Tosh's Journal: August 11, 2023 (Alain Robbe-Grillet, Marcel Proust, and The Doors)

 

Tosh's Journal: August 11, 2023

Tosh Berman on Jim Morrison

 

Tosh Berman on Jim Morrison   

https://tosh.substack.com/p/jim-morrison

April 29, 2020 (In The Year of the Trump Virus)

April 29, 2020 (In The Year of the Trump Virus)

I need to walk more. When I do go out to walk, I see other people like me who are thinking of walking for the past few days, and then suddenly, they're out walking at the same time. When I see them, I across the sidewalk to the other side. The problems are, what one should do if two or more are walking toward your direction, and you can't avoid them. The only thing one can do is reverse the trend and go among the others in the same direction. So, my walk is only 1/2 block long, and I'm back in my living room, thinking about my walk, and being aware that strolling in one's neighborhood is a pleasant memory from the past.

From Amoeba Music's website, I purchased The Doors' "Waiting for the Sun." I played it loudly, which made Lun*na closed her studio door. For the past two or three years, I have been criticizing The Doors to friends, enemies, and on various people's Facebook posts. A week ago, I had the urge to listen to the song "Love Street," which is a tune that was a favorite of mine when I first purchased this album in 1968. I was either 13 or 14 years old, and remember having a deep crush on a girl in Topanga Canyon, and whenever I played this song, I thought of her. Playing it now, I still have the memory of having a feeling for this girl, but for the life of me, I can't recall her name or face. My memory never forgets an emotion or a feeling, but people are like ghosts in my life.

I was watching "Columbo" with Ross Martin playing a contemporary snobby art critic who is also a murderer. He had one put-down comment after another, but none of it was witty or wise. Still, I loved watching Martin dealing with Columbo, as the evidence piles up that he is the killer. I fell asleep before the show ended and woke up to another Columbo, where another killer is planning and executing a murder. In my sleepy mind, I couldn't figure out what happened to Ross Martin's art critic. Slowly, I realized that this is another episode of "Columbo," and immediately, I felt sad that I missed the past show. I could have just watched the previous shows' end, but I felt that would be cheating. Perhaps it was fate for me to miss the ending of that specific episode. - Tosh Berman.

"The Doors" by Greil Marcus

Reading Greil Marcus is always a pleasure.  And its the reason why I am reading this particular book, because I really don't have a passion for the Doors or their imagery.  But on the other hand they are a band that's important to my personal culture.  Being raised in Los Angeles, I saw the Doors at the Whiskey, opening for Them with Van (the other) Morrison.   It may have been the first show in a club, not sure.  My mind I was around 12, but I think i was actually 14.   Nevertheless I went there with my Dad to see Them, and the Doors was a superb surprise.  I think it may have been before their first album was released, but I remember being really impressed with Jim Morrison's voice. It sooth as well as rocked.  And there was something quite personal in the way they communicated with their audience in the club.  On the other hand, Them was very cold and cool.  Not a bad thing mind you, but totally the opposite of the Doors.



The next I saw the Doors it was at an outside concert - and I thought they were boring.  They didn't have that concentration or the force of their show at the Whiskey.  And at this time it was around the height of "Light My Fire."  But the magic was gone, at least to my young ears at the time.

The other times were non-musical  - but I remember being invited (with my Dad) to the back stage of the first Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young show at the Greek theater, and as we were walking to the entrance of the backstage, Morrison was being escorted out by a security guard.  Then all of sudden Stills shows up and tells the security guard to let Morrison stay.  And that was my memory of the evening!  The next time after that I saw him in Topanga Canyon, drinking beer in a brown bag behind a wheel of a parked Volkswagon bug.  Of course all of above could have just been a dream, but....



But back to the book, Marcus uses the Doors' culture and music as a springboard on his thoughts on 1960's American culture.  its basicially a long riff how culture and band connects and makes commentary on to each other.  Marcus is writing this book as not only a fan (and he's a very critical fan) but also the state of the world via the eyes of Jim Morrison and Co.