It swoops into your ear, honeyed and witty and clever. It's the voice of a man in his 60s, accomplished and erudite, emotionally and economically secure. In its cadence you detect the bemused air of someone who has seen it all and, thus, accepts life's contradictions with a smile and a shrug.

It's an appealing voice and a persuasive one, too. Within minutes, you find yourself believing Manzarek when he says money motivated nothing surrounding the Doors 21st Century -- not the concept or the current tour, not even the lawsuits both engendered. Indeed, his powers are such that you feel embarrassed by your cynicism.

"What other reason exists in 21st-century America?" Manzarek asked archly. "Money enters into the question, of course, but we're in it for some other thing that you might not understand, young critic.

"It's about transcendence. It's the sheer love of playing Doors' songs one more time.

"Don't forget, you're talking about a couple of old acidhead hippies," he added. "We opened the doors of perception, we broke on through to the other side, and there we remain."

Keyboardist Manzarek and guitarist Robby Krieger dwell in that lotus land alone these days. The other surviving member of the Doors, drummer John Densmore, opted out of the 21st Century project. An alcoholic, Morrison died in Paris 32 years ago this month. He was 27.

Their absences did little to deter Manzarek and Krieger. Inspired by a VH1 special that paired the remaining Doors with a variety of young frontmen, the duo recruited former Cult singer Ian Astbury to handle lead vocals, tapped session drummer Ty Dennis to replace Densmore and added Angelo Barbera on bass. The Doors 21st Century performs Friday at the Chronicle Pavilion in Concord.

Given the Doors' legendary status -- and, yes, the millions a potential tour would gross -- it should come as no surprise that Manzarek and Krieger's reconstituted band prompted a flurry of legal action.

There was Densmore, who sued his Doors partners for copyright infringement and breach of contract. Then came Stewart Copland, the former Police drummer slated to join the group until personality conflicts intervened. Finally, the executors of the Morrison estate -- his parents and those of wife Pamela Courson, also now deceased -- made their objections known.

The suits have all been settled, Manzarek said, acknowledging some surprise at the parties' swift, negative reaction.

"These people wanting to
stop this, I don't know," he said. "I think that they were so madly in love with Jim Morrison that
to continue with the Doors without Jim is sacrilege."

For all that, Manzarek saw himself as doing right by Morrison.

"This is my friend," he said. "I put a band together with Jim Morrison. He's my buddy."

None of the suits -- and particularly not that filed by the Morrison estate -- was about money, he added.

"It's a power trip, man, it's ego. That becomes the whole ball game."

There were generational issues involved in the Morrison suit. Manzarek noted that Morrison and Courson's fathers are military men, World War II veterans with a different outlook -- "they're not acidheads" -- than he and Krieger. There might also be a certain degree of jealousy; after all, Morrison had severed ties with his family by the time the Doors hit it big in 1967.

"He had zip, zilch, zero (contact)," Manzarek said. "Now all of a sudden they're going to be defending Jim? Very strange."

As the hassles recede and the tour progresses, the band and its audience can focus more on the music. The Doors 21st Century play all the 20th-century incarnation's greatest hits ("Light My Fire," "Hello, I Love You," "Touch Me" and "Love Me Two Times," among them) as well as some obscure album tracks ("Maggie M'Gill").

"This is bigger, harder, louder, stronger," Manzarek said. "With today's equipment and having a young drummer and bass player ... the power of the 21st-century Doors goes beyond (the original)."

The Doors were, initially, Manzarek's band, an offshoot of Rick and the Ravens, a blues group he formed with his brothers. And, even before hooking up with the mercurial Morrison, the keyboard player had lived an eventful life.

Ray Manzarek was born in Chicago to a working-class family. He studied classical music as a child, attended a local conservatory and went on to earn a bachelor's degree in economics from DePaul University. Manzarek came West to study law at University of California, Los Angeles, but, after an abbreviated stint in the Army, enrolled in the film school, going on to earn a master's degree.

It was in film school that he met Morrison. The aspiring moviemaker was the son of a career Naval officer and had experienced the transient upbringing common to military families. Among Morrison's childhood homes were Bay Area addresses in Los Altos and Alameda.

Restless and rebellious, Morrison was a voracious reader of poetry and philosophy. He began writing as a teenager and had a backlog of lyrics when he ran into Manzarek one day in August 1965 on Venice Beach.

From that meeting came the Doors, one of the seminal rock acts of the 1960s. Starting with its self-titled debut, the group recorded a string of hit albums -- "Strange Days" (1967), "Waiting For the Sun" (1968), "The Soft Parade" (1969), "Morrison Hotel" (1970), "L.A. Woman" (1971) -- that expanded pop's reach through Morrison's
poetic, sex- and death-drenched lyrics and Manzarek's pioneering keyboard work.

The Doors, however, were not without their detractors. Figures from both without and within the counterculture condemned the band for Morrison's alcohol-fueled excesses and exhibitionism. The group's four years of fame were marked by riots and arrests as much as hit singles.

It came to an end on July 3, 1971, when Morrison's body was found in a Paris bathtub. The group went on to record two more albums -- "Other Voices" (1971) and "Full Circle" (1972) -- before disbanding. Manzarek went on to other projects, including writing, recording the odd solo album and, most significantly, producing the Los Angeles '80s punk band X.

By then, the Doors had undergone an unprecedented renaissance, winning a new generation of fans through a well-timed greatest hits album and the release of "No One Here Gets Out Alive," Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugerman's best-selling Morrison biography. The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The ensuing years have brought a steady stream of Doors products, including
various repackages and live albums, an Oliver Stone movie and the band members' autobiographies. The Doors remain a staple of classic-rock radio, ensuring it an audience in the 21st century.

It is a mix of young and old fans who are turning out to see the the Doors 21st Century, Manzarek said. And you don't need to tell them it's not about the money.

"The audiences have been incredible," he said. "Robby starts 'Roadhouse Blues,' and everybody's on their feet, and they stay on their feet for the next two hours."

* To reach Record Entertainment Editor Brian McCoy, phone
(209) 546-8293 or e-mail
bmccoy@recordnet.com

THE DOORS 21ST CENTURY

* WHEN: 8 p.m. Friday

* WHERE: Chronicle Pavilion,
Concord

* ADMISSION: $30-$55

* INFORMATION: (209) 551-TIXS