Post by darkstar3 on Jan 2, 2011 21:37:06 GMT
New York Times
December 22, 2010, 2:36 pm
The Doors Light One Last Fire in Response to Morrison’s Pardon
By DAVE ITZKOFF
Associated Press
A posthumous pardon granted by the State of Florida to Jim Morrison earlier this month was apparently not the end of a four-decade-old saga that began when Morrison, the Doors’ front man, gave a raucous performance at a Miami auditorium in 1969 that resulted in his being convicted of indecent exposure.
On Wednesday, Morrison’s surviving band mates from the Doors said he didn’t need “to be pardoned for anything” and called on the State of Florida and the City of Miami to apologize for arresting and prosecuting the singer.
Morrison was charged with lewd and lascivious behavior, a felony, as well as with several misdemeanors, after a March 1, 1969, concert at Dinner Key Auditorium in Dinner Key, where witnesses said they saw him expose himself. At a 1970 trial Morrison was convicted of profanity and indecent exposure, both misdemeanors, and fined $500 and sentenced to six months in jail. He was appealing the ruling when he died in Paris in 1971 at the age of 27.
On Dec. 9 Morrison received a pardon by the unanimous vote of Florida’s clemency board, including Gov. Charlie Crist, who argued that many witnesses at the trial testified that they had not seen Morrison expose himself and that the singer was not arrested until four days after the concert, following newspaper reports.
A statement signed by the Doors band members Ray Manzarek, John Densmore and Robby Krieger, as well as by the Morrison family, acknowledged the singer’s “performance in Miami that night was certainly provocative, and entirely in the insurrectionary spirit of The Doors’ music and message.” It continued: “The charges against him were largely an opportunity for grandstanding by ambitious politicians –- not to mention an affront to free speech and a massive waste of time and taxpayer dollars.”
The statement concluded:
If the State of Florida and the City of Miami want to make amends for the travesty of Jim Morrison’s arrest and prosecution 40 years after the fact, an apology would be more appropriate –- and expunging the whole sorry matter from the record. And how about a promise to stop letting culture-war hysteria trump our First Amendment rights? Freedom of speech must be held sacred, especially in these reactionary times.
The full statement appears below:
In 1969 the Doors played an infamous concert in Miami, Fla. Accounts vary as to what actually happened onstage that night.
Whatever took place that night ended with the Doors sharing beers and laughter in the dressing room with the Miami police, who acted as security at the venue that evening. No arrests were made. The next day we flew off to Jamaica for a few days’ vacation before our planned 20-city tour of America.
That tour never materialized. Four days later, warrants were issued in Miami for the arrest of Morrison on trumped-up charges of indecency, public obscenity and general rock ‘n’ roll revelry. Every city the Doors were booked into canceled their engagement.
A circus of fire-and-brimstone “decency” rallies, grand jury investigations and apocalyptic editorials followed –- not to mention allegations ranging from the unsubstantiated (he exposed himself) to the fantastic (the Doors were “inciting a riot” but also “hypnotizing” the crowd).
In August Jim Morrison went on trial in Miami. He was acquitted on all but two misdemeanor charges and sentenced to six months’ hard labor in Raiford Penitentiary. He was appealing this conviction when he died in Paris on July 3, 1971. Four decades after the fact, with Jim an icon for multiple generations –- and those who railed against him now a laughingstock –- Florida has seen fit to issue a pardon.
We don’t feel Jim needs to be pardoned for anything.
His performance in Miami that night was certainly provocative, and entirely in the insurrectionary spirit of the Doors’ music and message. The charges against him were largely an opportunity for grandstanding by ambitious politicians -– not to mention an affront to free speech and a massive waste of time and taxpayer dollars. As Ann Woolner of The Albany Times-Union wrote recently, “Morrison’s case bore all the signs of a political prosecution, a rebuke from the cultural right to punish a symbol of Dionysian rebellion.”
