27: Jim Morrison (7 page)

Arriving late for The Doors show, Jim Morrison was certainly the worse for wear, very drunk indeed. And the audience was rowdy, largely because it was unlawfully packed with almost twice its legal capacity of 7,000. It didn't really improve their mood when Jim Morrison began to harangue them from the stage. During ‘Five to One', after challenging audience members to come up on stage and ‘love my ass', he turned on them: ‘You're all a bunch of fuckin' idiots. Let people tell you what you're gonna do. Let people push you around … How long are you gonna let it go on?' But then his mood shifted again: ‘I'm talking about love your neighbour … till it hurts. I'm talkin' about grab your friend. I'm talkin' about love, love, love, love.'

After more rants, he made a direct reference to the Living Theatre: ‘The last couple of nights I met some people who were doing somethin'. They're trying to change the world and I wanna get on the trip. I wanna change the world.'

Again and again, he challenged the audience to rush the stage. Unusually, that night Jim Morrison was wearing cotton boxer shorts beneath his leather pants. With his shirt off, the top of the boxer shorts was visible. As he stuffed it back inside his trousers, Jim inquired: ‘Hey, anybody want to see my cock?'

His shirt back on, he fumbled behind its tails, as though unbuttoning his fly. Except no one could see anything at all. ‘Okay, I'm gonna show it to you,' he promised. Pulling his shirt-tail swiftly to one side. ‘Okay, watch now … here it comes!'

Still no one could see anything at all. ‘Did you see it? Did you see my cock?' he inquired. ‘Do you want to see it again? Watch close now.' He pulled his shirt back and forth: ‘There, I did it! Did you see it? Are you happy now? Want to see it again?'

As the crowd surged forward, there was serious danger of the stage collapsing. Then Jim bellowed once again into the mike: ‘Now, look close, I'm only gonna show you my cock one more time.' Once again he wafted his shirt in front of his flies. But in fact, he was revealing nothing.

‘Folks, he never exposed himself. But it's become a myth, hasn't it? It's become an American rock and roll myth. And it's a lot more fun to believe the myth, isn't it? So we do,' wrote Ray Manzarek.
⁶¹

The singer's moment of controversy over, The Doors continued their set, kicking into ‘Light My Fire'. As the song progressed, Jim Morrison urged audience members to come up on stage. The stage then began to list. Security guards started to push people back into the hall off the stage. Inevitably, Jim pushed one of the security men off the stage. At which point another security guy threw Jim into the audience, where he was caught by the crowd. Working his way through them, Jim made his way to the dressing room.

The next day Jim, John and Robby took the short flight to Jamaica, while Ray Manzarek and Dorothy made their way to Guadeloupe. Jim had booked a residence in Jamaica, a former Great House, up a hill in the middle of the island, where he had intended to share the vacation with Pamela. Now he went on his own. Alone in this former slave mansion, he became depressed. John and Robby had rented a sea-front villa in the north coast resort of Ocho Rios. One day Jim showed up there, drunk of course. He stayed for several days, annoying John Densmore, who had been seeking respite from the singer's ego, before flying back to the United States.
⁶²
There, the Concert Hall Managers Association of the United States had issued a confidential newsletter. It warned against the ‘unprofessionalism' of The Doors, singling out Jim Morrison. As a consequence, The Doors were effectively banned from live performance in the USA – all the subsequent dates on their first ever full-scale tour of the USA were cancelled. The live show cancellations occasioned by the Miami incident cost The Doors an estimated million dollars.

It was while they were in Jamaica that they learned that on 5 March Dade County Sheriff's Office had begun legal proceedings against James Douglas Morrison. He was to be charged with lewd and lascivious behaviour, a felony; indecent exposure, a misdemeanour; open profanity, a misdemeanour; and drunkenness, also a misdemeanour.

Owing to an absurdity of the American legal system, Jim was obliged to surrender to the FBI. Because he had been in Jamaica when the warrants were issued, this was deemed unlawful flight across state lines to avoid prosecution – even though he was unaware he was about to be prosecuted. He was charged with lewd and lascivious behaviour, simulating oral copulation, and indecent exposure.

‘“Rallies for decency” were convened in the name of “decent, wholesome, traditional Christian values”', wrote Ray.
⁶³
The national outrage was absurd: even though drunk, Jim Morrison had conned them all. Thirty thousand ‘Teens for Decency' filled Miami's Orange Bowl two weeks after the controversial show.

