Whisky A Go Go 45 Years Ago.

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

"For me, it was never really an act, those so-called performances. It was a life-and-death thing; an attempt to communicate, to involve many people in a private world of thought.”
Jim Morrison 1970.



In a similar vien to The London Fog Thread
newdoorstalk.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=history&action=display&thread=1362

we will explore the bands legendary Summer of 1966 stint at The Whisky A Go Go which lasted from May 9th until the night of August 21st that has gone down in Rock Legend.

Also check out 'Your Best Doors Moments - With Jim Morrison'
newdoorstalk.proboards43.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1146321028


and
‘Light My Fire’.......Doors Icon?

newdoorstalk.proboards43.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=concert&thread=1146606955&page=1

40 years Ago Today May 9th 1966 The Doors after losing their spot at The London Fog are invited by Whisky A Go Go talent booker Ronnie Haran to audition for a spot as House band for LA's Premier club spot
The Doors do a live audition for the house band spot and owner Elmer Valentine hires them on the strength of that show.

The band do not start immediately as they are hard to find as they have no permanent address and Haran (who is fixated with Morrison at that time) has a great deal of trouble trying to contact them. She finally tracks them down a couple of weeks later and readies them for their legendary stint at the Whisky A Go Go!

"Fortunately, an extremely sexy, pixie-voiced blond named Ronnie Harran, who booked the Whisky, saw us…She had an ear for talent…the Whisky was finally a gig we could be proud of…"-John Densmore, The Doors' drummer ("Riders On The Storm")

"I just remember that some of the best musical trips we took were in clubs. There's nothing more fun than to play music to an audience. You can improvise at rehearsals, but it's kind of a dead atmosphere. There's no audience feedback. There's no tension, really, because in a club with a small audience you're free to do anything. You still feel obligated be good, so you can't get completely loose; there are people watching. So there is this beautiful tension. There's freedom and at the same time an obligation to play well. I can put in a full day's work, go home and take a shower, change clothes, then play two or three sets at the Whisky, man, and I love it. The way an athlete loves to run, to keep in shape."
Jim Morrison

"Jim Morrison was just like a big kid," said Maglieri, who still speaks with a tough Chicago accent. "He was a good boy. It's too bad I couldn't straighten him out, because I tried awful hard. He would look at me all goofed up, and say, 'Oh Mario, I love you.' The reprimanding I gave him didn't do any good. But I tried my best."
Mario Maglieri

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

The Doors at the Whisky in 1966
50 moments that changed the history of rock & roll


In the summer of 1966, protests against the escalating Vietnam War turned into riots on Los Angeles' Sunset Boulevard. And an unknown rock band called the Doors landed a residency at the Whisky a Go-Go, a club on the Sunset Strip. The group had been formed a year earlier by a couple of UCLA film students: an aspiring poet named Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek, a blues keyboardist who had studied classical piano as a kid.
"We were the house band at the London Fog, a pathetic little nightclub just down the street from the Whisky," Manzarek says today. "The Whisky was mecca for us. That's where all the big bands played. On our breaks, we'd walk down there and look in the doors and say, 'We're the band from down the street,' and they'd just sort of laugh at us."
When Ronnie Harran, the booker from the Whisky, finally caught the Doors' act, she was impressed by Morrison's primal stage-appeal and offered the group the house-band slot: The Doors would open for the headliners, playing two sets every night. Their very first night at the Whisky, the Doors opened for Them, culminating in both Morrisons (Van and Jim) jamming onstage to "Gloria."
At the time, the Doors had only about fifteen songs. They would throw in some James Brown and Chicago blues covers, but playing two sets a night forced the group to quite literally expand its repertoire, thus shaping the band's sound. "Repeat and stretch," says Manzarek. " 'Light My Fire' took off into solos. 'The End' became the epic we know now."
Soon the house band developed a following of its own, and the Whisky became a destination for local counterculture types. Says Manzarek, "There were these guys named Carl and Vito who had a dance troupe of gypsy freaks. They were let in for free, because they were these quintessential hippies, which was great for tourists. God knows if they were even on anything, they were so out of their minds, but they danced like crazy. And they loved 'The End.' "
An early version of "The End" -- that is, one that could safely be performed at, say, the Super Bowl halftime show. Then, one night in August, Morrison didn't show up for the Doors' first set. The band played without him, with Manzarek and the others handling the vocals, but Whisky co-owner Phil Tanzini was furious and demanded Morrison be retrieved in time for the second set. The group found Morrison at his apartment, wearing only his underwear and tripping on acid, and managed to spirit him back to the Whisky by set time. "Jim was a little spacey, but together," Manzarek recalls. "But then, after the third number, he turns to me and says, 'Let's play "The End." ' I was like, 'Jim, it's only the third number.' " The band, not surprisingly, tended to save "The End" for the finale. Still, the group took Morrison's cue and began playing the song. "There's a point where Morrison has a section where he can do a little improvisation, and he put his hand out to soften us down," Manzarek says. "And for the first time, he says, 'The killer awoke before dawn. He put his boots on.' And one by one, the dancers all stopped and stared. When he said, 'Father, I wanna kill you,' we'd never heard this before, but I thought, 'I know what's coming next. Please don't do it.' "
Morrison, of course, did it. When he howled, "Mother, I want to fuck you!" the band, which had been softly accompanying his recitation, kicked into overdrive. As Manzarek recounts, "John [Densmore] whacked on his drums, I pounded on my organ, Robby [Krieger] made his guitar scream like a banshee, and all hell broke loose. The people began dancing madly. Everyone went into a Dionysian frenzy. It was Greek! Oedipus Rex had been exorcised right there on the Sunset Strip."
The Doors left the stage thinking they'd killed, and they had. They had also offended Tanzini's sense of propriety. He went backstage, asked Morrison, "How the fuck can you say that about your mother?" and fired the band on the spot. Krieger asked, "Do you want us to play through the weekend, or are we fired tonight?" Tanzini thought for a moment, then said, "Oh, right. You play through Sunday, then you're fired."
In the end, things worked out for the Doors. Two days earlier, the band had signed to Elektra Records: The L.A. rock scene would have new standard-bearers to lead the dancing gypsy freaks into the Summer of Love.
From Rolling Stone


