1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,520 Speaker 1: The twenty seven Club is the production of I Heart 2 00:00:02,600 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 1: Radio and Double Elvis Media. Jim Morrison died at the 3 00:00:07,840 --> 00:00:11,520 Speaker 1: age of and he lived a life in close proximity 4 00:00:11,560 --> 00:00:14,680 Speaker 1: to scandal. I can give you twenty seven reasons why 5 00:00:14,760 --> 00:00:18,720 Speaker 1: that statement is true. One would be the number of sensational, 6 00:00:18,760 --> 00:00:22,560 Speaker 1: politically ripe execution scenes he would translate from a promotional 7 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:26,799 Speaker 1: video to his live stage show Jim Morrison shot dead 8 00:00:26,880 --> 00:00:30,880 Speaker 1: in front of thousands of screaming teens. Five more would 9 00:00:30,880 --> 00:00:33,960 Speaker 1: be the number of confrontational performances by the Living Theater 10 00:00:34,159 --> 00:00:37,600 Speaker 1: that he would attend during one week in February of ninette, 11 00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:41,560 Speaker 1: and they would inspire him to shock in awe. Another 12 00:00:41,600 --> 00:00:44,080 Speaker 1: one would be the number of Jim's hairdressers who was 13 00:00:44,159 --> 00:00:47,880 Speaker 1: among the unlucky friends murdered by the bloodthirsty Manson family 14 00:00:47,920 --> 00:00:50,320 Speaker 1: on Clo Drive and l A has Bennett a Canyon. 15 00:00:51,080 --> 00:00:53,199 Speaker 1: Two more would be the number of Google eyes that 16 00:00:53,320 --> 00:00:55,520 Speaker 1: rolled around in the head of the Wizard a k a. 17 00:00:55,800 --> 00:00:58,800 Speaker 1: Charles Manson that stared back at him during a private 18 00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:02,440 Speaker 1: doors rehearsal. In eighteen would be the number of months 19 00:01:02,480 --> 00:01:05,320 Speaker 1: he had left to live after a beach boy tired 20 00:01:05,360 --> 00:01:08,800 Speaker 1: of Jim's rude, macho poses took him outside the club 21 00:01:08,840 --> 00:01:11,160 Speaker 1: to give him a piece of his mind and a 22 00:01:11,280 --> 00:01:15,319 Speaker 1: piece of his fist. On this our fifth episode of 23 00:01:15,360 --> 00:01:20,600 Speaker 1: season two, on Stage executions bloodthirsty gangs, Dennis Wilson's fists 24 00:01:20,600 --> 00:01:25,480 Speaker 1: of Fury, and Jim Morrison lost in another fantasy. I'm 25 00:01:25,640 --> 00:02:11,120 Speaker 1: Jake Grennan and this is the Seven Club. Yeah, you'd 26 00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:13,800 Speaker 1: think it was a snuff film. In it, He's tied 27 00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:16,600 Speaker 1: to a post. The knots of rope or sloppy, but 28 00:02:16,639 --> 00:02:20,720 Speaker 1: they're tot His face is dotted with stubble grimaces. He 29 00:02:20,840 --> 00:02:26,600 Speaker 1: grits his teeth shot by an unseen firing squad, sumped 30 00:02:26,639 --> 00:02:29,680 Speaker 1: over in his wools shooting jacket. Dark blood runs in 31 00:02:29,720 --> 00:02:32,280 Speaker 1: a thick, dangling stream from his mouth as his head 32 00:02:32,320 --> 00:02:37,359 Speaker 1: hangs lifeless, blood splatters the flowers below him. Jim Morrison 33 00:02:38,040 --> 00:02:44,120 Speaker 1: is dead. The promotional film for the Door is single, 34 00:02:44,200 --> 00:02:47,160 Speaker 1: The Unknown Soldier did the band no favors when it 35 00:02:47,200 --> 00:02:50,520 Speaker 1: came to getting their song hurt. Radio stations had already 36 00:02:50,560 --> 00:02:53,200 Speaker 1: refused to play the song due to its political content. 