Venue Address: 900 N Broadway - Turlock, CA
Promotion: VJ Productions
Event: In Concert
Also Performing:
Infinity
Setlist:
(Unknown)
Recordings / Film:
Unavailable
Photographers:
Unavailable
Reviews / Info:
-Promotional artwork by Greg Campi (Flyer)
-8:30pm scheduled start time.
TOM ARAGON OF INFINITY OPENS FOR THE DOORS
"We opened for The Doors in February 1967 in Modesto then in April 1967 in Turlock and Merced. They did play June 8th again in Merced but we weren't on that bill.
We were just kids... We did mostly The Yardbirds, The Animals, Stones, Kinks, Cream, Love, Hendrix etc. Three of us were still in high school. The local promoter, Vincent Lavery (VJ productions) was our manager at the time. Two months prior to the gigs on the Turlock/Merced poster, we opened for The Doors in Modesto, CA at the ice rink.
The Doors actually weren't the headliners on that bill - Love was the featured act. On that gig the local music store provided all the amplification. They set up Vox Super Beatle Amps and vocal amplification. In that day that was the priciest stuff you could get.
The Doors of course stole the show. They blew everyone, including Love, right off the stage. It was interesting to see the looks on the 13 year old girls in the front row watching Jim hump the microphone stand. They looked intrigued and horrified at the same time. I recall during the last part of The End, Robby picked up the amp head and dropped it to the ground. The spring reverb in those amps would produce a thunderlike effect when you did that. The owner of the music store was at the front of the stage screaming/pleading for him to stop. Kind of funny.
The Turlock gig is a bit fuzzy to me but I remember the Merced gig. In Merced, Morrison was pretty much as drunk as possible and the other 3 looked as though they smoked some very good stuff or were on acid. The venue was the American Legion Hall and it had, I believe, a baby grand onstage which belonged to the hall. On one number, in a full rage of chaos Jim jumped on top of the grand piano (which of course didn't belong to him) and started stomping on it with his boots. A total wild man in a frenzy. Completely unleashed... I thought to myself "Wow... can he really do that?" Apparently so. He was doing it and no one was stopping him.
Prior to the gig Morrison was slumped in a folding chair and I complimented him on the look of their album cover and I also said that I couldn't find it in too many stores. He only spoke two words to me... "YOU WILL"
Their performances on those three gigs were outstanding. A few months later Light My Fire zoomed up the charts and they became mega famous. I saw them at the Mount Tamalpais festival and by then they had rows of Jordan amplifiers of which they were endorsing. Jim was just TOO drunk to be coherent, and they pretty much sucked at that gig. They were not in sync at all. Kind of sad. People were raving about them and they never got to see them in their true element. It's funny how they sounded better using our equipment versus their brand new gear of their own.
Anyway, that's about all I remember. I'm glad I got to witness them in their prime though.
Vincent Lavery is still alive and living in Dublin, Ireland. He was the promoter for the gigs we played at. Just this year he posted something I never knew... it reads...
"After the first 'Doors' gig in Merced I drove the four members of the band to their motel. Ray Manzarek was in the front passenger seat and the remaining members in the back seat. This was on 7 April, 1967. Ray in a very low voice - so that the other three would not hear him - asked me if I would like to be the manager of The Doors?. He went on to say that Jim "needed a father figure because Jim did not get on well with his 'old man' and that I seemed like an honest type of person - would I consider being their manager?". I said I would think about it and let him know at his next gig in Turlock. Ray closed with the following remark and I quote: "If Jim does not get a father figure soon he will be dead within five years."
Jim died - 3 July, 1971. Four years later.
At the later gig I told Ray I could not because it would mean quitting college and I was 31 years of age and had to finally settle down.
I have often thought.. "what if..?"
- Vincent
Tom Aragon
Chico, CA
Copyright © 2019 Tom Aragon
A Special Thanks to Tom Aragon of Infinity for providing his review of the concert to MildEquator.com!
ARCHIVE/MEMORABILIA:
HANDBILL/FLYER #1:
Contributed by: MKennedy
HANDBILL/FLYER #2:
Contributed By: Heritage Auctions - www.HA.com
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