John Densmore

This week's episode of Questlove Supreme pairs Quest and Team Supreme with Rock and Roll royalty, hall of famer and legendary Doors drummer, John Densmore. Listen as John breaks down the creative process of Jim Morrison, life in one of the most rebellious bands of all time and shares his love for Stacey Abrams? You don't want to miss this one!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Quest Love Supreme is a production of I Heart Radio.
It's a It's a Steve show. This is a Steve show. Bro.
Just believe our best episodes or when we don't know
the guys. Yeah, everybody calmed down because I can't carry it.
I'm just going through all right. You know five to

(00:24):
one year. Want to start talking to take over the whole,
I know, I know, like my fire. Of course you
want to samples? Did anyone sample the doors? Yes? They
were a pretty cool Okay, there's a drummer too, by
the way, I no, right, I think that's we have
a whole thing about what kind of tick like we're

(00:44):
gonna take the dining tempt since test today? Yeah, okay, okay,
all right, I'm with it. All right, here we go.
Oh already, Oh let's go. How are you doing? Hey man,
I'm good, good, good to be here with you. Oh hey,

(01:05):
I don't know. I don't know if you can see
this my wardrobe, I see it. Thank you. He sat
in with us night. Yeah. Man. Is it because of
COVID that that the roots are pared down? Yeah, it's

(01:25):
because of we can't state law says that only uh
six people out of eleven h our information. So that's
how it is. Okay, Well, I used to love that,
the tube of duplicating the baselines that sent me right
to New Orleans. Yeah, that's cool crap. Since we're already talking,

(01:50):
let me start the introduction. Uh, ladies and gentlemen, this
is quest Love Supreme. My name is Quest Love. We
have Team Supreme with us. We got fine. Take a
low but Happy New Year, Happy New Year, Happy New Year.
This is also the time that I'm not pluralizing the
word year. Uh. I always say Happy New Year's and

(02:10):
I've been corrected one too many times. Um, Sugar Steve, Hello, Hello,
how are you doing everybody? Hi John. It's kind of
weird for me to say a little to you because
I see you every day. So yeah, I'm pretty sick
of you too. Let's move on, okay, Yeah, Happy run
Sugar Steve really is a live episode. Yeah, I'm paid

(02:32):
Billy man with us as well. How you doing good?
Happy run off day? Yeah? Happy? Yeah? Yeah? Happy whatever
you said day and ya as well. That's right. Happy
fifty a month, my friend. Oh, you're right with me.
There's okay, you're still nineteen Yeah, No, I mean I'm not. Yes,
I'm right with you as far as our birthdays on

(02:54):
the same day. But yeah, anyway, all right, so a
guest today, y'all. Our guest is huge, Yeah, very huge.
He's a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame UM, and he's literally from one of the most
influential bands of all time. UM The Doors have sold

(03:16):
over one million records. That's nothing to their music and
their influence still resonates to this day. Yes, I don't
know if you know that. John records to not straight
check my royalties. Yeah. Yeah, we're on the verge of
an you know it as cape back today will be

(03:37):
good not not to mention our guests is also an author, actor, playwright,
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winner and recipient, and we are
extremely honored to have him talk shop with us today
and his his illustrious career. Please welcome to Course Left Supreme.
John Dinsmore, drummer of The Doors. Hey, yo, thank you,

(04:00):
and and I'm not dead you know, yes, congratulations, thank you,
thank you. We're all right now where are you right now?
I'm I'm in my uh office slash rehearsal room. You know,
I meant like, in what part of the world. I'm
in l A where I was born, my mom was

(04:25):
My mom was born here in nineteen o four. And
but but we're not native. The Chumash Indians are the first.
People's got to get that, right. You gotta credit, You've
gotta get it. Yeah, so listen, I want to say, um,
I'm really pleased to be doing this because you know,
Quest and I are in the same tribe, a tribe

(04:48):
called drummers. We are, you know, And I just yeah,
I love that. You know, you're the leader of the roots,
and not a lot of drummer their leaders, and and
and it makes me think of you and Lionel Hampton
or or Arn't Blakey and the jazz Messengers you know
who I saw many times, or Chico Hamilton's who I

(05:11):
stole a ride cymbal bell beat from. You know, so wait,
how did you pull time out? Please tell tell our
audience at Chico Hamilton's is please because nobody ever talks
about him. Well, he was a wonderful jazz cat in
the early sixties and I saw him as a teenager.
I think Charles Lloyd was playing with him, and uh man,

(05:33):
you know, I heard a real cool thing and I
later I put it in the end. You know, you
steal from the best, right exactly. I was. I was
gonna say, though, you're you told me that foulon, that
you're your weapon and choice wasn't initially the drums. You
started out, you said as a piano player. Yeah. Yeah,

(05:55):
that's in my new book, Uh My My Mom is
the first chapter because as sheet encouraged me to play piano,
and I just was crazy for music and I wanted
to play any instrument um. And then I got into
junior high and there there was no piano in the
band or the orchestra, and I chose clarinet because I thought,

(06:17):
you know, Benny Goodman's cool whatever. And I had braces
on my teeth and they said, no, no, no, you
can't do that. You're trying to push them back and
they're gonna come out with that instrument. So drums. Yeah,
so I owe my career to the dentist, you know.
Oh so you're saying that adults, uh encouraged you to

(06:39):
play the drums, because normally, in my situation, adults drums
are always the last resort of every drum because their
parents don't want them to make noise or anything. I
got you. Now, my parents were okay with it, but
quest did you have one of those black rubber pads
a drum pad? You know, they's back, but they have

(07:01):
no no sound, And that's what you gotta do when
you're too loud, right exactly. Well even that, I'll say,
like my first two years of taking drum lessons, you know,
my teacher had like this, this shiny Ludwig drum set
and also a practice pad next to that drum set,

(07:26):
and we would just walk to the practice pad and
I would ask him like, wait, when when do I
get to play those? And he's like, You're not ready yet.
So like for two years I had to play on
that practice pad almost like it was like torture for
you know, to sit there in front of that drum
set and not even touch it for the first two years. Yeah, no,

(07:46):
same deal with me. I was told if I took
private lessons, I get better, and so I did, and
I was surrounded by drum sets on the damn practice
pad with the teacher. So who's your who's your like,
who's your north star? As as far as drumming was concerned,
Like you know, because I mean you were the rock era,

(08:09):
the modern rock era. So it wasn't like you have
tales of seeing anyone that modern musician. See now, So
who was your north star? As far as like like
who would have been your Beatles on Sullivan movement? As
far as like, that's what I want to do for
a living? Elvin Jones, Wow, I got, I got my fake.

