tavis: good evening. from los angeles, i am tavis smiley.tonight, a conversation with author and drummer john densmore. he was one of the founding members of the doors, the seminal rock band that came to personify the rebelliousness of the 1960s. he has just written a very compelling new book called "the dives unhinged," which into his battle from keeping the remaining two band members from using the name the doors after the death of jim morrison. a matter of defending a legacy that should not be tarnished. a conversation with john densmore coming up right now. >> there is a saying that dr. king had that said there is always the right time to do the right thing. i just try to live my life every

day by doing the right thing. we know that we are only halfway to completely eliminate hunger, and we have a lot of work to do. walmart committed $2 billion to fighting hunger in the u.s. as we work together, we can stamp hunger out. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. tavis: internal disputes among band members is the stuff of legend in music. often, they go through reconciliations and reunion tours. that is not the case with the surviving three members of the doors. right to even a

use the name the doors, something that john densmore is adamant should not be happened. when jim morrison died, the doors were done. he has now written a book ."titled "the doors: unhinged good to have you on this program. there is a lot in here. the rightg to find word. to some, it is courageous. to others, it might be stupid to do what you have done, taking on other band names. we will come to that in a moment and what landed this story in court. do me start with those who not know the story or do not recall the story of how the doors actually got together in los angeles. >> well, we were fooling around legal psychedelics.

we thought that was a little bit too shattering on the so we foundem, this other crap a couple of years before the beatles got onto it. ray.ere i met jim along and we rehearsed. i thought, this is not the next mick jagger. he is too shy. but he eventually became the next lizard king. tavis: give me your first impressions of morrison. >> totally shy. the keyboard player handed me a piece of paper, " day destroys the night, night destroys the day, tried to run, tried to hide, break on through to the other side." whoa. . can drum to that right away he had never sung.

the first few gigs, he would never face the audience. he would look at us. and then -- tavis: what happened that brought him out of his shell? >> just his creativity. he was finding some of his own. cord turned into a snake or something. eventually, he became part of his own myth with alcoholism. tavis: how did that happen for morrison? he fell for the legal spirit in the bottle. it is really unfortunate. we did not have substance abuse clinics. we did not know he had a disease. i get this question, if he was around today, would he get clean and sober? i always said no, he is a, cozzi. -- a kamikaze.

i look at eric clapton and eminem, and angry, creative guy like him, maybe he should -- maybe he could have done it. tavis: i do not want to play pop psychology, but was there a reason to your mind why that became his choice? self-ativity comes in a destructive and creative package in some cases. jim, it was built in. time has made me accept. fors: how difficult was it you to watch your friend, this artistic genius self-destruct? how difficult was that and what do you do to try to stop it?

>> really hard. i was young and did not know he had this disease. i knew there was an elephant in the room. i was trying to talk the other guys into stopping touring. in front of 10,000 people, if you mess up -- if you are in the studio, you go home. it took me about a year to lobby for that. is gone.m morrison every band tries to figure out what happens when a seminal member of the band is no longer there. itt this book goes into, goes into what the band does after jim morrison. and how the name is used, how the name is marketed. at this is a great subject to be talking about because this is the age and the air a of all of these opportunities to make money and to market and repurpose. particularly in this digital era that we live.

this story actually starts before morrison dies. before morrison dies because you tell the story to start the book of an offer from buick -- >>, on buick, light my fire. buick, light my fire. tavis: that is what buick wanted to do. what happens when buick comes a knocking? >> it was big money at the time. tavis: like what? >> maybe $100,000. today, a few million, let's say. he were like, whoa. jim came back into town and he said, what? tavis: you jumped too fast. you had basically accepted the offer. while morrison is out of town. kinda sorta.

whatever, it happened. you guys took the bait. i want to put the blame where it lies. you guys take the bait. morrison comes back in town. what happens next? >> he says, great. i have a good idea for an ad campaign. i will go on television and smash a buick with a sledgehammer. no. tavis: because he was livid. >> and he primarily did not write the lyrics for "light my fire." it was written by the guitar player. what did that say? he cared about the catalog. boy, i made a mistake and i have not forgotten about it since. the buick story is the first story that takes place while morrison is still living. he has gone on record, do not do

this to our music. fast forward, another offer comes down the road. cadillac. this really is a multimillion dollar offer. the cadillac offer, what do they want, what song? >> "break on through." so cadillac starts the bidding at what? >> $5 million. tavis: and you guys say no. >> jim said we would all have veto power and we would all share the money. so i vetoed. and then they doubled. tavis: so they go from $5 million to $10 million. >> and then they tripled. tavis: cadillac is putting $50 million on the table and what happens?

