I'm a Believer: My Life of Monkees, Music, and Madness

In this sophomoric exercise 48-year-old Dolenz looks back at his life, concentrating on his years as the drummer for the Monkees, a late '60s rock band prefabricated for television. There are several irritating sections written in screenplay format, and the authors often indulge in lame puns. Dolenz admits he is ``girl-crazy'' to this day, and claims his access to women through fame was like being ``a kid in a carnal store.'' Dolenz's point of view about that period vacillates constantly. On one hand, he appears to feel that he was a part of the authentic '60s experience: he describes the afternoon he smoked a joint with Paul McCartney; his attendance at the Monterey Pop Festival; and Jimi Hendrix's opening for the band on one summer tour. Then Dolenz changes gears, making fun of the hippie ideology of bandmate Peter Tork, whom he portrays as ranting about ``fat-cat, big business fascist pigs!'' In similar fashion, he insists that seeing the Monkees as a rock group is like thinking Leonard Nimoy really was a Vulcan, but he also takes pride in their growing creative control that peaked with the album ``Headquarters,'' the first that the band recorded without studio musicians. Bego is an entertainment writer. Photos not seen by PW. (Sept.)