If the State of Florida and the City of Miami want to make amends for the travesty of Jim Morrison’s arrest and prosecution 40 years after the fact, an apology would be more appropriate -– and expunging the whole sorry matter from the record. And how about a promise to stop letting culture-war hysteria trump our First Amendment rights? Freedom of speech must be held sacred, especially in these reactionary times.
Love,
The Doors
The Morrison Family
artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/22/the-doors-light-one-last-fire-in-response-to-morrisons-pardon/
Rolling Stone
The Doors Not Satisfied With Morrison Pardon, Want Formal ApologyHe 'did not need to be pardoned for anything,' remaining members say
By Matthew Perpetua
December 23, 2010 10:20 AM EDT
The surviving members of The Doors have rejected an official pardon granted to their late frontman Jim Morrison by the State of Florida earlier this month, insisting that the singer is owed a full apology by the State as well as the City of Miami.
The pardon, for a lewd and lascivious behavior charge levied after a performance in Miami in 1969, was the result of a unanimous vote by Florida's clemency board, who took into account testimony by witnesses who said that they did not see Morrison expose himself and that the singer was arrested four days after the concert.
Jim Morrison's Indecency Arrest: Rolling Stone's Original Coverage
Nonetheless, the remaining Doorss, along with members of the Morrison family, have issued a statement insisting upon a formal apology for the singer's arrest and prosecution. In the statement, Morrison's bandmates argue that he did not need "to be pardoned for anything," and allege that the charges "were largely an opportunity for grandstanding by ambitious politicians" and "an affront to free speech."
The Doors have plenty of reason to hold a grudge over this charge. This legal trouble is a crucial part of the band's history, and the arrest for charges of indecency resulted in an entire tour canceled by venues in each of the 20 cities on the band's itinerary. The controversy led to further investigation of the band, and intense public outcry from conservative critics. Though Morrison was eventually acquitted of all but two misdemeanor charges and sentenced to six months of hard labor, he was still appealing his conviction at the time of his death in Paris in 1971.
www.rollingstone.com/music/news/the-doors-not-satisfied-with-morrison-pardon-want-formal-apology-20101223
December 22, 2010, 2:36 pm
The Doors Light One Last Fire in Response to Morrison’s Pardon
By DAVE ITZKOFF
Associated Press
A posthumous pardon granted by the State of Florida to Jim Morrison earlier this month was apparently not the end of a four-decade-old saga that began when Morrison, the Doors’ front man, gave a raucous performance at a Miami auditorium in 1969 that resulted in his being convicted of indecent exposure.
On Wednesday, Morrison’s surviving band mates from the Doors said he didn’t need “to be pardoned for anything” and called on the State of Florida and the City of Miami to apologize for arresting and prosecuting the singer.
Morrison was charged with lewd and lascivious behavior, a felony, as well as with several misdemeanors, after a March 1, 1969, concert at Dinner Key Auditorium in Dinner Key, where witnesses said they saw him expose himself. At a 1970 trial Morrison was convicted of profanity and indecent exposure, both misdemeanors, and fined $500 and sentenced to six months in jail. He was appealing the ruling when he died in Paris in 1971 at the age of 27.
On Dec. 9 Morrison received a pardon by the unanimous vote of Florida’s clemency board, including Gov. Charlie Crist, who argued that many witnesses at the trial testified that they had not seen Morrison expose himself and that the singer was not arrested until four days after the concert, following newspaper reports.
A statement signed by the Doors band members Ray Manzarek, John Densmore and Robby Krieger, as well as by the Morrison family, acknowledged the singer’s “performance in Miami that night was certainly provocative, and entirely in the insurrectionary spirit of The Doors’ music and message.” It continued: “The charges against him were largely an opportunity for grandstanding by ambitious politicians –- not to mention an affront to free speech and a massive waste of time and taxpayer dollars.”
The statement concluded:
If the State of Florida and the City of Miami want to make amends for the travesty of Jim Morrison’s arrest and prosecution 40 years after the fact, an apology would be more appropriate –- and expunging the whole sorry matter from the record. And how about a promise to stop letting culture-war hysteria trump our First Amendment rights? Freedom of speech must be held sacred, especially in these reactionary times.
