The Miami Incident

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

It does not really matter if Jim did it or not.......perception is always stronger than fact and even now a debate rages as to what really happened that night.......the myth truly has taken over the reality but would it not be awesome if some writer took the trouble to examine the events from a 21st century perspective....

Anyone have anything interesting they find on the gig, the trial or the aftermath post it here!



Apparently Max Finks' wife destroyed a lot of the notes he had made after he died.
Who knows what Max had kept in his diary about Miami and the conversations he and Jim had regarding that incident...
It would be really interesting if someone took it upon themself to document all the available information along with a new overview on Miami and the legacy its left rock music 30 years on.......in a similar way perhaps to Greg Shaws work on the concerts.....
Jim himself was making copious notes about the trial as it happened and may have even been contemplating some manuscript after the event.....
A book of the event and the aftermath would be of tremendous interest to Doors fans in particular and music fans in general.......the recent Janet Jackson outcry at the superbowl shows that interest in this kind of case would still be there....
Wonder who has Jim's Miami notes if they still exist........
A volume with all the available photos of the event and its consequences for music in the last decades coupled with a look back by those who were there at the legacy of the event would be rather cool....
dontcha think?

"Not very glamorous and previously unreported was the encounter with Doors fan Steve Rosenberg, a 16 year old medical student, and Jim Morrison. Steve, now a obstetrician in LA, was doing advanced placement research at Miami’s Cedars of Lebanon hospital and was a regular visitor in August of 1970 to the trial of James Douglas
Morrison.“ As the crowds died away I finally got the chance to talk to him a little bit.” Says Steve today 30
years on.
“ I talked to him about poetry-Rimbaud-and what kind of music he was listeningto. Surprisingly, Pink Floyd.
At one point during a lunch break he asked what I was doing, and I told him this medical research thing.
He asked if there was a Burger King around there and I said ‘Yeah I’m going back to the hospital, I can give you a ride’. Instead of dropping him off I joined him for lunch. He had two Cheese Whoppers and a malted.”<br>MOJO – what did he look like?
“ He was fat. Fat and bearded. Looked like he did on ‘American Prayer’ and a little bit spacey.
Not like warm and friendly but cool, never an asshole.
I had to draw him out, and I think he was more
engaged because I had a brain. I was the only one there everyday of the trial so he actually saw I had an interest in stuff. And he liked my mothers car ( a ’63
Newport Chrysler, no less.). he thought it was cool.
I vaguely remember him liking the air conditioner- ‘Cool
air conditioning, it really blows a lot of air’.
Then I dropped him off back there”
FROM MOJO
THE MUSIC MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2001.




"It was the night of the rock riot that did not happen. The Doors and singer Jim Morrison puled out all the stops in an abortive effort to provoke chaos among a huge crowd of young people packed into the Dinner Key Auditorium at $6 a head. The hypnotically erotic Morrison flouting the laws of obscenity, indecent exposure and incitement to riot could only stir a minor mob scene towards the end of his Saturday night performance."
Larry Mahoney. Miami Herald. March 1969.

"That, to me, was a perfect example of a mass hallucination, because I was up there on stage with him the whole time, you know, five feet away from him, and I ..., he never did it, man, he never pulled it out, he never took his pants off. But some people swore they saw it. And what they were seeing were the snakes and demons in their own minds that Jim was ... Jim had turned into the snake man, into the 'Lizard King', and they saw the 'Lizard King' pull it out. They didn't see
Jim Morrison pull it out, 'cos Jim Morrison didn't.
What they think they saw is another story. It was a
mass hallucination, man, it was a very, very strange
night in Miami, Florida: hot, sweaty, summer night. The
place held eight thousand people and they'd packed in
about twelve to fifteen thousand. No air conditioning.
And Jim was a little drunk that night, and he was
really giving a good rap to the audience. And the music
was strange. And people just saw demons, saw
snakes!"
Ray Manzarek talking to Jimmy Fryer, May 1974

"Honey, I just wanted to see how 'he' looked in the
spotlight!"
Jim to Pam Courson in reply to the question “Did you
really do it?” April 1969

"Nobody had arrested Jim. The worst comment came from a policeman, when he said: 'Boys, this way you're going to ruin your career. People have come here to hear some songs, not that preaching'"
Bill Siddons from the radio special
"The Doors From The Inside" 1988

"That was truly a crazy night. Jim was very late
getting to the show, and by the time he got there, he was pretty drunk. He had just had a big fight with his
girlfriend, and future wife Pam. And not only that, but just before leaving Los Angeles, he had seen a performance by this theatre group, the Living Theatre. They were the first somewhat legitimate stage ensembles to use total nudity. It was very groundbreaking stuff, where the people in the cast would run out in the audience and get everyone involved. They'd rile everyone up and get in their faces. It was pretty cool, and Jim really dug it. He brought all of us to see it. He saw that again just before he left for Miami, and I think he was pretty affected by it; he was getting more into the idea of being very confrontational with the audience. All of those conditions came together to cause what happened at the show. And even though I never saw him pull it out-and I still don't think he really did-people said he did. At the trial, they displayed hundreds of photographs, and nobody caught it on film."
Robby Krieger on ‘that’ night speaking to Guitar World 1997

"They issued an arrest warrant, a fugitive warrant for
Jim."
Bill Siddons. Doors manager.2000.

"All I remember was it was a real hot night in Miami.There was no air conditioning so by the time we went on stage the place was a madhouse.
Before the gig we were upstairs in the dressing room and there were a number of policemen and we were all joking with them and having a good time."
Robby Krieger. 1978

"The whole thing took place in the southern states of the U.S.A., and this was Jim's home. Also, I think that we had chosen a bad time. We were used as scapegoats, so they thought they would have a chance to hit back against all these young people, the dopers, and all things that had to do with sex, incidentally. The Doors were there - at the wrong time in the right place. If it hadn't been us, it would have been someone else. You know, all of this wasn't about The Doors - they just wanted to make some example at the time."
Ray Manzarek 1990

"Ray said Vince don't let him take his pants down. I
came up behind him and put my fingers in his belt
loops and tweaked, making his pants so tight he
couldn't unbuckle them.I put my elbows on his hips and
lifted his pants up. if he ever reached there and pulled
the thing out thats a pretty long haul to pull it
over his pants when they're tucked under your chin. I
had him and whether he opened his fly or not didn't
make any difference."
Vince Treanor. Doors road manager 2000.

"I need ya! There's so many of you out there. Nobody's gonna love me sweetheart, c'mon!
I need it, I need it, I need it, I need ya, I need
ya, need ya, need ya, need ya, need ya, hah!
AAALRIGHT! Hey, there's a bunch of people way back there that I didn't even notice! Hey, how about about 50 or 60 of you people come up here and love my ass,
c'mon, yeeahhh, I love ya. C'mon!"
Jim Morrison at the Dinner Key Miami, March 1st 1969

"Imagine the following. There is the judge, prosecuting
attorney, the jury, 60% freaks and older guys in this
bourgeois court room. They play this tape. The first piece is BACK DOOR MAN, and the judge had ordered
beforehand that none of the spectators shout, sing or tap the rhythm with their feet. The next thing that
happens is this eye contact game. Everybody looks at
everyone, and lifelong friendships are made. It was
incredible. It was really Kafka-esque. This music is being
played in a court room - music you normally dance or
fuck to."
Mike Gershman, a journalist,in an interview with Chuck Pulin, 1969

"We didn't get any support from the Rock n Roll community. They seemed glad."
John Densmore. 1972.

"With all those instamatics there was not ONE photograph."
Paul Rothchild. Doors producer. 1999.

"At Miami I tried to reduce the myth to absurdity, therefore wiping it out. It just got too much for me to stomach so I put an end to it in one glorious night."
Jim Morrison. 1969.

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Mon. Feb. 24th - Fri. 28th: The Living Theater Performances - Bovard Auditorium, USC
The week prior to the Miami incident Jim attends these performances religously with a group of friends and sits right in the front row for every one of them. These shows/displays without doubt have a major influence on Jim's upcoming legendary performance. The living theater challenged all boundaries of moral decency and portrayed scantilly dressed actors artistically confronting societies rules and regulations according to the norms of love, decency, morality, and freedom of expression, both on and off stage throughout the aisles. Jim was absolutely enthralled by these performances and tried to figure out a way to incorporate some of the energy and expression into his performances. He will do this his next performance as the star of his own show run by his own rules driven by his frustrations, disillusionment, dissappointment, and alcoholic excesses all fueled by these powerful performances - BOOM!

He had a madder than usual look in his eyes, though I knew he was sober. At one point Jim turned to me and said, 'Let's start a fire in the balcony or something. Get a riot going.'"
Tom Baker who attended the Living theatre Performances with Jim.


Sat. Mar. 1st: On the way to Miami
Los Angeles Airport, New Orleans
The show in Miami is to be the kick-off of The Doors biggest tour ever, set to begin eight days following this show. Jim and Pam have made reservations to take a short vacation in Jamaica following the show before the long tour begins. They have a house prepared for them and have already purchased airplane tickets. Jim and Pam, while getting ready for the airport, have a huge fight. They resolve matters enough to arrive together, but while at the airport they have another fight and Jim ultimately sends her home not wanting to take her along. Through all the comotion, Jim misses his flight to Miami and drinks quickly and heavily in the airport bar awaiting the next flight. He drinks right onto the next flight and talks the stewardesses into giving him as many drinks as he can before a stop over in New Orleans where he gets off to slam a few more and ends up losing track of his flight again! He calls The Doors to tell them he is in New Orleans, he has arranged for yet another flight, and he will be a little late, and a lot drunk!

