Founding member of The Doors, drummer John Densmore has released a book about the ups and downs of the influential rock band. The book, The Doors Unhinged, includes the story of the members’ first meeting. Transcendental Meditation played its small part!
“It was 1965. Ray Manzarek and Jim Morrison had met and become fast friends while attending film school at UCLA in beautiful Westwood Village in Los Angeles. At that time, people were becoming interested in Eastern philosophy and so my good friend Robby Krieger and I decided to attend a seminar on Transcendental Meditation (TM) which Ray, whom I hadn’t yet met, also attended. I was obsessed with music, taking piano lessons at eight years old, playing drums in the high school marching band, the dance band, and the orchestra. I went to Tijuana and got a fake ID so I could play in bars… a budding professional. At the Transcendental Meditation meeting, Ray introduced himself and suggested I come to his parents’ house in Manhattan Beach to jam. I was down, happy to follow any lead to further the high I got from playing music. The praise that came from fellow musicians was like a dermatologist’s salve on my acne.
The gathering at Ray’s garage had both a negative and a positive cast. On the down side was the low level of musicianship of Ray’s two brothers… but the guy lurking in the corner of the garage fascinated me. His name was Jim Morrison, he looked like a modern version of a Greek sculpture and he moved like one too. In other words, he didn’t move at all.” 
Excerpt credit: www.1065thelake.com