Dancers @ The Whisky

The Doors: Dionysian Frenzy
One night while playing at the Whisky a Go Go, Jim Morrison (reputedly while on a massive dose of LSD), began a story riff during "The End" - an atonal dirge which he had been working on about a failed romance.
When Morrison got to the passage about the killer and his Oedipal quest, he piqued the audience's interest with well-timed pauses - and then held back nothing: "Mother?" he said calmly, then shouted: "I want to fuck you!" as the band played in a frenzy behind him.
"John [Densmore] whacked on his drums, I pounded on my organ, Robby [Krieger] made his guitar scream like a banshee, and all hell broke loose," Ray Manzarek later recalled. "The people began dancing madly. Everyone went into a Dionysian frenzy. It was Greek! Oedipus Rex had been exorcised right there that night'

Jim Morrison , the boozing Byronic lyrisist and leather Lizard King leader of the Doors, was "just a mixed-up kid, but a good kid. I kicked his ass off-stage (when) he screwed around. He would never show up on time. But he was a good kid. He meant well. I tried to straighten him out. I saved his ass so many times."
Mario Maglieri

The Doors at The Whisky

On May 23, 1966, the Doors began their legendary engagement as house band at the Whisky A Go-Go. During their tenure at the Whisky, the Doors open for such acts as Them, featuring Van Morrison, Buffalo Springfield, Love, The Chambers Brothers and Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band.

Exposed to a wide-ranging audience — hardened groupies to Iowa tourists —The Doors began to experiment daringly. Allegedly, the experiments often took the form of drug trips, and weekly tales of The Doors' freaked-out adventures flew: “Morrison was so stoned last night he fell off the stage again”; “Ray sniffed an amyl nitrate cap and played so long he had to be dragged away from the organ”; “They all arrived stoned and started improvising at random—I don't know what it was, but it was great!” According to one friend of the group, Morrison was so consistently high on acid during this period that he could eat sugar cubes like candy without visible effect. But, inexplicably, the music kept getting better.

A Not-So-Successful Night

The Doors played second billing to just about everybody at the Whisky. If the high points were nights with Love, Them, the Turtles, the Seeds, Captain Beefheart and others, there were nights which weren't so special ... One of these was the night they shared billing with the number one band in Mexico, the Locos. (“The Locos were a real low point in our careers,” recalls Manzarek. “They were terrible, the kids hated them, and we were caught in the cross fire.”) Fortunately, this was far from the rule during the Doors' installment at the Whisky.

Popular mythology has it that the Doors are repeatedly fired by proprietor Phil Tanzini. This story is not true, and is essentially an embellishment of the tension which existed between them. However, it is Phil who dismisses them in August on the night that Jim inserts the Oedipal section into The End.

The Doors' sets are comprised mainly of songs which will appear on their first two albums. Night after night they develop and refine their songs in front of a live audience. The End is gradually transformed from a rather transient love song of bittersweet departure into the ominous saga which evokes a descent into the dark night of the soul. In addition to their regular sets, they try out newer songs on the slower nights of Monday - Wednesday. Latin Bullshit #2 is an instrumental jazz piece roughly based on a Gil Evans composition. The instrumental serves as a filler, which they continue to play through the Ondine's gigs in New York. It later evolves into Away in India, featured in a medley often referred to as the People Get Ready Jam which they often performed in 1970. Their version of Summertime is a waltz instrumental loosely styled after John Coltrane's version of My Favorite Things. These two instrumentals often serve to open sets when Jim is late arriving at the club.
Eye Magazine

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

[glow=red,2,300]Whisky a Go Go 35th Anniversary 1999[/glow]





Maglieri's son Michael, who now runs the club as well as the family's other Strip holdings, the Roxy club and the Rainbow restaurant and bar, estimated he's seen 1,500 to 2,000 acts at the club since he started as a busboy when he was 16.
"It's the same club it was," he said. "And the bands that play here today, some will be remembered 20 years from now. No one thought the Doors would be anything when they were first playing here. I heard them play 'Light My Fire' so many times I was sick of it."
He got to hear it one more time Saturday, as Krieger and drummer Densmore anchored a band that also included Krieger's guitarist song Waylon, as well as bassist Berry Oakley, son of the late Allman Brothers bassist of the same name.



Doors guitarist Krieger remembered the famed night when the band's Jim Morrison first performed the still-shocking Oedipal passage of "The End," and spoke of seeing Jimi Hendrix - "the only time I remember everyone, including myself, standing on the tables just to see what he was doing."

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

[glow=red,2,300]The Doors at the Whisky[/glow]

Whisky A Go Go 40 years ago Timeline!

Monday May 9th: Whisky A Go Go - Audition Night

Monday May 23rd: Whisky A Go Go - Opening Night -
Opening for Captain Beefheart & Buffalo Springfield

Tuesday May 24th - Fri. 27th:
The Doors are opening for Capt. Beefheart who are just returning from a successful European tour and Buffalo Springfield who are new and still unheard of at this point. Some of the members of Springfield include Neil Young and Steve Stills. Their rise to stardom will be phenomenal and much faster than The Doors rise will eventually be. They will play The Hollywood Bowl in just 2 months. However, with much dissension in the band they will dismember in a year after three solid albums.

Saturday May 28th - Wed. June 1st:
Opening for Love


The Doors open shows for Love, featuring Arthur Lee, who have signed with Elektra Records earlier this year - the first band ever signed by Elektra. Love, who formed in April of 1965, released "Little Red Book" this Spring and are receiving national attention and it is "7 and 7 Is" released later in July that will put them on the charts. Both songs are off there debut album simply titled Love.

Thursday June 2nd - Fri. 17th:
Opening for Them
The Doors open for Them (with Van Morrison) for a two week engagement. Van Morrison founded the band in 1965 in Belfast. Them is currently on a West Coast tour that will be their only U.S. tour with Van Morrison who quits the band after their return to Europe. These shows are sellouts and totally awesome! The Doors members had a hard time even finding a place to watch Them on opening night it was so packed! Them plays their popular hits "Gloria", "Baby, Please Don't Go", and "Here Comes the Night". Jim thought very highly of Them as did all The Doors. Jim especially liked Van's usually drunken violent performances in which he would scream and yell while slamming the mic stand into the stage. After the show, Ronnie Haran threw a welcoming party at her apartment for the guys, in which Jim was absent. John attended and saw the other side of Van Morrison - a quiet and sensitive man with little interest in small talk.

