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Ray Manzarek, the innovative keyboardist and a founding member of The Doors has died. He was 74. He died at the RoMed Clinic in Rosenheim, Germany, from bile duct cancer – with family by his side. He will sorely missed. Via The Washington Post:

Manzarek founded The Doors after meeting then-poet Jim Morrison in California. The band went on to become one of the most successful rock

Ray Manzarek, the innovative keyboardist and a founding member of the Doors has died. He was 74. He died at the RoMed Clinic in Rosenheim, Germany, from bile duct cancer – with family by his side. He will be sorely missed.

Manzarek and Jim Morrison met while studying film at UCLA in 1965. The two bonded over their passion of music and mysticism and formed a band. Though they used studio musicians to record their biggest hit – 1967’s “Light My Fire” – Manzarek would actually use a low-end keyboard when the band performed live. It just goes to show how instrumental Manzarek was in creating the Doors’ musical ethos. The Chicago-born Manzarek was the architect of the Doors’ jazz-inflected rock and for that, we salute you, Mr. Manzarek. Rest in peace. Via SPIN:

The Door’s catalog is filled with Manzarek’s intuitive, inimitable music. He could be menacing (“Waiting for the Sun”), playful (“Hello, I Love You”), or both (“L.A. Woman”). And after Morrison’s death in 1971, it was Manzarek who most aggressively kept the band’s legacy alive, shepherding out releases of the singer’s poetry set to new musical backings and, in 2002, forming the Doors of the 21st Century with Krieger and singer Ian Astbury of the Cult. (Densmore refused to participate in the pseudo-reunion.) In between thos...

FYI: MDMA is hot right now. The mainstream hip-hop culture has embraced the drug as a party starter. It almost seems like a requirement that at least one verse of any song must include some reference to molly. Promethazine cough syrup, also very “in” right now. But as much as this lifestyle is glorified – the consequences are many. Lil Wayne has been in and out of the hospital – claiming that it had nothing to do with the purple drank – and we lost Pimp C a few years ago. Also, apparently molly results in sweating profusely, according to Dr. Trinidad James. DJ A-Trak is fine with all the glamorizing of hip-hop’s drugs of choice, but he feels that we should at least have a conversation about it. Via The Huffington Post:

What worries me is the unspoken aspect of the story; that is the real elephant in the room. Just recently, Lil Wayne almost died from multiple seizures, yet he vehemently denies that there was a relation to his codeine intake. When legendary Houston rapper Pimp C passed away, the cause of death remained hush. Closer to home, my good friend DJ AM died from a drug overdose four years ago at the height of his fame. There needs to be more open dialogue about this. It won’t stop us from enjoying the music. A handful of rappers have spoken out: Kendrick Lamar ends his “Bitch Don’t Kill My Vibe” video with a coffin lowered int...

After decades of chasing the elusive Purple One, Jon Bream finally scored his dream interview. Prince isn’t punctual, nor is he even reliable. He doesn’t allow interviewers to write or record because he wants to have an honest conversation. There are a lot of hoops to jump through, but imagine the feeling of ecstasy that Bream felt when he finally got to speak with Prince. It’s a great read. Via Star Tribune:

Sometimes Prince set the agenda. He went into an extended commentary about young stars such as Justin Bieber lip-syncing in concert. He implored music critics to tell the truth about the lip syncers.

Throughout the chat, he muttered

Yahoo has taken the big plunge and bought Tumblr for $1.1 billion dollars – all cash. CEO Marissa Mayer left Google 10 months ago to oversee the rebirth of the tired internet brand; focusing on the youth market to help Yahoo rebound. It’s a huge risk seeing as how it’s a big chunk of Yahoo’s remaining cash, but at least they have the good sense to let Tumblr operate independently. Via Billboard Biz:

Yahoo also says that “per the agreement and our promise not to screw it up, Tumblr will be independently operated as a separate business” with David Karp staying on as CEO.

Tumblr, a service started six years by Karp, a high school dropout, now figures to play a pivotal role in Mayer’s attempt to reshape Yahoo. To take on the challenge, Mayer ended a highly successful 13-year career at Google, which she helped surpass Yahoo as the Internet’s most influential company. Since coming to Yahoo, Mayer has concentrated on improving employee morale, redesigning services and bringing in more engineering talent through a series of small acquisitions that have collectively cost less than $50 million.

But could the move alienate Tumblr’s devoted user base?

The deal could backfire though if Yahoo’s effort to make more money alienate a Tumblr user base that so far has been subjected to hardly ...