Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Nov 12, 2006 12:14:16 GMT
Doors 40th Anniversary celebration LA November 2006
Doors open up on band's legacy
LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - As they prepare to celebrate the 40th anniversary of their self-titled debut album, the surviving members of the Doors have been reflecting on their legacy.
The trio of keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore have collaborated with music journalist Ben Fong-Torres for "The Doors by the Doors," an oral history that will be published November 7 by Hyperion.
They also spent time in the studio with longtime engineer Bruce Botnick, as he worked on remixing the Doors' six studio albums in 5.1 surround sound for archival label Rhino Records' "Perception" boxed set, due November 21.
Billboard recently spoke with Manzarek, Krieger and Densmore in separate phone interviews about the enduring appeal of their music.
IN YOUR WILDEST DREAMS, DID YOU EVER THINK THAT PEOPLE WOULD STILL BE LISTENING TO THE SONGS THAT YOU RECORDED FOR YOUR FIRST ALBUM FOUR DECADES LATER?
Manzarek: Hardly, but on the other hand, that's not (a musician's) concern. I don't think musicians play music thinking in terms of posterity. It's just the opposite. You have to think in that individual moment in time, the Zen moment in time.
And if you capture the energy, then you do what a musician is supposed to do. If by the grace of the gods on Mount Olympus you happen to be liked 40 years from now, that's only a testament to the Doors' audience as far as I'm concerned.
Doors music is not a simple kind of music. It's like the Bauhaus. It's clean and pure. Morrison's lyrics are psychologically deep. So for people to understand Doors music is certainly a testament to their intellects.
WHAT DID YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU PLAYING THIS CRAZY ROCK'N'ROLL MUSIC AT THE TIME?
Manzarek: They loved it, and then "Light My Fire" becomes the No. 1 song in America. What's not to like? My mother had three boys of her own, Raymond, Richard and James. So Jim Morrison comes along, and I introduced him and brought him down to Redondo Beach to bum a couple of free meals off my parents. My mother loved him. That's her fourth son. She cut his hair. She used to cut our hair and gave Jim a little trim, too.
WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER ABOUT THAT FIRST DOORS GIG AT THE SUNSET STRIP CLUB THE LONDON FOG?
Densmore: I had been a professional drummer for years before that playing weddings, bar mitzvahs and bars with my fake ID. Here I was in the dumpiest f---ing bar that I'd ever seen. Jim was so nervous he wouldn't even face the audience. I thought, "I don't know if this group is going anywhere."
And then I'd go down to the Whisky and hear Love and wish I was in their band. But when I first walked into Ray's parents' garage, before I brought Robby into the band, I knew immediately that Jim Morrison had the potential for magic, but it certainly hadn't come to fruition at the London Fog. He was learning how to do it.
In the garage we were looking at the really raw ingredient. Jim had never sung, so we were looking at really raw material. But he had brilliant lyrics that made me want to immediately play drums.
Ray handed me a crumpled piece of paper and I read it, "The day destroys the night/The night divides the day/Tried to run/Tried to hide/Break on through to the other side." I read it and went, "Oh, s---. Where's my drums?"
HOW DID YOU LAND THE GIG AS THE HOUSE BAND AT THE WHISKY A GO GO?
Manzarek: The week before our final night at the London Fog, Ronnie Harran, the booker from the Whisky a Go Go, had come down and fell in love with the band. She asked us after the set, "How would you guys like to be the house band at the Whisky a Go Go?" And we went, "F---ing A. Are you kidding? Of course, we'd love to."
She said, "You'll open the show, then the headliners, then you play another set, and then the headliners. So two sets a night." We said, "How much money?" And she said, "Union scale," which was like $135 per man, per week. It was like, "Wow." We were making like $40 or $50 at the London Fog.
We were going to be the house band at the Whisky a Go Go and Jim Morrison, Mr. Cool, says to Ronnie, "We got to think about this. Why don't you come back tomorrow?" And she looked at him with these big puppy-dog eyes.
After she left, we proceeded to pummel Morrison on the arms and shoulders. "What do you mean we have to think about it?" Jim said, "Of course we're going to take the gig, but you don't want to appear too anxious."
