A Musical Poetry Reading In 1990

[kumininexile]

Around the time that that movie with Kilmer as Morrison came out, Ray Manzarek toured as a backup to a San Francisco poet named Michael McClure, perhaps as a way of promoting the movie about the Doors. I was lucky. I just happened to see an ad in one of the papers here for tickets to this concert, which was more like a musical poetry reading than a regular concert. If it hadn't have been for my seeing that ad in the paper, I never would have known that Manzarek was going to be in town. Ray Manzarek, as perhaps you know, used to be the keyboardist for the Doors. Morrison and McClure were friends before Morrison died and, evidently, this McClure guy remained in contact with Manzarek in the ensuing years after Morrison died, or so it would seem.

The place they played in was nothing more than a bar, located in a popular part of Baltimore known as Fell's Point, where there are a lot of other bars and restaurants. The bar simply had a wooden stage set up in the back, and that was where Manzarek and McClure performed. Manzarek simply played soft background music, while McClure recited his own poetry. Only once did Manzarek play any of the old Doors stuff, and that was at the very end of the performance when Manzarek suddenly broke into a few bars of, "Riders On The Storm," as a gesture to all the Doors fans assembled in the room.

Still for me, this was a divine pilgrimage, since it was the first time I'd ever seen any of the Doors in person. I never saw the Doors in concert, in the years when Morrison was with them. I stood just a couple of yards away from the stage, so I was able to get a good closeup view of Manzarek. I remember I was quite surprised at how much older he looked than he ever had in any of the pictures of him on the covers of the old Doors albums. Nonetheless, this was unmistakably the same guy. And, WHEW! Can that guy play keyboards!