NORTH PALM BEACH LIFE
  • Home
    • Weather >
      • Hurricane Readiness
  • Cruise/Travel
    • Cruise and Travel Stories
  • Gigi in the 561
    • Gigi's Wine Shelf
    • Gigi in the 561 Interviews
    • Cora
    • My Father's Tales >
      • My Father's Tales - Photo Album
    • Travel Bistro
  • Blogs
    • Gerry Pronounced Gary
    • Rock and Roll Rewind
    • Susan Goldfein -- Blog >
      • Susan Goldfein
  • Video
  • Explore
    • October Odyssey >
      • Cartagena, Columbia
      • Panama Canal
      • Antigua, Guatemala
      • Cabo San Lucas
      • Birds and Bees Speakeasy in Los Angeles
      • We Love LA
      • Coast Starlight
      • Napa Wine Tour
      • California Zephyr
      • California Zephyr Part Two
      • Chicago
      • Amtrak Capitol Limited
      • Washington DC
    • Pam - Traveling in Style
    • Road Trip! >
      • Road Trip! -- Tucumcari, New Mexico
      • Road Trip! -- The Painted Desert
      • Road Trip! - Sedona, Arizona
      • Road Trip! - Sedona Wineries
      • Road Trip! Tonto Natural Bridge State Park
      • Road Trip! - Mogollon Rim
      • Road Trip! - Verde Canyon Railroad
      • Road Trip! - Jerome, Arizona
      • Road Trip! - California
      • Road Trip! - Palm Springs Celebrity Tour
      • Road Trip! - Palm Springs Aerial Tramway
      • Road Trip! - Festival in Palm Springs
      • Road Trip! - Willcox, Arizona and Apple Annie's Orchard
      • Road Trip! Willcox Wineries
      • Road Trip! Chiricahua National Monument
      • Road Trip! Tombstone, Arizona
      • Tombstone, Part Two
      • Road Trip! - Epilogue
    • Traveling With Joe >
      • Beartooth Highway
      • North Cascades National Park
      • A Visit to the Philippines
      • Grand Canyon National Park
      • Glacier National Park
      • Yellowstone National Park
      • Hiking in Bear Country
      • Crater Lake National Park
      • Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta
      • The Kerrville Folk Festival
      • Building Hope in the Rio Grande Valley
      • Yellowstone Camping Tales
    • Unknown Yellowstone >
      • Unknown Yellowstone - Heart Lake
      • Unknown Yellowstone - Summit Lake
      • Unknown Yellowstone - Shoshone Lake
      • Unknown Yellowstone - Grizzly Lake
      • Unknown Yellowstone - Riddle Lake
      • Unknown Yellowstone - Pelican Cone
      • Unknown Yellowstone - Mt. Washburn
      • Unknown Yellowstone - Specimen Ridge
      • Unknown Yellowstone - Avalanche Peak
      • Unknown Yellowstone - Divide Creek
  • Contact
    • Media Kit
    • Pamela Barker - Author
    • The Story of StarText
  • Search

rock and roll rewind

An Early Encounter With the Doors

4/30/2020

 
Picture
​He was known as "The Lizard King."

A true rock legend, for his music, his style and his on-stage antics, Jim Morrison and the Doors rose to mega heights before his untimely death in Paris at age 27.

Morrison died before I started my official duties as rock writer, but I, like thousands of others, was a fan.

My encounters with the Doors actually began in 1967 in Fort Worth, Texas. A big rock extravaganza was booked for the Roundup Inn, part of the Will Rogers cultural complex on the city's west side.


One of the big sponsors was local AM station KFJZ, featuring legendary DJ Mark Stevens, better known to his followers as "Mark E. Baby." The big headline act was The Box Tops, who were riding atop the charts with a song called "The Letter."

But one of the secondarty acts was also generating quite a bit of excitement with the song, "Light My Fire." That group was of course The Doors, led by the sultry, deep-voiced Morrison, sporting his trademark leather pants and long, tossled locks. He earned the moniker "Lizard King" with his serpentine stage moves.

Understand the Roundup Inn was a big, cavernous hall, and the acts were scattered about in various locations. Concertgoers shuffled from stage to stage and could literally stand right by the amplifiers, almost able to touch the performers if they wanted to.

So there was Morrison and the rest of the Doors -- Ray Manzarek, John Densmore and Robby Krieger -- performing "Light My Fire" to the crowd that had gathered around them. I was probably 10 feet from Morrison's gyrating microphone stand.

The next time I saw Morrison in Texas was under much different circumstances.