Saturday June 18th:
On-stage with Them -
The Doors appear on-stage with Them at the end of the late show on their last performance of their engagement. The stage is set-up with both bands' full equipment! They play an extended 25 minute version of Wilson Pickett's "In The Midnight Hour" and "Gloria" is the 20 minute grand finale. Van Morrison later comments that this performance with The Doors was one of the highlights of his career with Them. The bands played an all ages 4:00 p.m. matinee and late shows on Saturdays and Sundays during this booking.

Wednesday June 22nd - Wednesday July 10th:
Opening for Gene Clark
The Doors reputation continues to grow. Jim is really acting up on stage often appearing crazed and this brings The Doors much attention, especially Jim. People start calling The Whisky asking about The Doors. Jim continues to give X-rated performances while constantly tripping. Jim is mastering the stage while drawing people off the Strip and record companies to the shows.
"He was kinda ahead of his time on certain things, like swearing . . . But those calls kept coming in. 'When's that horny motherfucker comin' in' the phones were incredible. We never got that many calls before for just a second group." Elmer Valentine, Whisky Owner

Monday August 1st - Thursday 4th:
The Rolling Stones & David Crosby
During this time the Rolling stones are in town for a recording session and stop by to hear The Doors. They are reportedly not very impressed. Also around this time, Jim gets into it with David Crosby who is performing with The Byrds. On the night of Lenny Bruce's death Crosby stops by to hear some music wearing shades throughout the evening. Jim while performing shouts to Crosby that he can't hide behind his sunglasses and an argument ensues. Also performing: Johny Rivers; The Chambers Brothers.

Sunday August 7th - Tuesday 9th:
Also performing: Johny Rivers; The Chambers Brothers

E L E K T R A & T H E D O O R S
Wednesday August 10th:
Whisky A Go Go - Jac Holzman Comes to See The Doors
Jac Holzman, president of Elektra Records, arrives at the club to check out The Doors with thoughts of signing them to his record label. Jac is initially not impressed one bit. He is begged to return by Arthur Lee of Love who is signed with Elektra and Ronny Haran.
If it wasn't for Lee & Haran The Doors may have been overlooked by Elektra. Holzman returns over the next several nights and begins to become very intrigued and is soon captivated by The Doors' sound but questions its commercial potential.
He calls staff producer Paul Rothchild in New York and asks him to fly out and check out the band and together they will make a decision whether or not to sign The Doors.
"I didn't like them at first. But I was drawn back. I went four straight nights, then spoke to them and said I wanted to record them."
Jac Holzman, President Elektra Records

Thursday Aug. 11th - Sun. 14th:
Opening for Love

Monday Aug. 15th - Sat. 20th:
Paul Rothchild Arrives to See The Doors
On August 15th, Paul Rothchild and Jac Holzman come to the Whisky to hear The Doors. After that second set, Holzman and Rothchild approach the band and offer them a contract this very night! The Doors are excited but tell Elektra they need to think it over. Holzman and Rothchild return to New York and The Doors hire Max Fink as their attorney while thinking the deal over. On the 16th, Max Fink and Elektra begin negotiations.
"I came to the club and there was a small crowd, not big. The Doors opened, and I heard one of the worst sets of music I have ever heard in my life. Knowing that the record company always gets to hear the bad sets, and that I had just traveled across the country to hear them, I stayed and heard one of the greatest sets of music I have ever heard in my life!"
Paul Rothchild

Wed. Aug. 18th: The Doors Sign with Elektra
The Doors sign a contract with Elektra but it isn't until November of this year while touring in New York that they agree on a complete contract specifying seven albums among other details.
"The people said everyone in town was trying to sign us up, but it really wasn't true . . . in fact, Jac Holzman's might have been the only concrete offer we had. We may have made him come up with the best deal possible, but there's no question we weren't that much in demand."
Jim Morrison(1969)

F I N A L W H I S K Y P E R F O R M A N C E
- O E D I P A L S E C T I O N
Sun. Aug. 21: Whisky A Go Go - Final Performance
The band are dismissed as House Band after this performance and three days later go into Sunset Sound with Paul Rothchild and record thier debut album.
They will return for a stint at The Whisky during 1967 as support for various bands but after their final show on 21st May 1967 the band never again grace the stage that helped propel them into legend. Several attempts are made to feature the band actually headlining The Whisky including a proposed Live album that is pencilled in for 3 nights in May 1969 but shelved when the idea is moved to the Aquarius Theatre which is another venue The Doors had been fond of during its Kaleidescope period.

The final attempt to get The Whisky & The Doors together was in February 1971 when it was envisaged that the band would preview LA Woman there but sadly it comes nothing for reasons that are never really made that clear.
"When they started getting big and doing concerts he (Jim) was unhappy that he couldn't come back to the club. He missed working out the material the way Light My Fire was done with the audience as a barometer. Well they were going to do it just before he went to Europe. Jim tried to get the fellas to do it and for one reason or another it couldn't happen. Then the night they were going to do it Jim didn't show up....Of all people"
Elmer Valentine to Rolling Stone August 1971.

"A few years ago I wanted to do live concerts. I was trying to get everyone to do free surprise spots at The Whisky. But no one wanted to. Now everyone wants to and I totally lost interest. Although I know its a lot of fun I just don't have the desire to get up and sing right now"
to Bob Chorush LA Free Press January 1971.


Just in case you wondered...NO it's not an actual poster from a Whisky gig but one an artist did to commemorate the Whisky Doors/Byrds bill!

