Howard Smith Interview W/Jim Morrison Nov 6 1969

[darkstar]

HOWARD SMITH OF THE VILLAGE VOICE INTERVIEWS JIM MORRISON – THE DOORS OFFICE, LOS ANGELES – NOVEMBER 6, 1969 ALSO FOUND ON THE CD, “THE CEREMONY CONTINUES.”<br>


**It has been noted in some sources that this interview was conducted in Nov 1970 which wasn’t possible as Jim mentioned The Doors being booked to perform four shows at Madison Square Garden Jan 17 and 18th. The Doors did play four shows at the Felt Forum Jan 17 and 18, 1970. The CD, “Celebration” indicates this interview was in 1970.

Note: The original source of this interview was from this link www.cobweb.nl/fredhwy/smith.html which no longer exists online.


March 12, 1992 BAKTABAK Records released the CD,
"The Ceremony Continues" a 1970 interview with Jim
Morrison in Los Angeles.

The interview was conducted by Howard Smith of the Village Voice Newspaper.

Howard Smith comments on the interview afterwards:

"On the second floor is this office and in there is
his manager, a press agent, those kind of people, you
know, at their desks and there was Jim Morrison. It was
11:00 o'clock in the morning and there was an engineer,
setting up all the equipment and he had a whole bunch of
his comrades coming, sitting around, a lot of voices
you'll hear in the background, kinda laughing at his
jokes and joining in and everything...his people, and
also something, I think it's on the tape, I think it
comes up at a later point, but I want you to keep this
in mind: before I went in there, I had a feeling
that it was going to be a tough interview. I just
kinda had a feeling that he and I didn't have the same
athatalism, that it was going to be tricky, and I said to
Cilla, who was along with me, you know, if things get
really difficult with him, I'm gonna suggest that we
arm wrestle...and then I put it out of my mind, and then you'll
hear what happens about that later on in the
interview..."





THE INTERVIEW:
Jim Morrison: It’s nice of you to come over on a rainy day like this.

Howard Smith: I hear it never rains in Los Angeles.

Jim: Uh-huh – The rainy season.

Howard: I was in New Orleans once and everybody said it never snows and it was snowing.

Jim: I was in New Orleans about two months ago and I thought it was a beautiful town, very strange, and I had a lot of fun there. Did you have a good time in New Orleans?

Howard: Oh yeah. It’s the only place I’ve ever been that looks exactly like it’s suppose to look, you know, from all the photographs.

Jim: You know, I was thinking about New Orleans last night. There’s a bar called Bonapartes. Did you go there?

Howard: No.

Jim: They have a fantastic mural, done by a young artist who doesn’t live in the city anymore. It’s a picture of Napoleon in exile and he’s kind of sulking in this field and there’s a sword stuck in the ground in front of him and then over to the left is the scenes from the…some kind of a….you know, it’s a war scene, people in sewers and chaos and all that, you know, ghosts and shades. It’s a beautiful mural. I can’t get it out of my mind actually.

Howard: Have you been traveling around a lot?

Jim: No that was just…A friend and I went to Atlanta for a film festival; we had a film aired there and then we drove from Atlanta to New Orleans.

Howard: You said you had a film entered there?

Jim: Yeah.

Howard: What kind of film?

Jim: Well, it was a little 40 minute documentary on a rock and roll band, traveling around the States, we shot about a year ago.

Howard: What do you mean, on the Doors?

Jim: Yeah, it’s called Feast Of Friends. They showed it in the New York Film Festival too and so, actually it was just an excuse to go to Atlanta and then we drove to New Orleans from there. I dig the South.

Howard: You have any scenes on the road, while travelin’, you know?

Jim: No, but one thing I do remember. Atlanta has the most amazing hotel you’ve ever seen. You walk in and from the outside it looks like any other large hotel, you know. Then you get in and you look up. It goes up about 27 floors and the interior is like a Spanish courtyard. I mean, in architecturally it’s hollow. So all the rooms face each other across this vast garden arena and the elevators are like, kind of Victorian rocket ships and they’re glass, and so you go up to the, you go up to the restaurant on the penthouse level and it’s completely encased by glass.

Howard: What, it goes up the outside of the building, that elevator?