Dinner Key Auditorium - Coconut Grove, Miami, FL

The Dinner Key is a converted seaplane hanger with rafters and a rickety old stage. The University of Miami originally wanted to hold the event at the Convention Hall but Ken and Jim Collier of Three Image Productions offer the band more money to play the hangar. This show is for the students who when polled by the school newspaper, The Hurricane, overwhelmingly chose The Doors as the band they would most like to see.
The hall is designed to hold 7,000 and the official count for the show was over 12,000, almost double the capacity! (not counting the hundreds who crawled in second floor windows after scaling the walls) The promoters took out the chairs in the hall in an attempt to cram more people in and make more money for themselves and this upset the manager of The Doors, Bill Siddons, who was guaranteed $25,000 based on the hall having a $42,000 maximum but was not given a percentage deal as the promoters took in over $75,000. They had upped the scale without upping The Doors fee. Arguments go on for over an hour while all await Jim's arrival. Ultimately, Siddons considers taking the equipment off the stage and not playing at all!

"We had one guy stationed at every door and we had thirteen thousand people in that building and that didn't include the people who got in when my guys were thrown off the door. You ever seen sardines in a can? They have a lot of room compared to what that place was like that night."
Bill Siddons, Doors Manager

"When Siddons reminded the promoters that this wasn't in the contract the promoters said, 'What are you gonna do about it?' Bill threatened to take the equipment and leave and the promoter said, 'You think you're gonna get this equipment outta here? You're gonna play this show.' Here's the band's brand-new equipment and a hall full of shouting people and the promoter is holding a gun to our heads."
Vince Treanor, Doors Technician/ Road Manager

There are also over 2,000 fans outside pounding the walls and trying to get into the hall which is already bursting at the seams on what turned out to be the hottest night of the summer with no air conditioning and little circulation. The place is sweltering and full of angry faces broiling in the suffocating summer heat waiting for a rock concert they so dearly want but by now the mood has turned from excitement and intrigue to exhaustion and disgust - then Morrison shows up, drunk for even his standards!
Bearded and wearing a leather hat adorned with a skull and crossbones, Jim finally arives, obvious to everyone at first glance, drunk off his ass! Jim then gets ushered to the stage but decides to take his own sweet time while sizing up the crowd. He teases the already angry crowd by waiting through intro after intro of "Break On Through" and drinking on the side of the stage. People are beginning to move around becoming more restless and raising the already unbearable heat. The crowd tries to make the best of the situation but it's all too much. By this time, the rafters below the roof are full of guys who have climbed up to get some fresh air and a better look as the whole place is packed with people smeared wall to wall, top to bottom, and then Jim Morrison takes the stage!

"There's a point beyond which we cannot return. That is the point that must be reached,"
- Franz Kafka

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Dinner Key Auditorium - Coconut Grove, Miami, FL
Saturday March 1st 1969

"Break On Through"
(intro is played repeatedly)

"Yeah! Now looky here! I aint talkin about no revolution. And I'm not talking about no demonstration. I'm talkin' about having a good time. I'm talkin' about having a good time this summer. Now, you all come out to LA. You all get out there. We're gonna lie down there in the sand and rub our toes in the ocean and we're gonna have a good time.
Are you ready?
Are you ready?
Are you ready?
Are you ready?
Are you ready?
Are you ready?
Are you ready?
Are you ready?
Are, ahh, ahh, ahh, whew, whew, whew, whew . . ."

"Back Door Man" (first two stanzas)

"Fuck! Louder! Come on band, get it louder, come on! Yeah baby! Louder! Yeah! Yeah!

Well I am, yeah I'm a back door man
the men don't know but the little girls understand
Now all you people trying to sleep,
I'm out there makin' with the midnight cream, yeah, yeah
cuz I'm a back door man
The men don't know but the little girls understand, all right yeah, oh!

Yeah, hey! Yeah, hey! Suck me, baby. You gotta . . .(howl) Hey softer, baby. Get it way down. Softer, sweetheart. Get it way down low. Soft, soft, soft, soft, soft. Sock it to me. Come on softer.
Hey listen, I'm lonely! I need some love, you all. Come on. I need some good time lovin' sweetheart. Love me! Come on. I cant . . . I can't take it without no good love. Love, I want some lova, lova, lova, lova love me sweet. Come on. Aint nobody gonna love my ass! Come on! (audience laughs)
I need you. There's so many of you out there. Nobody's gonna love me sweetheart, come on
I need it
I need it
I need it
I need ya, need ya, need ya, need ya, need ya, need ya , need ya!
Huh! All right! Hey! There's bunch of people way back there that I didn't even notice!
Hey! How about 50 or 60 of you people come up here and love my ass? Come on!
(audience laughs, cheers and whistles) Yeah! I love ya! Come on!
Yeah la,la,la,la
Yeah la,la,la,la
Yeah la,la,la,la
Yeah la,la,la,la
Yeah la,la,la,la
(audience member screams - "Let it all hang out")
Nobody gonna come up here and love me huh? Come on!

"Five To One" (7 minutes 19 seconds)
Listen to "Five To One" Live!

All right for you baby. That's too bad. I'll get somebody else, yeah!

Five to one baby, one in five
No one here gets, out alive now
You get yours, I'll get mine
Gonna make it baby if we try, yeah, come on!






The old get old and the young get stronger
May take a week and it may take longer
They got the guns but, we got the numbers
Gonna win yeah we're taking over, come on
Let's take over, yeah!

(scream)

You're all a bunch of fuckin' idiots! (audience applause and laughter)
Lettin' people tell you what you're gonna do! Lettin' people push you around!
How long do you think it's gonna last? How long are you gonna let it go on?
How long are you gonna let em push you around?
How long? Maybe you like it. Maybe you like being pushed around!
Maybe you love it! Maybe you love gettin' your face stuck in the shit! Come on!
You love it, don't ya! You love it!
You're all a bunch of slaves.
Letting everybody push you around.
What are you gonna do about it!
What are you gonna do about it!
What are you gonna do about it!
What are you gonna do about it!
What are you gonna do about it!
What are you gonna do?

Your ballroom days are over baby, night is drawing near
Shadows of the evening, crawl across the year
You walk across the floor with the flower in your hand
Trying to tell me no one understands
Trade in your hours for, handful of dimes
Gonna make it baby in our prime

Get together one more time
Get together one more time
Get together one more time
Get together one more time
Get together one more time!
Get together one more time!
Get together one more time!

Now come on honey now you go along home and wait for me sweetheart I'll be there in just a little while ya see I gotta go out in this car with these people and get . . . f u c k e d u p

Get together one more time!
Get together one more time!
Get together one more time!
Get together one more time!

CONDENSED PLAYLIST

Break On Through Jam >>
"I aint talkin about no revolution #1" >>
Back Door Man >>
"Hey listen I'm lonely" >>
Five To One >>
"You're all a bunch of fuckin idiots" >>
Five To One
"I'm not talkin about no revolution #2" >>
Touch Me (abrupt halt)
Love Me Two Times (crooned in a humorous blues style)
When The Music's Over >>
"I used to think the whole thing was a big joke" >>
Away In India >>
(dialogue with woman in audience) >>
"There are no rules, no laws" >>
"I was born here in this state" >>
When The Music's Over
Wake Up! >>
Light My Fire >>
(Jim is given a lamb to hold while still on stage)
"I want to see some action out there" >>
"No limits, No laws!"
(Promoter: "I don't want you to get hurt!")
"We're not going to leave until we all get our rocks off!"
(Jim Morrison is thrown into the audience and the performance ends in commotion)


Wed. Mar. 5th: Dade County Sheriff's Office - Dade County, FL
Legal proceedings begin against James Douglas Morrison, with 22 year old Robert Jennings as legal complaintant. The accusations are as follows:

1) lewd and lascivious behavior (felony)
2) indecent exposure (misdemeanor)
3) open profanity (misdemeanor)
4) drunkenness (misdemeanor

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

It was 1969 and I was a twenty year old photographer interested in doing special effects; the market of choice for the times was rock. Doing rock photography meant you could be as expressive and creative as the musicians themselves. There was only one problem – all of the "action" was in L.A. and New York and I was stuck in Miami.

At the Door's concert I was ushered right in. I remember I was at the foot of the stage, the lighting was terrible (another thing that has changed). Being a lover of available lighting, I almost never use a flash; I feel the shots are always more real that way. The Doors started to play and boy were they bad, off tune and all. The band started to get rowdy and the crowd soon followed,charging the stage and almost crushing me. Mayhem ensued and that concert went down in rock history. I remember thinking that if I had paid $7.50 for a ticket I would have been really pissed off.
In an effort to perfect my craft, I attended every rock concert that I could con my way into. If you showed up at the stage door with several cameras around your neck it was a given that you were a professional and the door was opened, no questions asked. Of course this was before they banned the audience from photographing the concert.

When I developed the film (I always souped my own stuff) it was extremely underexposed. The light had been very low and I had only used an ASA 400 film. I had to use chemical intensifier on the negatives to bring out the detail; I hadn't yet perfected my push processing technique of attaining ASA 16,000. The shots looked great – I had one of Morrison with his hand in his pants, but my favorite was the one of him with the lamb.
Later, when I learned that Morrison had been arrested and was charged with "indecent exposure" and "lewd and lascivious conduct" I decided to call the Miami Herald newspaper in hopes of selling some of the photos. They weren't interested. Several months later, I received a phone call from Jim Morrison's lawyer in LA. By way of the Herald he had learned of my photos and was interested in them. He bought six in all. I can still remember the excitement I felt at selling those photos; they brought in a whopping $65.00, not much even then, but I bought my first LunaPro lightmeter with the money and as any hardcore photographer knows, that is a big deal. Business being completed, he then asked me what I had seen that night at the concert and if I would be interested in testifying in court. I readily agreed, in my eyes the only thing he was guilty of was a "bad" concert.

As the trial date approached, in my mind, I formed a plan of action. I would show Jim Morrison my portfolio and of course he would hire me, I hoped. Remember I was desperate to get some Rock photography work and even more desperate to get out of Miami so a little fantasy went a long way. I showed up at the courthouse, portfolio-in-hand and marched into the courtroom and sat down. The trial was already in progress and the last prosecution witness was on the stand.