37 00:02:53,560 --> 00:02:56,040 Speaker 1: I'm not happy to have just one song band by 38 00:02:56,040 --> 00:02:59,600 Speaker 1: American radio. Jim It doubled down and increased his band's 39 00:02:59,639 --> 00:03:06,519 Speaker 1: market share on Controversy Breakfast where the News has read, Television, Children, Fit, Unborn, Living, 40 00:03:06,639 --> 00:03:10,840 Speaker 1: living Dead, Bullet strikes the helmet's head. But those who 41 00:03:10,880 --> 00:03:14,400 Speaker 1: felt politically aligned with the song's lyrical content sought out 42 00:03:14,480 --> 00:03:17,880 Speaker 1: the single, and despite the backlash, it became the group's 43 00:03:17,919 --> 00:03:20,440 Speaker 1: fourth top forty hit when it peaked at number thirty 44 00:03:20,520 --> 00:03:23,880 Speaker 1: nine on the charts. Anti Vietnam War songs had begun 45 00:03:23,919 --> 00:03:26,760 Speaker 1: to transcend the folk singer world the year before, in 46 00:03:26,919 --> 00:03:30,120 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty seven with Our Little Gut Threes, Alice's Restaurant, 47 00:03:30,320 --> 00:03:33,600 Speaker 1: Nina Simon's Backlash Blues, and Country Joe and the Fishes 48 00:03:33,720 --> 00:03:37,840 Speaker 1: Feel Like I'm Fixed to Die. In sixty eight, relatively 49 00:03:37,920 --> 00:03:41,840 Speaker 1: unknown Bob Seger released two plus two Equals question Mark, 50 00:03:42,320 --> 00:03:45,440 Speaker 1: a searing anti war rocker that contradicted a stance he 51 00:03:45,480 --> 00:03:48,120 Speaker 1: had struck a few years earlier with Ballad of the 52 00:03:48,200 --> 00:03:52,240 Speaker 1: Yellow Beret, a self described protest against protesters song that 53 00:03:52,360 --> 00:03:56,680 Speaker 1: Seger wrote and credited to the pseudonym D. Dodger. The 54 00:03:56,720 --> 00:03:59,800 Speaker 1: world was a ball of confusion and feelings of paranoia. 55 00:04:00,040 --> 00:04:02,960 Speaker 1: His trust and frustration began to seep into three and 56 00:04:02,960 --> 00:04:06,280 Speaker 1: a half minute rock and roll singles, but the Doors 57 00:04:06,320 --> 00:04:09,200 Speaker 1: were the highest profile band in ninety eight. To make 58 00:04:09,200 --> 00:04:12,520 Speaker 1: a political statement on the top forty charts, they would 59 00:04:12,520 --> 00:04:16,000 Speaker 1: recreate the execution scene from the promotional film live and 60 00:04:16,120 --> 00:04:20,000 Speaker 1: concert at venues like the Hollywood Bowl. John would light 61 00:04:20,080 --> 00:04:22,880 Speaker 1: up his snare with rapid fire of drum rolls. Robbie 62 00:04:22,920 --> 00:04:26,160 Speaker 1: would point his guitar square at Jim. He'd hold it there. 63 00:04:26,400 --> 00:04:30,320 Speaker 1: His red gives an SG lightweight flat aimed at Jim's head. 64 00:04:31,480 --> 00:04:34,560 Speaker 1: The band would grab a suspended moment of silence, hold 65 00:04:34,560 --> 00:04:39,880 Speaker 1: onto it, bait the crowd, and then Jim's body dropped 66 00:04:39,920 --> 00:04:42,200 Speaker 1: to the floor of the stage like his mass had 67 00:04:42,240 --> 00:04:45,520 Speaker 1: suddenly vanished, like even cut off the knees like the 68 00:04:45,560 --> 00:04:49,160 Speaker 1: stage and given out below him. Jim disappeared, replaced by 69 00:04:49,160 --> 00:04:52,240 Speaker 1: a pile of flash and clothes. A flash, a blank, 70 00:04:52,360 --> 00:04:56,279 Speaker 1: a shot. The unknown Soldier was yet another way in 71 00:04:56,279 --> 00:05:00,400 Speaker 1: which Jim distanced himself from his father politically. Artis to clee, 72 00:05:01,200 --> 00:05:05,080 Speaker 1: Jim Morrison was James Dean to George Morrison's Jim Backus. 