Honouring the memory of James Douglas Morrison?...

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

This is something thats been bugging me for a while now so I will share it with you............
Its been nearly 35 years since the death of Jim Morrison and I for one wonder if during that time his memory has really been truly honoured as the artist he was trying so hard to be or whether he has simply been used time and again as a way to turn a profit?

You guys are supposed to be Doors fans....which to me equates to being a fan of James Douglas Morrison poet/performer/sometimes failed human being and so the questions I pose to you are as follows......

Has the memory of James Douglas Morrison REALLY been honoured this last 35 years?

Who do you feel has done the most to honour that memory?

What do you feel has been the best tribute to the honouring of the memory of James Douglas Morrison in the last 35 years and what more do you feel could be done to honour that memory?

Now for 30 years I used to look at things Doors wise through rose tinted spectacles ( as many still do) and the band members could do no wrong in my eyes.......but since 2002 I have been a tad more cynical and have thought long and hard about my former position and as such have a radically more different view than I had between 1971 and 2001.

For me the answers to those questions are that his memory deserved better than the efforts the people he gave his trust to have delivered this last 4 decades.
The former Doors seem to think that honouring Jim's memory should always involve a 'best of' album with his picture on it and shitloads of $$ in profits.
It seemed to take them long enough to actually go to his grave.... surely they all visited in 1972 when they played Paris....but this seems contradicted by Densmores book and the 1975 visit
To me now it seems that Morrison is more meal-ticket than friend to his three former partners and I have a more cynical viewpoint of the times they appear in Pere Lachaise with a book/album/concept to promote at Jim's graveside.

Where is the line drawn between being true to the art Jim Morrison strived for and simply using the T Shirt God he became as a way to sell stuff..........

Frank Lisciandro is for me the epitome of Jim Morrison's 'friend'....
This guy took the trouble to write two books giving a view of Jim Morrison NEVER before seen and then went on to bring The Doors world James Douglas Morrison The Poet with Wilderness and The American Night.
he was (last I heard) even trying to secure a deal to release HWY and Feast of friends which are the only examples of Jim Morrison film-maker in existence.
Jim's other 'mates' on the other hand constantly churn out albums with 'pretty Jim' on the cover and peddle myth as fact even going as far as to now want a Jim Morrison sideshow to hit Vegas...............
Two of his former mates believe that getting some imbecile to dress up as Jim and charging extortionate amounts to watch 'The Doors' in the 21st century is some kind of tribute to the bloke.

I will share with you my own tribute to Jim Morrison that took me 31 years to actually complete...........
I had never felt the urge to visit James Douglas Morrison in Paris during the 70s/80s or 90s as I felt it a bit 'tacky'.....I was uncomfortable with that .....I saw the Elvis experience and thought that the Morrison one would be little better.
Thanks to Nyree (Snake Skin Babe) I was talked into Paris in July 2002 and made my first visit to the grave on July 3rd 2002 with my friends from the website and all the 'newer starangers' that would become friends over the years.
It was not quite as I had thought and I was 'man enough' to admit I was wrong to people in the bar afterwards. I was glad I had come....but I had felt no great emotional tide of feeling that day as I was with lots of folks and was a bit drunk.....
The next day I wandered down to the cemetary and walked around Pere Lachaise to clear my aching head of the night befores boozing........I found myself at Jim's grave around 10 AM all by myself.........this was a different feeling to the one I had experience on July 3rd. I felt rather overwhelmed after 31 years and a tear or two did well up in my eyes. I sat on Jims grave for quite a while and never saw a soul........I paid the following tribute......
I touched Jim's gravestone and said aloud 'thanks dude!'
.....sounds silly but thats what I said.
I wanted to thank the bloke for all the years of my life he had been a part of.....for all the fun....the laffs .....the smiles.....his band the Doors had given me .....for all the great music and the feeling that music had given me for three quarters of my life.......
I was not selling anything and did not want anyone to look at me ....just wanted to say thanks for everything this dead bloke had done for me.......

