gizmo
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Post by gizmo on Feb 5, 2011 13:35:29 GMT
it surely was the perfect decade for jim, if not he wouldn't have became what he was at the end of his carreer, but what is the truth of what ppl of my age(born 1975) and younger know from the 60's? a while ago we (marielle and me) just realized we're getting old. we where sitting here with some(younger) friends and i start talking about the doors and the beatles, and they didn't know who jim morrison or lohn lennon was!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
but the idea of what the 60's where is mostly drawn by the modern media who show it as large druginfected orgies and sleepins where ppl where fighting for (more) freedom, but where are the average ppl, and what where they doing? from what we're seeing on tv we should get the idea that noone was working and if you liked to have sex you should just walk on the street and wait for the first car with women, get in and have sex. i think media has ruined a lot of careers and giving a wrong view at the world. press is influenced by politics, companies and lying bandmembers and, for as long as we think that it's true it'll be ok by all of the above, they are making money for as long as we believe we need or like the things they produce. we're told that if we buy certain things our lives will be better and less complecated, but the more we own the greater the chance that we lose or break it so we have to buy new ones. if the new best of album is better than the ones we already own we need to but it. i don't know what to believe anymore, the only thing i know is that i don't trust news etc.
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Post by casandra on Feb 5, 2011 16:12:03 GMT
so they have to create a new, more popular myth. (wich happened in both movies and i even think in biographys)*jim's dead so we can put some extra gravy on the potatoes to let the ppl eat more shit, jim won't complain anymore*. i just realized that i'm not to sure what to believe to be the truth? nogoa was alway's the book to compare other books and movies with, but what can be used as the true story? I'll give an example of how I think is the mind of a Doors book writer. Well, you want to write a book about the Doors. You want to sell many books. You have been researching, doing interviews and writing a long time (it’s a hard job) and you should tell something new that nobody known before. You need some new story... If you write a chapter like this: Chapter X: Inside bored recording sessions. Day 1: Rehearsal and recording session. Nothing happen. Day 2: Exactly the same. Day 3: Idem. .... Day 10: Jim went in a bit late at the studio (perhaps the night before he didn’t sleep a wink, or he fought with Pamela, or he has a terrible hangover, or he was working on a poem and he can’t order his ideas, or a cop gave him a traffic ticket, because he drove quickly because he was going late to the studio… Who knows… All of us have a bad day). They start recording and everything is wrong. Jim isn’t concentrated. He sings badly, Robby doesn’t get his riff guitar, John has a rash and he is nervous, Ray is thinking in his meditation class… Rothschild is a perfectionist. They must repeat. After 15 times repeating the same song, Jim says he has a headache and he can’t follow singing. Someone says: “The recording studio is very expensive, we must continue recording”. They are nervous and angry, they say some hard words, but they are polites and they don't cry. Finally, Jim leaves the studio. The next day, Jim goes at the studio with a good mood and he apologizes to them. They follow working and the recordings are good. So I think you wouldn’t sell many books with this story. However, if you tell it of this way (the witness who told you this has a bad memory. This happened many years ago. He has told a lot of stories about the Doors and now, he doesn’t remember how this story really happened or he was on acid that day or he wasn’t there and other guy told him the story. You have some ideas about this thing, you speak with him and he says: "Well... Yes, I think that happened more or less as you say"): CHAPTER X: “He was a monster black dressed in leather” (The title is very important!!). "After several days rehearsing and recording, the songs were progressing and the guys were happy. Suddenly, 'Jimbo' went in one day. He arrived late at the studio; the night before he had been drinking very much and… surprinsingly, he made a scene, showed his anger (now you embellish the 'tale' with a heated discussion: Jim says he wants to destroy the studio and he wants to kill them, he grabbed a bottle of whisky with his hands -well, you don't know if Jim took a bottle, the witness didn't say you it, but you're talking about 'Jimbo' and 'Jimbo' is an alcoholic boy, so it makes sense he took a bottle of whisky-, the others guys were afraid, -here you put two or three lines of 'Who scared you?'- after, you continue the narration with many details, conversations, some screams, about three or four pages) and finally Jim left slamming the door. The guys were blown away" I'm sure you would sell many books with this "tale". You are basically telling the "true story", but not the "whole truth". I think, this is NOHGOA and others books about The Doors and Jim Morrison.
