SET THE NIGHT ON FIRE : LIVING, DYING, and PLAYING GUITAR WITH THE DOORS by Robbie Krieger "Listened to on an Audio Book"
First, this book is read by someone else, not Robbie Krieger, but the reader's male voice was not terribly unlike Krieger's which is a good thing because I had no trouble believing I was listening to Krieger. The reader did a good job of following the intent of Krieger, the emotions of the telling. So when I think about Krieger's writerly "voice" I mean both the reading of it, and the telling of it.
Unlike many memoirs, this one does not proceed from start to finish in the telling but rather each chapter is topical. The story telling is a circling, a dipping and flying again, adventure, going back to Jim Morrison and the Doors often and Krieger's personal experience and life - before, during, and after being part of one of the most famous music groups in American history, made more famous, I feel, in years after their time with Jim Morrison, the singer. He answered the question "How did being in The Doors effect your life?"
Krieger comes off as genuine and frank. He includes his heroin addiction and what that meant when it came to being a father. That all the doors managed to evade the draft for the Viet Nam war. His honesty includes that he thinks Ray Manzarek, the keyboardist, expressed some strange, if not esoteric, notions in his own memoir. He says he cannot imagine the Jim Morrison he knew indulging in any "witch wedding." He thinks resistance to using Door's music for commercials makes no sense. He also thinks some of those who wrote books about the Doors, especially those who were not there, are - did he use the word "bullshit"? - I think he did. Overall, Krieger's memoir is one that takes issue with reportage of the past, including that of film-maker Oliver Stone's exaggerated and erroneous take on Morrison and the Doors. Importantly he says that Jim Morrison did not expose himself on stage in Florida - or anywhere. And the backstage problems with the police also did not happen as the film suggests. But, significantly, he was amazed by actor Val Kilmer's interpretation of Morrison.
Krieger wrote Light My Fire, perhaps the most famous of all the songs the group recorded long ago. It's been years since I heard that song blaring out of a radio, and I feel that the Door's music has what can properly be called "a cult following."
Like most of the music that I find on YouTube and embed into this blog, I became of that music as an Oldie. I was not aware of the Doors when they were actually a group. There was one kid in my high school who was into their music and supposedly had all their albums, a too skinny kid who was also a genius and once took a brief stroll as an opportunity to give me a gentle kiss. But my best friend was accumulating Beatle's albums. So I came to the Door's music late and like many, mostly after the film. I must also admit that I saw Oliver Stone film in Hollywood on a triple wide screen and thought it was fantastic, that it captured some energy that had come out of that era. I've seen it on smaller screens since, at least twice, each time noticing something new.
It's been a while since I traveled the canyon and went past the renamed Love Street, in Laurel Canyon, but we all knew that house with "Jim Lives" spray painted on a foundation behind the store, was where he and his girlfriend Pam had lived. So, I feel it is near impossible to be an Angeleno and not learn about the Doors. And, there is something about their music that IS Los Angeles at a certain time and place - the beach at Santa Monica - Sunset Strip - which is evocative.
Krieger came from an advantaged family and credits his dad as being especially supportive of his efforts and The Doors as a group. He says that Jim Morrison and his dad could really talk because of his dad's acceptance, unlike the relationship Morrison had with his own father.
After finishing this book, I went onto YouTube and listened to videos of the Doors for a while, including their performance for their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
How many of your friends from your twenties do you still know? How many of the people you creatively collaborated with do you still?
C 2023 Christine Trzyna