So has the memory of James Douglas Morrison REALLY been honoured this last 35 years?
By the fans of The Doors yes I believe it has but by The Doors themselves NO I don't believe it has really......they got rich and live in big houses but is that how they feel best honours Jim's memory?
For me the Best tribute these people could pay the artist that was known as James Douglas Morrison would be to release his words............not another Best of in 5:1 sound or a DVD of their own propaganda as to what Jim Morrison was.
His Poetry.....the notes he made in Paris....the words he commited to tape.....the Jim Morrison he WAS not the Jim Morrison THEY want him to BE!

James Douglas Morrison was a lot of things as we know and not all of them were great.....but to me his greatest strength was he was an artist.......not a performer ....not a circus clown ........a true artist who strived really hard to live up to that tag...........He deserves better than he is given.

Watching a coupla dozen people sit in a bookshop last year and read his poetry was worth a thousand Best Of the Doors albums.
Those few fans showed in ONE HOUR more understanding of what Jim Morrison was about than all the Manzarek interviews since time began. For me a great Doors moment as I finally got to read a Jim Morrison poem out loud.....scary!

So thats my viewpoint so if you give a shit about it ....
whats YOURS??

[thebadcowboy]

wilderness, the american night and the ragtag bunch of people gathered in a dusty old parisian bookstore last july......

the people who have nothing to gain are the ones who have done the most to honour morrison..... every time somebody picks up a copy of one of the aforementined books it honours him in a way that can not be matched by plastering his image all over MTv or selling countless thousands of t-shirts or other crap with his image on them....

Art cannot soothe
Words cannot tame
The Night


I wish a storm would
come & blow this shit
away. Or a bomb to
burn the Town & scour
the sea. I wish clean
death would come to me.


experience life...
like a candle burning.................!!

[jym]

It seems to me Scorpywag has been a beautifully fitting tribute to Jim Morrison & The Doors.

[miepie]

admin said:

So has the memory of James Douglas Morrison REALLY been honoured this last 35 years?
By the fans of The Doors yes I believe it has but by The Doors themselves NO I don't believe it has really......they got rich and live in big houses but is that how they feel best honours Jim's memory?

I agree Alex! Good point!

The first time i saw Jim's grave was in 1994. Since then he changed my life. I read the words of the songs he wrote, his poems. By reading his words, he gives me something to think about: Life.

What Ray and Robby are doing right now is not given Jim any respect. They are giving some jerk a microphone and thinks that he can sing the songs. NOT
So that they can make some more money out of it and that is for me a wrong way to respect Jim!

Every time I go to Jim's grave I give Jim a lots of respect. Why?
because thanks to him and his words gives it me a lot to think of life.

And even now I pass it on to my kids. And I hope that they honour Jim like I do. With lots of respect.

And everytime I go to Paris I'm very happy to see my friends who also honour Jim and understands why I respect him.
Because my family and friends don't understands that.

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

It's sad that The Morrison who is fed to Doors fans today by those with most to gain is NOT The Morrison who actually existed.....
I wanna see the right due given to the guy who when asked what his 'favourite pop record was' by Elektra guy Bruce Harris replied 'you know the soundtrack from Fellinis 8½?..........I quite like that'.......not The Beatles or the Stones or the Who or The Moody Blues but a fucking film soundtrack..........I wanna see the guy who bought poetry pamphlets from down and out poets and gave them to his friends and total strangers given the respect he deserves........ the guy who got drunk in bars with his real friends and like many of us sat there and put the world to rights..........the bloke who cared so much for the art he produced he was prepared to go to jail (scared yes) but he had the guts to stand up and say 'fuck you' to those who said his art was not in the public interest........for too long I have been fed, like we all have, the Jim Morrison of NOHGOA and the
Manzarek-Morrison-Meal-Ticket that keeps the other three in the lap of luxury while he lies in a Paris graveyard ............the very same people who could not be arced to even pay for a decent headstone for him......the people who sell a fake Morrison because they themselves are simply a bunch of fakes who were such artists that their collective work in 35 years could be contained in a supermarket carrier bag.
The fans are the only real arbiters of the Morrison Legacy.
We are manipulated and lied to constantly in the search for the latest money-spinning wheeze cynically sold to us as a tribute to Jim.............but WE make the effort to see a different Morrison than THEY do.
He was not a God, nor a Shaman, nor Dionysus nor was he any of the crap you would read in anything Ray Manzarek says.......he was a bloody good singer who could write some killer songs and a would be poet who wanted so hard to write something really important.
He saw his dreams crushed by the very weight of the image he himself created and sank into depression fueled it with drink and drugs and it finally killed him.
His legacy is that its good to fly....even if you eventually crash into the ground.....the feeling of being up there with the clouds is maybe even worth the price of the landing.........
40 years on The Doors could have paid tribute to the man who made them a legend by dedicating a year to Jim 'the Poet' rather than Jim the 'bloody good earner'.
Instead we will be sold the usual stuff....Best Ofs, DVD, Books that sell the Myth, revamped albums we already own.......but what will we see of the Real 'James Douglas Morrison'....very little I bet.
In July I will raise a glass to the dead bloke not 'cos he was the greatest rock artist the world has ever seen (which is of course important to me) but for the poet who strived to be a better poet and even in his last few weeks of life continued to strive because he believed that he might one day achieve his dream.......he never did and I find that sad so the first drink on July 3rd will be for that guy!