He was saying that he saw everything; i.e. how Morrison had exposed himself. He had been up in the lighting/projection booth at the Coconut Grove Auditorium about 300 feet from the stage with a 35mm SLR camera and a l35mm lens. I remember thinking that he couldn't have seen much at that distance and with such a short telephoto lens. He was then asked if he had a picture of Morrison exposing himself and he didn't. His excuse was that he didn't want to get in

to trouble for taking an "obscene" photo. Just about then Morrison's attorney turned around and saw me sitting in the gallery. He started waving his arms and saying, "no, no, no." Apparently I was not suppose to be in the courtroom until I was called to testify (thus my testimony would not be swayed by having heard others). The lawyer informed the judge of my mistake and I was asked to wait outside the courtroom. Shortly after this the proceedings recessed for lunch.

I went to lunch with thirteen people, including Morrison and his entourage. We discussed my reaction to the last witness and I recounted how he couldn't have seen much from his vantage point and with the camera and lens he claimed to have. He had also presented his proof sheets from the concert at the trial and I remarked that the size Morrison appeared on the proof sheet was the way the witness saw him through his viewfinder. I was asked if I would testify to these facts in court; I agreed and it was settled that I would be the first defense witness when court resumed. Before we went back into the court room I got the opportunity to show Morrison my portfolio and he signed two prints I had made of him at the concert, I placed them back in my portfolio's side pocket. The trial then resumed.

When I was called to the stand I took my portfolio with me. The defense attorney went first. I was asked if I was shooting pictures at the concert and if I had any of the pictures with me. They wanted to see the pictures I had with me; these were my personal prints which had been signed earlier by Jim Morrison, I had to answer yes but I broke out in a sweat as they took them from me. The prints were then entered as "exhibit E & F", they were then tagged by the clerk with the tags stapled to the prints. Morrison's attorney then produced the six prints I had sold him earlier. I saw my opening and took it. I told the attorney that the photos I had just given him were also in the set he had just produced and that the photos now in the courts possession were my personal photos and could I have them back? They returned my photos signed and tagged by the court. I hasten to think what those prints would be worth today to a collector but unfortunately they were stolen along with other of my personal effects sometime later. Getting back to the trial, I was being asked about the testimony of the last photographer and I repeated what I had related during lunch. My testimony was completed with the statement that though Morrison had been out of control he had not exposed himself.

It was now time for the cross-examination. My expertise was questioned regarding the other photographer's equipment and subject view ability. I was asked if I considered myself an expert on the subject. I paused, and said I was. "Did I hear him say Fuck?" I was asked. "I don't remember", I said, "He might have". Picture this. I'm sitting on the witness stand with judge above me on my left, the jury on my right, and Morrison straight ahead. "Did you see him make any masturbatory-type motions?" I was asked. "That depends" I said. "To YOU" he asked. "Yes", I said. "Well, what exactly did he do?" "He sort of went like this", I said while motioning my hand as "subtly" as possible. "I OBJECT!", said Morrison's attorney, "A hand motion cannot be shown in the record." I was asked again and repeated the motion. The objection was repeated. "Enough of this," the judge said, "young man, stand up." "Now, repeat the motion and stop your hand at the lowest point" (Do you believe this? A poor 20 year old kid, standing in front of all these people, looking right at Morrison, and having to repeat the same motion he was arrested for, while they're using the same language he "might have". Well, I guess it's OK as long as it's not in front of the "children", anyway I regress). I repeated the motion stopping my hand at the lowest point (holding my hand loosely open). The judge said, "Let it be shown in the record that his hand is opposite his belt buckle. Now, stop your hand at the highest point." Way up opposite my face looking right at Morrison.. "Good show", Morrison told me later.

The next day I returned, just to follow the action. Since I had testified already, it was OK to sit in. Recess came. This time I had my camera with me for some shots. You weren't allowed to shoot pictures in a courtroom, I knew that. "What about taking pictures in the courtroom, during recess?" , I asked Morrison's attorney, as I saw the artist doing the sketches talking to Morrison. "Go ahead." the attorney responded. I started to shoot. A moment later, I was tapped on the shoulder. "What do you think you're doing?, asked the bailiff. "He said it was OK", I responded. "Well, it's not...You're going to see the judge!. The bailiff sat me in the jury booth. I said "Don't embarrass me in front of all these people. I don't want to be sitting here in the jury box when court begins. I WANT TO SEE THE JUDGE, NOW!" "I'll be right back!", he said as he disappeared towards the judge's chambers. I could have left then, but decided against "escaping". After all, I had done nothing wrong...I asked first. The bailiff returned and brought me before the judge in his chambers. "What are you going to do with these pictures", he asked. "They are for personal purposes." I said. "I had better not see them anyplace!" he stated judge-like. "Yes, sir." I said.

So, that's how I got these shots. It's been 26 years since the "blessed event" and this is my first exhibit of the photographs. I stopped showing them years ago. Well, pretty exciting stuff, huh? I eventually got away from Miami to LA in 1972, when I ran away with a movie star. Now that was exciting. But that's another story.

Jim Morrison Exposed?
a true story by David E. LeVine

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

County Seeks Missing Papers On Jim Morrison Arrest
Fort Lauderdale Sun Senitinel (1991)

COUNTY SEEKS MISSING PAPERS ON JIM MORRISON ARREST

Miami - A Dade County Circuit Court administrator has asked for a police investigation into the disappearance of 43 documents from the court file detailing the 1969 obsenity arrest of the late rock starJim Morrison.

The investigation was sparked when the original bail bond sheet signed 22 years ago in Miami by The Doors' lead singer, "James Douglas Morrison" sold at auction for $15,950 at Sotheby's New York auction house in June.

"I'm pretty sure the documents were stolen from our files," said Dade Clerk of the Courts Marshall Ader, who reported the theft to Miami and Metro Dade police last month.

Ader said he wants the FBI to investigate the case. Miami and Metro Dade police do not have any authority in New York.

The bond sheet stems from Morrison's arrest on suspicion of indecent exposure during a concert at Dinner Key Auditorium in Miami's Coconut Grove section. If it is authentic, it had to come from the Dade case file and Ader wants it back.

After hearing of the auction, court officials looked in the Morrison file and discovered the disappearance of 42 other items, including photographs, transcripts and other court filings.

A spokesman for Sotheby's in New York could not be reached for comment.

Ader says he has no idea who many have pilfered the documents from the file, now kept in the county's archives.


Rockmine Archive has 94 pages of Jim's FBI File. Just click the link www.rockmine.music.co.uk/Archive/Vault/Doors1.html

And then each of the numbers to see a page.

The Doors : F.B.I. Files

These files cover Jim's arrest for assault and interfering with flight crew on board an airliner, his previous arrest record and part of his police file including a report on the New Haven arrest, his fingerprints and bail bond for Miami. There are also a number of papers showing that The Doors were under investigation by the Feds for inciting racial violence as well as some showing that even in the 60s the Bureau was looking at censoring rock albums.

Thanx Sara Darkstar

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

JIMI PLAYS PHILADELPHIA 12 APRIL 69
by Frank Moriarty

"The next topic broached was the obscenity arrest of
singer Jim Morrison following the disastrous performance
by The Doors in Miami March 1, 1969, when Morrison
allegedly exposed himself on stage. "Well, if it happened, it was flipped out, but I've only heard reports," Jimi cautioned. "I guess you'd have to ask Morrison about that. I don't want to talk about it. You know, we used to try to defend against some of the publicity. but we don't anymore. They just ignore what you say anyway, and the people who know where you're at know without asking questions. They know from the music. I dig music."

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

The Miami Concert

Jim got into hot water with the FBI and the courts after he gave a controversial performance at a Doors concert in Miami, Florida on March 1, 1969. It is commonly known that Jim attempted to expose himself during the Miami show, and was charged with a variety of crimes dealing with immorality. Jim was specifically accused of exposing his penis to the crowd, and was eventually convicted of "indecent exposure" (a misdemeanor), although it is generally accepted by rock historians that he did not expose himself as charged. It is true that Jim intended to take off his pants during the show, and he was somewhat intoxicated at the time, but there’s more to the story than a drunken singer merely trying to get naked in front of his fans. It may seem contrived, but Jim was making a political statement. He often got intoxicated in order to perform, so relating his intoxication to his attempt to disrobe is not necessarily as simple as it might seem. Before we proceed, let’s back up for a moment and examine the political and social climate of the time.

March 1969 was a tumultuous period during the late 1960s. Richard Nixon* had been inaugurated President of the United States just six weeks earlier, on January 20, 1969. Lyndon Johnson had left the White House leaving behind 540,000 American soldiers (mostly draftees) in South Vietnam. By mid-March seven men—dubbed the "Chicago Seven"—were indicted for leading anti-Vietnam war demonstrations, which turned violent, at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago the previous summer. Many viewed the incident as a police riot. Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy had been assassinated less than a year earlier—in April and June of 1968—which triggered race riots in scores of cities across America throughout the ensuing summer. The Beatles released the song, Revolution, written and sung by John Lennon, during the summer of 1968. Several other rock musicians began to openly call for revolution. Riots on college campus were routine occurrences. On November 29, 1968, John Lennon shocked the rock music world when he and his then-girlfriend Yoko Ono released an avant-garde album, Two Virgins, which showed the couple stark naked on the album cover. Shortly afterwards, they appeared semi-nude in a photo collage which accompanied the Beatles’ White Album. On March 20, 1969, John and Yoko were married in Gibraltar. On their honeymoon the couple staged a "bed-in" for peace in Amsterdam from March 25 through March 31. By the spring of 1969, the Vietnam War was driving America to the brink of revolution and Jim Morrison was following a spiritual calling to join the resistance through rock music, as John Lennon was already doing. The following is a description of Jim’s feelings about revolution, as described by Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugerman in their book, No One Here Gets Out Alive:

[Jim] would never say so aloud to anyone but his closest friends, but he thought of himself as a revolutionary figure, one who had had to provide a social balance by opposing his father [the admiral]. Or so it seemed. Jim didn’t like to admit it, but he was a lot like his father. Their goals may have been opposing, but they had the same kind of ambition and drive. Jim did not necessarily want to lead the revolution, but if there was going to be one, he was all for it. Though he claimed that some of his songs came to him in a vision, he was never unaware of the mutinous and apocalyptic nature of that vision. When his fans and the rock public came to regard him as a figurehead in the political/social movement taking place, Jim was publicly unmoved, but secretly flattered. For a long while he believed records could serve the same purpose that books and printed manifestos had in earlier revolutions.

