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Bile duct cancer got him at age 74, passing about 90 minutes ago. I am so glad that I saw he and Robbie a few times in the last years, including just last year....sigh....another one...

Wow -- no kidding.

That's very sad.

Huge bummer :-(

Word was that it was a hoax but it looks like legitimate sources are reporting it.

Ugh...that's a huge loss.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3deQXzV-qTk

Damn. Didnt see that one coming. Sad news.

Justin wrote on May 20^th, 2013 at 4:09pm:

Huge bummer :-(

Word was that it was a hoax but it looks like legitimate sources are reporting it.

Ugh...that's a huge loss.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3deQXzV-qTk

Was reported as a hoax yesterday it appears (I guess someone knew it was coming) but The Doors' facebook page have confirmed it's true, unfortunately.

Ray Manzarek, Founding Member of The Doors, Passes Away at 74

Ray Manzarek, keyboardist and founding member of The Doors, passed away today at 12:31PM PT at the RoMed Clinic in Rosenheim, Germany after a lengthy battle with bile duct cancer. He was 74. At the time of his passing, he was surrounded by his wife Dorothy Manzarek, and his brothers Rick and James Manczarek.

Manzarek is best known for his work with The Doors who formed in 1965 when Manzarek had a chance encounter on Venice Beach with poet Jim Morrison. The Doors went on to become one of the most controversial rock acts of the 1960s, selling more than 100-million albums worldwide, and receiving 19 Gold, 14 Platinum and five multi-Platinum albums in the U.S. alone. "L.A.Woman," "Break On Through to the Other Side," "The End," "Hello, I Love You," and "Light My Fire" were just some of the band's iconic and ground-breaking songs. After Morrison's death in 1971, Manzarek went on to become a best-selling author, and a Grammy-nominated recording artist in his own right. In 2002, he revitalized his touring career with Doors' guitarist and long-time collaborator, Robby Krieger.

"I was deeply saddened to hear about the passing of my friend and bandmate Ray Manzarek today," said Krieger. "I'm just glad to have been able to have played Doors songs with him for the last decade. Ray was a huge part of my life and I will always miss him."

Manzarek is survived by his wife Dorothy, brothers Rick and James Manczarek, son Pablo Manzarek, Pablo's wife Sharmin and their three children Noah, Apollo and Camille. Funeral arrangements are pending. The family asks that their privacy be respected at this difficult time. In lieu of flowers, please make a memoriam donation in Ray Manzarek's name at www.standup2cancer.org

Major Downer .

RIP !!!!!

Last saw him in September '12...he and Robbie played a rocking 100 minute show, FUN time!

Sad.

I know time is a human construction, but this year SERIOUSLY has a thing with deaths.
It just keeps happening.

Gazza wrote on May 20^th, 2013 at 4:10pm:

Damn. Didnt see that one coming. Sad news.

Seriuosly!!

RIP PianoMan!!!

I can't believe it, I was thinking of him lately when I posted that Doors article, very sad loss, he was the most intelligent guy & really went after what he believed, so sad R.I.P.Ray.
somebody has already did a tribute to him on Youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DED812HKWyM

I didn't know the man was sick… it is weird how things happen, I just watched The doors at the Bowl two nights ago… I haven't had a desire to listen, let alone watch anything Doors in a long, long time...

Ray Manzarek, founding member and keyboardist of the Doors, dies at 74

Ray Manzarek, far right
, with the other members of the Doors at the Golden Gate Bridge.

Ray Manzarek, the founding member and keyboard player for the Doors whose haunting and sweetly melodic organ riffs loomed large in the psychedelic rock era, died Monday at the RoMed Clinic in Rosenheim, Germany. He was 74.

A spokesperson for the band, Heidi Robinson-Fitzgerald, said the cause was bile duct cancer. She said the musician had struggled with complications related to the disease for several months and that his wife, Dorothy, and his brothers, Rick and James, were at his bedside when he passed away.

The Doors were one of rock and roll music’s most iconic and controversial acts. Formed in 1965, when Manzarek met aspiring poet and film student Jim Morrison on Venice Beach, the band went on to sell more than 100-million albums worldwide, with hits like “Light My Fire,” “Hello, I Love You,” “Break On Through to the Other Side,” “L.A. Woman” and “Roadhouse Blues.”

