I got to see Him and Robbie at Mandalay Bay/House of Blues for a sort of reunion tour/gig. Good as it could be without Jim. Wild Child Tribute to the Doors from 2010-2013
I thought they covered a lot in 5 minutes though. Got the plug in, talked about the Doors, Jim Morrison still being alive, Thanked Paul for the music. Quality better than quantity.
He was an incredibly smart, literate guy Ray and I can see why Jim targeted him for a band. That whole band was brilliant. Freakin Robby Kreiger was a teenager when he joined the Doors and the guy already had his own guitar sound and style which can take musicians a life time to achieve.
Yeah, it was Ray that had the idea to form a band together, although Ray does say it was Jim's words that inspired the idea. Also, Robbie's sound was pretty much a product of circumstances, since he was originally studying and practicing Flamenco guitar and had to suddenly pick up the Blues. Robbie was a better songwriter than guitarist IMO. He himself admits to not being a musician with a particular vision; not knowing much or caring to know much about electric guitars, how he just got his first and only electric guitar because he thought it looked like Chuck Berry's that he later found out it wasn't what Chuck actually played, and how he wrote Light My Fire by using every chord he knew at the time, just deciding on a whim to use mostly flats and sharps because not a lot of people used them. I wish Robbie had the insight to find a way to utilize more of his Flamenco roots while still keeping it Rock and Roll, kind of like Spanish Caravan, when he was with The Doors. Robbie contributed greatly to The Doors, don't get me wrong. He was pretty much was the one with the simple Pop sensibilities that was responsible for most of The Doors' hits, but on a musicianship level it was really mostly Ray first and John second that gave The Doors that edge.
@@StarryStarryNocturne Disagree with you re: John before Robbie in musicianship. Listened to Robbie’s slide lately, for instance? Jim told Robbie, after hearing him first time on bottleneck, “yeah, I want that on every record”. Robbie’s background was Flamenco, not Blues, (slide), as you mentioned. Anyway, nice to hear from another who obviously has enjoyed their music. I always think about how lucky we are that Providence was in place that day on Venice Beach.
@@StarryStarryNocturneI agree, Robbie was capable but no virtuoso, what was unique about Robbie's playing as a rock guitarist was he never used a pick, instead using his fingers instead like a flamenco guitarist. The Doors were really Ray's brain child, he encouraged Jim to join the band and taught him to sing, although later asked about his singing he described his style as shouting. Ray had been in a band with his brother prior to The Doors playing piano and singing blues covers - Rick and the Ravens ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-QyksRgaOXMU.html
@@frankiebutler2894 Cool comments. But it was Santa Monica, just west of Frazier Ave. The story that it was in Venice seemed true to them at the time, but city and neighborhood borders have gotten more defined over the decades.
What are you talking about? I cant list all the times and all the interviews where Ray got into detail about Jims death. This particular sitting was not a safe place to do that. Clearly, based upon his choice of words, Ray was concerned about red tape in this interview. Thats not to say that Ray didnt respect Jim.
