David Lilly

I entered the world as a 1957 model Aries, clutching a pen and notebook. Thankfully, those things did no internal damage to my mother during gestation or at birth. As soon as I was able to form sentences with my trusty pen and notebook (I learned to type 30 years ago and now do it for a living), I began writing.

Since October 1999, I have been a staff writer for Louisville Music News. My work includes CD and concert reviews as well as cover stories on local performers. Since August 2001, I have contributed monthly CD reviews to www.nefariousmag.com

Listening to an AM radio station on headphones one evening in 1971, I heard The Doors for the first time. Ironically, it was Riders on the Storm. I loved it immediately because of the eerie and haunting quality. I really wanted to hear it again, know more about this group called The Doors, and hear more of their music.

My first Doors album, a used copy of Weird Scenes Inside the Gold Mine, was given to me by a relative. I still consider it the Doors' best compilation album because it contained a diverse selection - some hits as well as more obscure songs. An excellent collection of Doors music for the unknowing-but-interested. After I’d worn out that album and heightened my curiosity futher, I eventually bought all the Doors albums on vinyl. During my 20’s (before MTV) I went to a Doors Film Festival in Philadelphia, PA., and saw The Doors Are Open, Feast of Friends, and a couple of promotional films the band had made. I also attended a Rock n Roll flea market in Philly and went home with a double LP Doors bootleg featuring the audio from Feast of Friends, The End from the Hollywood Bowl, and other things. Like many others, I read No One Here Gets Out Alive, which, though tabloid-esque, whetted my appetite for more information. Since then I’ve read several more Doors/Morrison books, collected numerous audio recordings of Doors’ shows as well as video, and traded copies of some with other fans.

What still draws me to The Doors? Basically, still that eerie quality of a lot of their music, although that’s not always the case, since I love Land Ho, Wintertime Love, Love Street, and other not-so-gloomy numbers. There's more to it, though. Many of the individual songs make up a collective "other world" that I find appealing; the music complementing the lyrics that present glimpses of a dark, mythical or metaphorical realm.

And then there’s the singer who wrote most of the lyrics in the songs. I long ago tired of "Jim Morrison the rock star," because in researching his life I found that "rock star" image to be a sort of "veil" that had been placed on him. To me, the person behind that image was far more interesting than the media image.

I see Jim as having been a very sensitive (as in being sometimes intensely affected by things outside himself), strong-willed, and creatively gifted person who rode a bucking bronco of emotional turmoil and possessed (or was possessed by) perhaps a higher level of intelligence than he could effectively handle (and which was probably made worse by being sensitive and an astute observer). Some gifted people are misunderstood until many years beyond their time. Jim was probably one of them.

I have very diverse taste in music, and Doors music is still among my favorites.