The Seekers

October 26, 2020
Densmore (Riders on the Storm), drummer for the Doors, meditates on creative personalities in this scattershot memoir. He revisits encounters with musicians including his high school band teacher and country legend Willie Nelson, as well as nonmusicians such as poet guru Robert Bly, whom Densmore accompanied on drums at a reading, and mythologist Joseph Campbell. Densmore offers some piquant memories—“ganga wafting from the room was so thick that it felt like I had to break through a barrier to enter,” he recalls of reggae superstar Bob Marley’s dressing room —and vivid evocations of people he knew well, including Doors singer Jim Morrison, whose trademark scream sounded “like someone being crucified, a moan from the bowels of his soul.” But many of the connections he recounts feel perfunctory, as when the Dalai Lama pushed Densmore away after he made “intrusive” eye contact in a handshake line, which prompts vague ruminations on the need to “listen to the silence.” Densmore’s insights into creativity, meanwhile, rarely go beyond uplifting platitudes. (“Music and poetry are two of the very few salves that can quell our warlike spirit.”) The result is an effusive but unsatisfying rehash of wan recollections and truisms. Doors fans might enjoy this, but for general readers it may leave something to be desired.

November 15, 2020
The Doors drummer serves up a mishmash of nostrums, memoir, and fan notes. Densmore is no mere passing student of how beautiful things are put together. He has been pondering it for decades, and given the traumatic nature of the day, "the time has never been more right for writing a book that elucidates my lifelong commitment to the arts and creativity." These sketches get some of that elucidation done, but the best parts of this collection of musings are the frequent quotations from his first two memoirs. New Age references fly thick here: The inspiration for the book may be Greek Armenian mystic G.I. Gurdjieff, but lesser saints come into play: "The muse is very psychic....Sometimes she blows the circuitry like in Janis Joplin's case." So do evocations of the Doors, and though something seems to have happened (perhaps just still being alive) to keep Robby Krieger from earning much room here, Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek figure prominently. Sometimes Densmore lays down cringeworthy lines: "So early on Mr. Shankar had his creative impulses dipped in spiritual curry sauce of the highest caliber" is one of the more exceptional ones. The book succeeds when he lands on simple observations: "Musicians are ambassadors to the hidden world inside everyone." "Music is a candle, lighting the way along the road toward the art of living." There are also some charming moments, as when Densmore, now in his 70s, revels at meeting Willie Nelson, to whom he exclaimed, "It's great to meet a musician who's older than me!" And any aspiring rock musician can stand to learn from Densmore's observations on how the rhythm section of a band works, affirming that the best guitarist in the world can't save a band if the rhythm section is off, whereas a good rhythm section can make a mediocre guitarist sound at least tolerable. Studded with good moments, but only diehard fans are likely to seek this one out.

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December 11, 2020

Densmore, drummer for iconic rock group The Doors, describes his connections with 24 people who helped him on his quest for eternal truth and peace in a turbulent world. He begins with his mother and two former teachers, and continues to recount meetings with jazz drummer Elvin Jones, singer-guitarist Lou Reed, punk-poet Patti Smith, and Doors bandmates Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek. The drummer also discusses his brief encounters with spiritual leaders Ram Dass and the Dali Lama, acting coach Peggy Feury, and comparative mythologist Joseph Campbell. In each case, Densmore identifies the impact of the seeker on his own evolving journey toward the eternal. VERDICT Though some chapters (musician Bob Marley, poet Robert Bly) are more convincing than others (actor Jerry Lee Lewis), this intriguing work stands well alongside the author's other memoirs, such as Riders on the Storm and The Doors Unhinged. General readers and rock aficionados will find it fascinating.--David P. Szatmary, formerly with Univ. of Washington, Seattle

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 4, 2020
The names are famous, most of them anyway: Jim Morrison, Lou Reed, Janis Joplin, Van Morrison, Patti Smith, Joseph Campbell, Robert Bly, Paul Simon, Willie Nelson, and others. To Densmore, best known as the drummer for the Doors, they are seekers all. The majority of people profiled here are musicians, or "musical masters," as Densmore calls them, "who achieved their mystical destiny through sound." He calls Jim Morrison, the Doors' controversial lead singer, "the shaman." Densmore notes that although Morrison wasn't a musician in the traditional sense ("he couldn't play a single chord on any instrument"), he did hear melodies in his head that helped him remember the lyrics he would later come to write. Meanwhile, the other Morrison--that would be Van--lives up to his curmudgeonly self (his fellow band members, writes Densmore, "seemed to actually be afraid of their lead vocalist"). Perhaps one of the most surprising, and satisfying, entries is the profile of Campbell, the prof who specialized in comparative mythology. He may not have been a musician, but his writing, says Densmore, was "a symphony." Although it is presented as a series of profiles of (mostly} spiritual mentors, this can be read as a universal memoir, a spiritual memoir, of sorts, of the author and of others who also found in these figures images of themselves.

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