Doors 1970

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Legend: (DU) = Date Unknown, Date/Playlist, EVENT, Review, Timeline, Link, Quote, Poetry/Lyrics, Set List, FIRST HAND

J A N U A R Y - M A R C H

January 1970

Early January: Interview with Howard Smith - The Doors Office - Hollywood, CA
    It's a rainy day in LA sometime before lunch. Jim is interviewed for an hour amongst the office work atmosphere. He gives Howard a hard time seemingly trying to be difficult and provoking. They talk about many topics but Jim seems to only half answer the questions in a manner that suggests he does not like something about the questions or the person asking them. Jim seems bored and attempts to entertain himself by putting Howard on throughout the interview with humor.

Early January: Elektra's New Office Party
    Jim, Babe Hill, Tom Baker, and Danny Sugerman stand on Pamela's store Themis and watch people go into the party which is to show off the new office. Jim really didn't want to go to the party but finally suggests that he might as well make an appearance since he "paid for the fucking place" and "might as well see where the money went".
    Tom Baker, once inside and after the crowd gives Jim a chance to get away, drags Morrison down a hallway and into the corporate office spaces. Tom antagonizes Jim by saying "you paid for all this corporate shit" "you hypocrite, Morrison, you're financing the very authority you claim interest in overthrowing." Jim tells Tom that none of it means anything to him but Tom won't stop. He knows how to get to Jim and finally he does. Jim blows up and pushes Baker over a desk and begins to destroy the office. Soon a bunch of people come in and get him back down the hallway, out the front door and into a limo out front. Vice President of Elektra hollars at the driver to "get him the hell away from here!"

Early January: Photo Shoot for Morrison Hotel with Photographer Henry Diltz

Thu. Jan. 15: Luncheon Interview with Patricia Kennealy - Midtown New York Japanese Restaurant
This is Jim and Patricia's first time together since September. Talk centers around the upcoming rehearsal tomorrow afternoon. Jim has made sure Patricia was sent a backstage pass so she can come to the soundcheck.

P A T R I C I A M E E T S P A M E L A

Fri. Jan. 16: Rehearsal for Felt Forum Shows - Madison Square Garden - NYC
    Patricia attends and meets Pamela for the first time. Pam comes out from the depths of the dressing room and introduces herself "Hi, I'm Pam, Jim's wife?" Leon Barnard, The Doors publicist, is with them and tells Pam how Patricia writes for Jazz & Pop Magazine ,blah' blah' blah. Patricia checks out Pamela and is not impressed. Although she finds her pretty Patricia cannot see what Jim sees in her beyond this - she doesn't appear to offer anything else. Patricia finds her to be shallow and not very intelligent. They are total opposites.
    Pam heads back into the dressing room to watch her tv show and Patricia goes out into the forum to say hello to Jim. The Doors are in the middle of a song. After the song Jim makes eye contact with Patricia and reaches out his hand. She makes her way toward the stage and he pulls her up for a kiss on the cheek and some small talk. The band starts to make some noise and Patricia comes down off stage and takes a seat in the orchestra section.
    After a few songs at concert strength and a little moving around the hall by Patricia to hear different vantage points Jim calls for a break and they sit together in the orchestra seats. Patricia asks Jim about the "Wife" statement Pamela had made. Jim shrugs it off saying they don't even live together and they have seperate lives and changes the topic to music asking about their sound and then whispers "I want to fuck you so much, right here on the floor, make love to you right here in front of everybody." "Don't tempt me", Patricia replies. The flirting continues for a while and then Jim must go back to work. He invites her to stop backstage between shows tomorrow night and to bring a friend. Patricia will be there. (Strange Days pp. 108 -111)

T H E " R O A D H O U S E B L U E S " T O U R B E G I N S - (8 shows)

Sat. Jan. 17: Felt Forum - Madison Square Garden, New York, NY (Roadhouse Blues Tour - 1 of 8) (Recorded for Absolutely Live!)
This is the start of the Roadhouse Blues tour. The Doors do two shows a night in this 4,000 seat forum choosing this smaller venue than last years Madison Square Garden going for a more intimate concert with better sound. The concerts are being recorded for Absolutely Live. This crescent shaped forum is located downstairs inside the Garden and resembles the atmosphere of last summer's successful shows at the Aquarius.

Sun. Jan. 18: Felt Forum - Madison Square Garden, New York, NY (Roadhouse Blues Tour - 2 of 8) (Recorded for Absolutely Live!)

