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Posted Feb 12th 2010 at 4:54 am in Open Thread | 30775467 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fbighollywood.breitbart.com%2Fbighollywood%2F2010%2F02%2F12%2Fopen-happy-birthday-thread-ray-manzarek%2FOpen+Happy+Birthday+Thread%3A+Ray+Manzarek2010-02-12+12%3A54%3A38Big+Hollywoodhttp%3A%2F%2Fbighollywood.breitbart.com%2F%3Fp%3D307754
Conservatives often talk about what they don’t like about Hollywood. That’s okay, but it’s not productive. Maybe it’s time we talked about what we do like? More to the point, let’s point out when Hollywood has gotten it right. And that brings me to the...






67 Comments
So congress for the first time in like 50 years will be without a Kennedy.
It's like a whole new era.
Is the political environment that scary to even "safe" dems?
Apparently even the dems think November is going to be a bloodbath.
[...] original here: Open Happy Birthday Thread: Ray Manzarek This entry is filed under America – Blogs, Big Hollywood. You can follow any responses to this [...]
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.
My favorite work of his was his production of X's first four albums, "Under the Big Black Sun" in particular.
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 met this man. He was very nice and winning towards me, for no reason.
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
Happy birthday, Ray! I'll always love you producing X's early stuff.
Shameless self promotion: I'm involved in a new group blog covering, uh, American Idol. We're in the midst of a series discussing who should replace Simon Cowell. My latest proposal is Mark Steyn. (The site and the show are apolitical, which I know Steyn could be.)
Anyway, if you're willing to admit you watch the show, check it out. (If you watch the show but aren't willing to admit it, check it out, too.
)
http://idolpundit.com/
Who else would be a suitable replacement for Simon?
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 like the idea of having a contest for average people to fill the guest judge seat.
I think I should be the replacement judge (at least for an episode or two).
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.
This is funny! Minnesotans 4 Global Warming: Frozen Wasteland
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u03QcymdCtg
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...
Thanks Mega! I'm glad you liked it. I have to admit that I knew it was bad, but I didn't know it was that bad until I started researching the article. It is scary stuff!
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.
The very first concert I attended, in 1973 (74?) featured the Doors opening for Grand Funk. Obviously Jim Morrison was pushing up 'pot plants' in a cemetary in Paris – but they were still great. Mr. Manzarek handled the vocals quite well, and George Harrison's nephew was playing bass (which Ray generally handled with his keyboards).
Happy Birthday Mr. Manzarek!
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.
So the Huge punch Iran was suppoed to give us yesterday was the fact that they enrich Uranium?
Um, who didn't know that. Apparently surprises mean diferent things to different people
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!
Mark Levin…..
Good. Finally give the cleaning staff a chance to catch up on all the empty scotch bottles laying around the Senate office buildings.
Man that movie was awful. Fugues Stone was behind it. Every character in it was unsympathetic, narcosis.
"I am the lizard king, I can do anything" and every one melts at the sheer awesomeness of Val Kilmer.
Rush Limbaugh or Sarah Palin.
Happy Birthday Ray…
One of nicest guys you would want to meet. Met him at Borders when he was book signing his first novel"about a rock star that stages his death drops out and goes into exile on the island of Seychelles in the Indian Ocean. Morrison?"
The Doors were one of the most innovative bands of their time, a band with their own sound. The Doors music stands the test of time, they still sound fresh today. If you are interested in the Doors, read Rays bio "Riders on The Storm" he gives an account of his life from Chicago to UCLA his meeting Morrison and starting a band. Great read, Ray is a hip, articulate cat!
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.
I don't have the details at my fingertips, but a few years ago, when the North American Superhighway was a huge issue in Texas, but nearly no one else had heard about it, the Texas Legislature overwhelmingly voted to stop it. Perry blocked their votes. Texans have since slowed that attempt to shove the North American Union down our throats, but apparently the Europeans pushing it aren't going away.
I don't live in Texas, but I would have to dig deeply into that issue before Perry would get my vote.
That was great!
I was expecting a full fledged, brutal crack down on protesters – streets becoming red rivers – that kind of thing.
Thank goodness that didn't happen.
"No eternal reward will forgive us now for wasting the dawn.." Happy Birthday Ray!!
