Jim Morrison died in Paris in summer 1971, but his music not only keeps playing, it's getting louder. The surviving members of the band -- Ray Manzarek, John Densmore and Robby Krieger -- have been mired in assorted legal disputes in recent years, but now word is coming from their reunifying camp that they believe it's time to put their band's legacy (and, ahem, potential profitability) front and center, reports CalendarLive.com.
The Doors 40th anniversary will be marked with a 12-disc box set due this fall via Rhino. It will pair the band's first six studio albums -- all remastered with bonus tracks -- with six DVDs featuring 5.1 remixes of the studio albums and bonus material. There will also be a vinyl boxed set of the first six albums and January will see two-CD versions of the albums released individually.
Targeted to open in 2008, the Las Vegas show will be helmed by video director Jake Nava, who describes it as "a one-hour acid trip, but you don't come down." A traveling Doors memorabilia exhibit is being planned and a Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame And Museum exhibit will open in April 2007.
Official news came last week that Dick Wolf, the force behind the ubiquitous "Law & Order" franchises, is producing a full-length documentary on The Doors for theatrical release -- with all three surviving Doors on board as co-producers. Also on tap is a project from Stacy Peralta (a principal in the two "Dogtown" films) titled "Six Nights, Six Records, Six Years," which is described by Daily Variety as a "social history" documentary that plugs into The Doors jukebox.
Next year is the 40th anniversary of the band's first album, and those films lead a flurry of tie-in projects that include lavish new coffee-table books, albums of poetry and, of course, plenty of music releases that range from the rare to the repackaged.
And talk about strange days, there's even a plan to take The Doors to Las Vegas in 2008. Jeff Jampol of Doors Music Co. said the surviving members and Morrison's estate are negotiating a deal in the "tens of millions of dollars" to build a special theater of 800 to 1,200 seats at a Las Vegas casino and tailor-design a standing show. Although the music of Queen, Bob Dylan and Billy Joel has in recent years been repurposed as stage shows, Jambol said: "We don't feel a Broadway show or dance piece or circus piece fits what The Doors stand for."
"We've got something very special in the works... We're creating something, but we're not sure what it's called," Jampol said. "The overarching watch-phrase is we want to do something that speaks about the ethos and vibe and feeling and meaning of The Doors: dark, edgy, dangerous, questioning authority, otherworldly." If all goes well, the Doors might even keep their eyes on the road. "If it works in Vegas, I'd love to make it transportable."
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