Open Happy Birthday Thread: Ray Manzarek

Can you find me soft asylum
I can't make it anymore
The Man is at the door –

The Doors of Perception have been opened for millions of Americans, as the mask slips on ugly face of Progressivism.

Happy Birthday, Ray.

I'm not a gigantic Doors fan but Ray earned my admiration when he talked about a conversation he had with Oliver Stone during the filming of his Doors movie. Ray said that he was "looking into the eyes of a liar.". Good call Ray.

I don't know how many of you are paying attention to the TX gov Republican primary race, but it is a 3 way between Rick Perry, Kay Hutchison and a relative unknow named Debra Medina.
Medina, depending who you read, is polling neck and neck with hutchison for second place. Id no one gets 50%, it forces a runoff.
At any rate, Median was on Glenn Beck yesterday, and seems to be sympathetic to the truther movement. Her response is less than polished (she is not a politician and might deserve some slack here), but may very well ruin her chances. Her opponents predictably will make a lot of hay over this.
I was undecided so far but liked the thought of an unknown doing well. We will see what happens

I hadn't checked out Medina all that much, but was planning on digging as the primary approaches.

I won't bother. That truther stuff is poison, and saying anything else finishes you as far as I'm concerned. I've got my disagreements with Governor Perry, but he's got my vote 100% now.

I love Manzarek. He's a Chicago guy, like me….maybe that's it. He has a knack for a wonderful turn of the phrase, such as when he's talking about Jim Morrison in "No One Here Gets Out Alive." He says, "Jim went right up to the edge of madness….then, decided to take a little peek over to the other side." Ha!

I have no idea what his politics are, but the statements he made about Oliver Stone were absolutely refreshing coming from a person of his generation. Besides, the movie absolutely stinks (although Kilmer was perfectly cast).

For those who want to see a master at his craft, I highly, highly, HIGHLY recommend putting "Classic Albums: The Doors" into your Netflix queue. Manzarek goes through each track from their iconic debut album (along with Densmore & Krieger), providing extensive live demonstrations of his keyboard sections and how they evolved. He even uses the same vintage equipment he had with him in the studio in 1967! It's a must-see for even a casual Doors fan; I promise you'll walk away with a greater appreciation for them.

Everybody should check out this brilliant article on why the national debt has become a true security issues — it's scary!

http://commentarama.blogspot.com/2010/02/obamas-d...

For Ray :
Thank you. The Doors were and always will be an inspiration. As I traveled to build my fourth recording studio in Troy, NY, there was nothing like driving down the road with LA Woman blasting. What a record. The Doors – dark – poetic – romantic – wild. From 'Break On Through' to 'Riders On the Storm'. You are there when you listen.
Happy Birthday, With appreciation, punk and indie producer don FURY.

I was in a pretty good cover band in the early eighties and as I pulled up (a little late-day job) it was a "dark and stormy night" the rain was falling and lighting crashing…I heard "Riders on the Storm" wafting out into the street, sounded great. I walk in and it's the guys playing it live – not the record. I'll never forget that.

I will forget hauling that damn stand-up piano around to gigs for the keyboard guy. What a pain in the neck – but it sounded good.

Now playing on Texas Radio and the Big Beat:

REP. PATRICK KENNEDY HEEDS JFK'S HISTORIC CALL

http://naturalfake.wordpress.com/2010/02/12/rep-p...

Patty, we hardly knew ye!

Good. Finally give the cleaning staff a chance to catch up on all the empty scotch bottles laying around the Senate office buildings.

Rush Limbaugh or Sarah Palin.

Good call billymac, I saw that documentary also. A must see for any Doors fan!
He is playing in my town next week as a duo with blues guitarist Roy Rodgers.

That was great!

"No eternal reward will forgive us now for wasting the dawn.." Happy Birthday Ray!!

Pitchers and catchers report for spring training soon

Happy Bithday, Ray!! Hope you enjoy many many more!!

yes, few days right? I'm ready.

Believe it or not, I just watched John Ford's Stagecoach for the first time last week. (I'm only 27 – still catching up!) I enjoyed it and I can see why people still talk about it.