Pitchers and catchers report for spring training soon
O'Reily says that his staff found two Hawaiian newspaper references to B. Hussein O. Jr.'s birth within a week of that date. If accurate, and this info probably is (though I would like O'Reilly to post these references) Hussein was born on US land.
There are at least two outstanding issues.1) When his stepfather took him to Indonesia, BHO's citizenship had to be revoked to get him into a Muslim school. So far, no one has shown that that has been legally reversed.
2) His father was not an American citizen. That automatically disqualifies him from ever being our president.
Happy Bithday, Ray!! Hope you enjoy many many more!!
""""The Doors were one of the most innovative bands of their time, a band with their own sound. The Doors music stands the test of time, they still sound fresh today."""
Absolutely true!!
yes, few days right? I'm ready.
I know it's usually in the middle of Feb. However a lot of the airports in the northeast have been having trouble due to global warming snowstorms.
If you get the chance check out radio station WFAN in NYC http://www.wfan.com/ it's a sports talk radio you can stream on your computer, that is if you haven't already.
Cheers!
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
I've never been a huge fan of the Doors, but I have tons of respect for Manzarek, if only because of his participation on Weird Al's style parody of the Doors, "Craigslist." Anyone who can laugh at themselves is "good people" in my book.
http://youtu.be/y4sALru9IJk
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.
I like the idea of Mark Steyn. Someone ought to get a petition going — if Mark's willing to do the job.
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.
Happy Lincoln's Birthday!
The Quest for #28 Begins!
Without Abraham Lincoln, there would be no Lincoln Highway…..or this song from HOLIDAY INN :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAHSTbD4A5M
*AMC cut this entire sequence from their recent airings of the film.
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!!
Ol' Olly does that a lot in his films. He makes movies about people that existed but has them doing things that Olly thinks they did, not what they historically did. He thinks history is a thing that can be remoulded and shaped according to what interests he has or memories he has about a person or place or thing. Liar about sums it up. Hell, according to his own words he is stoned or tripping balls during the making of most of his films anyway so why let the facts get in the way?
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.)
That's…kind of a backhanded appreciation…appropriate for the time it was made, offensive today. (and if you can't see why it might be considered offensive, God bless you, but shame on you)
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!
BS. There was a birth notice in a Yazoo City, MS newspaper the week my daughter was born – IN MARYLAND! Grandmothers like to do that sort of stuff, you know. BHO's grandmother was in Hawaii, so I'm not surprised she put an announcement in the paper. It doesn't mean he was born there. We know his mother was in Kenya when she was 8 1/2 months pregnant. I think it is highly (HIGHLY!) unlikely that an airline took the risk of letting a woman at that stage of pregnancy get on a 12 hour trans-atlantic flight. In 1959.
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.
Many thanks. I didn't know that grandparents did that. O'Reilly would probably answer, "But why in two different newspapers?" Any thoughts?
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
This isn't remotely offensive today. To make anybody that is to nearly the same rewriting Huckelberry Finn.
To be honest, right now, we require a black writer to be as honest about the 90% inner city, out of wedlock birthrate as Twain was about white brutality in his time.
Fat chance.
Too bad it couldn't have continued, do I love that music!!!
Cute video; thanks for sharing. :>)
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'm going to guess you haven't seen "Precious."
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
let me be the first to say that the new "We are the world" is a hot damn mess
autotuner, mixed generes, egos, vocal calesthenics
good cause, bad tune
and for the record I like the original
William Shatner.
Yeah I was in bands at that time also, I loved the Vox Continental. I think before Ray played the Vox the only guys I remember playing them was Alan Price of the Animals and Mike Smith of the Dave Clark Five, from the British invasion bands.
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!
Excellent, thanks for sharing!!!
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
42 years later and I **still** don't understand some of the Door's lyrics
There's a killer on the road
His brain is squirmin' like a toad
Take a long holiday
Let your children play
If ya give this man a ride
Sweet memory will die
Killer on the road, yeah
Can anyone explain that or is acid required?
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.
"It All Started With Rock and Roll and Now It's Out of Control."
Happy birthday to an LA original and the man I dub "The Alpha Rock Star"
I have had the pleasure of meeting Ray several times and he is always a gentleman and very funny
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