Suddenly radio stations were again refusing to play The Doors. Already criticized for its orchestral arrangements, sales of the blues-based
Soft Parade
suffered: it only made number 6. The biggest single off the record was ‘Touch Me', which made number 3, a substantial hit at least. None of the singles – the others were ‘Wishful Sinful', ‘Tell All the People' and ‘Runnin' Blu' – had been written by Jim Morrison; they were all Robby Krieger compositions.

Back in Los Angeles, the group languished, reeling from the moral outrage they had provoked. Supposed to be working on the
Feast of Friends
edit, Jim instead spent much time at the Palms bar on Sunset, drinking. In an apparent attempt to hide who he was, he had grown a full beard, effectively hiding his good looks, and was putting on significant weight from his alcohol consumption.

At a meeting with the other two Doors musicians, Ray said that they had to confront Jim about his drinking. An intervention session was arranged at Robby's father's house, at 2 in the afternoon. After much collective trepidation, it was put to Jim that he was drinking too much. ‘I know I drink too much. I'm trying to quit,' he replied.

On Saturday 14 June 1969 The Doors played their first live concert since the Miami debacle, at the Chicago Auditorium Theater. The next day they played in Minneapolis, and there were further shows in Vancouver, Atlanta and New Orleans. On Wednesday 25 June, they appeared on
Critique
, an hour-long PBS television show of unimpeachably serious credentials. The five numbers they played live included an epic performance of ‘The Soft Parade'. In the panel discussion afterwards, writer Al Aronowitz dismissed The Doors as ‘inconsequential'.

Two days later they were in Mexico City, playing four nights in the Forum, a supper club. In exchange for performing at the nightclub, they had been promised they would play a show in a Mexico City bullring. Although Jim Morrison was not a particular fan of cocaine, all the group – except John Densmore – willingly availed themselves of the large amounts of coke they were offered.
⁶⁴
Then they were told the bullring show had been pulled, on ‘safety' grounds.

Jim was deeply saddened by the passing of Brian Jones on 3 July 1969. ‘Ode to LA while Thinking of Brian Jones, Deceased' was a 73-line poem he quickly wrote, publishing it at his own expense and giving it away to members of the audience at Doors concerts on 21 and 22 July at the Aquarius Theater on Sunset in Hollywood. The shows were recorded for the group's
Absolutely Live
album.

Unwisely, The Doors turned down a slot at that August's Woodstock festival because the singer believed the acoustics would be inadequate. But there were shows in Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Detroit. The contracts for these concerts specified that the group would lose all payment should Jim utter any obscenities whatsoever.

The summons to appear in court on the charges from the Dade County Sheriff's Department were not served on Jim Morrison until 9 November 1969. In a hearing that lasted twenty minutes, bail was set at $5,000 and a trial date was set for 28 April 1970. ‘Jim seemed sobered by the ordeal,' wrote John Densmore.
⁶⁵

Two days later, on 11 November 1969, Jim Morrison was busted once again. On a flight from Los Angeles to Phoenix, Arizona, to see The Rolling Stones play, Jim and Tom Baker drunkenly mauled a flight attendant. The police had been called when they landed, and The Doors singer was charged with ‘drunk and disorderly conduct' and ‘interference with a flight crew'. This carried a maximum ten-year sentence. At the trial in March 1970 they were both acquitted, a case – somehow! – of ‘mistaken identity'.

Whatever the future held for Jim Morrison, another album needed to be made, and so they began work at Elektra Sound Recorders on what would become known as
Morrison Hotel
. ‘Roadhouse Blues' featured John Sebastian on mouth harp, who told the band his name could not go on the record because he was contracted to Kama Sutra records. Later they learned he was embarrassed to be associated with the controversial Doors.

One night Jim Morrison brought some friends down to the studio: actor Laurence Harvey and Tom Reddin, the Los Angeles chief of police,
⁶⁶
whom he had met in a restaurant. Paul Rothchild swiftly hid the joint he was rolling.

While driving around downtown, Ray Manzarek happened upon the rundown Morrison Hotel. Despite protests from the owner, photographer Henry Diltz shot the group sitting in a window of the building.