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gizmo
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Posts: 113
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Post by gizmo on Feb 6, 2011 20:38:25 GMT
so they have to create a new, more popular myth. (wich happened in both movies and i even think in biographys)*jim's dead so we can put some extra gravy on the potatoes to let the ppl eat more shit, jim won't complain anymore*. i just realized that i'm not to sure what to believe to be the truth? nogoa was alway's the book to compare other books and movies with, but what can be used as the true story? I'll give an example of how I think is the mind of a Doors book writer. Well, you want to write a book about the Doors. You want to sell many books. You have been researching, doing interviews and writing a long time (it’s a hard job) and you should tell something new that nobody known before. You need some new story... If you write a chapter like this: Chapter X: Inside bored recording sessions. Day 1: Rehearsal and recording session. Nothing happen. Day 2: Exactly the same. Day 3: Idem. .... Day 10: Jim went in a bit late at the studio (perhaps the night before he didn’t sleep a wink, or he fought with Pamela, or he has a terrible hangover, or he was working on a poem and he can’t order his ideas, or a cop gave him a traffic ticket, because he drove quickly because he was going late to the studio… Who knows… All of us have a bad day). They start recording and everything is wrong. Jim isn’t concentrated. He sings badly, Robby doesn’t get his riff guitar, John has a rash and he is nervous, Ray is thinking in his meditation class… Rothschild is a perfectionist. They must repeat. After 15 times repeating the same song, Jim says he has a headache and he can’t follow singing. Someone says: “The recording studio is very expensive, we must continue recording”. They are nervous and angry, they say some hard words, but they are polites and they don't cry. Finally, Jim leaves the studio. The next day, Jim goes at the studio with a good mood and he apologizes to them. They follow working and the recordings are good. So I think you wouldn’t sell many books with this story. However, if you tell it of this way (the witness who told you this has a bad memory. This happened many years ago. He has told a lot of stories about the Doors and now, he doesn’t remember how this story really happened or he was on acid that day or he wasn’t there and other guy told him the story. You have some ideas about this thing, you speak with him and he says: "Well... Yes, I think that happened more or less as you say"): CHAPTER X: “He was a monster black dressed in leather” (The title is very important!!). "After several days rehearsing and recording, the songs were progressing and the guys were happy. Suddenly, 'Jimbo' went in one day. He arrived late at the studio; the night before he had been drinking very much and… surprinsingly, he made a scene, showed his anger (now you embellish the 'tale' with a heated discussion: Jim says he wants to destroy the studio and he wants to kill them, he grabbed a bottle of whisky with his hands -well, you don't know if Jim took a bottle, the witness didn't say you it, but you're talking about 'Jimbo' and 'Jimbo' is an alcoholic boy, so it makes sense he took a bottle of whisky-, the others guys were afraid, -here you put two or three lines of 'Who scared you?'- after, you continue the narration with many details, conversations, some screams, about three or four pages) and finally Jim left slamming the door. The guys were blown away" I'm sure you would sell many books with this "tale". You are basically telling the "true story", but not the "whole truth". I think, this is NOHGOA and others books about The Doors and Jim Morrison. but that's the point, you can change history in a few words or, leaving one or two words can change the idea of the whole story. for instance, a fan who saw jim on stage is saying that she saw jim a few times. that's no lie, coz maybe a larger person blocked her view to jim so she only saw him a few times, though the suggestion is that she might have seen different shows, or maybe in private? it's all a mather of putting words in the right order, and leaving a few off. but the thing is that i want to know the whole truth, is that so hard? i read shitloads of biographies who'll tell the whole truth, why not about the doors? it is possible so......................
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Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Feb 7, 2011 7:03:12 GMT
It's not possible for the three Doors to tell the truth mate because they have lied for so long that they would look foolish if the truth were told. The best instance of this is the trial. From that we discovered that The Doors did not trust Jim and were fearful that he would backstab them like they did him in 1968. But we never heard a peep out of any of them after the trial finished 6 years back about the 1971 contract amendment that won the case for Densmore because it showed that Ray could not use the name The Doors as they had prevented Jim from doing that in 1971. The level of distrust is staggering and epitomised by that one event. Morrison showed nothing but loyalty to those three but they thought he was made of the same stuff they were and distrusted him. Add to that Siddons saying Jim called a meeting where he quit the band and the attmpt by Morrison to kill Ray in New York and we see that The Doors were not a band of brothers around the time of WFTS and would never be again afterwards. Lies upon lies that built a myth of The Doors that we fans have been fed for 40 years. The 1971 article I transcribed shows that the Lie/Myth was being built up months after Jim died as the three did not dare admit what had been going on. Even last year Krieger was denying Jim was no longer a Door when he went to Paris in 1971. The truth would destroy the credibility of these three with mainstream fans so they will never tell it.
