Ray news
only for 2008
December 28,
2008 Ray & Robby in Napa
Ray Manzarek and
Robby Krieger
will be doing a special performance at
the Napa Valley Opera House on Saturday, March 21st. This is not listed on
the venue website yet at:
http://www.nvoh.org/
but tickets are on-sale when you click on the link to buy on-line. I'm
not sure what type of program this will be; maybe they will be sharing the stage
with an orchestra. Regardless, it sounds cool and different, and I
probably have to be there myself! When I learn more about the show, I'll
be sharing the news.
============================================================
December 12,
2008 'From The Vault'
'From The Vault' is a syndicated radio
program from the Pacifica Radio Archives. This week's show
focuses on Jim Morrison, and features conversations with Ray Manzarek and Robby
Krieger, and the late Paul Rothchild. If you cannot get this program on a
local station, there is a link to purchase a copy. Read all about it at:
http://fromthevaultradio.org/home/2008/12/05/ftv-135-jim-morrison-poet/
============================================================
December 10,
2008 Ray and Robby interview <> story about Jim's
birthday party
Here is a link to an interview
with Ray and Robby
that apparently was conducted just prior to their arrival at Barney's Beanery on
Monday night for the party and celebration:
http://www.losanjealous.com/2008/12/10/exclusive-a-chat-with-the-doors-and-a-stroll-to-barneys-beanery-on-jim-morrisons-65th-birthday/#more-11625
And here is another link to more perspective on the Barney's Beanery gala on Monday night! http://www.losanjealous.com/2008/12/10/jim-morrisons-65th-birthday-party-presented-by-klos-955-fm-and-featuring-robby-kreiger-and-ray-manzarek-of-the-doors-barneys-beanery-december-8-2008/
============================================================
December 9,
2008 Barney's Beanery event
The Doors and KLOS sure know how to throw a party!
Last night's celebration of Jim Morrison's 65th birthday at Barney's Beanery
was open to fans who won tickets through 95.5 KLOS and invited guests. There
was a huge searchlight out front lighting up the night sky and showing the way
to Barney's! When I arrived shortly after 8 p.m., it was already well
underway and Barney's looked like it could be close to capacity. Robby and
Ray had arrived just a few minutes before me ... they were being mobbed by fans
in the parking lot adjacent to Barney's as I was trying to pull in to park, so I
had to circle the block before I could drive in there. Once inside, it was
indeed one big happy gathering. Naturally, the sound system was playing
the new Matrix CD set, and the closed circuit t.v. screens were showing images
of Jim and the band. The food and the drink were all 'on the house' ...
after all, it was a party! I spotted photographer Henry Diltz walking
through the crowd. Riders On The Storm tour manager Marco Moir, bassist
Phil Chen and drum tech Owen Goldman were all in attendance ... and Owen shared
with me that he plays on the forthcoming Robby solo CD that I mentioned last
week. I spotted a merchandise table that I forgot to return to later to
check out, but I did see the Matrix CDs, the 'Jim Morrison Scrapbook' by Rock
Hall VP Jim Henke, and samples of several of the Converse Doors shoes. Ray
and Robby posed in front of the humongous 3-section sheet cake decorated with
The Doors logo, L.A. Woman lyrics, and Happy Birthday Jim ... Ray made the first
cut in the cake, joined by Robby ... at one point they were both holding big
messy chunks of cake, and a few people started encouraging them to feed each
other the cake! That did not happen. After the cake cutting and
photos, they moved over to the bar area where they both spoke (but I could not
hear!). There was a gold
plaque in a stand on the bar, visible in one of the photos I took. I meant
to return later to take a photo, but forgot! However, I know that the
plaque reads: "Here Sat
Jim Morrison - Poet, Artist, Legend." Ray and Robby then adjourned
to the room on the other side where Jim Ladd would be broadcasting live.