(08:30):
I d and Tijuana and went to Shelley's man hole,
which the doorman looked at and said, this is fake,
but come on in, you know. And I saw Coltrane
many times. Oh my god, I want to say that
your fake, I D said, Elvin Jones on it. What

(08:51):
was that like to see people that we take for granted?
I don't think we've ever had a guest on the
show that saw Cultrane. That's seeing like gods and you
knew they were gods? Then? So what was that like
for you to see? All right? Well you can read
all about it in my new book. The second or

(09:12):
third chapter is on Alvin. So, um, you know, I
knew there was magic. I mean I didn't know that
I was seeing iconic, that people were going to be
just legendary, you know, but I sensed just I don't know,
there was fire and energy like I couldn't believe the
conversation Elvin would have with Coltrane. They'd just be you know,

(09:35):
he'd keep the group, but he'd beat riffing off him
all the time. And you know, it gave me a
little courage now and then to riff off Jim Morrison,
you know, and funk around with what what he's saying
and you know, keep the group. But you know, Elvin,
he's my man. And so um, after Coltrane died, I
saw Alvin. Well, let me back up, all right, So

(09:56):
my my idols are in the dressing room at the
Ask Club, and the bathroom is right next to the
jazz club, next to the my brain it's um. One
of the musicians hang out in the green room. And
so I went to the bathroom a lot, you know,

(10:17):
because they were right around the corner, you know. And
and I was afraid to say anything. But later after
Coltrane died, I I introduced myself to Alvin and uh,
and then I had I have three self centered memoirs,
and the first one, Riders on the Storm, I gave

(10:39):
to Alvin and I quickly said, hey, man, I wrote
in here you gave me my hands, you know, worried
that he would be condescending this jazz giant, and he
was so warm and friendly and and I saw him
many more times, and I took his symbol bag to
the car towards the end of his life. So we're
talking a real uh mentor you know, what was it

(11:00):
about his playing? Because a lot of homies I went
to school with um that were in the jazz department,
they all like just swore by Elvin Jones. So if
you could explain to kind of a lay person, what
was it about his drumming technique that just made him
so amazing? I think they called it poly rhythms, you know.
I mean he'd have the pocket. You have to have

(11:23):
the pocket, of course, but he was continually playing triplets
and all this ship all going on all the time,
like churning up an rhythmic egg beater and and and
it sounded like he was going to fall into his kid.
He was. It was just but he didn't, you know,
I don't know That's how I describe it, you know.

(11:45):
Can I ask a question? So with with um your
clear love for for jazz, Um, did you ever actually
play jazz in a in a in a serious way. Yeah.
A few years back I had a group called Tribal Jazz,
which was jazz quartete or quintet with two African drummers,

(12:08):
which was really fun because you know, I'm trying to
end it integrate Senegalese rhythms into a drum kit. You know,
so it rearranged some brain cells. That was good. And
what about back when you were younger, did you play
any jazz inn well as a kid like crazy? And
then I stumbled into this, uh rock band. I say

(12:33):
it worked out pretty good. One of Well, let me
let me ask because um, yeah, like was there music
musical snobbery uh in the in the sixties to the
level of where you know, like it was a big
deal for like Leonard Cohen to say, like I actually
liked the Beatles like that sort of thing was it?

(12:56):
Was it a struggle back into win respect Like did
you care as much you or just were you unaware? Uh?
Back then the whole country was polarized into four and
against the Vietnam War kind of like today's kind of polarized,
you know, and you know rock and roll was against

(13:18):
the war and a sort of liberal bent, and so
you were either for that or you know, I would
say that country music kind of represented the other side.
But the last chapter I got in this book is
on Willie Nelson, And you know, I'm I'm looking for

(13:38):
the soul in any genre. You know, I can get
fed by if you're if you're saying something truthful and
and and if it's in a simplistic form, it doesn't matter. Man.
In fact, in my old age, I've learned that if
if I put the right symbol crash in the exact

(13:58):
right spot, it can be as powerful as uh, you know,
in my twenties when I showed all my ship or
when I had more chops, you know what I mean?
What was the what was the modern music scene like
in Los Angeles in the mid sixties before before you
guys really got established, Like was Whiskey Go Go a

(14:22):
thing sort of before you guys came along, or like
what was Yeah, it was just a modern scene like
exactly now, The Whiskey was mecca and we were playing
in a little club a block down from the Whiskey
the night we were fired because there was a fight,
which we did not cause, but they blamed it on
the band. The booker from the Whiskey dropped in and

(14:44):
sauce and she hired us as the house band at
the Whiskey, and it was heaven. I mean every night
the streets were packed with hippies and music freaks and
and and every band that came in. Oh, I don't know,
let's see Frank Sappa, Captain Beefheart, Van Morrison, etcetera, etcetera,

(15:08):
the Birds, all of you know, they had to deal
with the opening act. I don't mean to well, that
sounded a little self serving, but we were we were different.
We you know, we were the undeclared Vietnam War. We
were not singing about peace and love. We were singing

(15:28):
about this is the end, beautiful friend man. Things are
there's a lot of lying going on, and so you know,
we played light by Fire and everybody dance and that
was really cool. And then we played the end and
it got very quiet and then people had to follow that,

(15:49):
the other bands, which I mean we were friends with
them all. But it was a really cool scene. What
were you What were your thoughts on like the post
mod kind of movement of music, like people that weren't
that political, more poppy, like I guess I still want
to know, like where they're different tribes or different cliques

(16:11):
of did you guys mess together at all? You know,
the British invasion was kind of poppy, you know, but
then um, then we all started experimenting with then legal
psychedelics and uh and the Beatles music got a little
darker like ours. Did you appreciate it at the time, Well,

(16:33):
appreciate their contribution at the time. You know, it's it's
from a from a person from my generation. We'll be
quick to lump like anyone that came from the mid
to late sixties in the same bowl, you know, whereas
I'm certain that three four decades from now, you know,

(16:57):
somebody will look at my band and or Font's band
and you know just think like, okay, well, you know,
Kanye West outcast, you guys are all the same where
we've we've talked much about each other and that sort
of thing. So like, you know, were you you thought
so when you're contemporaries at the time like Stones, Beatles,

(17:21):
the who Let me break it down. You know, in
the beginning, I I was a jazz snob, but I
was certainly aware of the roots of rock and roll.
Chuck Berry and Little Richard and all and and Elvis
or whatever. Then I saw these four mop tops on
Ed Sullivan and I thought, wow, man, what are they gay?

