Ray 'When Hippies Ruled The World' BBC Chat

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Ray took part in the BBC documentary 'When Hippies Ruled The World' which was broadcast on Wednesday April 10th and an on-line chat session that was directly after the programme.
The Doors bit was dull and uninformed.
Ray gave us a bit of insight into the Roundhouse gig but most of his contribution was his usual speil.
BBC had not a clue about the band as Kathy Burke the alleged comedienne told us Jim had been arrested on stage for indecent exposure and a succession of idiots were paraded to criticise Morrison for his lyrical banality using Light My Fire as thier example.
What follows is the transcript of Ray's chat....
BTW The Alex is not ME as I could not log on with my crap 56k and I would not have asked such a banal question......I would have asked how Ray could participate in this after his mate Jim had been so cruelly ridiculed by a bunch of talentless nobodies?

Host: Welcome to the chat tonight with Ray Manzarek.

Question from Janine: How do you remember the 60's? When you reflect,
what feelings do you get?

Ray Manzarek: Janine, I remember the 60's with great love and affection. It was a magical time that I hope can come again sometime
in the 21st century.

Question from Dave Thompson: What was it like working with Jim in the Doors?

Ray Manzarek: It was profound. Incredible. Thrilling. Dionysian, and quite psychedelic.

Question from Egdif: If you could do the whole thing again (The Doors) would you do it differently?

Ray Manzarek: Egdif, I would keep Jim Morrison alive. Other than that, I would do everything exactly the same.

Question from Brian: Ray, how close was the film in terms of truth (the movie about the Doors)?

Ray Manzarek: Not very - Jim Morrison was not a jerk. He was not a drunken druggie, as the film portrayed him. He was an intellectual, an artist, a poet, and very spiritual. However, Brian, the movie was
very exciting. The music was terrific. The rock and roll scenes were terrific. Val Kilmer did a very good job as Jim - it's just that Oliver Stone didn't really understand Jim. It's a white powder movie about a psychedelic band, and the two have no relationship to each
other - if you get what I mean.

Question from Micksten: Do you believe that there is any bands out there at the moment that can be compared to The Doors?

Ray Manzarek: Well, many bands are influenced by the doors, and I think that U2 has a Doors influence, but I wouldn't compare them to
the Doors. I really haven't heard any bands that I would compare to the Doors, Micksten. After all, the Doors combined blues, classical, jug band, jazz and good old rock & roll, along with a beatnik French
symbolist poet, into their own music.

Question from Billy: Ray... what direction do you think the Doors' music would have went had the Doors been still performing into the 70s?

Ray Manzarek: I think our music would have taken the direction of the Doors album, An American Prayer, Billy. That's the album with Jim's poetry on it, but by now we would be doing electronica, trip-hop, acid jazz, with lyrics.

Question from Paul: What is/was your favourite track?

Ray Manzarek: Paul, 'Light My Fire'. It was the most fun to play live, because we had long, improvisational sections, and we could really stretch out. 'Light my Fire' is also the name of my autobiography, my book about the Doors. I think you might enjoy it.

Question from Jim: What artists and bands where the Doors influenced by... if any?

Ray Manzarek: Jim, the Doors were influenced by Muddy Waters, Jon Lee Hooker, and other Chicago blues cats, along with John Coltrane, Miles
Davis and Bill Evans as a jazz influence. Eygore Stravinsky and Claude Debussy were classical influences, Jim, and then the Beatles
and the Rolling Stones as English rock influences, and of course, Elvis Presley, Little Richard and Chuck Berry.

Question from Alex: What was recording LA Woman with Jerry Scheff and Marc Benno like, I heard you guys recorded live?

Ray Manzarek: Yes, Alex, LA Woman is virtually a live recording, with everyone playing at the same time, and Jim in the bathroom as his isolation/singing booth. We recorded the album at our rehearsal place
on the corner of La Cienga and Santa Monica. It was an incredible experience. The energy in our small rehearsal room was overflowing and manic. What a great two weeks we had. As you know, Jerry Scheff
went on to play with Elvis Presley. All the footage you can see of Elvis Presley in Las Vegas has Jerry Scheff on bass.

Question from Glen: Do you think the Doors would have been such a cult group if Jim had lived? Has his death at such a young age and under tragic circumstances immortalised the group?

Ray Manzarek: Yes, Glen. However, I would much rather have Jim alive than be an immortal group. Life is always better than death - or so we think, until, perhaps, we find out just the opposite when we are in fact dead!

Question from Peter: Ray, what do you think about tribute bands such as The LA Doors and have you every seen them live?

Ray Manzarek: Peter, I like tribute bands. I don't see any thing wrong with them at all. God bless them - one and all.

Question from Tom: Is it true that Jim once lived on the roof of a Santa Monica house when he couldn't afford a room?

Ray Manzarek: Yes that is true. He slept on Dennis Jakob's rooftop, on the fourth floor of an apartment building on Venice Beach in California. But you must realise, the weather was delightful, and
rather than sleep in the same apartment with Dennis, a UCLA madman filmmaker, Jim chose to sleep on the roof. It was quite delightful.
That's when he came down from the rooftop, Tom, walked along the beach in Venice, and met me in the Ocean Park area on the beach, and
we formed the Doors that very day.

