Credit: Henry DiltzMonkees singer Michael Nesmith will be honored with the Ernie Kovacs Award at an October 1 ceremony held at Kessler Theater in Dallas, in conjunction with the Dallas VideoFest 29 event. Nesmith, a former Dallas resident, is being recognized for his innovative video work, as well as his accomplishments with The Monkees and as a songwriter and film producer.
The Ernie Kovacs Award honors entertainment figures whose visionary work has made an impact on television. The award is named for the late comic actor whose inventive and experimental TV performances influenced many popular programs, including Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In, Monty Python’s Flying Circus and Saturday Night Live.
Among Nesmith’s career highlights, he developed the 1980 show Pop Clips, which was a predecessor to MTV; and he won the first Video of the Year Grammy Award in 1981 for his irreverent home video Elephant Parts.
Dallas VideoFest director Bart Weiss says of Nesmith, “In looking back at the comedy of The Monkees and his other work, you can see the visual puns that came from Ernie Kovacs. More than that, he, like Kovacs, saw what video and television could be and took us to that new place.”
Tickets for the 2016 Ernie Kovacs Award ceremony are available now at Prekindle.com.
As previously reported, Nesmith will be rejoining his Monkees band mates Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork to perform at the band’s September 16 show at Hollywood Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles. He also is planning an early-2017 promotional tour in support of his upcoming book, Infinite Tuesday.
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