cult film freak: May 2013

Written by James M. Tate / 5/30/2013 / 1 Comment / bill paxton , eighties , horror , jenny wright , lance henriksen , vampire

MOVE OVER LOST BOYS FOR 'NEAR DARK'

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5f13zf_4whU/UafbkTMw1nI/AAAAAAAAY60/UmEvyGkXmfw/s1600/near-dark1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5f13zf_4whU/UafbkTMw1nI/AAAAAAAAY60/UmEvyGkXmfw/s1600/near-dark1.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;">1987 rating: ***</td></tr>
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Steamy vampire flick with terrific moments and memorable characters, including Jenny Wright as a shyly sensuous vamp who seduces farm boy Adrian Pasdar into her clutches. In NEAR DARK she bites him and, not yet transformed, he joins the <i>family</i>: a gang of rogue RV-riding bloodsuckers including Lance Henriksen as the brooding leader and hopped-up scene-stealer Bill Paxton as a bad boy brawler.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jenny doesn't suck</td></tr>
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The vibe throughout is spooky and intense, the starkly rural daytime setting giving a Spaghetti Western feel while the shadowy night shots channel Film Noir. But the camarawork, although making good use of light and shade, keeps too close on the actors, feeling more like a Gothic photo album than a suspensful motion picture.<br />
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Some of the music, seeming placed throughout to fill a soundtrack album, hinders what should have been more timeless otherwise. But an ultra-violent scene within a red neck bar, and a finale on a desolate street straight out of a demonic HIGH NOON, makes this a uniquely bloody ride. And although not as conventionally entertaining, there's a murkier depth than its successful competitor, THE LOST BOYS. And while Pasdar is a dependable – though somewhat wooden – lead protagonist, the best moments concern Paxton’s daredevil lunacy or Jenny Wright’s docile-doomed expressions as each inevitable dawn draws in: Perhaps NEAR LIGHT would have been a more fitting title, as these vamps are continuously playing time with loaded dice.<br />
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bill paxton, eighties, horror, jenny wright, lance henriksen, vampire

MOVE OVER LOST BOYS FOR 'NEAR DARK'

1987 rating: *** Steamy vampire flick with terrific moments and memorable characters, including Jenny Wright as a shyly sensuous vamp wh...

STRAIGHT TO VIDEO 'DEMONSTONE' W/ JAN-MICHAEL VINCENT

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>title: Demonstone year: 1990</u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Okay so this is one of those really cheap movies found in the bargain bin at your local drugstore... But DEMONSTONE is really not that bad for a ninety-minute roller coaster borrowing bits and pieces of every genre under the “thriller” template including horror, action, and science fiction.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The description is somewhat misleading: A 400-year curse within a carved stone possesses a young woman to unleash supernatural powers. Well this happens but only sporadically...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Most of the time we have tough guys Jan-Michael Vincent and R. Lee Ermey teamed up in the Philippines to investigate a young American soldier accused of killing a room full of locals and, playing out like a rugged Film Noir, Vincent’s hardedge Andy Buck, a world-weary former soldier, goes from one location to the next gathering clues in a seemingly endless maze of red herrings. After joining up with Ermy’s Colonel Haines, the two wind up in car chases and machine gun battles (or a combination of both).</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Video Box</u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">On the peripheral, the falsely accused young soldier fights to stay alive as pretty journalist Sharon Gale (Nancy Everhard), having found the amulet in the film’s prologue, is possessed by an ancient monk seeking revenge against those who unearthed the stone: With fiery red eyes she kills random villains, but these corny horror segments (with lame special effects that are very... <i>special</i>) has little to do with what makes DEMONSTONE a surprisingly pleasurable viewing experience.</span><br />

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g9mergNWrgo/UaR0nJtzTaI/AAAAAAAAY3Q/9tMHFgv4CUs/s1600/demonstone2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="151" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g9mergNWrgo/UaR0nJtzTaI/AAAAAAAAY3Q/9tMHFgv4CUs/s200/demonstone2.JPG" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">DemonScore: ***</span></u></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It's great seeing Jan-Michael Vincent still in muscular, leading man form, right before his sad derelict decline, and Ermy playing a character that, instead of barking orders, takes an energetic part in the gun blazing bravado. And there’s also a side plot involving a Philippines mafia while one nicely choreographed scene has an entire town erupting in a violent protest. And through it all, our brawny heroes survive just about anything thrown at them – and then some. Until the end when it's apparent our boys have been babysitting that possessed lady all along, and she, or rather, he... isn't happy!</span><br />
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action, jan-michael vincent, nineties, r lee ermey, thriller

STRAIGHT TO VIDEO 'DEMONSTONE' W/ JAN-MICHAEL VINCENT

title: Demonstone year: 1990 Okay so this is one of those really cheap movies found in the bargain bin at your local drugstore... But DE...

Written by James M. Tate / 5/28/2013 / 1 Comment / anthony quinn , blaxploitation , interview , isaac hayes , seventies , yaphet kotto

YAPHET KOTTO TRUCKS ACROSS 110TH STREET

anthony quinn, blaxploitation, interview, isaac hayes, seventies, yaphet kotto

YAPHET KOTTO TRUCKS ACROSS 110TH STREET

AN INTERVIEW WITH YAPHET KOTTO Yaphet Kotto is one of the great actors of the seventies... Two particular blaxploitation efforts, ACROSS...

Written by James M. Tate / 5/27/2013 / 1 Comment / harrison ford , robert shaw , seventies , war

FORCE 10 FROM NAVARONE REVIEW HAS RELOCATED

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Carl Weathers, Edward Fox, Harrison Ford</td></tr>
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harrison ford, robert shaw, seventies, war

FORCE 10 FROM NAVARONE REVIEW HAS RELOCATED

CLICK HERE FOR THE NEW HOME OF FORCE 10 FROM NAVARONE Carl Weathers, Edward Fox, Harrison Ford BUY FORCE 10 FROM NAVARONE ON...

Written by James M. Tate / 5/26/2013 / No comments / art metrano , exploitation , june fairchild , lewis teague , morgan paull , seventies , tara strohmeier

MORGAN PAULL IS DIRTY O'NEIL

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rreXz5ZFqKo/VGuhw2yI1rI/AAAAAAAAktw/fkUBMS2D4ww/s1600/zzzzz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="452" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rreXz5ZFqKo/VGuhw2yI1rI/AAAAAAAAktw/fkUBMS2D4ww/s1600/zzzzz.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1974 cast: Morgan Paull, June Fairchild, Tara Strohmeier, Art Metrano rating: ***1/2</td></tr>
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“Caught in the act,” says one of many vixens in Officer O’Neil’s path. “Take me alive… How should I plead?” Well for this guilty pleasure exploitation film, the answer should be obvious.<br />
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Title character Dirty O’Neil lives up to his name – and not because his uniform’s unwashed. Whether he’s arresting hitchhikers, going undercover as a nurse to bust perverts, coaching a girl’s basketball team, or following up on random complaints from citizens, sly cat Jimmy O’Neil, played by the late Morgan Paull, always winds up with another (and yet another and another) beautiful lady.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Officer Dirty O'Neil on the beat in a bar with a babe</td></tr>
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But he’s not only in it for the good times. He digs his job… Protecting the small town where he resides… and when three grimy criminals attack one of his girlfriends, he has to step up and really take action.<br />
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Paull, in a Cult Film Freak podcast interview, and who played the Tyrell agent Harrison Ford replaces in BLADE RUNNER, noted: “So that’s the chance of the business. Harrison Ford was up for several movies, including DIRTY O’NEIL. He got the hit, I got the bomb… What can I say?”<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Art Metrano with Morgan Paull in DIRTY O'NEIL</td></tr>
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Alright so it’s no STAR WARS... But DIRTY O’NEIL satisfies from beginning to end. Art Metrano, the antagonist in several POLICE ACADEMY films, plays O’Neil’s scruffy partner. But the true highlights on this seventies gem (available for streaming on Netflix) are all the lovely vixens including June Fairchild, Tara Strohmeier, Kitty Carl, Jeane Manson and Katie Saylor...<br />
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Because no matter what happens, there’s always another pretty face around each and every curvaceous corner...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>SELECTIONS FROM AN INTERVIEW WITH THE LATE MORGAN PAULL</b></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><b><i>I’ve never been to jealous watching a film than DIRTY O’NEIL: you wind up with the most amazing women…</i></b></span><br />
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<i>Well let me tell you, I was happily married at the time so it was the greatest waste of talent in my life... My wife checked every night… She called the set to say, “Have they rapped yet, have they rapped yet?” She wanted to know everything, so those girls – we had our scenes and that was the end of it.</i><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Morgan Paull as the sexually-motivated police officer DIRTY O'NEIL</i></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><b><i>Okay, so, what do you personally think of DIRTY O'NEIL?  </i></b></span><br />
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<i>It’s the lowest budget movie in history, believe me… I mean our lunch was whatever they could find at a local hotdog stand... But it was a lead role and it was supposed to be funny, a takeoff on all the cop movies that were going on… And it had potential of being funny... </i><br />
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<i>Art Metrano was funny and I was trying to be somewhat funny… And the premise was funny. But you know – it was what it was.</i><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the late Morgan Paull: "He was a very gentle, easy-going guy." Tara Strohmeier</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tara Strohmeier daydreams about coach O'Neil </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kitty Carl and Tara Strohmeier</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Protecting the piece</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Taking a break</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-y0IOBfRSFA0/UAdiLZlQdvI/AAAAAAAAJIE/HAPqD2bTZPk/s1600/Picture+9.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="356" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-y0IOBfRSFA0/UAdiLZlQdvI/AAAAAAAAJIE/HAPqD2bTZPk/s640/Picture+9.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another O'Neil beauty</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">June Fairchild as the sexy hitchhiker</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">June Fairchild and Morgan Paull</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9pI8nLBVpV4/UAdiQEMNrdI/AAAAAAAAJIc/C2jCluvXskU/s1600/zzzz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="408" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9pI8nLBVpV4/UAdiQEMNrdI/AAAAAAAAJIc/C2jCluvXskU/s640/zzzz.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #cccccc;"><span style="color: #073763;"><b>Hitchhiker June Fairchild getting Dirty with O'Neil</b></span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Listen to the podcast interview with Morgan Paull...</td></tr>
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art metrano, exploitation, june fairchild, lewis teague, morgan paull, seventies, tara strohmeier

