Palestinian DBS Call To Boycott Show Feb 19 2011

[darkstar3]

Supporting the Palestinian BDS Call from within BOYCOTT!
February 19 2011

Manzarek and Krieger of the Doors, honor your humane legacy and cancel your show in Israel

We are a group of Israeli citizens who support the human rights-based Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) [1]. We learned with dismay about your July 5th 2011 scheduled performance in Tel-Aviv, thus undermining a growing international movement to end Israel's impunity and promote a just solution that respects human rights and international law in Palestine\Israel.

As alumni of a rock band which has been subjected itself to police brutality and was against the Vietnam war, it seems particularly disappointing to us that you lend your voice and image to sustain and promote a “business as usual” attitude towards occupation, apartheid and ethnic cleansing. Your performance in Tel-Aviv is scheduled just days before the 6th anniversary of the Palestinian United Call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it complies with international law and universal principles of human rights [2]. The BDS Call is inspired by a similar campaign of the indigenous people of South Africa against the apartheid regime there. Since the BDS campaign was launched in 2005 many international artists and public figures have acknowledged the parallels between these two colonial conflicts – including the importance of boycott initiatives to both struggles. Among those who have expressed support for the Palestinian BDS Call and campaign are prominent activist Archbishop Desmond Tutu, South-African Artists Against Apartheid [3], Creative Workers Union of South Africa, the international alliance Artists Against Apartheid [4], Dave Randall [5] and Maxi Jazz of Faithless, Robert Del Naja of Massive Attack [6], filmmakers Ken Loach and Mike Leigh [8], 500 Montreal artists [9] and over 200 Irish artists [10].

Surely you are aware of some of the violations of international law committed by Israel against the Palestinian people. In 2008-2009 Israel launched a vicious attack against the besieged 1.5 million residents of the Gaza Strip, killing over 1434 people [11] (including 434 children) and wounding thousands while targeting mostly civilians and destroying homes of thousands of people. Israel performed numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity in that attack, as investigated by the UN Fact Finding Mission headed by Justice Richard Goldstone. Among those crimes described by Justice Goldstone is the siege on Gaza itself, which remains intact to this day, preventing all air, sea and ground movement of people; restricting severely imports into the Strip and banning exports almost completely. Lately, former Israeli chief of staff Ashkenazi handed over to his successor the “Gaza book of targets”, as Israeli air strikes and incursions continue to kill and execute Gaza civilians without trial [12]. Nonetheless, Israel has not yet faced sanctions from world governments and official international bodies for its disregard of international law. It is only civil society, primarily through the framework of BDS, that is acting today to hold Israel accountable.

In 2004 the international court of Justice in The Hague ruled that the Israeli-built West Bank separation wall, which annexes vast Palestinian land and most of East Jerusalem - is illegal. Yet, Israel has not dismantled it and is on the course of completing its construction, a process that typically involves uprooting Palestinian olive trees and destroying homes and orchards.

Palestinians inside the West Bank are also kept under sieges of sorts, which deny them free movement outside their “confined areas” by checkpoints and the separation wall. While this means they could not come to your show, this also has the much graver effect of a suffocating economic repression, as UN Special Rapporteur Richard Falk comments on the final report of his mandate (22 October 2010) [13]. While Jewish settlers enjoy their privileged status as citizens of the state and can travel freely in and out of the West Bank, sometimes in their own designated roads (for Israeli citizens only), Palestinians living in the same areas are governed by a military regime and subjected to a poorly standardized military legal system designed to keep them repressed. Palestinian demonstrations are violently attacked by the Israeli army, killing dozens, and wounding, maiming and imprisoning hundreds in just a few years. House and sometimes entire village demolitions are used as another repression mechanism against the West Bank's Palestinian population. Settlers' violence against Palestinians enjoys the protection of both the state and army, and is thus encouraged by them [14].

Inside proper Israel the 1.2 million Palestinian citizens of Israel face institutionalized racial discrimination implemented by over two dozen laws [15]. By this Israel commits what is universally recognized as the crime of apartheid. While dozens of new Jewish communities and towns were established since the formation of the state, not one Palestinian new community or town was allowed to be built. Instead, Israel repeatedly destroys the villages and houses of the indigenous population of the Naqab [16] (Negev), Lyd [17](Lod) and other communities. Israel has neglected its Palestinian citizens in all social areas: education, health, transportation, municipal services, etc. As a whole, they are unequivocally the poorest citizens of a state which excludes them by its very definition and structure as a “Jewish state”.