"I didn't get The Doors when I first saw them. I kept going back and back and back. The reason I saw them at all was because of Arthur Lee. Arthur Lee was the top half of the bill and The Doors were the bottom half. Arthur said to me, "You've got to stay around to see this band." I had come from New York on an airplane to see Arthur, it was 2 o'clock in the morning metabolism-time and I stayed around and was very tired. But I
also felt I hadn't given the group a shot and I had a high regard for Arthur's opinion; though he was flaky in many respects I thought he was a talent and still do. Because I'd been so tired I went back the next night. It was on the third night that I began to hear some of the classical influence in the material. I
also was struck by the simplicity of it. In architectural terms it reminded me of the Bauhaus period-very lean, clean, straight lines-there was nobody on stage who didn't belong on stage. I was impressed how John understood how his job was not to provide a rhythmic underpinning only, but to provide that as well as to follow Jim because everybody really followed Jim-whatever he was going to do was where they went. Finally, about the fourth night I got it. Jim was not moving at all, but I understood that this was a coiled spring ready to burst forth. I just went on a gut feeling. The Doors had recently been signed to Columbia but not
recorded by them. I don't think they were too happy with record companies at the time. I just pursued them all summer long. When I wasn't in town, my wife at the time, Nina, would cook them dinner. I just went after and after and after them like a dog with somebody's trouser cuff in its teeth. I just don't give up when I decide I'm going to do something." Jac Holzman

*NB* It's an interesting debate as to how and why Jac Holzman eventually came to notice The Doors. The Myth goes that it was Arthur Lee who brought Holzman to LA to see the band and the above section backs that up. But Ronny Haran the Whisky booker was also championing The Doors cause and Billy James from Columbia who had signed the band the year before was now working in the Elektra offices in LA.
Holzman also mentions in Follow The Music how he came to LA to specifically see The Doors was not impressed and was about to give up on them and was persueded by Arthur and Robnny Haran to give them one last chance......the tale of them just happening to be on the bill supporting Love and Jac just happening to be there and be talked into watching The Doors a nice story for the Legend that is The Doors but under scrutiny like many Doors legends it simply fades into nothing.....

[stuart]

Excellent Thread Alex, A Couple of Pics of Jim and Van i had never seen before.

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

[glow=red,2,300]Lost In Space.....[/glow]
"The Doors are a hungry looking quartet with an interesting original sound but what is possibly the worst stage appearance in any rock ‘n’ roll group in captivity..The lead singer emotes with his eyes closed, the electric pianist hunches down over his instrument as if reading mysteries from the keyboard, the guitarist drifts around the stage randomly and the drummer seems lost in a separate world."
Pete Johnson's famous description for the Los Angeles Times of The Doors at The Whisky during a show (most likely July 16th 1966) he attended to write a review of The Turtles show.
The Doors 'bumped' into Johnson after the Singer Bowl gig in 1968. He tells them he is on a freelance assignment and did not even know they were in town. Seemingly not at all bothered whether he had seen the Singer Bowl show Morrison lets out a whoop and slaps him on the back.
'Man, when you wrote we were the ugliest group in captivity, that was your finest hour.!'
Johnston also writes a slightly critical review of the bands first album....'many of the numbers drag and there is an abundance of banal lyrics but The Doors do sound good on Break On Through and 20th Century Fox and Alabama Song that has a good rhythm backing and passable harmonies'.

"They had an LA sound but it wasn’t a Sunset Strip sound. 3 Dog Night the Daily Flash and Rhinoceros all these Strip bands had at least a little something in common. The Doors were unique.”
Jimmy Greenspoon of Three Dog Night who was a friend of the band at that time.

“I saw The Doors at the Whisky all summer long in 1966. I was a big fan of Van Morrison and Them and The Doors opened when they came to the Whisky. Love had always been my favourite LA band and I thought The Doors were very strange. But their sound grabbed me. They were covering Gloria and playing Moonlight Drive and it was a whole new sound.”
Paul Body saw the rise of The Doors on the Sunset Strip in 1966.

“I went to see Them at the Whisky and opening were The Doors. Ray denies it but I swear they were billed as The Swinging Doors. I thought Ray looked like John Sebastian and I remember talking to him in the Whisky bathroom. I thought he was a real nice guy but I hated the band. I really didn’t like watching Morrison drape himself over the microphone. I got pissed off and went to Elmer Valentine ,the owner, and said ‘hey, I’ve got a band better than this –can we get a job here’”. Chris Darrow of fellow Sunset Strip act Kaleidescope.

"I used to show slides at the Whisky on a couple of screens. Not so much a light show just a colourful close up of everyday objects. I had a picture of a flaming toilet – someone had poured lighter fuel in a motel toilet and I got a great shot of it. It was mixed in my slides at random but I remember it came up right as The Doors started playing ‘Light My Fire’. That’s the way it seemed back then – things would just fall into place very nicely."
Henry Diltz –Doors photographer.

“ A friend and I drove by the Whisky and saw Jim literally
sitting in the gutter all by himself. We were on our way
to a party at Eric Burdon’s house so we picked him
up. On the way there he was leaning out of the car
and I kept trying to pull him back. He was yelling
and I thought he was going to fall out. We got a
little concerned at showing up at Eric’s house with Jim
but it turned out to be a wild party and Jim fit
right in” Rodney Bingenheimer LA DJ 1966

"The Doors have always had history on their minds. Nothing was put out for sake of making a buck. Even when we played The Whisky we believed we were going to take over the country, turn it around and make the perfect society"
Ray Manzarek 1980.

MASTERS OF ROCK VOL 9
MARIO MAGLIERI - A ROCK 'N' ROLL LEGEND

?:Mario, how did you first get involved with the Whisky A Go Go?
Mario: I knew Elmer Valentine from Chicago. He was a policeman and I was a bailiff. I came out here in 1963. One day
I as at home in Canoga Park, 40 and semi-retired,
and Elmer called, stating, "You gotta help me. I'm
being robbed by the staff that works for me." I said,
"No problem!" I went down there and fired everyone in
the place. And that's how it all started - suddenly I
was a Rock 'n' Roller!
?: Let's talk about some of those years at the Whisky - maybe you can clear up a few classic rumors. For instance, it's been written in several books on The Doors that you threw Jim Morrison out and told him he could never play the Whisky again because of words he sang when he did "The End."
Mario: Never happened. I don't know who started this,
but I never told him he couldn't perform, even with
some of the other things he had done. I gave him a
shoe in his butt one time because he wouldn't show up
on time to do his shows. He was f**king one of my
secretaries (I'm not gonna tell you who), and they had a nice thing going, but it made it so the guy wouldn't show up. I want him at nine o'clock, not ten to nine or
ten after nine. Nine o'clock. Outside of that,
nothing ever happened. Jim was a big overgrown kid. He was a good kid; nothing wrong with him.
?:Maybe this will help to finally clear up that rumor;
it's been a legend for a long time.
Mario: Yes, I've heard it over and over. But whoever started it should have come to me and asked me about it. The guy used to party at the Whisky all the time. He used to get so smashed he didn't know where he was. I used to protect him. He was like a little squirrel with drugs and booze - but Jim was never kicked out of the
Whisky.
?: Did Morrison really "expose" himself at the
Whisky?
Mario: Yeah. Right there on stage. But, you know, it was
no big deal. I've seen dicks before, you know what I
mean? Of course, I bawled him out. I remember one time Keith Moon came in when we had Cycle Sluts playing. He went on stage and took all his clothes off and stood there, naked. I said, "What are you doing? Are you crazy or something?!" You know what I mean? I mean, they get screwed up and that is the way it goes.
?:Is it true that The Doors never headlined?
Mario:I don't think The Doors ever headlined the Whisky.It was like this: If you have a Fleetwood Mac in
there for five days, you want a cheap opening act. You
can't spend the money; you don't want to spend the
money. So you wind up getting The Doors for $125 a day to open, and when you put that with the $500 a day that Fleetwood Mac costs you, it only costs you $625 a day. We were just trying to save money. If it wasn't The Doors it would have been Things To
Come.
?: Do you want to add anything, Mario?
Mario:Rock 'n' Roll will be here after I'm gone, and after
you're gone, and after your kids are gone. Rock 'n' roll
will be here forever. It ain't going to change!.