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adam
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Post by adam on Feb 7, 2011 16:56:27 GMT
how do you mean "jim tried to kill ray in NYC"
I totally agree in the lies hidden by the 3 doors lack of trust in Jim, but a lot of the lesser lies i think are told in good faith (as cassandra has said) stories work better with confict & drama, after 40+ yrs it's probably a lot easier to remember that time when jim got really loaded and.... or that time when jim was supposed to do xyz, but instead got really loaded and...
think back to your (our) collective paris adventures, what do you remember? do you remember sitting quietly in la ren & chatting to rick about his teacher training or do you remember that time rick put a pineapple on his head?! If you were writing a book about rick, how long before the pineapple story mutates into rick being drunk & roitous & throwing a pineapple at another diner?!
last time i was in paris i drunkenly ordered a beef torilia, Kat (mistakenly) thought i was a veggie & told everyone i'd eaten meat, if that was in the book, the part about me not really being a viggie would quickly get lost... the drunken idiot bit would stay !!!
when it comes to the various docu etc about the lies, the lies perpetulate not simply because they're more intertestign that the truth, but also because they've been told more times than the truth...
jact the ripper is a good example of this.... someone fairly recently revisited every bit of surviving edvidence on the case... they are many untruths being presented as fact - not because of malice, but simply cos 1 researcher makes a mistake then the following researchers base their data on the mistakes that have already been factalised in print
Sames thing happens with the doors, it started with the sugerman book....
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Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Feb 7, 2011 17:17:09 GMT
It started long before NOHGOA mate. Even when those guys were going out as a trio they were giving interviews that hid the truth. I transcribed the one that was too small for you to see and the lies had already begun. It was not as important then I guess as they thought The Doors were over and could not have envisaged what the band would be like once Apocalypse Now came out and NOHGOA. I don't think anyone saw that coming. I was happy being a Doors fan but I thought the chances of hearing the stuff I have heard since were less than zero. It assumed importance after NOHGOA it's true as then they had record sales to protect. I don't think it's quite the same as a bunch of drunken bastards in Paris though Adz as we swap funny stories for a laff whilst they twist the tale to ensure profit. Morrison's crazy side sells and has done since 1967. It's convenient that they forgot Jim left the band in March 1971 and that they did not trust him and shackled him with a contract clause. Ray forgot the band played Paris in 1972 so he could big up his bullshit tribute act in 2003. I don't think these guys do anything nowadays without giving it a lot of thought. Look at the documentary. The anti Oliver Stone film that told us that Jim was a violent, drunken, attention seeking, indolent, vain, preening nut job. It got more attention than if it had tried to tell a more factual tale. You yourself made the excellent point that The Doors did not just appear out of Jac Holzmans ass but got there by hard work. But that would not get people in the media writing the fantastical tales of a cock flashing drunken loony who thought he was a poet but was just another LA nut job. how do you mean "jim tried to kill ray in NYC" .... I mean exactly what it says mate. Jim attacked Ray in New York ....likely in 1969 .....and tried to choke the life out of his scrawny neck and would have done so if John and Robby had not dragged him off. Why? God knows but it must have been more than a spat over the set list. The Coursons told the tale and obviously got it from their daughter. There is a lot hidden that The Doors don't want us to know. Our job is just to buy stuff not ask awkward questions. Maybe someone should go over to the Densmore site and ask His Highness for an audience! (I would but he banned me for saying he was a drunk ....which I didn't do I asked was he drunk when he first saw WYS as someone like him should have seen instantly how crap it was)
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Post by darkstar3 on Feb 7, 2011 19:09:48 GMT
how do you mean "jim tried to kill ray in NYC" Douglas Cameron worked for the Doors as assistant roadie back in 1969 for a total of 18 days. After 18 days, Doug claims he became uncomfortable around Vince Treanor so he left. In his book, "Inside The Fire - My Strange Days With The Doors" he had a conversation with Corky and Penny Courson and it was Penny Courson that told the story about Jim going after Ray. Unfortunately the quotes are very brief without any mention of dates or places other than the incident happening in a car in New York with all four Doors present. page 100Doug Cameron: "I know a lot about The Doors," I said. "I consider myself something of a Doorssologist."
