When Jim Morrison was seven years old and driving across the country with his parents, they came upon a car accident in the middle of a Western desert. A pickup truck overloaded with American Indian passengers had lost control and veered off the highway. The Morrison family drove slowly past the wreckage, as police diverted the traffic waving them through. Jim from his back seat window witnessed one of the crash victims, an elder of the Indian tribe, die along the side of the highway. Jim said he felt the spirit of the old Indian enter his body. When then did the Lizard King and the Sun King unite in metamorphose??

With the death of Morrison in Paris on July 3rd, 1971, the remaining Doors were suddenly like the Headless Horseman. Solo careers aside, what would happen now that their proverbial head . the mind . the vision . the voice . the face . was no longer connected to the body of work to which they had all contributed? They lost a man not a God, but that's not how the fans saw it. It would be blasphemy to go on. They loved Jim and they felt they owned his memory.

Should they regroup? The Morrison disciples considered the thought heresy. Who would sing Jim's part?

They needed a poet and a singer, someone who is illusive and tantalizing, that was one thing Robby and Ray both agreed on. John Densmore was with them in spirit but his doctors forbid him to play drums. Music is still ringing in his ears. Stewart Copeland stepped in and manned the toms and bones at the House of Blues and Harley's 100th Anniversary.

Finally, after 30 something years . The Doors search for a new singer, although quiet, had begun. That ultimate choice became the ultimate voice of Ian Astbury. The concert crowd chose him too; you felt it in their willing suspense of disbelief and respectful applause. Their response to Ian's trancelike performance with The Doors of the 21st Century became immediate and all encompassing.

Ian is more widely known as the lead singer of The Cult, a premiere British Gothic band in the 80's and 90's. In the here and now . Ian struts across the "D21C" stage with a sexy slither knowing full well that The Cult's contribution to the 'DarkWave' is undeniable. The ghost must have also chosen him. Again . did the Lizard King and the Sun King bond as one complete and singular duality??

Ian looks more like Jim than Jim in the end. Death stops age bringing with it eternal youth. He sounds more like Jim than Jim. He is mystical and exotic like Jim Morrison. But, he is not Jim Morrison.

In performance, Ian's curly black hair tumbles across his cheek; his bright, blue eyes spit at life. He is caged in his channeled persona. His voice has something special, something 'witchy' a kind of pure magic. He howls, growls, and moans the lyrics.

His singing voice and mannerisms are perfect. He was also known as a troubled wild child, shaman, genius and madman. Pain can be easy to interpret if you know it personally. He knows these feelings, we all do.

Ian has his feet firmly planted in two worlds . the conscious and the unconscious, the past and the present, the living and the always-enhanced memories of the dead.

Perhaps the "sound" of a "21st Century" band and its new generation of poets, songwriters, and storytellers, will reopen . The Doors of Perception to the new millennium!