Check out the clip from the TV show...
www.rockandrollbadboy.com/TV/brettmeisner_56k.wmvReview from TheDoors4Scorpywag of Living TV's 'Dead Famous' Jim Morrison Program July 2004.Without doubt one of the silliest ideas on TV where two idiots Gail Porter ( panicky woman and stater of the bleeding obvious) and Chris Fleming (psychic,over-actor, speaker in whispers and a man with a very odd bottom lip) wander round America finding tenuous links with locations and famous people.
This Morrison one starts off brightly with a chat with Doors photographer Henry Diltz who recounts the Morrison Hotel photo session and gives us a little insight into the Jim personality……'Jim was an observer…very quiet and very attentive….little smile and nod of the head'
Then we enter Twilight Zone territory with a conversation with Brett Meisner and his famous 'shot' of Jim's ghost at Pere Lachaise. 'I'm not scared about anything….this photo made me think twice' confides Brett to Chris who was very impressed by it all!
Though why Jim would want to appear yards away from his grave as the Jim Morrison he hated most (pretty boy w/ leather pants) is anybody's guess!
Moving on the Norton Avenue we meet former Madam Cheri Woods who now owns the building (and recently very worthily had it listed as an Historical Landmark) and wander around chatting to the neighbours…..
'Did Jim leave his mark anywhere on the building' asks Gail prompting Cheri to proudly display the black skid marks made by the often drunk Morrison's car along the whitewashed wall of the house…odd that in 30 years nobody bothered to give the outside wall a coat of paint?
Meanwhile Chris wanders round chatting to the tenant of Pam's flat who often saw a dark figure out of the corner of his eye leading Chris to announce that we were going to have a séance to try to communicate with Jim's spirit.
Consequently we have an hilarious séance with selected LA loonies including medium Michael Currie, Cheri, Barry Taff a parapsychologist who claimed to be a casual acquaintance of Jim and a couple of Doors fans.
Chris explaining that the séance could become rather terrifying 'it could get extreme…candles could start flickering, people could feel cold spots someone might touch you!'….I was frozen with fear as between these idiots channelling their psychic energy they were able to make the candle on the table glow a miniscule amount brighter than it had been before. 'The candles going really crazy' one of them intones but unless you were there it's impossible to tell……then the table started to vibrate…..or at least that's what they said it did…. 'I'm feeling like a dog or a cat under the table' whispers the medium as our heroes try to channel Jim (who was probably at a 21st century dork gig at the time inside ian astbury) who unable to pop in sent his mutt Sage instead….Sage at one stage making ghostly barking noises on the street outside….spooky!! Then to pan out the programme a bit we
(for no discernable reason at all other than Jim MAY once have walked past the place ...as he once lived nearby with Mum & The Admiral….and after discovering he had an interest in witchcraft and all manner of psychic mumbo jumbo according to his mate Barry and that other famous head-case R$ay) visit the Whaley House in San Diego… the most Haunted House on the West Coast…<br>Here our two heroes run around screaming as they are attacked by the spirits of the Whaley family (or was it Jim or maybe even Sage again)…<br>'Oh My God' being screamed and uttered at dark dramatic intervals as the woman presenter sees dark shadows behind the cameraman or demonic figures glimpsed for a second at the top of the stairs…... if these morons had just turned the fucking lights on they probably would not have scared the shit out of themselves…..…..Our psychic hero at one point being horrifically assaulted on camera by the invisible spirit of one of the kids…either that or he just deliberately jumped back and claimed he was assaulted…<br>
This less than terrifying attack results in the panicky woman refusing to go back in the house whilst our hero psychic bravely returns to boost the energy of the dead family and make them manifest for the camera…..of course sod all happens except on the way out the director of the programme gets 'attacked' on the stairs by one of the dead residents…..cue more 'Oh My Gods' and lots of terrified whispering.
These people seemed to be very impressed by slight drafts, chandeliers moving miniscule amounts, candles flickering and shadowy images reflected by the fact all the lights were off…….
Perhaps not conclusive proof that the spirits walk the Earth but surely conclusive proof that idiots will believe any old baloney if its on TV…..
After this less than pointless exercise in stupidity and four days swanning round L.A. looking for Jim's ghost the crew move on to Alta Ceinaga Hotel and Room 32 where they should have probably come first as if anywhere in LA is gonna have a remnant of Jim's energy it surely would be here.
After marvelling at the graffiti covered walls, 'Jims soul is here a corpse lies in Paris' proclaiming one of the authors, and the 'energy' of the room our heroes begin their psychic sleuthing.
'I've got a weird, weird feeling more over towards this wall' murmurs Chris before astounding us with….'OK he fell into the wall here' …….bloody amazing who would have thought Jim would have once fallen against the wall of his tiny hotel room……all my scepticism just floated away at this revelation…..
'Yeah his spirits here!'...Chris whispers…..
They then rope in some loony woman, Carla Baron, who is in her words a 'direct intuitive' (?) with a pack of Tarot cards who after stating the obvious (as if she did not know anything about the guy) then proceeds to have a very interesting conversation with Jim.
'He says he's here but he's hiding!' Carla suddenly announces…..
Morrison who seems to be a social worker in the afterlife tries at one stage to get to the nub of the pain the psychic and the sceptic have blocked out from some past trauma…..and seems quite happy to have a conversation with this mad woman.. Gail eventually asks the all important question…'and do you know how he died?' which elicits the odd statement from Carla that she 'thought he died of exhaustion' but seconds before she was actually talking to Jim so why did she not just ask him how he died….This revelation leads us to ask maybe Jim did not actually know how he died …..either that or Tarot woman was just making this shit up! 'He's at the candle right now' says Carla before asking the presenters questions from Jim who now seems to be happy to chat with Carla again. Its easy to be sceptical and watching these three idiots sit in Room 32 & talk utter shite it was made even easier….at least Jim did not attack Chris. 'Tee Hee' says Carla 'Jim just said something I can't say'…..cue smiles and hugs and thanks to Jim for letting these idiots chat to him and end credits.
It was a wonderful look at the graffiti and photo strewn room 32 adorned with poetry and messages to Jim…but the insight into his character given by the three mental cases invading his privacy was about as useful as syphilis!
The music during this show was a super-market version of The Doors greatest hits….the sort of garbage Ray plays at his book signings….to give it a Doors feel but ultimately its just another one of TVs paranormal extravaganzas where sod all ever happens….Cool that Jim was chosen for the series and fun without a doubt but also extremely bloody silly! 'Oh My God!' ….
Alex Patton from Stockton-on-Tees…….
from TheDoors4Scorpywag Summer 2004 issue.
