"The Ride" - the book that got away

[zaval80]

I was always interested in the story of Ron Alan of "The Magic Tramps" fame, and especially so after Frank's "Friends Gathered Together" book came out, with the complete interview of Ron, and even more so after Robby's memoir where it was finally stated by a Door that Ron and "Wes" from Ray's book must be one and the same person. But, it was impossible to locate any data on "The Magic Tramps". The NY band of the pre-CBGB era had a decent coverage, and they were from LA by origin as well, but not the Jim-related band. Imagine my disbelief when Googling "Ron Alan" + "Wild Child" did the trick! (good thing I've remembered from FGT that Ron played in "Wild Child" as well) - taking me to Ron's page:


www.ronalan.info

And when I saw that he has his memoir out, "The Ride", I just knew I HAD to have it.



www.ronalan.info/books

I managed to snatch the impossibly-rare copy via Ebay, and for chump change too. My verdict: his account in Frank's 2014 book is solid, and as for Ron's own book, it being the description of Ron's life - it adds some vital details to what can be learned from FGT.

One thing which I cannot comprehend - how it was possible that I saw not one mention of Ron's book, anywhere. When every other book, Dennis Jakob, Michael Lawrence, etc etc, was duly noted by the fans. That's why I had to add "the book that got away". 

Now to my interest in Ron's story. It was caused largely by the publishing of some work of Jim called "The Wedding Dress". It's in the poetry book among his unpublished songs, and what a song it was. The first verse is "Coda Queen" from "Easy Ride", and the second is "Meet me..." from "The Soft Parade". But it wasn't the standard edition which piqued my interest. The "pricey & stupid" edition had a facsimile, and it was seen from that there was the third verse, blackened out by Jim. And that verse was nothing else but "Some outlaws..." from COTL. Jim took it out because he decided it'd be good for COTL, and when he recorded "Easy Ride" on 3.03.1968, there was no need for "The Wedding Dress".

I think it won't take much guessing that "Some outlaws lived by the side of a lake" were Ron ("Wes") and "Freddy", and that "the minister's daughter's in love with the snake" (it's "daughter's", BTW, as written by Jim's hand, not "daughters") is none other than the future Mrs Krieger, Lynn Veres ("the snake" being Jim).



What do you think, when Ron's book arrived in the post, inside there was an immediate confirmation that their ranch had some pond. This detail wasn't mentioned in FGT.

And when I've re-read Robby's book, it got me curious whether the "Coda Queen" girl is Lynn as well or a composite character with Pamela. Because "Rage in darkness by my side" could refer to their car ride when Morrison was drunk and Lynn was driving, car door being broken from the impact of smashing somebody else's car on the way. 

What is about impossible to figure out is the story behind "the wedding dress", now that we know for sure that "coda" is the part of such dress. it could be that Lynn wanted to tame Jim Morrison, which was not to be. But what was Jim Morrison's loss, was Robby & Lynn's gain.

(The "wedding dress" mentions exist in the "fake Paris Journal" and in one facsmilile from the standard edition of "The Complete Works", but they tell us nothing.)

Another connection between Lynn and The Magic Tramps is - it was her who introduced them to Jim. That must be why they all were mentioned by Jim within a single work.

As to the scathing accounts by first John and then Ray - Robby's one is so much more neutral - that was how The Doors members perceived Jim's side activities and Jim's chosen collaborators. Ray's description is classic Ray, part truth, part bull. But, he almost guessed that "Freddy" and "Wes" were somehow connected to "The Soft Parade", but only in an indirect way in reality - the lyric bit from TSP Ray chose as some lyrical illustration had absolutely no relation to them.

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Lastly - if you are a collector of all things Doors, check out the home page of Ron' site, there may be a nice surprise for you.



    

[zaval80]

I've said

"the minister's daughter's in love with the snake" (it's "daughter's", BTW, as written by Jim's hand, not "daughters")


and it can be seen from the original draft above it's not so, it's "daughters" here. But - that's how it is in his manuscript of NTTTE (which I have to find). So either of his intentions is OK, but even if Lynn Veres wasn't a minister's daughter in the strict sense, Robby says her Mom was highly religious.