During the 1948 Israeli ethnic cleansing of Palestine [18] Israel expelled 800,000 Palestinians and took over their houses and properties. Until this very day most of the Palestinian people are refugees. Many live in refugee camps in the West Bank, Gaza and in other Middle East countries, awaiting their international law-anchored and UN sanctioned return and compensation, which are forcefully withheld by Israel.

As was in the case of white South-Africans, most Israelis believe today that complying with the Palestinian basic demands “will be the end of us”. The lessons from South-Africa, however, are to the contrary. White people there do not enjoy the privileged legal and institutional status by the state as they used to, but they still, by and large - especially in economic terms - form the elite and upper classes of society, far from fitting into the nightmare scenarios of being “kicked out to the sea” as many Israelis would put it. What the BDS Call specifies are in fact minimal requirements: to end the 1967 occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, to cancel the apartheid inside Israel, and to respect and promote the right of return and compensation for the refugees.

The BDS Call was issued by over 170 civil society organizations of all three parts of the Palestinian people: refugees, citizens of Israel and West Bank and Gaza residents. It received the support of almost the entire community [19] of Palestinian cultural workers. Many international artists cancelled their performances in Israel in response to BDS appeals, including Elvis Costello [20], the Pixies, actors Meg Ryan and Dustin Hoffman, American poet and musician Gil Scott-Heron and Mexican American rock guitarist Carlos Santana.

We hope you will not ignore this so acutely needed initiative and cancel your show in Israel.

Sincerely,

Ayala Shani
Rachel Giora
Ohal Grietzer
Ofer Neiman
Oshra Bar
Iris Hefets
Neta Golan
Ofra Ben Artzi
Joseph Dana
Jonatan Stanczak
Jonathan Pollak
Leehee Rothschild
Dorothy Naor
Gal Lugassi
Connie Hackbarth
Sahar Vardi
Adi Dagan
Haggai Matar
David Nir
Renen Raz
Tal Shapira
Edo Medicks
Naama Farjoun

On behalf of
Boycott! Supporting the Palestinian BDS Call from within
boycottisrael.info

www.boycottisrael.info/content/manzarek-and-krieger-doors-honor-your-humane-legacy-and-cancel-your-show-israel

Thanks to Jym for the lead on this article.

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Well the Kriegers are Jewish and Manzarek is a knob so I doubt that any appeal to them will alter the situation.

It's a bit like the situation in South Africa during the Aparteid era.
Many musicians and artists refused to play there.

Ray may well be getting himself into a situation that might have repercussions for him.
Also playing Russia is dodgy as Chechenya is a situation there.

I dunno what the BDS are really bothered about as they will be the lucky ones and not have to listen to a Z rate Doors tribute drag act.
My suggestion to them is check out a real Doors album and simply forget about such a pair of has beens.

And to be brutally honest the American Government has been violating international law for decades with regards Cuba so i doubt Ray and Robby are gonna care.
Unless of course it's a publicity stunt and Ray cancels the gig and gets a bit of attention standing up for the Palestinians.
Would not put that past such an unscrupulous liar as Mr M.

I might start a similar petition to get them to boycott any visit to Paris on the grounds they are offensive to the memory of James Douglas Morrison resident there for the last 40 years.

[casandra]

The Jerusalem Post

Knocking on heaven’s Doors
By DAVID BRINN 04/23/2011 22:05

Jim Morrison may have died at age 27 in 1971, but his band mates – and the sound of The Doors – keyboardist Ray Manzarek and guitarist Robby Krieger, are keeping the timeless music alive.

If Ray Manzarek hadn’t been in The Doors, he just might have been their biggest fan. Speaking in eloquent tones like a cross between an excited TV evangelist, a learned sociology professor and a sun-dried California unrepentant hippie, the 72-year-old co-founder of the legendary 1960s American rock band and the creator of its signature dense, organ-dominated sound, seems as enthusiastic about life – and playing Doors music with his original band mate, guitarist Robby Krieger – as he was when he was a young UCLA film student and began writing songs with classmate Jim Morrison.