Jim was searching for a better means of political expression than merely writing rock songs with politically or socially conscious lyrics and performing them at concerts. He was looking for something more, a new direction, but he wasn’t exactly sure what it was. He was probably impressed with John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s use of nudity as a form of political/social expression, but he was reportedly influenced by others as well. Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugerman claim Jim was inspired by the works of radical dramatic theorist, Antonin Artaud, whose disciples—Judith Malina and Julian Beck—led "The Living Theatre," an avant-garde theater group. In early 1969, The Living Theatre staged a revolutionary show called Paradise Now which culminated with a scene where the actors challenged authority by taking off their clothes. In February 1969, The Living Theatre performed Paradise Now on five nights at the University of Southern California (USC). Jim Morrison and several friends attended all five of the scheduled performances. The following is a description—per Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugerman, from their book, No One Here Gets Out Alive—of the Living Theatre’s last performance of Paradise Now at USC, which occurred on February 28, 1969, the night before the Doors performed in Miami:

[Jim] was seated with friends in the front row, as he had been all week long. The play opened with "The Rite of Guerilla Theater," in which actors mingled with the spectators speaking first of five key, cathartic phrases.

"I am not allowed to travel without a passport."

The Living Theater was touring the United States after four years of self-imposed exile in Europe. During that time the troupe had become international in composition and knew the hassles of border-crossing firsthand. They engaged the spectators in dialogue, baiting them if necessary to get a response, shouting the words in anguish and frustrations.

"I cannot travel freely, I cannot move about at will."

"I am separated from my fellow man, my boundaries are set arbitrarily by others!"

"The Gates of Paradise are closed to me!"

In a few minutes’ time the actors were close to hysteria, and the USC theater was transformed. Jim was on his feet with many others, shouting slogans, bellowing for Paradise Now.

The actors retired quietly, returning to the stage, paused for a moment, then began again, now with the second phrase: "I don’t know how to stop the wars!"

And so it went: a catalogue of complaints, presented with explosive energy.

"You can’t live if you don’t have money!"

"I’m not allowed to smoke marijuana!"

And finally: "I’m not allowed to take my clothes off!"

"The body itself of which we are made is taboo!"

"We are ashamed of what is most beautiful, we are afraid of what is most beautiful!"

"We may not act naturally toward one another!"

"The culture represses love!"

"I am not allowed to take my clothes off!"

The actors began to strip, removing much of their clothing, then standing in the aisles and on the stage, the forbidden areas of their bodies covered. It was an active demonstration of the prohibition. When the stripping reached the legal limit, the actors shouted once more, "I’m not allowed to take my clothes off! I am outside the Gates of Paradise!"

That was when the cops moved in and stopped the play from continuing.

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Jim was apparently quite inspired after seeing The Living Theater’s show. The next night, March 1, 1969, he attempted to incorporate elements of Paradise Now in the Doors concert in Miami. He planned to taunt the audience about not being allowed to take off his clothes, claiming it was a restriction on his personal freedom, just as the The Living Theatre had done the night before. He planned to work the crowd into a frenzy, then take off his pants, but he was wearing large boxer shorts. Unfortunately he hadn’t told anyone in his band or entourage of what he planned to do. Consequently, they got nervous when it appeared he was going to remove his pants on stage, so one of his handlers physically restrained him, thereby giving the impression that he had in fact intended to expose himself. After that, Jim proceeded to get wild with audience, encouraging them to dance and jump on the stage. It became potentially dangerous because the stage could have collapsed, but it didn’t and no one was hurt. According to Hopkins and Sugerman, even the cops enjoyed themselves. Jim’s attempt to expose his boxer shorts—which looked like he was going to be vulgar—was apparently an innocent miscommunication between himself, the band, and the group’s entourage. It was innocent enough, but it was used by the FBI to bring Jim down. The following is a summary of events that occurred AFTER the Miami concert.


On March 5, 1969, warrants are issued for Morrison’s arrest charging him with one felony and three misdemeanors. The felony is "lewd and lascivious behavior." The misdemeanors are indecent exposure, open profanity, and drunkenness. If convicted of the felony charge, Jim could be sent to Raiford Prison—one of Florida’s toughest—for seven and a half years.

In late March 1969, the FBI issues a warrant for Morrison’s arrest, charging him with "unlawful flight," although Jim had left Miami three days before any warrants were issued.

On April 4, 1969, Jim surrenders himself to the FBI, accompanied by his lawyer, and is released on $5,000 bail.

On May 23, 1969, PBS airs a Doors performance of the song, Build Me a Woman, and a ten minute interview with Jim Morrison by Richard Goldstein. Jim is sober and presents a new image.

On August 10, 1970, the trial of Jim Morrison begins in Miami for his controversial conduct at a concert given by the Doors in that city on March 1, 1969.

On September 19, 1970, a jury convicts Jim of two misdemeanors—indecent exposure and drunkenness—but acquits him of the felony charge, lewd and lascivious behavior and the other misdemeanor, open profanity.

On October 30, 1970, Judge Murray Goodman sentences Jim to six months hard labor at Dade County jail for the exposure conviction and sixty days of the same for the profanity charge. In addition, Jim is to be put on probation, after the jail term is completed, for two years and four months. Goodman also fines Jim $500.

At the beginning of the trial, around the evening of August 12, 1970, Jim sat in with Canned Heat for four songs at the Marco Polo Hotel in Miami. Canned Heat drummer, Fito de la Parra, described the gig in his book, Living the Blues: Canned Heat’s Story of Music, Drugs, Death, Sex and Survival. The following is an excerpt:

'One night in Miami, Jim Morrison joined us on stage, then hung around afterward sitting at a table with Alan [Wilson], talking quietly. Two very tormented souls. It was the last time they saw each other and the last time I saw Jim.'

Twenty-two days later, on September 3, 1970, Alan Wilson was found dead in his sleeping bag in a wooded area in Topanga Canyon. Fifteen days after that, on September 18th, Jimi Hendrix was found dead in a London hotel. The next day, September 19th, Jim Morrison was convicted of indecent exposure and drunkenness. Before going to court that morning, Jim read about Hendrix’s death in a Miami newspaper; he reportedly asked aloud, "Does anyone believe in omens?"
Hopkins and Sugerman claim Jim went into a "desperate funk" when he heard that Janis Joplin was dead of an overdose a few weeks later. Hopkins and Sugerman claim Jim’s standard line to friends while out on the town was, "You’re drinking with Number Three." Given Jim’s personal friendship with Alan Wilson, and the close time span between Wilson’s death and the deaths of Hendrix and Joplin, it seems more likely that Morrison’s line was "You’re drinking with Number FOUR."

The FBI’s War on Rock Stars By Salvador Astucia

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Jim Morrison: Mr. Mojo Risin'

In March 1969, Doors frontman Jim Morrison was arrested for exposing himself onstage at a concert in Miami. The self-profesed Lizard King was eventually charged with an array of offenses, including profanity, lewd behavior, indecent exposure, and public drunkenness.
During the cross-examination, Morrison was asked whether he had indeed exposed himself. "I don't remember," he replied. "I was too drunk." (Ironically, Morrison was convicted of indecent exposure, but found not guilty of public drunkenness.)

Some time later, Morrison (whose memory since the trial had miraculously improved) was asked by a friend why he had in fact exposed himself onstage. "I wanted to see," Morrison replied, "what it looked like in a spotlight."

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

DINNER KEY ROCK SHOW BACKER SLAMS DOORS

When a University of Miami group tried to book The Doors, a rock group, into the Miami Beach convention hall about six weeks ago, the refusal was absolute.

"I know about The Doors," says Convention Hall Manager Duke Ducoff, "So do other auditorium managers across the country. I wouldn't let them in here.

You know what happened after that, Ken Collier, his brother, Jim and their partner Chuck Gross, operators of a teenage night club, booked The Doors into Dinner Key Auditorium.

What happened Saturday night is still the talk of Miami. Jim Morrison, The Doors specialist in obscene words and crowd excitement, apparently unzipped his pants, onstage, exposed himself and disgusted his youthful audience.

With The Doors' bad reputation - and it was publicized in Life Magazine several months ago - how did City of Miami property become available to The Doors?

It works this way. George MacLean leases the auditorium from the City of Miami, giving the city 10 per cent of the bookings he receives. MacLean said he had never heard of The Doors and when he was approached by Ken Collier he simply checked on Colliers' reputation as a businessman.

Both Collier's landlord and his attorney, former U.S. Attorney James Gullmartin gave Collier and his partners a good recommendation.

MacLean notified the City of Miami that he was staging a "pop concert" on March 2 and that 30 off duty police would be used for crowd control. He did not mention in his letter that The Doors were the performers, says City Manager Melvin Reese.

The above is merely an explanation as to how The Doors reached Dinner Key. Obviously, MacLean should have been more knowlegable, and City Manager Reese says steps will be taken to know the exact nature of performers appearing at Dinner Key in the future.

Many Miamians also are asking about the off-duty policeman. Why didn't they stop the performance when the language got rough? Were they acting as private guards or city policeman or both?

Acting Police Chief Paul Denham says a policeman is a policeman at all times and can never be directed by a private entrepreneur.