Elvis’ manager, Col. Tom Parker, said in a press conference shortly after his death: “Elvis didn’t die. The body did. We’re keeping up the good spirits. We’re keeping Elvis alive. I talked to him this morning and he told me to 'carry on.’” (Elvis did not die and he wanted out. - Col. Tom Parker. 1977) After hearing so many stories about the death of Elvis Presley, I have decided to tell the world the real story on the facts concerning that day in August, 1977. Yes, that day, the 16th of August. Is it a coincidence that a person born on that January 8, first month, eighth day, would perish on the 8th month and the 16th day? Probably if two (2) people were born on that day it makes more sense. You see, numerology always played an important part of my life and still does today. So many people have written or spoke about my death as a hoax. It was not a hoax! I decided to reinvent myself in the form of my brother (Jesse Garon) and yes, Elvis Presley did die that day. But after much searching for the right people, I found several people from different states who I consider my most loyal and trustworthy friends. To some people this book will be just another scandalous piece of fiction, but when you are done I think you will think otherwise. I always felt my brother deserved to live and what better way to let him live his life than to end mine. I was lonely, depressed, in bad health and my numerology chart said that this was the time for it to come to end. Anyone who studies numerology will understand, those who don't may want to look into it. All of the facts (and there are many) even the experts will say they are more than coincidences. I no longer give away Cadillacs or expensive pieces of jewelry because I am nothing more than a man who had a very famous brother. I am not a great literate (I never wrote my own songs), but I am not illiterate either. The perfect day August 16, 1977, 1 + 9 + 7 + 7 = 24, my age backwards (42), the facts go on and on. But my true reasons for the book are for my fans. My death was not a hoax! To my fans, please forgive me, my brother deserved to live, he was with me constantly (spiritually). My life would not be the same had he lived at birth. This was my way of giving him life, and corny as it sounds. The Colonel took this secret to his grave. He was a loyal friend. But I will no longer stand by and have people like Gail Brewer tell you stories that are pure fiction. This book written by a true friend will help you realize why I did what I did. - The Truth About Elvis Aron Presley In His Own Words. (2001). My fascination with the idea of a hoax about death was when Jim Morrison died July 3rd, 1971. Although I saw no correlation (he died at age 27) I was astounded that as famous as he was the body was just closed up and shipped out. Now I don't know all the facts concerning his death. I thought it awfully strange that no autopsy was performed (or so I thought) and just forgotten about. There were a lot of rumors about his death. I noticed he was born on the 8th day. Born in 1944 = 1-8 and died in 1971 = 1-8. Remember my comeback in 1968? 1+9+6+8 = 24. Obviously, I was no longer 24, so I reversed the age to 42. The next time that number had any relevance was 1977 (1+9+7+7 = 24 when I would be 42. Numerology can and does play an important part of my life and we knew that would have to be the date. Most people if they know what to look for will find significance in the forms of numbers in all of my movies! Example: gravestone in " Loving You" (year) 1878 = ? (1+8+7+8 = 24). You have to look at the movies. My hero James Dean died at the age of 24, but I was on top of the world then and wanted to live. - The Truth About Elvis Aron Presley In His Own Words. (2001). I will start about 1974 when the thought first came to me about faking my death. I have always been fascinated with the occult and other spiritual things. When I first saw a wax dummy of myself made by a Mr. Cooper I was fascinated with it. For some time I had thought if it was possible? Could I pull this thing off? I had asked Mr Cooper if he could make another wax dummy for me. He said he could. I in turn said I wanted him to do it and keep it strictly confidential. When I had mentioned it to a very few close friends (Joe Esposito, Larry Geller) they did not think I was serious. I was tired of being Elvis Presley, my health was deteriorating. I just couldn't keep up. My finances were floundering because of my daddy's poor business ventures. I was at my wit's end. As the years progressed I had my ups and downs which are pretty well documented in other books. I also had two detectives from Colorado who I trusted immensely. Originally the date was 1976 according to my numerology charts but I chickened out. A pact was made on the grounds of Graceland one night, hands placed over hands that this secret would never be spoken of outside this room. I picked four (4) of us initially and to this day all have kept the secret. I also know when this book reaches the bookstores people (my loyal friends) will be heartbroken. They took care of me and convinced others that I was no longer alive. In reality Elvis Presley died that day and my twin brother "Jesse" came to life, living in hiding but as a normal human being. I skip around because I am writing stream of consciousness. My own