“Gentlemen of a certain age as Robby and I have become, we’re still here walking the planet, dancing and making the incredible music that we first did with The Doors. Life is joyous,” said Manazarek early one morning earlier this month from his Napa County, California home he shares with his wife of 44 years, Dorothy.

The Doors are ensconced in a lofty position in rock & roll lore as one of the most evocative 1960s bands whose influence is still felt today. Their dark, enigmatic music – dominated by Manzarek’s swirling organ – and Morrison’s shaman-like stage presence, poetic lyrics and commanding vocals became symbols of the counter-culture revolution of the times. Their music demanded listeners succumb to total liberation and audiences willingly complied. That the band was also able to score one Top 40 hit after another – from “Light My Fire” to “Riders on the Storm” – was testament to their ability to synthesize psychedelia, free-form jazz soloing, and subversive themes into a palatable sound for the masses.

Their legendary status was locked into place when at age 27, Morrison was found dead in his Paris apartment, a tragedy which has elevated the charismatic singer/poet to a mythic status over the years.

Manzarek and Krieger will be commemorating the 40th anniversary of Morrison’s death on July 3, 1971 by performing a Doors hit-laden show in Paris as the first stop of a European tour. The band’s next stop after Paris? Tel Aviv, for Manzarek and Krieger’s debut Israel performance – and one of the summer’s most anticipated shows – on July 5 at Hangar 11.

For Manzarek, the untimely death of Morrison along with his untamed, poetic lyrics and magnetic yet unpredictable stage persona are only part of the reason the band’s music still resonates generations later.

“As the keyboard player, one would think that the music might have had something to do with people still liking it,” said Manzarek with a chuckle.

“I think without songs like “Light my Fire,” “Riders on the Storm” and “LA Woman,” we wouldn’t be worshiping Jim the way we do today.”

But Manzarek readily acknowledged that Morrison’s death at age 27 has enshrined him in a timeless netherworld inhabited by other live fast-die young rockers from Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin to Kurt Kobain and Joy Division’s Ian Curtis.

“If you’re going to be become a legend – one of the immortals, a God – then you have to die. That’s the tragedy. I’d rather have Jim Morrison be here with us today than be remembered as an immortal rock legend. That’s the sad part. The whole story of him dying in Paris at such an early age and then his girlfriend Pamela dying two years later, it was Romeo and Juliet, rock & roll style. What a sad tale it was, but that just adds to the mystique.”

“But I’d like to think that the poetry is the most important thing about Jim – what he had to say. And with the music that we made, it all came together and gave it life.”

ALTHOUGH THE DOORS disbanded in 1973 following sputtering attempts by Manzarek, Krieger and drummer John Densmore to continue without Morrison, the music is still coming together in the form of Manzarek and Krieger, who since 2001 has kept the free-form solo-heavy 60s spirit alive with their exclusively Doors music shows. Densmore was part of the reunion but dropped out and has been involved in a series of legal moves against his former band mates which has prevented them from using the name ‘Doors.’

Since 2004, they’ve been joined by drummer Ty Dennis, bassist Phil Chen, and have employed a variety of high profile front men including The Cult’s Ian Astbury, and even Eddie Vedder for a few shows. Their current lead vocalist is Morrison look-and-soundalike Dave Brock, who has spent years fronting his own Doors tribute band Wild Child.

Now a quintet, the Doors were famous for their unique musical lineup, which instead of a bass player, used Manzarek’s left hand on his keyboard to replicate the rhythm sound at the bottom of the music. He remembered that the decision wasn’t intentional to eschew a live bassist, and the band did occasionally employ bass players in the studio or on tour, including Harvey Brooks, the legendary musician now living in Israel.

“We actually intended to have a bass player, and auditioned a couple of them,” said Manzarek.

“With the first one, we sounded like The Rolling Stones and with the second, for some reason, we sounded like Eric Burdon and the Animals. We knew there was no reason to have another band sound like either of them, so we kept looking.”

“Then we auditioned at a club in Los Angeles and I saw the Fender Rhodes keyboard bass onstage which belonged to another band. And I thought ‘Eureka, that’s it! I’ll play that.’ Robby’s father Stu Krieger bought one for us, because we had no money. This thing cost something like $325, and we didn’t have any gigs and could barely pay our rent, so he said, ‘alright, I’m going to buy this for you, but make sure you become a hit act.’ And we said, ‘yes sir, we will sir’ – and that was it. It worked out fine because it’s basically the way I play the keyboard anyway with my left hand playing the bass line. And it kept The Doors as a four-side diamond, rather than an evil pentagram.”