(17:42):
What is this? You know? And uh then I noticed
I noticed their melodies. I thought, wow, you know, because melodies, man,
are the key. I don't I don't care if it's
heavy metal or country. If you got a beauty fall
melody with a with a cool lyric, they gotta be

(18:03):
wedded together. Wow, you've got great songs. So you know,
I knew the Beatles had great songs, and we we
looked up to the Stones and like that. Were they
have an older generation to you because even in my world,
like someone that came out four or five years ago,

(18:25):
I'll see that as in hip hop terms, like someone
that that made their debut in two thousand ten even
is kind of old. Even even though they're not old school,
they're considered old school. So, you know, because of the
of the years between you guys them starting in was

(18:49):
it still the same fraternity or were they seen as
older statesman? Not older statesman? But that's what I'm asking. No,
they were just a few years old, so they weren't
an entirely different genre, you know, you know, and then
as you go along, can you keep making records that

(19:10):
are important? And a lot of folks followed by the wayside,
and we managed to do okay, even though Jim, you know,
he's he started drinking so much that it got quite difficult.
Um you know, like I got a chapter in this
new book on Jim and one on janis too cautionary.

(19:31):
Janis Chopolin too cautionary tales, you know, um self destruction
and creativity coming in the same package with them, but
not with everybody. We're um, we're really good friends with

(19:52):
uh chep Gordon. Oh yeah, told us a lot about
the scene in l A, especially at the hotel. Um
I forget the hotel on sunset where yeah, every yeah,
everyone yeah, well yeah, everyone just hunting whatnot? Like this
book of the group love and and all those things.

(20:15):
Were you directly like a part of that seeing like
off stage where you guys sort of not quite that scene.
I'm trying to think of the hotel too. But but
but once you played the whiskey, um Mario the door
guy let anybody in, so we would all go see
each other when we were not playing, and so was

(20:37):
it fraternity? You know? And and we love for example, man,
they were really like them a lot. They were so different.
Forever Changes is a masterpiece. That album, Yeah, Forever Changing,
Forever Changes masterpiece. It's you know, the that's from the
Summer I love too. I mean there was there's just
like there's a few, um, there's a few albums from

(21:00):
from that ar that are just yeah, I want to
get on the soapbox for a second, get piste off.
When people dissed the sixties as a failure, good, okay, alright,
based on everything from the sixties and there's a progress

(21:22):
without the sixties, I never mind what I was gonna say.
I want to hear it talked about, Well, there there
is a perception that, like post sixty nine, that there
was not not diminished returns per se, but everything was
over and everything that that was fought for and built

(21:42):
was sort of just washed away. So well, what were
you were saying, Well, yeah, the seeds of civil rights,
the peace movement, feminism all were planted in the sixties,
and maybe these seeds like a long time fifty hundred

(22:03):
years for full fruition. So don't dis you know, we're
on the shoulders of all folks before and so you know, yeah,
progress is not as fast as we wanted, you know, like, gee,
Obama got elected, so there's no more racism. Yeah, you

(22:24):
know so. Um But anyway, and speaking of which, I
was hoping sometime during this podcast, I could do a
five minute poem for uh Stacy Abrams because because I've

(22:44):
been thinking about all right, now I'm gonna prove now
I'm gonna approve I'm the drummer and not the singer.
I've been thinking about Georgio, Geoja, no piece of Fun.
You're on my mind and they're voting that. Yeah, so everybody, man,

(23:05):
by the time this areas will have the results that
we want. Yeah. Yeah, but we're gonna get that poem too,
because I want to get that old ye. I was
curious to know, man, do you have to give us
kind of a parallel? Um, the band that the Doors
and kind of what you guys represented when you guys
came out, Who would you say is probably the closest

(23:27):
modern day contemporary And by modern day, I mean it
could be anyone from the last you know, twenty years whatever,
but that you think kind of embodies the spirit of
what you guys were about. Oh, putting me on the
spot here. I mean, Nirvana would be my guess. Really,
it was weird though I always thought the doors were

(23:48):
doors are really kind of I feel like the doors
are hip hop as far as they were built. Yeah,
that's good, that's good. Okay, let me let me tell
you something. Way back, Jay Z asked for um um
you know, and I was just coming on board. I
didn't know what was happening. And I went, wait a minute,

(24:11):
you know what, huh it's all bitches and homes. No,
you can't have it. And he he writes me a letter,
and he sends me a Team Rock jersey and and
he he breaks it down for me, and he said, man,
you know, we're doing what you're doing, fighting the establishment,
going for truth. And and then I got it. Believe me,

(24:32):
I got it. Along those lines, The Doors is one
of the only bands that I can think of that
didn't have a bass player. And while Ray played bass
in his left hand, is one of the few bands
that didn't have like a legit bass player. Can you
talk about what that was like, because yeah, it's not
a thing. It's not a normal A lot of work.

(24:57):
I mean, usually the bass player and the drummer are
the of them section, you know, holding holding down the
groove in the basement, And it was me and Ray's
left hand and uh, but but but he played simplified
sort of boogie woogie basslines with his left hand, which
turned out to be gold like don't don't, don't, don't,

(25:20):
don't don't. It's just hooky stuff. And so fortunately we
felt the same pocket. Actually, the first tune we played
together ever was All Blues by Miles Davis, which is
in three, you know, and then I knew, I knew
Ray knew some ship. So uh, we played the blues

(25:41):
and we were sort of laying back on the groove
as you do with the blues. And then we started
writing our own stuff, and then we kind of found
our pocket. But so were you and Ray the kind
of the beginning, the start of the doors where you
did primary songwriters or out of the well. Jim had
all these words and melodies and couldn't play one chord

(26:03):
on any instrument. Mm hmm. We're talking gifted here. So
he would sing acapella and and you know, roadhouse blues,
which we played with what I played with you guys,
you know, it's blues that's not too difficult. But he
would sing these complicated before you slip into unconsciousness, I'd

(26:27):
like to have another kiss, Like wait a minute, f sharp,
what the hell? You know? He just had to ship
in his head, so uh wow? You know, So what
were those songwriting sessions like like he would just would
it start with him and his words first, and you
guys figure out where he's going with it. Yeah. Yeah,
we'd figure out the groove. Then we'd stop and change

(26:47):
chords or say, oh man, we need a bridge or
a solo here or whatever. So that's why he said, Hey,
let's credit all the songs written by the Doors, not
lyrics by me, you know, and and let's split all
the dough. Really, can I ask a question because you

(27:09):
you talked about this and you touched on it, but
I gotta know you said that you were kind of
like in your own snobby sense when you were an
early musician and somehow you met him and he convinced
you to go to this route, because it sounds like
you weren't even trying to go this rock and roll route,
like you had this this jazz mind. So what was
that moment that he convinced you you know, I was

(27:29):
passionate for music, but I never thought i'd make a
living at it, you know what I mean? You know how?
And then when the when the doors got going, I oh, god, man,
you know, if we can pay the rent for for
a decade, wouldn't that be a miracle. Well, let's see,
I'm I'm seventy six, and that's it. Fifty years later,

(27:51):
I'm still talking about this damn band. But it wasn't
a conversation that you had that that convinced you that
I'm gonna ride this ride because I know that this
is going somewhere, or was it something that he's saying
or something? Yeah, good, good, good good. All right. So
after we play all blues and I'm noticing this guy
in the corner, and Ray says, Jim, This Jim the singer.