In the case of last Saturday's performance, says Denham, most of the 26 officers were trying to control the 2,000 youngsters outside the auditorium trying to get in. Those inside the auditorium only got a glimpse of Morrison’s lewd display. There is, however, enough information to file charges against Morrison says Denham.

Reese says he has reason to believe that the police acted properly in not seizing Morrison - that the performer was trying to get his youthful audience worked up into a lather and that the sudden intervention of police might have been the spark to trigger disorder.

As it was, 10,000 youngsters attending this performance behaved creditably. The general reaction seemed to be disgust rather than an automatic joining in with Morrison's behavior.

Was there reason to suspect there would be trouble?

It depends on who you talk to, MacLean says no. Acting police chief Paul Denham says he recommended that there be no more teenage concerts last year after a soul music deal resulted in fist fights at the auditorium and vandalism afterwards in Coconut Grove.

Chuck Gross, one of the three young partners who backed the show last Saturday, said the auditorium was left chair-less on the recommendation of police, who feared that chairs might be used as weapons.

Gross also contends first The Doors refused to go onstage at the last minute when they saw there were no chairs. “They figured we were trying to get more people in the auditorium and wanted more money” says Gross. It was a real hassle.

The Ashley Famous agency was trying to hit us for more money. We had guaranteed The Doors $25,000. We had to call in the union to arbitrate. I think Morrison (the one who performed the obscene act) was trying to get back at us onstage.

Gross’ partner, Ken Collier, states the case differently. “I signed the contract,” says Collier. “There was nothing like that. When Morrison got out of line, we jumped in and grabbed him.”<br>
Collier says that his group booked The Doors because of University of Miami students’ interest in getting The Doors to Miami. “It was a case of whether the University would do it or private enterprise – and we have 50 weeks experience in crowd control without one arrest.”<br>
Collier says his night club, The Image, is being much maligned in the wake of the Dinner Key show and that he considers it unfair. Collier says he’s thinking of running for Congress and thinks a lot of young people would back him.

Collier spews out a lot of four letter words himself when talking about older people, although he himself is 29. I can’t repeat what he said about Performer Morrison, without violating the libel laws, but Collier says he will try to block Morrison and The Doors from a scheduled appearance in Jacksonville Sunday.

Collier really would have fumed had he known what was going on across town at St. John The Apostle Church. A group of young people who sought advice from Father Seam O’Sullivan is planning a March 23rd Rally at the Orange Bowl to combat The Doors and similar groups which give a distorted look at young life.

“These young people are sick of being exploited by people trying to make money,” said Father O’Sullivan. “The decent young people are in the majority, the hippies in the minority. The decent kids want to speak up for a change.”<br>
Father O’Sullivan said that Mike Levesque, leader of the young people would appeal to all youths in Dade County to show up at the rally. “He hopes he can get 100,000 kids there.”<br>
City Manager Melvin Reese, who is in the throes if making new policies for Dinner Key, groaned when he heard about the proposed decency rally. “Just what we don’t need – 100,000 kids in the Orange Bowl,” said Reese.

March 5, 1969
(Miami Public Library Florida Collection)





DISGRACE AT DINNER KEY

Reflection raises several questions about the disgraceful performance in Dinner Key Auditorium last Saturday night.

The huge hall is public property. It's owners are the taxpayers of the City of Miami. They have a right to insist that the auditorium not be used by individuals who would foment disorder or engage in obscene conduct before an audience including thousands of teenagers.

Those who handle the renting of the auditorium must have had an idea what the performance would be like because they ordered the promoters to hire 30 off-duty policeman to maintain order.

As we understand it from an eye witness, arresting the offender on the stage could have touched off a riot. Still, we cannot see why some of the policeman did not make the arrest after the end of the show. They saw and heard laws being broken, and could so testify.

By Contrast, an off-duty bailiff working at a jai-alai fronton Tuesday night spotted a convicted swindler and enlisted the aid of a lawman to make the arrest.

It seems to us that these two incidents cast light on the always ticklish role of off-duty police working for private employers.

March 6, 1969
(from the Miami Public Library Florida Collection)



NEW CHARGES HINTED IN LEWD SHOW

The Dade State Attorney’s office is continuing an investigation of singer Jim Morrison and may file two additional charges against him, a spokesman for the office said today.

Four warrants from the State Attorney’s Office and two from the City of Miami were issued yesterday against Morrison, a member of the rock musical group, The Doors.

All are based on a performance Saturday night before 12,000 young people at Dinner Key Auditorium. Sepe said, the district attorney’s office has been investigating this performance since Monday.

The warrants issued by the State Attorney’s Office accuse Morrison of lewd and lascivious behavior a charge that is “possibly a felony,” Sepe said, and three misdemeanors – indecent exposure, public intoxication, and profanity. The City of Miami accuses him of indecent exposure and public profanity.

Assistant State Attorney Al Sepe said investigators for the State Attorney’s Office intend to talk to all the off-duty police officers who attended the performance and to “as many civilian witnesses as possible.”<br>
The musical group is in the Caribbean. A performance scheduled in Jacksonville for Sunday was cancelled.

A felony is defined in Florida law as a crime for which a person is sentenced to the state prison. The law making lewd and lascivious behavior a crime provides alternative sentences either to the state penitentiary or to county jail. The apparent conflict has not been tested in court.

March 6, 1969
(from the Miami Public Library Florida Collection)

Cheers Sara Darkstar

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

HUTTOE CALLS FOR PROBE OF LEWD PERFORMANCE

The president of the Crime Commission of Greater Miami today called for a grand jury investigation of last Saturday’s performance of The Doors and Jim Morrison before some 10,000 young people at Dinner Key Auditorium.

Arthur Huttoe is a former prosecutor himself, said Morrison should be prosecuted for the use of obscene language onstage as well as for lewd and lascivious conduct.

Huttoe raised a number of questions which he said should be of public concern. For one thing, he said, there should be a full scale investigation of the city’s lease arrangement with auditorium entrepreneur George MacLean.

He said he also would like to know if the scuffle between Morrison and Ken Collier, one of the promoters of the affair, was pre planned. If so, said Huttoe, it would constitute conspiracy to cause a riot.

Collier on several occasions has stated he was forced to throw Morrison off stage because the performer was getting out of hand and including the youthful audience.

The Crime Commission’s Huttoe said the conduct of City of Miami police hired as special guards for the performance was a most important concern. He questioned the hiring of such police for such functions and wondered if the city wouldn’t be liable in the event of riots and disorders which might result in death or injury.

Huttoe said he also wanted a probe of reports that there was wide spread smoking of marijuana inside a city facility.

“We are urging all interested parties – the police, prosecutors and the grand jury – to take appropriate and immediate action,” said Huttoe.

March 5, 1969
(Miami Public Library Florida Collection)
Miami FBI document file no. 62-591-5


ROCK GROUP FAILS TO STIR A RIOT
KIDS KEEP COOL AT CONCERT
By: Larry Mahoney
Miami Herald Staff Writer
March 3, 1969
Miami FBI file document no. 62-5951-3

It was the night of the riot that did not happen.

The Doors, a theatrical rock group, and singer Jim Morrison pulled out all the stops in a abortive effort to provoke chaos among a huge crowd of Miami young people packed into the Dinner Key Auditorium at $6 a head.

The hypnotically erotic Morrison flaunting the laws of obscenity, indecent exposure and incitement to riot, could only stir a minor mob scene toward the end of his Saturday night performance.

There were numerous policeman present but nobody tried to arrest Morrison. Sunday, after the singer had left town, Miami police were drawing up warrants for his arrest.

Many of the nearly 12,000 youths said they found the bearded singer’s exhibition disgusting. Included in the audience were hundreds of unescorted junior and senior girls.

Strangely, after Morrison was in his dressing room, the show over, and the crowd dispersed, there was a sense of strong agreement between the off duty Miami police and the hip youngsters.

“You’ve got to give the kids credit for this one,” said Sgt. Charles Crocker. “You can’t do anything but commend them. That guy did his damnest to start a riot and the kids didn’t move.”<br>
The Four young officials of Thee Image, a Miami Beach progressive music concert hall that sponsored the Dinner Key show, agreed with the sergeant.

Ken Collier, a part owner explained: “It’s all part of a great big legend and everyone was playing their role, including the crowd. And Miami came out winners. It happened in Phoenix, the same tactics by the Doors, and there was a riot. The kids were magnificent; they proved that Miami was too sophisticated for trouble.

The Miami police department was exemplary in its restraint. If any arrests had been made that would have been exactly what Morrison and The Doors were looking for, had he been arrested perhaps it would satisfy those people who wanted longhaired singers arrested but it would definitely have resulted in a tragic riot.”<br>
Morrison, 25, born in Coco Beach and once a Florida State University student is known as king of the ‘orgasmic rock.’ Many college and high school students border on worshipping the kind of music produced by The Doors. The was little music Saturday night, however.

The Dinner Key exhibition lasted one hour and five minutes. For this, The Doors were paid $25,000. Morrison sang only one song, and that off-key. For the remainder, he grunted and groaned, gyrated and gestured in a manner that made Elvis Presley’s style seem more staid than a Presbyterian preacher’s.

His words were inflammatory in a tightly packed crowd bigger than those that turn out for a Miami prep football game.

“Your all a bunch of slaves,” Morrison screamed into the microphone. “What’re you going to do about it?”<br>
Other proclamations:

“Man, I’d kike to see a little nakedness around here. Grab your friend and love him.”<br>
“There are no laws! There are no rules!”<br>
It was not meant to be pretty. Morrison appeared to masturbate in full view of his audience, screamed obscenities and exposed himself. He also got violent, slugged several of Thee Image officials and threw one of them off stage before he himself was hurled into the crowd.

The exhibition went on before the eyes of 31 off duty City of Miami policeman, most of them uniformed. Morrison as he does in most of his shows, stole the hat of one of the policeman. The officer wandered about on stage during the concert trying to get it back. He was paid for the loss, Collier said.