miepie said:

And everytime I go to Paris I'm very happy to see my friends who also honour Jim and understands why I respect him.
Because my family and friends don't understands that.

And BTW we will also raise a glass for someone else who for me epitomised honouring the memory of James Douglas Morrison, Marielle.......your Marcel.

[miepie]

Yes we will Alex!

[jym]

[quote author=miepie board=jim thread=1148849511 [/quote]

I agree Alex! Good point!

he changed my life. I read the words of the songs he wrote, his poems. By reading his words, he gives me something to think about: Life.
[/quote]

Another good example of a way to honor Morrison's memory.. How many artists has Morrison spawned? How many have read poetry or philosophy that wouldn't have? How many have wondered what other realities exist for them?

[jochen]

Great Alex, absolutely fantastic!!! ;D

You know it is always a bit difficult for me to state my opinion in a foreign language.

Although I know that some people here might understand what I am trying to say in my posts (or in person in Paris), it is just not the same for me because I often fear that my real opinion, which I could perfectly express in German of course, won't come through just because of the language barrier.

All I can say is that I totally agree with you Alex and I guess you know that already...

Jim deserves way better than he was treated by so-called friends and other assholes since he's dead.

Although I'm quite young for a Doors fan, I guess I have read, heard and seen everything regarding the Doors and Jim within the last 3 1/2 years, books, reviews, poetry, films, bootlegs etc. and of course was able to create my own image of the whole Doors world and the Jim myth and all that.

That is all well for me as I should be satisfied that this great group still gets so much attention and that even 40 years later, a newborn fan is still able to get everything he wants to.

Nevertheless, there is something that misses throughout the whole Doors/Jim myth in my eyes:

THE ARTISTIC SIDE OF JAMES DOUGLAS MORRISON !

This guy is responsable that I got into poetry, literature and art in general and I even study this shit now although my parents still laugh at me when I say that I analysed a poem by a French writer the other day for example because I always hated literature in school...

This guy had and of course still has such a great influence in my everyday life that I don't wanna know who I would be without it/him.

There are too many great things that he did that they all can't be mentioned here, but I always miss the understanding of him as a poet and NOT a rock singer.

Of course he was one of the greatest singers in rock history in my opinion, but there are enough books and other stuff written on that subject.

As you've said Alex, Frank Lisciandro is the only guy of the so-called Doors family and all the other unimportant members who showed us the real Jim, the other, artistic side of him and not the glorification of his excessive self-destruction, a Jim which I always had been interested in and I didn't know that this Jim really existed before I've read Lisciandro's books.

There is also a great book (written in German I'm afraid) by a German philosopher which only deals with Jim the Poet, his literary idols and his self-conception as an artist.
One gets the impression that his guy had been a full time poet and wasn't a singer at all.
It really is a pity that this book hadn't been translated into English and all other languages because it really is the only book that deals with Jim the Poet and it would be an unknown pleasure for all of you here, the best book on Jim Morrison ever!

What I want to say by that is that there only exist these tiny efforts to honour Jim as an artist and a human being and this is the side which I'm totally interested in.

