Shortly after Pete's firing, The Doors got right back to work and started their nationwide tour. Maria quickly learned the lyrics to the songs she needed to know, if she didn't know them already. The males in the group were overly excited about being on the road again. They haven't done so in such a long time, it felt like an adrelinene rush like the rush they felt in thier mid to late twenties. Thier female, however, felt not as enthueastic as her male bandmates. She got increasingly nervous over performing for not hundreds...but bthousands/b of people especially since the matrial she was going to be singing was not her own to begin with.

I'm going to have to meet high standards for thier fans in order for us to be sucessful. I'm going to have to be Jim for them...so I guess I'm considered 'Mrs. Mojo Risin' now...

She didn't want to be someone she wasn't, but the hostile fans she had met over time made her do so. She remembered a time when she was perfroming onstage for a tour promo...

The song was 'Alabama Song' whihc was a favorite amongst fans who enjoying drinking merrily to the point of drunkeness. ray played the eletric piano riff as Maria sang and tapped her foot to the rythm.

Well, show me the way to the next whiskey bar Oh, don't ask why. Oh, don't ask why Show me the way to the next whiskey bar Oh, don't ask why Oh, don't ask why

For if we don't find the next whiskey bar, I tell you we must die. I tell you we must die. I tell you, I tell you I tell you we must die

Ray played the main organ riff for a bit until Maria changed tone and tempo that sounded almost mournful.

Oh, moon of Alabama, we now must say goodbye We've lost our good old mama and must have whiskey, oh, you know why

The band joined in as she sang the chorus again.

Oh, moon of Alabama, we now must say goodbye We've lost our good old mama and must have whiskey, oh, you know why

Maria noticed one particular guy drinking way too much as he raised his flask in the air and waved it side to side to the music. She ignored him and sang the next verse.

Well, show me the way to the next little girl Oh, don't ask why. Oh, don't ask why Show me the way to the next little girl Oh, don't ask why Oh, don't ask why

For if we don't find the next little girl, I tell you we must die I tell you we must die I tell you, I tell you I tell you we must die

Ray didn't play the organ riff like he should've done. Instead he got up during the instrumental solo and got some glasses and a bottle of whiskey from backstage. The band approached him as he went upstage towards the microphone and poured his bandmates a drink. The crowd went nuts and lifted thier flasks up.

The band all got thier drinks, lifted them up and sang the chorus all together into the microphone with no instruments.
Oh, moon of Alabama, we now must say goodbye We've lost our good old mama and must have whiskey, oh, you know why

At that final beat, the band drank their glasses. Maria was in a good mood as she planned on continugn to gig.

Until she noticed the guy from earlier.

"Hey girlie! Catch this!"

The guy threw a bottle of hard whisky at her direction, but she luckily doged guy was escorted out by two Hell's Angels, but from then on, Maria was frighted out of her mind. That bottle couldve easily hit her since there was no chicken wire or any sort of protection.

She was getting not only afraid, but also getting angry and sad over not being able to perform things in her own original way. She kept on getting harsh remarks from her crowd during certain songs such as 'L.A Woman'

I see your hair is burnin'. Hills are filled with fire If they say I never loved you, you know they are a liar Drivin' down your freeways, Midnight alleys roam Cops in cars, the topless bars

Never saw a woman... So alone, so alone So alone, so alone

Motel Money Murder Madness Let's change the mood from glad to sadness...

The tempo of the song slowed down as John slowed the drums and the guitar and organ began to get quiet. A few seconds passed when Maria sang Jim's imfamous accromym in a slow, rythmic voice.

Mr. Mojo Risin', Mr. Mojo Risin'...

A few people from the front row began coplaining

"Only the Lizard King can sing that!"

"You're not Mr. Mojo Risin"

She ignored them as slowly sped up the tempo of those words...

Mr. Mojo Risin', Mr. Mojo Risin' Got to keep on risin

The more she ignored them, the louder they got and the more people joined in...

Mr. Mojo Risin', Mr. Mojo Risiiiiiiiiiiiiiin' Mojo Risiiiiiin', gotta Mojo Risiiiiiiiiiiiiin'

"FUCK YOU!"

"LONG LIVE JIM!"

She began to get louder to drown out their comments as her anger quickly rose

MR. MOJO RISIIIIIIN GOTTA KEEP ON RIDIIIIIN

"Boooooooo!"

The other bandmates quickly noticed that the whole staduim joined in at booing Maria, no matter how much she tried drowning them out.

RIDIN, RIDIIIIIIIN GONE RIDIN RIDIIIIIIIN'
I'M GONE RIDIN RIDIIIIIIN I GOTTA RIDIN RIDIIIIN WELL RIDIN RIDIN!

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" she finally snapped.

The crowd booed her even louder as the guys behind her looked at her in disbelief.

Her anger reached its peak as she turned red and yelled into the microphone "YOUR PRECIOUS JIMBO IS DEAD! I'M THE BEST YOU GUYS GOT!"

She slammed the microphone into a speaker, causing it to break, as she stormed backstage in a furious manner. Ray got up from his organ and chased her backstage

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT ALL ABOUT?"

"I'M NOT JIM, RAY! AND NO ONE CAN MAKE ME BE HIM! NOT YOU OR THEM!"

She stormed out of the arena, leaving her bandmates and the show behind. She cried angry tears as she reached for her flask in her coat pocket and drank it's contents. She found herself hitting the bottle more, to the point where she was desperate to drown out her fears and sadness. The band later forgave her as she apoligized to them but she learned the more hostile the fans were, the more she wanted to bail out of this tour and away from the band, but she felt like she had to be there...

These guys need me here. They need a singer to help them out.

Maria despite her fears and insecurites, didn't tell Elwood about her daily misadventures and fears, to prevent him from being worried and storming to the band with his angry brother at his side.