With their Fender Rhodes keyboard bass in tow, the band landed a gig as the house band at a Sunset Strip club called the London Fog, which Manzarek likened to The Beatles stint in Germany, where they played five sets a night and became a tight musical unit.

“We really got the music together because hardly anybody came into the club, so we could really concentrate on listening to each other,” he said. Their discipline elevated them to the house band at the prestigious Whiskey A Go Go, where they performed as opening act for some of the top mid-60s bands which came through Los Angeles. Their first show? Opening for the Irish rockers Them, featuring young lead singer Van Morrison.

“It was fabulous! Van and Jim! Can you believe that? Van Morrison and Jim Morrison on the Sunset Strip in the summer of 1966. It was really the ‘summer of love’ in Los Angeles, even before it reached San Francisco. We were going to make love, not war. It was mind-expanding, a time of magic. We had taken LSD and expanded our consciousness. And there we were onstage with Van Morrison, with Jim and Van jamming on “Gloria.” Oh, David, it was quite a night.”

The word got around about The Doors, a recording contract followed and the next six years became a blur of hit singles, gold records, and sold out tours. Manzarek and Kreiger, the two instrumentalists in the band, revelled in introducing complex musical statements into even the Top 40 fare of songs like “Light My Fire” which featured a Manzarek solo patterned after John Coltrane’s playing in “My Favorite Things.”

“We loved that we were getting Coltrane played on AM radio,” said Manzarek. “It was marvellous. I’m not sure how many people caught that, but I’m sure some did. We used to start our Whiskey shows off during the first set on Monday nights by playing Miles Davis and variations on “Summertime.”

IN ADDITION to the commercial success, there was also plenty of notoriety due to Morrison’s stormy onstage behavior which led to near riots at some shows and arrests at others – the most notable being an indecent behavior charge in Florida.

Morrison’s heavy drinking and bohemian lifestyle gradually changed his looks from matinee-idol sleek to bearded, potbellied slouch, and by the time of his death, the band’s status was in question. However Manzarek doubted that a break up with Morrison was in the offing.

“If we would have broken up, he would have had to join another band. My god, can you imagine Jim Morrison not singing?” said Manzarek.

“All eyes were watching him, the electric shaman with band behind him, allowing him to go into a Dionysian frenzy with complete joy, power and confidence – what a place to be. He was never going to give that up.”

“I imagine we would have stayed together, I don’t see how he could have found anyone as compatible to play with. We were the other half of his brain.”

Following Morrison’s death and the band’s split, Manzarek remained musically vital, becoming a champion of the West Coast punk movement of the late 1970s and producing the debut album – Los Angeles – by LA punk legends X “The punks were the next generation after the psychedelic era,” said Manzarek.

“After the stoners came the punks, and it was great. I thought it would be bigger in the US than it was, but it never really caught on like it did in England. The punk scene in California though was as exciting as what happened in the ‘60s.”

“I actually just played with X in December in San Francisco on the 30th anniversary of Los Angeles. Wow, it was hot, it was like nothing had changed, and why should it? We all still have our brains and our energy – we’re not drugged out or alcoholic. I might not have my youth anymore but I’ve still got my power!”

The same ethos applies to Manzarek and Krieger, whose explosive and faithful renditions of Doors classics have been deemed as engaging as the band’s initial incarnation. Manzarek said that he and Krieger are gratified that it’s not just their contemporaries who are attending the shows, but younger generations who weren’t even alive when the music was originally conceived.

“I welcome the intelligence of the young people who come to see us,” he said.

“Let’s face it, you have to be a little intelligent to understand and appreciate The Doors. You might have had to read a book. I’d like to think that our audience is not your typical rock crowd. They’re aware of the different implications and the Freudian aspects of the some of the lyrics. Plus, I think the younger audience is searching for freedom to break the chains, the shackles of repressive societies, probably their own repressive society.”

Manzarek, who expressed excitement about making his first visit to Israel, acknowledged efforts by anti-Israel activists to convince the band to boycott its Tel Aviv show, but insisted that no such thing was going to happen and that boycotts were the wrong approach to any conflict.