The next week we started, and the band we played with was none other than Them -- Van Morrison and Them. And we jammed during the last set of the night. So Jim Morrison and Van Morrison were singing "Gloria" together at the Whisky a Go Go. What a night.
WHAT WERE THE INFLUENCES THAT SHAPED THE DOORS' SOUND AND WHAT DOES EACH MEMBER OF THE BAND BRING TO THE TABLE?
Densmore: Ray grew up in Chicago so he had the blues, Muddy Waters and all that. He also had classical training. That was pretty cool. That was invoked in the intro to "Light My Fire," which was very kind of Bach-like. Robby had a flamenco and folk music background. I was so enamored with watching Robby's fingers crawl across the flamenco guitar strings like a crab.
I'm a jazz guy and Ray was also into jazz, so when we met we talked about (John) Coltrane and Miles (Davis). I think that influence gave me freedom. Like in "When the Music's Over," I just stopped playing the beat, and I would just comment on Jim's words percussively, out of rhythm, like we were having a conversation. I got that from listening to Elvin Jones and John Coltrane.
And then there was Jim, Mr. Literary, who had read every book on the planet, but didn't know anything about music and how to write songs and trusted us. Therefore, we were a total democracy.
We shared everything -- writing credits, veto power. Jim had melodies as well as words. He didn't know how to play a chord on any instrument, but he had melodies in his head. To remember the lyrics he would think of melodies and then they would stay in his head. He had melodies and lyrics in his head, and he would sing them a cappella, and we would eke out the arrangements.
WHAT IS IT ABOUT THE DOORS' MUSIC THAT MAKES IT SO SEEMINGLY TIMELESS?
Krieger: The Doors were just ahead of their time. It seems like what we were playing back then, the blues and stuff like that that we were into, were starting to catch on 10 years later. Because we were ahead of our time in our heyday, we weren't really that huge.
I don't think a lot of people really understood what the hell we were doing until later. Maybe just now people are waking up to the Doors' music.
WHAT IN YOUR MIND IS THE ESSENTIAL DOORS ALBUM?
Densmore: The first one had all the hits, but was poorly recorded. There were only four tracks. The second one was one of my faves because we got relaxed in the studio. We had fun experimenting.
The fourth and fifth (albums), we tried strings and horns. Those are good, the critics hated them, but I don't care. They were (both hit albums).
The last one, "L.A. Woman," gets back to who we really are. We got back to the essence. We produced it ourselves with Bruce Botnick and only did two takes on everything. F--- the mistakes, like Miles (Davis). I said that to Ray when we were recording, "Let's just go for the feeling and raw emotion."
WHAT INSPIRED "LIGHT MY FIRE?"
Krieger: At that point, Jim was writing the songs. I'd written maybe a couple before that but nothing too serious. One day Jim mentioned that we didn't have enough songs, so he said, "Why don't you guys try and write some songs."
So I went home and wrote "Light My Fire." It was the first song I wrote for the Doors. Jim came up with the second verse about the funeral pyre. Ray did the baroque intro and John came up with the kind of Latin drum beat.
When we would play "Light My Fire" for the live audience, everybody loved it, so we knew it was a special song. I knew if it was going to compete with Jim's stuff, it had to be pretty heavy duty.
So I figured, OK, I'll write about the four elements: earth, air, fire or water. I picked fire because I like the (Rolling) Stones song "Play With Fire."
DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE USE OF THE DOORS' MUSIC IN A FILM?
Densmore: "Apocalypse Now" -- a world-class director, a movie about American foreign policy at the time, which was very important. It polarized the entire country. All that and they take one of our songs. It really pleased us that a great, artistic filmmaker would do that. We were real happy.
THROUGH THE YEARS THE DOORS HAVE BEEN COVERED BY HUNDREDS OF ARTISTS. DO YOU HAVE ANY FAVORITES?
Densmore: I'd say Jose Feliciano and X, because they found a new way of interpreting the songs they did. Jose made "Light My Fire" a ballad. That's very interesting. We didn't think of it that way when we wrote it. Echo & the Bunnymen just copied "People Are Strange," which is cool, we made some money, thanks. But when an artist finds a new interpretation of one of your songs, that's great. It turns your head around.