>> i said to the guitar player, what do you need to buy? we all have enough, houses and cars. he stays on the fence. so, when i entered into the struggle of trying to preserve the name in the lawsuit, i was countersued because i did not ok them making all of that dough. let me say something. i quote a book called "the gift." he says a work of art has a gift to the listener. it is ok to pay money for a particular concert ticket. if you turn the whole work of art into a commodity, then you lose the gift to the listener and the artist. such a serious issue for me right about now.

we will come back to the trial. it is an issue because i believe every artist or every group has the right to exercise their own agency the way they want to. >> let me jump in. . got pete townsend of the who gie an --i do not --, i will do what i want with my own song." tavis: let me raise a couple of examples and we will talk more about the doors. onetime, he let them use of his songs that he regrets to this day. " little red corvette." up, you could lay- see it coming.

he did it and he regrets it to this day. that is number one. the person i am worried about today and i say this with love in my heart, i am getting worried about my boy stevie wonder. i see his stuff on beer commercials now. somebody i think has gone too far putting his catalog on stuff that does not really honor the spirit of what this genius did when he did it. i am a little bit worried about the stevie wonder catalog being a bit overexposed. what have you learned in retrospect? >> it is such a volatile subject. bob dylan sounded off on this. i do not even want to tell you. was a political song about changing. .t was sold to a life insurance times are changing. you are getting old. you better get life insurance. oh god.

dylan, this hand, guy hates being put in a box. he will do something against his art, do not pin me down. tavis: the ultimate rebel. these and other issues like this landed you in court thomas suing your bandmates. how did that happen? what brought that on? >> they went out as the doors. -- i ame i'm a hey, like, hey. the doors without morrison? leaves change this. and they did not. first,d-core fans, at were like, john is destroying the band we love. that is why i am so glad this

story is out for those who want to know. i feel i was struggling to preserve the original intent. tavis: how did you feel when thatrevailing opinion was john densmore, this stick in the is not only costing -- i can see your bandmates saying, this is costing us money. but to the fans, who think you , howearing the band apart did you personally navigate that kind of pressure? >> alone. kind of, what have i done? then i thought, nope. break on through to a new deodorant. no. tavis: give me some sense of

what it was like coming face-to- face with the guys you started your career with, dies you travel the world with, guys you made history with. now you are sitting in court against each other. withll, they were on tour the jim-itators. tavis: [laughter] i like that. them fromush back on using the doors, they went on to use the doors, and in small print, of the 21st-century. what was it like going against these guys? >> they were on tour. i was there for three months and they were there just a couple of times. their representatives were ripping me. we had a contract that said we all own the catalog together. tavis: that was morrison's

suggestion. >> yes. it is pretty clear. what do you do when you do not have a case? they started painting me as an anarchistic, pinkoapitalistic, commie dude to the ridiculousness of accusing me to funding al qaeda. what? hello? tavis: i read about that. >> but you know what, the doors are back on their hinges hinges.-- on their i have reached out the guys and send them the last chapter to make sure they get to that before the tough pill of the beginning. how could i not love these guys?

magic in a garage and they are my brothers. tavis: when you say the doors are back on the hinges, legally that means what? >> it means that the doors are jim, ray, bobby, and john. fred androbby, tom, herman or whoever. all these, after years, does that matter to you so much? when we were rehearsing without anybody around, even the last album, and jim was drinking, but not recording. when we were together, we said, let's share everything. we are not even going to say, i wrote lyrics. 200% was contributed to each guy -- by each guy when that was

happening. it was so precious. i do not inc., in the course of history, that arrangement has been made. we really cared about those songs. tavis: what was it about morrison the person? i am trying to get into his personality type. what was it about him that allowed him to say, we have got to put all music i the doors. doors?he i can think of a bunch of folks, if they write the song, they want the songwriting credits. i love lionel richie, but it is pretty clear who wrote most of that commodore stuff. if you do not ask me, ask lionel. what was it about morrison that made him so active medical -- >>menical in his approach? vulnerability, insecurity. he had never sung before this band.

