New Memoir by the Doors’ Robby Krieger Sets the Record Straight
- by Brian Fishbach
IN HIS NEW MEMOIR, “SET THE NIGHT ON FIRE: LIVING, DYING, AND PLAYING GUITAR WITH THE DOORS,” KRIEGER DETAILS HIS STORY AND THAT OF THE DOORS, FROM HIS EARLY YEARS TO “THE END” AND BEYOND.
When Doors guitarist Robby Krieger was 19, he went to a Chuck Berry concert at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. He was blown away by Berry’s energy, stage charisma and, of course, the sounds Berry coaxed from his red Gibson guitar. The very next day, Krieger, who was playing an acoustic guitar at the time, traded it for a red Gibson — the same model as Berry’s — and his life as a musician was never the same.
In his new memoir, Set the Night on Fire: Living, Dying, and Playing Guitar With the Doors, Krieger details his story and that of the Doors, from his early years to “The End” and beyond. He writes about growing up in Pacific Palisades and how his parents hid their Jewishness from their WASPy neighbors. He went to Hebrew school with his twin brother Ronny, but they goofed around so much that they got kicked out and never had bar mitzvahs.