HOW WOULD YOU LIKE THE DOORS TO BE REMEMBERED?
Krieger: For the music. I think that's how we will be remembered in the long run, because all the movies, all the books and all that stuff eventually will go away, but the music will last for a long time. If you think about Count Basie or Duke Ellington, people don't really know who those guys were, but they do know the music. After 50 or 60 years, that's what's important.
By Craig Rosen
Reuters
Monday, October 30, 2006
The surviving members of the Doors will help launch a celebration of the band at their old haunts in Los Angeles tonight (Wednesday, November 8th). Robby Krieger, Ray Manzarek, and John Densmore will be at three different locations on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood for the start of the 40th anniversary celebration of the release of the band's debut album.
There's been varying levels of tension between the ex-bandmates that could have kept one or more of them away, but Densmore told he'll be there to honor the band's legacy: "Some kind of magic came into a garage in Venice in 1966 that was bigger than all of us, and that's why I will be at this thing, honoring that. 'Cause it's not us -- it's something that came through us."
Densmore will be at the Book Soup store, which used to be the Cinematheque 16 movie house. He told it's an important site in the band's history: "It's the site of where one night, Jim (Morrison) did a benefit for Norman Mailer For Mayor, or something. And so, I'm gonna read some poetry, something from American Prayer, and I'm gonna maybe back it up on a little hand drum, or something."
Jane's Addiction leader Perry Farrell is expected to join Densmore at Book Soup.
Densmore, Krieger, and Manzarek will start the night off at the Whisky A Go Go, where the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame will present the club with a plaque to mark its importance in rock history. After that, Krieger will host a listening party at the Whisky for the upcoming Doors box set; Manzarek will preview the band's upcoming Rock Hall exhibit at The Cat Club, next door to the Whisky; and Densmore will be at Book Soup. All three will also sign copies of the new book The Doors By The Doors.
The Doors celebrate 40th anniversary
WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (AP) - The Doors last played the Sunset Strip's Whisky a Go Go on Aug. 21, 1966, (No they didn't........they last played on May 21st 1967 TWSP) and lead singer Jim Morrison's rebellious, shamanistic shouts burned memories into the audience.
The group, whose sound helped define the 1960s, was fired by the famous club that night - Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore, and guitarist Robby Krieger. They never played the Whisky again ... until now.
On Wednesday night, the rock band's remaining three members - all gray-haired and in their 60s - hosted a cacophony of events on the Strip to celebrate the group's 40th anniversary, including a thunderous performance at the Whisky by Manzarek, Krieger and guest musicians. The repertoire included such Doors anthems as "L.A. Woman" and "Light My Fire."
Densmore, estranged from his former mates after a lawsuit over use of the group's name, showed up at the club, but didn't play. A judge last year issued a permanent injunction banning Krieger and Manzarek from calling themselves The Doors and using any likeness of the late Morrison to promote a renewed version of the band.
Earlier in the night, the 61-year-old Densmore expertly beat hand drums and joyfully read snippets of Morrison's darkly sexual and quasi-political poetry down the street at Book Soup. The bookstore fills the site of Morrison's old stomping ground, Cinematique 60.
All three Doors members signed copies of the newly released coffee-table book "The Doors by The Doors."
"To honor whatever creative muse came to us, gifted to us, I do these things. Ray and Robby, whether we're having a rift right now, are musical brothers. I thought if we lasted 10 years, that would be something. Forty? Really? Jeez," Densmore told The Associated Press in a recent phone interview.
Hundreds of fans, from parents toting kids to starry-eyed 21-year-olds and aging rockers, were ecstatic at meeting their idols, even without the larger-than-life presence of Morrison, who died of heart failure in 1971 at age 27 after years of hard living.
"I miss Jim as a friend. Artistically, he was a great poet," Manzarek said over the phone. "That's why we put the band together in the first place, to marry poetry and rock `n' roll, like the beatniks married poetry and jazz."
Morrison's image, of course, will forever remain that of a hip, young voice of a generation. While impossible to know how the ensuing years might have changed that, Krieger, in a phone interview, offered his thoughts.