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

VANITY FAIR NOVEMBER
2000 - LIVE AT THE WHISKY - RONNIE HARAN, RAY
MANZAREK, JOHN DENSMORE, AND ELMER VALENTINE

The Doors were always different - never
schmoozer-socialites in the John Phillips vein, nor folkies like the other bands had once been. As last as mid-1966, they were still considered something of a loser-outcast band, playing in a seedy dive next door to the Whisky called The London Fog, which came complete with indifferent drunken sailors and a B-grade go-go dancer. "Her name as Rhonda Lane, and she was a little, as the Japanese say, genki - meaning substantial," says Ray Manzarek, the band's keyboardist. Densmore remembers
peering forlornly through the door of the Whisky - which
he couldn't afford to get into - and seeing Love
playing to adulation. "I really wanted to be in Love -
they were making it," he says, "But I was in the demon
Doors."
But they got a break when Ronnie Haran, a
young woman working as Valentine's promotion director,sauntered into The London Fog one evening and liked what she saw. "She saw Jim, and that was it - she was smitten," says Manzarek. "The arrows of Eros went flying and struck her directly in the heart."
"That's bullshit," says Haran, who now goes by the name of Ronnie Haran Mellen. "Jim was too rough-trade for me. I was smitten with the group. The poetry of the
words - I'd never heard lyrics like that." Whatever the
case, Haran Mellen confirms that she launched an
all-out campaign to sway her boss. "Ronnie said, 'You've
gotta put this band in,' and she told her friends to
call and ask for The Doors," says Elmer Valentine, who
admits he was skeptical. "Well, I got so many g**damn
phone calls, so I put them in. The 60's! I couldn't go
wrong. I didn't have to know shit!" Actually, it wasn't
quite that smooth a trip to stardom for Morrison and
company. Though their residency at the Whisky in the
summer of 1966 afforded them a fantastic opportunity to workshop the now famous songs that would form their first album. One night, however, the Doors fierce
experimentalism proved too much to bear even for the indulgent Valentine, and it finished them off as a Whisky band for good. Just three songs into the set, Morrison called for "The End" - way prematurely, since they had about 40 mins of performance time left. As usual, they played a few verses before transitioning into the improvisatory section. The musicians vamped...until Morrison finally spoke up. "The killer awoke before dawn," he said. "He put his boots on...He took a face from the ancient gallery, and he walked on down the hallway..."
It was the lead up to the famous Oedipal climax that
everyone knows from the recorded version of "The End." But that night in 1966, no one had ever heard it before - including the three Doors. Morrion's recitation was so mesmeizingly bizarre that the room fell silent. The band continued to vamp quietly, perplexedly, as Morrison got to the part where he says. "Father?, Yes Son, I want to kill you...." At that point, I realized, My God, he's doing Oedipus Rex! says Manzarek. Sure enough, Morrison, after a dramatic pause, came forth with
Mother...I want to fuck you."
The band instinctively
erupted into a cacophonous frenzy, and the audience broke out in furious free-form dance - proto-moshing. The crowd, evidently, had loved it. But to the
old-fashioned, Runyonesque fellas in Valentine's crew, this was way, way outta line. An appalled, disbelieving
Maglieri summoned Tanzi as the drama unfolded to witness the scene for himself. After the show, says Manzarek, "Phil Tanzi came running up the stairs (to the dressing room) saying, "You filthy motherfuckers! You guys have the dirtiest fuckin' mouths I've ever heard in my life...." Tanzi had already called Valentine, who was at home and reported, "You got this Jim Morrison singing
a song about fucking his mother! What are you going
to do?" Valentine responded, "Pull him off the stage
and break his fuckin' legs." "I was serious!" says
Valentine. "I was a redneck ex-policeman from Chicago!
Catholic boy. fuck your mother? That's the worst thing I
could ever..." The Doors were allowed to finish out the
week, but were then sent packing. Though they would
become famous in the following year as their debut album came out, they never played the Whisky
again.Ironically, though, Valentine and Morrison subsquently struck up a friendship. As the fame got to Morrison and he began to self-destruct, he used Valentine's house as a hideaway when he felt like shirking his responsibilities.
"He had four or five guys like me, people he'd hide
out with," says Valentine. "He couldn't handle being
that big." Valentine tried to get the singer into
acting - (1969) - his buddy Steve McQueen was involved
in the production of a picture called "Adam at 6am",
about being a young college professor and maybe
Morrison could star in it. He persuaded Morrison to cut
his hair and shave the beard he had grown, the better
to impress McQueen's co-producers at a lunch
meeting, but it was to no avail. Michael Douglas got the
part.

Vanity Fair
Magazine November 2000

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

[glow=red,2,300]Signing the Doors and Recording Their First Historic Album[/glow]

JAC HOLZMAN: In May of 1966 I had flown to LA and was picked up at the airport by Ronnie Haran in her white convertible. Arthur Lee was playing the Whisky and expected me to drop by. It was 11pm LA time, 2am New York metabolism time. I was beat, but I went. Arthur urged me to stick around for the next band. Whoever they were, Arthur had a high opinion of them, and I had a very high opinion of Arthur's opinion, so I stayed.

It was the Doors, and they did nothing for me. There was another group that played the Whisky that I had fallen in love with and tried desperately to sign, Buffalo Springfield, but Ahmet Ertegun of Atlantic was far more convincing. We were a smaller label without Atlantic's amazing track record of hit singles. Love had gotten my foot in the rock door, and now I needed a second group to give Elektra more of that kind of credibility, but the Doors weren't showing it to me.

