AUTHOR: BRIAN VANDERBEEK
PUBLISHED: 4 AUGUST 2011
AVAILABLE: The Modesto Bee: modbee.com
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Ray Manzarek is one of the legends of rock 'n' roll, a member of its Hall of Fame as the keyboardist and founder of The Doors.
But while an admitted baseball follower, he's obviously not a die-hard fan of either the Los Angeles Dodgers — The Doors' home team — or of the San Francisco Giants — Manzarek's home team as a longtime Napa resident.
How do we know this? Check out his answer to this question.
Manzarek was asked last week how difficult it is to switch back and forth between his bands. He plays roughly half his live dates with Doors guitarist Robby Krieger and the other half with blues slide guitar master Roy Rogers, including their Aug. 13 headlining date at the Sonora Music Festival.
"It's simple," Manzarek said. "You just change focus and adjust your mind.
"It's as easy as taking off your Giants cap and putting on your Dodgers cap."
As an answer, that's a fail. No ardent Giants fan would ever be seen in the blue, and vice versa for a Dodgers fan sporting orange and black.
But as a state of mind, well, that kind of easygoing mind-set is exactly where Manzarek lives and thrives.
At 71, Manzarek has an energy and a spirituality that bursts through the phone. He's been playing live for more than 50 years and vows to make every next show as fresh as the first.
The recent release by the Manzarek- Rogers Band, "Translucent Blues," from which the bulk of the Sonora performance will come, is tough to pin down. It's part straight-ahead blues, part Doors-y '60s blues rock, part ethereal journey, part smoky beer-and-a-shot lounge.
"We jam live and we extend things," said Rogers, 60, who will be a repeat festival headliner. "The songs on the CD are always a framework for what you do live.
"We approached this collaboration in the recording very well thought-out, down to the sequencing of the songs. As good as the recording should be, you always should be better live because of the personality you can inject."
And you won't get much more personality than Manzarek, who's equally at home spinning tales of his rock 'n' roll life and culling a fresh vibe out of his Hammond B3.
"I'm just a '60s kind of guy," he said. "It's all love and peace. People say all my playing still sounds like The Doors, but did I sound like The Doors or did The Doors sound like me?
"We're playing 'Translucent Blues,' which is The Doors and it's also Roy and Ray. Yes it is, and you can hear The Doors."
Yes, that's exactly the way Manzarek talks. He's quick and funny and seems to have vowed to enjoy every waking moment and perhaps even owns his dreams.
At the same time, he appreciates that his energy and humor are infectious — not only to the audience, but to his bandmates.
"We're both very self-deprecating," Rogers said. "It's about being yourself, and Ray is always like that. He's been around the block a few times and we both know that if the musicians are having fun, then everybody's having fun."
Manzarek-Rogers shows generally include some Doors tunes, most frequently fresh takes on "Riders on the Storm," and "Crystal Ship."
"Ray and Roy do cover a couple Doors songs and the entire Ray and Roy CD, and it's all amazing blues," Manzarek said. "It's a throbbing gristle of a show. As we play, a pyramid rises right over your head.
"Everybody loves a blues show. Everybody. Republicans and Democrats alike love the blues."
That's something upon which even Giants and Dodgers fans can agree, as long as you don't ask them to swap hats.
