the rix mix

In Memory of Karen [ Battell ] Silva
The Doors at Asbury Park Convention Hall.

Postcard  is from 1968.  But I saw them here in summer  of 1967.
 The Doors had been hastily booked in place of a Lou Rawls show, on the strength  of the monster hit "Light My Fire."  Tickets were cheap, the Hall maybe 2/3rds filled.  I brought my beautiful  girlfriend, Karen,  always up for a night on a boardwalk anyway. We'd been together about a year. She enjoyed  the concert.   Members of Rawls' ace group, who'd had their second show canceled so The Doors could perform, stood at the rear of Convention Hall looking utterly baffled as Jim Morrison - still a gift from the rock gods  & not yet a penis-waving drool drunk - squirmed around the stage.  Magical.  The experience totally changed my idea of what a rock band could be, & the role of a cheesy portable organ in a band.  I immediately coerced my garage band into adding almost the entire first Doors LP to our repertoire (not "The End").  The band had no leader, so I must have made  a good case for it.  A high point "date"  with Karen.    No doubt, Karen  forgot a whole lot about  our time together when we were teenagers, but  I'm confident she remembered this. I hope she found occasions to  brag about it.
***
In the short version of this anecdote, I'm "with my girlfriend."  The longer versions include a fond description of what a knockout of a girl I'm with & how great she looked on the boardwalk;  the way Karen would want it told.