MORGAN PAULL IS DIRTY O'NEIL

year: 1974 cast: Morgan Paull, June Fairchild, Tara Strohmeier, Art Metrano rating: ***1/2 “Caught in the act,” says one of many vixens ...

Written by James M. Tate / 5/24/2013 / No comments / 2013 , action , bradley cooper , comedy , ed helms , franchise , john goodman , sequel , zach galifianakis

THE HANGOVER PART III

2013, action, bradley cooper, comedy, ed helms, franchise, john goodman, sequel, zach galifianakis

THE HANGOVER PART III

year: 2013 cast: Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms, John Goodman, Ken Jeong rating: **1/2 Anyone who’s suffered a real hangov...

Written by James M. Tate / 5/22/2013 / 2 Comments / 2013 , biopic , chris evans , crime , michael shannon , neo noir , ray liotta , wionna ryder

MICHAEL SHANNON IS THE ICEMAN

2013, biopic, chris evans, crime, michael shannon, neo noir, ray liotta, wionna ryder

MICHAEL SHANNON IS THE ICEMAN

year: 2013 cast: Michael Shannon, Chris Evans, Ray Liotta, Wionna Ryder rating: ** This true life crime melodrama is a very… mellow… dra...

Written by James M. Tate / 5/21/2013 / No comments / frances mcdormand , harry dean stanton , indie , joyce van patten , judd hirsch , road movie , sean penn

SEAN PENN FINDS THE CURE IN THIS MUST BE THE PLACE

frances mcdormand, harry dean stanton, indie, joyce van patten, judd hirsch, road movie, sean penn

SEAN PENN FINDS THE CURE IN THIS MUST BE THE PLACE

year: 2011 cast: Sean Penn, Judd Hirsch, Frances McDormand, Joyce Van Patten rating: ***1/2 In case you’re wondering, Sean Penn isn’t pl...

