Ray Manzarek Various Interviews

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

City Pages - Minneapolis, MN
Posted by Steve Monaco
May 25, 2006 1:20 PM

Soul Kitschin'


Would you buy a used fire from these men? No, it's not the leads from The Lord of the Rings, it's the touring version of The Doors, with Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger-ho-Tep, and Cult singer Ian Astbury.

A 2002 piece in The Nation by Doors drummer John Densmore spelled out his side in the remaining band member's legal disputes, and he came out as a true keeper of the sixties' flame-- he was keeping his word to Jim Morrison that he (and the band) would never allow the music to be used for commercial purposes. In doing so, he's turned down millions for the others as well, but the sincerity of the guy was obvious.

Well, bad news for John's admirers and fans of the music: the sellout has officially begun. A story at fortwayne.com, of all places, quietly slipped in the news that the three remaining Doors "believe it's time to put their band's legacy (and, ahem, potential profitability) front and center."

Also: "Dick Wolf, the force behind the ubiquitous Law & Order franchises, is producing a full-length documentary on the Doors for theatrical release-- with all three surviving Doors on board as co-producers." It gets worse, with coffee table books, CD retrospectives, and a 40th anniversary blitz for "Light My Fire" and the first album. But the worst is saved for last:

"And talk about strange days, there's even a plan to take the Doors to Vegas in 2008. Jeff Jampol of Doors Music Co. said the surviving members and Morrison's estate are negotiating a deal in the 'tens of millions of dollars' to build a special theater of 800 to 1,200 seats at a Las Vegas casino and tailor-design a standing show."

Great. No announcement of what, exactly, the shows will contain (good news: they don't want anything that would cheapen the band's image). "We're creating something, but we're not sure what it's called," Jampol said.

Maybe they don't, but we do.

Great minds suck alike: Ray Manzarek and George Winston

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

The Doors Of '90s Perception
Ray Manzarek Talks About Morrison's Image and the Band's Continuing Appeal
By Jane Stevenson
Toronto Sun
Monday, December 1, 1997


Don't even think about getting into a battle of the minds with Ray
Manzarek.

Because, as the 62-year-old keyboard player for seminal '60s rock
band The Doors says down the line from his Beverly Hills home: "You
want to play mind games with me? I was in a band called 'The Kings of
Acid Rock.' You're just lucky Jim Morrison's not around. I'm a pretty
straightforward guy, but Morrison would have destroyed your psyche."

Actually, Manzarek -- originally a classically trained blues fan from
Chicago before his fateful meeting with Doors frontman Morrison at
UCLA film school -- is relating a conversation with Oliver Stone, the
director of the much-maligned 1991 biopic The Doors.

But because Manzarek gives off such a playful vibe while discussing
The Doors' first-ever box set -- three CDs of previously unreleased
material and a fourth CD of band favorites -- it's hard to tell when
he's joking and when he's being serious.

Like when asked which singers today come close to possessing the same
wild, sexy stage presence of Morrison, Manzarek quickly offers up
U2's Bono.

Really?

"Well, I don't know. These are my answers," says Manazarek. "I can't
say, 'Nah, Jim -- no one could touch him.' You know what? Michael
Hutchence. Poor, late Michael Hutchence. I liked him very much. I
thought he was very good and I certainly liked the music that band
made; INXS was a very good band. What a tragedy. He was going to get
married and he was going on a tour and everything. Did you hear
anything about Prozac? Some people have said that Prozac is, for some
people -- very few -- a suicide drug."

Getting back to Stone's movie, Manzarek did withdraw his support
after the script depicted Morrison as an unreliable drunk instead of
the sensitive, funny poet Manzarek knew and loved. Drummer John
Densmore and guitarist Robbie Krieger, however, co-operated.

"Oliver Stone is a fool. Just think how bad it would have been had
John and Robbie not been there. "

The one good thing that came from Stone's film was yet another
resurgence in interest in The Doors, who have sold an astounding 40
million albums since Morrison died at age 27, from heart failure, in
a bathtub in Paris on July 3, 1971.