The Doors were headlining a concert in Dallas and "bad boy" Morrison had made headlines when he was arrested for exposing himself at a performance in Miami. Needless to say, Dallas police was out in force.

But this time I brought a camera and managed to snap 20 or so photos of Morrison in action. It was the last time I would see The Doors in concert.

Rock star, poet, film-maker ... Morrison seemed yet another victim of a drug-and-alcohol-laden lifestyle that also claimed fellow rock stars Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin, each of the age of 27.

His songs and persona remain ingrained in our culture, and his gravesite has become one of the top tourist attractions in the City of Light.


Comments are closed.
    Picture

    About 

    Music was always a big deal to me. Whether records, reel-to-reel tape or cassettes, I liked to surround myself with music. So it wasn't a big stretch that when i joined the staff of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in 1970, I volunteered in my off time to write about music and musicians.

    What started as a part-time pursuit grew into me becoming the paper's first full-time rock writer in 1974.

    For the next five years, I attended concerts, reviewed records and interviewed the stars, from Paul McCartney to Cher. It was quite a ride.

    Here are posted some of the hundreds of articles that appeared in the Star-Telegram. Many are faded with time, some are torn, but hopefully still enjoyable for those who fondly remember the music of the Seventies.

    EXTRAS

    Picture
    How It Started

    ​Remembering Jim Croce

    Meet Bill and Taffy
    ​
    An Early Encounter With the Doors

    Archives

    June 2022
    May 2020
    April 2020

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Picture
Contact us: [email protected]

© COPYRIGHT  2025 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Picture
  • Home
    • Weather >
      • Hurricane Readiness
  • Cruise/Travel
    • Cruise and Travel Stories
  • Gigi in the 561
    • Gigi's Wine Shelf
    • Gigi in the 561 Interviews
    • Cora
    • My Father's Tales >
      • My Father's Tales - Photo Album
    • Travel Bistro
  • Blogs
    • Gerry Pronounced Gary
    • Rock and Roll Rewind
    • Susan Goldfein -- Blog >
      • Susan Goldfein
  • Video
  • Explore
    • October Odyssey >
      • Cartagena, Columbia
      • Panama Canal
      • Antigua, Guatemala
      • Cabo San Lucas
      • Birds and Bees Speakeasy in Los Angeles
      • We Love LA
      • Coast Starlight
      • Napa Wine Tour
      • California Zephyr
      • California Zephyr Part Two
      • Chicago
      • Amtrak Capitol Limited
      • Washington DC
    • Pam - Traveling in Style
    • Road Trip! >
      • Road Trip! -- Tucumcari, New Mexico
      • Road Trip! -- The Painted Desert
      • Road Trip! - Sedona, Arizona
      • Road Trip! - Sedona Wineries
      • Road Trip! Tonto Natural Bridge State Park
      • Road Trip! - Mogollon Rim
      • Road Trip! - Verde Canyon Railroad
      • Road Trip! - Jerome, Arizona
      • Road Trip! - California
      • Road Trip! - Palm Springs Celebrity Tour
      • Road Trip! - Palm Springs Aerial Tramway
      • Road Trip! - Festival in Palm Springs
      • Road Trip! - Willcox, Arizona and Apple Annie's Orchard
      • Road Trip! Willcox Wineries
      • Road Trip! Chiricahua National Monument
      • Road Trip! Tombstone, Arizona
      • Tombstone, Part Two
      • Road Trip! - Epilogue
    • Traveling With Joe >
      • Beartooth Highway
      • North Cascades National Park
      • A Visit to the Philippines
      • Grand Canyon National Park
      • Glacier National Park
      • Yellowstone National Park
      • Hiking in Bear Country
      • Crater Lake National Park
      • Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta
      • The Kerrville Folk Festival
      • Building Hope in the Rio Grande Valley
      • Yellowstone Camping Tales
    • Unknown Yellowstone >
      • Unknown Yellowstone - Heart Lake
      • Unknown Yellowstone - Summit Lake
      • Unknown Yellowstone - Shoshone Lake
      • Unknown Yellowstone - Grizzly Lake
      • Unknown Yellowstone - Riddle Lake
      • Unknown Yellowstone - Pelican Cone
      • Unknown Yellowstone - Mt. Washburn
      • Unknown Yellowstone - Specimen Ridge
      • Unknown Yellowstone - Avalanche Peak
      • Unknown Yellowstone - Divide Creek
  • Contact
    • Media Kit
    • Pamela Barker - Author
    • The Story of StarText
  • Search