"Jim Morrison was not the kind of guy who would get old gracefully," Krieger posited. "He would kind of be a mess. I wish he was still here, and I wish we were still making music."
Self-described No. 1 Doors fan and collector Ida Miller, stood in the VIP tent behind the Whisky watching videos of a young, lush-mouthed Morrison.
"The first time I saw Jim, I haven't been right since," said the smiling 59-year-old, who saw the group five times, starting in 1968. "I never got tired of The Doors."
Twenty-one-year-old Kevin Bloomberg would agree.
The lanky, long-haired guitarist crushed into the packed Whisky to see Krieger, who hosted a listening party earlier in the evening of the band's new "Perception" box set, due out Nov. 21.
Wearing a ripped black Doors T-shirt, which he had Krieger sign, Bloomberg gushed about meeting the slight-of-build musician.
"It's like my soul became one," he said. "My parents were into The Doors, so I got into them."
Just next to the Whisky, at the Cat Club - formerly the London Fog, where The Doors first played - a line of admirers snaked around the sidewalk to greet Manzarek, who hosted a mini-version of The Doors' Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum exhibit opening next year.
Appropriately, the night ended on musical notes.
Incense curled through the hot air as audience members sat and soaked in Densmore's spiritually minded acoustic poetry performance.
Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington and Former Jane's Addiction singer Perry Farrell joined in with parts of Morrison's "An American Prayer" and other poetry, backed by members of Farrell's new band, Satellite Party.
Later, the two singers turned up the volume at the Whisky with Krieger and Manzarek, aided by Satellite Party members and former Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash.
As a bespectacled Manzarek pounded his keyboard, Krieger jammed on his guitar.
Though neither Bennington or Farrell could rival Morrison's stage furor, and Densmore's absence was felt, the joyful attempt brought the Whisky to roars of approval - mirroring earlier words of wisdom from Manzarek.
"You play music as long as you can breathe. When you stop breathing is when you stop playing rock `n' roll. Rock `n' roll will never die. It will always be, it will always go down in history."
SOLVEJ SCHOU
Associated Press
Doors open up on band's legacy
LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - As they prepare to celebrate the 40th anniversary of their self-titled debut album, the surviving members of the Doors have been reflecting on their legacy.
The trio of keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore have collaborated with music journalist Ben Fong-Torres for "The Doors by the Doors," an oral history that will be published November 7 by Hyperion.
They also spent time in the studio with longtime engineer Bruce Botnick, as he worked on remixing the Doors' six studio albums in 5.1 surround sound for archival label Rhino Records' "Perception" boxed set, due November 21.
Billboard recently spoke with Manzarek, Krieger and Densmore in separate phone interviews about the enduring appeal of their music.
IN YOUR WILDEST DREAMS, DID YOU EVER THINK THAT PEOPLE WOULD STILL BE LISTENING TO THE SONGS THAT YOU RECORDED FOR YOUR FIRST ALBUM FOUR DECADES LATER?
Manzarek: Hardly, but on the other hand, that's not (a musician's) concern. I don't think musicians play music thinking in terms of posterity. It's just the opposite. You have to think in that individual moment in time, the Zen moment in time.
And if you capture the energy, then you do what a musician is supposed to do. If by the grace of the gods on Mount Olympus you happen to be liked 40 years from now, that's only a testament to the Doors' audience as far as I'm concerned.
Doors music is not a simple kind of music. It's like the Bauhaus. It's clean and pure. Morrison's lyrics are psychologically deep. So for people to understand Doors music is certainly a testament to their intellects.
WHAT DID YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU PLAYING THIS CRAZY ROCK'N'ROLL MUSIC AT THE TIME?
Manzarek: They loved it, and then "Light My Fire" becomes the No. 1 song in America. What's not to like? My mother had three boys of her own, Raymond, Richard and James. So Jim Morrison comes along, and I introduced him and brought him down to Redondo Beach to bum a couple of free meals off my parents. My mother loved him. That's her fourth son. She cut his hair. She used to cut our hair and gave Jim a little trim, too.
WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER ABOUT THAT FIRST DOORS GIG AT THE SUNSET STRIP CLUB THE LONDON FOG?
Densmore: I had been a professional drummer for years before that playing weddings, bar mitzvahs and bars with my fake ID. Here I was in the dumpiest f---ing bar that I'd ever seen. Jim was so nervous he wouldn't even face the audience. I thought, "I don't know if this group is going anywhere."
And then I'd go down to the Whisky and hear Love and wish I was in their band. But when I first walked into Ray's parents' garage, before I brought Robby into the band, I knew immediately that Jim Morrison had the potential for magic, but it certainly hadn't come to fruition at the London Fog. He was learning how to do it.
In the garage we were looking at the really raw ingredient. Jim had never sung, so we were looking at really raw material. But he had brilliant lyrics that made me want to immediately play drums.
Ray handed me a crumpled piece of paper and I read it, "The day destroys the night/The night divides the day/Tried to run/Tried to hide/Break on through to the other side." I read it and went, "Oh, s---. Where's my drums?"
HOW DID YOU LAND THE GIG AS THE HOUSE BAND AT THE WHISKY A GO GO?
Manzarek: The week before our final night at the London Fog, Ronnie Harran, the booker from the Whisky a Go Go, had come down and fell in love with the band. She asked us after the set, "How would you guys like to be the house band at the Whisky a Go Go?" And we went, "F---ing A. Are you kidding? Of course, we'd love to."
She said, "You'll open the show, then the headliners, then you play another set, and then the headliners. So two sets a night." We said, "How much money?" And she said, "Union scale," which was like $135 per man, per week. It was like, "Wow." We were making like $40 or $50 at the London Fog.
We were going to be the house band at the Whisky a Go Go and Jim Morrison, Mr. Cool, says to Ronnie, "We got to think about this. Why don't you come back tomorrow?" And she looked at him with these big puppy-dog eyes.
After she left, we proceeded to pummel Morrison on the arms and shoulders. "What do you mean we have to think about it?" Jim said, "Of course we're going to take the gig, but you don't want to appear too anxious."
The next week we started, and the band we played with was none other than Them -- Van Morrison and Them. And we jammed during the last set of the night. So Jim Morrison and Van Morrison were singing "Gloria" together at the Whisky a Go Go. What a night.
WHAT WERE THE INFLUENCES THAT SHAPED THE DOORS' SOUND AND WHAT DOES EACH MEMBER OF THE BAND BRING TO THE TABLE?
Densmore: Ray grew up in Chicago so he had the blues, Muddy Waters and all that. He also had classical training. That was pretty cool. That was invoked in the intro to "Light My Fire," which was very kind of Bach-like. Robby had a flamenco and folk music background. I was so enamored with watching Robby's fingers crawl across the flamenco guitar strings like a crab.
I'm a jazz guy and Ray was also into jazz, so when we met we talked about (John) Coltrane and Miles (Davis). I think that influence gave me freedom. Like in "When the Music's Over," I just stopped playing the beat, and I would just comment on Jim's words percussively, out of rhythm, like we were having a conversation. I got that from listening to Elvin Jones and John Coltrane.
And then there was Jim, Mr. Literary, who had read every book on the planet, but didn't know anything about music and how to write songs and trusted us. Therefore, we were a total democracy.
We shared everything -- writing credits, veto power. Jim had melodies as well as words. He didn't know how to play a chord on any instrument, but he had melodies in his head. To remember the lyrics he would think of melodies and then they would stay in his head. He had melodies and lyrics in his head, and he would sing them a cappella, and we would eke out the arrangements.
WHAT IS IT ABOUT THE DOORS' MUSIC THAT MAKES IT SO SEEMINGLY TIMELESS?
Krieger: The Doors were just ahead of their time. It seems like what we were playing back then, the blues and stuff like that that we were into, were starting to catch on 10 years later. Because we were ahead of our time in our heyday, we weren't really that huge.
I don't think a lot of people really understood what the hell we were doing until later. Maybe just now people are waking up to the Doors' music.
WHAT IN YOUR MIND IS THE ESSENTIAL DOORS ALBUM?
