The Doors are celebrating their 40th anniversary with a yearlong celebration that includes new products to take full advantage of the nostalgia. The Doors by The Doors is a fantastic book that examines the band’s career and legacy through interviews and over 300 photos. It is co-written by Ben Fong-Torres and includes input from Jim Morrison’s family. Perspective is yet another remastered collection of the entire Doors’ studio album catalog. This time, the CDs are augmented with unreleased bonus tracks and are paired with DVDs that feature 5.1 surround sound mixes and even more content. While I understand leaving out Full Circle, where’s the quintessential Doors album, An American Prayer? In 2007, The Doors will be featured in Break On Through - The Lasting Legacy Of The Doors, a major exhibit at The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The festivities kicked off in West Hollywood at a number of places on The Sunset Strip that the band used to frequent, and I was going to be a member of team coverage for Blogcritics. Eric Berlin was going to cover the Whisky a Go Go where Robbie Krieger was going to be previewing the new box set while I bounced between events hosted by Ray Manzarek and John Densmore. Ray was next door at The Cat Club, formerly the London Fog when The Doors debuted there, previewing The Doors exhibit, and John was down about a block at Book Soup, formerly the Cinematheque 16 movie house where legend has it that Jim read poetry. Fittingly, there was going to be a tribute reading of Jim’s poetry by Perry Farrell and others. The night would conclude with a performance at the Whisky with special guests. The entire event was a hybrid of “open to the public” and VIP/Press with the organizers completely unaware the drawing power the band still retains because none of the venues came close to handling the capacity of interested parties.

I arrived a little after six o’clock, when the events were supposed to begin, and wisely passed on the idea of going gonzo by getting drunk, stoned, or wasted on hallucinogens to honor Jim. The sidewalks around the Whisky were teeming with people. At the media check-in, everyone had a different answer on what to do. “Get in that line.” “Stay right here.” “Move out of the way.” Media members were being escorted in, so I hovered around the entrance. A few revelers in the “open to the public” line had their brown-bagged beers taken away by security and heartbreakingly poured out in the street.