The Doors first came to San Francisco in January 1967 to open for the Young Rascals and Sopwith Camel at the Fillmore Auditorium. They also frequented local venues such as the Avalon Ballroom and Matrix Club, with bootleg recordings from the shows long circulating among fans.

When they performed a series of dates at the Winterland Ballroom in December 1967, the band stopped one of their shows mid-song so could watch themselves perform on “The Jonathan Winters Show.”

After Morrison’s death in 1971, the Doors – which also included drummer John Desnmore and guitarist Robby Krieger – attempted to carry on with Manzarek on vocals.

When they eventually split up, Manzarek became a best-selling author and solo artist. He also produced music for Echo and the Bunnymen and the Los Angeles band X; and performed with San Francisco poet Michael McClure, British actor Darryl Read and electronic composer Bal.

His memoir, “Light My Fire: My Life with the Doors,” was published in 1998.

Raymond Daniel Manczarek, Jr. was born on Feb. 12, 1939, in Chicago, Ill. He initially wanted to play basketball but refused to play guard, despite his coach’s insistence, so he quit the sport. He graduated from DePaul University with a degree in Economics. In 1962, he began studying cinematography at UCLA, along with Morrison. He also met his wife, Dorothy Fujikawa, there.

The Doors staged several hugely successful comebacks over the years, fueled by the Jim Morrison biography “No One Here Gets Out Alive,” co-authored by the band’s manager Danny Sugerman, and Oliver Stone’s sensationalized 1990 biopic, “The Doors.”

They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.

In 2000, the band was the subject of the tribute album “Stoned Immaculate” and a live VH1 special — both of which featured lead singers from contemporary bands such as Stone Temple Pilots, Creed and Smash Mouth filling in for Morrison.

Mr. Manzarek shared his thoughts on the enduring appeal of the Doors in an article in the Chronicle some 40 years after the band first broke. “I love how the young people of today can understand and get excited by the Doors’ music,” he said. “I love that. I think it’s a tribute to their intellect.”

He added, “People always ask me, ‘But don’t you get tired of playing ‘Light My Fire’?’ I always say back, ‘Do you get tired of having sex?’”

In 2002, Manzarek revitalized his touring career with Doors’ guitarist and long-time collaborator, Robby Krieger, as Manzarek-Krieger.

“I was deeply saddened to hear about the passing of my friend and bandmate Ray Manzarek today,” said Krieger. “I’m just glad to have been able to have played Doors songs with him for the last decade. Ray was a huge part of my life and I will always miss him.”

In 2008, Mr. Manzarek had moved to Napa, often sitting in with local acts.

In another interview with the Chronicle, he recalled his last dream about Morrison.

“He was back, and nobody asked him where he had been,” Mr. Manzarek recalled. “He comes in and we’re in a rehearsal studio, sort of like the Doors workshop. It’s like what he said to me on the beach before we put the band together. I said to him, ‘What have you been up to?’ And he said, ‘I’ve been writing songs’ And that’s the point at which the dream ends. I never hear the songs. It’s so frustrating. I wake up just before Jim begins to sing, and I never get to hear the songs.

Mr. Manzarek is survived by his wife and brothers, as well as a son, Pablo, and three grandchildren, Noah, Apollo and Camille. Funeral arrangements are pending.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks fans to please make a memoriam donation in Ray Manzarek’s name at www.standup2cancer.org

Here is an interview we conducted with Mr. Manzarek in 2000.
http://blog.sfgate.com/loaded/2013/05/20/ray-manzarek-of-the-doors-dies-at-74/

I did not know he was sick. Huge loss indeed. RIP Ray Manzarek.

Damn. Very sorry to hear this.
Love The Doors and Ray's signature sound.
RIP.

That's too bad. He was cool. The Doors' music has grown on me over the many years.

Bummer. Ray kept plugging along as much as he could. RIP.

Listened to the Doors the whole way to work this evening.

