Post by tzinana on Aug 13, 2005 6:23:25 GMT
"Radio Program Opens the Doors to New Generation"
By DENNIS HUNT
Los Angeles Times
November 26, 1988
Seventeen years after the death of Jim Morrison, the mercurial lead singer of what is often hailed as the greatest rock band ever from Los Angeles, the Doors are a still a bankable item.
That's because many of the quartet's fans from the '60s and '70s remain as fanatical about the Doors as your most devoted Trekkies, and because new generations of fans are constantly being turned on to the band.
Doors hits--including "Light My Fire" and "L.A. Woman"--are frequently heard on rock radio stations and the group's story is also saluted in periodic books and videos.
Villard/Random House has just released a book of Morrison poetry titled "Wilderness: The Lost Writings of Jim Morrison," while Cinemax, the cable channel, debuts a special, "The Doors in Europe," on Dec. 17.
Meanwhile, Jac Holzman--who discovered and signed the Doors in 1966 when he was president of Elektra Records--has put together an ambitious, six-hour radio documentary that will be broadcast Sunday on more than 175 stations around the country. The program, titled "The Doors: From the Inside," will be heard at 11 a.m. in Los Angeles on KMPC-FM (101.9).
The documentary will contain interviews with other artists as well as friends, neighbors and business associates of the Doors--many of whom never before talked to the media about the Doors.
But the most promising features will be a series of exclusives--an interview with Morrison, the Doors' original demo record and tapes from 1968 and 1970 concerts, including a jam with bluesman Albert King.
Holzman, the project's originator, co-writer and co-producer, took much of the material from his own archives and used his association with the Doors to get access to people who had previously declined to talk on the record about the band.
Surviving Doors Ray Manzarek, Robbie Krieger and John Densmore also contributed to the project, with Krieger and Manzarek composing music to accompany the narration.
"It's all you ever wanted to know about the Doors and more," Holzman claimed in an interview this week. "We knew who to talk to get the real inside stuff."
One reason for the continuing fascination with the Doors is their ethereal, bluesy music, which holds up surprisingly well. Morrison is the other reason. He was complex, brilliant and intriguing--the enigmatic maverick, the insightful poet. Because, like James Dean, Morrison died in his prime, he was perfect fodder for myth-makers.
He may even have had a death wish, Holzman suggested.
"Jim didn't want to get old," Holzman said. "He didn't want to see his body ravaged by age. He was destined to die young. On the program, you hear Jim talking about what death meant to him."
The mystery surrounding his death, by heart attack in Paris on July 3, 1971, has also fueled the Morrison legend.
"Nobody ever saw his body in the coffin," Holzman said. "The coffin was small for Jim. He had gained a lot of weight by then, at least 30 pounds. Others may not think he's dead, but I do. On the program you'll hear various details about Jim's death no one has heard."
Holzman--now chief Technologist for Warner Communications Inc. and chairman of Cinema Products Corp.--founded Elektra Records nearly 40 years ago while still in college. He signed Carly Simon, Harry Chapin, Bread and Love before leaving the company 15 years ago.
But he's mainly remembered by many in the music business as the man who found the Doors.
Sunday's documentary sprang out of a book he had started two years ago called "The Elektra Years."
"Writing it was frustrating," he recalled. "It was lying flat on the page without the music. Then I started fiddling with the idea of doing it as a radio show. I took the idea to some radio syndicators who were more interested in the Doors. They wanted a Doors special, so that's what I've done."
Of all Holzman's recollections during the interview, his memories of seeing the Doors the first time in a Sunset Strip club were the most fascinating.
"They were the house band," he said, thinking back to that night in 1966. "I came to the Whisky from the airport to see the headliner--Love, which was one of our bands. The first time I saw the Doors I wasn't impressed. But I went back again and again until something clicked and I wanted to sign them.
"Why did I keep going back? Something intrigued me about them. That same something--whatever it is—that keeps intriguing me and everyone else."
By DENNIS HUNT
Los Angeles Times
November 26, 1988
Seventeen years after the death of Jim Morrison, the mercurial lead singer of what is often hailed as the greatest rock band ever from Los Angeles, the Doors are a still a bankable item.
That's because many of the quartet's fans from the '60s and '70s remain as fanatical about the Doors as your most devoted Trekkies, and because new generations of fans are constantly being turned on to the band.
Doors hits--including "Light My Fire" and "L.A. Woman"--are frequently heard on rock radio stations and the group's story is also saluted in periodic books and videos.
Villard/Random House has just released a book of Morrison poetry titled "Wilderness: The Lost Writings of Jim Morrison," while Cinemax, the cable channel, debuts a special, "The Doors in Europe," on Dec. 17.
Meanwhile, Jac Holzman--who discovered and signed the Doors in 1966 when he was president of Elektra Records--has put together an ambitious, six-hour radio documentary that will be broadcast Sunday on more than 175 stations around the country. The program, titled "The Doors: From the Inside," will be heard at 11 a.m. in Los Angeles on KMPC-FM (101.9).
The documentary will contain interviews with other artists as well as friends, neighbors and business associates of the Doors--many of whom never before talked to the media about the Doors.
But the most promising features will be a series of exclusives--an interview with Morrison, the Doors' original demo record and tapes from 1968 and 1970 concerts, including a jam with bluesman Albert King.
Holzman, the project's originator, co-writer and co-producer, took much of the material from his own archives and used his association with the Doors to get access to people who had previously declined to talk on the record about the band.
Surviving Doors Ray Manzarek, Robbie Krieger and John Densmore also contributed to the project, with Krieger and Manzarek composing music to accompany the narration.
"It's all you ever wanted to know about the Doors and more," Holzman claimed in an interview this week. "We knew who to talk to get the real inside stuff."
One reason for the continuing fascination with the Doors is their ethereal, bluesy music, which holds up surprisingly well. Morrison is the other reason. He was complex, brilliant and intriguing--the enigmatic maverick, the insightful poet. Because, like James Dean, Morrison died in his prime, he was perfect fodder for myth-makers.
He may even have had a death wish, Holzman suggested.
"Jim didn't want to get old," Holzman said. "He didn't want to see his body ravaged by age. He was destined to die young. On the program, you hear Jim talking about what death meant to him."
The mystery surrounding his death, by heart attack in Paris on July 3, 1971, has also fueled the Morrison legend.
"Nobody ever saw his body in the coffin," Holzman said. "The coffin was small for Jim. He had gained a lot of weight by then, at least 30 pounds. Others may not think he's dead, but I do. On the program you'll hear various details about Jim's death no one has heard."
Holzman--now chief Technologist for Warner Communications Inc. and chairman of Cinema Products Corp.--founded Elektra Records nearly 40 years ago while still in college. He signed Carly Simon, Harry Chapin, Bread and Love before leaving the company 15 years ago.
But he's mainly remembered by many in the music business as the man who found the Doors.
Sunday's documentary sprang out of a book he had started two years ago called "The Elektra Years."
"Writing it was frustrating," he recalled. "It was lying flat on the page without the music. Then I started fiddling with the idea of doing it as a radio show. I took the idea to some radio syndicators who were more interested in the Doors. They wanted a Doors special, so that's what I've done."
Of all Holzman's recollections during the interview, his memories of seeing the Doors the first time in a Sunset Strip club were the most fascinating.
"They were the house band," he said, thinking back to that night in 1966. "I came to the Whisky from the airport to see the headliner--Love, which was one of our bands. The first time I saw the Doors I wasn't impressed. But I went back again and again until something clicked and I wanted to sign them.
"Why did I keep going back? Something intrigued me about them. That same something--whatever it is—that keeps intriguing me and everyone else."