Riders on the storm

''Riders on the storm into this house we're born, into this world we're thrown, like a dog without a bone, an actor out alone, riders on the storm''

Do you know it took me 7 tries till I got my Jim Morrison portrait at least half right? It's not done yet, god forbid, nowhere near done but so far it's going well and I'm happy about that...

There is something about his face...he was a beautiful man as is but there's something...the gaze, the eyes, the cheekbones, the hair...it's hard to capture all THAT. I felt like each time I wasn't doing right by Jim, the drawing was never good enough. But this time around I like it, presuming I don't fuck it up, still got a long way to go and plenty opportunities to screw it up. In that spirit, here's the music playing in the background, hopefully helping with inspiration and drawing skills...

I am very much in love with this record. My mother says they are meant for a more ''demanding'' audience...not everyone understands them or likes them, but I just so happen to love them. Obviously I'm a total cliche and my favorite song just so happens to be ''Light my fire'' but honestly ''Riders on the storm'' is right there next to it amongst the favorites...

LA Woman is the Doors final album with Jim, sure they continiued on as a trio but this remains their best work if you ask me. The entire record is amazing and I think it really is Doors at their best. I mean they started playing out this crazy, psychadelic, weird rock music and ''ended'' their career with blues. That's like taking the entire creative process backwards. They kinda evolved backwards. But don't get me wrong nothing wrong with that. The path they were on worked for them, and making the sixth album a blues album was obviously the right desition since this album is just...oh my god! Yes that good. Hah. Thing is it's not pure blues it's more a mix of blues and rock and I think essentially that is what makes them sound so good. They were always great obviously, ''Doors'' is an amazing album but this feels more...I don't know at home? More right? Like is just fits somehow. All the members seem more confident with this type of music, like they were made to play it. And then there's Jim...alright he was made to sing rock music, the psychadelic stuff...weird impro Salamander songs on stage for 20 minutes...but lets be honest in 71 when this album came out Jim was a completly different person. I mean if you listen to Light my fire and then Raiders on the storm, would you believe that the same man sang those and only four years apart? Because I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around that one. When they did Light my fire he was what 23? And he looked and sounded that age and four years later he aged a lifetime, he sounds tired, he sounds done, I suppose in a sad way that is why his voice fits perfectly into that bluesy sad vibe. And the worst part is that this could be his most honest work, there was no pretending, no act, nothing ''deeper'' to be discovered. It was just the truth.

I remember what is was like, playing this for the first time. I was blown away...I couldn't even pin point what it was but something about it just blew me away. There's no filler on this album, you can listen to it from start to finish because the collection of songs on it is beyond perfect. You know what it really reminds me of? Los Angeles in the 70's. Well more like the begining of the 70's. L.A. Woman is probably about Jim and Pamela...Thing is I always say if music doesn't make you feel something then you're listening to the wrong kind of music. And this one has all of the emotions thrown into a blender; longing, despair, addiction, hoplessnes, torment...and most of all sadness, if you listen carefully you get a feeling that he knew he doesn't have much time and that he accepted that fate. And it saddens me so much, his life and fate, I wish it was different, he was a musical genius and he had so much more to give to the world. It should of been different, it should of ended different. But it seems like you can't always get what you want. Though in the end it's not selfish, I wished for something better for him, even if he never touched the microphone ever again, I just wish he was happy. I curse the club 27 and the years 1970 and 1971, they took Morrison, Joplin and Hendrix and I can't imagine a sadder thing for the music world.

Anyways, ''L.A. Woman'' is one of the best rock albums out there, just as important as GN'R's Appetite for destruction or John Lennon's Imagine and a piece all rock fans should own. The original I mean, I'm not a fan of the remastered bullshit. But the original, with the sound as it should be...it's perfect. Give it a shot sometime I hope you enjoy it.

And to you my sweet Lizard king, Rest in paradise, we miss you down here in this hell we call home.