Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on May 28, 2006 20:51:51 GMT
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??
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??