Five arrests were made in and around the auditorium during the show, including one of a young man who was writhing on the floor in an apparent narcotics stupor. Other arrests were for calling police “pigs”, impersonating a constable, and leaning on the good of a moving auto.

At no time was any effort made by the police to arrest Morrison, even when the mob scene on the bandstand got out of hand. Nor was a report made to headquarters on what had happened. The officers inside were all hired by Thee Image at $4.50 a hour. The city ordered the security forces to be hired, Collier said.

Captain Robert Adair of the City police, weekend duty officer, said that a crowd of 9,000 had been expected and that Thee Image had been told to hire 30 off duty police to handle it. In addition, he said, three squad cars with three man teams were on duty outside the auditorium.

Morrison, who left Miami Sunday, may yet be arrested for the exhibition. Acting police chief Paul M. Denham said Sunday.

“I’ve issued orders that as soon as we can find a policeman who witnessed it that we will take out a warrant for him,” Denham said. “It is our intention to follow up.”<br>
Heavy police details also patrolled the nearby Coconut Grove Bay Front Park. There were rumors that the Students for a Democratic Society from the University of Miami and the junior colleges were to demonstrate in the park after the concert. Nothing happened.

Capt. Adair said that the off duty policeman inside the auditorium had full power and responsibility of arrest. Because he was not on duty at 11:35pm, when Morrison reached his zenith, the captain could not say why there were no arrests.

Collier’s brother, Jim, 29, was shoved from the stage by Morrison as he attempted to calm the scene. Ken Collier rushed to unplug the lead guitar (“It was mesmerizing the audience”) while his wife flicked on the house lights from the balcony.

At the same time, Larry Pizzi, manager of Thee Image and a karate expert sent Morrison sailing into the crowd. The shirtless, bearded singer, landed on his feet uninjured and the young people gave way for him.

The stage had been turmoil. Nearly 60 people, including screaming young girls, climbed up and one youth very nearly tipped over a heavy, 10 foot tall amplifier into the sardine like ranks below.

Although the incidents between Morrison and the officials of Thee Image appeared to be genuine, there were no ill feelings when the performance was over. Something of this nature had been expected.

“An audience that was sophisticated enough not to riot under that type of hypnotic influence was sophisticated enough to observe the gestures that Morrison quite predictably made,” said Ken Collier, 27, a former paramarine and newspaper reporter.

Ken Collier was asked why he brought to Miami a group with the reputation of creating riots. He answered, “The Doors turned down a written proposal from the University of Miami to Miami so that they could get more money playing for Thee Image.”<br>
In a poll taken by the University of Miami Hurricane, the students overwhelmingly chose The Doors as the group they would most like the University to obtain for them, and it would have been a concert in the Convention Hall of Miami Beach open to all age groups.”<br>
Ken Collier was a pleased man Sunday, pleased with the police, the young people who paid him $6 a piece and pleased that Miami had missed what certainly could have been a nasty riot. Collier felt he had risked and won.


Cheers Sara D

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

WTVJ – TV Channel 3 Miami Florida
Tonight’s Editorial – Monday, March 3, 1969 – No. 2446
A WTVJ Daily Presentation by Ralph Renick, VP in Charge Of News

One of the prime adages in making a buck with an entertainment act is to create publicity. Elvis Presley with his hip wiggle and the Beatles with their shrill cacophony were the forerunners of today’s rock and soul groups.

But, today the competition is so fierce that sound and wiggle is no longer a guarantee of sufficient identity to parley into box office draw.

In an effort to be different for teenage music, some performers have resorted to obscene words and actions – some of it subtle some of it pretty blatant.

Jim Morrison probably typifies the extreme of the latter-day attraction getters. Morrison, who sings with a group called “The Doors” brought his so called “act” to Dinner Key Auditorium here Saturday night.

Morrison had pulled the same act in Phoenix and in Connecticut. He whips himself into an hypnotically erotic state, shouting obscenities, exposing himself and trying to whip thousands of teenagers in attendance into a riot in order to boost his twisted and perverse prestige.

The local promoter for the performance, Ken Collier, said he arranged the booking only because he thought he could keep things under better control than other promoters. He says they were coming regardless.

Collier says he performed a public service by helping to ward off a riot by pleading “peace” to the 12,000 in attendance and by yanking the PA cord.

Mr. Collier, as a further public service, collected six and seven dollars a piece for the tickets. There was no seating – everybody stood. The gross take was somewhere around $75.000.00. The Doors and Morrison got $25,000.00 for an hour’s work. That leaves promoter Collier with some $50,000.00 before taxes.

The price of “pubic service” has gone up.


KEY WEST PTA PANEL SCORES ‘DOORS’<br>
Key West – The Dade Monroe District, Florida Congress of Parents and Teachers, unanimously condemned Wednesday the ‘offensive entertainment’ offered young people in public buildings and urged officials to carefully screen performers.

Meeting as District 14 of the Florida Congress, some 75 members supported the resolution which was prompted by a recent protest following Saturday nights performance at Dinner Key Auditorium by the rock singing group The Doors. The group’s leader Jim Morrison has been soundly criticized for shouting obscenities from the stage and for making lewd gestures during the performance. The Resolution did not define ‘offensive entertainment” or what yardstick city and count officials should use in censoring entertainment.

Despite the passage of the resolutions which will be sent to all districts in Florida one member pointed out that ultimately the responsibility for ‘where your kids go’ likes with parents. A suggestion the district establish a ‘review board’ composed of teachers and parents to screen entertainment was scratched in favor of letting officials handle the job.

The one day conference held in Key West’s convention hall was centered on the theme “The Emotional Health of Children’s Causes and Threats.”<br>
March 7, 1969
Miami Public Library Florida Collection



‘MORRISON JUST TUCKED SHIRT’ (HAW!)
By Herb Kelly

Goodness, gracious, how poor, innocent Jim Morrison has been maligned. It took his booking agency, Ashley Famous, 18 days to think up this one as an excuse for his obscene performance at Dinner Key Auditorium March 1st.

“Morrison did not fondle himself on stage,” the agency said, “he was tucking in his shirt. And how can you do that without putting your hands in your pants?” His agents ask.

For the information of Ashley Famous, a guy can tuck in his shirt without exposing himself. I talked with a fellow who was sitting up front and he verified the exposure. Anyhow, the disgusting Miami performance of The Doors has cost the group more that $100,000. Seven dates already have been cancelled by promoters in Philadelphia, Providence, R.I., Toronto, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Detroit. They wouldn’t touch the crummy group with a mile long pole.

March 18, 1969
Miami Public Library Florida Collection



JUDGE RULES ON ‘DOORS’ INJUCTION
The Miami Herald
Sunday March 23, 1969
Cincinnati – (UPI) – A U.S. District Court judge is expected to rule this week on a suit seeking an injunction to permit a singing group to perform here March 30.

Following a three-day hearing, Judge Timothy S. Hogan said he would take under advisement a suit filed by attorneys for ‘The Doors’, a folk-rock group and their promoters. Hogan said he would make a decision this week.

The group was scheduled to perform in concert at Music Hall, but it’s performance was cancelled by the Music Hall Association following reports of an appearance by the group in Miami March 1st.

The leader of the group, Jim Morrison, faces six charges in Miami including inciting to riot and indecent exposure as a result of the show performed before some 10,000 persons.

Local attorney, Allen Brown, who filed the suit, claimed his clients were deprived of their rights of freedom of expression and their civil rights through prior censorship.

The defendants in the action are Mayor Eugene F. Ruehlmann, Safety Director Henry Sandman and the three members of the Music Hall Association, John Warrington, Peter Outcalland, Roger Pellena.

The suit asks $1,020,000 in damages from the five defendants on behalf of the promoters, Belkin Productions of Cleveland and Squack Productions of Cincinnati.

Thanx Sara

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

ROCK SINGER CHARGED
RESULT OF MIAMI PERFORMANCE
By Larry Mahoney
Miami Herald Staff Writer
March 6, 1969
FBI file document no. 62-5951-11

Six warrants, including one for a felony, were sworn out Wednesday on singer Jim Morrison or The Doors, four days after his chaotic appearance before 12,000 young rock music fans at the city’s Dinner Key Auditorium.

The felony charge as worded by the Dade State Attorney’s office, is lewd and lascivious behavior in public by exposing his private parts and by simulating masturbation and oral copulation.

Misdemeanor charges are two counts of indecent exposure, two counts of open public profanity and one of public drunkenness.

The combined maximum prison sentence on the six charges would be for three years 150 days in Raiford.

“I was extremely shocked at the facts in this case as to what this man did, and the State Attorneys office will prosecute him and ask for the maximum sentence on each count to run consecutively,” said Joe Durant, an assistant to State Attorney Richard E. Gerstein.

“It is our intent to serve these warrants on him and bring him before our courts,” said acting Police Chief Paul M, Denham, who called a Wednesday afternoon press conference to announce the two City of Miami warrants.

The state warrants, which included the felony charge, were announced later. Criminal Court Judge Edward Kline signed the warrants and set a felony bond of $2,500.00 on Morrison. Denham said the bonds totaling $2,500.00 have been set on the City charges of indecent exposure and public profanity.

Dade and Miami lawmen lost an opportunity to arrest Morrison, the 25 year old Floridian known as “King of the Orgasmic Rock,” when a Jacksonville engagement scheduled for next Sunday, was ordered cancelled by Jacksonville Mayor Hans Tanzler.

Paid attendance at the Dinner Key concert was 10,600 at $6 to $7 a head. Hundreds of youths, some scaling the auditorium walls and entering without paying. Outside, police officers had their hands fill with an estimated 2,000 youngsters trying to get inside. The auditorium was packed to capacity, with most of the youths seated at floor level. Several dozen youths sat in the exposed rafters high above the bandstand.

The bearded, wiry singer once a Florida State University student, went wild on the band stand from the beginning seconds of his 65 minute exhibition. Apparently drunk, he screamed obscenities, appeared to masturbate and exposed himself in full view of his audience, then assaulted officials of Thee Image, a local rock concert hall that sponsored the show.