Jim was lovely to look at, but there was no command. Perhaps I was thinking too conventionally, but their music had none of the rococo ornamentation with which a lot of rock and roll was being embellished-remember, this was still the era of the Beatles and "Revolver," circa 1966. Yet, some inner voice whispered that there was more to them than I was seeing or hearing, so I kept returning to the club.

Finally, the fourth evening, I heard them. Jim generated an enormous tension with his performance, like a black hole, sucking the energy of the room into himself. The bass line was Ray Manzarek playing a second keyboard, piano bass, an unusual sound, very cadenced and clean. On top of Ray, Robby Krieger laid shimmering guitar. And John Densmore was the best drummer imaginable for Jim-whatever Morrison did Densmore could follow, with his jazz drummer's improvisational skill and sensitivity. They weren't consistent and they needed some fine tuning before they would be ready to record, but this was no ordinary rock and roll band.

In my folk days, I would mike voices and instruments very close up, and the records sounded fat and full, the voice popping out, right in front of your living room speakers. I thought that with equivalent miking and proper stereo spacing we could make a virtue of the group's sparseness. Kurt Weill's 'Alabama Song' was a surprise coming from a rock band, and their arrangement impressed me. And when I heard, really heard, Manzarek's baroque organ line under 'Light My Fire,' I was ready to sign them.

RAY MANZAREK: Someone said, "The president of Elektra Records is here to see you and he wants to talk to you about a recording contract." All right! We just started jumping up and down. Elektra was a very hip label from New York. We were very impressed with the roster.

ROBBY KRIEGER: Koerner, Ray & Glover being on Elektra-when I was in high school they were my idols, that band and that label. To be on Elektra was the greatest thing.

RAY MANZAREK: The Paul Butterfield Blues Band was on Elektra. Jac had Love. The Doors wanted nothing more than to be as big as Love. We thought it was absolutely marvelous that Elektra was a folk label that had gone electric and were now interested in the psychedelic Doors.
Fortunately that night we had played 'Alabama Song.' I think that pushed it over the edge-Jac said, "Aha! Kurt Weill, Bertolt Brecht. These Doors are not just California pretty boys, they actually have some brains." Finally, somebody's hip enough to understand what we're doing. And then up to the dressing room came this tall, distinguished-looking gentleman.

JOHN DENSMORE: He seemed a little strange, with those glasses. But kinda hip. Hearing how he started with a motor scooter and a tape recorder and recorded folk groups-we loved it. An incredible entrepreneur.

RAY MANZAREK: He talked in his very officious and very correct manner, and we thought, "Jesus, this guy is not only hip, he's smart too." Because, frankly, the people we'd met in the record business in Los Angeles were a little less than brilliant, a little less than bright. He was a bit pompous, but why not? The man was standing six-three and had a good brain in his head, had a good carriage and a good delivery. I was, frankly, very impressed with him. I thought, "This is going to be real, real good." On the other hand, when he offered us the money and the points-absolutely minuscule. $2,500 front money-oh. Five percent-heinous. And he keeps all the publishing-yiyiyiyi! Jesus, he sure drives a hard bargain! This was like a Brill Building deal.

JAC: Here are the facts. I offered what was slightly on the generous side of a standard deal in 1966 for an unproven group. Elektra would advance all recording costs plus $5,000 cash to the band against a five percent royalty with a separate advance against publishing, of which the Doors would own seventy-five percent and we would own twenty-five. And as a show of faith, I committed to release three albums. If the first album did less than well, the Doors wouldn't be out on the street, another disheartened and discarded LA band.

BILLY JAMES: Ray came up to my house to have me tell him what I knew about Elektra. I told him in confidence that Jac had asked me to come work at Elektra, that my job was to establish a presence on the West Coast, in LA, and I could think of no better group to support than the Doors. By all means sign with Elektra-I thought it was a terrific idea.

RAY MANZAREK: Jac wasn't offering much money. But a guarantee to record and release three albums-that was fabulous. We could create anything we wanted to, and Elektra would put it out. We had material for two albums. So we knew that all the songs we had would be recorded, and the records would be in record stores, and we also had the option of doing another record on top of that. So we felt incredibly secure.
Jac was fabulous that way: "We're signing you, because we want you to be creative." In effect, Jac Holzman to the Doors was like Diaghilev to Nijinsky and Stravinsky.
It had all gotten rather anticlimactic at the Whisky because we had gotten our recording contract. That was the important thing, to make records.

From the book "Follow the Music," the story of Elektra records as told by its founder, Jac Holzman.

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Todays the day in 1969 that The Doors had planned on a return to The Whisky for the first time as headliners with a view to
recording a live album which would have become instead of 'Absolutely Live' 'The Doors Live At The Whisky'.
Albert Collins was due to support the band at the venue.
It would have been a fascinating record if it had been made as the band could possibly have been rejuvinated by a gig like that and who knows what sort of performance might have been recorded for posterity.
Instead The Doors accept an invitation to play The Aquarius Theatre in July as part of the Elektra label Summer showcase concerts.
The Doors will record live at The Aquarius July 21-22 for "Absolutely Live". And whilst the Aquarius gigs are fine performances without doubt its a shame that an opportunity was missed to play the venue that made The Doors legend in the first place.........Morrison had joined Eric Burdon's band on stage at The Whisky earlier in May and performed a couple of songs with him but The Doors never again graced The Whisky stage after the short May 1967 stint as support to Buffalo Springfield.

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

[glow=red,2,300]The Doors play thier last ever gig at The Whisky on May 21st 1967[/glow].

After returning in May for a short stint supporting (probably) Buffalo Springfield who had been a replacement for The Byrds (on the opening night of the 16th May and most likely for the rest of the week) the band play what will be their final show at The Whisky.
The band never once headlined a Whisky show despite several attempts to tempt Morrison and company back to the stage that ultimately made them!

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

[glow=red,2,300]The Doors First Night @ The Whisky 1966[/glow]

Monday May 23rd: Whisky A Go Go - Opening Night -
Opening for Captain Beefheart & Buffalo Springfield


Commemorative poster for The Doors opening night at The Whisky in 1966.

A Typical set around this time consisted of tracks from what would become the first two Doors albums....

