“It’s taken Peter a while to get his head straight again. He was never mentally suited to all the pressure, to the studio demands, the girls always tugging and pushing and mauling us.” - Davy Jones, Edmonton Journal (October 24, 1972) Read more at www.instagram.com/p/DRcqXvRjNN....

“We were the cast of a TV show about a band and played a band on TV. And then there was another thing where we hit the road and played in front of 10,000 and 18,000 screaming teenagers.” - Peter, The Modesto Bee (2016) More at www.instagram.com/reel/DRaC0sb.... 🎥: Entertainment Tonight, 1984

“Mike was a monster time keeper. In fact, Mike was our time keeper onstage. Micky played melodic drums, he played them like you would a melodic instrument. Mike kept time.” - Peter, Headquarters Radio (1989) Read more at thislovintime.tumblr.com/post/8009357.... Photo by Tom Morton

“Peter was a much more skillful player than I was by some orders of magnitude.” - Michael Nesmith, The Monkees Tale Read more at www.instagram.com/p/DRU6LwDjNx.... Photo by Roland Thurman (?)

“There’s one song that Peter Tork sings on that Missing Links album where he sounds absolutely super. He sounds great; he’s right on the button. Sings it good and he wasn’t supposed to be a singer.” - Davy Jones on “Come On In” More at www.instagram.com/reel/DRSU36E....

“Peter was a great musician, great banjo player, but he was mainly from New York, and he had a different process for thinking about songs. It didn’t quite fit with what we had in mind for the group called The Monkees.” - Tommy Boyce Read more at www.instagram.com/p/DRPxIhBDO0....

“Peter was absolutely handsome in an all-white outfit for a banjo solo. Nobody wanted him to go.” - fan Charlene Steffens reports on The Monkees concert at the Cow Palace for Movie Teen Illustrated (October 1967) Photo from the Phoenix show in January 1967; photo by Richard Weize.

The Boy Meets World episode “Rave On!” — guest starring Peter, Davy, and Micky — originally aired on this day in 1995. Read more at www.instagram.com/p/DRKnutRjCx....

“I have a feeling that Peter Tork folk-singer would have been a revelation.“ - article by Keith Altham, New Musical Express (July 1, 1967) Read more at www.instagram.com/p/DRIBy0sDAn.... Pictured: Peter on the set of “Hillbilly Honeymoon,” 1967. Photos by Henry Diltz.

“Peter Tork endeared himself to everyone [in London] by being funny and drily witty and genuinely kind.” - from an article by Trudy More, Teen Life (December 1967) Pictured: Peter at The Monkees’ press conference in London on June 29, 1967; photo by ANL/Shutterstock.

The Wings episode “She’s Gotta Have It,” guest starring Peter Tork, originally aired on this day in 1995. Watch more at www.instagram.com/reel/DRC4E6m....

“[At the newly opened shop, Peter] smiled and wished me luck, and I realized how much I love him because he always tries to encourage me and inspire me.” - Genie the Tailor, Tiger Beat (June 1968) Read more at www.instagram.com/p/DRATT1HDKk.... 📷: Peter in one of Genie’s tailored outfits, 1967

“Peter Tork is a pretty funny boy on television and a wonderful actor, but in real life he is beautiful, dreamy, intelligent, and tremendously knowledgeable about everything and very warm and understanding.” - Genie the Tailor, Tiger Beat (March 1968) 📷: screenshots from the Blu-ray set

“Good Clean Fun” (live in 1987).

A bit of Peter Tork and James Lee Stanley live in 1997; footage courtesy of derekup. More at www.instagram.com/reel/DQ4kgx4....

“I love music. The craft of it remains endlessly fascinating to me. There isn’t much that I want to do other than music. I love a good joke. I love to laugh. Humor is an important part of music.” - Peter, MLive (August 21, 2012) More at www.instagram.com/reel/DQ2ApVV.... 🎥 from 1988

“Peter’s about the most good natured person I’ve ever seen. […] [H]e never gets mad when you kid him a lot.” - Micky Dolenz, Flip (September 1967) Read more at www.instagram.com/p/DQzbbHyiE-....

