I like The Monkees.

They started out as actors, playing the role of musicians. Kind of ironic, television sitcom actors portraying artists.

Their work was good, that is, at least on the sitcom scale. They became so popular, they even went out on concert tours, acting like musicians while authentic musicians played behind them. They stood in the spotlight, while the real thing happened without them. The audience didn't know or didn't care, but after awhile, The Monkees themselves began to care.

After awhile, they wanted to actually play their music, not act it. Nobody—not the TV executives, or the writers, or the real musicians, least of all The Monkees themselves—ever expected that to happen. Everybody thought it was just a sitcom. But something happened.

Music got to 'em. It began to haunt them. I'll bet they lost a lot of sleep over it. Haunted by Music...

Mike was the first to succumb to Music, to become an authentic musician. I remember "Mike Nesmith and the First National Band" in the 1970's, when Crosby Stills and Nash were "real" musicians. But Mike started playing his own music. Nobody believed it, and nobody accepted it.

The Fool of The Monkees, Peter Tork, who couldn't play a kazoo, was really bugged. He worked patiently for years, and he learned to play his own music. Eventually he became a music teacher. He got good, because he had to. I'll bet it wasn't his choice at all. He had messed around with music, and Music got him.

Don't mess with what you can't handle.

People usually understand that about Love (although that doesn't make us hesitate), but Music surprises us. It sure surprised The Monkees. They thought they were actors. Then Music got to them, and they were never the same afterwards. That's terrifying, but that's good. Now Music speaks through them. It took thirty years.

I haven't heard them play, and for all I know they could be terrible musicians. That's unimportant. What matters is that once they were fools, and now they're Authentic.

So...

How much courage do You have?

Would you have struggled for thirty years? How about if it was very important? Would you struggle for half your life, if it meant becoming Authentic?

None of us are born musicians, and all of us are born musicians. Children instinctively feel music, but we are taught to shut it out, until all we can do is drive around in our cars with the subwoofers pounding, until we are passive experiencers—until we become victims of music.

I conjure you in the name of The Monkees, reject that!

Buy a good djembe, and play it. Go to a pawn shop and get a guitar, and pluck it. Don't just listen to your MP3's. Give voice to the music that is your own. Take thirty years if you need to. There is no hurry. This is so important that you should take the long view.

But at some point, you must make your play. Don't wait too long. Don't end your life, having never played your music.

The Monkees took a job, pretending to be musicians. And eventually, The Music got 'em.

May it happen to all of us.

Photos from Nine Times Blue.