The booths and tables had been removed so there was plenty of standing room in
front of the dais that the three of them sat on. Jim interviewed Ray and
Robby between songs, but unfortunately, it simply could not be heard in the room
where I was. There was lots of singing along coming from that room and it
looked like everybody was having a great time. Ray and Robby both made
their exits about 11:30 p.m. By then the crowd inside had thinned and fans
who had been standing outside were allowed in. When I left at about 12:30
a.m. the party was still going on, there were quite a few people inside
Barney's. There are 8 photos from last night that can be
viewed here.
If anyone can find a link to the webcast or other photos, please send it along.
============================================================
December 8,
2008 webcast
& radio interview reminders <> Jim's grave on 60th
Don't forget tonight's
webcast with Robby and Ray from Barney's Beanery on DJ
Jim Ladd's radio show on KLOS 95.5 ... watch by logging on to
955klos.com
as well as John's radio interview this morning, in about 35
minutes at: http://www.johndensmore.com/denschat.html
Ray and Robby, along with Ian Astbury, Ty Dennis, and Phil Chen, visited Jim Morrison's grave in 2003 on Jim's 60th birthday. I was somewhere in that crowd! The Doors of the 21st Century were on a tour of Europe, and would go on to play an unannounced show at a small club called Le Scene later that night, followed by a huge sold-out show the next night at Le Zenith. An exclusive video of the band members at Jim's grave is available on YouTube for just a few days. View it at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6bxopJo8AY (thanks, Art)
============================================================
November 19,
2008 Barney's Beanery event
Robby Krieger and
Ray Manzarek will honor what would have been
Jim Morrison's 65th birthday on December 8th with a gala celebration at L.A.
world-famous Barney's Beanery. There will be a live
KLOS radio broadcast hosted by
DJ Jim Ladd.
Winners of a KLOS contest will get to meet & greet Robby and Ray. There
will even be a memorial plaque to mark the place where Jim allegedly urinated on
the bar, which got him barred from the establishment. This event is open
to the public, so maybe you can even get the band's manager Jeff Jampol to buy
you a beer! I know I'm going to give that a shot. This event also
marks the November 18th release of the "Live At The Matrix 1967" 2-CD release.
If you haven't yet ordered your copy of this latest release, go to:
http://thedoors.shop.musictoday.com/Dept.aspx?cp=1127_14636
To read the full press release,
go here.
(thanks, George)
============================================================
November 3,
2008 Ray's Grammy nomination
Ray Manzarek and slide guitarist Roy Rogers
released a new instrumental album earlier this year entitled
"Ballads Before The Rain", which includes reinterpretations of two Doors
classics, namely, Crystal Ship and Riders On The Storm. The latter is now
nominated for Best Instrumental Pop Recording for the 2009 Grammy awards.
Congratulations, Ray! For more info or to purchase the CD, go to:
http://www.roy-rogers.com/discography?id=23
If you are in the Seattle area, you can catch Ray and Roy playing two shows
there in January. For more info or to
purchase tickets, go to:
http://www.thetripledoor.net/event.aspx?eid=3834&venue=mainstage
============================================================
October 31,
2008 Ray to play Seattle
Ray Manzarek and slide guitarist
Roy Rogers will play two nights at
The Triple Door
in Seattle on Friday and Saturday, January 9 and 10th. For more info or to
purchase tickets, go to:
http://www.thetripledoor.net/event.aspx?eid=3834&venue=mainstage
(thanks, Steve and George)
============================================================
October 15,
2008 Robby & Ray in golf tourney <> Ray
guests at NORML
Robby Krieger and Ray Manzarek
will both participate in a
Celebrity Golf Classic on Thursday, November 6th as a kickoff event for the 2008
Ojai Film Festival. Proceeds will benefit the Breast Cancer Resource
Center at Community Memorial Hospital and the Ojai Film Festival. For more
information, go to:
http://ojaivalleynews.blogspot.com/2008/10/stars-tee-it-up-for-ojai-film-festival.html
Ray Manzarek is one of the featured guests at NORML's 37th annual national conference, "It's Not Your Parents' Prohibition' this weekend. The conference is this Friday and Saturday, October 17 and 18, at the Doubletree Hotel and Executive Meeting Center in Berkeley, California. For more information, go to: http://blog.norml.org/2008/10/13/last-chance-to-register-for-norml’s-2008-national-conference/
============================================================
October 7,
2008 Ray at film festival
Ray Manzarek was
scheduled to
appear along with other musicians last Friday night in
Mill Valley, CA following clips from the 1972 concert film, 'Last Days of the
Fillmore.' This event was part of the Mill Valley Film Festival.
