HOT OFF THE PRESSES - MY 'L.A. WOMAN' VIDEO

I don't own a camera. Nor do I think I'm the next Scorsese. Come to think of it, my minor in TV production is next to useless - almost as useless as my graduate degree in corporate communication. That said, however, I DO think the above is is a pretty bitchin' homemade video I made for "L.A. Woman" by The Doors. There's many many man hours involved and everything you see in the video is stapled together by yours truly... making the video was simple. Finding the footage was hard.

Of late, I've waxed poetic of late on my affinity for Jim Morrison and The Doors. As I've said in prior posts, their surface sound of the '60s as well as Morrison's hippie-eqsue vibe was something that I never really responded to, so I never really gave the group more than the "surface" listen.

The more I read about Morrison in various bios and the more I dissect his poetry, I've not only come to appreciate the group as artists, but completely have fallen hook, line and sinker for their dreamy, jazzy, bluesy world of yearning, wretched excess and lust.

One recent documentary summed the group up best; the Doors - a jazz trio with a maniac poetic for a lead singer. Perfect...

As for "L.A. Woman" ... It all started when I was baking in the Nevada sun at the Hard Rock pool in Vegas when I first really heard the tune. I mean, I've "heard" most of the Doors tunes at bars in the past, but when you're poolside at one of the sexiest hotels in Sin City, you hear things differently. Perspectives shift. The song engulfed me. Come to think of it, I've gotten my best ideas on vacation but that's a whole 'nother post...

In any case, the more I listen to "L.A. Woman," the more its subject - the City of Angels - comes alive. Being a born-and-bred East coaster, the allure of the left coast has always appealed to me. Palm trees. The vintage decadence of the Sunset Strip. The L.A. Noir of "Chinatown." Hollywood. You name it ...

For the three people who don't know, the tune was written by Morrison and describes a journey through Los Angeles, mentioning the city's trademark bungalows, strip clubs, cops, and various other sights the famed town has to offer.

Here's some trivia: L.A. is referred to as "City of Night," the name of a book by novelist John Rechy. Near the end of the song, Morrison introduces his alter ego, "Mr. Mojo Risin'". (actually an anagram of "Jim Morrison.") It is also theorized that the lyrics refer to Diane Gardner, publicist for the Doors, to whom Morrison addressed many of his poems.