Jim: No, the inside see and so you get this strange sensation – your rising up 27 floors in this glass elevator.

Howard: Mmm. When traveling around by car, you didn’t have any….

Jim: Oh, somebody jumped, one time from the…somebody jumped…and landed in…They have a restaurant in the middle of it, and so he landed in that restaurant and….I hear it was really horrible.

Howard: Did you see Easy Rider?


Jim: No, I don’t…..I think that’s an exaggeration, really…I don’t know why the South has such a reputation like, you know, but maybe these clichés are really true after all. I never really noticed that the South was any worse than any other part of the United States. Of course, I’m from there, you know, so I might be prejudiced, but I think it’s a grotesque caricature. However, it is a strange territory, you bet.

Howard: How come you don’t have an accent? If your from the South.

Jim: Why, I doo’nt.. knowwww… how come I don’t have an accent, bein’ from the South and all. I watch a lot of television, and I just, I try and obey the norm, you know.

Howard: What?

Jim: That’s what they, you know, people in the Midwest, in the South and all, and they, they call it….like the way people in California talk, they call it TV talk. You know, it’s the way people talk on television, newscasters and commercials and actors and all that…It’s TV talk.

Howard: Mmm. Are The Doors gonna be performing, going on tour again soon, or what?

Jim: Well, the only thing we have planned is a gig in Madison Square Garden for four shows, two days, around January 17th, 18th, something like that.

[darkstar]

Howard: Mmm. Do you enjoy performing?

Jim: Yeah.

Howard: More than recording?

Jim: Well…I guess so… I do. I think it’s more fun, you know, with a lot of people around. Recording studios tend to get a little dry and monotonous. Yeah, I guess the real fun is in performing.

(Phone Rings)

Howard: Wait a minute….We’re gonna have to…<br>
Jim: You can always edit this, you know?

Howard: Yeah, but sometimes when it’s like right on the line, when it seems to be ringing right from there, it’s from there…I put the receiver off.

Jim: That’s weird, the receivers off and it still rings.

(Voices): Maybe you could put all the lines on hold.

Howard: Yeah, could you put’em all on hold? It seems to be ringin’ right here.

Jim: Get the scissors…<br>
Howard: Do you rehearse specially for a performance?

Jim: Nope.

Howard: Well, how do you decide what you’re gonna do – you just got out?

Jim: Well, we have a repertoire of 30 or 40 tunes and so…We usually plan like, in the dressing room before we go on. We usually plan, you know, the first 3 or 4 songs and then, after that, we just play it by ear. So we don’t really know what we’re gonna do when we go out there.

Howard: Mmm. How about in the recording studio? How do you work out what you’re gonna do?

Jim: Usually we rehearse a couple of weeks, a month or…you know, until we have a considerable amount of material and then we go in and do it. We don’t…well, on this, on this new album it’s really strange; it went really quick, you know. We…we went in and we got like a song a day, which is kind of unusual. It was funny, the first album that we did….in about 10 days and then each succeeding album took longer and longer, til the last one took about nine months to do and this one, we went in and we got a song a day. It was amazing. Partly, because we went back to the original instrumentation; just the four of us and a bass player.

Howard: Why did you decide to go that way?

Jim: I don’t know.

Howard: Mmm.

Jim: Um…I think that phrase is the most horrible phrase in the English language…I don’t know. It’s terribly embarrassing.

Howard: When you’re in the recording studio, do you…are you aware that you’re doing a hit single at any point?

Jim: No. We joke around about it a lot, but actually we just do an album and then, you know, everytime we make a choice for a single, it usually turns out wrong, it’s usually…and so, what we’re gonna do on this one, is just put it out. Put out the album and let the public decide which one they like the best and then we’ll release that as a single, seems like the most realistic way to do it.

Howard: Who picked the singles before though?

Jim: Well, yeah, we pick’em, but you know, we don’t….I don’t think we really have the key to the pulse of the nation, because we’ve made more mistakes than we’ve been right.

Howard: Mmm. The underground press, I sort of felt, was the big reason why The Doors made it so big in the beginning. I mean, aside from the fact that you’re all very good, I mean, you know, if publicity has anything to do with it, it was that. And then, after a while that seemed to have changed, now generally we read put downs of The Doors now. Why?