Daddy bless his soul never knew the truth. Little Lisa was told months later and explained to her she would not see me much. The Colonel took this secret to his grave. Many people believe me to still be alive but I was told in the beginning there would be no contact in order for this to work. I go thru a lot of ups and downs since 1977 and have lived in many states but I insisted I needed to be in a warm climate. My personal thoughts are that my fans will understand. That is very important to me. I just could not face myself any more after seeing myself in the mirror and that is where Larry Geller came in. He asked if he could write a book, and I gave him my blessing. "If I Can Dream" is the title and I like his book. He had filled my head with spiritual thoughts and made me believe we could pull this off. If I had stayed longer I think I would have been booed off the stage. That is why I chose the date 8-16-77. Do you know how many famous people passed away on that date? The great Robert Johnson died on 8-16 and he was born in 1935! Babe Ruth, and Bela Lugosi and many others. I must say I was very nervous that day 8-16. But it had to be done before I went on the road where I would not have been able to pull it off. Did you know there are secret compartments in Graceland that very few people know about! A few like Vester would joke about my being alive but no one took him serious. Many of my friends would ask if I were still alive and they have their doubts but as it was I might have died broke and just a shell of myself. I was given an injection that looked like I was dead but the people closest to me knew better. Believe me I had my doubts that this could be pulled off. But it did and I became Jesse, just a poor white southern boy who didn't sing a lick of anything. I feel bad my Daddy wasn't allowed to know but it just couldn't be done. I better go now and collect my thoughts to tell you the rest next time. - The Truth About Elvis Aron Presley In His Own Words. (2001). You Found Me By Pastor Bob Joyce ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-WUI7_rZpl8c.html
Ray Manzarek was a talented musician who loves playing music with his friends and he will be remembered forever and ever since he been gone since 2013 and I'm admire his honesty about the Doors history and his legacy will be remembered for his Awesomeness and his love for music
When you study their music and the embryonic days of the band you realise quickly that each of the four members brought something unique the band, they were acutely aware of this themselves from the first rehearsal and treasured the concept that all four individuals were equal and had an equal say. Miss you Ray and Jim.
Definitely these guys just blow me away over and over the more I get older. Now the internet is jammin full ahead, I went in about as far as you can go and appreciate all the iconic, epic, amazing things. In this day and age, what bands even stay together to make consistent albums. What ones complete their contract. They were the first to have a Los Angeles billboard. How Paul Rothschild had that control to keep the singer straight and just Bruce Butnick proved his loyalty and made LA Women the great that it is. Just that song can pull you in from the first few seconds I can go on and on. I miss these guys. Even when they played together as The Doors with other singers over the years showed their loyalty to their fans. This energy is timeless. RIP Ray.
afshinPROF... I love how Ray immediately, publicly held Letterman to having him back on the show... and he gave a very *specific* time. Totally held Letterman over a barrel. Lol.
@@skullduggery3377 That was years later when Robbie was on, sometime around the release of The Doors movie I think. I remember it too, Robbie was trying to talk about Jim and Letterman kept interjecting jokes. I found it rather disrespectful and annoying.
WhatAWorld. No. If you go back and listen, he’s addressing his wife Dorothy either watching TV at home in LA or in the audience, saying they’ll come back to NYC as a couple, go to the art museum and be in the audience for one of Dave’s upcoming tapings.
Manzarek was the backbone of the Doors. Such a tremendous talent. He mixed blues with Bach and had such a great command of that piano. Jim Morrison has LSD and Manzarek to thank for the band’s success!! Not to take anything away from the legend JM of course.
@@rubytuesday4379 ray sings like i do; we can carry a tune but our voices arent dynamic and we cant do screams like Jim could. Jim had a strange talent that I dont think most non-singers can understand.
Yep, he started with the blues and expanded to Jazz, that was the Chicago clubs rubbing off on him. The Doors were talking about doing an album more jazz inspired, and its a shame Jim died or it may have been a masterpiece.
Ray's Carmina Burana is magnificent. Their conversation went, as was natural, down that Jim Morrison rabbit hole -- but Ray's album is truly worth checking out.
the doors affected and inspired my life so much. They had great mastery in creating images in you mind and drifting you off into your subconscious. I aways preferred them to any other mega group like led zep or the rolling stones. they were just not a touch on The Doors. Its such a personal love of their music. Not compared to any group I know.