“[Peter is] the ‘flower child’ of the quartet — hip to love, peace, beauty and all that (not that the others are in favor of hate, war and ugliness, but you see what I mean).” - Tracy Thomas, Flip (September 1967) Read more at www.instagram.com/p/DQw2t76jLT.... Photo by Dan Wynn

Happy anniversary to Head! The movie premiered on this day in 1968. “I think they’re [the Tork songs ‘Can You Dig It?’ and 'Long Title…’] the best songs in the movie [Head]. I love both of them. […] When those two songs start up in the movie, it comes alive for me.” - Michael Nesmith

Q: “Why did you leave the Monkees?” Peter Tork: “I was suffering from an overdose of idealism at that point. I think it was important to me relative to my development at that time.” - Columbia Daily Spectator (April 2, 1982) Read more at www.instagram.com/p/DQrtpyhDCG....

“[George Harrison] said: ‘I’m working on a soundtrack album, I’d love to have you play a little banjo.’” - Peter Tork, The Guardian (March 23, 2017) Read more at www.instagram.com/reel/DQpI0ja.... Audio (with photo from the 1968 recording session) from Wonderwall.

“[The banjo is] a facet of me that I would like to flower — though I don’t know when it will.” - Peter, Disc and Music Echo (January 13, 1968) Read more at www.instagram.com/reel/DQmlQoJ.... Footage and photo from the 1968 tour with an attempt at syncing the audio from the Live In Japan recording.

“[Reporters] started asking [Peter] about the movie, ‘Head.’ ‘It could really be a smash or it could really go bad-phoooo-blup!’ he explained.” - The Hatchet (November 18, 1968) Read more at www.instagram.com/p/DQj_RSgDCU.... Pictured: promoting Head, 1968

“Tork later confided to his brother Nick that [James Lee] Stanley had given him his life back. ‘I wept when I heard that,’ Stanley says (he learned of this following Tork’s death).” - Stranger Things Have Happened 2020 reissue liner notes More at www.instagram.com/p/DQhaMvpjGY....

Happy Halloween! Clip from “Card Carrying Red Shoes.”

“I believe that you can tell more about people by the way they looking walking away from you than you can by what they say.” - Peter Tork, Seventeen Magazine (Aug. 1967) Read more at www.instagram.com/p/DQZr2VYjKu.... Photos by Gene Trindl (?)

“I wrote a set of chords once [in college] and thought, 'Gosh, this is great.’ I couldn’t think of anything to do with them. A couple years later I wrote ‘Can You Dig It,’ to those chords.” - Peter, Shanley On Music (2014) Read more at www.instagram.com/reel/DQXH8la....

“I knew Peter back in the 70's. […] He was a loving, fun guy who was extremely talented. I'm so glad I got to know him and will surely miss his endearing smile.” - Penny Andros, obits dot mlive dot com (2019) Read more at www.instagram.com/p/DQUh_RXDPU....

“[Peter’s] really a genius, a prolific musician — he plays about seven instruments.” - Micky Dolenz, Record Mirror (February 11, 1967) Read more at www.instagram.com/reel/DQR8P5V.... 🎥: Peter Tork, multi-instrumentalist: an edit.

“You know who was good? Peter Tork was an amazing multi-instrumentalist. I had no idea! […] Peter was great. I was really, really taken with him. He was full of life and had loads of ideas.” - Roger Bechirian, Tape Op (July/August 2012) Photo courtesy of Roger Bechirian.

Autumn storm here right now, so a throwback to sunnier times with this older post:

“[Peter] explains that he has learned several new songs from a New York buddy who has been living at his house, and he proceeds to play and sing them for you and Mike.” - article by David Pearl, 16 Magazine (January 1968) More at www.instagram.com/p/DQKITY-jJh....

Clip from Peter’s guest co-hosting spot (with Rosie O’Donnell) on VH-1 in 1988. Read more at www.instagram.com/reel/DQHksVF....

“[The Monkees] introduced some of the earliest light shows, psychedelic slide projections that came to be a staple of the sixties’ concert experience.” - When The Music Mattered: Rock in the 1960s (1984) Read more at www.instagram.com/p/DQE_pFBDMc.... Photo by ZUMA Press, Inc.