============================================================
September 23,
2008 Ray on L Studio <> Ray call-in interview <> Classic Album series on
t.v.
Ray Manzarek
is featured in a
video on the L Studio, launched today by Lexus. This is
described as 'a new web hub for creative innovation, featuring an eclectic mix
of snazzy original web video content'! To see Ray's video, go to:
http://lstudio.lexus.com/#vid1156
There may be more than one with Ray, but I could only find this
one for starters. To learn more about this series, go to:
http://news.tubefilter.tv/2008/09/23/lisa-kudrows-web-therapy-headlines-lexus-l-studio-launch/
Ray Manzarek can be heard in a 14-minute call-in interview earlier today with DJ John DeBella on Philadelphia's 102.9 WMGK. Catch it at: http://wmgk.com/Audio/tabid/209/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/1053/Ray-Manzareck-Interview.aspx
============================================================
September 12,
2008 Ray in Fillmore DVD
Ray Manzarek is one of the guest
appearances
in a forthcoming documentary DVD called "Fillmore: Last Days".
Currently scheduled for release on November 11, it gets a screening on October
3rd at the Mill Valley Film Festival. Read the full story at:
http://www.thecelebritycafe.com/features/19943.html
============================================================
May 27,
2008 Ray interview
Ray Manzarek talks about the forthcoming
Doors documentary and other projects just released or in process, in an
interview on Billboard.com. He also mentions that he has four movie
scripts that he is working on. Four scripts!!!! Read the
story at:
http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003808282
============================================================
May 26,
2008 Ray offers 'tips'
Ray Manzarek contributes toking tips in
a new book called "Pot Culture: The A-Z Guide To Stoner
Language and Life." Read more about this book at:
http://www.spinner.com/2008/05/23/rockers-speak-bluntly-about-pot-in-new-book/
============================================================
May 21,
2008 Ray on GoTV
Ray Manzarek has completed an interview
with talking and playing for a future episode for GoTV.
There is no broadcast info available yet, but check out the site at:
www.gotvnetworks.com
============================================================
May 7,
2008 Ray & McClure tonight <> Hard Rock Vault
on-line <> L.A. rock history tour
Ray Manzarek and Michael McClure
are performing tonight at Yoshi's in San Francisco,
along with other members of Big Mix: saxophonist George Brooks, bassist
Rob Wasserman, and drummer Jay Lane. Tonight's program is described as an
evening of sophisticated anti-politics, elegant improvisation, American haiku
and jazz-drenched dharma boogie! Sadly, this notice is too late for anyone
in the bay area who may have wanted to attend.
============================================================
April
24, 2008 review of Ray's new CD
A local newspaper's column today
on new instrumental releases included a very positive
review of the new CD release from Ray and slide guitarist Roy Rogers:
Ray Manzarek & Roy Rogers "Ballads Before
the Rain" (Friday Music) – Over the past few years,
Huntington Beach-based classic rock label Friday Music has issued a wealth of
winning releases and reissues from the likes of Deep Purple, Paul Rodgers, Tommy
Bolin, Sweet and Richie Furay. Now music fans can thank the Surf City
label for the April 8 release of one of the most stunning soon-to-be-classic
sets of 2008. "Ballads Before the Rain" may boost a new instrumental take on a
few classics (notably the Doors' "The Crystal Ship" and "Riders On The Storm"),
but Manzarek's distinctive and influential keyboard playing is a perfect fit
with Rogers' astonishing guitar work. The blend of rock, jazz, classical
and blues styles showcased here will lead to a new appreciation of Manzarek (who
co-founded the Doors with Jim Morrison in 1965), and – hopefully – greater
recognition of slide guitar virtuoso Rogers. Information: www.fridaymusic.com.
