{"id":9465,"date":"2025-03-16T21:45:06","date_gmt":"2025-03-17T04:45:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/?page_id=9465"},"modified":"2025-06-19T17:30:24","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T00:30:24","slug":"an-elegy-for-ray-manzarek-pay-some-attention-to-the-man-behind-the-curtain","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/performance-reviews\/an-elegy-for-ray-manzarek-pay-some-attention-to-the-man-behind-the-curtain\/","title":{"rendered":"An Elegy for Ray Manzarek: Pay Some Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The only time I ever walked out of a show was during a solo performance of Ray Manzarek. However, that evening made an indelible mark on me and clarified a lot of how I feel about The Doors and their legacy.<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

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WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA – AUGUST 18: Keyboardist Ray Manzarek of The Doors performs with Marilyn Manson on day 3 of the Sunset Strip Music Festival on August 18, 2012 in West Hollywood, California. (Photo by Chelsea Lauren\/WireImage)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
\"Roger<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By Roger Weisman, Contributor<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Playwright, raconteur, and media\/culture writer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

May 24, 2013, 12:54 PM EDT \/ Updated<\/strong>\u00a0Jul 23, 2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. Contributors control their own work and posted freely to our site. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The only time I ever walked out of a show was during a solo performance of Ray Manzarek. It’s strange and sad that that was the first thing that came to mind upon hearing of the passing of the legendary founding member and keyboard player of The Doors. However, that evening made an indelible mark on me and clarified a lot of how I feel about The Doors and their legacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The show was at the Bottom Line in New York a little over ten years ago. I’m not sure what I was expecting to see. Opening the show for him was the poet\/musician Jim Carroll, who did a spoken word performance, at the end of which Ray joined him onstage to provide piano accompaniment to some poems. Curiously, the stage did not look like it was set up for a band to play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What I did not know when I went to the show was that Manzarek was on a book tour at the time. He had written a novel entitled The Poet in Exile<\/em>, about a musician named “Roy” who begins a journey to seek “The Poet,” the lead singer from his former band, long since thought dead, but in fact living on an island somewhere, essentially culminating in some kind of reconciliation and closure. As Manzarek stood on stage and described the book, I could discern a feeling of incredulity from the audience. The performance consisted of Manzarek performing instrumental, solo renditions of Doors songs on the piano in between his banter and recitation of passages from his novel. I left about fifteen minutes into his “set.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a sad spectacle to see. I had gone to the show because I always liked Ray. I’m one of those people who like The Doors in spite of Jim Morrison, and not because of him. Yes, Jim had a great voice, and was certainly charismatic, I suppose. Still, I always thought him ridiculous and self-important, as well as unfairly overshadowing his band-mates’ contributions. Also, rightly or wrongly, I always perceived of Manzarek as the architect of the band’s sound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Manzarek certainly wasn’t as cool as Morrison. I always thought he looked kind of like the morose older brother of the Lovin’ Spoonful’s John Sebastian (who, as it turns out, played un-credited harmonica on the track, “Roadside Blues”). But hunched over the keyboard, laying down his dark organ textures with his right hand while handling the bass parts with his left (the Doors never had an official bass player), he cut a striking image of his own, the somber engineer, the mad scientist, the man behind the curtain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After The Doors disillusion, his influence would continue, playing on albums by the likes of Echo and the Bunnymen, and producing the first four albums by the seminal Los Angeles punk band, X. More recently, he would work with other poets (I say “other” for the benefit of those who believe that Jim Morrison was a poet), most notably beat poet Michael McClure, providing acoustic backdrops for their work on record and in performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, he lurked in Jim’s shadow. He even seemed very comfortable there. I guess it makes sense. Through his constant reinforcement of the myth of the Lizard King, through books, interviews and the like, he succeeded in making the shadow a bigger place to inhabit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again, I don’t mean to be insulting to Ray Manzarek here. Quite the opposite. I think he deserves more credit, even more than he gave himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The point is that Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore were not merely a backing band for Jim Morrison. Yes, it has been argued that The Doors would have been nothing without Jim Morrison, and even I grudgingly have to agree, but all too rarely is the converse argued, that Jim Morrison would have been nothing without The Doors. The band’s aggression, colored by Manzarek’s dark, almost gothic tones, gave weight to Morrison’s lyrics and vocals, which otherwise would have been mere self-indulgent ravings. I think too often people don’t realize this. I think the thing that bothered me the most about seeing Ray plugging his book onstage at the Bottom Line all those years ago, was the fact that, at the time at least, it seemed he’d forgotten that himself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The only time I ever walked out of a show was during a solo performance of Ray Manzarek. However, that