Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Dec 22, 2004 17:25:25 GMT
A STATEMENT FROM JOHN DENSMORE – MAY 4, 1999
I have decided that enough time has elapsed, so that by now, speaking out about Ray's book will not cause too much of a stir, and sell any
copies for him. For those who are interested, the record needs to be set straight.
Ray went to film school, and had dreams of directing The Doors movie, which didn't come to pass. Because of this, he hates Oliver Stone and the film he made. Oliver liked my book, Riders On The Storm, and wrote on the back of it, therefore Ray resents me.
A band is like a family, and like families The Doors were frequently dysfunctional. Our lead singer, Jim Morrison, who we all loved and admired greatly, was an alcoholic and drug abuser. Because of the times, and our own insecurities, we failed as a group and his friend
to adequately confront Jim about his self-destructive behavior. Also, like any family, various members have different memories about what
occurred. Robby Krieger wrote on the back of my book that "this is the real story." What is so disturbing about Ray's book is that his revisionist version of history focuses on me in a total negative
light: someone with no humor, who is complaining about Jim all the time.
I couldn't survive in this world without a major dose of humor (and Ray knows this). According to Ray, I'm dumb, homophobic, too unsophisticated for New York, hated by Jim, who says "fuck you" to me
not once, but twice in one conversation. Jim never said "fuck you" to me.
While writing this book, Ray was battling with stomach ulcers, which he blamed on me. I, like Ray and Robby, am enormously proud of what
we did together musically. However, going along as if everything is OK, when someone close (Jim) is destroying himself, is called enabling....and denial. I feel that Ray's antipathy towards me is a result
of his unwillingness to confront that dark side and instead make me the focal point for his unhappiness.
On to the specific inaccuracies:
1. The book sleeve says that Ray and Jim were friends and rarely
apart until Jim left for Paris. If one checks page 69 from Riders,
when Jim trashed Ray's house, or a few pages later when Manzarek
told
Jim to get a haircut, you can see that very early on Jim got fed up
with Ray's fathering, and cut the umbilical cord once and for
all. He
resented Ray staying home with his wife Dorothy, while the three of
us looked for gigs.
2. Ray knows very well that I didn't call Jim in Paris, whinning
about him to please
come back. Jim didn't tell me to cool down, and then hangs up on
me.
He called me (I wonder why Jim's last call to any band member was
to
me and not Manzarek?). You can read the exact text from the phone
call on page 6 of my book. By that time, I knew Jim was an
uncontrollable alcoholic who couldn't be turned around and I
didn't
want him to come back. Ray was not privy to that conversation and his
version is totally made up. They don't match. It is fiction, like
many other stories in his book.
3. The whisper vocal on "Riders On The Storm" was Bruce
Botnick's (the
producer/engineer) and my idea, not Manzarek's. If one had to
choose
who was second to Jim in musical importance, it would clearly be
Robby Krieger who penned such songs as "Light My Fire,"
"Touch
Me," "Love Me Two Times," "Love Her Madly," etc.
As Teresa Cubbins
from the Dallas Morning News said, "Manzarek overplays his own
talents and contributions in his memoir. It leaves you questioning
the very thing Mr Manzarek goes to such great lengths to establish:
just how much of a hand he really had in the greatness that was The
Doors."
4. Ray is correct that sometimes I couldn't look in Jim's
eyes,
but it was because I
saw something that Ray couldn't see: Jim's premature death. I
begged
Ray for us to get off the road for years, until finally he agreed in
New Orleans. Maybe, just maybe, if he'd listened to me, and
stopped
pushing for MORE, Jim might still be alive.
As Gore Vidal said recently in a letter to the Los Angeles Times,
modern day biographers have little respect for the truth. They say
what they want to say and then put it in any characters mouth. Any
character will do. I don't see much difference between "the
fascist
Oliver Stone" (as Manzarek calls him), and The Doors keyboard
player,
when Ray twists the facts and lies to pump up his own pride.
What is so painful to me is that when I finished my book, I asked all
the principal characters to read it before it was published, making
sure I was as close to the truth as possible. After Ray read my
galleys, I changed some things at his request to protect his two
brothers.
Ray refused to show his book to me, Robby, or any of the main people
he wrote about before it came out. I didn't hear when Ray said,
"bend
over…." because he never said it.
