"Do You Remember When We Were In Africa?"

[Steely_Dan]

[AllenVanAllen]

1. wild child full of grace

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSnQa1rE3xY

[Orsino]

2. "That was awesome."

[Steely_Dan]

3. Glad To See...

that someone recognized the line from "Wild Child."

I saw the movie "The Doors" the other night. I didn't realize that on previous viewings of the movie that I was seeing an edited version. This version was unedited. It made me go on a "Internet safari" reading and watching Doors videos and interviews. I had forgotten about the Doors. I was around 12 when they were big...I liked their music back then, but I never "knew" them...I didn't understand them. Maybe I still don't.

All I know is that I rediscovered them in a way I never thought possible. I can now understand the enduring attraction of this group.

Who were these people? More importantly, who was this Jim Morrison? How does one even begin to define their music? I have no idea. Was it Rock 'n Roll? Was it something else. Was it something strange and wonderful that we will not see again?

Was Jim a tortured poet or an uncontrolled party animal? I'm sure that the movie has some inaccuracies. For example. By all accounts, when Jim wasn't drinking or doing drugs, he was said to be one of the most gentle souls out there. He was a kind and giving man who had immense compassion for others. Of course, when he drank, he was the complete opposite.

Their music was unlike anything that had come around and there hasn't been anything like it since.

I don't want to make Jim Morrison larger in death than he was in life. However, I think that he was a special man that defies explanation. He was above all, an artist. An artist that seemed to exist on a different plane. It is good to know that some are discovering him for the first time. Another generation who will carry on the mystery that was Jim Morrison and the Doors.

-P

[abq e streeter]

4. That whole album is very underrated

I recently read Ray Manzarek's autobiography (of both himself and of course, The Doors--its called, what else: Light My Fire)), and its definitely worth reading if you, like myself, are fascinated by The Doors. By the way, he HATED the movie and hates Stone himself; talks about that in the book; I mean just hates him...Seems like yes is the answer to all your questions . R&R? yes Something else? yes...Poet, yes, party animal? yes etc ( a flat out psychotic as far as I can determine). He was the great shaman of rock n roll ( and/or something else--but it was rock, and there was always blues there too; songs by Willie Dixon, John Lee Hooker..) and no, I'm not sure there'll ever be anyone like him again. On edit.....just thought of a couple of anecdotes that illustrate the paradox of the sensitive, intelligent Jim, and the drunken lout Manzarek calls Jimbo...I have a tape of an obviously thoroughly wasted Morrison getting up on stage with Hendrix and not even singing, but just repeatedly slurring a "suggestion of a sexual activity" that , well, explains why he recorded I'm a Back Door Man... and yet on the other hand, Jim had a high school teacher that referred to him as the most well read student he had EVER taught. Ever... Manzarek talks about his literary sensibility too, in an anecdote about how as a college student, Jim had a wall full of books and challenged people to grab one randomly, open to any page, read a couple of sentences and he could tell you what book it was. Jim lived here in Albuquerque a couple of times ;his dad, who eventually became an Admiral, was stationed here twice, and Jim went to middle school here. I live not far from where the Morrisons lived and I don't think I've ever passed that house on Candalaria Blvd without thinking about what Jim must have been like as a middle schooler ( which he was when they lived here in the mid-50's). No doubt that strict military family upbringing had a lot to do with him going so crazy when he got out on his own, in fact, I remember him talking about that in an interview; something along the lines of "imagine an arrow being pulled back for 20 years and then suddenly being let go").

[Steely_Dan]

5. Great Post...

I found your post fascinating. I will be moving to Roswell (of all places) to work at my old military school there. I will probably have an opportunity to visit Albuquerque over the next several years. I would love an opportunity to see where Jim lived and went to school.

I suppose that Ray had a love/hate relationship with Jim. Perhaps they all did to some degree. I imagine that having to deal with someone like Jim could be frustrating as well as inspiring. It's interesting that Ray hated the film. I wonder specifically what it was about the film (and Stone) that he so disliked. I guess I should get the book and find out.