Needless to say, if I knew Criterion would be announcing a May 25th Blu-Ray release of the film today, I would've waited!

http://www.criterion.com/films/980

-New, restored high-definition digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
-Audio commentary by noted western authority Jim Kitses
-Bucking Broadway (1917), a fifty-four-minute silent western by John Ford, with new music by Donald Sosin
-Extensive video interview with Ford from 1968
-New video interview with Dan Ford, biographer and grandson of the director, about Ford’s home movies
-New video interview with filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich
-New video essay by writer Tag Gallagher
-New video feature about Monument Valley
-New video interview with stunt coordinator Vic Armstrong about Stagecoach’s stuntman Yakima Canutt
-Radio dramatization of Stagecoach from 1949
-Theatrical trailer
-PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by David Cairns and the short story that inspired the film

Ray's own book about the Doors contains a number of digressions about things that Stone failed to get right in the film, because the way it really happened apparently wasn't interesting enough for our Oliver.

It's a pretty great blu-ray year for classics: Seven Samurai and African Queen coming later this year as well! I'd love a better edition of my other top western, "Winchester '73." The one I have is bare bones, but it does have, buried in the audio tracks, a long interview with Jimmy Stewart.

The Quest for #28 Begins!

Can't wait. I live out in the hinterlands of the Pacific Northwest and the Mariners look like they'll have a good year as they made a lot of good off season moves. But I'll always be a Yankee fan!!

I see that my piece on Mark Steyn was selected for the headlines! Thanks, Big Hollywood and Big Hollywood readers! I hope you'll come back throughout the season. (We're working on fixing that ugly logo.)

As a bassist for a millenium, I've gotta say the the Doors – Strange Days was one of their best. Since they only used studio bassists, the songs are fun to improv with. Thanks for the music, Ray!

Ray Manzarek made it cool to play keyboards in a band in 1967 when music was dominated by guitar bands-The Beatles, Stones, Yardbirds, Kinks, etc. The "Light My Fire" extended organ solo was the most innovative thing I had ever heard. I had my Vox Continental at the time.

Happy Birthday Ray.

You've got a '65 Chevy Malibu
WIth automatic drive, a custom paintjob, too
I'll trade you for my old wheelbarrow
And a slightly used sombrero
I'll even throw in a stapler if you insist

Too bad it couldn't have continued, do I love that music!!!

I love the Doors, and met Ray a few years ago. He said, "Hi, sweetheart" to me and my knees went weak. Happy birthday, Ray!

I haven't seen Precious but know the premise. I know that story somewhat from being close to somewhat similar victims.

I wonder why that movie wasn't made 25 years ago. I suspect that is because everyone has been tip-toeing through the tulips by being "sensitive" when it comes to black issues – which has become a way of guilt-tripping white America via censorship. This has worked out in Jesse's, Al's and Barak's favor, but not for the vast majority in inner cities. Most of them are in free-fall deterioration.

As for art, there is no rule anyone can make that can't be broken if an artist can figure out how to

Any attempt to position blacks as the subordinates as they were in the Bing Crosby clip (which I really enjoyed because of its energy, its Lincoln reminder and much of its ideology) would be laughed off the screen. However, right now, most can't even talk about the inner city black intrusions into civilized white consciousness. That censorship begins with automatically getting hinky about whatever is said because Jesse, Al or Barak might start beating their chests as if they confuse us with Precious

William Shatner.

Happy Birthday, Ray! I think keyboardists have been the underdogs in bands, kind of like writers in Hollywood.

Here's to Ray, Keith Emerson, Rick Wakeman, Tony Banks. Okay, even Sir Pinball Wizard. Hear, hear!

Actually, I think it was behind the times for the time it was made in 1942.

I know films and music from the era pretty well and the use of the word "darkie" had pretty much been retired and often "people" was substituted i.e. BIRTH OF THE BLUES, MISSISSIPPI MUD and others. You rarely saw pickaninnies either and the last film I can think of was THE DOLLY SISTERS with Grable and Haver as pickaninnies wearing some tannish make-up., but the number was set before WW1, though made in 1945.

The ABRAHAM number looks like it went for really every stereotype they could get – old darkies (Bing), pickaninny (Marjorie Reynolds), a Mammy style house maid/cook, and whatever else,

They're wearing black-face in the film so that Reynolds will not be recognized by Astaire. Can't tell if there are any real black people in the stage show. I can't tell if the band is black.

Not sure what else they could have done to celebrate Lincoln in the film and still keep it lively.

It's a very late curio.

THE DOLLY SISTERS – 1945 – Betty Grable, June Haver as pickaninnies, plus chorus girls in a high fashion procession wearing Egyptian #9, which, IIRC, was Lena Horne's make-up. Kind of hard to tell if any of the chorus girls are non-white. Good number!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USmyjL8rweA

Happy birthday to Ray Manzarek! I've always been a Doors fan. In fact, the first rock song I learned to play — in 1971 on my Farfisa Compact DeLuxe — was Light My Fire. I still play it with my current Classic Rock cover band.