Tag: The Doors

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Love Street Festival 2018 – Laurel Canyon

As my readers know I love to write about The Doors. It’s been an interesting Doors 50 year anniversary celebration which has sprawled from 2017 into 2018 thus far.

The song “Love Street” was the B-side to The Doors hit single, “Hello I Love You”, released 50 years ago on July 13, 1968. It appears on their 1968 album Waiting for the Sun.

Love Street

The song was originally a poem written by singer Jim Morrison about the street in the Laurel Canyon section of Los Angeles, California where he lived with his girlfriend Pamela Courson. Their address was 8021 Rothdell Trail. Morrison and Courson referred to Rothdell Trail as “Love Street” because they would sit on the balcony and watch countless hippies walk by.

You can take a visual tour of the Love Street house by looking at the Zillow Real Estate listing here. The present value of this property is 1.7 Million but it is off the market right now.

Laurel-Canyon-Country-Store

I have been to Laurel Canyon and seen the Love Street house. It was a pilgrimage I experienced on my birthday in 2012.  I had lunch (A veggie sprouts and humus sandwich and an ice cream bar) at the Canyon Country Store. Here are the lyrics in Love Street that refer to that store.

Love Street Lyrics

The Love Street Festival 2018 in Laurel Canyon held on Sunday July 22nd celebrated the 50th anniversary of Love Street, the house and the store. There are lots of  great photos of this day on the Love Street Festival Facebook Page.

Festival LogoTo commemorate the street’s significance to popular culture and to Laurel Canyon’s deep music roots, Council Member David Ryu (CD4) sponsored an ordinance to officially change the name of a portion of Rothdell Trail to “LOVE STREET”! 

Love Street celebration
The Doors, John Densmore and Robby Krieger with Councilman Ryu.

I love the special connection I always feel with Laurel Canyon in the music of our heart.

 

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1968 Official Doors Concert Program

Although I never saw the original Doors live in concert, I would love to own this reproduction of their 1968 concert program.

The band has reprinted their original 1968 Doors concert program for the first time, which is available exclusively from The Doors Web store. This was the only official tour program ever created by the band.

Produced in 1968 for their upcoming U.S. tour, but sold only at a few select shows, and via mail order. Designed by Paul Ferrara, this 24-page program includes many color and black & white images taken by Ferrara, plus poetry by Jim Morrison, astrology charts for each band member, and more.

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Fifty Years Ago Today – Waiting for the Sun, The Doors

The Doors will celebrate the 50th anniversary of their third album, Waiting for the Sun (released on July 3rd, 1968) with a reissue featuring 14 previously unreleased tracks. The two-CD, one LP set is available to pre-order ahead of its September 14th release via Rhino.

The 50th anniversary version of Waiting for the Sun features a remastered version of the album’s original stereo mix on both CD and 180-gram vinyl. Bruce Botnick, the Doors’ longtime engineer/mixer handled the remaster using the original master tapes.

Waiting for the Sun 50th Anniversary Reissue Track List

Disc One – Original Album

1. “Hello, I Love You”
2. “Love Street”
3. “Not To Touch The Earth”
4. “Summer’s Almost Gone”
5. “Wintertime Love”
6. “The Unknown Soldier”
7. “Spanish Caravan”
8. “My Wild Love”
9. “We Could Be So Good Together”
10. “Yes, The River Knows”
11. “Five To One”

Disc Two – Previously Unreleased Tracks

1. “Hello, I Love You” (rough mix)
2. “Summer’s Almost Gone” (rough mix)
3. “Yes, The River Knows” (rough mix)
4. “Spanish Caravan” (rough mix)
5. “Love Street” (rough mix)
6. “Wintertime Love” (rough mix)
7. “Not To Touch The Earth” (rough mix)
8. “Five To One” (rough mix)
9. “My Wild Love” (rough mix)
10. “The WASP (Texas Radio And The Big Beat)” (live in Copenhagen)
11. “Hello, I Love You” (live in Copenhagen)
12. “Back Door Man” (live in Copenhagen)
13. “Five To One” (live in Copenhagen)
14. “The Unknown Soldier” (live in Copenhagen)

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MoPop Founders Award 2017 Honoring The Doors

I have to hand it to The Doors management team. When they said there would be many Doors related events for the 50th Anniversary of The Doors they meant it.

