Written in a style perhaps more apropos for
an article about the Jefferson Airplane,
this is the original article I wrote about the first
recording session I ever attended.

I was still a teenage journalism student then,
and even overdressed for this invite,
wearing sports coat and tie with my white jeans.

Having first become familiar the previous year
with this great local band on the Sunset Strip,
I knew we were ahead of the edge in covering The Doors.

My photographer/friend, James Fortune, and I
liked the debut Doors album so much, that,
as The Doors began work on Strange Days,
we freely and most enthusiastically took two boxes
of 25 LPs each of that debut, and went to all the
Los Angeles area campus radio stations and
turned them on to the album version of "Light My Fire".
As we shared some smoke with the student DJs,
they played our favorite extended instrumental.

Needless to say, calls to the campus stations were almost immediate.
Soon, even Top 40 "Boss Radio" KHJ AM was getting these calls,
and a request was made of Elektra Records for an AM-playable
3 minute version. The rest is history.

So too is this. Please click the "This Is HAPPENING" below,
and come back to Spring 1967, when The Doors had only
had a semi-"regional" hit with "Break On Through"
and the national breakout was yet to happen as they
were already moving on with their second album.

With their concert appearances already becoming legendary
in the Southland, this was indeed a magical moment
as the mania was just beginning to show itself.

By the time this article appeared in This Is HAPPENING number 2,
in October, 1967, The Doors had become the hottest American
rock band, and we had a hot exclusive.

Enjoy the innocence of my teenage excitement: