interfaced, not only with the members of the band, but also

various resources the band has worked with. Says Micky

Dolenz-publicist David Salidor, “Brad’s done an amazing job of keeping

current; cherishing the history of the group and their music. Theirs

is a totally unique story and their fans, young and old, have a

perfect resource to go to.”

Says Waddell, “The high point of my involvement in this site was

undoubtedly when Michael Nesmith invited me to his office in

California to show him how this Internet thing worked, and having him

follow up that meeting by beginning to write a novel on the web - page

by page - for all of the fans to watch. He really jumps into things

with both feet and eventually he published the novel as ‘The Long

Sandy Hair of Neftoon Zamora’.”

Waddell’s plans for his site next week is to run a contest with

prizes, and to print several essays from some of the

key-Monkee-resources, including authors Eric Lefcowitz (Monkee

Business) and Mark Bego, who co-authored Dolenz’s 2004 book I’m A

Believer.

Waddell says that the biggest joy and accomplishment is having met

each of the band members and having them embrace his efforts. “It has

been 20 years and the Monkees still are in my music rotation bringing

happy memories of Monkee weddings between fans, great friends and

humorous romps like the true story of what happened to Mike’s wool

hat,” says Waddell.

Adds Micky Dolenz, “Congratulations for hanging in there with us

through the years; your support has not gone unnoticed nor

unappreciated!”

Says Waddell, “The Monkees were early stars of the Internet and

Monkee.Net continues to have around 5000 visits per day, which is not

surprising as it has some of the most amazingly dedicated worldwide

fan groups of any musical organization I have seen.”

Photo Courtesy Of: dis Company