Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Dec 22, 2004 18:55:55 GMT
If you ever wondered why The Doors were not your average 60s group Mike Jahn captured an extraordinary haunting moment in time at a Doors concert and lived to tell the tale!
"It is the only non-Morrison song. Jim finishes the opening vocals and wanders off to stage right. He stands for a moment looking over Ray’s shoulder, watching while the long instrumentation begins to unfold. Then he walks behind Ray and disappears for a moment behind a bank of amplifiers. He reappears holding a camera borrowed from a Life magazine
photographer who has been lurking behind The Doors for the entire set. He takes a picture of Ray, who is hunched over his keyboard like Schroeder over his toy piano.
Then he returns the camera to its owner and wanders
off behind John Densmore.
Densmore, the Doors drummer has always been a dramatic performer. He takes exaggerated windups for each stroke of his drums, and he follows through with incredible dynamism. Often he seems as if he is beating a carpet and not playing the drums.
During most of the set he has been hidden behind
Morrison, but now Jim is behind him and John is very aware of being in everybody’s view.
John Densmore, like the other Doors, is also very aware of the dynamics of being a Door. Being a Door is like being a member of any group with the added complication of Jim Morrison.
The dynamics of being a Door.Just before the tour
that took them to New York for the Fillmore East
concert John Densmore quit The Doors.
He quit because of unspecified and probably uncategorizable tensions between Morrison and him, tensions Jim was thought to be unaware of.
John Densmore quit The Doors but was talked
into staying by Robby Krieger, who sat up with him one
night and talked it out.
John stayed and sometime during the tour The Doors got together again.
Morrison walked behind John and up to Robby’s
amplifier and looked on top of it. Earlier in the set girls
had been throwing flowers on stage and at one point
Jim had picked up a flower and placed it on top of
the amplifier.
Now he found it, a yellow flower. He held it up and looked at it for a very long time.
Then he took the flower and walked slowly, very
deliberately from the back to where Robby was wrapped up in his part of ‘Light My Fire’<br>Jim walked up to Robby who was intent on playing his guitar and he poked the flower in his face.
Robby shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. Morrison pulled the flower away and turned toward Ray. He stared across the stage for a long time looking at Ray and looking at the yellow flower.
He held it up high and then he turned and looked at
the drummer. Morrison looked at Densmore. He took the
flower and walked slowly, with steps of almost measured intensity over to John Densmore.
To john who had quit the group but who had been talked into staying. He walked over to John and with motions of very great slowness poked the flower at John’s face.
Playing drums is not like playing lead guitar and John was rocking and sweating. It was his moment as much as the drummer has a moment to call his own and he was very involved in playing it out.
Morrison poked the flower at him, at his face and John shook his head to say No!
Jim pulled the flower back and again slowly pushed it
towards John’s face. Again John shook his head, more
violently this time.
Morrison again withdrew the flower and then again poked it at Densmore. This time the reaction was different. Densmore snapped his head back and
between beats took a shot at Morrison’s hand with one of the drumsticks.
Jim jerked his hand away and stood up taller and looked at the flower again. He looked at the flower then at Densmore and then he took the flower by
the end of its long stem and held it between his
fingers. Densmore was sweating, the instrumental of ‘Light My Fire’ was coming to an end and Densmore wassweating.
Jim took the flower by the end of its long stem
and he began to push it toward John. He let the
petals rest on the drumhead and he began to push it
toward the drummer.
He began to push the flower out onto the drum. It got to the centre and Densmore winding like a pitcher at the height of the World Series hit it with two shattering blows. He smashed the flower and the top of the stem and there were little pieces of yellow flower here and there.
Morrison began to reel in the remains of the flower. He pulled it back and held it up to look at it.
Then he fastened it to a wing nut at the top of a cymbal where the flower hung like a wet Kleenex.
Morrison began to walk back to his home at the centre of the stage.
The instrumentation was nearly over. John was nearly finished and Ray was playing those parting riffs…..
"The time to hesitate is through”<br>Morrison back at the microphone finished the song.
'Light My Fire’ trickled off into the acidic darkness of Second Avenue in New York City. The Doors, the four Doors walked off stage…….
The Doors and their America were going back to Los
Angeles."
Jim Morrison commits GBH on John Densmore with a
daffodil: New York’s Fillmore East March 22nd
1968.