“I adore Peter Tork. He really is one of the most super people I’ve ever met.” - Jennifer Moss, New Musical Express (November 25, 1967) Read more at www.instagram.com/p/DQCZ0ygDCu....

“[W]hen this band [Shoe Suede Blues] started, we went straight to the blues book for all our jams. There was no 60s froth or bubblegum tunes. It was sort of given to me to do and it was liberation in so many ways.” - Peter Tork, Metro Philadelphia (2008) More at www.instagram.com/p/DP_059zjLy....

“Let’s go be zany. I’ve got a little of that left — I guess.”- Peter Tork, USA Today (June 28, 2000) Read more at www.instagram.com/p/DP9SaixjK_.... Pictured: Peter with L.B. Fisher; photo by Dan MacMedan for USA Today.

“Tork, just 23 when he signed on with the Monkees, gives a measured response when asked to sum up his experience with the band. ‘I did as well as I knew how and have nothing to be ashamed of.’” - Bohemian (Sept. 26, 2002) Read more at www.instagram.com/p/DP6r3fFjLgV/. Photo by Gene Trindl

“I worked with Peter in the mid seventies. A kinder, gentler, gracious and giving human being you could never find. His sense of humor and positivity was a gift to all of those lucky enough to be around him.” - D J Barker, Facebook (Feb. 13, 2023)  Read more at www.instagram.com/p/DP4Gc3-jFt....

“A serious critic could probably find some faults with that music. Tork admits he is ‘not the world’s greatest singer,’ but in the end, all that matters is that people like it.” - Post-Bulletin (1979) More at www.instagram.com/p/DP1kccjjDp.... Photo by Steve Webb for the Post-Bulletin

“The first thing people usually ask me is which is your favorite Monkee […] . I guess I’d have to confess to a certain preference in the direction of Peter.” - Carol Deck, Flip (1968) Read more at www.instagram.com/p/DPy9jb2jNn....

“’We’ve all got to stick together or we’re all going to come unglued.’ [Tork] noted a drive for only one’s own fortune is at the expense of others. 'Without community, the individual is dead.’” - The Life (May 3, 1996) Photo by Henry Diltz

“[Peter Tork] was the most wonderful, patient and real teacher I have ever had. I learned so much from his kindness and talent.” - former student David, MLive dot com (2019) Read more at www.instagram.com/p/DPtzbeRDKj.... Pictured: Peter teaching, 1976.

“The transition from being one of the crowd to being your own individual self is painful, but the way you feel about yourself is the most important thing that will ever happen to you! Peace and Love, Peter Tork” - Fave (1969) Read more at www.instagram.com/p/DPrOyPTDJ0.... Photo by Nurit Wilde

“If I never do break out or get a serious career success doing this, I’m not going to quit doing it. It’s too much fun.” - Peter, The Post Crescent (2004) Pictured: Peter performing at the Billy Cowsill Benefit Concert at the El Rey Theatre in L.A. on September 13, 2004. Photos by Jim Steinfeldt.

Q: “What is your favorite hour of the day?” Peter Tork: “The one I’m enjoying at the present moment.” - Tiger Beat (September 1968) Photo by Nurit Wilde

“Music is sort of my life. [Without] it there wouldn’t be much sense to anything.” - Peter Tork, Tiger Beat (1967) “I love music. The craft of it remains endlessly fascinating to me.” - Peter, MLive (2012) Read more at www.instagram.com/p/DPjgAeuDEn.... Photos by Henry Diltz (?) & Jennifer Denham

“We spent some time on an Indian reservation, where The Buffalo Springfield were appearing in their concert. It was a gas up there, and I bought so many ‘peace’ beads, head-bands, blankets, jackets etc.” - Peter Tork, Fabulous 208 (1967) Read more at www.instagram.com/p/DPg7rNTDMr....

What’s your Peter on the set of Head (1968) mood today? ;)

“I’m shy… I’ve spent years and years learning — because being shy was not a good thing so I… this is all like, you know, a left-hander writing with his right hand.” - Peter Tork, GOLD 104.5 (1999) Read more at www.instagram.com/p/DPbwPyKjPN....