Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on Dec 3, 2011 11:17:42 GMT
The Twisted Tale Of How Late Rocker Jim Morrison`s Poetry Found
A Public Stage
'Corky has files of Jim`s poems that he`s been working on for years,' said Doors associate Frank Lisciandro, who helped Courson sort through 1,600 manuscript pages collected from Vejraska and Pamela`s apartment.
Some of the poems had as many as 50 different versions.
In 1982, according to Lisciandro, Courson submitted a manuscript of poems to Morrison`s former publisher, Simon & Schuster, in New York, but the manuscript was rejected.
When news of Morrison`s ``lost writings`` surfaced, Courson contacted Vejraska in San Francisco and demanded the return of the ``127 Fascination``
materials, claiming Vejraska should have given him all of Morrison`s writings back in 1974.
Vejraska declined. He argued that Pamela had given him the original
``127`` manuscripts as a gift and that he wasn`t bound to return them after she died.
In December, 1986, Farhadi, who financed the purchase of the manuscripts for Jacobs and Prior, was arrested by federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents on charges of dealing heroin and marijuana.
The next month, Prior was sentenced for possession of cocaine. He fled California with the key to the safe deposit box where the ``127`` materials were stored, leaving Jacobs to fend off the Coursons, who were now demanding to see the manuscripts.
Meanwhile, the Coursons filed suit against Vejraska, Stricker, Prior and Jacobs in San Francisco Superior Court in May, 1987. They demanded the return of the original manuscripts and asked for $1 million in damages. They also copyrighted all of Morrison`s writings they had in their possession and began actively compiling their own manuscript of poems for Villard Books.
Meanwhile, a Doors/Morrison movie was in the works, to be coproduced by promoter Bill Graham, who had booked The Doors at the Fillmore Auditorium and Winterland during the `60s.
On Dec. 12, 1987, Farhadi brought the ``127 Fascination`` manuscripts and the strongbox to Graham`s South of Market headquarters so the screenwriter could take a look. At the meeting`s end that night, Farhadi, who was free on bail, took home the empty strongbox and a handful of postcards and pictures-collateral on his $30,000 loan to Jacobs and Prior.
Two days later, Farhadi was arrested again by federal officers on drug charges. (He is serving a nine-year sentence in federal prison.)
The day after Farhadi`s arrest, Musa Fari, an Iranian friend of Farhadi`s, entered his suburban home in Novato, Calif., and took the strongbox. Nobody knows where the strongbox is now. The last report had Fari living back in Iran.
Morrison`s notebooks and journals were placed in a safe-deposit box, where they remained until Jacobs transferred them to his attorney`s law offices.
The Coursons, together with Frank and Kathleen Lisciandro, published
``Wilderness: The Lost Writings of Jim Morrison, Volume One`` with Villard Books in November, 1988. Two of the poems in that volume-``Cassandra at the Well`` and ``The Anatomy of Rock``-also appeared in the ``127 Fascination``
inventory compiled by Manzarek.
``Wilderness`` is now in its third printing and has become a brisk seller. Courson and Lisciandro are compiling a second volume of Morrison`s writings, and Lisciandro recently tracked down two more of Morrison`s notebooks in Los Angeles.
Manzarek believes Morrison would resent the Coursons` profiting from his writing. ``Corky had nothing to do with Jim or his writing while he was alive,`` Manzarek said. ``Jim only met Courson four or five times, maybe, but out of obligation.``
Finally, in February, a settlement in the legal battle over the ``127 Fascination`` manuscripts was reached among the attorneys representing the Coursons, Prior, Jacobs, Vejraska and Stricker.
``Essentially,`` explained Stricker, who still represents Jacobs and Prior, ``we`ve given up our claims for publication rights to the poetry in exchange for keeping the original manuscript material and the right to sell them as memorabilia.``
Stricker believes the ``127`` manuscripts eventually will end up in the Rock `n` Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.
``It`s been exciting and time-consuming and not profitable at all,``
Stricker lamented. ``We haven`t made any money, and the book (`Wilderness`) is doing very well. But I don`t think we got (cheated). I feel that, ultimately, everybody will get his own reward.``
Death makes angels of us all
and gives us wings.
Where we had shoulders
smooth as raven`s claws.
-from ``An American Prayer,`` by Jim Morrison; (copyright) 1981 by Columbus & Pearl Courson
Chicago Tribune
March 22nd, 1989
By Wayne A. Saroyan.
