![]() What do you do after that? Some people turn to drugs. So, I’m looking on the downside of a giant peak called “The Doors,” which kills people. ![]() How did you discover writing? And did you ever imagine that you would write three books? You mean that you don’t have a co-writer or a ghostwriter? ![]() Can you talk about John Densmore, the writer? You were the first member of the Doors to write a memoir. JAMES PENNER: Most people know you as a musician. He was more than willing to field any question I had about any topic: his divorces, his psychedelic experiences, and his occasionally tumultuous relationships with Morrison, Manzarek, and Krieger. Much like his books, he struck me as remarkably open and unguarded about his life. Densmore, who is gregarious by nature, was eager to get started. He guided me through his art-filled house, ushering me to a sunlit breakfast nook where I could put down my books, notepads, and recording devices. A youthful 78 with a thin physique, he was wearing his gray hair long and sporting a mustache and an earring. As I walked through the portal, Densmore greeted me from his porch. ![]() I imagined that these beautiful doors were probably what had attracted Densmore to the property when he bought it in the mid-1970s. What did he think of Krieger’s confessional memoir Set the Night on Fire: Living, Dying, and Playing Guitar with the Doors (2021)? Did he approve? Or did the book simply open up old wounds from the trial? I also wanted to continue my own pharmacological reading of the Doors’ music (developed in my previous Los Angeles Review of Books interview with Krieger) specifically, I wanted to understand how psychedelics had influenced the band.Īs I parked my car and walked to the house, I encountered a majestic set of wooden doors facing the street and knew that I had found the place. Writing the chapter on Manzarek was particularly emotional for Densmore because the two band members had been adversaries in a million-dollar lawsuit over the right to use the band’s name while touring.Īs I drove to Densmore’s hillside abode in the Santa Monica Mountains on a warm September morning, I wondered about his current relationship with Krieger. The most recent of these works is a rhapsodic tribute to the musicians and artists who have fed his imagination and influenced him throughout his life: Elvin Jones, Van Morrison, Patti Smith, Jimi Hendrix, Ravi Shankar, Gustavo Dudamel, and, of course, Ray Manzarek and Jim Morrison. In the last four decades, he has published three memoirs: Riders on the Storm: My Life with Jim Morrison and The Doors (1990), The Doors Unhinged: Jim Morrison’s Legacy Goes on Trial (2013), and The Seekers: Meetings with Remarkable Musicians (and Other Artists) (2020). Although Densmore still plays live music occasionally, writing has been equally important to him. Each new art form he has discovered has fed his psyche, staving off depression and the destructive urges that consumed Morrison and Krieger. In the decades following Morrison’s death, he has acted in plays, written memoirs, and read poetry while playing hand drums. ![]() He thus made it his personal goal to “stay out of trouble” by pursuing various art forms throughout his life.įor Densmore, art has functioned as an antidote to self-destruction. Like guitarist Robby Krieger, John Densmore, the band’s mercurial percussionist, knew it was inevitable that he would miss the peak experience of playing live music for thousands of people he also instinctively knew that rock stars in his position were uniquely susceptible to addiction and various forms of self-destruction. The iconic lead singer’s untimely death meant that they would have to wrestle with the loss for the rest of their lives. WHEN JIM MORRISON died in a Paris bathtub in the summer of 1971, the event had a ripple effect on each remaining member of the Doors. ![]()
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