Death is no reason to shut the door on band

The upcoming appearance at the Big Easy by a group called Riders on the Storm leads me to the following ‘60s kind of question: What is, like, real?

Is this group really the Doors? Or are they just out there on the perimeters of the Doors? You know, a jamb band?

That’s the issue raised by Riders on the Storm, which consists of two of the original members of the Doors, the ‘60s band. They can’t call themselves the Doors for complicated legal reasons which can be summed up as: They’re not. They’re the two-Door model, not the expensive four-Door version.

They’re half-a-Door, like the left side of a French door. So they chose the name Riders on the Storm, after one of their hit songs.

I don’t want to pick on Riders on the Storm, because they have more claim to being a legitimate reunion than many other musical revival acts.

Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger were the architects of the Doors’ sound. When you think of the Doors, you think of Manzarek’s organ on “Light My Fire” and Krieger’s guitar on “Hello I Love You.”

What am I talking about? What you really think of is Jim Morrison, standing there in messianic poise and being (1) charismatic and (2) nuts. (Not to mention, (3) under arrest).

And what you hear is Morrison’s distinctive baritone singing his own bizarre and poetic lyrics, as in “I am the Lizard King, I can do anything.”

Actually, to get all technical about it, he couldn’t do just anything. He could not consume alcohol or drugs or both and then attempt to take a bath, because that’s how he died in 1971. When he gurgled his way off this mortal coil, it put the kibosh right away on a 2005 Doors reunion.

Or so you would think. But when it comes to showbiz, nobody seems to be absolutely essential when it comes to reunions. Look who else is playing Spokane this month: Lynyrd Skynyrd, a band in which three members, including the lead singer, died in a plane crash in 1977. Yet the band is going strong.

I’m certain some promoter is right now attempting to put together a Buddy Holly reunion despite the seeming requirement of a guy named Buddy with glasses.

Really, the actual presence of even one original member is unimportant. Acts have been touring the county fair circuit for years calling themselves, for instance, the Ink Spots. You’d think they would have to have include at least one original Spot. Nope. They’re Spot-less.

Sometimes, this gets complicated. At one time, there were six different acts calling themselves the Drifters, few of them having anything to do with the original group except an ability to memorize all the words to “On Broadway.”

Once you look into it, many facets of modern American life share this problem. For instance, in the book business we have Robert Ludlum, whose 2005 thriller “The Ambler Warning” is currently sitting high on the fiction charts.

It’s his 26th best seller, an amazing feat considering that he hasn’t written a word since 2001, due to the complication that he is dead. He did not, in fact, write “The Ambler Warning” by Robert Ludlum, any more than he wrote 2003’s “The Tristan Betrayal,” by Robert Ludlum. Some unnamed ghost writer actually created the actual sentences and paragraphs that went into the book – but it goes out under Ludlum’s name because he’s the franchise.

The art world frowns, I think, on creating new 2005 Rembrandts. However, I once watched a beautiful piece of Dale Chihuly glass artwork take shape in Chihuly’s Seattle studio. Chihuly himself was not on the premises, or even on the continent. I felt this raised a question. I was wrong. Everybody knows he hasn’t been able to actually handle hot glass since 1976, when he was injured in a car crash.

His “team” makes the glass to his designs. If it is produced in Chihuly’s studio, it’s a Chihuly. You got a problem with that?

No, because at least the guy is alive.

When it comes right down to it, I don’t have a problem with Riders on the Storm either. They are not calling themselves the Doors and they are not pretending, Ludlum-like, that Jim Morrison is still alive.

Even if he were, what difference would it make? Everybody knows Manzarek and Krieger were the real stars of that band.