The Monkees’ Micky Dolenz sues the FBI

completemusicupdate.com:

The last surviving member of The Monkees, Micky Dolenz, has sued the FBI demanding access to documents it possesses about the band.

In a lawsuit filed this week, he says that he has attempted to gain this information via a Freedom Of Information Act request, but has so far had no response beyond an acknowledgement that his request was received in June.Dolenz has launched the lawsuit because, he says, he has exhausted all other avenues, despite being “entitled to timely receipt of nonexempt copies of all records responsive to his [request]”, according to Law360.He also hints in the lawsuit at what he plans to do with the information he seeks, saying that he “has the ability to disseminate information on a wide scale and may use information obtained through his request in an original work, particularly an independent film, documentary or book”.Now, you might be thinking, “Pfft!

The FBI probably doesn’t even have any files on The Monkees”. But that’s where you’d be wrong. Because the FBI’s website acknowledges that it has at least two files: “A 1967 Los Angeles Field Office memorandum on anti-Vietnam war activities and a second document redacted entirely”.The first of those documents states that during a concert in 1966, “subliminal messages were depicted on a screen, which … constituted ‘left wing innovations of a political nature’”.Dolenz’s lawsuit also suggests that there may be other files, given that members of The Monkees “were known to have associated with other musicians and individuals whose activities were monitored” by the FBI, including Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon and other members of The Beatles.The lawsuit adds that there is no reason for the FBI to withhold the files requested, because Dolenz “frequently tours.