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There was a time, and that time preceded the advent of bit dealers, when sheets called fanzines, affectionately fanze, circulated.
Because you became attached to fanze - it was impossible not to - and even more attached to those who spread passion and sweat to write those pages, print them, photocopy them, and send them around. At least, that's always been my experience.
And then I always thought there was a maniac behind a fanze, because who else would lose sleep - fanze was invariably written late at night, of course - to jot down a dozen pages of rants about assorted lesser Z-grade arts, moving from literature to cinema to music?
And if a maniac was indeed behind every fanze, it is also true that every maniac wrote, printed, and distributed his own fanze.
Take Greg Shaw.
He was sixteen when he first vented his mania on the typewritten pages of "Mojo-Navigator Rock'n'Roll News," one of the first prints - for many, THE first - to consciously boast the title of fanzine. Because, in reality, the first fanzines dated back to the thirties, but those practically went unnoticed and were swallowed by History with a capital H.
The fanzines of the Sixties, on the other hand, made themselves noticed, made noise.
Just to say: a friend of Greg's, a certain Jann Wenner, a few months after "Mojo-Navigator" began circulating in a clandestine way, set up a magazine, one of those serious ones, called "Rolling Stone," shouting to the four winds that he was inspired by Greg's initiative.
Because Greg was truly good, he wrote like no one else did at the time, and it is no coincidence that he attracted people like Ken Barnes and Lester Bangs.
What did Greg write about? Music.
But he wasn't a know-it-all; his knowledge didn't extend from Ludwig Van to Frankie Sinatra.
Rather, in that sense, he was somewhat limited: he wrote only about certain new music he perceived on his adolescent rounds, behind bands with strange names, semis, chocolate straps, sonic oddities; music that emerged from the basement and garage before concert halls.
The garage, indeed; and if today that music Greg wrote about is known as garage rock or garage punk, much of the credit goes to Greg, and the only one who can legitimately claim a similar part is one Lenny Kaye.
But going back to "Mojo-Navigator," like any self-respecting fanze, it didn't last long: if a fanze was a true fanze, it circulated when it happened and didn't last long. So, at a certain point, "Mojo-Navigator" disappeared from circulation.
Not Greg, he didn't disappear, but he moved on to a new fanzine, "Who Put The Bomp," shortened to "Bomp!" with an exclamation point.
At that time Greg didn't know it, but he had laid the stone on which flocks of maniacs would build his cult and that of garage music: in hindsight, "Bomp!" is just that, the bible of the garage subculture and Greg is its prophet.
And then came the time when "Bomp!" was not just a heap of cyclostyled and roughly bound sheets to circulate.
Greg set up a record label, Bomp! as well: through it passed the Dead Boys and Weirdos, Zeros and Germs, DMZ and anyone eager to burn in the fire of garage music.
Greg couldn't do better.
However, he did. Because then Bomp! became Voxx, but Voxx cannot be spoken of.
I spoke of Greg in the past tense because, incidentally, he passed away at 55 on October 19, 2004.
Greg Shaw was Jesus with a punk attitude but has not yet resurrected.
In the meantime, you can pass the time with one of his books - he wrote a couple of books - like this one.
I don't think there is another artist about whom so much has been written (perhaps the Beatles and Elvis are a different story). Sometimes passionately, other times for entertainment and sometimes for easy money. After all, James Douglas Morrison had everything to be one of the most fascinating and mysterious characters in Rock history; a singer, a poet, a charismatic leader beautiful and cursed, idol of the masses, but above all a cultural symbol in the America of the sixties. Then over time myth, legend and (unfortunately, but that's how it goes) a media phenomenon. He, who always held moral integrity as an essential value, had to undergo posthumously commercial exploitation like few others. Together with John, Ray, and Robby, he created a band unique in everything. I am the first to acknowledge the immense value of the three musicians, but let's not kid ourselves, without Morrison and with another frontman, they would have been an interesting band, but like others. Instead, the Doors, in just five years of activity, secured a front row in Rock history. In 1981, a middle school kid, along with "Led Zeppelin 2 and 4," "Made in Japan," "Absolutely Live" played continuously in my ears, and that music and that voice captured my soul early and completely. There were no videos, so you had to fantasize from some photo. You had to imagine one of their concerts, what Morrison was. At that moment, he was just a "different" singer who spoke and shouted as well as sang; to know more, I would have had to wait for the first books and VHS. I read a lot about him and them; from the legends of the Lizard King in all possible versions, to the "studies" of his lyrics (very interesting, but only he knew what he was really referring to, except in explicit cases, "leaving" the listener to identify the possible metaphor), to his poetry books, to how he influenced young people and American society of the time, to his entanglements with counterculture movements, to government dossiers on him, to how he would have staged his fake death, even of a guy named Rochard who claims to have known him in the eighties (he may be crazy, but this subject has fabulous imagination!).
Among so many and diverse readings, however, we must celebrate THE BOOK on the Doors: in the translated version "Jim Morrison & the Doors On The Road" by Greg Shaw.
"A monumental work, a fantastic research job that every true Doors fan should have. A Herculean feat," Ray Manzarek.
"Venturing into reading Jim Morrison & the Doors On The Road is a bit like buying tickets for 600 Doors concerts; at first glance, it's a daunting prospect. For easier consultation, we've highlighted with a star the most significant, scandalous, or exciting shows of the group. Choose any one and sit in the front row."
These two comments, in addition to mine (of little technical value), help us understand Shaw's work.
With the contribution of a multitude of enthusiasts and connoisseurs, the Rock scholar from Utah lets us retrace the band's entire history in chronological order. Special thanks is due to Kerry Humpherys, founder of the historic "The Doors Collector Magazine," and to Andrew Hawley, considered the greatest collector around when it comes to Doors, Hendrix, vintage Jazz, and rhythm and blues. We can begin the journey, by date, and delve into everything that happens to the band in between recordings, lawsuits, television appearances, interviews... but above all, one by one, the band's individual concerts! Of each single performance, we have all the possible information, ranging from nothing or almost nothing to the exact setlist, who the other bands were, the promoters, how many spectators, local newspaper reviews, but above all how the concert was and what emotions it stirred.
It starts from early trials and private parties, to the legendary period on Sunset Boulevard first at "London Fog" and then at "Whisky a Go Go." In the latter, for some months, the Doors played as the "house band," often with multiple daily performances and alongside other bands. To be clear, on the same weekend, afternoon and evening, you could listen to Doors, Love, Them, and Captain Beefheart! Then someone still asks if and why the sixties were unique!!!
It continues to San Francisco and New York in the mythical venues of that era (Matrix, the Fillmores, Ondine, Steve Paul's Scene, etc., etc.) to touch all the most important arenas in the United States.
Passing through the concerts that caused a stir due to the events: the famous night in New Haven (with Morrison's arrest on stage), the incidents at the "Singer Bowl" in Queens, up to the crazy night in Miami (fully documented by a recording of a spectator!) and the dozens of concerts canceled in the following months by mayors of the various hosting cities. American prudishness here reached its peak with specific rallies against the band. The two European tours; one carried out "regularly" in September 1968, and one canceled in September 1970 as judges did not move the trial dates for the Miami events; there were also two Italian dates on the calendar (Rome and Milan). It continues until the last concert (with Jim Morrison) in New Orleans, Jim's departure for Paris, the publication of "L.A. Woman," and the singer's disappearance in July 1971.
Until December 1995, everything that still concerns the band and its members even after the end of the group is updated, always in chronological order.
Shaw tells us about the most exciting part of the Doors: the live performances. The concerts where the band, especially Morrison, gave their best (sometimes their worst). It's obvious that Jim is the center of everything. No biased judgments are given, and there are no predictable and ridiculous accusations of drugs or alcohol as a descent of the human being. Here there is music, there is art, there is passion! And Jim could and should have shown it as he best believed, immortalizing his soul in eternity.
The photographic section is wonderfully vintage with photos, posters, and show tickets (the book looks entirely seventies)
Shaw's idea was to periodically update the book, correcting errors and adding information through videos and unpublished recordings, documented accounts of individual concerts. The scholar leaves everyone his address and email at the beginning of the book. Probably at his premature passing, things got stalled.
The book, for many years now, is not even published anymore and can only be found used.
For my part, every time I find a copy at a reasonable price, I buy it and gift it to someone.
This is The BOOK that every fan of the band, of Jim, and those years, in general, should have and read. It is neither long nor heavy and can be "jumped" as it is chronological but also unconnected, recounting each individual concert.
A big thank you to Pinhead; as you may have realized, the piece concerning Shaw is his work. Thank you, Maestro!
Happy reading, indeed happy journey!
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