Terry Emma: Davy Jones' Weekend in Geneva

As the world mourns the death of Davy Jones of The Monkees, my mind is whirling with memories of planning Davy's concert here in Geneva to benefit the Geneva History Center. Call it therapy, but I can't help but write about how a small group of volunteers helped organize the concert and raise money to bring Davy to Geneva in just six weeks. So here is the story ...

In July 2006, I read in the newspaper that performed a concert in the village of Wheeling. My first thought was if Wheeling can get Davy, why not Geneva? The next day, I called the village of Wheeling, and they gave me Davy's manager's phone number. I left a brief voicemail without high expectations. By the end of the day, I had a copy of Davy's Artist Advance Sheet and Contract on my kitchen table.

Davy wanted to begin his 40th anniversary celebration of The Monkees television show that year with a free concert on center stage on Third Street in Geneva!

I immediately e-mailed a few good friends and asked if they wanted to help.  Dawn Vogelsberg, Joe Stanton, Maureen Emma Radecki and Cindy Vacek jumped on board to sell sponsorships and make it happen. We called ourselves the Daydream Believers.

We signed the contract in hopes of getting enough sponsors to pay for Davy and his band and hopeful to make even more to benefit the .  Thanks to the hard work of the "Daydream Believers" we earned the support of many great sponsors in the community and sold enough VIP seats to make it happen. And what a weekend it was!

Dawn Vogelsberg and I found ourselves personally driving to the airport to pick up Davy and his band on Friday afternoon. That evening, we were dining with them at Stockholm's Pub and stayed up into the wee hours listening to his stories of The Beatles, Rolling Stones and David Cassidy in his room at the Herrington Inn.

Despite a few raindrops on Saturday evening, the concert was a success. Third Street was full of people of all ages dancing and singing along to "The Last Train to Clarksville," "I Wanna Be Free," and my favorite (as sung to Marcia Brady on a Brady Bunch episode) "Girl."

Davy was such a friendly, fun-loving guy who was not caught up in who he was but just loved to entertain. He agreed to meet and greet the VIP seat holders before the concert and joined us at Old Towne Pub afterwards and posed for photos and signed autographs with anyone who asked.

It is somewhat of a blur now but I'll never forget his accent saying his favorite phrase, "Whatever," in response to just about any request we made. On the way to the airport that Sunday, Davy talked about how much he loved Geneva and would be glad to come back. We talked about putting together another concert and this time he would bring David Cassidy. It never panned out.

Thanks, Davy, it was a weekend I'll never forget. "I'm a Believer"—forever.