Jim: I think….Oh by the way, I remembered the, the name of that guy…It was Erich Von Stroheim, ‘the man you love to hate’, Yeah, that’s…We’re….I think we’re the band you love to hate. So I, it’s been that way from the beginning, you know. We’re universally despised. I kind of, I kind of relish the whole situation.

Howard: But how did that start? Why? Why are you the band that everybody loves to hate?

Jim: Gee. I don’t know! I guess, I don’t know, I think it’s like…I was just up in San Francisco for another film festival, this Feast Of Friends, this film. I was in the audience, it consisted mainly of young people, way under 30. You know, hip, young people, street people, and they booed the film and I think it’s…that….we’re on a monsterous ego trip and people resent it, you know. They hate us because we’re so good….

[darkstar]

Howard: Does it bother you at all when you read put downs?

Jim: Yeah, it does. I wish they wouldn’t do it, but freedom of the press and all that, you know.

Howard: Mmm, you say with a nasty glint.

Jim: Umm…I think maybe it will change. I think…I think, what it is, it’s a question of longevity. It’s like…you know, it’s that old thing like a first novel. You know, they usually give the cat a break, you know, and everybody kinda pats him on the back and then the second one they really chop him up. And then, if he does a few more, you know, and shows he has staying power, then you know, they say: well, welcome back to the fold, the human family embraces you, and I think it’ll be the same way with us. We just have to hold out for a little while and everyone….one day will realize: wow, they…they’re just like old friends, they’ve been around for years now, and you know, they’re part of our national psyche. I guess we’ll just, you know, accept them, you know, but now it’s, a little, you know, we’re kind of in between.

Howard: Some of the criticism has been about the kind of music…you know, it seemed to have been, I don’t know…rougher or maybe more revolutionary at the beginning and then it seemed to have gotten more…I don’t know…sweeter, you know, more top 40. Were you aware of that happening?

Jim: Mmm. I don’t agree with that. I…I just think the music keeps getting better and better. It gets more subtle, more sophisticated, musically and lyrically. Besides, you know, if you keep saying the same old thing over and over….I mean, it’s bound to get boring, right? Who wants to hear….Who wants to hear revolution 24 hours a day?

Howard: No, I don’t think that was it. I don’t think it was just the lyrics or something. It had to do with…sort of that overall sound in the song Hello I Love You. That was one of the ones I think you caught a lot of criticism for.

Jim: You know, that song, I wrote that very early about three years ago. If you listen to the lyrics, you know, maybe…maybe it’s the arrangement…I like it.

Hello I Love You
Won’t you tell your name
Hello I Love You
Let me jump in your game

Ah Ha

She’s walking down the street
Blind to every eye she meets
Do you think you’ll be the guy
To make the queen of the angels sigh

Umm. I forget the rest of it, anyway…ohhh

Do you hope to pluck this dusky jewel…<br>
I would, you know, I would say that’s not such a bad lyric.

Howard: May it was the arrangement than, but, you know, it had a…I don’t know…I remember when I first heard it and then, at the end, end of the song the DJ said, that was The Doors, I said; what? No, it just didn’t sound the same, or even like it. It wasn’t just that I wanted to hear more of the same it….There was almost no connection.

Jim: Yep, we’re just full of surprises, Howard!….Can I have some coffee, Kathy? You make the best coffee.

Howard: What kind of music do you listen to yourself?

Jim: Well, the only time I listen to music is in, on car radios. When I’m driving around. You know, Top 40 stuff…I don’t listen to music that much. Every now and then I’ll catch a act in public somewhere. I saw when I was in Vegas, I saw Peggy Lee and oh, what was that other band? Uh…I forget, they were, you know. I’ll go to clubs every now and then, but I don’t listen to music that much. I’m not what you’d call a music buff.

Howard: Do you read a lot?

Jim: Nope. I don’t read very much either. I used to and then I…Life got so interesting that I didn’t need to anymore.

Howard: Mmm. Do you write a lot?

Jim: Nope. I don’t do much of anything, really. But I will, don’t worry. I’ll get back in the saddle, you know. I’ve just been kind of lazy lately. It’s a period of cycles of non-productiveness and then intense periods of creativity. So right now I’m just soaking it all in.

