Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Jan 24, 2011 8:35:20 GMT
The Doors Want Apology, Not Pardon, for Jim Morrison
The surviving members of the Doors are unimpressed with a posthumous pardon that was recently granted in Florida to their late frontman, Jim Morrison. They think the state owes him a formal apology.
"We don't feel Jim needs to be pardoned for anything," the surviving band members, Ray Manzarek, John Densmore and Robby Krieger, said in a statement cited by CNN. "The charges against him were largely an opportunity for grandstanding by ambitious politicians -- not to mention an affront to free speech and a massive waste of time and taxpayer dollars."
In the statement, the Doors said they felt a formal apology was necessary.
"If the State of Florida and the City of Miami want to make amends for the travesty of Jim Morrison's arrest and prosecution 40 years after the fact, an apology would be more appropriate -- and expunging the whole sorry matter from the record."
On Dec. 9, outgoing Gov. Charlie Crist and the state clemency board voted unanimously to pardon Morrison for indecent exposure and profanity -- charges he was convicted of in 1970.
The charges stemmed from a 1969 performance in Miami, during which the singer was accused of unzipping his pants and simulating a sex act. Morrison was sentenced to six months in prison and fined $500. Morrison, however, never served time behind bars, Rolling Stone reported. The 27-year-old was appealing the conviction when he died in Paris of a heart attack in 1971.
Before his death, Morrison, a native of Florida, denied any wrongdoing. For the past 40 years, his band mates have stood behind him.
"Accounts vary as to what actually happened onstage that night," the statement continued. "His performance ... was certainly provocative, and entirely in the insurrectionary spirit of the Doors' music and message."
The Doors also complained that no arrests were made that night and charges were not filed until four days later. As a result, "every city the Doors were booked into canceled their engagement," according to the statement.
In a Dec. 9 interview with The Guardian, Crist said that evidence of Morrison's alleged crimes was weak and that he had a duty to right a wrong.
"It's not about the guilt or innocence of the man, and it's not about retrying the case here today," Crist told the newspaper. "That's not what this is about. We have had an opportunity for about 40 years for this son of Florida whose body of work has endured and has this blot on his record, if you will, for something that he may or may not have done when he was essentially a kid."
But it's not likely a formal apology will come anytime soon.
"The state, in recognizing the insufficiency of the charges against Morrison, issued an apology in the form of a pardon," Crist spokesman Sterling Ivey told The Palm Beach Post.
The Palm Beach Post.
Dec 23, 2010
The surviving members of the Doors are unimpressed with a posthumous pardon that was recently granted in Florida to their late frontman, Jim Morrison. They think the state owes him a formal apology.
"We don't feel Jim needs to be pardoned for anything," the surviving band members, Ray Manzarek, John Densmore and Robby Krieger, said in a statement cited by CNN. "The charges against him were largely an opportunity for grandstanding by ambitious politicians -- not to mention an affront to free speech and a massive waste of time and taxpayer dollars."
In the statement, the Doors said they felt a formal apology was necessary.
"If the State of Florida and the City of Miami want to make amends for the travesty of Jim Morrison's arrest and prosecution 40 years after the fact, an apology would be more appropriate -- and expunging the whole sorry matter from the record."
On Dec. 9, outgoing Gov. Charlie Crist and the state clemency board voted unanimously to pardon Morrison for indecent exposure and profanity -- charges he was convicted of in 1970.
The charges stemmed from a 1969 performance in Miami, during which the singer was accused of unzipping his pants and simulating a sex act. Morrison was sentenced to six months in prison and fined $500. Morrison, however, never served time behind bars, Rolling Stone reported. The 27-year-old was appealing the conviction when he died in Paris of a heart attack in 1971.
Before his death, Morrison, a native of Florida, denied any wrongdoing. For the past 40 years, his band mates have stood behind him.
"Accounts vary as to what actually happened onstage that night," the statement continued. "His performance ... was certainly provocative, and entirely in the insurrectionary spirit of the Doors' music and message."
The Doors also complained that no arrests were made that night and charges were not filed until four days later. As a result, "every city the Doors were booked into canceled their engagement," according to the statement.
In a Dec. 9 interview with The Guardian, Crist said that evidence of Morrison's alleged crimes was weak and that he had a duty to right a wrong.
"It's not about the guilt or innocence of the man, and it's not about retrying the case here today," Crist told the newspaper. "That's not what this is about. We have had an opportunity for about 40 years for this son of Florida whose body of work has endured and has this blot on his record, if you will, for something that he may or may not have done when he was essentially a kid."
But it's not likely a formal apology will come anytime soon.
"The state, in recognizing the insufficiency of the charges against Morrison, issued an apology in the form of a pardon," Crist spokesman Sterling Ivey told The Palm Beach Post.
The Palm Beach Post.
Dec 23, 2010