I'm often wondering if the kids on the LL, who are posting questions like "Did Jim had to fart, too?" are really aware of the whole intriguing personality of Jim Morrison.
I guess a lot of them don't even know that he wrote fantastic poetry and that's not necessarily or completely their own fault, but the result of the Doors marketing and management since Jim is dead.

I knew from the beginning that I had to pay my respects to this guy in Paris, too.
I also still know that I can't stop thanking him enough and this is why I'm reading parts of his poetry almost every day and why I'm going to Paris twice a year.

Although I did my own thing the first two visits there, I got to know more and more fans who are/were all going to Paris just because this guy once lived.

This invisible connection or bond is what fascinates me the most.
I often tell my friends that we don't talk about the Doors or Jim every single second in Paris, but it is a great feeling to know that one is only a couple of metres away from the resting soul of Jim Morrison while talking about life and other topics with guys that appreciate that as much as I do. Not to mention the booze...

This is also why I'm failing to see to support the band members or management viewpoint, I honour Jim in my own way as much as I can and I know lots of other great people and fans that do the same in their way.

In the meantime, I came to the conclusion (darling.. ) that in my eyes Jim will never be honoured in the appropriate way and to be honest, I really don't give a fuck if they still think to sell the 37th Best Of album, I simply do not buy it...
Probably we'll have to wait another 20 or 30 years (well I can most likely.. ) for a better understanding of the complexe personality of Jim the Artist.

I WON'T WAIT!!!

Cheers,

Jochen



PS: Alex, are you really sure that the Doors visited Pere Lachaise in 1972?
I have never heard of that before, although I have to admit that I always stuck to the Densmore version of 1975 which isn't 1ß00% proof, too...

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

jochen said:

PS: Alex, are you really sure that the Doors visited Pere Lachaise in 1972?
I have never heard of that before, although I have to admit that I always stuck to the Densmore version of 1975 which isn't 1ß00% proof, too...

Well no I'm not mate!
They played Paris on May 1st 1972 and if they did NOT visit Jim's grave whilst there it would make them the three biggest fucking skunks rats in rock history.....but I have never seen any indication that they did.........which tells a story about those three that they would most likely prefer not to be told.........

BTW you stated your opinion fine mate and anyone else who thinks that because English is not your first language should not worry either.....if you feel it say it......

[jochen]

Thanks for your response Alex, but as you know, it's just not the same when talking or writing in a foreign language, but it should be no obstacle on the other hand.


I also don't know of any indication that they had been to Pere Lachaise in 1972.

The pretended "true story" in Densmores book really seems to be true this time...
On the other hand, if they had been there, Manzarek would have had a thousand opportunities to tell us since 1972 and he would have done so of course!

I guess they just had been damn busy back then...

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

This indicates perfectly the point of this very thread mate.......
these people are forever telling us how much they revere and honour their dead 'friend' but it seems like they could not even be arced to travel a short distance from the Olympia Theatre to Pere Lachaise in 1972 and pay their respect to the bloke......
I would really like to give these three a grilling on that myself but would never be allowed to.........they never mention something like that in their endless crap about how much Jim meant to them.......I for one think it utterly disgusting if they did not go in 1972 (and I will concede I do not know for sure but as Jochen says Ray would have told us if he had gone so I can make an intelligent guess that they did not).....
The Meal-Ticket Morrison is wheeled out by the three of them whenever they are selling some crap or other but he was so much of a 'friend' to them they could not even be bothered to travel a couple of mile and pay thier respects to him...........
If that is the case then there is not a reason in the world that these three hypocrites could wheel out that could excuse such a despicable act............they could play a concert that night but could not spare an hour to visit the bloke who a year previously was their lead singer.........
Of course they had no idea then what an industry Morrison would become as at that time The Doors were on the slide. Full Circle was a complete disaster as an LP and the Morrison Myth was just starting to begin to pique the interest of rock fans.
It did indeed grow steadily during the 70s as from experience I noticed more and more Doors/Morrison related items appear but 1972 was a poor year for the Doors. It was only when the level of interest became enough to justify American Prayer that these people suddenly discovered how much cash was to be made from Jim Morrison.....maybe they regret not giving enough of a shit about visiting the grave in 1972 because they are embarrassed enough to never have mentioned it...indeed Ray even went as far as to forget the band had ever played Paris.
For me this episode says such a lot about these three people and they were lucky I did not give that as much thought as it deserved 20 year ago or they would have gotten a lot less from my wallet than they did.....
As I said at the beginning my way of looking at these people has changed a lot this last few years and no matter what I think of them as musical geniuses as people they sicken me for their level of hypocrisy.......they suddenly realise what a great earner Morrison is and all at once he is more important than anything and they fall over each other to present themselves as his 'mate'.....a 'mate' they did not give a shit about in 1972 as they could not be bothered to visit his grave or even care if he had a decent gravestone.........same goes for his family BTW....
Next time someone asks a question of them maybe worth asking what pathetic excuse they have for not going to Jim's grave in Paris in 1972 or forking out for a marker for his grave.........

