John's Acting

[ensenada]

I read in JD's book that he later took some acting lessons...and performed in from of the likes of jeff goldbloom in the 70's. does anyone know what became of this acting?

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

I think it had a similar fate as Ray's film-making......
dissapeared up its own arce....

He had a couple of TV spots in US sit coms...some as himself some as characters in the show.
He was in Stones movie and two useless teen movies and thats about it really.

He did some stage work which was better recieved with his one man play 'Skins' and also played jazz drummer Dave Tough on stage. He also did his Riders On The Storm shows where he read excerpts from his book and played percussion.

Hardly a greeat success but at least he tried something new...so he deserves praise for that at least.

Some TV Slots JD appeared in.......
Square Pegs as Himself
Beverly Hills, 90210 as Ben
Coach as Chuck
Sledge Hammer! as Janitor

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

"John Densmore made his departure from the world of rock and roll in the eighties, to the world of dance as he performed with Bess Snyder and Co., touring the United States for two years. In 1984, at La Mama Theatre in New York, he had his stage acting debut in Skins a one act play he wrote. In 1985, he went on to win the LA Weekly Theatre Award for music with Methusalem, directed by Tim Robbins. The play, Rounds, which he co-produced, won the NAACP award for theatre in 1987.
In 1988, he played a feature role in Bad Dreams and Bebop at the Gene Dynarski Theatre. He developed and performed a one man piece from the short story, The King of Jazz, at the Wallenboyd Theatre in 1989.
With Adam Ant, he co-produced Be BOP A Lula at Theatre Theatre in 1992.
He has acted in numerous TV shows and his film credits include: Get Crazy with Malcolm McDowell, Dudes directed by Penelope Spheres, and most recently The Doors directed by Oliver Stone."
from Net bio....




...no, this is not Dave Tough
- it's John Densmore
...but the resemblance is intentional. For an L.A. production of a play entitled "Bad Dreams and Bebop" former Doors drummer John Densmore was recruited to portray the legendary Dave Tough.
From Drummerworld


The REAL Dave Tough.

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

"Drummer John Densmore, like Manzarek, has stayed in close touch with the current music scene, performing at local clubs with the likes of Fear's Derf Scratch in a group called The Modifiers, and he also has some reflections on the similarities and differences between the hippies and the punks. He says, "In the early days, what we stood for is just like the punks - you know, earrings and shave your head, shock, confront. Well, long hair was that. They [society at large] thought we were all gay. The '60s did feel like we could change things, and on the surface it didn't happen, but I hope that a few things did seep through. There was a feeling of hope in the '60s, and if you missed that, then it's sort of bleak. But I think that the punk movement is a reaction to the hippie movement, which started out good and then got too drugged out. A lot of people died and a lot of people got into, 'Well, let's smoke a joint and not confront our problems;' and the punk thing is real confrontive."

While Densmore has continued to dabble in music, his main creative focus sine 1977, when he enrolled in an acting class, has been performing for the theater. So far his strongest roles have been in Sam Shepard's Tongues and in a play which Densmore wrote for himself, Skins. Densmore admits that he gets "more butterflies acting in front of a dozen people than performing at Madison Square Garden with The Doors." But he also goes on to explain: "There's something I learned from The Doors about sensing where the audience was at. Like, sometimes I'd suggest playing a different song in the middle of a set. I could always sense where it would be good to go. It's like a sixth sense."

Along with his theater exploits, Densmore has begun writing a book about The Doors. He is writing it because he feels that there are many things that should be set straight. Densmore explains: "The book is going to be my view of what a lot of it meant. No One Gets Out of Here Alive is fairly factual, but it's not the inside - it's a reporter's kind of view. I'm gonna deglamorize self-destruction. You know, Jim had to go to the bathroom, too! This guy wrote, 'People are strange when you're alone.' This guy walked the ledge of the 9000 building, binge after binge. Well, when did he do all of this writing? He did it the next morning, and that's not in Sugerman's book. All his best vocals were always the day after. In the daytime, when he was straight. So, you can't just drink and wear leather pants."

Densmore is also heavily involved with the feature movie on The Doors, which is currently in the works. As with other Doors projects, the three bandmates are trying to hang onto as much control as possible, including directory and script approval. About the movie, Densmore says, "It'll only be a part of the truth, and hopefully my book will fill out another side - just a real good movie capturing several of the mythical turning points that meant something."

by Jeff Goldman
From JoyZine Australia