Question from mistery_train: Can we ever expect to get to hear live versions of the following songs: Riders On the Storm, Strange Days and Waiting For the Sun?

Ray Manzarek: You might hear those songs performed by the Doors, mistery_train, with perhaps a different lead singer or two, sometime in the near future. If all goes well, we will play together again,
and of course, we'll come to England.

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Question from Chris: Ray, Jim wrote a poem in memorial to Brian Jones after he died in 69', did the Doors ever meet Brian or the other
Stones?

Ray Manzarek: Chris, I made eye contact with Brian Jones as we were driving in opposite directions in cars in Los Angeles. I recognised him and he recognised me, and he seemed like a very good human being.
Chris, we waved briefly, and passed, like two ships in the night, and I never saw him again. More's the pity. We met the other Stones when they came to our performance at the Hollywood Bowl. Nice chaps.

Question from thegoondocks: When were Jim's vocals recorded for American prayer?? On Jim's last birthday or are they 'the lost Paris tapes'?

Ray Manzarek: The lost Paris tapes are drunken gibberish. If you haven't heard them, you're missing nothing. They have nothing to do with Jim's poetry. An American Prayer was recorded on his last birthday on planet earth in Los Angeles.

Question from Katie: What music do you listen to now?

Ray Manzarek: Katie, I listen to electronica, and I'm in composition with a great composer/trumpeter named Bal. We will have an acid jazz, trip-hop, electronica, trance record finished sometime this summer.
It will be called 'RayBal'. As a matter of fact, Katie, I'm sitting here with Bal right now, and we are working on a jazz version of an old Duke Ellington song, and we call it 'Caravan-Indica'. As soon as
I finish talking to all you guys, we're going to get back to work, tripping out here in Los Angeles!

Question from Sunflower: *on hands and knees begging now*... Will there be a tour? I need to start saving so I can go... please?

Ray Manzarek: Dear Sunflower, I hope there will be a tour, so start saving, and if the fates are with us, if the three sisters allow it, we will be in England sometime within the next 12-14 months.

Question from Ian K: What do u think about the graffiti on Jim's grave. Is it disrespectful?

Ray Manzarek: Well, Ian_K, what can you do? People want to remember Jim and leave a little message for him. I really wish they wouldn't,
but how can you stop them? At least they're not chipping away pieces of Jim's gravestone, like they did his first bust that was on the grave originally. My God, Ian_K, they whacked the nose off first,
just like the Sphinx, and then they proceeded to obliterate all human features. It was a beautiful likeness of Jim, and then it was reduced to a featureless blob. It was hideous. Now at least they only write. But I really wish you wouldn't when you go to Jim's grave. Pour a little good French wine on his grave - he would prefer that.

Question from Rich: I'm 16 and a great fan of the Doors. Do you think that ur music will b listened 2 in another 50 years?

Ray Manzarek: Well, who knows? As long as you're enjoying it, Rich, that's what's important to me - the here and now, and the possibilities that we might even change the world! That's what's really important, Rich, that's what we have to do. We have to save
the planet, and we have to, as we said in the sixties, make love, not
war.

Question from Claire: what really happened between Janis Joplin and Jim?

Ray Manzarek: That's all gossip, Claire!

Question from Jenny: There must have been tears and laughter during your time with the Doors. Can you give me an example of a time of
tears and a time of laughter?

Ray Manzarek: Tears when Jim died, but also tears of delight when the band locked in on stage at Madison Square Garden, and 20,000 people
became one with the universe, hearts beating madly in time together. That was what a Doors concert was all about. And laughter, Jenny, was almost a daily occurrence with Jim, unlike the Doors Movie, in which
no-one ever laughed, we laughed all the time - after all, we were potheads, and potheads love to laugh!

Question from Milly: Were drinks and drugs an accepted part of the whole culture at that time? How did you feel about it? Was it difficult to not be involved with?

Ray Manzarek: We took substances to expand consciousness. Drugs closed down consciousness. You will never see God on heroin. And drink has always been around. If you do drink, Milly, do it in
moderation. Have a cocktail, a glass of scotch, a glass of wine, enjoy yourselves, but don't kill yourself. Be very careful.

Question from Zastauk: Ray - what is your treasured souvenir from those days?

Ray Manzarek: I have two. One is the original Doors demo, and the other is Jim Morrison's dictionary. What could be more important to a poet than his dictionary? And it's from our UCLA student days, and
the demo record is the actual acetate that we cut with my two brothers, Rick and Jim, on guitar and harmonica. It's a great treasure to me.

Question from Casper: Ray, how did you feel about your ( and the rest of the band's) portrayal in the book "wonderland avenue" by Danny
Sugarman? And do you still keep in contact with Danny?

Ray Manzarek: Casper, I hope you've read my book about the Doors - Light my Fire, my Life with the Doors. I liked No-one Here Gets Out
Alive also, and yes, I see Danny quite often. He is now the manager of the Doors.

Host: Here are some final words from Ray:

Ray Manzarek: My dear friends, thank you so much for your questions. I'm going back to composing now. It's five o'clock in the afternoon in Los Angeles, and it's a sunny day. It's good to be alive, and Jim
thanks you so much for being his fans. On behalf of the doors, John, Robbie, and myself, Ray, we wish you love, harmony, peace and
enlightenment. God loves you, and you are God. Thank you so much, my friends, goodnight.

www.bbc.co.uk/