Densmore: The first one had all the hits, but was poorly recorded. There were only four tracks. The second one was one of my faves because we got relaxed in the studio. We had fun experimenting.
The fourth and fifth (albums), we tried strings and horns. Those are good, the critics hated them, but I don't care. They were (both hit albums).
The last one, "L.A. Woman," gets back to who we really are. We got back to the essence. We produced it ourselves with Bruce Botnick and only did two takes on everything. F--- the mistakes, like Miles (Davis). I said that to Ray when we were recording, "Let's just go for the feeling and raw emotion."
WHAT INSPIRED "LIGHT MY FIRE?"
Krieger: At that point, Jim was writing the songs. I'd written maybe a couple before that but nothing too serious. One day Jim mentioned that we didn't have enough songs, so he said, "Why don't you guys try and write some songs."
So I went home and wrote "Light My Fire." It was the first song I wrote for the Doors. Jim came up with the second verse about the funeral pyre. Ray did the baroque intro and John came up with the kind of Latin drum beat.
When we would play "Light My Fire" for the live audience, everybody loved it, so we knew it was a special song. I knew if it was going to compete with Jim's stuff, it had to be pretty heavy duty.
So I figured, OK, I'll write about the four elements: earth, air, fire or water. I picked fire because I like the (Rolling) Stones song "Play With Fire."
DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE USE OF THE DOORS' MUSIC IN A FILM?
Densmore: "Apocalypse Now" -- a world-class director, a movie about American foreign policy at the time, which was very important. It polarized the entire country. All that and they take one of our songs. It really pleased us that a great, artistic filmmaker would do that. We were real happy.
THROUGH THE YEARS THE DOORS HAVE BEEN COVERED BY HUNDREDS OF ARTISTS. DO YOU HAVE ANY FAVORITES?
Densmore: I'd say Jose Feliciano and X, because they found a new way of interpreting the songs they did. Jose made "Light My Fire" a ballad. That's very interesting. We didn't think of it that way when we wrote it. Echo & the Bunnymen just copied "People Are Strange," which is cool, we made some money, thanks. But when an artist finds a new interpretation of one of your songs, that's great. It turns your head around.
HOW WOULD YOU LIKE THE DOORS TO BE REMEMBERED?
Krieger: For the music. I think that's how we will be remembered in the long run, because all the movies, all the books and all that stuff eventually will go away, but the music will last for a long time. If you think about Count Basie or Duke Ellington, people don't really know who those guys were, but they do know the music. After 50 or 60 years, that's what's important.
By Craig Rosen
Reuters
Monday, October 30, 2006
The surviving members of the Doors will help launch a celebration of the band at their old haunts in Los Angeles tonight (Wednesday, November 8th). Robby Krieger, Ray Manzarek, and John Densmore will be at three different locations on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood for the start of the 40th anniversary celebration of the release of the band's debut album.
There's been varying levels of tension between the ex-bandmates that could have kept one or more of them away, but Densmore told he'll be there to honor the band's legacy: "Some kind of magic came into a garage in Venice in 1966 that was bigger than all of us, and that's why I will be at this thing, honoring that. 'Cause it's not us -- it's something that came through us."
Densmore will be at the Book Soup store, which used to be the Cinematheque 16 movie house. He told it's an important site in the band's history: "It's the site of where one night, Jim (Morrison) did a benefit for Norman Mailer For Mayor, or something. And so, I'm gonna read some poetry, something from American Prayer, and I'm gonna maybe back it up on a little hand drum, or something."
Jane's Addiction leader Perry Farrell is expected to join Densmore at Book Soup.
Densmore, Krieger, and Manzarek will start the night off at the Whisky A Go Go, where the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame will present the club with a plaque to mark its importance in rock history. After that, Krieger will host a listening party at the Whisky for the upcoming Doors box set; Manzarek will preview the band's upcoming Rock Hall exhibit at The Cat Club, next door to the Whisky; and Densmore will be at Book Soup. All three will also sign copies of the new book The Doors By The Doors.
The Doors celebrate 40th anniversary
WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (AP) - The Doors last played the Sunset Strip's Whisky a Go Go on Aug. 21, 1966, (No they didn't........they last played on May 21st 1967 TWSP) and lead singer Jim Morrison's rebellious, shamanistic shouts burned memories into the audience.