The full statement appears below:
In 1969 the Doors played an infamous concert in Miami, Fla. Accounts vary as to what actually happened onstage that night.
Whatever took place that night ended with the Doors sharing beers and laughter in the dressing room with the Miami police, who acted as security at the venue that evening. No arrests were made. The next day we flew off to Jamaica for a few days’ vacation before our planned 20-city tour of America.
That tour never materialized. Four days later, warrants were issued in Miami for the arrest of Morrison on trumped-up charges of indecency, public obscenity and general rock ‘n’ roll revelry. Every city the Doors were booked into canceled their engagement.
A circus of fire-and-brimstone “decency” rallies, grand jury investigations and apocalyptic editorials followed –- not to mention allegations ranging from the unsubstantiated (he exposed himself) to the fantastic (the Doors were “inciting a riot” but also “hypnotizing” the crowd).
In August Jim Morrison went on trial in Miami. He was acquitted on all but two misdemeanor charges and sentenced to six months’ hard labor in Raiford Penitentiary. He was appealing this conviction when he died in Paris on July 3, 1971. Four decades after the fact, with Jim an icon for multiple generations –- and those who railed against him now a laughingstock –- Florida has seen fit to issue a pardon.
We don’t feel Jim needs to be pardoned for anything.
His performance in Miami that night was certainly provocative, and entirely in the insurrectionary spirit of the Doors’ music and message. The charges against him were largely an opportunity for grandstanding by ambitious politicians -– not to mention an affront to free speech and a massive waste of time and taxpayer dollars. As Ann Woolner of The Albany Times-Union wrote recently, “Morrison’s case bore all the signs of a political prosecution, a rebuke from the cultural right to punish a symbol of Dionysian rebellion.”
If the State of Florida and the City of Miami want to make amends for the travesty of Jim Morrison’s arrest and prosecution 40 years after the fact, an apology would be more appropriate -– and expunging the whole sorry matter from the record. And how about a promise to stop letting culture-war hysteria trump our First Amendment rights? Freedom of speech must be held sacred, especially in these reactionary times.
Love,
The Doors
The Morrison Family
artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/22/the-doors-light-one-last-fire-in-response-to-morrisons-pardon/
Rolling Stone
The Doors Not Satisfied With Morrison Pardon, Want Formal ApologyHe 'did not need to be pardoned for anything,' remaining members say
By Matthew Perpetua
December 23, 2010 10:20 AM EDT
The surviving members of The Doors have rejected an official pardon granted to their late frontman Jim Morrison by the State of Florida earlier this month, insisting that the singer is owed a full apology by the State as well as the City of Miami.
The pardon, for a lewd and lascivious behavior charge levied after a performance in Miami in 1969, was the result of a unanimous vote by Florida's clemency board, who took into account testimony by witnesses who said that they did not see Morrison expose himself and that the singer was arrested four days after the concert.
Jim Morrison's Indecency Arrest: Rolling Stone's Original Coverage
Nonetheless, the remaining Doorss, along with members of the Morrison family, have issued a statement insisting upon a formal apology for the singer's arrest and prosecution. In the statement, Morrison's bandmates argue that he did not need "to be pardoned for anything," and allege that the charges "were largely an opportunity for grandstanding by ambitious politicians" and "an affront to free speech."
The Doors have plenty of reason to hold a grudge over this charge. This legal trouble is a crucial part of the band's history, and the arrest for charges of indecency resulted in an entire tour canceled by venues in each of the 20 cities on the band's itinerary. The controversy led to further investigation of the band, and intense public outcry from conservative critics. Though Morrison was eventually acquitted of all but two misdemeanor charges and sentenced to six months of hard labor, he was still appealing his conviction at the time of his death in Paris in 1971.
www.rollingstone.com/music/news/the-doors-not-satisfied-with-morrison-pardon-want-formal-apology-20101223