Howard: Mmm. Doing what though? You know, when you say you just live. What? Like what?

Jim: Oh, I did do one thing. I…I just completed a short feature movie. 35MM in color called HWY. H-W-Y, with a few friends of mine and we got the first print the day before yesterday and it should be, should be ready next week. I think it’s quite good too. It’s about 60 minutes long.

Howard: What’s it about?

Jim: Essentially there’s no plot, no story in the traditional sense. A person, played by me comes down out of the mountains and hitchhikes his way through the desert into a modern city which happened to be L.A. and that’s where it ends. It’s a very beautiful film.

Howard: Mmm. You were just in it or were you…..What else did you do with it? Anything?

Jim: There were four guys who made it. Me and three other guys and we all just kind of made it together. It started out, I had an idea for a film about a hitchhiker who becomes a mass murderer, you know the kind of thing that happens every year or so. Kind of like this Zodiac character, you know except, you know, Stark Weather and Billy Cook. It happens every couple of years and so we went out in the desert to start shooting it while we were out there the film took over and just went in it’s own direction and became something a little different and the only thing that was, you know, that was left from the original idea was the idea of a hitchhiker

[darkstar]

Howard: Do you like appearing in films?

Jim: The only reason I did it to tell you the truth is because I couldn’t think of anyone else to do it, you know and it was just as easy for me to do it. I might do some films. I don’t know. I’m not crazy about being an actor. I’d rather be a director or a writer something like that. But you know, if I had a chance I’d probably do a few films. Why not? Shakespeare was an actor when he first came to London, you know?

Howard: Are you gonna be writing films though? You have anything in the works?

Jim: Um, yeah. Probably the….If I do anything in films it will probably be this script called Saint Nicholas that Michael McClure and I wrote based on his novel The Adept which hasn’t been published yet. It’s a contemporary story about a couple of dope dealers that go to the desert to make a score and if I, if I do anything that’ll probably be the first project.

Howard: Are you gonna appear in it also?

Jim: Um…probably.

Howard: It sort of sounds like the beginning of Easy Rider.

Jim: Yeah, I know but there’s nothing I can do about it. This…this story was written before Easy Rider was made, you know and it’s just superficial similarities. It’s….I know people are gonna, you know call attention to that, but I don’t know what to do about it. It’s…it’s very similar to Easy Rider in its superficial aspects. Do you know, I read in Daily Variety yesterday…..Easy Rider was made for about $385,000 dollars and the estimated gross so far….50 to 60 million dollars! He said in a religious hushed tone…50 to 60 million dollars. That’s quite a profit margin, m’dear.

Howard: A lot of bad movies have made that much money too.

Jim: Yeah but they…but they usually cost 10 or 12 million dollars to make. This was…this is like a…breaks precedents all over the place because it’s the first essentially independent, low budget feature to really clean up in the old marketplace. It’s unusual. It’s gonna…it’s gonna open the scene up for a lot of people.

Howard: Yeah. Dennis Hopper is on another movie already. He’s gonna shoot one in Peru. I believe.

Jim: Great. Great.

Howard: Umm. About money….have The Doors become like wealthy enough?

Jim: Uh, oh yes. I can go into any restaurant in town and order anything I want and I don’t have to go to 50 cent movies anymore either.

Howard: No. If you stop now….

Jim: I’ll never stop! They can’t stop me!

Howard: No really though. If you stop now have you made enough to stop?

Jim: Let me think…uh…No. I’m…I’m so greedy…it just…the more I can get the better. Just ahh…I’m…what? My ambition is to have a whole bunch of gold bullion. Is that the proper terminology? Big gold bars. I’d like to have a big gold bar. Big chunks of gold just to have around the house…..and….

Howard: No. Look. A lot of the groups that I’ve talked to they say they have a lot of trouble holding on to money.

Jim: Well that’s their fault! They’re probably spendthrifts. It’s like giving whiskey to an Indian.

Howard: So you don’t wanna talk about money?

Jim: Well sure. What do you wanna know, man? (laughs)

Howard: Have you held on to your money?

