John Densmore

Ravi Shankar was an incredible teacher. I sat on stage with Robby Krieger and studied at his school of Indian music here in L.A., so at Royce Hall we were sitting next to him watching his hands bleed while he got possessed. This is the highest level you can get.

Death trumps everything.

When Dudamel is up on the podium, he truly is 'inside' the music. It courses in his veins, mixing with his blood.

Painters 'see' the world; musicians 'hear' it.

Why is there such passion for any sort of gossipy, provocative sensual stuff? It sells!

I stumbled onto Peggy Feury in the '80s. I recognized her brilliance immediately; it took her awhile to recognize mine.

I like myself being a survivor.

I like to drum for various theatrical things.

I've hung out and performed with many Native American musicians, and my experience is that the first peoples of this land are incredibly open, warm and forgiving.

President Obama should pardon Leonard Peltier, or at least commute his sentence, not just for humanitarian reasons, but also as a way of acknowledging the injustice suffered by Native Americans.

Many years ago, I spent 5k at a fundraiser to hang with another lame duck: Bill Clinton. I lobbied him to pardon Leonard Peltier, the Nelson Mandela of Native Americans.

First of all, Turtle Island is the name of this continent we live on... that's right, not 'America... as in North America,' but the name given by the first peoples of this land.

Jim had a spirit that was incapable of compromise.

I'm happy with how 'Feast Of Friends' finally turned out. It's been bootlegged so much, and of course, the quality was always crappy with those things.

As long as there's young people, they can look to Jim to help them cut the umbilical chord.

The Doors are Ray, Robby, Jim and John.

The Stones without Mick. The Police without Sting. The Doors without Jim. It doesn't work.

There were some hardcore fans who thought I was ruining the band they loved. And now there's this document, 'The Doors Unhinged,' which, hopefully, they'll take away that I was trying to preserve the band they love and its legacy.

Some kids went to the movies for escape. We found it with jazz. This is where we got religion. It was a kind of raw spiritual anarchy.

Eddie Vedder? My God, there's a singer.

The Doors are etched on my forehead and always will be.

I knew Jim was going down, but was very pleased that somehow, despite his self-destruction, when we rehearsed, wrote songs and recorded, he showed up. He pulled it together.

Every new generation seems to have to go through its Doors rite of passage.

We were not folk-rock. We would scare people.

I really wanted to be in Love - they were making it. But I was in the demon Doors.

I am of the Vietnam generation; therefore, I feel mistrustful of the military.

I'm from the Vietnam generation.

Yes, the '60s went too far, but we were trying to find new ways, better ways, to do things. And great seeds were planted: civil rights, the peace movement, the environmental movement, feminism. They're big seeds. They take a long time to come to fruition. Please, let's stop fighting, and get out our water cans.

The '50s were so lame they produced the '60s!

The fossil fuel industry has made advocating alternative energy sources a liberal/conservative thing, and an ideological battle, when it should really be about a healthier, less toxic world.

Legislating morality doesn't work (see: Prohibition). It produced the Mafia.

Sound is everything to a musician.

We drummers all know that our mother's heartbeat was the first instrument we heard. As a race, we've all been trying to get back to that womb. That's why rhythm makes us move... dance.

Everything Bernie Sanders says in his speeches is based on facts and is about empowering people, not making them angry.

I sometimes joke that I'm half Jewish, because I was raised Catholic... and we share 'the guilt.'

Even though the white-haired politician has no colorful wardrobe, after he speaks... you want to hug him. Why? Because what Bernie Sanders says feels like the truth. The unbridled truth. And he says it loud.

I do think if we had a draft again, the United States would embark on fewer wars.

Certainly, we are all on the shoulders of those who fought for our country. But the first peoples of this land justifiably might feel bitterness.

Writing is looking for music between sentences.

In the end, I have a nice house and groovy cars, and so do my bandmates. It's not like they're starving.

Being a writer is a very difficult craft. Just like learning an instrument, it takes a long time and I couldn't really say I was a writer even after my first memoir.

Ulcers come from not dealing with something.

Anyone can play Doors songs, unless it's for an ad for some product.

Bass players and drummers are like brothers, working in the basement, cooking up the groove. If they don't lock together with the feel, the ensemble will suck.

A major component of jazz is improvisation, which forces you to stay in the moment because you never know what will be coming up. There's a lot of freedom and space available as you improvise around the chord changes.

Jazz musicians are spiritual by nature.

I love 'L.A. Woman.'

Some genres of rock 'n' roll attract more of the party animals. I guess the Stones partied a bit. I think The Doors were more like The Beatles backstage - friends hanging out and whatever. It wasn't crazy. Everything was pretty subdued.

The End' eventually became the encore at all of our big concerts. We would play 'Light My Fire,' and there would be this incredible Summer Of Love '60s thing, and then we'd come out and bludgeon them with 'The End.'

I mean, take 'Chariots Of Fire.' That opening scene, the long shot of the runners along the beach, and then you hear that music... I think that was one of the first times synthesizers were really used in movie music. I just flipped! I didn't even care what the story was going to be. Give me a nice marriage of sound and music.