Penny Courson: "Well, you don't know it all, buddy."
Penny Courson: "Did you ever hear about the car ride in New York?
Doug Cameron: "No?"
Penny Courson: "Jim tried to strangle Ray! John and Robby had to restrain Jim, or he would have killed Ray."
Doug Cameron" "Holy shit!."
Corky Courson: "It's the truth."
Doug Cameron: Damn. Sure was a power struggle between them."
As the conversation continued, I couldn't believe my good fortune. I was learning things I thought only the inner circle - way inside the fire - knew. Douglas Cameron WebsiteThe site includes an email address for Douglas Cameron bdouglascameron.com/
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gizmo
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Post by gizmo on Feb 7, 2011 19:32:58 GMT
i knew jim attacked ray but i thought that the killing part was overrated, if it works one way it´ll work the other way as well. i think you had to do something stupid to get jim in a violent mood but apereantly ray knew how to do it.
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Post by casandra on Feb 7, 2011 20:41:50 GMT
As Gizmo says, Ray should know how to push Jim’s buttons. The existence of a power struggle between the two leaders of the band is credible. Why and when are important questions on this issue.
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Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Feb 7, 2011 21:11:57 GMT
It's interesting but before the Hollywood Bowl gig in 1968 Ray was looking to expand The Doors stage show as he obviously thought the big arena was the future for the group. They had a huge sound system and lighting for those shows and Ray's idea was that the band members would walk on stage wearing Japanese Noh masks. Noh is the traditional Japanese theatre in which the characters wear various masks for the performance. Ray was married to a Japanese woman and it's just as likely it was Dorothy's idea as she had suggested they do a cover of Alabama Song back in 1966. Anyway when Jim was intoduced to this idea he brought Ray back down to earth by saying 'You guys wear what you want. Just give me a microphone'. So it's clear that there were different visions within the band. Jim favoured Poetry obviously and whilst Ray shared Jim's vision of the drama of The Doors he saw that drama in a more theatrical light than Jim obviously did. To be honest I can see Ray's point as bands were beginning to see the rock show as a mixture of rock and theatre and it would not be long before bands like The Who would attempt this in a major way and the likes of Genesis and Yes would not be far behind. I doubt it would ever have worked for The Doors so Jim in the end was right to be scathing but Ray was quite inovative in his ideas and deserves credit for daring to think like that. On the other hand Ray wears a mask in his daily life. The Ray fans and journalists pander to hides a hard faced business man always on the lookout for the next way to make a buck. He is a manipulative individual and there must have been many times he and Jim came to an impasse. The failure of COTL is a case in point. Would it have worked in the studio? Most likely given that The Soft Parade was a similar song/poem. But would it have sold a lot of albums? Probably not and perhaps it was no accident that COTL failed considering that the LA Times claimed it was envisaged to take up a side and a half of an album. The album that was envisaged by Morrison and the album that finally emerged were worlds apart. One a piece of daring artistic brilliance whilst the other was a solid hit album that spawned one of the bands biggest hit. Which one do you think ray would have been in favour of? makes you think!!!!
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adam
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Post by adam on Feb 7, 2011 21:35:00 GMT
thats a nice lot of new info to take in
#digestion#
cheers
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Post by darkstar3 on Feb 7, 2011 21:54:06 GMT
Break On Through By Riordan & Prochnicky Page 217 Ray Manzarek: “We were worried he (Jim) would do something inadvertently because he was drunk. I stayed straighter than I might have. What could you say to him, ‘Jim, don’t have too many drinks. Your killing yourself?’ He’d say, ‘It’s my life and I’ll do what I want.’ I think he felt things would turn around because we had so many good memories…simply incredible gigs. It started to go wrong around 1968, but up until that time The Doors and everyone else were floating on a psychedelic cloud of just magic. Then, little by little, things started to go bad. And you didn’t want to think about the bad things…to accept that the times had changed.”