A Public Stage
'Corky has files of Jim`s poems that he`s been working on for years,' said Doors associate Frank Lisciandro, who helped Courson sort through 1,600 manuscript pages collected from Vejraska and Pamela`s apartment.
Some of the poems had as many as 50 different versions.
In 1982, according to Lisciandro, Courson submitted a manuscript of poems to Morrison`s former publisher, Simon & Schuster, in New York, but the manuscript was rejected.
When news of Morrison`s ``lost writings`` surfaced, Courson contacted Vejraska in San Francisco and demanded the return of the ``127 Fascination``
materials, claiming Vejraska should have given him all of Morrison`s writings back in 1974.
Vejraska declined. He argued that Pamela had given him the original
``127`` manuscripts as a gift and that he wasn`t bound to return them after she died.
In December, 1986, Farhadi, who financed the purchase of the manuscripts for Jacobs and Prior, was arrested by federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents on charges of dealing heroin and marijuana.
The next month, Prior was sentenced for possession of cocaine. He fled California with the key to the safe deposit box where the ``127`` materials were stored, leaving Jacobs to fend off the Coursons, who were now demanding to see the manuscripts.
Meanwhile, the Coursons filed suit against Vejraska, Stricker, Prior and Jacobs in San Francisco Superior Court in May, 1987. They demanded the return of the original manuscripts and asked for $1 million in damages. They also copyrighted all of Morrison`s writings they had in their possession and began actively compiling their own manuscript of poems for Villard Books.
Meanwhile, a Doors/Morrison movie was in the works, to be coproduced by promoter Bill Graham, who had booked The Doors at the Fillmore Auditorium and Winterland during the `60s.
On Dec. 12, 1987, Farhadi brought the ``127 Fascination`` manuscripts and the strongbox to Graham`s South of Market headquarters so the screenwriter could take a look. At the meeting`s end that night, Farhadi, who was free on bail, took home the empty strongbox and a handful of postcards and pictures-collateral on his $30,000 loan to Jacobs and Prior.
Two days later, Farhadi was arrested again by federal officers on drug charges. (He is serving a nine-year sentence in federal prison.)
The day after Farhadi`s arrest, Musa Fari, an Iranian friend of Farhadi`s, entered his suburban home in Novato, Calif., and took the strongbox. Nobody knows where the strongbox is now. The last report had Fari living back in Iran.
Morrison`s notebooks and journals were placed in a safe-deposit box, where they remained until Jacobs transferred them to his attorney`s law offices.
The Coursons, together with Frank and Kathleen Lisciandro, published
``Wilderness: The Lost Writings of Jim Morrison, Volume One`` with Villard Books in November, 1988. Two of the poems in that volume-``Cassandra at the Well`` and ``The Anatomy of Rock``-also appeared in the ``127 Fascination``
inventory compiled by Manzarek.
``Wilderness`` is now in its third printing and has become a brisk seller. Courson and Lisciandro are compiling a second volume of Morrison`s writings, and Lisciandro recently tracked down two more of Morrison`s notebooks in Los Angeles.
Manzarek believes Morrison would resent the Coursons` profiting from his writing. ``Corky had nothing to do with Jim or his writing while he was alive,`` Manzarek said. ``Jim only met Courson four or five times, maybe, but out of obligation.``
Finally, in February, a settlement in the legal battle over the ``127 Fascination`` manuscripts was reached among the attorneys representing the Coursons, Prior, Jacobs, Vejraska and Stricker.
``Essentially,`` explained Stricker, who still represents Jacobs and Prior, ``we`ve given up our claims for publication rights to the poetry in exchange for keeping the original manuscript material and the right to sell them as memorabilia.``
Stricker believes the ``127`` manuscripts eventually will end up in the Rock `n` Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.
``It`s been exciting and time-consuming and not profitable at all,``
Stricker lamented. ``We haven`t made any money, and the book (`Wilderness`) is doing very well. But I don`t think we got (cheated). I feel that, ultimately, everybody will get his own reward.``
Death makes angels of us all
and gives us wings.
Where we had shoulders
smooth as raven`s claws.
-from ``An American Prayer,`` by Jim Morrison; (copyright) 1981 by Columbus & Pearl Courson
Chicago Tribune
March 22nd, 1989
By Wayne A. Saroyan.