Mon. Jan. 19: Hilton Hotel West Penthouse Suite - New York, NY - West 54th Street
The doors host a press party at the New York Hilton arranged by Elektra president Jac Holzman. The guests arrive by private elevator to the spacious suite with windows overlooking Central Park. In attendance are news and press people, musicians that are in town, assorted Warhol superstars, Pam and Patricia and of course The doors. Patricia attends dressed unbelievably excessive even for this room and with cocaine.

"I have snorted a little cocaine before leaving home, and again in the car on the way here; it's beginning to wear off, so I go to the powder room, pun intended, and do some more from the surprisingly capacious depths of my jade and silver poison ring." Patricia Kennealy, Strange Days p.113

Jim is with Pam tonight but runs into Patricia alone for some face to face. Jim teases Patricia about her attire "Why are you dressed like Genghis Khan's favorite wife? Jim likes it but has not seen her dressed like this before. Jim then mentions Jac is playing Hitchcock's The Thirty-nine Steps at midnight. Jim then pulls her aside a little away from the party and whispers in her ear. (Strange Days p. 113-114)

"Jim leans down to whisper into my hair. "I want to fuck you." "A man of fixed ideas," I whisper back, and he laughs. "You know I'm going to be in town for a while? I really want to spend some time with you." "well - call." Strange Days p.114

Tue. Jan. 20: Jim Calls Patricia
    Patricia has been up since 10 am working. Jim calls in the afternoon and asks to come over. An hour later they are making love in her bed as Jim arrives and almost immediately rips off her clothes. After making love they cuddle and talk about family and Jim's parents. He replies they were bullies and did worse than beat him. Jim asks to not talk about them anymore and Patricia goes on about her solid relationship with her sister and parents. Jim says she is lucky to have such a relationship. Later this afternoon Jim does two interviews and then attends Elektra President Jac Holzman's party in the early evening. (Strange Days pp. 114-116)

Tue. Jan. 20: Jac Holzman's Party - Butterfield House West 12th Street, NYC
    The party is for Jac's girlfriend critic Ellen Sander and begins at 7 pm. Patricia arrives promptly at 7 pm with friend David Walley. Many of the faces from the concert and Hilton party are in attendance. The Doors are alredy here. Dinner is served shortly after 7 pm and Jac plays the original Phil Spector mix of Let It Be on his unbelievably high tech sound system afterwards over plum pudding dessert.
    Jim sees Patricia after dinner and offers her a sherry. Jim asks about David, Patricia's guest, and jokes if they are married. Jim invites Patricia to his hotel later. Patricia figures Pam will be around and declines the offer.
    Later at the party, Pam comes over and sits amongst Patricia's circle. Pam almost immediately begins talk about Jim. She says that Jim's soul is gone from his body and although he can still write songs they're just not the same - not all about her anymore. She talks about how when they met it was fate but that Jim outgrew her and it's a cosmic mistake that they're still together. People slowly excuse themselves from the circle but Patricia sticks around long enough to receive an invitation to dinner tomorrow night with Pam, Jim, Leon and Raeanne Rubenstein who photographed Pamela and Jim at Themis just recently with some others at the shop.
    Jim sees Patricia later in the party and finds out about the invitation to dinner. He suggests that Patricia must like to live dangerously. Patricia feels that nobody has any idea about them but people are beginning to notice. She is about the only person Jim has gone out of his way to talk to tonight - and it is obvious to everybody but Patricia. (Strange Days pp. 117-121)

Wed. Jan. 21: Raeanne's Apartment - Third Avenue, NYC
    Patricia arrives with David out of the snowstorm as Jim, Pam and Leon are all in the kitchen with Raeanne looking at the Themis pictures which are intended for a fashion magazine layout. They all soon decide to walk to dinner in the now ankle deep snow to the fabulous Cafe Il Faro on East 14th street. Jim must be drunk as he falls a few times on the way to the restaurant trying to catch snowflakes on his tongue. Dinner is ackward with visible vibes between Jim and Patricia. After dinner Patricia and David say goodbye to the group as Jim, Pam and Leon catch a cab under the canopy outside on way to a midnight showing of Hitchcock's Topaz. Everybody exchanges farewell hugs - even Pam and Patricia! This is the first, last, and only time they embrace amicably. (Strange Days pp. 121-123)

Late January: Bitter End - John Sebastian Show - Bleecker Street - Greenwich Village, NYC
    Jim stops by to see John Sebastian play a late night show. John has just played with the band a few days earlier at The Forum. John is a local artist who played with the Lovin' Spoonful and recorded on Morrison Hotel with The Doors.