newdoorstalk.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=calendarview&thread=453
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Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Feb 8, 2011 7:55:51 GMT
That's great stuff Sara and pretty much shows the huge rift that came between the band and the timeframe for it. It also shows Vince Treanor understood Morrison as much as Tom DiCillo did. Morrison wanted to be something more than a performing seal. The audience expectations were weighing heavily upon his shoulders. they wanted the leather clad God who lit their fire. He wanted art. He never really stood a chance. Of course if I had been in that audience i would have been baying for the leather clad monster same as the rest. And oh how wrong we all would have been. Manzarek and Co wanted the hits. Jim wanted the art. That is the best synopsis of what The Doors stood for. Jim was pretty much forced into being what he did not want to be. The result was Miami and beyond. Who knows what the Doors could have been if they had listened to Jim.
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gizmo
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Post by gizmo on Feb 8, 2011 12:11:55 GMT
Ray was married to a Japanese woman and it's just as likely it was Dorothy's idea as she had suggested they do a cover of Alabama Song back in 1966. it´s always the same kind of ppl yoko ono ruined the beatles and dorothy gives ray bad ideas so the doors fel apart
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gizmo
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Post by gizmo on Feb 8, 2011 12:15:30 GMT
Break On Through By Riordan & Prochnicky Page 217 Ray Manzarek: “We were worried he (Jim) would do something inadvertently because he was drunk. I stayed straighter than I might have. What could you say to him, ‘Jim, don’t have too many drinks. Your killing yourself?’ He’d say, ‘It’s my life and I’ll do what I want.’ I think he felt things would turn around because we had so many good memories…simply incredible gigs. It started to go wrong around 1968, but up until that time The Doors and everyone else were floating on a psychedelic cloud of just magic. Then, little by little, things started to go bad. And you didn’t want to think about the bad things…to accept that the times had changed.”
newdoorstalk.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=calendarview&thread=453
is this ray's way ot say: "the past was so nice and easy to create new music but now i'm dried up and empty so jim should do what i want so we can still make money"? it's all in the last line
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adam
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Post by adam on Feb 8, 2011 16:24:17 GMT
Break On Through By Riordan & Prochnicky Page 217 Ray Manzarek: “We were worried he (Jim) would do something inadvertently because he was drunk. I stayed straighter than I might have. What could you say to him, ‘Jim, don’t have too many drinks. Your killing yourself?’ He’d say, ‘It’s my life and I’ll do what I want.’ I think he felt things would turn around because we had so many good memories…simply incredible gigs. It started to go wrong around 1968, but up until that time The Doors and everyone else were floating on a psychedelic cloud of just magic. Then, little by little, things started to go bad. And you didn’t want to think about the bad things…to accept that the times had changed.”
newdoorstalk.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=calendarview&thread=453
this (to me) kinda reeks of not wanting to resolve the problem... the problem was that Jim had, had enough Jims way of dealing with this was drink (classic dependancy response) Ray could see that drink was bad, he could see where it would lead (not miami directly) ie extreme badness !! Ray could see that the fix for jim's drinking was for jim to leave the band & pursue his creative desires Ray selected NOT to take this route as (presumably) jim drinking himself to death was (as far as ray was concerned) the lesser of 2 evils between jim sobers up / ray is no longer in top 10 pop band i wonder how many other events actually occured as result of this 1968 period....?? (i'm MAKING the below up = pure speculation) the euro tour = "well he can't leave if he's in europe" the buick commercial = "fuck it, who know's when the morrison myth is valueless, lets grab some cash while we can" the doors name rights = "he'll leave us or get drunk n start a new band, lets make the (doors) name legally binding to the 4 of us" jim's LA Woman health = (Rothchild) "get as much of jim on tape as you can - not sure how long he'll be with us" (surely you meant, lets get jim some prof help, eh paul?) I don't think that the doors company thought jim would die... i think that they simply believed that he'd burn out, look a dick (like all drunks do) & lose all the credibility of the band & thus their marketability... the internal memo might have read soemthing like priorties 1 - preseve record sales, "jim is fine" 2 - disguise jim's alcoholism, "he loves his drugs does that boy" (drugs are cool - booze is not)" 3 - sign up to as many tours/shows/TV as possible "keep jim working, don't let the cash cow dry up"
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Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Feb 8, 2011 17:17:02 GMT
Not much to disagree with their Adz mate. you pretty much nailed the last couple of years of The Doors.