Jim: Uh…let’s put it this way: I think with our…with our economic system and tax structure and all that I don’t think it’s possible, ever to just retire and never work. Because the economy keeps increasing. If you drop out of the economy then it just passes you up in a couple of years and you’re left high and dry. I don’t think you….I don’t think it’s possible to retire in a capitalistic society. But I enjoy talking about money Howard.

Howard: Obviously!

Jim: But what I do wanna know….you wanna…you know…<br>
Howard: Oh, come on.

Jim: I’ll get my accountant down here and show you my bank statement.

Howard: No….but you know, you read about groups like The Beatles….I interviewed Mick Jagger the other day and he also said it’s almost impossible…..you work and you work and where’s the money? The Byrds one time went on a tour for 30 days, made $300,000 dollars came back, added everything up and they had spent $300,000 dollars in about 30 days.

Jim: Yeah and look where it got’em. I think…I dig money because: I’ve always said this…money does beat soul every time. (background laughter) Not only that….It’s a form of communication and besides that…if you have…if you run into some good luck and you get some money…right. Then you think you should just keep pouring it back into creative ventures. Just as soon as you get it, don’t go out and buy a bunch of diamond rings and stuff, bit pour it back into creative ventures that are creating new things and you can’t ever go wrong. (tape stops) Do you have anymore scintillating questions to ask me?

Howard: Yeah. I wanna ask you some more things.

Jim: Of course you know you can’t use any of this. This is just rehearsal for the real one.

[darkstar]

Terry (unknown female): Jim…Is it alright if I go out on my creative venture right now? (laughs)

Unknown Male: Don’t you remember Terry from last night?

Terry: Can I go off and create…..

Jim: Oh…is that you? (laughs)….Yeah. Go ahead.

Terry: (unaudible) I’m gonna go right now.

Jim: I didn’t recognize you with your hair wet.

Terry: Yeah, well, you know. It’s raining out.

Howard: In watching you perform on stage I got a funny…I don’t know…like I’m having now during this interview. You know, it’s sort of distain for the audience and a feeling directed at me now also…..What do you feel now…..like the questions aren’t worthy enough or what?

Jim: Hey!….Listen man this has been one of the most….probably one of the most exciting interviews I’ve participated in. Um…your getting the benefit of my grand Irish humor all over the place and you call it disdainful….well…you wanna arm wrestle, huh? What do you want man? Go on ask me something else and I won’t be disdainful. Sorry if I was disdainful.

Howard: Do all of you still get along or did you not get along or what? Cause that’s another thing, when I look to a lot of the groups they talk about how the biggest problem is just getting along with each other.

Jim: Well, you know, it’s like being married or being the member of a family. There’s always strife. You know, people that live together fight a lot but uh, I’ve noticed that uh…we went through a period of kinda..uh…in the last few months everything’s really, really smoothed out……I think when your…when your creating well and the music is going well everybody’s happy. It’s only when, uh….when your creativity dies off a little bit that everybody starts feeling the strain. But, uh…the relations are very good these days. (phone rings)

Howard: Do you see The Doors going on for a long time?

Jim: I have no idea really. I reasonably project at least another 7 or 8 years but beyond that I don’t know.

Howard: But you do see it that far?

Jim: Sure.

Howard: Umm. Umm. That whole thing that happened in Miami is that still pending?

Jim: Yeah. I have to well….it’s still up in the air. I’ll probably have to….they’ll probably be a big trial and I guess the best thing would be just to….(pause) I might even buy a suit to make a good impression on the judge and jury and everything. Suit and tie. What kind of suit, uh….conservative, dark blue suit….uh….not one of those paisley ties more of a….just no, uh…like instead of those narrow, thin ties I like….uh…a bug fat tie with a great big knot. I think I’ll get a suit and take a lot of tranquilizers and try and have a good time. Maybe, maybe I’ll keep a diary and publish it in Esquire or something. My impression of my hanging. (laughs)

Howard: Is a trail date set?

Jim: No.

Howard: Is there still a warrant out?

Jim: Yeah. Hey, man your putting me on a bummer. Let’s get on another subject or….it’s a rainy day in L.A. and we’re talking about all this horrible nonsense. Let’s talk about something light.