"Those who recognized Jim standing in the back of the club, in a wool shirt and Frye boots, were shocked at his glazed eyes, dead expression, and bloated affect. The Village Voice, which had so championed the Doors, now lowered the boom: "[Morrison] has become a shadow of himself, with his face grown chubby, his body showing flab, his once-shoulder length hair receding into his forehead."
(Jim Morrison - Life, Death, Legend p. 365)

Fri. Jan. 23: Patricia's Apartment
Jim bursts in the apartment and hands Patricia a little box. He drags her into the living room and begs her to open it. It's an expensive beautiful antique ring. Patricia can't beleve how serious Jim is and tries it on a few fingers until she finds the one it fits best. Amongst the snow falling outside, Jim and Patricia sit on pillows and he asks her to sing. She finally gets up the courage and sings him a medieval love lyric:

Western Wind, when wilt thou blow,
The small rain down can rain?
Christ, that my love were in my arms,
And I in my bed again,
And I in my bed again

They sing back and forth for some time with Patricia teaching him a Goddess chant. Jim is impressed with her singing and it reminds him of a year ealier when he forced Ellen to sing him a song during an interview and terribly embarrassed her in front of Patricia and others. They joke about her inviting him to her birthday party and he says he should have made Patricia sing instead. Jim spends the night. (Strange Days pp. 123-124)

Sat. Jan. 24: Patricia's Apartment

Sun. Jan. 25: Honolulu Int'l Center Arena - Honolulu, HI (CANCELLED)

Febuary 1970

F I F T H A L B U M " M O R R I S O N H O T E L " R E L E A S E D (E-75007)

Notice that they have continued to put song writing credits.

SIDE ONE
"Hard Rock Cafe"

"Roadhouse Blues" (The Doors)– 4:03
"Waiting for the Sun" (Morrison) – 3:58
Begun during The Doors' sessions for Waiting for the Sun in 1968
"You Make Me Real" (Morrison) – 2:53
"Peace Frog" (Morrison, Krieger)– 2:51
"Blue Sunday"(Morrison) – 2:13
"Ship of Fools" (Morrison, Krieger) – 3:08
<>
SIDE TWO
"Morrison Hotel"

"Land Ho!" (Morrison, Krieger) – 4:10
"The Spy" (Morrison) – 4:17
"Queen of the Highway" (Morrison, Krieger) – 2:47
"Indian Summer" (Morrison, Krieger) – 2:36
Outtake from The Doors' debut album sessions (Recorded late August 1966)
"Maggie M'Gill" (Morrison, The Doors) – 4:23

L A S T P E R F O R M A N C E I N S A N F R A N C I S C O

Thu. Feb. 5 : Winterland Arena - San Francisco, CA (Roadhouse Blues Tour - 3 of 8)
The Doors final performances in San Francisco go exceptionally well. Also performing: Doug Kershaw; Cold Blood; Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen. Some of the songs played tonight are When the Music's Over, Five to One and Roadhouse Blues.

Fri. Feb. 6: Winterland Arena - San Francisco, CA (Roadhouse Blues Tour - 4 of 8)

Sat. Feb. 7: Long Beach Sports Arena - Long Beach, CA (Roadhouse Blues Tour - 5 of 8)

Fri. Feb. 13: Allen Theatre - Cleveland, OH (Roadhouse Blues Tour - 6 of 8)

Sat. Feb. 14: Allen Theatre - Cleveland, OH (Roadhouse Blues Tour - 7 of 8)

Sun. Feb. 15: Chicago Auditorium Theatre - Chicago, IL (Roadhouse Blues Tour - 8 of 8)

Mon. Feb. 23: Morrison Hotel (a.k.a Hard Rock Cafe) Goes Gold

March 1970

Tue. Mar. 3: Reindicted on Interfering with a flight

Fri. Mar. 10: Aardvark Cinematheque - Chicago, IL

March 15 - April 4: Proposed Tour of Japan

Thu. Mar. 26: Federal Court - Phoenix, AZ

Fri. Mar. 27: Queen Elizabeth and Orpheum Theatres - Vancouver, Canada

A P R I L - J U N E

April 1970

Mon. Apr. 6: Mistaken Identity

T H E L O R D S A N D T H E N E W C R E A T U R E S I S R E L E A S E D

Tue. Apr. 7: The Lords and The New Creatures

Fri. Apr. 10: Boston Arena -Boston. MA (Recorded for Absolutely Live!)