It's sad but Jim got the real shit end of the stick. His character has been examined in minutae by us fans and all his little faults and some of his big ones brought into the light and argued over.
But John, Ray and Robby have escaped that limelight and have just been regarded as victims or survivors of the storm known as Hurricane Jim.
We have never thought to really get inside the heads of any of them except Jim. We see that all three were pretty devious and as Jim is dead they can pile all the shit onto his doorstep.
The Buick incident a case in point. According to Jac Holzman when Jim came back full of fuck the three Doors blamed Jac for Buick and Jim went round and played merry hell. Jac quietly explained the truth and he went back and gave the blast we read about in rays book. But it shows the cut of their cloth as they feared Morrison's wrath so tried to put the blame on someone else. Jac tells of an advert that was made for Buick Light My Fire and it was shown in some states. So Buick must have thought they had a deal. Jim made enquireies about suing his own band mates over Buick so that tells me Jac was telling the truth and some deal was struck between The Doors behind Jim's back. Eventually Buick quietly dropped the campaign but the Myth we all adhere to is of Morrison off somewhere rat arce drunk and the band desperately seeking him and having no choice but to sign.the deal. If truth be told Jim was in a hotel in London that was surely known to Clive Selwood head of Elektra UK who were based in London.
So this myth of Jim being irresponsible is just one of many lies the three tell that deflects the flak away from them and towards a dead man who cannot answer for himself. A pretty sleazy bunch of fuckers in my view and considering the loyalty Jim showed them three guys who should be answering some pretty searching questions but instead get off scot free.
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adam
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Post by adam on Feb 8, 2011 17:38:06 GMT
not sure if i'm getting my dates mixed up or putting too much stock in the wrong book...
but wasn't jim doing something or other to salvage his relationship with pam (who had shacked up with the bloke from barbrella) whilst the doors were selling LMF...?
but if its accurate about jim 'getting pam' whilst the other 3 sold thier soul, then you can imagine that jim took a lot of flak from pam about being a door, so imagine his rage when he gets back from the mess that being in the doors has created only to find the other 3 have gone behind his back...
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Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Feb 8, 2011 17:49:08 GMT
Buick most likely occurred in October 1968 whilst Jim was in London. The Myth is that the Doors tried to contact him as they were apprihensive about doing a deal without his say so. They agree to the deal reluctantly and Jim goes nuts when he gets home. Buick withdraw the offer and a commercial never gets made. But Jac Holzman says in Follow The Music that a commercial was indeed made and shown but sparesly. Now this puts a different light on the matter as this says that a deal was struck. Still a lot of lies and bullshit surrounding Buick. It gets explored a bit here. The Doors unhinged..Soft Parade cause & effect
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Post by darkstar3 on Feb 8, 2011 18:40:54 GMT
I'm in the process of working on the calendar for the forum. I have made it to the Cancellations of the 1969 tour due to the Miami performance. I have added interviews and newspaper reviews to the various concert dates. I have noticed that during the summer 1968 some the reviews show a gross over exaggeration and some border on complete nonsense. In one review I have Jim being labeled as the "Ultimate Barbie Doll" in others he is the ultimate teen idol compared to the likes of Davy Jones of the Monkees. Jim has admitted in interviews that he did read all of the press reviews and articles written about him and The Doors. And first and foremost was the outrageous stage performances which garnered a lot of attention in the press. The Doors spent over a year in rehearsals both on and off stage before they were signed with Elektra. Jim had written most of the songs that would fill the first two albums before and during the start of the bands performances in public. Consequently both the Doors 1st album and Strange Days were recorded relatively quick. When it was time to record Waiting For The Sun Jim was counting on COTL to fill one entire side of the album when that didn't work he was left with very little in the way of lyric contribution. In addition, it has been mentioned in many Morrison bios as well as Manzareks' and Densmores' own works that producer Paul Rothchild was a slave driver in the studio. At one point he demanded 130 takes of the Unknown Soldier. Looking at all of the concert dates that were booked both on the West and East coasts of the United States in 1968 there was little time left for writing new songs unless Jim was writing before or after the concert appearances which doesn't seem to be the case. Jim's contributions to the first two albums were written without any pressure from a record company