“I think we should be trying to bring cultures together, to bring messages from other lands into Israel,” he said. “We want nothing more than for Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace. And we can bring that message from Southern California, from the other ocean – the Pacific Ocean.”

“Pacific means peace and we’re going to bring peace from the ocean of peace to Israel and we’ll spread the vibration around. That’s the main thing. You’re talking to a psychedelic guy. Love is the answer. Let peace begin with me, let it continue with you.”

www.jpost.com/ArtsAndCulture/Music/Article.aspx?id=217650

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Apr 29, 2011 18:04:21 GMT casandra said:

Manzarek and Krieger will be commemorating the 40th anniversary of Morrison’s death on July 3, 1971 by performing a Doors hit-laden show in Paris as the first stop of a European tour.

This is one thing Doors fans need to get their head around. Ray is NOT commemorating the death of Jim Morrison. Ray is using Jim Morrison to profit by attention and financially. This man is the same maggot that held a Jim Morrison Disappearance Party on July 3rd 1974. The same maggot that intended to show other maggots where to screw a plaque where Jim Morrison pissed against a bar in 2008 on what would have been the man's 65th birthday. The same maggot that did not go to his best friends grave in 1972 when 2000 metres from it in case there was some imaginary crowd trouble. A man who is lower than a skunks ball bag as a human being who perpetrates the lie that Jim Morrison is to be moved from Paris as the authorities don't want him there when it suits him. The same maggot that sued Jim Morrison for money owed before the soil had even settled on his grave and then subjected Morrison's clearly distraught girl friend to years of legal strife and even sued HER after she died for his cut.
A maggot who stole The Doors name and misused Morrison's image to sell his tribute act then lied his ass off in court as he countersued the drummer to get control of the band name.
A piece of human excrement who has gone from 'Jim is definitely dead' to 'Jim may well have faked his death' for 4 decades depending on what crap he was selling. A maggot who fired Danny Sugerman on his deathbed and cut him adrift and who did not go to his 'brothers' funeral as he had a sniffle.
A liar and a hypocrite who was never fit to clean the shit off Morrison's boots when it came to being a human being.

We are judged on our actions NOT our words and Ray's actions speak volumes as to the type of person HE is!
Excellent keyboard player mind

Apr 29, 2011 18:04:21 GMT casandra said:

Let’s face it, you have to be a little intelligent to understand and appreciate The Doors.

This is true but also you have to thick as fuck to believe anything this worthless scumbag says.

Apr 29, 2011 18:04:21 GMT casandra said:

Their first show? Opening for the Irish rockers Them, featuring young lead singer Van Morrison.

The man has not a shred of integrity. He is still telling people that bullshit yarn even after the book he helped release The Doors By The Doors said it was horseshit.

[darkstar3]

Defendants Manzarek and Krieger attorney's included a few paragraphs in their objection document relating to a visit to Jim Morrison's grave December 8 2003 and again in July 2004. The Estate claimed that these visits were more than just a paying of repects to a dead friend as defendants were in Paris promoting a performances scheduled for December 9 2003 and July 15 2004. Tickets for this event were printed "The Doors". Further promotion was from a poster depicted the circus performers similar to the original Strange Days album cover which also shows a black and white photo within the confines of the poster of all four orginial Doors including Jim Morrison.

Alex was in Paris on December 8 2003 and as an eye-witness can relate what he saw first hand at that time.

There is a news article which follows later in this post which talks about the July 15 2004 performance.

For others who were not there to witness these events, this post offers photographs, news articles, and a transcript of the objection document which addresses the new incarnations' trip to Paris.

Unfortunately it is difficult to say how the Judge ruled on this claim brought by the Estate against the defendants. In my opinion and considering the Estate holds the deed to Jim’s plot in Pere Lachaise it would seem that they could have defendants barred from visiting the grave at any time without the consent of a Judge in California. It remains to be seen if and when defendants decide to make another trip to Pere Lachaise what will happen upon their arrival at the cemetery.


Defendants’ Objections To Proposed Statement Of Decision
And Specification Of Issues Not Addressed Therein

Filed May 24 2005
Superior Court Of The State Of California
For The County Of Los Angeles – Central District

John Densmore, Etc...

Plaintiff,

v.