(28:11):
He's never sung before, and he can't play any instrument,
but look at these lyrics. And he he hands me
a crumpled piece of paper and on the paper it says,
day destroys, the night, night divides, the day, tried to run,
tried to hide, break on through to the other side. Okay,

(28:33):
right right away, right rhythmic stuff starts. That's that pulled
me in immediately, you know, So was I always wanted
to know? Was that song somewhat influenced from Ray Charles?
Is what I say? Oh? Wow, it's funny man good. No,

(28:58):
you know I I used to play that. Uh what
did I say? Only I couldn't do it with one hand.
I had to have both hands on the bell of
the ride cymbal, but I didn't have the chops yet. Anyway, Um,
what was going on was Bossa Nova was coming up
from Brazil big time, big time, and so this little

(29:20):
uh and and I'm digging the groove. It's really light
do okay, I'm gonna make it stiffer and harder and faster.
And so I copped the whole thing and made it
rock and roll. But break on Through is kind of
a rock and Bossa Nova rock or whatever. And I

(29:46):
um asked a question, um, getting back to what what
Bill asked you about playing with with Raymond's eric and
him playing the bass with his left hand. Um. Uh,
so that's that's that's the main that's the Door's sound basically,
But on later albums you did use uh, actual electric

(30:07):
bass players on certain on certain things. Really good question. Yeah,
I just I mean my question is, actually, um, you
know what as the drummer from the drummers perspective, what's
the difference being you know, part half of the rhythm
section with somebody who's playing it on the organ and

(30:28):
somebody who's playing it with a guitar. Well, first of all, um,
when we played live, when Ray would take a solo
on organ, he'd get excited and the bass player would
speed up. Holy moly's no more frustrating. Yeah, that happening.
I gotta pullar pull the reins back. Okay. So this

(30:51):
was before Moog synthesizers were even invented. So we knew
that the keyboard BASSI had a Fender Rhodes keyboard basic
kind of kind of was mushy and it and it
needed a little more punch. And so even on the
first record, we had Larry Nectal Studio bass player over

(31:12):
dub on Fender Electric bass raise exact bass lines to
give it the pluck of the string, gave it the
punch we needed, you know. And then uh later we
did have bass players and you know, got Harvey Brooks
was on Soft Parade, great bass player played with Dylan

(31:32):
and the Electric Flag and so that was a lot
of fun for me. You know. L Elvis, his bass
player played on l A Woman Jerry Chef, and that
was cool. He even said that he put a little
line from uh, let's l a woman. Do do do
Do Do Do Do Do do do do He's stuck
a little bit of it in an Elvis recording session.

(31:53):
So that's so we can just finish up this thought
that playing playing with Ray versus playing with Harvey Brooks
um you know from a rhythm section, yea, yeah, well,
I mean I could almost play one handed, because when
there's a separate bass player plucking and concentrating on the groove,

(32:15):
you know, he's help. He's your brother helping. It's it's easier,
you know, and you play off each other and whatever.
And Ray was playing sort of simplistic lines, but it
kind of gave space. There was more air and openness
in the sound, which was quite cool and unique. You know,
we auditioned bass players way back. We even had a

(32:40):
girl for a minute there, but we felt like we
sound like another white blues band, the Rolling Stones or something.
And and then we discovered this keyboard bass and went
oh man and and the the guy who made all
the LSD in San Francisco. I can't think of his name.
He can't think of his name of I can't what

(33:03):
was your he he we were playing one of the
psychedelic ballrooms. He comes back, Owsley, that's his name, Owsley.
He comes backstage and said, hey man, you guys, you're
you're great. You got a hole in your sound though,
you need a bass player. He leaves and I turned

(33:23):
to Ray and I said, Wow, we're making the acid
King nervous. I think we're on the right track here.
I have a question of I can't think of another
besides besides the Look of Love. I believe that light

(33:45):
the most covered song probably no, no, no, even more
than that, I feel like Light my Fire is probably
the only song in which you cannot drop the ball
as far as covering is concerned, and billions of people
have covered it, do you have a preference of of

(34:06):
of the many covers that of the of that song?
First of all, quest thanks for putting Light my Fire
in the same category as the Look of Love. Who
who's saying I've never found a bad who never found
a bad cover of Light my Fire, never found a
bad cover Look of Love like it's not possible to

(34:28):
drop the ball in that song? Who sang look of Love?
The original was God? Who was the original? Sonya right? Right?
Right right? Okay? So um, what what's cool is somebody
covers your song and finds a new way to interpret it.

(34:53):
That's really cool. I mean, it's cool to get any
song covered, even if they copy your arrangement, because you
get the writer's share. But but facts, but jose Feliciano
takes my fire and it makes it makes it a ballad,
and we all went, oh, that is beautiful. Why don't

(35:16):
you think I Al Green's version, man, I think that's
probably my favorite one. I bet I can't. I didn't
hear it. Give it to me that really he did it?
What you heard? Can we play O God? Yeah? Yeah, yeah,
we talked about yeah, even the spoken part right right right?

(35:42):
Have his version? And have you, uh, John, have you
ever heard the Free Design? Have you ever heard their
version of Jesus Christ? Free Design? They they they just
like the Mamas and the Papas on LSD. Yeah, they
take it chromatic like the Ninth Harmony Chords to another place.

