At Crowbar, The Scream of the Butterfly Doors tribute lights up Ybor City

Before I sink into the big sleep I want to hear, I want to hear the scream of the butterfly. 

Come back with me to the mid 1960s, early 70s. Nixon is reelected, the Vietnam War is still in full swing, LSD is either in a state of legal limbo or recently outlawed nationwide by the Controlled Substance Act of 1970, and rock and roll is still the devil's music (this was before, of course, Christian rock.) 

This was when The Doors flourished in America. With the band's angsty and overtly sexual frontman, Jim Morrison, The Doors were bringing their psychedelic jam all over the country. Thanks to CL contributor Jess Philips and Displace guitarist George Pennington, a little slice of this golden era in music was brought to Ybor Friday night, paying tribute to the life and works of Jim Morrison and The Doors. 

The music started around 9 p.m., and the setup was like a mini festival all packed into The Crowbar. There were vendors selling hand blown glass bowls and pendants, there were live painters next to the stage, and there were even light show projections both inside the venue and outside on the porch, but more on that in a minute. 

The first band to come on was St. Pete’s own, Garden Club. No, it wasn’t talking about fici or hibiscuses. Instead it played funk/jam music featuring a bass playing lead singer, a harpist, someone on keys, and a female drummer. Not that a female drummer is much different from a male drummer, its just always great to see a girl behind the drums and damn did she kill it back there. While Garden Club didn't play any Doors covers, it was pretty much all Doors for the rest of the night. While the bands were switching on stage, someone came out and read some poetry by Jim Morrison, as beautiful and intelligible as it was in his heyday. 

Members of Displace anchored the rest of the show, with lead singer Chris Sgammato on keys/sax, Tucker Sody on drums, Vinny Svoboda on bass, and guitarist George Pennington on guitar and lead vocals, dressed as Jim Morrison with the haircut and sideburns to match. Pennington did an incredible job not only matching the vocal work of the late Jim Morrison, but also matching his invigorating stage persona complete with facial expressions and limp bodied dancing. 

They opened the set with “L.A. Woman,” featuring only members of Displace on stage. This didn’t last long though, as by the second song the band had changed keyboard players and brought out two members from other bands. This happened throughout the night, with a wide array of musicians from all sorts of local bands being brought up to take part in classic Doors songs. By the time the band got to “Light My Fire,” Pennington has stripped off his black leather jacket, revealing a white shirt underneath. Jonathan Huber, who had come out to play keys, did an incredible job covering the haunting keys playing of the late Ray Manzarek. 

The rotating cast of musicians included many local favorites. St. Pete’s J.T. Brown came out and did an incredible cover of “Love Her Madly.” Pennington came back up front for “Riders of the Storm,” then the band brought up a whole ensemble — including tuba and trumpet — for “Alabama Song (Whiskey Bar).” After “Roadhouse Blues,” Mountain Holler came out to sing an impassioned rendition of “The Changeling.” An appropriate song choice as this Mountain Holler was a far cry from the crooning singer/songwriter Mountain Holler we’ve all grown accustomed to. With his reflective aviator shades inside the venue, his long orange hair with long dreadlocks, and white unbuttoned shirt, he looked like the ghost of an Irish rockstar. 

Other great covers of the night included, “Hello, I Love You,” “Break On Through,” “People Are Strange” with J.T. Brown, and “Touch Me.” The musicians brought up throughout the night were from a wide variety of bands including Cope, Flow Sisters, Shevonne Philidor, Sarah Ferrer and Row Jomah. The light show inside the venue featured classic, 60s and 70s liquid light. For those unfamiliar, liquid light shows are done by using the classic projectors that used to be used in schools and clear plates full of liquid dyes to make amorphous patterns appear behind the band. According to Phillips, this particular light show artist used to travel around doing visuals for a Doors cover band, so this particular performance was right up his alley. 

Keeping with the theme of the 27 Club, the band also did a cover of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana and a rendition of “Me & Bobby McGee” by Janis Joplin. And of course, the evening closed with a 10-minute cover of “The End.” All in all, phenomenal show with just the right amount of nostalgia, even for someone born two and a half decades after the death of Jim Morrison, like myself.