Raymond Manzarek, an individual; Robert Krieger, an individual; Ian Astbury, an individual; Doors Touring, Inc.. a California corporation; and Does 1 through 20, inclusive,

Defendants.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Raymond Manzarek and Robert Krieger, as individuals and on behalf of several general partnerships,

Cross-Complainants,

v.

John Densmore, an individual,

Cross-Defendant.

Case No. BC 289730
(Consolidated with Case No. 294495

Page 28
Section D., 1

(v) Defendants Cannot Be Punished For Visiting
Morrison’s Grave

The Estates complained that Defendants visited Jim Morrison’s grave while they were
In Paris, on December 8, 2003. But so what? This activity is most obviously not actionable under Section 3344.1 which protects against commercial use of identity, i.e. (1) use on or in products, merchandise, or goods; and (2) use in “speech which does no more than propose a commercial transaction.” Bolger v. Young Drug Products, 463, U.S. 60, 66, 103, S. Ct,. 2875 (1983). Defendants’ visit to Morrison’s grave was not a commercial use of Jim Morrison’s identity. It was a trip to a cemetery. Defendants are baffled as to why the Estates would think this activity is illegal.

Furthermore, Jim Morrison’s grave is located in Paris, France. Section 3344.1 limits the application of California’s post-mortem right of publicity statue to “acts occurring directly in this state.” Cal. Civ. Code 3344.1(n). “The only reasonable interpretation of this provision from its plain language is that it applies only to claims that arise out of acts occurring in California. The provision…..addresses the reach of the statute’s coverage.” Cairns v. Franklin Mint Co., 120 F. Supp. 2d 880, 883, (C.D. Cal. 2000), aff’d, 292 F.3d 1139, 1147 (9th Cir. 2002). So even if Defendants’ activities in France (or England or Japan, for that matter) did somehow otherwise violate Section 3344.1, they would still not be actionable because they did not occur directly in this state. This crucial point should be borne in mind with respect to ever single alleged action by Defendants (including concerts) outside of California that the Estates, in hindsight, claim violated Morrison’s post mortem right of publicity.

In any event, the fact that Defendants paid their respects at the burial site of a departed friend and fellow artist did not somehow become a commercial use of Morrison’s identity simply because reporters and/or photographers may have followed them to the scene to document the occurrence. “Publication of matters in the public interest, which rests on the right of the public to know, and the freedom of the press to tell it, cannot ordinarily be actionable.” Eastwood v. Superior Court (National Enquirer, Inc.) 149 Cal. App. 3d 409, 421 198 Cal. Rptr. 342 (1983). In fact, Section 3344.1 categorically exempts from liability the “use of a name, voice, signature, photograph, or likeness in connection with any news, public affairs, or sports broadcast or account, or any political campaign…” Cal. Civ. Code 3344.1 (a) (2). Here, “the fact that the use of the name was descriptive and related to the constitutionally protected activity of news gathering and dissemination and not merely commercial exploitation compels the conclusion that the activity is constitutionally protected.” New Kids on the Block v. News America Pub., Inc., 745 F. Supp. 1540, 1546 (C.D. Cal. 1990).

Finally, the Estates’ evidence failed to establish that the Defendants’ visit to the grave site was “directly connected” to a commercial purpose, as required by California law. Cal. Civ. Code 3344.1 (k) see, e.g. Johnson v. Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, Inc., 43 Cal. App. 3d 880, 895, 118 Cal. Rptr. 370 (1974) (reprint of article about plaintiff in book not directly connected to commercial purpose.)




CBS News – Happy 60th Birthday Jim Morrison Dec 8 2003

Jim Morrison's former band mates burned candles, a rose and a poem at his grave in Paris on Monday, a tribute to the "Light My Fire" singer and cult figure on what would have been his 60th birthday.

"We're trying to evoke the spirit of Jim," Robby Krieger, former guitarist for The Doors, told dozens of fans kept behind police barriers. Many held white candles and old album covers.





The Doors founding members Ray Manzarek, left, and Robby Krieger burn a poem left by a fan at Jim Morrison's grave.



Poster for D21C Show in Paris July 15 2004.