or his band mates. Jim wrote when he felt like writing. In 1968 he was under a lot of pressure to come up with lyrics that would rival both the first and second Doors albums. In Ray Manzarek's vision for The Doors he wanted more of the admiration that had been coming the bands way during 1967 both in and out of the press. Ray, at the time simply would not except anything less than what he had become accustom too. But, it wasn't Ray or the other two Doors that had to endure the pressure of being the front man and voice of the band. It was Jim that was front and center 99% of the time. Ray wasn't being labeled as a sex symbol (although he probably would have liked that) and he certainly wasn't being labeled as the Ultimate Barbie Doll. During the time Waiting For The Sun was being recorded Jim wanted to quit the band because of the pressure he endured. An escape from this pressure which happens to a lot of young people is to bury ones head in a bottle or some kind of drug as a temporary remedy, suspending all thought of reality in their own life. I believe Jim knew the effects that drugs and drink could do to a person but at the time he forgave all reasons why he shouldn't drink to elude the reality of the situation he was faced with. I believe when he came out of the haze he had put himself in he thought over his options with a clear head and made his decision to leave the band. Of course as we know Ray talked him out of this decision. On this same subject I wish to share a book passage with you that pertains to the time Jim wanted to quit the band. Fast forward to the year 1995: From Doug Cameron's book, "Inside The Fire" Page 97 Doug Cameron: As for how relations between Ray and I ended up, the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back was a phone call I made to him around Christmas 1995. There had been a birthday party for John Densmore at John's house, and I had learned that a fight broke out between Ray and John. I took the plunge and pressed the issue with Ray. Doug Cameron: "So, Ray, what the hell happened at John's birthday party?"
Ray Manzarek: "Look, man. You're not my psychiatrist, okay? Can I please just get back to watching my tv?"
Oops! I had run off course. What I suspect is that John was berating Ray for not letting Jim quit the band in 1968 and 1969, which was when Jim had been flirting with a nervous breakdown and wanted to quit. That was the same time Ray unashamedly begged Jim to give the band six more months. This is pure speculation on my part. At any rate, Ray changed his (phone) number soon after, and we lost touch. Heres a few entries from the calendar from 1968: TTG Recording Studio WFTS Album newdoorstalk.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=calendarview&thread=339TTG Recording Studio - WFTS Albumnewdoorstalk.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=calendarview&thread=340Choosing A Hit Single For WFTS Album newdoorstalk.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=calendarview&thread=377Jim Wants To Quit The BandJuly 1 1968 newdoorstalk.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=calendarview&thread=453Waiting For The Sun Album Released newdoorstalk.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=calendarview&thread=383European Tour Ends - Doors Leave For Los Angelesnewdoorstalk.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=calendarview&thread=415Michael McClure Visits Jim & Pam In Londonnewdoorstalk.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=calendarview&thread=417The Buick Commercial Fiasco Los Angeles CAPart 1newdoorstalk.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=calendarview&thread=454The Buick Commercial Fiasco Los Angeles CAPart 2newdoorstalk.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=calendarview&thread=455The Doors sign a 2 Page Amendment To The Original Elektra Contract Oct 22 1968 Doors Are Back In LA From November '68 Tour Datesnewdoorstalk.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=calendarview&thread=429Los Angeles Forum Inglewood CA (Dec 14 1968) newdoorstalk.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=calendarview&thread=432Madison Square Garden New York City New York (Jan 24 1969) newdoorstalk.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=calendarview&thread=433Jim Attends Living Theatre Performances At UCLAnewdoorstalk.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=calendarview&thread=457Sunset Sound Studios - Los Angeles CA (Rock Is Dead Sessions) newdoorstalk.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=calendarview&thread=456Dinner Key Auditorium Miami Florida (march 1 1969) Looking at all of the concert dates in 1968 and combining them with the major happenings within the band one begins to see the turmoil which at any minute can boil over and it did March 1 1969. newdoorstalk.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=calendarviewallI certainly have a lot more information to add to the calender but I hope what is completed helps in your own personal research into Doors history. It is up to each individual person to decide for themselves what happened at any given point all I can do is provide an outline of which to base an opinion.
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