Sat. Apr. 11: The Salt Palace - Salt Lake City, UT

Sun. Apr. 12: Univ. of Denver Arena - Denver, CO

Sat. Apr. 18: Honolulu Conv. Center - Honolulu, HI

Mon. Apr. 20: Testimony Reversed

May 1970

Fri. May 1: The Spectrum - Philadelphia, PA (Recorded for Absolutely Live!)

Sat. May 2: Pittsburgh Civic Arena - Pittsburgh, PA (Recorded for Absolutely Live!)

T H E D O O R S A R E B A N N E D Y E T A G A I N !

Fri. May 8: Cobo Arena - 8:30 PM - Detroit, MI (Recorded for Absolutely Live!)

    One of The Doors best shows of 1970 and one of their longest of all time, in which they play until almost 1:00 AM after an 8:30 PM start! Think about it, they played both "When The Music's Over" and "The End" in one set list and also "Light My Fire"! This concert is also being recorded for The Doors upcoming live album so maybe they wanted to play a little of everything for this purpose and the show lasts over 4 hours. What a night!
    The late night stuff is great filled with John Sebastian playing harmonica and guitar during some late bluesy jams. However, according to their contract with the arena they weren't supposed to play after midnight, oops! This doesn't go over well with arena officials and The Doors are banned from ever playing here again! Even Jim played a little harmonica this night.
    A highlight from tonight's performance is an articulate and unusually improvosational version of "The End" in which Jim throws in all kinds of poetry and song verses yet the band ends it all with a tremendous finish and Jim collapsing to the stage as the crowd roars. The Doors and Jim especially, if you haven't noticed by now, always seem to be their best after a short break where they recently played yet have several days to a week to rev up for another show and tonight is no exception.

Exclusive photo contributed by Thomas Wesclher. Thank you!

SET LIST

Roadhouse Blues (abrupt halt)
(greeting and introduction)
Break On Through
Alabama Song
Back Door Man
Five To One
Roadhouse Blues
You Make Me Real
Ship Of Fools
When The Music's Over
People Get Ready
Mystery Train
Away In India
Crossroads
Carol
Light My Fire
Been Down So Long*
(featuring parts of Love Hides*, Ray's Blues*)
Close To You*
King Bee**
Rock Me**
Heartbreak Hotel**
Little Red Rooster**
The End
(featuring parts of - Across The Sea, Come On Baby Take A Chance with Us!, Vast Radiant Beach, Come, They Crooned the Ancient Ones, Everything is Broken Up and Dances, Wake Up!)

* John Sebastina on Harmonica
** John Sebastian on Guitar

Sat. May 9: Fairfield Univ. - Fairfield, CT

Sat. May 9: Veterans Memorial Auditorium - Columbus, OH

Sun. May 10: Baltimore Civic Center - Baltimore, MD

Mon. May 11: Village Gate - New York, NY

Late May: North Beach

June 1970

Fri. June 5: Seatle Center Coliseum - Seattle, WA

Sat. June 6: P.N.E. Coliseum - Vancouver, Canada

Tue. June 9: Outside Police Jurisdiction

Sat. June 27: Georges V Hotel - Paris, France

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J U L Y - S E P T E M B E R

July 1970

S I X T H A L B U M " A B S L U T E L Y L I V E " R E L E A S E D (E-9002)

Absolutely Live is the first live album released by The Doors in July 1970. Many shows were recorded during the 1970 tour to create the "Absolutely Live" album. The Doors producer, and long time collaborator Paul Rothchild, painstakingly edited the album from many different shows to create one cohesive concert. For example, the best part of a song from the Detroit show may have been spliced together with another part of the same song from the Boston show, again trying to create "the ultimate concert". It can become very difficult to identify what parts are from what shows. The shows recorded from are Felt Forum, Aquaruius Theater, Cobo Arena, Boston Arena, Philadelphia Spectrum, Pittsburgh Civic Arena.
Absolutely Live includes six songs not available on any other Doors' album. "Who Do You Love," "Love Hides," "Build Me A Woman," "Close To You," "Universal Mind," and "The Celebration of the Lizard". "Celebration..." is an achievement. This is the piece Jim so desparately wanted on an entire side of "Waiting For the Sun" but Paul Rothchild found it too disjointed and difficult to put together to his standards, but he did it for Jim on this album.