BREAK ON THROUGH (To The Other Side)
SOUL KITCHEN
CRYSTAL SHIP
TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX
WHISKEY BAR (Alabama Song)
LIGHT MY FIRE
I LOOKED AT YOU
END OF THE NIGHT
TAKE IT AS IT COMES
THE END
UNHAPPY GIRL
MOONLIGHT DRIVE
PEOPLE ARE STRANGE
MY EYES HAVE SEEN YOU
WHEN THE MUSICS OVER

They probably played songs such as Hello I Love You & Summers Almost Gone also as they were part of the bands Demo........
They also would play the odd instrumental to flesh sets out when Jim was late such as Latin Bullshit#1 borrowed from a Gil Evans album which evolves into Away In India and Summertime which was taken from John Coltranes 'My Favourite Things' which later was incorporated into Light My Fire.
They also perform blues standards such as King Bee, Going To New York, Rock Me & Close To You.
Sadly as yet no recording of The Doors at The Whisky has ever turned up and it would be amazing to hear The Doors do End Of The Night as well as hear the early versions of the songs we know and love.....
It was also rumoured that during the earliest Whisky gigs The Doors did a cover of The Last Time because they admired The Stones but no evidence for this really exists but who knows.....
That would have been pretty amazing.....

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

[glow=red,2,300]The End @ The Whisky a Go Go Sunday August 21st 1966. [/glow]

The Doors' final performance at the Whisky-A-Go--Go for the summer of 1966. The Doors play their first set without Jim Morrison, who is gaining notoriety for appearing late at shows. The band compensates by performing their instrumentals and their repertoire of blues standards with Ray Manzarek on vocals.
During the break, the proprietors of the Whisky demand
that the band members retrieve Jim from wherever he
is. They locate him at a hotel (probably the Tropicana), spinning in his own orbit on a large quantity of LSD. The band's frantic entreaties convince Jim that he ought to at least appear on stage with them,perhaps even sing a song or two. He is to do much more than that. The Doors finish their set with an
ominous version of "The End." The dark and otherworldly mood of the song begins to mesmerize the crowd and soon all dancing has ceased. Morrison behaves as if he were enveloped in the great serpentine myth of the song and his trance-like state slowly begins to encompass the entire audience. The club is deathly still by the time Morrison quietly begins to recite the
Oedipal passage, building it into a crescendo as the
other band members seek to drown out his lyrics -
lyrics that at the time were shocking, and that the
ever-provocative Jim insisted on repeating and emphasizing. The cathartic imagery sends waves of oscillating emotions through the club. The Doors quickly bring the song to a close and leave the stage. In the aftermath of this performance, the Doors are summarily dismissed from the Whisky and the event takes on legendary proportions. Within a few days, the Doors enter the studio and create one of the most extraordinary first albums of all
time.

Jim Morrison on "The End": "It didn't start out as an
Oedipus thing, more of a goodbye song. We played it at
the London Fog (on the Strip) where we first started.
Then as we played it each night it got a little more
serious. I'd make up the lyrics each night. Then one
Sunday night at Whisky A Go Go - we were the second band- something clicked. I realized what the whole song
was about, what it had been leading up to. It was
powerful. It just happened. They fired us the next day."
"The Doors swing out Thursday,"
Cleveland Plain Dealer, Sept 8, 1967
The Doors On The Road, Greg Shaw

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

[glow=red,2,300]40 Years Ago Today[/glow]

[glow=red,2,300]The Doors and Them - Twin Morrisons of Different Mothers[/glow]






As part of Them's 1966 tour of the States, the band was booked into the famed Whiskey-A-Go-Go nightclub in West Hollywood, California. You can imagine the atmosphere: in 1966 the West Coast music scene was just getting going. Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band were booked in as a supporting act for the first week (if you can imagine that combination), with Frank Zappa on occasion joining Them on stage.

The second week opening act was The Doors; other acts appearing at the time were The Association, and Buffalo Springfield. In the audience at one time or another were Roger McGuinn, Mac Rebennack, and Grace Slick, among others.

On the last night of Them's residency Jim Morrison joined Them onstage for a big "Gloria" jam: 2 keyboards, 2 guitars, 2 drummers, a bass, and 2 Morrisons - Van and Jim - on vocals. It must have been quite a night. Unfortunately - as far as I am aware - there is no taped record of that meeting, which was never to occur again.

from the Van Morrison website.





Jim Morrison and Van Morrison onstage at the Whiskey-a-Go-Go, jamming on "Gloria".


June 2-18, 1966 - The Doors open for Them with Van Morrison for a two week engagement at the Whisky.

This is part of an exhaustive west coast tour which ultimately is the last U.S. shows by Them. Van Morrison leaves the group after their return to Ireland. The Whisky shows are sell-outs, and extremely well received. The Doors had difficulty finding places in the audience to watch the show opening night. Jim was very impressed with the band and with Van Morrison's performance.

It is during this stand at the Whisky that the famous jam with Them and the Doors occured. John Densmore talked about it in his book, remarking that it was one of the most memorable experiences for him. He said it was one of the greatest times of his life to be on stage with 2 drummers, 2 guitarists 2 keyboard players and 2 Morrisons. Amen to that!


In a 1983 interview, Ray spoke about the night they appeared with Them.

“Yeah, there were some good times at The Whisky-A-Go-Go, boy that's for sure. We played with Them; the first gig we played at The Whisky was Van Morrison and Jim Morrison - on the same stage. And Van Morrison was insane. You know how he got into just standing there and singing? I haven't really seen him in a long time, but when he was with Them, the guy was ALL OVER the stage, man. Absolutely insane. Did that thing of holding the microphone stand upside down, and singing, and smashing the mic stand into the stage, and just...God, was he incredible! He was so good. Then the last night we played we had a jam, We got a couple of photographs of that somewhere, but nobody recorded it. The Doors and Them, together on stage, the two Morrisons. Mmmmmmmh!”
(Paul Lawrence, Ray Manzarek: The Audio Interview, Audio, Dec. 1983)
*NB* The gig with Them was in fact three weeks into thier stint at The Whisky and not as Ray has stated on several occasions thier 'first' night at The Whisky. The Doors played with Them on the night of thier final set after a two week spot the Irish band had at The Whisky.