(36:04):
I'll say the Free Design is probably my go to version,
even though I love the Al's version. Actually, it's funny
you mentioned Jose, Jose actually doubles down because even on
many reputations version Jose shows up and does his riffing

(36:25):
at the end, right right, exactly exactly. So, okay, I
gotta know this because the one thing that I know
that you're a big one, which you know, it's it's
it's weird because even though with the rebellion of of

(36:46):
the first wave of modern rock not modern rock, but
you know, the sixties rock cats and hip hop cats,
is this rebellious spirit to the system. But somehow, I
will say that in hip hop terms, our relationship with

(37:09):
capitalism slightly different from the sixties, you know, licensing songs
and commercial uses. You know, rappers about that all day
in a commercial, whereas you know, I often hear the

(37:30):
sixties generations sort of like I'm not selling out. So
your world famous for your thumbs down on which you
know that. I'm like, that must be nice, But uh,
I see the from all sides. I mean, you know,

(37:53):
Tavis Smiley said to me, you're you're you're either really
great or you're crazy. You know about that, but um,
you know, what can I say it? If you're trying
to pay the rent and you get do it commercial
pay you do it, man, it's hard enough out there. Um,

(38:13):
what happened was that we got this offer, come on
buick light my fire. Yeah, and that the article if
that that's not on the Google. Like if the Google
said that, it would be a very different thing. That's

(38:34):
everyone would understand why. So, Um, Jim was out of town.
It was a lot of dough and we were kind
of drooling, and he came back and he said, yeah,
let's do it. And I got a really good idea
for a TV ad. I'll smash a Buick on television

(38:54):
with a sledge hammer. That's a great idea. Okay, that's fire.
That's a no. And so all right, Uh, Jim wrote
one line in My Fire. Robbie Krieger wrote all the lyrics,
and Jim added, our love become a funeral Pyre Morrison esque.

(39:21):
And so this guy is so upset about a song
he didn't write. I'm like, wow, he cares about the
whole catalog, everything we're doing. And you know, I'm a
little hard ass, but he's past. He's my ancestor, so
I'm trying to stick to what he wanted. But I mean,

(39:44):
you know, I get hey, you know, I get hip
Hopper's doing. I get it. You know, it's just we're
different and it was back always, And I don't know
that in a modern context if they might offer you
a lot more money now for something than you were
offered for the buick ad and it would be kind

(40:05):
of a no brainer to take the money. I mean,
it's also too to be fair. I think now it
may be. I think now you have people in position
who understand kind of the spirit of what you guys
were about and would do it in a very tasteful
way as opposed to a cheesy way, like you know,
like my beauty or whatever the hell you know, now
you know what I'm saying. Actually, I would like to

(40:27):
see some beauty going fire. All right, let's see breaking
on through to a new deodorant. No, but I think
it is that I think the common denominator for the

(40:47):
average creator is avoiding a racer. And yes, the music
of the doors, I feel is you know that at
least the ripple effect and the residence of it all.
I have no doubt that the songs, you know, writers

(41:09):
of the Storm still sound every time I play it.
People you know, oh, what is that, Like it's brand
new or something, so you know it's it's timeless. But
does it ever do you ever have thoughts that you
know one day because you know, I will say that

(41:29):
when songs are placed in and this is me as
a DJ speaking, when songs are placed in a movie
or placed on a television show or in a commercial,
it just extends the life of it just a little
bit more. So, I'm I'm one of those guys. And again,
as a DJ who mainly uses as DJ sets to

(41:51):
educate people and stuff, it kind of makes my job easier,
even though I have to read, you know, correct them,
like no, this isn't just the song that you heard
in the blah blah blah movie, like this is where
it comes from. But do you ever have thoughts of
like if you clutch too tight to the pearls, that

(42:13):
there's a possibility of a ratio. I know the Beastie
Boys are going through that right now, Like they just
recently kind of loosen the reins a little bit to
allow one of their songs to get licensed for a commercial.
Even though they took this hard stance like we will
never ever do that integrity. Yeah, I got you. I mean,

(42:36):
you know, Bob Dylan certainly making me nervous. Yeah, he
sold all right, yeah with him, so you might as
well just you know what I'm saying. Yeah, like okay.
So first of all, I don't we okay, uh, movies,

(42:56):
TV shows. It's just a specific products selling, which makes
me twitch a little, I mean, like um. And also
we we are pretty established, and there's a lot of
people who say to was, oh, man, you know I
was in Vietnam. You guys helped me the first time

(43:17):
I made love, the first time I had a joint whatever,
And so it's sort of like the soundtrack to people's lives,
and so I kind of well Vietnam. For example, recently,
Robbie told me I didn't know this that the lyric
love Me two Times he wrote, he goes love me
two times because I'm going away. He was thinking going
away to Vietnam, but that's not in the lyric, and

(43:40):
so how about love me two times because I just
took Viagora. It's true, some some some commercials have seriously
ruined certain songs forever you know where they are known
more for the commercial than from the original album. From

(44:00):
Hot chocolate's you sexy thing is definitely ruined. Uh, Viagra, yes, yeah,
but you're you're right, I'm you know, Um, I'm gonna
be erased, I don't know, in the next twenty years
or so. Anyway, So I gotta think about this. Stick
to your guns, to your guns. Yeah, stick how Um

(44:23):
I wanted I was going to know how accurate or
what were your thoughts on Oliver's stones Filmed the Doors.
Yeah he was in it. Yeah, no, no, yeah, I
wasn't it for a second there, No, I liked it now,
Um it was it was primarily about a tortured artist,

(44:46):
and I and Oliver, you know, kind of fits that category. Brilliant,
kind of out there. And uh, I wished it had
been a little more about the sixties and and in
the climate of the time times. There was a documentary
called When You're Strange that Johnny Depp narrated, and that

(45:07):
has that has more of of that, And I think
the two of them together really represent our whole career.
But I gotta say, Val kilmer Man, he gave me
the creeps. I thought Jim was back. Yeah, he looked
just like it was. I mean, I didn't know him
like you did, but it gave me the creeps of
watching him play that role. These actors are amazing the

(45:30):
way they transformed their bodies and everything. Yeah, yeah, I
got a question. Can we can we talk about like
drummers from your era and and the the African influence,
the Ginger Bakers and the and like dings like that.
I feel like like I got that bug when I
was a kid, but I was not the same thing,
but like, was it the same? Was it? My experience

(45:52):
was It's like everything sort of began there. So it
made sense to figure out that ship and how to
bring it into your own thing, like what was why
did you get into it? And how did you apply
it to the doors or whatever else? Are you're doing? Well?
The African stuff I primarily got into later, but but
I will say that, Um, we were recording UM hello,

(46:13):
I Love you and we're struggling with the arrangement, and
Robbie the guitar player, said, why don't you turn the
beat around like Ginger does in Sunshine E R love
you know? Uh? And I so I go, okay, uh, hello,

(46:35):
I love you. But so I coughed a couple of
bars of Ginger and here we are Possibla coping and
ginger coping. I was I was going to ask the
recording of that particular song has such a distinctive like

(46:57):
modern made for FM radio sort of recording technique to it.
Were you guys aware of that as far as like,
because there's a clear difference sonically between the recording that
particular album and what came before it, So were you
guys aware of the sort of transforming of AM radio.