The band had its biggest sales in 1980 with the release of the
Morrison biography, No One Here Gets Out Alive.

It's that enduring appeal of The Doors -- who still average album
sales of one million a year -- that led to the recent release of the
box set, which sold 18,000 copies during its first week.

"We worked liked dogs for the entire year to get this thing together
for the fans," says Manzarek.

As for what keeps music buyers coming to pray at the altar of The
Doors -- and Morrison's Parisian gravesite in particular -- Manzarek
has a few theories.

"The Doors in person were a mystical, hypnotic group with a wild and
crazed lead singer dressed in black leather that was so sexy and
exciting that girls just went mad for him. They did. They offered
their bodies to him."

What about the rest of the band?

"No, just to Jim," says Manzarek. "I mean, we got a few body offers,
but not that many. They mainly wanted Mr. Leather. They just wanted
that leather. They wanted to wrap their legs around that leather-clad
torso. They did. What can I say? They had a desire for leather. Women
desire leather. I don't know why, but they like men in leather. I
could never figure out why a guy would want to wear leather. But in
Jim's case, I understood."

END.


Ananova/U2 World.com News
January 17 2001

Manzarek Hits Out At Bono Over Jim Morrison Tribute Album

Ray Manzarek has criticized Bono for snubbing the Jim Morrison
tribute album Stoned Immaculate.

U2 say their singer did not have time to take part as the
invitation came while they were recording their latest album All That You
Can't Leave Behind.

Stoned Immaculate comprises new material written by the three
remaining members of The Doors - keyboard player Manzarek,
guitarist Robbie Krieger and drummer John Densmore.

It also features John Lee Hooker, Stone Temple Pilots' Scott Weiland,
The Cult's Ian Astbury and Bo Diddley.

Manzarek said: "Fine, we don't want you anyway, you're too old.
You've either got to be as old as John Lee Hooker or a young guy."
Source: www.ananova.com/entertainment/story/sm_177191.html

NEWS - Doors closed for Bono
Yahoo UK News/Dot Music

Wednesday January 17, 09:21 AM

Doors keyboard player Ray Manzarek is reported to have claimed
that U2 frontman Bono "wasn't interested" in contributing to the
forthcoming Doors tribute album, 'Stoned Immaculate'.

Manzarek said of the artists who featured on the album: "It depended
on availability, who was in the country and who could make it to
Los Angeles, and who was interested.

"Bono wasn't interested so we said, 'Fine, we don't want you
anyway, you're too old.' You've either got to be as old as Johnny Lee
Hooker or a young guy."

'Stoned Immaculate' was recorded in honour of Jim Morrison, the
late Doors singer.

A number of artists appear on the album including Aerosmith,
Scott Stapp of Creed, Scott Weiland from Stone Temple Pilots and the
Cult's Ian Astbury.

The latter two are also to record new material with the remaining
members of the Doors, as announced on dotmusic last week.
Source: uk.news.launch.yahoo.com/dyna/article.html? a=/dotmusic_news/17405.html&e=l_news

Premium Music.com
January 2001

Surviving Doors open to recording with Scott Weiland and Ian Astbury.

Sixties band's keyboardist, Ray Manzarek, says he plans to write
new album with bandmate Robbie Krieger, Stone Temple Pilots, and Cult
frontmen. The Doors' recent appearance on "VH1 Storytellers," which
paired surviving members Robbie Krieger, Ray Manzarek and John
Densmore with singers such as Stone Temple Pilots' Scott Weiland,
Creed's Scott Stapp, and Days of the New's Travis Meeks, may
yield a collaboration album of new material......U2's BONO has been
dismissed as "too old" by the 65-year-old former keyboard player of The
Doors.

Ray Manzarek made the comment after claiming that Bono "wasn't
interested" in contributing to the upcoming Doors tribute album, 'Stoned Immaculate'.

Source:http://www.premium-music.net/news_arc3.html