evening made an indelible mark on me and clarified a lot of how I feel about The Doors and their legacy. By Roger Weisman, Contributor Playwright, raconteur, and media\/culture writer May 24, 2013, 12:54 PM EDT … Continue reading An Elegy for Ray Manzarek: Pay Some Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":3985,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"folder":[],"class_list":["post-9465","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P9VlUH-2sF","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4579,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/feature-articles\/surviving-doors-open-to-recording-with-weiland-astbury\/","url_meta":{"origin":9465,"position":0},"title":"Surviving Doors Open to Recording with Weiland, Astbury","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"By Corey MossMTV News\u00a05 January 2001 The Doors' recent appearance on \"VH1 Storytellers,\" which paired surviving members Robbie Krieger, Ray Manzarek and John Densmore with singers such as Stone Temple Pilots' Scott Weiland, Creed's Scott Stapp, and Days of the New's Travis Meeks, may yield a collaboration album of new\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/sq-stp-weiland-bw-cbr.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4096,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/photos-video-audio\/photo-gallery\/the-jim-carroll-website-image-gallery-jim-carroll-and-ray-manzarek\/","url_meta":{"origin":9465,"position":1},"title":"The Jim Carroll Website: Image Gallery: Jim Carroll and Ray Manzarek","author":"catholicboy.com","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Jim Carroll & Ray Manzarek Rolling Stone 1986 Scan courtesy of Joel Gilbreath--THANKS! Thanks also to Jeremy Deibel! END_CONTENT_AREA \/\/","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9436,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/background\/friends-influences\/important-people-in-carrolls-life-and-work\/artistic-influences-mentors-supporters\/other-important-people\/","url_meta":{"origin":9465,"position":2},"title":"Other Important People","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"March 16, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"JOHN ASHBERY John Ashbery Ashbery is another important literary influence on Carroll, but I don't know any details. The title of the prose piece \"'The Academy of the Future Is Opening Its Doors . . .,'\" in\u00a0The Book of Nods\u00a0is a line from Ashbery. Ashbery appears in\u00a0Disconnected\u00a0with Carroll and others.\u00a0Read\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Lawrence-ferlinghetti-by-elsa-dorfman_cropped.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4071,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/works\/jim-carroll-music-and-spoken-word\/music-jim-carrolls-collaborations-with-other-artists\/","url_meta":{"origin":9465,"position":3},"title":"Music: Jim Carroll’s Collaborations with Other Artists","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"When Legends Collide (2023)By: Blue CoupeLabel: Self-released This effort by Blue Oyster Cult and Alice Cooper alums includes \"Angel's Well,\" which features early Carroll lyrics. Get this recording on Amazon or iTunes Twisted Tales (2013)By: Ray Manzarek & Roy RogersLabel: CNC Records From https:\/\/raymanzarek.com\/discography-twisted-tales\/:\u201cJust Like Sherlock Holmes,\u201d \u201cCops Talk,\u201d \u201cStreet\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/herman-brood-the-brood.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/herman-brood-the-brood.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/herman-brood-the-brood.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/herman-brood-the-brood.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4105,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/photos-video-audio\/photo-gallery\/artwork-autographs-artifacts\/the-jim-carroll-website-image-gallery-artwork-autographs-and-artifacts-ticket-stubs\/","url_meta":{"origin":9465,"position":4},"title":"The Jim Carroll Website: Image Gallery: Artwork, Autographs, and Artifacts: Ticket Stubs","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Ticket Stubs These are ticket stubs that have been sent to me by Jim Carroll fans or are from performances I have attended. Tickets from The Bottom Line New York, NY (12 November 1998) Signed by Lenny Kaye Cassie Carter The Bottom Line 11\/12\/98 On the evening of November 12,\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9348,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/background\/friends-influences\/important-people-in-carrolls-life-and-work\/","url_meta":{"origin":9465,"position":5},"title":"Important people in Carroll\u2019s life and work","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"March 12, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Index: Artistic Influences, Mentors, & Supporters John Ashbery\u00a0|\u00a0Bill Berkson\u00a0|\u00a0Brigid Berlin\u00a0|\u00a0Ted Berrigan\u00a0|\u00a0William S. Burroughs\u00a0| Joseph Campbell | \u00a0Tom Clark\u00a0|\u00a0Kurt Cobain\u00a0|\u00a0Salvador Dali\u00a0|\u00a0Edwin Denby\u00a0|\u00a0Bob Dylan\u00a0|\u00a0Lawrence Ferlenghetti\u00a0|\u00a0Allen Ginsberg\u00a0|\u00a0John Giorno\u00a0|\u00a0Richard Hell\u00a0|\u00a0Lenny Kaye\u00a0|\u00a0Jack Kerouac\u00a0|\u00a0Gerard Malanga\u00a0|\u00a0Ray Manzarek\u00a0|\u00a0Robert Mapplethorpe\u00a0|\u00a0Michael McClure\u00a0|\u00a0Henry Miller\u00a0|\u00a0Paul Morrissey\u00a0|\u00a0Forrest \"Frosty\" Myers\u00a0|\u00a0Phil Ochs\u00a0|\u00a0Frank O'Hara\u00a0|\u00a0Peter Orlovsky\u00a0|\u00a0Lou Reed\u00a0|\u00a0Arthur Rimbaud\u00a0|\u00a0Larry Rivers\u00a0|\u00a0Patti Smith\u00a0|\u00a0Robert Smithson\u00a0|\u00a0Terry Southern\u00a0|\u00a0Velvet Undergound\u00a0|\u00a0Anne Waldman\u00a0|\u00a0Andrea Warhol\u00a0|\u00a0Andy Warhol\u00a0 Index:\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9465"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9465\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9467,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9465\/revisions\/9467"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/folder?post=9465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}