Written by James M. Tate / 5/20/2013 / 3 Comments / concert , gregory hines , jim morrison , music , ray manzarek

DEDICATION TO RAY MANZAREK: ARCHIVE 2009 CONCERT REVIEW

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">REST IN PEACE RAY MANZAREK</td></tr>
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I don't think Jim Morrison, the singer, is overrated. As a lead vocalist, combining blues and rock and something otherwordly, I think he's quite underrated, actually. Same goes with his poetry and lyrics... But as a legendary sex symbol: his shirtless image outshining the other members of THE DOORS on posters, books, posthumous album covers, etc., he's overrated... That is, as a  "sexy rock star" his persona has pretty much taken over...<br />
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Either that Robby Krieger, Ray Manzarek and John Densmore are underrated, not only as musicians in general but as members of this iconic band whose input equalled Morrison, especially guitarist/songwriter Robbie Krieger and the man who really opened the doors of the mind, organ-grinding maestro Ray Manzarek. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">REVIEW OF THE CONCERT AT THE GROVE IN ANAHEIM CALIFORNIA 2009</td></tr>
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Well I got a chance to see two outta three, Robby and Ray... and now it's confirmed: not only is their part in THE DOORS legacy just as important as Morrison but they can still play... INCREDIBLY. The bassist and drummer were good and the "replacement singer" had a nasally voice and looked more like Horseshack from "Welcome Back Kotter" than The Lizard King, but this was okay (and perhaps intentional)... he wasn't trying to replace Morrison but was simply carrying the vocals so Robby and Ray could do their stuff. </div>
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The peak of the set was Krieger's unbelievable five minute flamenco guitar solo, which then lead to an awesome "Spanish Caravan." Ray took the role as MC, talking between songs (sounding like the plant in the eighties film version of "Little Shop of Horrors") and sometimes even during them; instigating people to get high during "Break On Through" and to revive the Summer of Love in 2010 before "Light My Fire": which, he reminded the audience at least five times, was written entirely by Krieger. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ray Manzarek with Gregory Hines in William Friedkin's DEAL OF THE CENTURY</td></tr>
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Both R's look pretty aged (Ray with spiky gray hair and Robby looking more like "Seafelt" from "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" than his former "twin," comic Steven Wright) but both still have the same stage presence and haven't slowed down as performers: Ray the concentrative crouching praying mantis over the keys while Robby paints wonderfully weaving pictures with his Gibson SG.</div>
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"When The Music's Over" was a highlight, carrying a ton of lighting bolt/thunder clap intensity; "The Changeling," a romping blues dirge, was a sweet surprise; "The Soft Parade" was perhaps the only "let's head to the bathroom song" (the singer forgetting some of the lyrics); "Back Door Man," "Break On Through," "Waiting for the Sun," "Peace Frog," "Blue Sunday" and "L.A. Woman" were wonderfully tight and vividly amazing; while "Love Me Two Times," "Love Her Madly," "Touch Me" and "Light My Fire" were passable... but still quite a treat. </div>
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Bummer they didn't do "Riders On The Storm" (Ray's pivotal raindrops would have sounded very sweet in a live venue) or "Roadhouse Blues" (both were on the set-list, which was stolen from the stage by a friend of mine SECONDS after the band left the stage)... but overall it was an incredible show.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HpzkDqJWnoI/UZqxEVKA3CI/AAAAAAAAYtU/3QDDf3ISgME/s1600/ray2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="452" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HpzkDqJWnoI/UZqxEVKA3CI/AAAAAAAAYtU/3QDDf3ISgME/s640/ray2.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ray Manzarek being filmed by Jim Morrison</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Great friend Ashley Cordelia and Ray Manzerek</td></tr>
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And now as I write this on the day of the death of Ray Manzarek, four years after writing that review and I remember about twenty years earlier still, in 1987, sitting in the parking lot that was crowded with hippies at Irvine Meadows, California where The Grateful Dead show would happen the following day...<br />
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I was very loaded on the same psychedelic drug that The Doors created their music to...<br />
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And as the organ solo played during the album version of LIGHT MY FIRE some hippie guy, around forty years old and looking like one of Dr. Teeth's backup musicians had he doubled as a stoned librarian, was feeling each note as if it were coming up from the Earth...<br />
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And I too felt that way and sure, alright, maybe it was the drug... but Lawrence Welk wouldn't have hit the spot that night, that minute, that moment, that instant...<br />
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Goodbye Ray, and thanks for the lightning bolts... Although they went too fast for my brain sometimes... Like years before that Dead show when I peaked in my bedroom to the speedy ALIVE SHE CRIED version of LIGHT MY FIRE and I had to turn off the record during Ray's section, lay on my bed, listen to an Eddie Murphy standup cassette tape to come back to Earth... But that was my own fault... You always kept your end of the bargain... I quit that stupid drug in 1990 but your music still (and always) remained... Later Daze!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ray Manzarek and Robbie Krieger</td></tr>
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concert, gregory hines, jim morrison, music, ray manzarek