The group, whose sound helped define the 1960s, was fired by the famous club that night - Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore, and guitarist Robby Krieger. They never played the Whisky again ... until now.
On Wednesday night, the rock band's remaining three members - all gray-haired and in their 60s - hosted a cacophony of events on the Strip to celebrate the group's 40th anniversary, including a thunderous performance at the Whisky by Manzarek, Krieger and guest musicians. The repertoire included such Doors anthems as "L.A. Woman" and "Light My Fire."
Densmore, estranged from his former mates after a lawsuit over use of the group's name, showed up at the club, but didn't play. A judge last year issued a permanent injunction banning Krieger and Manzarek from calling themselves The Doors and using any likeness of the late Morrison to promote a renewed version of the band.
Earlier in the night, the 61-year-old Densmore expertly beat hand drums and joyfully read snippets of Morrison's darkly sexual and quasi-political poetry down the street at Book Soup. The bookstore fills the site of Morrison's old stomping ground, Cinematique 60.
All three Doors members signed copies of the newly released coffee-table book "The Doors by The Doors."
"To honor whatever creative muse came to us, gifted to us, I do these things. Ray and Robby, whether we're having a rift right now, are musical brothers. I thought if we lasted 10 years, that would be something. Forty? Really? Jeez," Densmore told The Associated Press in a recent phone interview.
Hundreds of fans, from parents toting kids to starry-eyed 21-year-olds and aging rockers, were ecstatic at meeting their idols, even without the larger-than-life presence of Morrison, who died of heart failure in 1971 at age 27 after years of hard living.
"I miss Jim as a friend. Artistically, he was a great poet," Manzarek said over the phone. "That's why we put the band together in the first place, to marry poetry and rock `n' roll, like the beatniks married poetry and jazz."
Morrison's image, of course, will forever remain that of a hip, young voice of a generation. While impossible to know how the ensuing years might have changed that, Krieger, in a phone interview, offered his thoughts.
"Jim Morrison was not the kind of guy who would get old gracefully," Krieger posited. "He would kind of be a mess. I wish he was still here, and I wish we were still making music."
Self-described No. 1 Doors fan and collector Ida Miller, stood in the VIP tent behind the Whisky watching videos of a young, lush-mouthed Morrison.
"The first time I saw Jim, I haven't been right since," said the smiling 59-year-old, who saw the group five times, starting in 1968. "I never got tired of The Doors."
Twenty-one-year-old Kevin Bloomberg would agree.
The lanky, long-haired guitarist crushed into the packed Whisky to see Krieger, who hosted a listening party earlier in the evening of the band's new "Perception" box set, due out Nov. 21.
Wearing a ripped black Doors T-shirt, which he had Krieger sign, Bloomberg gushed about meeting the slight-of-build musician.
"It's like my soul became one," he said. "My parents were into The Doors, so I got into them."
Just next to the Whisky, at the Cat Club - formerly the London Fog, where The Doors first played - a line of admirers snaked around the sidewalk to greet Manzarek, who hosted a mini-version of The Doors' Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum exhibit opening next year.
Appropriately, the night ended on musical notes.
Incense curled through the hot air as audience members sat and soaked in Densmore's spiritually minded acoustic poetry performance.
Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington and Former Jane's Addiction singer Perry Farrell joined in with parts of Morrison's "An American Prayer" and other poetry, backed by members of Farrell's new band, Satellite Party.
Later, the two singers turned up the volume at the Whisky with Krieger and Manzarek, aided by Satellite Party members and former Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash.
As a bespectacled Manzarek pounded his keyboard, Krieger jammed on his guitar.
Though neither Bennington or Farrell could rival Morrison's stage furor, and Densmore's absence was felt, the joyful attempt brought the Whisky to roars of approval - mirroring earlier words of wisdom from Manzarek.
"You play music as long as you can breathe. When you stop breathing is when you stop playing rock `n' roll. Rock `n' roll will never die. It will always be, it will always go down in history."
SOLVEJ SCHOU
Associated Press
