Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Jim's song



This is the one occasion in my life where I can justify screaming in excitement like a teenage girl. On November 2nd 2011, on what would otherwise have been a very ordinary Wednesday, I will go to watch the two of the three surviving members of The Doors, Robbie Krieger and Ray Manzarek perform live at the Lupos Heartbreak Hotel in Providence. Yes, THE DOORS.
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For most, Jim Morrison was The Doors and The Doors was Jim Morrison, and I agree with that to a certain extent. But without Manzarek's trippy keyboards, Krieger's catchy guitar loops and John Densmore's perfectly timed drum rolls to flow into spaces left by Jim's spoken poetry marathons, there would have been no defining sound that draws in fans (like yours truly) decades after the group ceased performing.
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With Morrison's infamous 1971 death by ODing in Paris at the age of 27, the Doors were a closed chapter in rock history but beautiful enough for music enthusiasts to keep flipping back to those pages and reading them over and over again. In an appropriate tribute to their uber charismatic lead singer, Robbie and Ray despite it having been 30 years now (since Morrison's death) playing the Doors' songs around the world refuse to play "The End" at any of their concerts. The reason they give is simple. "The End" was Jim's song. He owns it.
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Who was Jim Morrison then? Rockstar with a voice inestimably addictive. Poet and philosopher of seemingly infinite genius. The only guy who could walk up to a woman, say "Hello... I love you... won't you tell me your name?" and actually pull it off...
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