Late Doors frontman Jim Morrison was born 80 years ago this Friday, December 8, and both of the band’s surviving members, guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore, have plans to mark the milestone, albeit separately.
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Krieger will be playing a concert in celebration of Morrison’s birthday and The Doors’ music with his solo band in Las Vegas on Friday night at Count’s Vamp’d Bar & Grill. According to a post on the venue’s social media pages, the show also will feature appearances by as-yet-unannounced special guests.
Doors open at 8 p.m. PT, and tickets can be purchased at VampdVegas.com.
As for Densmore, he’ll be taking part via Zoom in a special Q&A and screening event commemorating Morrison’s milestone birthday at the Orpheum Theatre in Saugerties, New York. Desmore will chat remotely with veteran journalist Richard Goldstein and local radio DJ Greg Gattine about The Doors and Morrison’s legacy.
The event also will feature a screening of clips from a 1969 interview that Goldstein conducted with the band that aired on the PBS show Critique. In addition, the Doors tribute band Feast of Friends will perform, and copies of Densmore’s books The Doors Unhinged: Jim Morrison’s Legacy on Trial and The Seekers, Meetings with Remarkable Musicians (and Other Artists) will be sold in the theater’s lobby.
With his booming voice, poetic lyrics, and charismatic persona, Morrison helped The Doors create some of the most enduring rock music of the late 1960s and early ’70s. The singer, who struggled with alcohol abuse and drug issues, died during a hiatus from the band in Paris on July 3, 1971, at age 27.
Meanwhile, Krieger and his current band The Soul Savages recently announced plans to release their debut album on January 19, 2024.
Titled Robby Krieger and the Soul Savages, the 10-track instrumental collection finds the 77-year-old Rock & Roll Hall of Famer and the band exploring a variety of genres, including jazz fusion, soul, psychedelic rock, blues, and funk. The album’s lead single, “A Day in L.A.,” has been released via digital formats, while a visualizer video for the tune has been posted on YouTube.
Meanwhile, as previously reported, Krieger is scheduled to play a special show at the Whisky a Go Go as part of the famous Los Angeles-area club’s 60th anniversary celebrations on January 16, three days before the album’s release.