It's not the bands fault at all. The fans need to learn to control themselves

As chaos reigned in the band, back in Callumet City, the brothers met up with Maury Sline, desperate for a new and better gig.

"Maury c'mon!" Jake pleaded "Our best gig was in vegas, but that was months ago!"

"We need a gig now!" Elwood exclaimed

"It's gonna be tough, boys" Maury said "Especially since you got dumped by your guitar player"

"She didn't dump us" Elwood replied, a bit angry "We let her go."

"We'll play anywhere for anybody" Jake begged "We're in desperate need of dough right now"

Maury knew how much help they neede d getting a gig since their band member who got them their best gig wasn;t there. She sighed and asked them "Have you heard of the Palace Hotel?"

"No" Jake replied

"Ahh. It's a nice place up north at Lake Wasapamani. They're always looking for new acts to perform there."

"Book us there for tomorrow night then" jake repllied, feeling releived

"Whoah woah hold on, You need the proper exploitation for a gig like that."

"I've been exploited all my life, I know about that stuff." Elwood said with a shrug of his shoulders

"Fine" Jake sighed "Book us there. Elwood and I can find a way to exploit ourselves."

One night after a somewhat successful gig in New Haven Connecitcut, the Doors arrived at a bar to get thier spirits up and to relax a bit. As Ray put on 'California Sun' by the Rivieras on the jukebox, he noticed Maria sitting all alone at the bar with a huge bottle of Jack Daniel's in front of her.

He approached her "Can I ask you something?"

She turned to him and noticed as he sat down at the barstool next to her. "Yeah."

"Do you like being in this band?"

Maria drank the whiskey uneaily and felt the burn slide down her throat. She winced a bit from it's burn and sighed

"Don't take this the wrong way. I don't like being in this band. I don't have any problems with you guys; you guys are cool as well as your wives. I just feel like...I don't belong here"

She drank more whiskey and continued, her head buzzing a bit "When I first came into the band, I was so insecure because I was leaving my comfort zone and my band, butI thought to myself 'Y'know what, these guys seem nice and it doesn't hurt doing something different' so thats why I stayed in the band. I thought I was gonna be able to express myself musically, but all people want is Jim this Jim that. I respect the hell out of the dude, but I'm not him! I can't do his crazy stage antics or get plastered onstage."

Ray chuckled a bit as Maria continued

"I don't want to follow any guidelines, because music is all about expressing yourself. Jim did express himself as well as you guys through your music, but I honestly can't. Your music is your music...not mine. I thought I would enjoy it when I joined the band, but I didn't. I gues I should of thoroughly thought about this before I said yes."

"I knew you were excited about joining our group, but why did you said yes?" he asked

"At first I thought being in this band was gonna make me happy, but I had a loving boyfriend who adores me as much as I adore him, a fun band and good friends. Now that I think about it, I was already happy and sucessful in life to begin with."

The organist listened to her thoroughly, in full understanding on her epiphany.

"Just to make things clear, We never wanted to make you miserable" Ray said

"I know" she said sadly "but this is more of a personal conflict. It's not you guys' fault and I'm sorry if I ever made it seem like that. I'm just tired of trying to live up to peoples expectations. I already had enough of that growing up in an orphanage."

"There's something else" he said, sensing her hesitation. "I can tell."

He noticed Elwood's locket around her neck and asked her "Did your boyfriend give that to you?"

She looked at the locket and nodded sadly "Yeah he did, during the same night he told me he loved me and I said I loved him."

She drank more as Ray said "You miss him."

It wasn't a question. He knew perfectly well she did.

"Y'know" she began " I know older people will think what Elwood and I have is puppy love, but puppy love can't make a person miss someone and love someone as much as I do with him."

Wow, she's serious

Ray was silent as Maria continued her drinking. He was thinking of a plan that would make everybody happy.

After the band left the bar, Maria went straight to her hotel room. Once she fell asleep, Ray called Robby and John together for a secret band meeting.

"Okay guys, we need to talk about our singer" Ray said to the two men.

"She's been in a bad mood lately" Robby complained

"Well she told me what the matter was with her..."

The organist quickly summerized what Maria had said to him to tell the band members. Once they listened to her story, John and Robby felt a slight twang of guilt. They understood her insercurites completely and felt bad.

"I can see where she's at" John said "Remember that time when everyone got mad because she sang 'Mr. Mojo Risin'?"

"Yeah that was bad." Robby said "We need to make sure what to do when something like that happens again."

"I don't think we should let that happen again." Ray said to the guys "because...I think we should let her go. She's a good person but...if she continues being with this band, she's going to explode and be even more miserable."

"Yeah."

"Agreed"

The three men were silent until John spoke up "Can we at least tell her the news when she's in a better mood? It would suck telling her this tonight when sh'es already feeling shitty"

Robby noticed a newspaper on the floor and picked it up. He found a little ad, promoting The Palace Hotel. As he looked at that little slip of paper, he hatched an idea.

"Hey guys" Robby said to the guys "Remember that Palace Hotel nearby Chicago?"

"Yeah?" Ray asked "What does that have to do with anything?"

"She's from nearby Chicago right?"

Ray and John slowy looked at each other, and smiled smugly.

"We can book reservations there and try to book a gig in Chicago. So she can have at least have one last decent gig with us."

"How do you think she'll handle it when we tell her she's fired?" John asked "I dont think she'll enjoy that news"

"True." Ray repsonded "but she'll be okay once her boyfriend is there and her band is ready to take her back."

"Will they?" Robby asked

"I don't know man" Ray said "I honestly don't know"

AN: Uh oh...Let's see what's gonna happen! This I think is gonna be the last filler before the finale...bum bum bum