I have decided that enough time has elapsed, so that by now, speaking out about Ray's book will not cause too much of a stir, and sell any
copies for him. For those who are interested, the record needs to be set straight.
Ray went to film school, and had dreams of directing The Doors movie, which didn't come to pass. Because of this, he hates Oliver Stone and the film he made. Oliver liked my book, Riders On The Storm, and wrote on the back of it, therefore Ray resents me.
A band is like a family, and like families The Doors were frequently dysfunctional. Our lead singer, Jim Morrison, who we all loved and admired greatly, was an alcoholic and drug abuser. Because of the times, and our own insecurities, we failed as a group and his friend
to adequately confront Jim about his self-destructive behavior. Also, like any family, various members have different memories about what
occurred. Robby Krieger wrote on the back of my book that "this is the real story." What is so disturbing about Ray's book is that his revisionist version of history focuses on me in a total negative
light: someone with no humor, who is complaining about Jim all the time.
I couldn't survive in this world without a major dose of humor (and Ray knows this). According to Ray, I'm dumb, homophobic, too unsophisticated for New York, hated by Jim, who says "fuck you" to me
not once, but twice in one conversation. Jim never said "fuck you" to me.
While writing this book, Ray was battling with stomach ulcers, which he blamed on me. I, like Ray and Robby, am enormously proud of what
we did together musically. However, going along as if everything is OK, when someone close (Jim) is destroying himself, is called enabling....and denial. I feel that Ray's antipathy towards me is a result
of his unwillingness to confront that dark side and instead make me the focal point for his unhappiness.
On to the specific inaccuracies:
1. The book sleeve says that Ray and Jim were friends and rarely
apart until Jim left for Paris. If one checks page 69 from Riders,
when Jim trashed Ray's house, or a few pages later when Manzarek
told
Jim to get a haircut, you can see that very early on Jim got fed up
with Ray's fathering, and cut the umbilical cord once and for
all. He
resented Ray staying home with his wife Dorothy, while the three of
us looked for gigs.
2. Ray knows very well that I didn't call Jim in Paris, whinning
about him to please
come back. Jim didn't tell me to cool down, and then hangs up on
me.
He called me (I wonder why Jim's last call to any band member was
to
me and not Manzarek?). You can read the exact text from the phone
call on page 6 of my book. By that time, I knew Jim was an
uncontrollable alcoholic who couldn't be turned around and I
didn't
want him to come back. Ray was not privy to that conversation and his
version is totally made up. They don't match. It is fiction, like
many other stories in his book.
3. The whisper vocal on "Riders On The Storm" was Bruce
Botnick's (the
producer/engineer) and my idea, not Manzarek's. If one had to
choose
who was second to Jim in musical importance, it would clearly be
Robby Krieger who penned such songs as "Light My Fire,"
"Touch
Me," "Love Me Two Times," "Love Her Madly," etc.
As Teresa Cubbins
from the Dallas Morning News said, "Manzarek overplays his own
talents and contributions in his memoir. It leaves you questioning
the very thing Mr Manzarek goes to such great lengths to establish:
just how much of a hand he really had in the greatness that was The
Doors."
4. Ray is correct that sometimes I couldn't look in Jim's
eyes,
but it was because I
saw something that Ray couldn't see: Jim's premature death. I
begged
Ray for us to get off the road for years, until finally he agreed in
New Orleans. Maybe, just maybe, if he'd listened to me, and
stopped
pushing for MORE, Jim might still be alive.
As Gore Vidal said recently in a letter to the Los Angeles Times,
modern day biographers have little respect for the truth. They say
what they want to say and then put it in any characters mouth. Any
character will do. I don't see much difference between "the
fascist
Oliver Stone" (as Manzarek calls him), and The Doors keyboard
player,
when Ray twists the facts and lies to pump up his own pride.
What is so painful to me is that when I finished my book, I asked all
the principal characters to read it before it was published, making
sure I was as close to the truth as possible. After Ray read my
galleys, I changed some things at his request to protect his two
brothers.
Ray refused to show his book to me, Robby, or any of the main people
he wrote about before it came out. I didn't hear when Ray said,
"bend
over…." because he never said it.
