The Doors had a busy September 1967.
Just a few weeks after “Light My Fire” blazed to #1, they toured New Jersey, Texas, Utah, New York, Ontario, Ohio, Rhode Island, Iowa and Colorado.
They appeared on “Ed Sullivan.” They released their 3rd single, “People Are Strange.”
In between, they played Staples High School.
On September 21 — nearly 43 years ago to the day — the hottest band in America came to Westport.
According to DoorsHistory.com, which seems as amazed that the group played here as today’s teenagers must be reading about it, Staples was:
a very cool place to play considering it’s a high school auditorium and the music department’s rehearsal room is used as the dressing room, which the Doors turn into a party room!
Others that will make the trip here are the Animals, Cream, the Rascals, Louis Armstrong, Phil Ochs, and Sly and the Family Stone. It sure would of (sic) been cool to go to this high school in the sixties!
The show goes well with the Doors playing material straight off their first two albums. This show is promoted by the school’s student council!
Mark Groth — who sent “06880” the link to the Doors history website — was a Staples student then, and he was there. He remembers “standing backstage under the light board talking to Morrison, wearing his leather outfit and smelling a bit like a wet goat.”
I was there too — though I was only in 8th grade. I did not get close enough to Jim Morrison to smell him, but I do recall thinking he was by far the coolest human being I had ever seen on earth.
I don’t recall being surprised that the Doors were spending a Thursday night in Westport.
But they sure set the night on fire.
More Doors/Westport trivia: The back cover of "Strange Days" -- released 4 days after their Westport show -- featured model Zazel Wilde. She had graduated from Staples a few years before.