(47:20):
Am radio being the I guess the destination point of
most music have been slowly morphing into f M radio
at the time, because there's just just such a clarity
to it that sounds super modern, Like even if you
listen to it now with with the synth working, even
the way that your drums are are tuned on that song,

(47:45):
like a deeper a deeper sound. Yeah, you're right about that.
It could have. Like it's almost like the you hear
the seeds of what Talking Heads like a Divo second record,
even Gary Newman's like first record, you're the seeds of
that in there. Well, you know, um our first single
was break on Through and it was too sophisticated. You know,

(48:08):
it got to number thirteen or something that was due
to us calling up the station saying, hey, this is
Fred Schwartz, will you play this? And uh, ware Through
was not a top ten hit, no, but later it
became just you know, everybody just is crazy for it.
So yeah, uh light my Fire was six minutes, you know,

(48:33):
we had that long jam and then um we we
cut it to three minutes, and then it became a hit.
But then FM radio started bragging about playing the long version,
which was really cool. So you know, we had some hits.
I guess people are strange. I think was the next hit.
And then in the studio we were struggling and Paul Rothschild,

(48:56):
our producer, pressed us on hello, I love you. He said, man,
we did make this a hit, and and fuzz tones
that just came in on guitar, you know, fuzz boxes,
and we just worked on that and worked on it,
and frankly, I thought it turned out a little too
poppy for me, but that's just for me personally. But

(49:19):
I always was just absolutely crazy for Jim's lyrics. Oh
my god. Oh and what about Bruce Botnick, the engineer,
what was his special sauce? He did all your albums? Yeah,
he did all of them, and he he worked at
Sunset Sound and all the great studios as a teenager

(49:41):
with the Supremes and Phil Specter, and he knew, he
knew what he was doing. And and each time you know,
CDs streaming whatever it is, he he uh keeps us
up to date sonically, you know, he's on it. Yeah,
and he's the fifth door, you know. Hm, I see,

(50:04):
um there's you know, a lot has been made. Most
of will say that, of course, you know, when you
when you think of historic uh concert and events, everyone
of course makes a big deal of woodstock. However, um,

(50:25):
I feel like enough has not been made of enough
the islive right, I think alive right Olive White festival
that you guys did in in nineteen seventy. Do you
have any particular memories of that, you know, because the
lineup was to me just as crazy that that year

(50:45):
it was Hendrick's uh, Joni Mitchell who Moody blues uh
sly the family Stone ten years after Chicago. Usually, you know,
I know of that. For a lot of artists, this
for a lot of fans. This is always a disappointing
question because you know, the festivals are a spectator thing

(51:11):
and usually artists are just getting in doing the gig,
leaving really not soaking in the atmosphere. Were you able
to really soak in the festival at the time or
was it just like you showed up and did your
thing and left. Yeah. I I took a hit off
of Roger Daltry's pepper much Snopps bottle, you know, Oh yeah,

(51:40):
I think. Um. Yeah. The Isle of White Um, we
were under a lot of stress because Jim was on
trial in Miami for supposedly exposing himself, which he did
not do, but he but he was drunk and he
got real political and said you're and then to shove

(52:00):
your faces in the ship of the world, wake up.
And that didn't go over well. So that's translated intoday. Well,
I got the climate at the time was this polarized
country and and we were, you know, the hippies and

(52:21):
we were the dirty doors and so uh, Jim was targeted.
There was a rally for decency at the Orange Bowl.
Thirty thousand people showed up. Nixonson a letter and then
need A Bryant presided and and it was because of us,
you know. Yeah, Well back to the Isle of Wight,

(52:44):
the Isle of White so so Jim was kind of
subdued in his performance. I was trying to make up
for it playing really strong. But it's pretty good. But
the the whole festival had the feeling of the end
of the or the end of Woodstock. There was some
dispute about the ticket prices and they busted down the

(53:07):
fences and people came in, which you know, was all right.
It was just kind of a chaotic festival. Had incredible lineup,
like you said, but it kind of didn't get the
attention because it was sort of the crumbling of the
outdoor hippie festivals being the ultimate, you know, and just
a clarification for nobody people who don't know the concert

(53:28):
and the situative venue. This is an island right close
to London where they exclusively have this big festival. They've
been doing this for like the last years, right, yeah, correct,
yeah yeah. Are you more of a touring person or
a studio studio person? Either one? Either one. I mean
at first I was frustrated. I didn't understand it's kind

(53:51):
of cool to muffle the drumheads in the studio, you know.
I thought you just play live and make a record
and uh, and so it was a learning curve. I
like both. Where was your weapon of choice? Uh in
in the early part of your career, what what drums
were you using? Oh? My first set was Gretch and

(54:15):
then I Ludwick. I went crazy for Ludwick and Ludwig
silver snare drum and uh yeah, I always kept kept
a little kit. I I had rivets in my symbol.
I saw Oscar Peterson's drummer ed thig Penny had a
lot of rivets, and I went, oh, man, that's good.

(54:36):
You can hear that on riders. There's kind of rivets
sound and the right it rings forever. Yeah, exactly do
you have you kept a majority of your drum sets
or like the sort of iconic your career. Yeah, I'll
be taking them over, thank you. Some not enough, damn it.

(54:57):
Like like like the floor Tom. Uh it's the floor
Tom that's barking back in the Hello, I Love you.
But it about bum bum bump bump bump bound. I
like it when the heads are tired and rancid, and
then when they break, I have to get a new one.
And I hate it because I like the personality of

(55:17):
it talking back. You know, m I see you still
have at timetime. No, oh, okay, that's what I was
asking that, right collection. You have a time collection too.
It's just a dumb drummer question. Y'all can tell me

(55:38):
if not, if it is or not. But um, my
father's a drummer. He always has to say that he
likes he prefers playing with brushes. Is that a thing
where you have a certain kind of stick that you prefer,
like mallet versus just regular stick versus brushes versus whatever
else is around these days? Because I haven't been checking
in the latest, that's a real good question. Um wants

(55:58):
don't play with brushes? Um? You know what you know,
what's you know, it's weird. Um. So when I was
working on UH, Welcome to Detroit, um up in uh
in studio A where Diller was, he only played with mallets,

(56:23):
And at the time I thought, all right, that's dumb.
Like not that's dumb, because by then anything he did
I declared like this, I'm sorry, it's it's my my
my Elvin Jones is a producer from Detroit. His name
is Jay Diller. Yeah yeah, I just can't. I just

(56:44):
can't hear at my age, you know, Okay, Sorry, Yeah,
Jay Diller is a um actually to bring it back
to five to one the Okay, I won't say that
I was saying the original producer um, but he would.
I'd ask him like, why are you using uh mallets

(57:08):
instead of traditional traditional drumsticks? And he just wanted a
different texture than that of what when sticks hit the skins?
So I think at the time I scoffed like that's whatever,
and then I caught myself doing it a lot, so
I actually like the texture of it. I'm curious, what

(57:30):
what size sticks do you use? Um, I'm here it is,
I'm a seven eight guy. Oh yeah. However, however, UM,
my sticks are a little bit unusual because UM, I

(57:50):
learned through well Steve. Steve is like one of my
long time music engineers, so I had to I learned
about twenty years ago that the softer, at least for
for my purposes, the softer that you play, um, the
better the mixing options are. Because I use a lot

(58:10):
of old ribbing mics. So I used to like power play,
like in my mind, you think like take like like Bonds,
like John bonhom from Zeppelin, like you know, everyone thinks
that they have to play like Animal from the muppets. Uh,
and you know, and that really destroys the sound because
the compression and the microphones like it just it just crunches.