(thanks, George)
============================================================
April
17,
2008 Ray's new CD <> Ray's website contest
Ray Manzarek's new CD collaboration with
slide guitarist Roy Rogers can be ordered in Europe at this link:
http://eil.com/shop/moreinfo.asp?catalogid=431798&From=EIL_ZAR-COL-02042008-0915.STT.-DOR-Wed
(thanks, Gilles)
Ray Manzarek's webmaster recently announced a new contest that relates to Ray's novel, 'Snake Moon'. For more information and to enter, go to: http://www.raymanzarek.us/snakemooncontest/index.html
============================================================
March
27, 2008 Ray wins court reversal
Ray Manzarek won in a Court of
Appeals this week in an action against his insurer for
refusing to defend him in the lawsuit over the use of the band's name brought by
John Densmore in 2003. A thorough explanation of this complicated matter
can be found at: http://www.metnews.com/articles/2008/manz032608.htm
============================================================
March 14,
2008 Ray on UCLA DVD
Ray Manzarek is one of the UCLA
alumni who contributed to "The UCLA Dynasty", out today on DVD. I think
this had been an HBO program originally. The program is about the sports
drama on and off court at UCLA during the John Wooden era there. Also
contributing to the program are Wayne's World director Penelope Spheeris, actor
and former UCLA quarterback Mark Harmon, and former basketball team member and
actor Beau Bridges.
============================================================
February 25,
2008 Ray's & Roy's release date
Ray Manzarek's album
of instrumental duets
with slide guitarist Roy Rogers has an April 1 release date. The title of
the release is 'Ballads Before The Rain'.
============================================================
February
20, 2008 happy birthday to Ray
First and foremost, belated happy 69th birthday to Ray Manzarek. I hope he had a great day, but he was
probably busy getting ready to go on the road to Mexico for several weeks.
============================================================
January
26, 2008 Ray signed to label
Ray Manzarek has signed
with Friday Music. His debut for the label is due out in April.
According to a story at Billboard.com, the album will be titled "Ballads
Before the Rain" and is a collaboration with slide guitarist Roy
Rogers. The album will reprise Doors faves such as 'Riders On The Storm'
and 'Crystal Ship' in addition to seven new tracks. Friday Music is
distributed by Ryko in the U.S., Universal Music in Canada, and Pinnacle
Entertainment internationally. Congratulations, Ray! To read
the story, go to: http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003702218
============================================================
January
23, 2008 Robby & Ray on the radio
Robby Krieger and Ray Manzarek will be guests this Thursday
night, January 24th on radio's Coast To Coast hosted by George Noory. The
website previously indicated that Jim Morrison's former brother-in-law Alan
Graham, would be on hand with Robby. That has now been revised to
indicate that it will be Ray and Robby instead, and no Alan Graham. C2C
music authority R. Gary Patterson will be on the show with them, discussing
questions surrounding Morrison's death, as well as the belief that he may still
be alive. The show is live nightly from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., Pacific
time. Robby and Ray should be on starting about 10:30 p.m. For more
info, go to: http://www.coasttocoastam.com/shows/schedule.html
============================================================
January 9,
2008 Ray at Fillmore on Friday
Ray Manzarek and slide
guitarist Roy Rogers are some of the participants at Friday night's show at
The Fillmore in San Francisco for the third annual celebration of Bill
Graham's birthday. Tickets for "Bill's Birthday Bash: An Evening of
Duets" are available through Ticketmaster (unless it is sold out,
natch). The show is a benefit for the Bill Graham Foundation.
Several Bay Area papers ran a preview story today about the show. To read
it, go to: http://www.mercurynews.com/music/ci_7910453
============================================================
Ray
news 2007 <> Ray news 2006 <> Ray news 2005 <> Ray news 2004 <> Ray news 2003 <> Ray news 2002
http://www.raymanzarek.us/ Ray Manzarek website
return to Ida's
L.A.
Woman Confidential home page
for more Doors news and reviews