Ray Manzarek describes the meeting in his book "Light My Fire: My Life With The Doors":

'Smash cut to the Whiskey-a-Go-Go. The headlines of our initial engagement week? THEM! Yes, my friends, Van Morrison and Them! Our favorite singer and perhaps our favorite band. "Gloria" and "Mystic Eyes" and John Lee Hooker's "Boom Boom". What great songs. What a great band. And what a wild-man lead singer. Van was a possessed Celt. He was all over the stage. Manic. Arms continually raised in a hallelujah salute to the energy. A ball of black Irish plasma reconstituted as the lead singer of a wandering band of minstrels that had set down beside us on the Sunset Strip of Los Angeles, California. Jim was transfixed by Van. He studied his every move. He put the eye on him and he absorbed. Van Morrison was - and is - the best of the white blues men. No one has that soul, that torment, that anguish. And he displayed it all at the WHiskey ... and we watched, mesmerized. All of us. I especially loved the way Van would grab the mic stand, thrust it into the air, turn it on its head with the base pointing up to heaven, and continue wailing into the Shure 47. "She got one, two, brown eyes ... Hypnotize!" Goddamn he was good.

And could he drink. I wish Jim had't seen that part of it. What with Felix imparting the drunken secrets of the race and Van the Celtic Christian blues man idol of Jim's downing copious drafts ... well, Jim didn't stand a chance. He became enamored of alchohol.

But we all became friends, and the last night of our too-brief week's engagement with the Irish crazies saw us all in a monster jam session. The Doors and Them onstage together. Jim Morrison and Van Morrison onstage at the same time! And singing "Gloria"! What a fucking night. The Morrisons were amazing. There was more power coming off that stage than had ever been generated at the corner of Sunset and San Vincente. We were rocking and I was at the stage left, at the Vox. I'll never forget the picture I saw, to my right, of Van at the mic and Jim with a hand-held mic sitting atop a large amplifier, his head above, and slightly behind Van's, both of them bathed in a golden light. And they were gone! They were in another time and another place. They were in the music and they were wailing. We were all wailing! It was 1966 and were were young and alove and rocking. The future was ours.'

[thebadcowboy]

too many doughnuts......!!!!

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

[glow=red,2,300]
40 Years Ago Today.....The Doors On-stage with Them [/glow]

Saturday June 18th 1966:
The Doors appear on-stage with Them at the end of the late show on their last performance of their engagement. The stage is set-up with both bands' full equipment! They play an extended 25 minute version of Wilson Pickett's "In The Midnight Hour" and "Gloria" is the 20 minute grand finale. Van Morrison later comments that this performance with The Doors was one of the highlights of his career with Them. The bands played an all ages 4:00 p.m. matinee and late shows on Saturdays and Sundays during this booking.



'We got to know the 'boys from Belfast' well enough during their stint at the Whisky to put thier song Gloria back in our set. The Last night before Them went back home to the 'Old Sod' we all played Gloria together. Two keyboards, two guitars and two drummers. Alan the lovable but always drunk bass player and two Morrisons. The song went on for about twenty minutes.
A few months later I was walking along Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood when Van Morrison drove by.
We recognised each other and he motioned for the driver to pull over and rolled down the window. He said he was back in town and asked how Jim was doing. I know Jim admired and cared for Van. It was touching thta two rock n rollers with the same last name were looking out for each other.'
John Densmore.

[gizmo]

damn, great pics!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

thanx

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Here is a rare colour shot of The Doors & Them at The Whisky....makes you wonder what others are out there....apparently there are some colour shots of this in the new Doors book.........

Also makes you wonder why anyone thought wearing a Sherlock Holmes hat would make them look cool?
It would be funny if we saw one of Jim wearing it......

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

On Wednesday August 10th 1966 Jac Holzman came to see The Doors.
Topical due to the recent sad death of Arthur Lee
and the Myth that he was instrumental in introducing Jac Holzman, president of Elektra Records, to The Doors during a Love set.........
In fact part of this Myth states catagorically that without Arthur Lee there would be NO Doors......this is patent nonsense of course as it is utterly inconceivable that Holzman is not aware of The Doors before he took a step in the Whisky........
Consider the fact that Ronny Haran the Whisky booking agent was championing The Doors cause to record execs in LA at the time and she was well aquainted with Elektra people..........also consider that Billy James who signed the band to Columbia is by then working in Elektras LA office and it is just as inconceivable that he had not mentioned this band to his new boss.........

So when Holzman arrived in LA it is impossible to believe that he was not well aware of the band already and arrived at the club to check out The Doors whilst they are supporting Lee's Love with thoughts of signing them to his record label.
Jac as initially not impressed one bit but was indeed encouraged to give the band a second chance by both Arthur Lee and Ronny Haran.

Holzman returns over the next several nights and begins to become very intrigued and is soon captivated by The Doors' sound but questions its commercial potential. He calls staff producer Paul Rothchild in New York and asks him to fly out and check out the band and together they will make a decision whether or not to sign The Doors.

So Arthur Lee had a pivotal role in Holzman giving The Doors another chance but if he had not done it Haran would have and so would Bill James....so the outcome would have likley as not been the same just maybe a week later..........
The idea that Lee was the reason The Doors signed to Elektra is frankly ridiculous...(and yes Holzman himself feeds this tale in Follow The Music).....but Lee was simply part of a chain of events that led to that signing ..........without his input the end result would have been exactly the same.........so lets say thanks to Arthur for having the faith to fight their corner but lets not get carried away with his role........The Doors had lots of friends in LA and those friends were there when Holzman arrived in LA...........

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

40 years ago today 15th August 1966 Jac Holzman brings producer Paul Rothchild to the Whisky to see The Doors....on the strength of the performances one bad one good he is reported to have offered them a contract.

According to Jac they got.....
A better than standard contract with little money but a three album deal and 75% of thier publishing with a 5 grand advance.

They prevaricate a bit and appoint Max Fink as their attourney to check over the contract but eventually sign a provisional contract on August 18th which they confirm on November 15th 1966 when in New York.

Morrison puts it all in perspective later when he mentions how apart from Jac and Elektra nobody was knocking on their door with a record contract..........'we weren't that much in demand'..

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

40 Year ago today on August 21st 1966

This is the famous performance at The Whisky which features for the first time the 'infamous' Oedipal section of The End.
According to the popular mythology The Doors are either fired on the spot or the next day.............

It can't have been that big a deal to the management as the band return several times the following summer....