Take a look at the MoPop (Museum of Pop Culture) in Seattle, Washington Doors event. I wish I lived in Seattle as I have been a member of MoPop in the past. If you love music museums this one is great plus it is also a Sci-Fi museum as well.

Founders Award 2017 Honoring The Doors
Thursday, December 7, 2017
MoPOP Sky Church

An annual fundraiser to benefit MoPOP’s programs, the Founders Award features legendary performers who have made substantial contributions to the field of music.

“The Doors are carnivores in a land of musical vegetarians.” – Tom Robbins

Still Photos in this blog post by Jim Bennett and Seattle Met

I’ve included the finale video but you can see the entire MoPop YouTube Channel Playlist here:

“Roadhouse Blues performed by The Doors guitarist, Robby Krieger with Carlos Santana, Cindy Blackman Santana, Krist Novoselic, Lukas Nelson, Micah Nelson, Zander Schloss, Tim Pike, John Denney, Jerry Cantrell, Exene Cervenka, and Brian Young.

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The Doors – Live At The Isle of Wight Festival 1970

Here, for the very first time, is the last Doors concert ever filmed. The Doors: Live At the Isle of Wight Festival 1970.

This title will be released on February 23, 2018.

August 1970: With Jim Morrison’s ongoing Miami obscenity trial casting an ominous shadow over the band, The Doors flew to England to play the Isle of Wight Festival. Waiting for them at “The Last Great Festival” where over 600,000 fans who had already torn down the barriers, crashed the gates and enjoyed performances by the world’s top acts such as Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Miles Davis and Joni Mitchell. The Doors took the stage at 2 am, playing with the weight of the trial on their backs, and showed fans they still had the magic that had propelled them to the top during the Summer of Love.

“We played with a controlled fury and Jim was in fine vocal form,” said Doors organist Ray Manzarek. “He sang for all he was worth but moved nary a muscle. Dionysus had been shackled.”

Blu-Ray & CD Track Listing
1. Roadhouse Blues
2. Backdoor Man
3. Break on Through (To The Other Side)
4. When The Music’s Over
5. Ship of Fools
6. Light My Fire
7. The End (Medley): Across The Sea/Away in India/Crossroads Blues/Wake Up

Bonus Features
1) “This is the End” featurette – 17 minutes of interviews conducted by original director Murray Lerner with Bill Siddons (original Doors manager), Robby Krieger, John Densmore and archival interview from 2002 with Ray Manzarek.

 

 

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The Doors – 50th Anniversary Album Re-Issue

 

50 years ago in 1967, The Doors broke through to the other side for the first time with its eponymous début on Elektra Records. The Doors would go on to sell millions of copies and made stars of John Densmore, Robby Krieger, Ray Manzarek, and Jim Morrison. Today, the album is widely considered to be one of the all-time classic rock and roll debuts.

To celebrate this landmark recording’s 50th anniversary, the band has released THE DOORS: 50TH ANNIVERSARY DELUXE EDITION.

Packaged in a 12 x 12 hardcover book, THE DOORS: 50TH ANNIVERSARY DELUXE EDITION includes a remastered version of the album’s original stereo mix, available on CD for the first time in a decade and remastered for the first time in nearly 30 years. The album’s original mono mix was also remastered for this set and is making its CD début here. An LP-version of the mono mix is also included. The third disc features live performance from The Matrix in San Francisco recorded just weeks after The Doors was released. Music journalist David Fricke provides detailed liner notes for the set, which includes a selection of rare and previously unseen photographs.

the-doors-1968-billboard-1548

THE DOORS: 50TH ANNIVERSARY DELUXE EDITION offers a rare opportunity to hear the band on the verge of superstardom with live performances recorded during a March 7, 1967 show at the Matrix in San Francisco. The Matrix recordings heard on this deluxe edition were sourced from the recently discovered, original tapes, previously thought to be lost. The Matrix recordings originally released in 2008 were from a third-generation source, so the sound quality of the versions debuting here is second to none.

Packed with electrifying performance, the disc has live versions of eight tracks on The Doors, including “Twentieth Century Fox,” “The Crystal Ship” and “Back Door Man.” 