[jochen]

I've gone through the first pages of Densmores book again and as far as I could see, Manzarek wasn't part of the gang in 1975.

Only Krieger, Densmore, Sugerman and Hervé Muller are mentioned, so where the fuck was Manzarek?

Looks like he came to visit Jim for the first time in 1981 (because he had to most likely...) while errecting the new gravestone...

By the way, I've just opened a thread over on Ed's forum in order to ask Vince Treanor, who seems to be quite critical and cynical, what he thinks about this whole intransparent story, hope he'll be able to sort it out a bit...

On the other hand, if Jim was really a FRIEND to them, and we all know what that means because we do have friends, too, they definitely would have visited their dead FRIEND, just like we would do it, I can't imagine that one of my closest friends would die and that it would take me 4 goddamn years to visit his grave, can you?

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

jochen said:

I've gone through the first pages of Densmores book again and as far as I could see, Manzarek wasn't part of the gang in 1975.

Only Krieger, Densmore, Sugerman and Hervé Muller are mentioned, so where the fuck was Manzarek?

Looks like he came to visit Jim for the first time in 1981 (because he had to most likely...) while errecting the new gravestone... ?

Lets not forget that all three were there in Paris in 1978 to promote American prayer so I would imagine they all went then.
After all a visit to jim's grave is always handy when there is some Doors product to sell.....
Still stinks to high heaven for me......stir up a hornets nest mate and lets see if these guys have the guts to defend themselves about what is without doubt possibly the shabbiest event in Doors History and thats saying something considering the last 30 years.....

[jochen]

I totally agree of course!

However, I have never heard of a story that they had visited Jim while promoting AP in 1978, where do you got that from mate?

On the other hand, if they had been there in 1978, why should we believe that they even went so far and visited Jim, they definitely would have told us I assume...

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Well they played the Palais Club on Jim's birthday in 1978 during a promo stint for AP so I presume they visited the grave......I don't know for sure as they have never said.

[jochen]

They have never said = They had not been there

[eressie]

jym said:

How many artists has Morrison spawned? How many have read poetry or philosophy that wouldn't have? How many have wondered what other realities exist for them?

thebadcowboy said:

wilderness, the american night and the ragtag bunch of people gathered in a dusty old parisian bookstore last july......

the people who have nothing to gain are the ones who have done the most to honour morrison!

I can´t think of a better way to honor Jim than to share your own creativity that got inspired by him, poems, other writings, philosophy etc. To not only read and listen to his work, but to have let those things inspire you to do your own has to be something that would please him a lot.

[TheWallsScreamedPoetry]

Today is an interesting day as its the anniversary of the Cinematheque Poetry Reading in 1969 which was a two day benefit to raise money for Norman Mailer's New York campaign for mayor.
Jim read his "An American Prayer" poem and is later joined by Robby Krieger on guitar to perform a few blues songs including Elvis's "I Will Never Be Untrue", in which the second evening's performance is recorded and included on the 1978 album release of "An American Prayer"

Michael C. Ford who was a good friend of The Doors and at one time was asked to play bass for them remembers....
"He said Mailer wanted to turn New York into another country . . . Jim loved that kind of buffoonery. He asked me to read and I agreed. I remember we all sat on barstools. It was Jim, Tom Baker, Seymour Cassel, Mary Waronov, Ultra Violet, Jamie Sanchez, Jack Hirschmann (who subbed for Michael McClure), and myself. And Robby Krieger was there noodling notes while we read. Jim did a lot of things like that which nobody knows about. He contributed money to American Indian funds. He helped out his friends. I think he really wanted to help people, but he was so beleaguered by pressures it was difficult for him to do much on a large scale. A lot of whether it was something humanitarian or creative. He couldn't move without bumping into a wall of subterfuge and misinterpretation. Jim couldn't deal with obstacles with patience. He either dealt with them heroically or he gave up and it was around the time of the poetry reading that I sensed he was giving up a lot more."

