For Ray Manzarek, the Fire Stays Lit

Despite five decades in the music business, 72-year-old Ray Manzarek is most famous for his association with a man that has been dead for four of them.

The aura of Jim Morrison, frontman for Manzarek’s group The Doors, remains strong, particularly last month at the occasion of the 40th anniversary of his passing, along with the untimely death of Amy Winehouse, the latest addition to the 27 Club.

Manzarek is unabashed in his love for and his memories of Morrison. But while he remains a vigorous promoter of the music The Doors made in the 1960s and early 1970s, continuing to tour with one of his former bandmates as one half of the legendary group, Manzarek refuses to solely be a purveyor of nostalgia.

He recently recorded a well-received album called Translucent Blues with Northern California guitarist Roy Rogers, and the pair are touring on and off throughout the year, including a show next week in Sonora. Manzarek also continues his longtime collaboration with Beat poet Michael McClure, and they’re hitting 142 Throckmorton Theatre Wednesday night alongside a group that includes saxophonist George Brooks, bassist Kai Eckhardt and drummer Jay Lane.

The group promises “an evening of sophisticated anti-politics, elegant improvisation, American haiku, and jazz-drenched dharma boogie.” We reached Manzarek at his home in Napa to chat about the group, the Doors and his never-ending passion for music. 

Mill Valley Patch: Have you played with this group in this configuration before?

Ray Manzarek: No. I’ve played with all of these guys before but this group in the past has had Rob Wasserman on bass, but we’re thrilled to be playing with Kai, with whom I played on Woodstock Revisited.

MVP: How often do you get together with Michael to perform?

RM: Just a couple of times a year. We’re performing about 90 percent originals that I’ve written and playing them to Michael’s poetry.

MVP: You just got off a months worth of shows with (Doors’ guitarist) Robbie Kieger in Europe. How was it?

RM: It was fabulous. We played on July 3, Jim’s disappearance date, in Paris. On that morning, we went to his cemetery, Père Lachaise, and then played the Bataclan theater in the evening. Those fans were maniacs. It was wild. And then we were off to Moscow and Tel Aviv and all over the place. I had a great time.

MVP: And then you’re doing scattered dates with the group in the U.S. throughout the year, including Aug. 20 at the Regency in San Francisco.

RM: Yes, and I’ll be playing with Roy quite a bit as well.

MVP: Mostly blues festivals, I gather?

RM: Yeah we’re both blues guys. We played the Fargo Blues Fest. What a funny town. It’s a lot like the movie without the violence. The people in the movie are the people in Fargo. They’re not in any hurry to get anywhere. At all.

MVP: You on the other hand seem to have multiple projects going at all times at the age of 72. Does your passion for the music ever ebb?

RM: The passion is always there. It never diminishes. Once you get on stage to play your music, it’s zen time. You feed off the energy of the audience. It’s transcendent. It’s always there. I actually have to harness it sometimes – ‘calm down there, passion.’

MVP: You played here in Mill Valley about a year ago. What did you think of the crowd that turned out.

RM: They had to shut it down. It was a bunch of hippies with knives. It was a bit nasty. But Mill Valley is always a great place to play. As long as they keep their knives sheathed. For god’s sakes, people, sheath your knives.