Doors Man Lights Another Fire

Had Ray Manzarek not picked one particular early July day in 1965 to meditate on Venice Beach, rock history might be written differently. The keyboardist might never have bumped into his old film school classmate, Jim Morrison, and the pair might never have decided to form a band.

Fame followed for The Doors, who burned "Light My Fire," "Break On Through (To the Other Side)" and "Hello, I Love You" into the framework of classic rock. Unfortunately, fame was followed by premature death: Morrison's, from heart failure, in the bathtub of a Paris apartment on an early July day in 1971. He was 27.

Manzarek, 71, will perform at Red Rock Resort on Saturday with a new partner. He and blues slide guitarist Roy Rogers, 60, launch a tour there to support an upcoming album, their second together. As usual, however, it's the shadow of Manzarek's old partner that will occupy center stage. (His other current band, Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger of The Doors, actually replaces Morrison with a sound-alike singer.)

Manzarek spoke to the R-J by phone from his home in Napa Valley, Calif.

Question: What can people expect to see at Red Rock?

Answer: It's going to be hard-driving blues night in Las Vegas, with modern, contemporary American blues.

Q: Do people confuse Roy Rogers with the cowboy?

A: He's been living with that his whole life: "Is Trigger gonna be there?" Guffaw, guffaw, guffaw. So we pay no attention to that. The people who are gonna come to the show are probably fully aware of the fact that the cat plays blues guitar.

Q: Will you sing Doors songs?

A: We will do "Riders on the Storm" and "Roadhouse Blues." But you must sit through our new songs to hear the classics.

Q: What's the status of your band with Robby?

A: We still play together, except we have to continually change the name, otherwise the judge is going to put us in jail. (Former Doors drummer John Densmore -- along with Morrison's estate -- successfully sued in 2003 to block the use of their previous name, The Doors of the 21st Century.)

Q: Do you foresee ever performing with John again?

A: In this lifetime? No. In a reincarnation? Yes.

Q: The legal stuff drove the nail too far into the coffin?

A: It seems that way, man. I'm all set and ready to go, but I don't think he'll do it. He said, "I would do it if you get David Bowie." So do we do David Bowie songs or is David Bowie going to sing Doors songs? I like the song "Fashion." I'll do the "beep beep" part.

Q: What would Jim be doing today if he were alive?

A: Singing the blues, writing poetry. He'd be doing the same thing we were doing. We would have just kept changing with the times. The only thing other than what we have done is that we'd make some films together.

Q: You mean films not directed by Oliver Stone.

A: That movie (1991's "The Doors") was a piece of poo-poo from the first time I saw it. It was ridiculous. But I had to be positive about it at the time. They said, "If you say anything negative before this movie comes out, we're suing your ass."

Q: So the definitive Doors movie has yet to be made.

A: See the new documentary ("When You're Strange: A Film About The Doors"). The idea of that is the shamanic quality, Jim Morrison the shaman.

Q: The current thinking is that Jim may not have died from drinking, as was reported at the time, but from a heroin overdose. What do you think?

A: What do I think? I don't know. It's the most bizarre story. Have you heard the recent stories? I've heard that he overdoses in the Rock 'n' Roll Circus in Paris and these two guys carry the body back to his apartment, up three flights of stairs, undress him and put the body in a super hot bath. What are you talking about? Can you imagine two junkies dragging a body down the street and it's Jim?

Q: But heroin would seem to make more sense. People's hearts don't just stop beating when they drink too much alcohol.

A: Well, we'll discuss this later. It's a lengthy discussion, and it's irrelevant to the Ray and Roy blues band. It's a whole other article that you can have fun with.

Contact reporter Corey Levitan at clevitan@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0456.