Tired of the VH1 Classic reruns of Oliver Stone's take on the Doors story? Ray Manzarek is working on a solution to that problem, pal!

"We have plans for a big Doors documentary film in the works," Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek tells Billboard.com. "I saw the first cut of it yesterday, and it's looking real good. But that won't be out 'til another six months."

Although Manzarek is keeping a tight lip at the moment on specifics about the documentary, he did confirm that it would feature a large amount of rare footage. "Absolutely — that's the whole point of it. Never before seen! This is the anti-Oliver Stone [referring to Stone's 1991 film, 'The Doors']. This will be the true story of the Doors."

If all that realism is a little too difficult to take, how about an approximation of the band's former glories (such as they were)?

Manzarek is getting ready to hit the road for a European tour in July as part of Riders On The Storm, a group that also features ex-Doors guitarist Robbie Krieger (and former Fuel singer Brett Scallions).

At the rate this Riders On The Storm thing is going, Bo Bice will be the lead singer next time around. However, Manzarek's multimedia assault continues.

And lastly, Manzarek is working on several movie scripts. "I've got four scripts. So what, who doesn't have four scripts," he says with a laugh. "I've got a film script based on 'L.A. Woman,' and another one in which three UCLA film school guys go to the desert to take peyote with the Native Americans at the Native American Church."

"And they run into the people from the Native American Church — the peyote church," he continues. "And all the sh*t that happens to them, you can imagine. Out in the desert, rednecks, psychic visions and reincarnation visions. Raymond White Eagle Daniels is the old wise man running the peyote ceremony. And that will of course never be made into a film, because it's about peyote [laughs]. It's a journey into manhood."

Sounds delightful. Rednecks, peyote, and reincarnation... what more could anyone ask for? Maybe a guest appearance by the guy from Fuel.

Manzarek Eyes Doors Documentary, Other Projects [Billboard]

I assumed for some reason that Morrison Hotel would be my downfall, but it hasn't been that bad. I almost found myself enjoying "Land Ho!" during the upbeat sections.

However, it's LA Woman's half-assed interpretation of the blues that's killing me slowly.

Compare and contrast:

LA Woman is the Doors album I remember most from my child of a baby boomer upbringing, and that certainly is making isn't making the seven-plus minutes of "Riders on the Storm" any easier or "WASP (Texas Radio & the Big Beat)" which I found trouble finding interesting in any manner whatsoever. I do have a bit of appreciation for the Doors now in the sense that every bar band full of Vietnam vets works this same style in a pale imitation of the original. It might not be fun for me to listen to now, but credit the Doors for doing it first, I suppose.

At very least, I made it through the ull band with Morrison records with some appreciation for the whole aesthetic. The experience rates below listening to the Rod Stewart catalog (the Mercury discs are solid, I tell you) but slightly above working my way through stacks of Pitchfork-baiting indie rock promos, which can be the most tiring experience of all some days. The Doors: white guys trying to play the blues, get some chicks and sound like LA in 1969. Not the worst idea of all time, for certain.

At very least, I'll always have a soft spot for "Five To One":

Still, An American Prayer's spot in my iTunes media library is meeting the delete button the minute "The Ghost Song" finishes.

Previously:
My Day Of Hanging With The Lizard King, Part One

Eh, OK. I'm midway through Waiting For The Sun at the moment, and the experience hasn't been quite the aural horrorfest that I would have imagined. But I'm still having a hard time understanding the overall appeal for anyone without a nostalgic attachment to the Whiskey-A-Go-Go. The band does have a decent touch when they can keep the track lengths down to tidy singles, although the appeal of Jim's habit of repeating the song title over and over with various inflections wears off very, very quickly over the course of these early albums. I think I might feel better about the whole thing if tracks like "Horse Latitudes" showed the band with some sense of humor, instead of some bizarro 'shroom fueled poetic bravado, but it's not the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, I suppose.

I'll give you people this much: "Moonlight Drive" is a pretty good song.

The Doors might edge ahead of the Eagles in my book by the end of the day, but there's still Morrison Hotel to go, so anything's possible.

Earlier:
You Know Who Really Sucks? The Doors
You Know Who Doesn't Suck That Much? The Doors.

Rock legends Jim Morrison of "The Doors" and Michael Hutchence of "INXS" have given a psychic medium riveting accounts of their controversial deaths and the many myths that surrounded their lives as only they can tell them.

Internationally known psychic Kathleen Tucci (Http://www.kathleentucci.com) recounts Jim Morrison's final hours on earth and reveal the whereabouts of Pamela Courson while Jim lay dying.

Famous radio psychic Francine Milano (http://www.FrancineMilano.com) channels Pamela Courson who reveals her side of the story to Jim's death and what her life with Jim Morrison was really like.

Famous L.A. psychics Linda Salvin and Judy Hevenly have verified the channeling in this book: (http://www.LindaSalvin.com and http://www.Judyhevenly.com)

International Psychic-medium Marjorie Augustine reveals the dark side of Jim Morrison.(http://www.moonstonemediums.com) In his channeling to Marjorie, Jim bares his soul to reveal some of his behaviors that are both shocking and regretful.

The elaborate cover-up of his death is explored in depth as well as the true identity of his "cosmic mate."

Jim Morrison discusses his conviction in Miami, the police brutality he experienced behind closed doors in New Haven and Las Vegas and why he actually fled the United States for Paris in 1971.

Michael Hutchence reveals the facts surrounding what really happened in Room 524 at the Ritz Carlton, in Double Bay, Australia on November 22nd, 1997.

Michael details how he really died and why there was no note left behind.

Internationally known psychic Christopher Reburn (http://www.thepsychicspirit.com) is the chosen channel for Paula Yates, Michael's last love and Mother of his child. Paula sends messages to her loved ones and reveals her true feelings for Michael Hutchence and her former husband, Sir Bob Geldof.