What I found strange was he said I better not get into that or I'll get in trouble? Followed by that Uhh I love you man! Sorta does make you do a double take.
This was only 12yrs after Jim passed away, Ray was only 44yrs old here it makes it seem even more ridiculous to imagine had Jim survived those days of crazy mayhem how would The Doors have held up in the 90's days of grunge and Alternate Rock??
Hard to say really, but I'd assume like all other bands out there who have spanned from the 60's through the more present times that the popularity or interests of the more modern stuff wouldn't quite ever compare to the old stuff. Compare all others out there from the similar era who spanned the decades and continued putting albums out...choose any, Rolling Stones, The Eagles, Boston, Styx, etc... How many of those put hits out in the 90's toward the present day, if any? How many songs from these albums were highly desirable, gets rotational air play and wants to be heard by general fans or audiences in comparison to, say, their first handful of albums they all put out in their early days? I think the Doors were brilliant, but as with any group, the members mature, they grow up, they experience life more, their partying days are long gone and their youthful, openminded and limitless experimental creative days are normally tarnished and narrowed down a funnel as a grown and mature adult by the hardships of life. I'm middle aged. I wouldn't dare try, think or do many things I did as a young adult. Life matures the mind and body. And on top of it all, the world has cleaned itself up a lot regarding drugs and alcohol these days. Not great to say, but 60's and 70's and the whole drug experimental hippie days were wild. Drugs played a huge role in experimentation and creation. What do you have from any of these decade groups in the 90's/00's once they cleaned up, got sober, matured, had families, experieced life for 50 years or so? I think it's inevitable for any musician or famous person of any kind to realize that we all have our brief time under the sun. You'll make your part in the history books, but time and age will eventually win. Out with the old, in with the new, but never forgotten the legacy. This goes for musicians, actors, athletes, politicians, etc... I personally feel that if the Doors made it through the 80's, 90's or more, then it would have been like all others. And if Jim got clean, who knows how that may have impacted the band and maybe even negatively (musically/creativly speaking). This also goes for technology, too. Surely as the 80's approached, sounds, instrument technology and influences of an era all play a role in the overall sound. I'd imagine Doors maybe having a mediocre small hit here and there and probably tours which consisted mostly of all of their early works and hits. Just my theory, but nobody would really never know for sure, only speculate.
The stupid record companies would have pulled the plug on the Doors in favor of that crappy grunge, all of the band members looked like they bathed regularly. That would not have been allowed to stand. Intelligible lyrics would've Ben a No-No too. .
@@pgestudio75 Spmebody please correct me if I'm wrong, I'm thinking that Jim once said that in the future rock and roll will be just one guy on a stage and a bunch of computers Ji
@@leejackson4724 I can't honestly say that I've ever that quote from Jim before. Perhaps he did say that. If so, he was pretty accurate with his prediction. Live music is coming to an end, in terms of the once-was greatness it used to be....and there's plenty of reasons for that, as well.
Ray strikes me as being frighteningly intelligent - the sort of man who could have wiped the floor with anyone in a debate. And an incredible musician.
Ray and Jim two of the best to do it .The are on the other side, sitting on a beach with each other and Dionisis ,Blake listening to Nietzsche giving a philosophy lecture ..
This is one guy I would of liked to have known. Can you imagine him sitting at the Host desk or being in a different field of entertainment? I certainly can!
Ray Manzarek always gave intelligent interviews and always spoke highly of Jim Morrison. I can't see Mick Jagger, Iggy Pop or Van Morrison replacing Jim Morrison because they are all so incredibly different from Jim. Jim is irreplaceable and the only person who comes closest to replacing Jim is Val Kilmer who did an excellent impersonation of Jim in Oliver Stone's movie, the doors.