(58:31):
It's not good. So I learned the softer you play,
the better it is. So I when I got my
deal with Vic Firth, I told them to make me
seven A drumsticks, but I made mine two inches longer
so that way I could put my wrists on my
legs and not move my hands at all like a

(58:54):
traditional seven A. You'd have to, like, you know, most
non drummers look at uh you what do you mean
your arms at all? Right? Yeah, move your arms, yes, yes,
like most most most non drummers would look at uh,
what's his name, food Fighters, Nirvana. Yeah, they'll look at

(59:17):
David Roland like smells like teen spirit and think like
that's how I should be, German like like modern animal.
And for me, I get the best results when I
when I do the least, just the quietest. So yeah,
drumsticks two inches longer so that I don't have to
move my arms at all. So that's what I was

(59:39):
saying about. Playing the right beat in the right spot
is as much power as all that animals ship. But
you know, what's so beautiful about your playing is the
way you sit. You know, you don't slump over the kit,
and you see relaxed. You know, it's just beautiful. A

(59:59):
little too relaxed time whatever. You didn't answer that question
for yourself. Yes, no, it's no seven A seven A.
They're they're thin. They're thin sticks, so I can play faster,
but they break all the time if you're playing a
big concert, you know, so you know you just throw
them in the audience and grab some more. You know,

(01:00:21):
speaking of throw them in the audience, you just speaking, yeah,
speaking of throwing them in the audience. Um, would it
just mean you to watch Keith Moon destroy a kid occasionally? Like?
Is that blasphemous to you? It was over the top.
I understood the anger because you know, we were piste

(01:00:43):
off about the establishment and everything's going on. I get it. Uh.
He was bizarre. He was the most unusual drummer I've
ever seen. I watched him on stage right at the
isle of white, stood next to him. You know, he
the way he hit the sticks, he's like conducting or something.
I don't know what it is. Yeah, but a speaking

(01:01:05):
of brushes, this is what this is what I'm gonna
accompany myself with on that, Yeah, I didn't. What I
would want to ask you is not not which doores
album is your favorite or not which one you think
is the best, but which one do you think you're

(01:01:27):
playing the best on? Oh, that's a good question, all
of them. That's why you gotta start with your head,
because you know, I'm just trying to make a point.
I think, like the first Doors album was recorded in
just a few days or a couple of weeks or
something like that, and other albums later down the line

(01:01:48):
probably took longer. And and but you may think that
you're playing on my fire is your is your absolute
pinnacle or something? No, I do a good question, alright.
So first album, we're trying to learn how to make records,
you know, and we only did a few takes. But
you know it's second album, we're getting more relaxed in
the studio, like using the studio as a as another

(01:02:11):
door and fooling around with backward tracks and ship and
having fun experimenting. But then you know, we have to
make our own Sargeant Pepper, So we get to soft
parade and put strings, yeah, strings and horns and all
this ship and it was fun and people got angry

(01:02:32):
with us changing our sound. Uh, but touched me was
number one Morrison Hotel. And and then finally L A Woman.
We get back to the garage and the blues and
and L A Woman is Uh. I like it a lot.

(01:02:55):
It's just a few takes. I said to Ray, you know, Uh,
Miles live at Carnegie Hall. There was a terrible trumpet
note at the beginning of so What And the engineer
said to Miles, I can fix that, and he said, no,
it feels good. See there it is. That's the that's
the key to L A Woman. It's the first punk album.

(01:03:16):
We're gonna fuck the mistakes. We're gonna go for it
in a few takes. Put as much passion as we
can see there. It's like a jazz album. I mean,
that's how a jazz album is recorded. Well you kind
of pre answered I was gonna say that. Um with
with the soft Parade, was was there a pressure two

(01:03:41):
suddenly deliver like the highest art? I mean based on
the the the kind of atmosphere that brought upon like
pet sounds and Sergeant Peppers and even with uh, they're satanic.
Majesty's request and all that stuff, and well, I know
people laugh at that, but I I feel like one day,

(01:04:05):
some generation is really gonna hold state. No, I'm telling you,
I I believe. I believe that there's gonna be ay. Look,
I'm a guy who loved uh. I know, critics hated Black,

(01:04:27):
Black and Blues by the Stones, and that's one of
my favorite records. So I feel like somebody's gonna find
the wrong record and make it their record. But what
what I was asking was what the saft parade was
that the intent to show that we're just as artistic
and just as experimental as our contemporaries. Yeah, uh no,

(01:04:55):
thank you it we Ray and I had talked about
before recording the first album, man, some day if we
could ever have some like horn solos, tenor sacks and
you know, that'd be cool, some jazz stuff, and so

(01:05:15):
we finally got to that by Soft Parade. Actually, uh,
I think Sergeant Pepper and pet Sounds they were out
kind of around Strange days our second album, and that's
when we were like, wow, man, well who this is
a challenge, you know, but but a turn on too.

(01:05:37):
You know. The thing about the Doors though, is like
I never I never think about them in comparison to
other bands because they have this home world you know,
they created. They're one of these few bands or artists
that can create their own sonic universe and you did.
It's like pointless to compare them to other bands. Almost well,

(01:05:59):
keep keep talking. I feel helium rising in my skull.
It wasn't a compliment. I'm saying you're weird. Oh, you
guys are amazing. You know, we try. Thank you. I
do have to ask for our listeners and for myself

(01:06:20):
as well, like what was how long did it take
you guys to come to Grips after after Marson's death,
or whether or not you should continue or not continue?
And the creative direction? First of all, I mean is

(01:06:41):
is the idea of a group really kind of an
illusion that's not real? Like is it really everyone gets
their equals say, and if one doesn't agree and it's
not unanimous, then we don't do it. Well that's how
we were. But um, okay, so absolutely everyone at the
groups have singer songwriters Lennon McCartney, h Keith Richards and

(01:07:07):
Mick and and they're kind of the dominant force, whereas
Jim not being able to you know, how do we
write songs? But I got all these words and melodies.
It were we were really more equal because of that.
You know you always translated is almost yeah beautiful, that's it. Yeah.