Howard: Like what?

Jim: Kathy what was I talking about just before they came in? I was….

Kathy: I don’t remember.

Jim: Um…Let’s see. Anybody have anything they want to talk about?

Kathy: (inaudible background voices)…..Now that’s a loaded question from Baker.

Jim: How about um…<br>
Unknown Male: How about your new movie?

Jim: I already did……how about uh…..

Unknown Male: How about (inaudible) story?

Jim: I already told them about that. How about….let’s see…<br>
Unknown Male: How about your screenplay with Michael?

Jim: I already told em’ about that. How about, um…(laughs)….Hey let’s talk about you Howard.

Howard: Laughs.

Jim: Um…..so you write a column for the Village Voice that comes out of New York. Scenes I believe is what it’s called…..

Howard: uh, ha.

Jim: You also have a radio program….is that a midnight show or um….

Howard: No it goes on all day.

Jim: Ok.

Howard: 14 Cities now.

Jim: Is that AM or FM?

Howard: FM

Jim: FM

Kathy: WABC

Jim: WABC FM on your radio dial and you go around interviewing people.

Howard: Putting people up tight is what it seems like.

Jim: Um….I bet you’ve met a lot of famous people on your travels Howard.

Howard: (laughs) But none as famous as you.

Jim: Well thank you. (laughs)

Howard: This is Luella Parsons…..

Jim: It must be an exciting career traveling around interviewing famous people like me.

Howard: Not as exciting as traveling around the country putting on people.

Jim: Um and that’s the most…uh…shocking thing I’ve heard you say.

Howard: No really, all kidding aside, I find it pretty hard to get a straight answer. What did you think I was gonna ask you?

Jim: It’s a funny thing…I’ve noticed that when people are joking their usually dead serious and when their dead serious it’s usually means exactly what you say and it’s opposite.

[darkstar]

Howard: Looking over my questions and I feel boxed in. There all negative questions and your gonna……

Jim: Are you hungry?

Howard: Why do you ask that?

Jim: Well maybe we could order out for some sandwiches or some chicken delight or something. Your not hungry? (Jim asks someone else): How about you…are you hungry? Uh, it’s lunchtime. Well did you have breakfast this morning?

Howard: Yeah.

Jim: You did? What did you have?

Howard: Oh, little things like chocolate cake and tea.

Jim: Is that all you had? You should eat more Howard. (laughs)

Howard: You put on a lot of weight. Are you eating a lot?

Jim: No um….that’s something that really bothers me…what’s wrong with being fat? That’s what I wanna know. Why is there so much….

Howard: I didn’t say there was anything wrong with it.

Jim: Why is it so onerous to be fat? I don’t see anything wrong with fat. I remember when I used to weigh 185 pounds. I’m the same height I am now and I weighed 185 pounds. When I was going to college I had this food ticket at the cafeteria and the cafeteria food is mainly all based on starch. It’s cheap food right? So I don’t know, what it was I just felt like I was……if you missed your meal I just figured I was getting screwed, right? If I missed a meal I just blew it. So I’d get up at 6:30 am every morning just to make breakfast….(laughs)….eggs and grits and sausages and toast and milk and uh….I’d go do a few classes and I’d make it in for lunch….mashed potatoes, uh…every now and then they put a little piece of meat in something. I’d go to a few more classes and then I’d go to dinner it was more mashed potatoes and so about 3 months later I was 185 pounds and you know what? I felt great….I felt like a tank….like a big beast. When I’d move through the corridors or across the lawn I’d just fell I could knock anyone out of my way. I was solid man. (pause) It’s terrible to be thin and whispy. You could get knocked down by a strong wind or something. (pause) Fat is beautiful.

Howard: How much do you weigh now?

Jim: I don’t know to tell you the truth. I guess somewhere in the neighborhood of about 150.

Howard: Really?

Jim: Um, uh. You wanna compare biceps? Do you want to have that arm wrestling match Howard? Are you ready? Are you in shape? Ah, wait til after the interviews’ over.

Howard: Back at the beginning of The Doors you seem to be model of the year. You couldn’t pick up a fashion magazine or some magazine without those sultry pictures.

Jim: Sulky too.

