Charles Lindbergh makes history in 1927 // Goodnight Gifted Keyboardist Ray Manzarek of The Doors
What drives a man to push the limits of himself, the elements and technology ?
What drives him isn’t as important as the drive itself.
On top of that, what man gets a large loan from a bank, throws in everything he made working over the previous year and risks his life to do something no one else ever had done before ?
Is it always about fame ?
Is it always about fortune ?
Profit is a great motivator.
But I am not sure that was the main motivation Lindbergh had that drove him to fly solo over the Atlantic Ocean in 1927 to land on this day in history in 1927 in Paris.
Why Paris and not London ?
It was quite a shame that Lindbergh would have the US President at the time, FDR question his loyalty to America and patriotism a mere ten or so years later.
Lindbergh had some interesting views on the world – and he had to endure the price that has to be paid for fame. Yet he does represent the true American Spirit …
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Sorry to hear the keyboardist of the Doors, Ray Manzarek has passed.
I was never a huge fan of the Doors but certainly appreciated their music and especially their musicianship. Especially Ray Manzarek’s musicianship.
The Doors did not have a bass player. Ray Manzarek would play the bass lines with his left hand on one keyboard (usually a Fender / Rhodes electric piano) and play chords and leads on organ with his right hand.
The bass lines were very intricate. A bass player would get in the way.
I noticed “back in the day” he had a version of a Rhodes piano that was quite short on top of his organ to the left to play the bass parts on … it was some sort of special unit Rhodes came up with that was only a couple of octaves that was specifically for playing bass lines …
I found a photo with his setup with the flat electric organ (Farfisa?) and the short Rhodes piano bass unit …
It really used to blow my mind how he could play the intricate bass lines with one hand and then do completely different and complex chord rhythms and lead parts on the right hand.
It takes a special wiring in order to have separate control like that …
Then again – I’ve had pianists say they were amazed at how I could be so coordinated to play Bach on guitar …
So it’s all in what you’re wired to do … wind instruments freak me out … transposing on a sax is like reinventing the wheel !
But I digress … Goodnight Ray …
Category: Tony Rollo Blog