Bet that this aspect of Morrison does not get explored much in 2007 when we are fed the fake 40 Year Anniversary of the Doors....also I wonder if Manzarek & Densmore attended these readings?
Never read anything about that from them..........
Also wonder if any recording survived of the American Prayer reading???

Sad to see that guys like Ford who were part of Jim's poetical life were noticing that Jim was becoming inured to the fact that his original vision of The Doors was a memory by the summer of '69 and was beginning to let the hope he had be overwhelmed by the despair he felt.

This is one of the points of this thread........where were the others during this time.....did they not feel that what they had originally strived for was being userped by the bullshit that surrounded 'The Doors The Business'........did it not matter as much to them?
The events of the last 35 years seem to indicate that there were two distinct factions within The Doors........the artistic side championed by Morrison and the voracity of the audience and Elektra for product and performances in pursuit of profit and entertainment. It does not seem to me that Manzarek/Krieger/Densmore stood with Morrison.
Its sad that such High Hopes of 1965 became bogged down by the weight of expectations that Doors audience and record company placed on Morrison's shoulders.....no wonder he got drunk.............
For me Morrison has been treated shabbily by all of us this last 35 years. Band and fan alike has clamoured for the crazy Jim and Jim the performer and we have relegated the artist Morrison to a backwater of History.
Frank Lisciandro gave us a glimpse but his was a forlorn voice in a Wilderness of Bullshit as fans lap up Stephen davis and Ray Manzarek's crap..............
Who truly speaks for Jim Morrison?
For me the fans try but we are easily appeased by a few baubles like a Philly gig or a new book with a few nice pictures.......
I am not trying to secure some moral high ground for myself by the way as i am as bad as anyone else.....but perhaps on the 35th anniversary of Jim Morrison's death we fans should demand that Jim Morrison artist poet and human being is celebrated rather than the dissillusioned drunk of the Boston 1970 shows or the Lizard King or the Erotic Politician or any of the other money spinning guises Jim Morrison is accorded!
For once lets hear the voice of Jim the poet and artist..............

[sparky]

eressie said:

jym said:

How many artists has Morrison spawned? How many have read poetry or philosophy that wouldn\'t have? How many have wondered what other realities exist for them?

thebadcowboy said:

wilderness, the american night and the ragtag bunch of people gathered in a dusty old parisian bookstore last july......

the people who have nothing to gain are the ones who have done the most to honour morrison!

I can´t think of a better way to honor Jim than to share your own creativity that got inspired by him, poems, other writings, philosophy etc. To not only read and listen to his work, but to have let those things inspire you to do your own has to be something that would please him a lot.

i totally agree with you monica.

everytime i write a piece of poetry im always reminded of jim.
i had been writing poetry before i became a doors fan and i thought that it was strange but realised that it helped me alot to write my feelings down, but after discovering jims words i realised that it was a way to be creative aswell.
being able to shape words into such a way, that it is art.
also after discovering jims poetry i realised that i didnt have to keep my poetry to myself and began showing others.
also through jim i have found some great friends that can share my love of the the doors and jim morrison, friends that share the same ideas and feelings as me................

great friends i mean as in all of you guys here.
i think scorpywag is the definitive tribute to jim morrison.

[ensenada]

i couldnt really give one single event as a great tribute to jim...but i think the best tribute is the countless fans who tirelessly support jim, people who would actually start a fight in a pub cos someone called jim a no good drunken, pretentious fat bastard.
also the people who are willing to stand up infornt of strangers and friends to recite jim's poetry, because it must something personal to them...us doors fan tend to wear our hearts on our sleaves, i know i do. The people who leach of his back to make a profit are not the real tributes....

For those about to rock...we salute you!