"I couldn't get complete takes of a lot of songs, so sometimes I'd cut from Detroit to Philadelphia in midsong. There must be 2,000 edits on that album" - Paul Rothchild

"I think it's a fairly true document of what the band sounds like on a fairly good night . . . There are a few cuts that were done for the first time onstage . . . that have flaws in them, but I don't think it's significant. People don't realize how different playing live is from recording. You work for days to get an instrumental track and hours to get a vocal . . . in a live thing, it's just that one shot." - Jim Morrison

Absolutely Live and 1983's Alive, She Cried were both repackaged and released as a two-disc set in 1991 entitled In Concert. Absolutely Live was subsequently issued by itself as a one-CD set by Elektra in 1996, with all tracks in their original sequence. Source: Wikipedia

Side A
"House Announcer" – 2:40
"Who Do You Love?" (McDaniel) – 6:02
"Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)" (Brecht, Weill) – 1:51
"Back Door Man" (Dixon) – 2:22
"Love Hides" (Jim Morrison) – 1:48
"Five to One" – 4:34

Side B
"Build Me a Woman" (Jim Morrison) – 3:33
"When the Music's Over" – 16:16

Side C
"Close to You" (Dixon) – 4:04
"Universal Mind" – 4:54
"Petition the Lord with Prayer" – 0:52
"Dead Cats, Dead Rats" – 1:57
"Break On Through No. 2" - 4:41

Side D
"Celebration of the Lizard" - 14:25
"Lions in the Street" – 1:14
"Wake Up" – 1:21
"A Little Game" – 1:12
"The Hill Dwellers" – 2:35
"Not to Touch the Earth" – 4:14
"Names of the Kingdom" – 1:29
"The Palace of Exile" – 2:20
"Soul Kitchen" – 7:15

Sat. July 18: PINK FLOYD CONCERT - Hyde Park Nat'l Amphitheatre - London, England
While in London during his European travels Jim is said to have attended this infamous free concert featuring Pink Floyd which draws nearly 200,000. This is Pink Floyd's second free concert here the first being in 1968 which only drew around 5,000. Quite an increase! The show runs from noon to 6:00 PM.

August 1970

Sat. Aug. 1: The Now Explosion - WPIX-TV (Channell 11) New York, NY

Thu. Aug. 6 - Fri. Aug. 14: Miami Trial

Fri. Aug. 14: The Hump - Marco Polo Resort Hotel - Miami, FL

Mon. Aug. 17 - Thu. Aug. 20: The State of Florida v. James Douglas Morrison

Fri. Aug. 21: Bakersfield Civic Auditorium - Bakersfield. CA

Sat. Aug. 22: San Diego Int'l Sports Arena - San Diego, CA

Tue. Aug. 25 - Thu. Aug. 27: The State of Florida v. James Douglas Morrison

Fri. Aug. 28: Plane Flight to Isle of Wight

Sat. Aug. 29: Isle of Wight Festival - Isle of Wight, England

Sun. Aug. 30 Second European Tour (CANCELLED)

Mon. Aug. 31: Montreux Festival - Switzerland (CANCELLED)

September 1970

Wed. Sept. 2: K.B. Hallen, Copenhagen, Denmark

Wed. Sept. 2: Miami Trial

Thu. Sept. 3: Miami Trial

Thu. Sept. 10: Bremen, Germany

Fri. Sept. 11: Rome, Italy

Sat. Sept. 12: Milan, Italy

Mon. Sept. 14: Olympia, Paris, France

Mon. Sept. 14; Miami Trial

Thu. Sept. 17: Mami Trial

Fri. Sept. 18: Miami Trial

J I M I H E N D R I X D I E S

Fri. Sept. 18: Jimi Hendrix Dies in London

Sat. Sept. 19: Miami Trial

Sun. Sept. 20: Miami Trial

O C T O B E R - D E C E M B E R

October 1970

Wed. Sept. 2 - Oct. 30: Miami Trial

Oct. 9: Jim sends artist T.E Breitenbach a letter

This is what the letter read sent by Jim to the artist T.E Breitenbach suggesting a theme for the painting featured above - letter is dated 10/9/70
The painting is called a triptych or "paneled painting" and was done in the winter of 1970 into 1971

Dear Mr. Breitenbach,
        Thank you for your interest. Maybe we can do something.
        Try doing a triptych. The left panel depicting a radiant moon-lit beach and an endless stream of young naked couples running silently along the water's edge.
On the beach, a tiny infant grins at the universe and around its crib stand several ancient, old people.
        The center -- a modern city or metropolis of the future at noon, insane with activity.
        The last panel -- a view through a car windshield at night on a long straight desert highway.
        If you come up with something related to these themes within the next four or five months I'm sure I can use it.
        Thanks again.
                                     Sincerely,
                                     James Morrison