RIP, Mr. Manzarek. Dude could play the ivories.

wow didnt even know he was sick. seventy four and active till the end. not just a pop band led by the pyschedelic sinatra but a carousel of consciousness. those six albums in which his swirling sound permeated throughout the haunting stabbing primordial morass was their talisman and what made them the idiosyncratic powerhouse that they were. enjoy the next part of your journey

Shocking news, let's face it fellas, we're gonna lose a lot in the next years, dudes are old, we're getting old too

:willya :Youmakeagrownmancrylikejoey

If I'm gonna go, I'm goin' in a blaze of light....

:pullanolte :pullanolte :pullanolte :smoking :smoking :smoking :booze :kissmyass

Ray Manzarek: X's Exene Cervenka, John Doe remember a friend
The Doors keyboardist, who died Monday at 74, produced L.A. punk band X's first four albums. Exene Cervenka and John Doe recall him as a generous teacher.

By Randy Lewis, Los Angeles Times

May 22, 2013, 5:30 a.m.
The music that keyboardist Ray Manzarek made as part of the Doors helped define the 1960s, and also was a crucial part of the Southern California music scene in the latter half of that decade. Two generations of L.A. music met in the late 1970s when Manzarek connected with punk band X to produce the group's first four studio albums. The band's songwriters and lead singers, Exene Cervenka and bassist John Doe, reflect on the music of the Doors and their relationship with Manzarek, who died Monday at 74 of cancer.

Exene Cervenka: The most profound musical event of my entire life was when I was 12 years old [in 1968]. I was in the car with my parents in Illinois, sitting in the back seat, and the long version of the Doors' "Light My Fire" came on the radio. I didn't even know there was a long version, I just knew it was my favorite song at that time. It was the early days of FM radio, and when the long version came on, and I realized it was going on this journey, it literally blew my mind open.

Music has a power that's underestimated in our culture, but at one time we recognized that. Ray brought that power to the world; he brought it to the entire world. The problem with a lot of younger people today, and with a lot of music, is that it's a passive soundtrack to their lives … it's not music as a mind-expanding drug. That's what the '60s and the '70s were about. Music has led multiple generations through the doors of perception, and it didn't just lead you up to them and drop you off, it led people through those doors, and kept them open for people like me.

John Doe: Jim Morrison was my hero. He was who I wanted to be when I was 16. With my first P.A. system, I figured out a way to hook the turntable into it and I could sing along, down in my basement in Baltimore. I'd sing along with the Doors. There's one of my deep, dark secrets. Later in life, I became more aware that they showed Los Angeles and the whole West Coast in a different light — it was the same kind of light Raymond Chandler used, and Nathanael West and Charles Bukowski … all the James M. Cain, the sordid stuff that could go on after the sun goes down, and before it comes up.

Cervenka: I think we met Ray at the Whisky, when we were playing there. It had only been about five years since he'd toured with the Doors and punk was just the next fun thing to do. He understood punk, he got the punk thing and understood it wasn't the hippie thing. He was happy we existed and we felt like kindred spirits.... We said we were going to be making a record, and he said, 'I'll produce if you want.' We said, 'OK,' and that was pretty much it. A lot of the punk people were trying to distance themselves from the hippies, from the dinosaur bands, but X was never really orthodox when it came to punk ideology. We just did whatever we wanted to do. It did outrage and alienate some people, but others were drawn into the world we created together. It brought not only X but that whole scene some credibility and fame and turned a lot of people onto it.

Doe: We took a lot of grief for that. Some of the more hard-core bands thought of us as hippies anyway, because we had slow songs like "Nausea." We didn't care. We really didn't. If somebody said that, we probably just pushed them out of the way.... At least everyone respected the Doors because they were so dark and moody and they were seeing the other side.

Cervenka: In the studio, some people are dictators. Some people are brutally cruel to the artist. Ray was a tough guy when he needed to be a tough guy, but he was also a fan, a friend.... One time, I was in there all drunk and wild, and he pushed the talkback button after 15 takes of trying all sorts of different things, and said, "Remember, this is forever." That was the first time I ever realized: You mean, it doesn't just disappear tomorrow? Because everything else does — play a show, it disappears; have a relationship, it disappears.

Doe: Ray was really aware of how many songs we could do and how much time we had. That's where his experience really helped. Maybe one of the reasons we only have nine songs on "Los Angeles" is because that's what we could afford.

