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Las
Vegas Mercury, Thursday, January 16, 2003
Music: Doors to the past
Newt Briggs
Touring for the first time since 1972, original guitarist Robby
Krieger and keyboardist Ray Manzarek have partnered with frontman
Ian Astbury (of The Cult) and drummer Stewart Copeland (of The Police)
to form a new, all-star Doors lineup. Krieger recently sat down
with the Mercury to chat about the upcoming tour, friction between
original band members and the legacy of Morrison and his allegedly
abundant manhood.
M:
So, after all these years, what made you want to reunite and tour
as The Doors?
Krieger: Earlier this year, Harley-Davidson
was sponsoring these concerts all over the world as part of some
kind of birthday celebration, and so I figured that maybe it was
the right time to do something like that. It took a while, but I
talked Ray into it, and we went out and got Ian Astbury and Stewart
Copeland. I mean, 30 years after our last show seemed like a long
enough time to wait.
M: Astbury always had that freaky,
Native American, quasi-mysticism thing going on with The Cult, which
was very Jim-Morrison-esque. Do you think he'll feel pressure to
live up to that persona on the upcoming tour?
Krieger: Of course there's a lot of
pressure, because people are inevitably gonna say, "Oh, he's
a Jim Morrison wannabe." I mean, he's damned if he does and
damned if he doesn't. But if you see the show, you'll see that he
really does his own thing while still being reminiscent of Morrison.
It's pretty cool.
M: And what about original drummer
John Densmore? He's still alive, right?
Krieger: Yeah, but he's got tinnitus.
M: What's tinnitus?
Krieger: It's a condition where your
ears ring all the time. If John plays, it gets worse, so his doctor
told him he shouldn't play for a while. A lot of drummers get it
from their cymbals, I think. That particular frequency seems to
be especially hard on the ears.
M: I was curious about Densmore because
Ray Manzarek kind of slammed him in his book, and I read that they
don't really speak to each other anymore? Is that true?
Krieger: Yeah, there's still some lingering
hostility there, but it's getting better. You know, they still play
together from time to time. Like when we did Storytellers
on VH1 a few years back, they were really pissed off at each other.
M: Is that weird for you at all?
Krieger: A little bit, but that happens
in a lot of groups. Look at The Stones. Mick and Keith can't stand
each other. When people hang around each other for that long, crazy
stuff can happen.
M: Speaking of crazy stuff, one of
the most controversial moments in Doors history occurred when Jim
Morrison supposedly exposed himself to a crowd in Miami. Did that
really happen?
Krieger: Not really. You know, the
people said it happened, but if it did happen, don't you think someone
would have caught a snapshot of it? Jesus, man, it was big enough.
M: He was rather large in the pants,
huh?
Krieger: It was like a third arm. It'd
be hard to miss.
M: So is there any chance that Ian
will let the hog out of the barn at the Vegas show as a sort of
homage to Jim?
Krieger: [Laughter] You'd have to ask
him.
M: Seriously, though, should people
expect a more mellow, middle-aged Doors during the upcoming tour,
or do you think you'll be able to conjure up some of the craziness
of the past?
Krieger: You never know what'll happen.
That was the whole point at Doors shows. You could never tell what
was going to happen. And, hopefully, that will still be the case.
I would say to people that you better catch it this time around,
though, because it might not happen again.
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