The Doors, who left Miami the morning after the show, are somewhere in the Caribbean. Because of the felony charge, Morrison is liable to arrest and extradition anywhere in the U.S., the State Attorneys Office said.


ACTORS’ UNION SEEKS TO EXPEL MORRISON
By Herb Kelly
FBI document file no. 62-5951-15

More trouble is piling up on Jim Morrison, the zipper-de-doo-da singer with The Doors. The Miami Beach branch of the American Guild of Variety Artists has filed charges to kick him out of the union “for indecent conduct unbecoming a performer.”<br>
It’s the result of his recent obscene performance at Dinner Key Auditorium. AGVA’s case began when Victor Levine attorney for Dinner Key Auditorium sent a letter of protest to Max Turk, manager of the Miami branch. Turk had received no contract covering Morrison’s performance and had assumed Morrison’s performance was under the jurisdiction of the Musician’s Union. He talked with Frank Casciloa, president of the Miami Musicians’ local, who told him Morrison was AGVA and a member of the Los Angeles branch.

Turk forwarded charges asking the California unit to put Morrison on the unfair list for working without a contract, thus avoiding paying dues. He also sent along newspaper clippings that blasted The Doors’ performance.

If the charges stand up, Morrison will be unable to appear any place where show business unions have a contract, this relegating him to the smallest towns and cesspool dives if they can stand him.


WARRANTS ISSUED IN ‘DOORS’ CONCERT
Miami News, Miami Florida
March 6, 1969
FBI document file no. 62-5951-4

The Miami Police Department today issued warrants for the arrest of Jim Morrison, too banana of a rock music group called The Doors, for an obscene performance before 10,000 teenagers in Dinner Key Auditorium Saturday night.

Acting Chief Paul Denham said the warrants charged indecent exposure and disorderly conduct by profanity. The self styled “King of the Orgasmic Rock” reportedly simulated masturbation and unzipped his pants during the blue language performance.

The state attorney’s office also was reported preparing charges against Morrison including lewd and lascivious conduct, public intoxication and indecent exposure.

There was also consideration of charging Morrison with inciting a riot. Denham said the show ended with an onstage melee.

An assistant state attorney took evidence from an office boy in his own office who attended the show. He also questioned a Miami policeman and a policewoman who were there.

The Miami police warrants were issued after departmental investigation. Some of the 30 off duty officers present were questioned, as were teenagers who volunteered their information. One youth submitted a tape recording of the proceedings.

Morrison and the group left for a Caribbean Island Sunday.

Cheers Sara

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Apathy For The Devil

Nobody really cares what happens to Jim Morrison in Miami.
This dawned on me the other day while we were waiting for the trial to start. The groupies are there in court mainly to be "on the scene." After all, what they're seeing makes great conversation, doesn't it? The press acts as if the whole thing were going on behind a glass wall. They could give less of a shit whether or not Morrison goes to jail for five years. They're in court to do a job and that's that.

What is behind this apathy for the devil who supposedly corrupted Miami youth beyond recall? I think it has to do with Morrison's head. He is so used to relating to people on a mythic level- as shaman, sex symbol or poet-philosopher- that he finally has become a living legend. You can sense this when reporters interview him. They approach the whole thing as if they were entering a church. The questions are so respectful as to be meaningless. The attitude of sacredness that surrounds this 25-year-old man is nothing short of astonishing.

I got my first flash of this score when prosecutor Terry McWilliams read the charges to Morrison. He walked from his side of the court deliberately, stopped, paused and then started reading from the complaint, ". . .lewdly and lasciviously exposed his penis. . .simulated masturbation and oral copulation. ...exposed his penis in a vulgar or indecent manner with intent to be observed. . .used profane language. . .performed under the influence of intoxicating drugs or liquor." When he finished, he still stood there as if it would be disrespectful to leave so quickly. Then he looked at Morrison as if he were seeing Christ.

Strange.

I wish I were more up on The Golden Bough. This trial has a mythic, archetypal feeling to it, but I can't put my finger on it. The only corollary I can see is the old Norse trial by fire (If you're innocent you won't burn. If you're guilty you die). However, this must be Trial By Boredom. The amount of excitement generated so far could easily fit into a butterfly's stomach. And the feeling of pervading unreality makes everything even more meaningless.

Take the first prosecution witness, Colleen Clary. She's 17 and a checker at a supermarket. She looks 50, her eyes sunken-dead. She testifies that she was shocked by what she saw. "He pulled down his pants and stroked...(blushing) stroked it. . .It was disgusting." Now you gotta feel for the little lady, right? Then Max Fink, the Doors' L.A. attorney, starts cross-examining her. Reading from a deposition she made earlier, he catches her in a whole chain of inconsistencies. Finally, he asks, "Have you had trouble with your memory of late?" and she breaks into tears. The court gallantly recesses, and I'm sure everyone felt sorry for the girl. Here is the poor innocent confronted with the lizard king doing his thing and she just can't hack it. Right?

Wrong.

On the lunch break, a teenybopper goes up to her and says, "You're really being mean to Jim." Replies the flower of Miami youth, "Fuck off, you little bitch."

Ya couda nokt me over wid a fedder.

Then her boyfriend, one Carl Huffstutlear, gets on the stand and goes into riffs about how tender-hearted Colleen is. Her mother, who has the face to go with her completely disagreeable personality, seconds the motion on the stand. Either the Clary clan was weaned on pickles or they work underground for the prune council.

The next day of trial a very attractive lady cop named Betty Racine testified that Morrison pulled his pants down, said, "Do you want to see my cock?" and pulled his pants back up again. Unfortunately, her deposition of eleven months ago shows she heard or saw nothing of the sort when originally questioned. A photographer named Jeff Simon said he was five feet from the stage the entire time and saw nothing. His 160 photographs likewise revealed no exposure.

The real excitement of the day came when the prosecution tried to enter a misleading negative as evidence when 8x10 prints were available. Morrison's local attorney, Robert Josefsberg, was furious and approached the bench.




Jim looks down at all the mayhem below from a balcony moments after the Dinner Key concert had collapsed into chaos.....doesn't look too drunk does he...?

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Apathy For The Devil 2

Said Judge Goodman, "Don't get upset. They made a nice try and it didn't work." The judge's cavalier attitude infuriated Josefsberg even more and he was heard mumbling about judicial ethics the rest of the day. Goodman is either stupid or insane. Certainly, no intelligent judge could compliment the prosecution on a nice try at introducing misleading evidence.

Anyhow, after you finish getting upset about that sort of thing, you see it on the same mythic level as everything else in this case. It's as if the gods were testing Morrison against the worst possible odds in the hope that he overcomes all the handicaps and gets acquitted, thus coming out of the trial even better than when he went in.

The essential hypocrisy of the whole trial came to light last Thursday when the state's star witness, Robert Jennings, testified. First of all, he's six foot nine, has a red beard and freckles, obviously is no stranger to dope and - WORKS IN THE PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE. Did ja ever? Not only that, but he's the guy who signed the original complaint against Morrison- 39 days after the concert. You see, to extradite someone from another state, you have to formally charge them with having committed a felony offense. Since nobody else in the city of Miami felt up to it, Jenning's signed the complaint charging Morrison with lewd and lascivious behavior. This started the extradition riff which wound up taking eleven months.

Jennings testified that Morrison put his hand in his pants and rubbed it up and down, put the microphone in his pants and later exposed himself, poured wine over somebody's head and so on. He was a very convincing witness and there was gloom on the defense side of the courtroom momentarily. Max Fink then began to tear Jennings apart. He mentioned a conversation with another attorney in which Jennings said, "I don't see why they want me to testify. What do they want from me?" There were several other inconsistencies which helped destroy Jennings' testimony. The crusher came when Jennings' best friend, James Wood, testified that he sat next to Jennings the whole concert and saw no exposure, no simulated oral copulation, etc. etc.

All of this provided only momentary satisfaction.

Judge Goodman then dropped the bomb of the day by ruling that the defense could not take the jury to see "Woodstock," "Mash," "Hair," or read excerpts from controversial bestsellers like "The Sensuous Woman" or "Portnoy's Complaint." Since the defense's case rests on the fact that these books, movies and plays use words like "fuck" and display nudity and open love-making, this was quite a blow. The judge's ruling is so obviously wrong that other attorneys not connected with either side said that on appeal, the case would be reversed and Morrison acquitted or retried. This was little satisfaction at the moment. Max Fink asked that the jury be excused and then delivered a blistering argument about the court's ruling. The audience responded quite warmly but Goodman remained unmoved.

The feeling of surrealism started again. Goodman turning down Fink's motion was like Pharaoh turning down Moses when he asked for water in the desert. Maybe I've just read too much Vonnegut, but I can't escape the feeling that the transcript of the trial has already been written down somewhere, the verdict already decided and that we are all just going through the motions.

I asked Morrison about this and he agrees but likewise can't explain it.

For the most part, he sits in court scribbling his own impressions of the trial, giving all the jurors nicknames, being courteous to interviewers and well-wishers, etc. He is on his best behavior and has been in court every day on time with no sweat. He is really getting interested in the mechanics of making the law. When we sit down after the trial to talk or have a drink, he will lapse into legal jargon deliberately to be funny.

Yet, lately, there is an underlying seriousness to his court rap. Aware of the mythical aspects of the trial, he is also slowly becoming aware of the changing faces in the gallery of the courtroom. At the beginning of the trial, every seat was packed with a teenybopper and this continued for the first few days. Now, however, numerous elderly people have become daily spectators. This all serves to underline the fact that the law- and-order types, in the final analysis, are more interested in defending their way of life than the teenyboppers and hippies. For the latter, the trial was a lark. Now that it's getting serious, it's time to move onto pleasanter subjects. With the astounding availability of Jamaican Red, it's easy to see how a serious court case would come in second to grooving as a social activity.