ABOUT THE ARTIST

In his high school years, T. E. Breitenbach played all of the Doors' tunes in his rock and roll band. (He played lead guitar and still has his Fender Jaguar guitar.) He admired the colorful, surrealistic lyrics of Jim Morrison, and wrote to tell him so, offering at the same time to paint an album cover. Jim Morrison replied favorably and sent his ideas for the painting, along with two autographed, private-editions of his poetry, The New Creatures and An American Prayer.
          Breitenbach set to work immediately, painting it in his college dorm room, and drawing on images from the books for the center panel. Morrison was pleased with the results and asked if he could use the painting on the cover of an album of poetry he was working on.
         The final contact with Morrison was a note from his secretary Katherine Lisciandro, indicating that Mr. Morrison had taken up residence in Paris for a while.
He died there, July 3, 1971 at age 27.
         The project Jim Morrison was working on was the An American Prayer album, released well after his death.
Unfortunately, his intention to use the painting was not known by the record's producers.
         In 1990 Breitenbach showed the painting to Oliver Stone, while he was filming the movie The Doors. Stone forwarded the information to Morrison biographer Jerry Hopkins who explained the meaning of the painting: The left panel represents a recurring dream that Jim Morrison had. The center panel reflects his interest in chaos and madness. The right panel refers to an incident in his childhood, when he and his father came upon a road accident in the desert. It was the first time he experienced fear. This is also referred to in the Doors' song Peace Frog, "Indians scattered on dawn's highway bleeding."
         Breitenbach later turned an idea from Morrison's poem The Lords into an illustrated fantasy novel, Grumparar's the New Creatures: An Adventure and Field Guide.

November 1970

F I R S T C O M P I L A T I O N A L B U M R E L E A S E D

December 1970

J I M T U R N S 2 7

Tue. Dec. 8: Jim's 27th Birthday

Fri. Dec. 11: State Fair Music Hall - Dallas, TX

T H E D O O R S F I N A L C O N C E R T W I T H J I M M O R R I S O N

Sat. Dec. 12: The Warehouse - New Orleans, LA

The concert begins nomally but then about halfway through Jim begins to completely omit key lyrics not seemingly in the music at all and then just slumps against the microphone stand as if it were the only thing holding him upright. A little later he tries to tell a few jokes that nobody can understand and the place begins to get quiet as everyone begins to realize something is wrong. The band omits a lot of the song list and jumps to "Light My Fire". At this point Jim has been barely singing along, if not mumbling the lyrics to songs as he uses the mic stand for support - it is a sad sight!
During "Light My Fire" Jim loses all composure and slumps down on the drum riser and does not even get up when it is his time to sing - he doesn't even budge. The band goes through their parts again waiting for Jim. John kicks Jim and shoves him forward. Jim then reluctantly moves towards the front of the stage and does his best to sing along but cannot even come close. In frustration, Jim picks up the mic stand and continually slams it into the stage eventually splintering the wood. He then throws the stand and storms off the stage leaving the band alone and the audience confused to say the least. The band however completes their performance but I'm sure feels extreme embarrasment and dissappointment, as does Jim as well. This is the last time Jim sings live with The Doors.

Mid December: The Doors Break From Touring
After New Orleans The Doors decide to take a break from playing live and focus on their remaining studio fulfillments with Elektra records.

"We're kind of off playing concerts; somehow no one enjoys the big places anymore, and to go into clubs more than just a night is kind of meaningless."
Rolling Stone March 3, 1971 "Jim Morrison's got the blues,"

Late December: The Doors Workshop
During this time The Doors preview some of the songs to be on LA Woman at Elektra Sound Studios with producer Paul Rothchild. Paul is not really into it all after losing Janis Joplin while working on her last album Pearl and sees Jim heading down the same path. He tells The Doors there is little he can do that they can't do for themselves at this point and tell them they should produce the album alone at The Doors Workshop. The Doors agree and turn the workshop into a studio with the help of Bruce Botnick and some borrowed recording devices from Elektra. This give the band a much more relaxed and flexible place to make their album the way they want without the tight schedules and pressures of a studio.
The Doors hire Jerry Scheff on bass and Marc Benno on rhythm guitar for the sessions.

"Paul Rothchild is an absolute ruler when it comes to producing. Once a group does five or six albums, they don't really need that kind of producer because an act that has been into it that long will instinctively know how to produce their own albums. He felt like he wasn't being useful, so together we decided it would be better to go it alone."