Letter from Nesmith

 When I read the headline that Michael Nesmith had died out loud to my wife, I told her, "I have a letter from him."

"Really?" she asked. 

"Yes."

"Well, you're full of surprises," she said. 

We've known each other 15 years and I had never mentioned the letter. His passing brought it back to mind, and so I went into my home office to find the documentary proof. From a time-worn little manila envelope with a postage meter stamp that says it was mailed from Van Nuys, California on Feb. 23, 1972, I pulled out the letter. 

I scanned it into my PC to try to let you read it as is, but the Blogger platform only gives me a few style options, and none of them look really legible when I preview them. 

So let me give a little background. I liked Nesmith's albums with his post-Monkees' project The First National Band, especially the third and final one, "Nevada Fighter." (He did more albums including one with a Second National Band, and all of them are worth seeking out, as far as I'm concerned.)

I was writing songs and playing them at a local coffeehouse, from late high school into my college years, and it was getting to be time to figure out if I could make a living following this passion. So I sensed a kindred spirit in Michael Nesmith. Anyone who could title a song "Propinquity" - the chorus of which says, "I've known you for a long time, but I've just begun to care" - was all right with me. (If you don't have your Webster's handy, "propinquity" means "nearness," as in the narrator of the song was standing too near to realize how he felt about the "girl.") Besides that, he was the one who wore a Frank Zappa nose, wig, moustache and beard while Zappa tucked his hair up into the wool hat to play Nesmith in the opening of the one of the last Monkees episodes. Zappa was a guy whose work I admired and, frankly, imitated - not in complex time signatures but in in-your-face humor. (A sample of my song titles from that time includes "Pseudo-Intellectual Poopie," "I Got Four Balls" and "Up Yours, Buddy." My wife won't let me give you the best of the bunch, and she reads this, so ...😉)

So a guy who could write "Propinquity" and imitate Frank Zappa on primetime TV was definitely working the same side of the street, but not only that, he already lived on that street. So I sent him a five-inch reel-to-reel tape with recordings I had done. I was experimenting with "ping-ponging" - where you record something on a recorder and then re-record that track as you play along with it, kind of like recording karaoke - and if memory serves, my Uncle John was in Italy at the time and had left me with a recorder that had a "sound on sound" function, which allows you skip the process of ping-ponging and record the second simultaneous part on the same machine. In any case, I did some overdubbing and used some echo to try to put a little more sonic meat on my guitar and vocal performance. 

I greased the wheels by starting out with a cover of Nesmith's "Grand Ennui" (which led off his "Nevada Fighter") and then went into a motley collection of my songs, which I think included a cover of "The Dirtiest Song in the World," which I learned from Dave Siegel, one of my hometown mentors. I don't know where he got it, but I think penicillin might have been involved. 

My reel-to-reel tape recorder needs repair, so I can't play back the tape right now and give a full report of its contents, but I think Nesmith's letter gives you a hint. He is unremittingly kind, thoughtful and well-spoken, even though he was typo-prone and didn't use his mom's Liquid Paper to fix those errors (his mom really did invent Liquid Paper, look it up). 

Here it is, retyped with typos intact:

MICHAEL NESMITH

SALVATORE CAPUTO                                                                                        SCOTH PLAINS

DEAR SALVATORE:

I RECEIVED YOUR TAPE IN THE MAIL AND HAVE GIVEN IT A PRETTY GOOD LISTENING. HONESTLY SALVATORE I DONT THINK THAT YOU ARE READY YET TO RECORD PROFESSIONALLY.  NOW I KNOW THAT THAT ISNT A VERY EASY THING TO HEAR BUT I DO WANT TO BE CANDID. HOWEVER I DONT WANT TO DISCOURAGE YOU FROM CONTINUING TO WRITE AND MAKE MUSIC.

IT IS OBVIOUS FROM YOUR LETTER THAT YOU ARE A BRIGHT FELLOW WITH A LOT ON YOUR MIND AND I BELEIVE THAT YOU HAVE THE INTELLECTUAL EQUIPMENT TO SAY WHAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO THROUGH YOUR MUSIC. I WOULD LIKE TO OFFER A FEW BITS OF ADVICE.

YOU REALLY NEED TO PAY A GREAT DEAL OF ATTENTION TO SOUND...NOW DONT MISTAKE THAT FOR RECORDING QUALITY...IM TLAKING ABOUT THE CONCEPT OF COMMUNICATION THROUGH A MEDIUM OTHER THAN THE SPOKEN WORD.  YOUR LYRICS ARE GOOD ENOUGH SO THAT EVERY SOUND YOU MAKE THAT SURROUNDS THOSE LYRICS MUST ENHANCE RATHER DETRACT. IM AFRAID THAT WHAT YOU ARE DOING NOW HAS A TENDENCY TO DISRUPT THE LISTENERS FLOW AS HIS MIND WANDERS THROUGH YOUR MESSAGE...OF COURSE THAT IS REALLY DISASTROUS  TO THE THRUST OF A TUNE. SO REALLY SPEND SOME TIME THINKING ABOUT EVERY SOUND THAT IS SURROUNDING YOU AS AN ARTIST. 

CONCENTRATE ON MELODY AND NOT STRUCTURE. A GOOD MELODY IS ONE THAT THE LISTENERS WILL SOMEHOW BELIEVE THE COULD SING...OR WOULD LIKE TO. EVEN IF IT IS HOPELESSLY COMPLEX THE ILLUSION THAT PEOPLE ARE ABLE TO DO WHAT YOU DO IS THE KEY TO SUCCESSFUL ARTISTRY. SUBSEQUENTLY AVOID ANYTHING WHICH MIGHT BE CONFUSING. AND MELODIES BEOME CONFUSING WHEN YOUR AUDIENCE CANT PICTURE THEMSELVES SINGI8NG IT...THEY TRY TO FIGURE UT THE MELODY AT THAT POINT AND ONCE AGAIN LOSE THE MESSAGE.

CONJURE UP EMOTIONS, NOT THOUGHTS...AND MAKE SURE THAT EVERYTHING YOU DO IS SUBJECTIVE. ALL AN ARTIST HAS TO OFFER IS HIS VIEW. THIS IS YOUR STRONGEST AREA...DONT LOSE THAT!

i HOPE I HAVENT BEEN TOO TUOGH ON YOU HERE. I THINK YOU DO INDEED HAVE SOME TALENT DOWN DEEP INSIDE. YOU MUST HAVE THE COURAGE NOW TO DEVELOPE YOUR CRAFT SO THAT THAT TALENT MIGHT BE EXPRESSED

LET ME KNOW HOW YOUR PROGRESS.

REGARDS,

NESMITH

I didn't take him up on his gracious offer to let him know how I progressed. Frankly, until I looked at the letter recently, I had forgotten that was part of it. I hope this gives you an idea that this guy was real and not just a character on a TV screen. I think I've progressed, and I wish I could let him know. 

One of his tunes was "Roll With the Flow," which says, "You just roll with the flow / Wherever it goes / Even if it rolls outta here." He's done that final roll outta here, but the tunes and the memory of this kindness live on here.