Cervenka: He was part of the gang. It was like a big clubhouse, a big party, and we would have a good time. It was just like the '60s and '70s where everything mixed: the art, the spiritual side, the serious side, the fun side. I think he had a tougher job reining us in — especially me — because we were crazy and pretty wild. A lot of people wouldn't have been able to do what he did with us.

Doe: Ray understood that you needed to tell your story. If anything, I remember Ray as an incredible storyteller. He was always bringing in the spiritual and the far-flung, which we needed. We needed that sort of vision, instead of just the cold, hard streets of L.A.

Cervenka: He was a leader-teacher-guru-master kind of guy, but I wouldn't say that to his face. A real person who is that kind of a spiritual being isn't trying to be a leader, teacher or guru, they just are. They're not trying to lead anybody, they just do; it's what they open for people.

Doe: Ray was all about the big picture. He knew from his experience with the Doors that the most important thing was getting a good performance. One of his mottoes was, "If it sounds good once, try doing it twice." A great example of that is the beginning of "Los Angeles." We have those four chords or whatever it is that happens before the verse starts. We played that, and Ray said, "That sounds good, you should do it twice." So we did, and that's the way it is on the record and that's the way we still do it.

Cervenka: As a person, I would like to say that in every way Ray was generous — to everybody, in everything. He is one of those people who changed the world, and he changed the world by changing people, by liberating people and liberating minds. I'm glad he had such a great life, and a great family. It's sad, but I don't see much reason for regret.

[email protected]

Q&A: John Densmore on Reconciling With the Doors
He and Robby Krieger plan L.A. tribute to the late Ray Manzarek

By Steve Appleford
June 19, 2013 12:05 PM ET
John Densmore

Larry Busacca/Getty Images

For a full decade, the Doors were at war with one another, entangled in dueling lawsuits and memoirs and locked in disputes over the licensing of their music and use of the Doors name on the road. But when keyboardist Ray Manzarek was hospitalized this year with a rare form of cancer, communications between the old friends and collaborators finally began to thaw.

"The inner circle knew Ray had cancer for a while," drummer John Densmore tells Rolling Stone of his former bandmate, who died last month in Germany. "Then I heard he was really sick and called him. He said thank you for the prayers and told me chemo was fucked. So there was a closing, thank God."

500 Greatest Albums of All Time: The Doors, 'The Doors'

In a new book, The Doors Unhinged, Densmore writes of the unexpected break in the band's long partnership that continued even after Jim Morrison's death in 1971. The trouble began when Densmore refused to sign off on a lucrative deal to sell "Break On Through (To the Other Side)" to a 2002 Cadillac commercial and intensified when Manzarek and guitarist Robby Krieger began touring as the Doors of the 21st Century.

The book opens with a scene of Morrison enraged and hurt after the band licensed "Light My Fire" for a 1968 Buick commercial in his absence, and picks up decades later in a courtroom, with Densmore suing to stop use of the Doors name on tour. He was countersued for $40 million in damages for the drummer's refusal to accept the Cadillac deal and other offers. Densmore prevailed, and along the way he shares stories from the band's history, about getting moral support from Tom Waits and Eddie Vedder, and of finally meeting Morrison's parents.

The self-published book has Densmore on a new tour of indie record stores for signings, including a stop last week at Amoeba in Hollywood, which drew several hundred fans. Doors activity has never stopped, with last year's collaboration with Skrillex, "Breakin' a Sweat," and a comprehensive iPad app released in May; Densmore expects to join Krieger for a live tribute to Manzarek in Los Angeles.

For years, the Doors always seemed to be on the same page, then something went sour.
We were always on the same page musically.

You did a VH1 Storytellers special in 2001, the American Prayer album in 1978 and many other things together after Jim died.
The Doors are back on our hinges. Ray and Robby – I just think they made a mistake thinking the Doors [could exist] without Jim, like the Police without Sting. That's straightened out. It was a really rough struggle.

What made you want to write a book on this very specific event in the Doors story?
When it was over, I was very pleased that Jim's estate and I persevered, but it was pretty rigorous. In the beginning, when I started the lawsuit, the hardcore fans thought I was ruining the band. I really wanted for anyone who was interested to see the journey I went through and what I was trying to do. And maybe it's metaphoric for other people's personal struggles with money. In there I say, "Money is like fertilizer: when it's hoarded, it stinks. When spread around, stuff grows."