Howard: Sulky?

Jim: Well you know…..I was so…..in vogue.

Howard: What did it mean to you at that time?

Jim: I must have been out of my mind. To do….can you imagine? Can you imagine doing that?

Howard: No, that’s hwy I’m asking you.

Jim: Posing for a picture. Can you imagine? And you know, really looking in the camera and posing. It’s insane. I must have been out of my mind. If I had the whole thing to do over again…..I wouldn’t, I wouldn’t do it.

Howard: What did you think during that time?

Jim: I thought I knew what I was doing. I thought I knew what I was doing. And the whole thing about a photograph is once it’s done you can’t destroy it. It’s there forever. So can you imagine when I’m 80 years old and I have to look at myself posing for those pictures. It’s to late. This guys trying to put me on a bummer man.

Jim: (Pause) That’s alright Howard go ahead.

Howard: Un, also back in the beginning there was also all this talk about your sex appeal. About how all women of different ages…..I wrote that in the Voice way before…..you know, pretty early.

Jim: That’s another thing see….talk gets around crazy talk like that and what happens, you know? (pause) That’s a difficult burden to bear. It is…cause we all know no one is any sexier than anyone else, right? Everyone’s got the same equipment unless biologically you got mixed up or something. We’re all about the same. (phone rings)

Howard: (sarcastically) Yeah well there you were with the leather pants….

Jim: (raises voice) Yeah and it’s guys like you man….it’s the reporters…it’s the press, people like that that create this insanity. That make up this stuff and then people start believing it.

Howard: You weren’t consciously playing that?

Jim: Hell no.

Howard: And you didn’t dig it?

Jim: (pause) Well I must admit that there were occasions when uh….having a reputation like that did help me out in some tight situations. Plus I got to meet a lot of groovy ladies that uh…otherwise you know…they probably wouldn’t have noticed me. So in that respect it was all to the good.

[darkstar]

Howard: Um. (pause) Before we were talking about college. Where did you go to school?

Jim: (long pause) Uh, let’s see. I traveled around a lot as a child and I went to so many different schools. One school….a different school a year or year and a half I’d go to a different one. I finished up at UCLA.

Howard: What? You went all the way to the degree?

Jim: Yep.

Howard: Did you learn anything? I mean was it worth going to school?

Jim: No I didn’t learn to much. The only reason I did it was because I didn’t want to go in the Army and I didn’t want to work and school was fairly easy for me so I just kept doing it and that’s the damn truth.

Howard: Is there anyway you can see that school would work?

Jim: If they have a good library that’s about it. It’s…..unless you want to be an engineer or a scientist or something like that I think you could learn a lot. They have all the equipment and professors and all that but I think the main key to education is just reading basically. You can do the same thing on your own.

Howard: In performing do you perform in a lot of countries other than here?

Jim: Not too many really. Mexico City, Canada, London, Frankfurt, Copenhagen, Amsterdam and Stockholm. But mostly in the United States.

Howard: Are audiences the same everywhere?

Jim: Nope. No their not. There not the same. London their very, very hip over there. And uh, in Frankfurt I noticed they were quite rude. Uh, the people in Stockholm were nice. Mexico City, well you know, rather boisterous. They drink a lot. Yell. Were gonna try and go to Japan for that Expo thing. Play there and were gonna go to Australia. And uh…I like traveling around. That’s the best part of this business is you get to change your locale a lot.

Howard: Um.

Jim: Kathy? Can I have more coffee?

Kathy: Sure.

Jim: I’m starting to wake up Howard. Let’s get into some heavy stuff.

Howard: How did The Doors come about in the first place? Was it while you were still in college?

Jim: No it was after I got out of college and uh….I finished up in the film school. And uh…cause I wanted to make movies You know how difficult it is to break into the movie game. So I just kinda wondered around. I was living at the beach in abject poverty and I just kinda….for no reason at all I just started writing some songs. They just kinda popped into my head and uh….I ran into Ray who was in film school also and he’d been working in bands since he grew up in Chicago. He’d been doing it for along time so I showed him some of the songs and he said, yeah, let’s get a band together. So we did.

Howard: How did it come about that you were the singer?