Michael gives his jaw dropping thoughts on his so-called brothers in "INXS" and the autobiography they wrote after his death.

Jacquie also has a recently channeled poem by the Lizard King up on her site, and those of you who were saying that the Doors were all about the tongue-in-cheek humor during that huge blow-up the other day might want to judge just how real this particular verse is based on that criterion.

alongthewatchtower.com [Official site; HT Tom Ewing]

1. They are really fucking funny.

My god, did you watch that trailer for the movie? Maybe it hurt at the time, but after fifteen-plus years, that tragedy is comedy now if it wasn't the second it came out. If Dan didn't also have some kneejerk beef with Lester Bangs, he might have read a great piece in Mainlines, Blood Feasts and Bad Taste named "Jim Morrison: Bozo Dionysus A Decade Later" that shows how it easy it was to find and enjoy the camp in the Doors, even while finding Morrison's sociopathic and self-adoring tendencies repugnant. And that was written in 1981, when it was probably a lot harder to ignore his lionization.

While classic rock hegemony has obviously survived in the Web 2.0 era (I mean, check out that comments section), the increase in differing voices and the rise of nostalgia for years well past the Summer Of Love make it hard for me to resent these dinosaurs the way I did back when there were only 57 channels (and nothing on). We're not forced to hear that nothing will ever beat the '60s anymore, so its easier to take the icons of the age at face value.

2. At face value, the Doors are really fucking funny.
So this pretty boy poet gets together with an organist he knows from film school. Soon they get a little bass-free band together that mixes supper club schmaltz and classic blues as if it's all the same trip. And while Jimbo's a wordsmith, he's not above singing a ditty by the guitarist that winds up being over six minutes long! And this is what they take to Ed Sullivan! Weirdos!

3. They wrote their share of groovy little tunes.
Get over (or surrender to) the idea that you're dealing with a prophet and it's pretty easy to get into stuff like "Break On Through" and "L.A. Woman." As ridiculous as organ-based bands can sound, the band could work up a dramatic backdrop for Morrison's shtick. Sez Bangs: "he took all the dread and fear and even explosions into seeming freedom of the Sixties and made them first seem even more bizarre, dangerous and apocalyptic than we already thought they were, then turned everything we were taking so seriously into a big joke mid-stream." That's actually kind of cool.

4. We're pretty quick to tolerate trippy '60s bullshit if the artists are "underappreciated."
Dan talks about not wanting to blame Arthur Lee for getting the Doors signed to Elektra. Arthur Lee? The guy who lived in bottles and pretended they were cans? The guy who dropped garage rock to sing over strings like Johnny Mathis about the snot on his pants? Can you imagine how much people would resent Love if they had a Doors-like cult behind them? Inversely, if you treat the Doors like just another bunch of sixties screwballs, there's a lot of gold in thar hills. Don't sleep on The Soft Parade just because Mom got there first.

5. They are really fucking funny.

Ha ha, Tom Jones.

Oh, is there a popular act of the rock era worse than the Doors? I'd entertain nominations for the Eagles, but as much as I hate those country-rock cocaine Californians, the Doors have committed crimes of assault upon my ears that cannot be forgiven. Listen to this garbage:

AAAARRRGRGHGGH. I can't think of anything I'd rather excise permanently from the universe's playlist, yet it comes back again and again, swaggering with a unique combination of pretension and stupidity that should have disappeared long ago.

I'm sorry in advance for doing this, but here's Exhibit B for the prosecution:

I don't want to blame Arthur Lee, but his recommendation got these clowns signed to Elektra, and they still sell a million albums a year somehow. I thank the Doors for one thing only: providing the musical base for Jay-Z's "The Takeover." But that's a case of Kanye West turning coal (to be kind) into a diamond. The Doors were a hacky slam-poetry band that somehow found its way into the spotlight during a time period where A&R guys were taking prodigious amounts of drugs, which clearly compromised their faculties.

Pink Floyd? I'd listen to them any day before even looking at a Doors press photo. Madonna? "Holiday" is my jam.

The Doors are the worst band of all time. Period. And, yes, I've heard CCR.

The Doors [Official site, which I'm linking for some unknown reason]

ROCK LEGEND'S APARTMENT!!! Jim Morrison of "THE DOORS" former apartment in the Historical West Hollywood building known Internationally as "Jim Morrison's last known U.S. residence." As seen on television, shown in books, and on websites. NOT A PERMANENT RESIDENCE. This special, unique apartment is available for short-term rentals at $200.00 daily or discounted weekly rentals. Fully Furnished in 70's style. Queen sofa bed in livingroom for additional sleeping accomodations.

Did you get all that? It's known...internationally! It's been shown...on websites! It's got a sofa bed...in the living room! It's like a flophouse with history!

Also, for whatever reason, the site of band names in all-quote caps makes us titter; it's like when the NYC bodega owners advertise "AVOCADO'S" FOR SALE.

Lizard King's Garage Door For Sale [Curbed LA]

Some of rock 'n' roll's biggest names have teamed up to sue the owner of a Web site that specializes in streaming rare concert recordings. Wolfgang's Vault offers thousands of recordings of rare audio and video music performances collected over 30 years by Bill Graham, a famous concert promoter who died in 1991.

On Monday, major rock names including Grateful Dead Productions, Carlos Santana and members of Led Zeppelin and The Doors, sued the current owner, claiming it was illegally offering recordings to stimulate sales of other products.

We can only imagine how the conference call went for this one, but we're pretty sure Jimmy Page politely snoozed his way through, and that Ray Manzarek kept the Jim Morrison mentions to a reasonable (for him) eleven name-drops per minute.

Led Zeppelin, Doors members sue concert video site [Reuters]