I'm amazed how Jim Morrison still has that certain appeal even today. I think he appeals to much of the youth in the same way that Kurt Cobain has. Of course, in death, we tend to make more of someone than they were in life.

Yes...now that I think about it, there is a lot of R&B to the Doors music. However, they were able to throw in such odd and seemingly "stream of consciousness" parts to their music that it gave it a sound that always seemed on the cutting edge (for what they were doing).

I'm in disagreement with most die-hard Doors fans that "The Soft Parade" was sort of a sell-out. Some of their most interesting music is on that album. They didn't seem limited by convention or the need to fulfill some tried and true formula. Their formula was to have no formula. Somehow it worked.

-P

[abq e streeter]

12. I think you'll enjoy Manzarek's book--very well-written; Manzarek was also literate and well-read

and it definitely shows in his book. And he did love Jim like a brother, but was, understandably, pretty frustrated with Jimbo........ROSWELL? Oh you,poor poor man--nah, just kidding ( sort of)..... NMMI , huh? feel free to PM me if you ever get up to Albq. Not sure which school Morrison went to; there weren't that many in '55; may have been Monroe, which is a satellite( no pun intended with you being Roswell bound) APS office building now, but I can point out the house........... With you having said you were about 12 when the Doors were in existence ( amazing to look back and realize how brief a time it was), I guess I'm just a little older...Never saw them either; the only time I remember them coming to Chicago , where I grew up ( as did Manzarek--and wanna feel old? Manzarek turned SEVENTY this February) , they played in a place that was so crappy , and in an equally crappy neighborhood, that I wasn't all that upset when my dad wouldn't let me go. Seems to me Manzarek came here ( Albq) with Michael McClure several years ago, and I have no idea as to why I was stupid enough to not go; may have had a gig though; missed many shows over the years when I was playing a lot. Best of luck with your new gig in Roswell; after California it'll probably feel pretty alien ( I knew I wasn't going to be able to resist that).

[Steely_Dan]

13. NMMI INdeed

I have about ten more years left in my Student Affairs career and I would like to go back to where I graduated to give something back. You know, in the five years I was a student at NMMI, never once did I hear anyone mention a single word about UFOs. Now, you can't mention Roswell without thinking about it. There was a time when NMMI was just about the only thing in town. Now I hear it has grown to about 50,000. Of course, the culture shock from moving from CA to NM will be a real challenge. I go back in about two weeks for the interview...I will then decide if it is really a place I want to live in. I keep hearing Thomas Wolfe's words in my ear that "you can never go home again."

-P

[abq e streeter]

15. The city one day woke up and realized what a great marketing gimmick the whole UFO thing could be

and they have a museum ( or is it 2 ) a UFO festival ( The Foo Fighters played one of the 1st ones) and images of little green men everywhere, at least the last times I was there; its been several years for me now too...And yeah, right about 50,000 population I think.

[dbt]

6. John Hartford

once wrote a brilliant piece about the spaces between the notes being as important as the notes themselves. I don't know if The Doors read it, but they sure knew about keeping space between the instruments when they arranged and recorded their music. In a time before even Pink Floyd (as we know them) taught us a bunch about spaciousness, many groups were seeing just how much sound they could cram onto vinyl. The Doors were always underplaying, seeing how minimalist they could make their music.

There were canyons separating Manzarek's keyboards, Krieger's guitar and Densmore's drums--and the mind had room to roam. It could make up its own images, the way it did a generation before in the Radio Days. You could see some truly surreal pictures in those spaces between the Doors' notes, without ingesting anything.

Morrison was both bard and bastard, as far as I know. I haven't heard anyone get close to The Doors since that winter's day when I first heard "People Are Strange" and knew that he was singing to me alone.

So cancel my subscription to the Resurrection...

[Steely_Dan]

14. I Love Your...

analysis of their music. You are absolutely right now that I think about it. There were spaces between the notes. There was time to "imagine." It was almost like a dramatic pause. If you had not said something, I would have never considered that it was intentionally minimalist.

Thanks...


-P

[leeroysphitz]

7. It bega in Africa ca ca ca ca ca ca ca cacacacaca cacacacacaca cacacacaca cacacacacaca

cacacacacacacacacacacacacac...

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