Jim: Well….I suppose….because you know, the person who writes the songs outta sing them. He’s the one that must feel more than anybody else so I was writing most of the songs……I gradually became the singer.

Howard: Um…(long pause) Uh, back to this performing thing…..It turns out uh a lot of times concerts have to be cancelled. The Doors, right? Like Mexico. I think it was cancelled about 3 times before they let you do it.

Jim: In Mexico it’s a unique problem. Cause that place is a hot bed…uh of political unrest. You know I heard some stories down there that would curl your hair. Dig this….these students are going to school, college. If one their friends disappears, they don’t see him for 2 weeks they just write him off. They say well I guess they got him. Do you know? See, I think, see when we were down there it was the anniversary of…the first anniversary a year earlier, something like….the government heard that….it’s when the Olympics were going on and the government heard the students were going to do a little demonstration, a march, protest. So when the students showed up for the protest there was an ambush waiting. I think they slaughtered about 2000 young students. And uh, so like that. It’s a very bad place for students or people against the government. They don’t mess around. They just kill ya. They go in your house at night, right? Shoot you and your whole family. Course that’s just hearsay. I can’t back that up with any photos or anything but that’s what I heard.

Howard: How long were you down there?

Jim: About a week.

Howard: Did you have any trouble?

Jim: Nope.

Howard: How about in other places? Since the Miami episode a lot of places don’t want a Doors concert.

Jim: It’s like a political football. Sign up for a concert and about 2 days before we show up the mayor or the sheriff or somebody, whoever wants to get their name in the paper will try and cancel the show and get everybody outraged. People…parents that wouldn’t even know who we were all of a sudden they hear sheriff Peabody says they shouldn’t be allowed to perform. So….like that. It’s just a political football.

Howard: But why The Doors?

Jim: I told you…..we’re the band you love to hate.

Howard: um (the tape stops)

Jim: I could write an American folk song something that would appeal to everyone and everyone would say…gee, what a great guy. I’d put a lot of American eagles in it and sage brush……timber, boulders, rivers, mountains, prairies.

Howard: Those aren’t they only song writers that are liked.

Jim: (long pause) Who do you like? The best? No particular age group or style but who do you like the best?

Howard: Dylan.

Jim: I knew it cause your hair is so curly.

Howard: (long pause) Who do you like the best?

Jim: Oh let me think. I like old blues singers and about the best I like…..(pause)…Stravinsky, I like him….and uh….Vabern. I like Vabern and….uh…let’s see there’s one other one I like….um. I can’t think of it right now. If I remember I’ll tell ya.

Howard: How about Rock?

Jim: Um huh….I like it.

Howard: But who?

Jim: I like the early rock and roll people all the classic dudes and some of the modern English groups I like….and uh…some of our local talent is also very good, but there’s so many good rock musicians and lyricists it would be impossible to single any 1 or 2 or 3 out. I mean their all really great. I think we have some amazing music happening when you think about it. The amount of excellent music that’s being written that has been written in just the last 10 years just boggles the mind.

Howard: You like Dylan or what?

Jim: (pause) I must confess I do.

Howard: Why do you say that so reluctantly?

Jim: Uh, I went through a period where I didn’t like him and the all of a sudden I starting liking him again. I don’t know why. I think he just keeps getting better and better.

Howard: Um. Mm. Before you starting mentioning this Irish thing, you know? Your Irish humor. Is that the key to getting along with you or understanding you?

Jim: Hey Tom (Baker)….should we make him an honorary member of our Irish, socialist, anarchist, conservative, revolutionary party?

Tom: (unaudible)

Jim: That’s right you have to get smashed and make a fool out of yourself.

Howard: I resign in advance.

Jim: You gotta get 86’d from 7 night clubs.

Tom: 7 or 8?

Jim: For him 7, Yeah, he doesn’t have the constitution that we do. You know, in New York they breath all that foul air.

Howard: Oh, not like here.

(background voices – inaudible)

Jim: They survive anywhere. It’s their since of humor.

Howard: What do you come under……your closet friends are Irish?

Jim: Let me think…um….I guess I would say that’s true. That’s about the only people I hang around with except the Italians. (laughs)

Howard: I think I got it.

Jim: I think you did too. (laughs)

END.