Ian Astbury is part of the lineup at VH1 Classic Decades Rock
Live! Presents D21C in Atlantic City tonight.
BREAK ON THROUGH TO THE OTHER SIDE
BY MARK VOGER
STAFF WRITER
Not enough people are talking about the war in Iraq in Ray Manzarek's view, and he's mad as hell about it.
"We're just gonna go through it and we're gonna spend billions and billions of dollars on the war in Iraq, and that's the way it goes," says the onetime keyboardist for '60s rockers the Doors.
In June, Manzarek played Holmdel with Doors of the 21st Century, his band with his fellow Doors founder, guitarist Robby Krieger, in which singer Ian Astbury channels the late Doors singer Jim Morrison. (An injunction resulting from a suit brought by onetime Doors drummer John Densmore and Morrison's estate has since compelled Manzarek to call his band, simply, D21C.)
D21C set to return to New Jersey tonight with a show in Atlantic City.
The keyboardist marvels at how the current national and international situations remind him of the Doors' '60s heyday, when the nation was divided over the Vietnam War.
"It was a real battle," he says. "It was a battle between one kind of culture and the "straight' culture.
"Obviously, the straight culture won and became even more hard-core and more entrenched. The administration, the born-again people, are totally entrenched. They're running the whole show — oddly enough, running it right to hell."
Manzarek says his heart goes out to our men and women in Iraq.
"You know," the musician says, "wait'll those poor guys and girls come back when this war is finally over. Those poor people are going to have "Vietnam syndrome.' They're gonna have memories creeping back and scaring them. Nightmares at night. Because they're always on guard. Just the way they were in Vietnam. You don't know who the enemy is. You don't know when you're gonna be hit. You only get a little bit of safety in your compound when you're in your bed and you're asleep, but those dreams are the dreams of madness and fear.
"So I feel sorry for those poor kids who are over there fighting. They're doing great. You know, our military is a great bunch of kids. But I really feel sorry that the adults have sent them over there."
Manzarek is aware that Jim Morrison, who died in 1971 at age 27, is still winning new fans. But Manzarek would like these younger fans to find out who the "real" Morrison was.
"The impression they have is from the Oliver Stone movie ("The Doors')," Manzarek laments, "but Jim Morrison was much more intelligent. He was not a crazy drunk, as he was portrayed all the time in that Oliver Stone movie. But he was instead a good friend and he was a good human being."
Young fans who were not yet born during the '60s can still experience the spirit of the decade, Manzarek believes.
"You can find it within yourself," he says.
"You can find it within your friends. It's just a matter of opening the doors of perception.
"We were just like the young people of today — a bunch of kids in high school and college. But we opened the doors of perception and saw through the veil and saw through the web that the government and the churches have tried to spin in front of our eyes.
"And what did we find out? That we were native Americans. That we had something in common with the American Indian. And this is our country. This is our land. We must cherish this land. We must preserve the sacred nature of this land of America. And make it truly the home of the free, the home of the brave. The people who will defend but will not assault. Will not attack, but will defend to the upmost of their might. That's what we found out.
"The young fans have been marvelous (at D21C shows). We knew that we had the magic again, because the fans were just completely in tune with what we were doing."
Tonight's D21C performance is part of a multi-act program being taped for television broadcast. Some artists on the bill — Macy Gray, Perry Farrell of Jane's Addiction and Antigone Rising — reflect more recent tastes.
But D21C will be joined by one old contemporary from the '60s: Vanilla Fudge, whose original lineup (keyboardist Mark Stein, guitarist Vince Martell, bassist Tim Bogert and drummer Carmine Appice) recently reunited for the first time in 30 years.
Explains Appice: "Originally, we were doing Vanilla Fudge without the original members; it was me and Tim. We had a manager who wasn't as strong as he could be."
Appice was unhappy that the Fudge was playing nightclubs instead of arenas.
"A friend of mine called to tell me that (bassist) Phil Chen — who played with me with Rod Stewart — was playing with the Doors. I said, "You know what? Maybe they need a name drummer to play with the Doors.' "
Instead, Doors manager Tom Vitorino suggested reuniting the original Fudge. Recalled Appice: "He (Vitorino) said, "When you pitch it to somebody, you can say, "This was the band that was on "Ed Sullivan.' This is the band that was on "Ed Sullivan' twice. This is the band that Led Zeppelin opened for." ' And all the other "firsts' that we did — this is the band. You can't really say that when you have sidemen in the band."
But this is not a 100 percent "issue-free" reunion.
"Everybody's still got their idiosyncrasies that are nuts," Appice says with a laugh.
"That makes the band what it is. We've all developed differently. Tim has always been his own person. He rides his motorcycles. He did his own thing. I did my own thing. We get on the tour bus. We play together. And live our lives as we go on. It's not a problem.
"You know, we don't have to hang out with each other after working hours."
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