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Day Of The Doors, January 4th, 2017

50 years to the day of the release of their début album, January 4, 2017 will be proclaimed “Day Of The Doors” in the city of Los Angeles. The proclamation will be made Los Angeles City Council member Mike Bonin during a public event at the intersection of Pacific and Windward Avenues, the location of the iconic “Venice” sign.

Founding Doors members John Densmore and Robby Krieger will be on hand at the event as will family members of the late Ray Manzarek and Jim Morrison.

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The special Day of the Doors sign made by local Venice artist Alberto BevacquaI.

I recommend a couple of Doors publications to enhance the celebration.

First, try to find the Music Icons magazine on your local newsstand, The Doors, 50 Year Salute to the Dark Poets of Rock, The Story Behind Every Album. 

It is  well-organized. I took my time with the magazine, listening each day to a Doors album and reading the related pages. I found the content comprehensive and an entertaining read.

Second, I suggest acquiring the coffee table sized book, The Doors by The Doors with Ben Fong-Torres. It is a structured reference of The Doors history, told directly by Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger and John Densmore. It is illustrated with lots of their private archive Doors photographs which I have never seen before.

The book  is available from amazon third-party sellers.

Finally play some Doors music to take part fully in the “Day Of The Doors”.

 

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LONDON FOG 1966 – The Doors

Before The Doors took the music scene by storm in 1967, they were the house band at the London Fog, a Sunset Strip dive bar located just footsteps away from the world-famous Whisky a Go Go, the future home of many of the band’s most legendary performances.

The Doors will open a virtual time capsule this month with LONDON FOG 1966, a Collector’s Edition boxed set that features unearthed audio recorded at the club in May 1966. Previously unreleased and not even known to exist until recently, this marks the earliest recordings of the band and finds the quartet mixing blues covers with early versions of Doors originals. LONDON FOG 1966 is the first of many special activities and releases coming to celebrate The Doors’ 50th Anniversary in 2017.

london-fog-boxset

LONDON FOG 1966 will be available as an individually numbered limited edition of 18,000 copies from Rhino/Bright Midnight Archives on December 16 for $49.98. Presented in a lift-top package designed to look like a vintage storage box, the set features seven songs on both CD and a 10-inch record that’s made to resemble a test pressing. Noted Doors engineer Bruce Botnick recently mastered the audio for this collection.

LONDON FOG 1966

Track Listing

  1. “Rock Me”
  2. “Baby, Please Don’t Go”
  3. “You Make Me Real”
  4. “Don’t Fight It”
  5. “I’m Your Hoochie Coochie Man”
  6. “Strange Days”
  7. “Lucille”

 

 

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Record Store Day 2016 Press Conference @ Electric Lady Studios, March 8, 2016

Record Store Day 2016 will be holding a major press conference at Electric Lady Studios in Greenwich Village on Tuesday March 8th, 2016. It will be attended by Lenny Kaye of The Patti Smith Group and John Densmore of The Doors to announce the 2016 Record Store Day special releases. This announcement is expected to include a vinyl release of the live recording of Horses that Patti Smith recorded on 26 August 2015.  This will be the first offering from Electric Lady Records.

(JAMIE MCCARTHY/GETTY IMAGES FOR ELECTRIC LADY)patti-smith-electric-lady-2015-billboard-650

Patti Smith went into Electric Lady to record a very special Record Store Day release, and that title will mark the first of what we hope will be a series of collaborations between Record Store Day and Electric Lady.    All the details will come out on the 8th when they launch the list.

Patti Smith Guitarist Lenny Kaye Subbing for Smith at Record Store Day Announcement Event.

To celebrate this new partnership, Electric Lady has created this shirt for RSD 2016. They‘re making it to order, so they have a deadline for ordering. That deadline is March 5. The street date for this item is Record Store Day.

Order Link: http://recordstoreday.com/Item/9008123179

Tee

 

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A Celebration for Ray Manzarek – February 12th, 2016

I think of Ray Manzarek often. I found him to be a very approachable artist. I met Ray Manzarek several times before and after performances. I miss his spirit and soulful intellect.

We wish we could attend the celebration for Ray Manzarek.  Robby Krieger, John Densmore, and an all-star band will be performing play in Ray’s memory at the Fonda Theater in Los Angeles on February 12th, Ray’s 77th birthday. Robby and John will also be joined by some very special friends throughout the evening.

All proceeds will benefit Stand Up To Cancer.

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