(01:07:28):
So yeah. The as far as the meeting with you
guys in what direction to take his work? Well yeah,
I mean, can you just talk about that period of
of the decision to continue one? Oh yeah, that's good man.
You don't let me off the hook, all right? No, no, no,
that's good. Okay. So Jim dies and we're working on

(01:07:52):
stuff and we first entertained replacing him, and I said, uh,
excuse me, who's going to fill Jim's leather pants? You know,
I mean, that's that's a tall order. Uh So uh
then Ray and Robbie tried to sing. We made two

(01:08:14):
albums because we had this material and we were tight. Uh.
And after those couple of albums, we realized, wait a minute,
this is ridiculous. Our focal point is gone, and let's
do you know. We wanted to do individual stuff, and
so it naturally kind of fell away. We we went
our own ways. We came back later and we did

(01:08:35):
a poetry album. It's pretty cool. American Prayer way out
there Jim's words, you know, he had died and we
wrote all this music and that was fun. I wonder
if you think the Queen pulled it off since they
I'm trobably trying to think of another man who actually
has done that with their lead singer who's passed, and
I'm like a Lambert Yeah, uh pretty close. I don't know,

(01:08:58):
uh uh for nostalgia's sake. I mean, you know Lambert
is yeah, yeah, yeah, leather pants to fill. Yes, huge different,
you know, like, um, my second book was called The
Doors Unhinged. It was about my struggle with Ray and

(01:09:22):
Robbie playing and I love they're playing, but they were
going out as the Doors. What wait? You know, Ian
asked Berry from the Cult. It's fine, but but it's
like the police without staying the come on call it,

(01:09:42):
call it founding members of the Doors or whatever. You know.
But well, I know, but I mean I understand people
want to hear and hear them play like here Queen
and Earth Wind and Fire. I get it, you know,
I get yeah. Yeah. So now, um, well, before I wrap,

(01:10:04):
I do want to know where we where we are today?
Does it does it irgue a little bit that somehow
not only did we wind back at square one, we're
kind of way like damn near ne neanderth all times
that we took forty eight steps backwards, like just as

(01:10:28):
just as a person who had ideas in the sixties too,
you know, two fight against this corrupt system and and
push us forward, just to see us come back to
the place where we now have to struggle all over
again like it was the sixties. Like does that this
may you like? Was it like was your work for naught? Oh? Man,

(01:10:52):
I love you promised us bro see you there it
is is Oh my god, big questions you know, I mean,
um uh, this country was founded on racism. Um you know,

(01:11:14):
I got a piece of rolling stone asking Obama to
pardon Leonard Peltier, Native American has been in jail freaking
fifty years. You know. There was a shootout and FBI
guy died and nobody knows who did it, but they
had to nail somebody and whatever. So in that article,
I also said, oh god, you know, it wouldn't be

(01:11:34):
a bad thing if if we could apologize to the
first people's the genocide, and then we can move on.
And there's a that's how you go forward admit ship.
You know, alogize I know, but I guess I'm an

(01:11:54):
eternal optimist. I mean, we got a gin orange out
or any minute now, right, he's out, according to his recording,
he's out. Yes. Now, we're just waiting to see what
George is doing that. We just waiting on Georgia now.
And you know, between you and me and and and

(01:12:15):
your zillions and listeners, you know, Biden is he's like me.
He's another old white guy. But but you wish he
like you though. We hope that he's like you. Well, hey, hey,
you know what. Okay, here it is. Hillary loses and
I go, God, damn it, I'm gonna see a woman

(01:12:38):
president before I die. And I'm up there and now
I'm like, whoa wait a minute, and I might see
a black woman president. Yeah, and I you know, and
she's I love her, but you know, I don't want

(01:12:58):
I can't idealize her like Biden either. You know, she
she was a prosecutor. Holy oh my god. You know
she she's a beautiful you know, she threw me in jail,
but she's a beautiful woman, you know. I mean, but
I still, ah, we're we're just it's it's slow, but

(01:13:27):
we're going forward. Are here it is Leonard Cohen. Democracy
is coming to the USA. It's not here. We're working
on it, you know. So there it is. You can't Yeah,
I was, I was going to say before before you
close this out with this poem. That's also one of

(01:13:47):
our remind our listeners, um that You're the Seekers is
your third book? Correct? Correct? Okay, yeah, The Seekers Meetings
with Remarkable Musicians is available. Came out uh late, and
it's you exporting the creative process of modern artist and yeah, yeah,

(01:14:11):
we want to thank you for doing this. So could
you please bless us with this poem in closing my
thing on mute snaps? Okay, so yeah, this goes out
to Stacy Abrams and I'm gonna play it. I'm gonna
play my jazz brushes on my doom on my doom back,

(01:14:34):
which is crazy, but so what and what can I say?
All Right? This is a poem by Ethridge Knight, African
American poet who um I think he won the National
Book Award or was nominated and Gwendolen Gwendolyn Brooks, Pulitzer
poet was his mentors. And so uh, Ethridge wrote this

(01:14:57):
for his daughter when he was fourteen. Now I'm going
to move this mic down in in the front of
my face so I won't drowned out the vocal. We'll
see if this works. It's called circling the daughter. You

(01:15:31):
came to be in the month of Malcolm, and the
rain fell with a fierce gentleness, like a martyr's tears
on the streets of Manhattan, when your light was lit
and the city sang you welcome. Now I sit trembling

(01:15:54):
in your presence. Fourteen years have brought the moon blood
the round, the girl giggles, the Graham leaps. We are touched,
tender and our fears. You break my eyes with your beauty,
little baby. I love you out of class and gentleman.

(01:16:17):
With the brushes. That is the legend. John Dinsmore brushes poet. Yo, man,
I was watching you. I was thinking, Yo, they need
to get John Dinsmore and cash you is Joe Biden
on S and L. Yeah, that's funny. Jim Carrey can't

(01:16:41):
do what you could do. If this damn virus gets better,
maybe next year my paper back will be out and
I'll get to sit in with the roots again. So
ladies and gentlemen, this is Quest of Supreme. We like
to think John Denns blessing us uh with this interview,
very informative the performance. We gotta bring the performance back.

(01:17:03):
Go on, behalf of Team Supreme. Wan take a load
on paid bill. Sugar Steve and this is Question Love.
We will see you on the next go round. Thank you. Hey,
this is Sugar Steve. Make sure you keep up with
us on Instagram at q l S and let us
know what you think and who should be next to
sit down with us. Don't forget to subscribe to our podcast,

(01:17:30):
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