Oh yea Val Kilmer even got Jim's voice spot on. I think it could have been The Doors producer who got fooled after listening to Val's singing voice on a recording - thinking it was Jim's voice.
Poor Ray , Robbie, and John could never put a commercially viable venture together outside of the Doors. The four blended together in a way that had to be cosmic
That was very cryptic...best evidence yet that Morrison didn’t die in Paris. He wanted out of the limelight and in typical Morrison fashion its was very Shakespearean”...
Interesting how Ray was going to comment on Jim faking his death and then declined, stating that, he might get in trouble.Makes you wonder what he knew.
I think he was rather going to comment on how he knew that he had actually passed, and maybe even mention that he may have been killed, but he in no way seemed to doubt that Jim was gone.
Fame is a crock, power is a crock, who the hell wants that? Freedom man, freedom, enough money just to be, yourself. No acting, no image, just be. Getting up when you like and doing what you like, dress how you like. If you have somebody who loves and supports you and doesn't want a piece of you? That's probably as good as it gets man. - Mickey Alvarez. (Jim Morrison) Ron Clooney talks about his latest novel, Mr Mojo Risin (ain't dead) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-W8q0ZjBErB0.html
@@willyp3036 Very early on they were 'making the myths,' and Ray was keenly aware the mystery surrounding Jim's death contributed to that. That's all it was.
I have a slightly different opinion from the rest of people in the comments section, I didn't find Ray particularly kind towards Jim here, how could someone possibly think to replace Jim with Mick Jagger...(or anybody else) two polar opposite men, one highly cultivated and with an off the scale intelligence, the other one, just an ordinary man! In many later interviews Ray really showed his respect to Jim, but not in this particular one. Also he hinted that Jim was alive.
So, the guys wanted to keep playing, as many bands do even after losing a key member. Ray was being very candid in saying that the band did think about other people, but he says it never got anywhere because they obviously realized they couldn't replace Jim with a different singer. Instead, they released a couple albums with Ray and Robbie splitting vocals instead. I appreciated his honesty about that.
I don't agree with your take at all. The Jagger line was a joke. Jagger was obviously not available being in one of the biggest bands in the world. I'm sure they wanted to continue on as a band, it was their way of life. They made 2 albums after Jim's death without replacing him. Dave asked Ray if they approached anybody and he said not really who's going to replace Morrison. He didn't hint that he was alive, he didn't want to talk about it. People always brought that up and he was not interested in entertaining the idea. And who knows maybe he's not allowed to talk about stuff like that in risk of being sued by the Morrison estate. Ray said that he loved him. No idea where you got that he didn't show him respect from watching this clip.
Wow, Dave was really raw in the early days of his show. Funny, even the early 2000's were kinda raw but Dave was better and kept on getting better. He had it mastered at the end. That was a long, long training curve.
Ray looked like he was having about as much fun as going to the dentist. I like how Dave appologized for "running out of time" to Ray. Ray was probably sitting in the green room getting irritated as he waited to go on, and was watching his watch as time grew short. Then, when on, Ray invited himself back on the show in two weeks. Dave looked surprised when he did that. I like how Ray did that.... oh yeah, you're going to jerk me around by having me wait... watch this.. I'll book myself on your show right in front of millions of people, so you can't back out... Interestingly, I didn't find any more appearances by Ray on Letterman's show. Ray looked like he liked to have control of the situation, when being interviewed. He didn't look particularly at ease. Dave wasn't up for making jokes with someone who looked uptight enough to try to control the interview. He probably knew that Ray was insecure enough to try to grab the reigns. That was smart of Dave to just lay back and let Ray do his monologue.
In the very early days when the Doors played at the Whisky A-go-go Van Morrison was also there doing his own thing ... and so because they were familiar with him, they no doubt felt comfortable considering him.
For some reason Ray always reminded me of the Ghostbuster Egon Spengler as a hippie,lol now I picture Egon on acid with a proton pack trying to zap ghosts that he thinks are there.