he said he heard concerts in his head. he had not only these words, but he had melodies. he did not know how to structure a court or a song or anything. he had melodies. how do you do this? how do we write songs? that is where that came from. a little later, one album, because the guitar player wrote the lyrics and jim thought, i do not want people to think i wrote that, there was some individual credit. tavis: i want to close on this note. what do you make of the fact that a guy who never played an instrument heard all this stuff in his head? >> once in a lifetime guy. that is what i miss. i do not miss the self- destruction. i found my path in music, but

there was a guy in the band that was crazy and it was very difficult. tavis: here is the real exit question. the doors are back on the hinges, as you say. do you think that you guys, minus morrison, do you think you will ever play together again? >> i have thought about that recently. i am not going to do a tour with the jim-itators. , they have had their struggles. they did a benefit for live aid a few years ago. it would be cool to do a couple of altruistic things and have -- eddie vedder is a wonderful singer who sang with us at our induction into the hall of fame. for a benefit, that would be sweet. tavis: do you ever -- i doyour decision

not know how independently wealthy you may be -- but you have left a whole lot of money on the table. do you ever rethink this? >> nah. i said,at occupy la and i came from the 99%. my house was a freeway on rent -- onramp. it is gone. i am not the one percent, but my pockets are deep. i will never forget where i came from and i will never stop fighting. tavis: that is why i love you. john densmore, the original drummer for the doors. the only drummer come a i should not say the original. the only drummer for the doors. the new book is called "the doors: unhinged." you cannot have a drummer, on the show -- come on the show and not drum you out.

as he plays us out, i want to say thank you for watching us. that is all for tonight. i am tavis smiley. as always, keep the faith. take us away. poem was for ancestors. when i was on the stand, i said that jim is not here and i am going to honor his desire to not sell the songs out. this is for ancestors new and old. this is a poem by an african- american poet who died about 20 years ago. was his mentor. i got to see him read. "the boness called of my father." in it, he is saying that we are

all searching for his father's bones as a metaphor for searching through -- searching for true leaders and elders. this goes out to dr. king, jim morrison, john cole train, and all those on the other side who fed us. this is a little food going back. ♪ the skull of my father grins at moat from thei bottom of the tallahassee the skull of my father grins at the moon from the bottom of the tallahassee. of my father are

buried in the mud of these creeks and brooks here the sun sings to me, the wind speaks to me thehe northern valleys, harlem alleys, young black men in the stream, my father's bones. young, white, long hairs who bend their minds and sing their songs there are no bones here, my brothers. no longer do we take the long, straight strides. our ship -- our steps have been shaped by the cages that kept us. they glide sideways like crabs

across the sand. they perch on green lilies there are no dry bones here at skull of my father grins the mississippi moon from the bottom of the tallahassee the bones of my father are buried in the mud of these creeks and brooks that twist and show their secrets to the sea. the the wind speaks to me, sun sings to me, the dry bones of my father ♪ tavis: wow. that was nice. >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. tavis: hi, i'm tavis smiley. join me next time for a

conversation with phylicia rashad. we will see you then. >> there is a saying that dr. king had that said there is always the right time to do the right thing. i just try to live my life every day by doing the right thing. we know that we are only halfway to completely eliminate hunger, and we have a lot of work to do. walmart committed $2 billion to fighting hunger in the u.s. as we work together, we can stamp hunger out. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> be more. pbs. >> be more. pbs.

[ chanting ] we all have a right to know if our food is gmo. narrator: we're likely to find genetically engineered foods at the ballot box and the supermarket. after nearly 20 years of eating them, questions persist. how should they be regulated? martineau: if you have nothing to hide, go ahead and label. people want to know. go ahead and tell them. narrator: how do they impact the environment? it just has one gene that's different that allows us to use a very safe and very effective herbicide. narrator: and how badly do we need them? we are telling the plant, "whenever there is drought, make more of this gene." narrator: coming up, how genetically engineered foods could shape our next meal.