Early one morning in January 1970 at The Doors' office on Santa Monica Boulevard, Jim Morrison was interviewed for an hour by Howard Smith, the columnist for the
Village Voice
who had already written so favourably of him. Jim was publicizing
Morrison Hotel
, due to be released on 7 February 1970. ‘We're the band that everybody loves to hate,' the singer complained, referring to a film festival in San Francisco where a screening of
Feast of Friends
had been greeted with boos. ‘They hate us because we are so good.' Jim then said of The Doors that, ‘I can reasonably predict another 7 or 8 years.'

Jim Morrison told Smith he didn't listen to music much, ‘mostly in the car driving around'. In Las Vegas he said he had seen the distinctly unhip Peggy Lee. ‘I'm not what you call a music buff. I don't read very much either. I used to, but then life became so interesting I didn't need to anymore. I don't write much either. I don't do much of anything really. But I will: I'll get back in the saddle. Right now I'm soaking it all in. I just completed a short feature, in colour, called Highway, spelt
HWY
. Should be ready next week. Essentially there's no plot, no story. I'm not that crazy about being an actor: I'd rather be a director or a writer.' Based on Michael McLure's book
The Adept
,
HWY
was, he said, ‘a contemporary story about this pair of dope dealers who go to the desert to make a score. This story was written before
Easy Rider
was made. It's just superficial similarities.'

‘A lot of the groups I've talked to have said they have a lot of trouble hanging on to money,' commented Howard Smith.

‘That's their fault,' came Jim Morrison's facetious reply. ‘They are probably spendthrifts: it's like giving whisky to an Indian … I've always said this,' he extemporized ironically. ‘Money does beat soul every time.'

Howard Smith told Jim he felt he was being disparaging towards him. But you can feel the journalist growing nervous and edgy on tape. In fact, Jim Morrison is really being honest and open, if a little ironic – which clearly some people had trouble with.

Asked about his impending trial in Miami, Jim Morrison batted away the question: ‘I might even buy a suit, a conservative dark blue suit, and a big fat tie with a great big knot. And I'll take a lot of tranquillizers. And try to have a good time. Maybe I'll write a piece in
Esquire
: my impressions of my hanging. Hey man, you're putting me on a bummer, let's talk about something light.'

Howard Smith then asked about The Doors' music having recently become more pop-orientated. ‘I don't agree with that,' replied the singer. ‘I think it keeps getting better and better. And gets more subtle and more sophisticated, lyrically and musically. If you keep on saying the same old thing over and over it gets boring.'

On 17 and 18 January The Doors played four concerts in New York at the 4,000-seater Felt Forum in the Madison Square Garden complex, including much material from the new album. By now Jim Morrison had shaved off his beard and lost some of his booze-induced weight. In Manhattan, he renewed his relationship with Patricia Kennealy, spending time with her at her apartment. Dates followed in San Francisco, Long Beach, Cleveland and Chicago.

Later that month, Jim Morrison reluctantly attended a party at Elektra's new West Hollywood offices. Egged on by Tom Baker, he began to wreck the place, until he was pushed out of the door onto the street.

On 7 April 1970
The Lords and the New Creatures
was published by Simon & Schuster. These were the poems by Jim Morrison that Michael McClure had read in London. Now they had been picked up by a major publisher. McClure found Jim Morrison sitting with a pile of the just-delivered books, in tears of gratitude. ‘This is the first time I haven't been fucked,' he told the writer.

Although his Miami trial had been scheduled for April, it was now postponed until August. This meant it remained hanging over his future, a permanent weight on his mind. He began to suggest that once the trial was over, he might move to another country to live.

On Saturday 29 August 1970, The Doors co-headlined the Saturday night show at the UK's Isle of Wight festival, sharing the top slot with The Who. Jim Morrison had to be in court on Monday morning in Miami. During his performance, the singer seemed desperately introverted, even refusing a blast on Roger Daltrey's then exotic peppermint schnapps. He performed like an unmoving statue. ‘Jim was in fine vocal form,' wrote Ray Mazarek.
⁶⁷
‘His voice was rich and powerful and throaty. He sang for all he was worth but moved nary a muscle. He remained rigid and fixed to the microphone for the entire concert. Dionysius had been shackled. They had killed his spirit. He would never be the same in concert again. They had won … He knew it was over.' Jimi Hendrix, who would be dead within three weeks, was also on the Isle of Wight bill.