Micky Dolenz — the last surviving member of the Monkees following the death of Michael Nesmith last year — has filed a lawsuit seeking to obtain FBI records collected on the '60s pop-rockers.
As Rolling Stone reports, Dolenz was previously unsuccessful at getting the Monkees' FBI file via a Freedom of Information Act request, filed in June on his behalf by attorney Mark S. Zaid.
The 77-year-old's suit follows a small portion of the band's FBI file that was made public in 2011, which revealed that an FBI informant was in attendance during a performance on the band's inaugural 1967 tour.
The seven-page excerpt from 2011 showed the agency's interest in the Monkees' concert visuals, with the informant writing, "During the concert, subliminal messages were depicted on the screen which, in the opinion of [informant's name redacted], constituted 'left wing intervention of a political nature' ... messages and pictures were flashed of riots, in Berkley, anti-U.S. messages on the war in Vietnam, racial riots in Selma, Alabama, and similar messages which had unfavorable response[s] from the audience."
"This lawsuit is designed to obtain any records the FBI created and/or possesses on the Monkees as well as its individual members," reads the suit, which can be viewed below. "Mr. Dolenz has exhausted all necessary required administrative remedies with respect to his [Freedom of Information Act/Privacy Act] request."
Zaid recalled to Rolling Stone how his Monkees fandom began after receiving a collection of their albums in 1975. After meeting Dolenz through mutual friends, he suggested investigating whether or not the FBI had collected a file on the band and its members, unaware of the 2011 excerpt being made public.
"That just kind of reinforced for me that there was actually something here," he told the publication. "It's not just a fishing expedition. I mean, we're still fishing, but we know there's fish in the water."
Rolling Stone notes how the public, seven-page Monkees document is heavily redacted, and how it refers to a second document that was "redacted entirely."
"The redacted information may be peripheral to them," Zaid said. "Some of them likely reflect an informant's identity, which was probably the person attending the concerts. Theoretically, anything could be in those files though. We have no idea what records even exist. It could be almost nothing. But we'll see soon enough."
As Rolling Stone reports, Dolenz was previously unsuccessful at getting the Monkees' FBI file via a Freedom of Information Act request, filed in June on his behalf by attorney Mark S. Zaid.
The 77-year-old's suit follows a small portion of the band's FBI file that was made public in 2011, which revealed that an FBI informant was in attendance during a performance on the band's inaugural 1967 tour.
The seven-page excerpt from 2011 showed the agency's interest in the Monkees' concert visuals, with the informant writing, "During the concert, subliminal messages were depicted on the screen which, in the opinion of [informant's name redacted], constituted 'left wing intervention of a political nature' ... messages and pictures were flashed of riots, in Berkley, anti-U.S. messages on the war in Vietnam, racial riots in Selma, Alabama, and similar messages which had unfavorable response[s] from the audience."
"This lawsuit is designed to obtain any records the FBI created and/or possesses on the Monkees as well as its individual members," reads the suit, which can be viewed below. "Mr. Dolenz has exhausted all necessary required administrative remedies with respect to his [Freedom of Information Act/Privacy Act] request."
Zaid recalled to Rolling Stone how his Monkees fandom began after receiving a collection of their albums in 1975. After meeting Dolenz through mutual friends, he suggested investigating whether or not the FBI had collected a file on the band and its members, unaware of the 2011 excerpt being made public.
"That just kind of reinforced for me that there was actually something here," he told the publication. "It's not just a fishing expedition. I mean, we're still fishing, but we know there's fish in the water."
Rolling Stone notes how the public, seven-page Monkees document is heavily redacted, and how it refers to a second document that was "redacted entirely."
"The redacted information may be peripheral to them," Zaid said. "Some of them likely reflect an informant's identity, which was probably the person attending the concerts. Theoretically, anything could be in those files though. We have no idea what records even exist. It could be almost nothing. But we'll see soon enough."