You include a moment when the Doors had new managers who approached Jim with something like "You don't really need these guys. You're the star." What was Jim's reaction to that?
The managers said, "You're the money. Dump these guys." And at the next rehearsal, he says, "Let's dump them!" We were really equal. And that's why somehow, even for L.A. Woman, where Jim was clearly an alcoholic with a disease, when we were alone we were blessed by the muse. We don't own that.

The book opens with a pretty dark scene: Morrison is enraged about a deal the band made to sell "Light My Fire" to a Buick commercial.
I'm very proud of the first two words of the book: "Fuck you!"

You describe it not just as a blowup but an actual turning point, shaking trust within the band.
What blows my mind is that "Light My Fire" was primarily Robby's song – Jim threw in "love become a funeral pyre." Typical Morrison. If he flips out over "Come on, Buick, light my fire," what does that mean about his caring for the whole catalog, everything we represented? I'm not going to forget that.

Early on, the Doors decided to split and credit everything equally. Was that from conviction, or were you not yet educated about the standard ways of the music business?
That was Jim's suggestion before we ever had a record deal, before we had a gig. It was maybe naïve, but he could have later changed it, and didn't. He was the lyricist and could have got half of everything.

What does that say about what mattered to him?
Community. Amazing. There's sacredness when people are committed together for something.

It was once the norm for bands to refuse to sell their music for commercials, but now that's flipped around.
If you're a new band trying to pay the rent, then what the hell, do what you've got to do. But if you get going and you've got a toehold on success, you might want to look at that again. Tom Waits wrote a letter in response to my article in the Nation that said, "You want to look at changing your lyrics into a jingle. Is that what you want to do? Then it's the sound of coins in your pocket." I love that guy.

It's a big question. And I have Pete Townshend say in Rolling Stone, "You fell in love to Shirley to my song? I don't give a fuck about Shirley, I'll do what I want." True.

The Doors aren't billionaires, but we have deep pockets. I know that Ray and Robby, like me, have a nice house and a couple of groovy cars, so I'm going to veto this stuff. If they were struggling, it might be different. I knew money was going to be a very volatile subject. I've already been called a socialist elitist weirdo from the right.

In the book, you seemed especially hurt by the break with Robby.
Well, we were best friends, and it really feels nice to connect again. I said to Robby a few weeks ago in an email: "Let's have our musical reunion for Ray. Let's play some Doors songs at the Whisky or Wiltern – there's a lot of great musicians in L.A. that we know and love and admire the band. I'd like to break the ice that way." It should happen pretty soon.

The three of you did appear on a Skrillex track last year.
That was fun. At first, I was like, drum machines? When drum machines were first invented, Ringo said, "I'm the drum machine!" We pride ourselves on the groove. But I was into electronic music in high school – Stockhausen, Stravinsky, Schoenberg. I met [Skrillex] and he's a musician and plays guitar and piano. I needed to hear the stuff before I committed. It's got to feel right, and it did. In fact, I called him a month or two ago, and said, "I've got a beat that I think would fit with you . . ."

You were joined in your lawsuit by Morrison's parents.
I never thought that entering into this horrible train wreck would produce a blessing like meeting Jim's dad. Wow. Here's this guy who was on the other side of the fence during Vietnam. He was over there on a battleship, and we wrote "The Unknown Soldier" against it. He at 86 comes to support Jim's legacy? Whoa.

Did you discuss "The End" with his father by any chance?
I heard that he got nervous when he heard it.

Getting to know him, did it tell you something about Jim that you didn't know before?
Maybe there was a will, a strong sense of presence. Jim had that too. Jim had a will to get this rock concert he heard in his head before he even met us to come to fruition. Maybe there's something there.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/q-a-john-densmore-on-reconciling-with-the-doors-20130619#ixzz2WhgjUj7Q
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http://rocksoff.org/cgi-bin/messageboard/YaBB.pl GENERAL >> MAIN BOARD >> R.I.P. Ray Manzarek http://rocksoff.org/cgi-bin/messageboard/YaBB.pl?num=1369083785 Message started by lotsajizz on May 20^th, 2013 at 4:03pm