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Enlighten his fire! Ray Manzarek finds God—and he’s a black blues singer from ChiTown... by G r e g Cahill
R
ay Manzarek is unfazed. Midway this week at a Mystic Theatre concert with through his meditation about the longtime Marin bluesman Roy Rogers. The transcendent nature of the blues, I’ve show, he says, during a phone interview steered the conversation to the meaning of life. from his Napa ranch, will be an evening of “The purpose of life,” he says without missing “blues and jazz and stories and tranquility... a beat, “is to become enlightened. It’s to attain and roooock ’n’ roll!” cosmic consciousness and to realize that you In addition to Doors songs and his solo are one with the universe. material, Manzarek and “You are God and God Rogers will perform songs COMING SOON is you.” from Ballads Before the Ray Manzarek and Roy And that truth is revealed Rain, their 2008 duo Rogers perform an Evening even in the primal beat of album. of Rock ‘n’ Roll Tales at the Howlin’ Wolf’s classic blues “I came of age listening Mystic Theatre in Petaluma recordings, he adds. to blues radio,” says ManSaturday, March 20, at 8pm. Ma n z a re k — a u t h o r, zarek, 71, who grew up in Country Joe McDonfilmmaker, producer, psythe 1950s on the South ald opens the show. $25. chedelic guru, keyboardist, Side of Chicago, home of a 707/765-2121. songwriter and co-founder gritty urban-blues sound. of the Doors—wants to set “It was absolutely amazthe record straight about ing. I would come home the influence the blues had on the Doors, the from school and turn on the radio, pump a subject of a 1991 Oliver Stone biopic that fo- little iron, do my homework and hear songs cused mostly on singer Jim Morrison’s lusty by Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Jimmy Dionysian image and portrayed the band as Reed, Magic Sam, Slim Harpo, Bo Diddley— little more than an LSD-fueled support act. music with profound rhythm and depth He’ll discuss the blues, the band, the made by men descended from slaves and Beats and other facets of his life and career singing songs of love, joy and tragic loss.
Manzarek, far left, and Jim Morrison founded the Doors in 1965. Today the 71-year-old Rock and Roll Hall of Famer seeks cosmic consciousness at his home in Napa.
“What could have been better? It opened my ears to what was possible in rhythmic music.” Indeed, one night Manzarek and several underage friends from DePaul University snuck into the South Side blues club Pepper’s Lounge to hear legendary singer and guitarist Muddy Waters. “It was an evening of shamanic transformation,” he says. “I loved it! In the Doors, Manzarek found kindred spirits—especially in fellow UCLA film stu-
dent Morrison and guitarist Robby Krieger— who shared his passion for the blues. “Jim was a big blues man from Florida, listening to the same kind of music,” Manzarek says. “Robby was immersed in bottle-neck country blues. We took all of that and put it into the Doors. That was the heart of the Doors—the Doors were a blues band with literary aspirations.” Manzarek says he knew from the first time the band played together at a friend’s house in Santa Monica that the Doors were “meant to be.” “We played ‘Moonlight Drive.’ I showed Robby the chord changes. He pulled out the bottle-neck slide and slipped “That was the it on his little finger and said, heart of the ‘This sound Doors— might be good the Doors for this kind of a song.’ And then were a blues he played these band with literary snaky guitar aspirations.” lines—he played like a snake! “Morrison loved it! He said, ‘I want that sound on everything we do!’ “I said to Jim, ‘Everything?’ “And he said, ‘Maybe not everything, Ray, but a lot of them gotta have that bottleneck!’ “It all came together right then and there. We smoked a joint, worked on the chord changes, got into the song. And it was transcendent. It was an epiphany. I told the guys, ‘I’ve been playing my whole life, but I’ve never really played music until this moment. Now I understand what it’s all about. Now I understand the Zen moment in time. “You have to capture that,” he adds, “and if you do, then you’ve captured everything there is in music.” ✹ Kick back in Greg’s soul kitchen at gcahill51@gmail.com. Tune up to the Marin music scene at
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MARCH 19 - MARCH 25, 2010 PACIFIC SUN 23