Ticket for D21C Show in Paris December 8 2003


LE MONDE.FR (French)- THE DOORS OF THE 21ST CENTURY, WHEN ROCK 'N'
ROLL IS DEVOTED TO THE NECROPHILIE

THE WORLD | 10.12.03 | 13h43
The Californian group of the end of 1960 "is reformed" with the
Zenith with two survivors, the organist and the guitarist. Jim
Morrison, died in 1971 in Paris, is replaced by Ian Astbury.
With the end of 1960, in four years and six albums, a group of
rock'n'roll of Los Angeles produced a strongly original, erotic and
insurrectionary work. Its size rested on strange alchemy between a
singer of blues (Jim Morrison) which was caught at the same time for
Rimbaud and Zarathoustra, an organist of academy (Ray Manzarek), a
guitarist of flamenco (Robby Krieger) and a beater of jazz (John
Densmore). The death of Jim Morrison, in 1971, in Paris, marked the
beginning of a morbid worship with the cemetery of the Father-
Lachaise. To replace it, the three survivors cherished a time the
idea to recruit Iggy Pop. They also recorded, in trio, two quickly
forgotten discs.

Their alive, Doors left in European round in 1968, but they could
never play in France. The escapades of Jim Morrison, more and more
related to drink, quickly reflect in danger engagements of the group.
Rare are thus those which can be praised to have seen Doors. For the
illusion, there are orchestras specialized in the resumptions and the
reconstitution of the Californian quartet, to the attention of
nostalgic and of the younger generations.

One of them, The Doors of the 21st Century, managed to fill, Tuesday
December 9, the Zenith of Paris. It has indeed as a characteristic to
shelter in its rows two survivors of the group, Ray Manzarek and
Robby Krieger. The third, John Densmore, made known its dissension in
front of this round of "reformation" which it judges obscene, by
instituting proceedings against his/her former comrades. They are
aimed by two other procedures: one emanates from the parents of Jim
Morrison, the other of the old beater of Police force, Stewart
Copeland, which was to take the vacant head office of Densmore. Alas,
it broke the wrist and was in its turn replaced without awaiting its
re-establishment. From where its ire.

It is obviously towards the singer that all the glances converged.
Ian Astbury officiated in the years 1980 as singer of The Cult, a
formation of hard rock of series B Today, it saunters on scene in the
din of Dyed with carmine Burana and in front of a giant screen with
the effigy of Jim Morrison during his Adonis time. Two similarities
strike start between the two men: the black and corrugated hair; the
way of empoigner the microphone with two hands as of Roadhouse Blues.
The repertory which will follow is equivalent to any compilation of
Doors, increased entirety of the album L. A. Woman. Foreseeable and
fixed in formol.

Ian Astbury, which is British, however makes creditable efforts to
borrow the Californian accent. This "King Lézard" of substitution
had
the decency not to cover the panoply of late (trousers out of
leather, thick belt and white shirt) and does not seek to play the
apprentice Shaman. He achieves his absurdity mission correctly and
discreetly.

TALKATIVE INSTRUMENT

Because the high-speed motorboat of Doors is not any more the singer,
but the organist. Director of this ceremony nécrophile, Ray
Manzarek,
radiant sexagenarian, directs all the operations, evokes from there
the pilgrimage of the merry brotherhood to the Father-Lachaise "for
the birthday of Jim" (day before in the concert), offers finally
freedom to regularly sing (but always also badly). At its sides,
Robby Krieger is not incisive any more with its guitar. Its
instrument became as talkative as the organ of Manzarek. Behind them
activate themselves a heavy artillery bass player and beater.

However, one would have almost let oneself tenderize during the
acoustic pause, because the sad beauty of The Crystal Ship can all
sweep. But Manzarek, with the piano, soaped the bridge of the song.
It is finally the laughter which carried it when this starling of
Astbury allotted the standard of blues Back Door Man to Robert
Johnson before Robby Krieger blows to him with the ear its true
author (Willie Dixon) and obliges it with a piteous corrigendum. By
misfortune, this marionette group plays three times longer than Doors
of antan. It plans from now on to record an album of new titles.
Since the ridiculous one failed, nothing any more seems to be able to
stop it.

Bruno Lesprit

December 13 in Brussels (Forest national).

Source:
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[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Yes that does annoy me that he just picked something up from the grave and burned it with no regard at all for the person who put it there.
Ray Manzarek all over.

Also he claimed The Doors had never been to Paris to boost up his circus acts show. He will lie about anything when it suits him.