I spoke with Ray Manzarek this week about settling into the Napa Valley and playing the Napa River Festival this weekend (he’ll be doing a few Doors songs with the Napa Valley Symphony). He’s always kept his ears out for new bands, and had nothing but praise for Napa’s own Body or Brain, in whose video he’s made a memorable cameo. They filmed it at The Shop in Sonoma, and Manzarek’s really pretty excellent in it:
[display_podcast]
“I’m just some psychedelic guy from the ’60s.” Ha!
Of course, I also had to ask him if he remembered anything from the legendary night the Doors played the Grace Pavilion at the Santa Rosa Fairgrounds in 1968. He couldn’t recall much other than the band played in a boxing ring, apparently left over from the night before. “That was the only time the Doors ever played inside a boxing ring,” he confirmed. “What in the world was it doing there?”
There are some photos from that show here (scroll down), and apparently it was the first show filmed for the Doors documentary Feast of Friends. So . . . some footage must exist somewhere, right?
FOLLOW US