From the 1969 book ‘Jim Morrison & The Doors’ by Mike Jahn
The Ancient Rocker Mike Jahn talks to Scorpywag
[/url]
"It is the only non-Morrison song. Jim finishes the opening vocals and wanders off to stage right. He stands for a moment looking over Ray’s shoulder, watching while the long instrumentation begins to unfold. Then he walks behind Ray and disappears for a moment behind a bank of amplifiers. He reappears holding a camera borrowed from a Life magazine
photographer who has been lurking behind The Doors for the entire set. He takes a picture of Ray, who is hunched over his keyboard like Schroeder over his toy piano.
Then he returns the camera to its owner and wanders
off behind John Densmore.
Densmore, the Doors drummer has always been a dramatic performer. He takes exaggerated windups for each stroke of his drums, and he follows through with incredible dynamism. Often he seems as if he is beating a carpet and not playing the drums.
During most of the set he has been hidden behind
Morrison, but now Jim is behind him and John is very aware of being in everybody’s view.
John Densmore, like the other Doors, is also very aware of the dynamics of being a Door. Being a Door is like being a member of any group with the added complication of Jim Morrison.
The dynamics of being a Door.Just before the tour
that took them to New York for the Fillmore East
concert John Densmore quit The Doors.
He quit because of unspecified and probably uncategorizable tensions between Morrison and him, tensions Jim was thought to be unaware of.
John Densmore quit The Doors but was talked
into staying by Robby Krieger, who sat up with him one
night and talked it out.
John stayed and sometime during the tour The Doors got together again.
Morrison walked behind John and up to Robby’s
amplifier and looked on top of it. Earlier in the set girls
had been throwing flowers on stage and at one point
Jim had picked up a flower and placed it on top of
the amplifier.
Now he found it, a yellow flower. He held it up and looked at it for a very long time.
Then he took the flower and walked slowly, very
deliberately from the back to where Robby was wrapped up in his part of ‘Light My Fire’<br>Jim walked up to Robby who was intent on playing his guitar and he poked the flower in his face.
Robby shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. Morrison pulled the flower away and turned toward Ray. He stared across the stage for a long time looking at Ray and looking at the yellow flower.
He held it up high and then he turned and looked at
the drummer. Morrison looked at Densmore. He took the
flower and walked slowly, with steps of almost measured intensity over to John Densmore.
To john who had quit the group but who had been talked into staying. He walked over to John and with motions of very great slowness poked the flower at John’s face.
Playing drums is not like playing lead guitar and John was rocking and sweating. It was his moment as much as the drummer has a moment to call his own and he was very involved in playing it out.
Morrison poked the flower at him, at his face and John shook his head to say No!
Jim pulled the flower back and again slowly pushed it
towards John’s face. Again John shook his head, more
violently this time.
Morrison again withdrew the flower and then again poked it at Densmore. This time the reaction was different. Densmore snapped his head back and
between beats took a shot at Morrison’s hand with one of the drumsticks.
Jim jerked his hand away and stood up taller and looked at the flower again. He looked at the flower then at Densmore and then he took the flower by
the end of its long stem and held it between his
fingers. Densmore was sweating, the instrumental of ‘Light My Fire’ was coming to an end and Densmore wassweating.
Jim took the flower by the end of its long stem
and he began to push it toward John. He let the
petals rest on the drumhead and he began to push it
toward the drummer.
He began to push the flower out onto the drum. It got to the centre and Densmore winding like a pitcher at the height of the World Series hit it with two shattering blows. He smashed the flower and the top of the stem and there were little pieces of yellow flower here and there.
Morrison began to reel in the remains of the flower. He pulled it back and held it up to look at it.
Then he fastened it to a wing nut at the top of a cymbal where the flower hung like a wet Kleenex.
Morrison began to walk back to his home at the centre of the stage.
The instrumentation was nearly over. John was nearly finished and Ray was playing those parting riffs…..
"The time to hesitate is through”<br>Morrison back at the microphone finished the song.
'Light My Fire’ trickled off into the acidic darkness of Second Avenue in New York City. The Doors, the four Doors walked off stage…….
The Doors and their America were going back to Los
Angeles."
Jim Morrison commits GBH on John Densmore with a
daffodil: New York’s Fillmore East March 22nd
1968.
From the 1969 book ‘Jim Morrison & The Doors’ by Mike Jahn
The Ancient Rocker Mike Jahn talks to Scorpywag
[/url]