This is not meant to be a blanket condemnation. There are many loyal kids who have been at the trial every day; however, the whole of Miami youth are being very lax in the defense of their own civil liberties. This is a very political case and will indirectly have a bearing on the legalization of grass, the promotion of festivals in the Miami area, and so on. Under such circumstances, these kids are goofing when demonstrations, offers to testify in Morrison's behalf and other public displays of support are more in order.

From this, you can see that Morrison is "locked in a prison of his own devise." The political content of the first three Doors albums apparently didn't make an impression- at least on Miami's music fans. All they seem to have heard were sexual implications. Thus, the 12,000 fans who went to Dinner Key to get their rocks off are indirectly hanging Morrison by their inaction.

One can't help feel that in political cities like Boston, New York, Washington, etc. that things would be different. The climate of Miami (and for that matter L.A.) does not lead one to take anything seriously, much less politics. It is therefore a shame that this great political test should happen in such a nonpolitical environment.

I guess suntan lotion and social justice just don't mix.

Rock magazine September 27, 1970

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

The arrest warrant for Jim....

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Sign the long running DCM petition to have Jim's conviction quashed



www.doors.com/miami/

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

The American Outlaw Poet Remembered
On March 1st of 1999 we all missed an important anniversary. If there was any celebration or memorial concerts held, I missed them. In fact, until a few days ago I had completely forgotten that thirty years had now passed since that day when our one and only outlaw poet/rocker sealed his fate and place in history. It happened in an old seaplane hangar which had been converted into the Dinner Key Auditorium. The city was that current haven for old people with too much money on their hands -- Miami. Well, make that Coconut Grove to be more precise. The event was what was to be the beginning of a national tour by The Doors. Anyone who knows anything about music knows what happened that night. Or what supposedly happened that night. I can't tell you for sure what happened since even the people there have very different versions of what happened. What I do know is that, on that hot night in Florida, Jim Morrison solidified his fate as an outlaw.Like I said, no one knows exactly what happened that night except for Jim Morrison and he left this auditorium called life thirty years ago. At the time of that show, I was barely walking on teetering legs and most definitely still crapping in my pants. Considering I never had the chance to see The Doors while they were still functioning live, I can't even begin to explain how much their music has affected me. Once you've heard more of their work than "Light My Fire" and "Break On Through" you'll know what I mean. They came into being during the same time that the Beatles were singing their little teeny-bop songs on Ed Sullivan and the rest of the British invaders were still figuring out how to use their love for ska and American blues to create some good old rock'n roll. The Doors predated most of the so-called acid rock groups which would come out of the LSD scene a few years later. Yet, they used their love for the blues and the organ that was so beloved by the acid rock groups to create a music that carried more feeling with it than just a catchy chorus. It was Jim's lyrics, much of which were pulled from his notebooks full of poems, that made him, Ray, Robby, and John more than your average sixties rock band. His words seemed to capture the feelings that were rampant among the younger generation of the time. He captured the dissatisfaction with the government, the influx of drugs, the need for individuality, and the general prevailing theory that love of your fellow man was what it was all about, man.So, what happened that night? The one thing all involved agree upon is that Jim was definitely drunk that night. He was drunk beyond even his normal drunkenness, which was reported to have been of epic proportions. Everything else is conjecture. There are audio recordings of the concert and some footage of the show on video but none of it can quite capture positively what happened. According to those who prosecuted him for lewd behavior and public exposure, Jim whipped out his lizard king for all to see and worship. The only ones who could support this version of what happened were the same ones who held a decency rally a few days later. No one ever did figure out why people who proposedly held these values of what was decent like their parents had were doing at the show. They were probably the same ones who scaled the outside walls to sneak in through the windows to avoid paying the ticket price. Most fans and the other band members have no idea if he whipped it out or not. In reality, they didn't care either way. Morrison had gone along with the media's sex symbol image they had hung on him even though he didn't want it. Maybe he took it to the extreme. Maybe he just needed to take a whiz after drinking all that alcohol. Who hasn't been so drunk that they relieve themselves in a place other than a bathroom? Maybe he didn't do it at all. No one alive really knows. They convicted him of public profanity and indecent exposure. As I've said, the whole exposure thing was unclear. As far as the public profanity, I can't remember being in any public place, including a church, for more than five minutes without hearing some swearing. I don't know if it was like that back then, but I'd have to believe it was. Our generation didn't invent the four letter word. We may be perfecting it, but we did not invent it. The establishment wanted someone to take the fall for their losing their children to a new way of life. The adults were scared that their children were not like them. The days of "Leave It To Beaver" were gone, and who better to take the fall than Jim Morrison? He was visible, beloved by the youth of America, and he spoke his mind in cryptic phrases based in ideals and poetry.The fact that he was convicted of these two misdemeanors is not why I call Jim Morrison an outlaw. It isn't because he had a disregard for the law or society in general. I call Jim Morrison an outlaw because he was rebellious and unconventional in a way not to be chaotic but under his generation's social consciousness. He had things he believed in and versions of right and wrong. We all do. The fact is that his conflicted with those of our parents and leaders and, instead of conforming to them or trying to work inside the framework of the system, he flaunted his contempt for them. The manner he chose, through words and song, not only gained him fame, fortune, and a following of millions of fans, but also led to his downfall. He is no martyr or Christ figure as many like to make him. He was just a very charismatic person who had a creative side that drove him to near madness and to partake in many hours of substance abuse. But for all the seemingly "bad" things he did in his life he does not deserve the disdain many are quick to throw in his direction. He set the standard for individuality in this country and it cost him his life.I am not naive enough to believe that the social uprisings that happened in the seventies and are still currently going on would not have happened without his presence. He merely gave them a voice and opened the door for them to be as rebellious as he was. The only caveat was that they needed to be rebellious with a motive or force driving them and not just to be rebellious. Jim Morrison was an outlaw because he had a version of society and values that existed outside that of his era and he chose not to hide that fact. His death came from the fact that in the end he could not handle that the public would not let him continue to live outside the norms in the way he wanted to, not as a rock star or idol for millions of fans but as an artist with something very important to teach. The trial in Miami nearly drove him over the edge. He knew that he would not be taken seriously as a wordsmith or social commentator with some useful knowledge to help move society onto that new higher plateau. He was never seen beyond that image of sex, drugs, and rock'n roll. The only people who could see beyond it were those who had the power and they only saw him and his vision of the world as dangerous to their beliefs and their view of what the future should be. So they did what all people in power do -- they pushed him down under the guise of the law. It is an old and effective technique that supposedly is not supposed to manipulated that way in a democracy like the good old USA.There have been others who have tried to pick up the torch that was laid down when Jim Morrison was buried in Paris in 1971. Most recently there was Kurt Cobain of Nirvana. Unfortunately, he too saw that his plight was as hopeless as Morrison's had been. Maybe it was the drugs. Maybe it was that they both saw a society that could exist beyond what they currently saw practiced. They both saw the inequities in the world and when they saw that their mode to reach the public was a forum which had them trapped, they opted out. The fame of an outlaw is the one thing that will kill their spirit faster than any court case or shotgun blast. In each case, the spirit had died long before the body was laid to rest.I'm not pushing for a national holiday or anything like that for Jim Morrison. I merely ask that each year on March 1st we take a moment to reflect back on Jim Morrison and the music of The Doors. To look inside ourselves and see that part he had tried to reach within us. To see what we can do to ensure that his spirit and ideals live on beyond our generation. To push for that society that truly revels in individualism and open hearts. A society that we would be proud to consider ourselves part of.If you happen to hear on the news on March 1, 2069 that some old man has barricaded himself in a radio station and is playing every song by The Doors over and over -- don't worry. That just means that I have actually lived to see the ripe old age of 101 and I might just show you my wrinkled old lizard prince. Then again -- maybe not.
Inkblots Magazine is a production of The Dreamsbay Company.
Doug Zilm
Inkblots magazine 2003

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

August 6th 1970 - Jim Morrison arrested

On August 4 he was alone at a club called The Experience.
At closing, he asked the owner, Marshall Brevitz, if
he would drive him home. A year earlier Jim would
have driven no matter how drunk he was. But now he was
practically too drunk to walk.
"I hada club in Miami once," Marshall told Jim, loading him into his car.
"You'll be interested to know my partners were the same two guys who tried to cheat you when you played there
and got busted. They're the reason I left Miami."
Jim nodded and slurped, "Turn lef' here...I think."
Marshall turned left and kept on talking. "Did you know
those guys ran a gift shop in one of the hotels? And
they floated a suntan lotion business, had a
billboard... Shouldn't we be coming to your place
soon?"
Jim mumbled something that sounded like, "Turn lef'
here...I think." After an hour of being driven up one
street and down the next and circling ten or fifteen
blocks, Jim finally found the small West Los Angeles
house he was seeking. Or rather, he thought he
did. "This's it," he said. Marshall accompanied Jim to the
door. "Shhh," Jim hissed. "There's a chick here, she's mad at me and...shhh!" Jim knocked timidly at the
door. Silence. Jim knocked more loudly. Still no response. Jim
knocked even more loudly. "Hey, Jim," Marshall said
nervously, "I'll see you later, okay." And he retreated
quickly, leaving Jim slumped against the front door of the
house. In the morning Jim was found curled up asleep at the
door by the sixty-eight-year-old woman whose home it
was. Believing the bearded, long-haired figure was
another Charlie Manson, she called the sheriff's
substation nearby and Jim was arrested and charged with
public drunkenness.
That was Thursday morning. On
Friday Jim flew to Miami to stand trial.
The Doors On The Road:

Miami Trial [August 6 Thursday]
AUGUST 6: Jim Morrison and the Doors arrive at the
Carillon Hotel, Miami, Florida, to begin the trial.

[jym]

As unfair as Miami was I haven't signed it because if the conviction is overturned Jim loses his status as an outlaw, Make your peace with authority and you become one (even posthumously).