73 00:05:05,200 --> 00:05:08,559 Speaker 1: Jim was George's rebel. The way George saw it, Jim 74 00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:12,279 Speaker 1: had no cause. He rebelled to rebel to make waves, 75 00:05:12,440 --> 00:05:15,200 Speaker 1: to be different, to not be his father, and there 76 00:05:15,240 --> 00:05:18,239 Speaker 1: was something deep seated and oppositional, and Jim George thought 77 00:05:18,360 --> 00:05:20,400 Speaker 1: they caused him to act out for no other reason 78 00:05:20,440 --> 00:05:23,240 Speaker 1: than for the thrill of doing it. But George wasn't 79 00:05:23,279 --> 00:05:26,640 Speaker 1: exactly the most supportive father either. When Jim first wrote 80 00:05:26,680 --> 00:05:28,440 Speaker 1: his parents to let him know about the band he 81 00:05:28,440 --> 00:05:31,279 Speaker 1: had formed in Venice Beach, his father didn't immence words 82 00:05:31,279 --> 00:05:34,520 Speaker 1: in his response, you should give up any idea of 83 00:05:34,560 --> 00:05:37,200 Speaker 1: singing or any connection with the music group because of 84 00:05:37,240 --> 00:05:39,680 Speaker 1: what I consider to be a complete lack of talent 85 00:05:39,760 --> 00:05:43,560 Speaker 1: in this direction. George Morrison wrote Jim through the letter 86 00:05:43,600 --> 00:05:48,159 Speaker 1: away and never wrote to his father again. To Jim, 87 00:05:48,160 --> 00:05:51,159 Speaker 1: George just didn't understand. He was out of touch. A 88 00:05:51,240 --> 00:05:55,240 Speaker 1: company man, a military man, a staunchly traditional man's man. 89 00:05:55,480 --> 00:05:59,960 Speaker 1: Part of Jim's problem, part of ye problem. Case in point. 90 00:06:00,360 --> 00:06:03,240 Speaker 1: George Morrison was commander of the Navy Fleet during the 91 00:06:03,240 --> 00:06:06,599 Speaker 1: Gulf of Tonkan incident in August nineteen sixty four. What 92 00:06:06,760 --> 00:06:09,120 Speaker 1: happened in the Gulf of Tonkan was a critical turning 93 00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:11,919 Speaker 1: point for the United States involvement in the Vietnam War. 94 00:06:12,360 --> 00:06:15,560 Speaker 1: Two incidents with North Vietnamese ships in the water. One 95 00:06:15,640 --> 00:06:19,760 Speaker 1: reel and one falsely reported gave justification to President Lyndon 96 00:06:19,839 --> 00:06:22,919 Speaker 1: Johnson that the US needed to step up. It was 97 00:06:22,960 --> 00:06:25,880 Speaker 1: like sticking a half submerged leg in even deeper mock. 98 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:30,359 Speaker 1: President Johnson ordered air strikes. He appealed to the American 99 00:06:30,400 --> 00:06:33,600 Speaker 1: people on national television back at a time when interrupting 100 00:06:33,680 --> 00:06:37,440 Speaker 1: live TV throughout the country was a major event. Congress 101 00:06:37,520 --> 00:06:41,200 Speaker 1: voted to conduct military operations in Southeast Asia, even though 102 00:06:41,200 --> 00:06:45,440 Speaker 1: it hadn't actually declared war. To Johnson, in the US government, 103 00:06:45,640 --> 00:06:49,680 Speaker 1: the Americans had been the victims of unprovoked attacks. Paranoia 104 00:06:49,800 --> 00:06:55,799 Speaker 1: ran rampant, fear was a catalyst. Misinformation drove the boat. Later, privately, 105 00:06:56,120 --> 00:06:59,279 Speaker 1: Lyndon Johnson would say, for all I know, our movie 106 00:06:59,279 --> 00:07:04,320 Speaker 1: was shooting at Hils, out there and out there. In 107 00:07:04,320 --> 00:07:08,240 Speaker 1: August ninety four, George Morrison paced the length of the 108 00:07:08,240 --> 00:07:11,080 Speaker 1: aircraft carrier he commanded where he controlled the U. S. 109 00:07:11,200 --> 00:07:14,480 Speaker 1: Navy presence off the coast of Vietnam. The reins had 110 00:07:14,480 --> 00:07:17,720 Speaker 1: brought some relief to the sweltering temperatures. The heat and 111 00:07:17,840 --> 00:07:21,360 Speaker 1: humidity still felt overbearing to a man with Florida blood. 112 00:07:21,680 --> 00:07:23,760 Speaker 1: It was enough to mix a guy up to reduce 113 00:07:23,840 --> 00:07:26,240 Speaker 1: his brain to a cluttered mush enough to blue the 114 00:07:26,280 --> 00:07:29,160 Speaker 1: line between what was real and what was heat induced fantasy. 115 00:07:29,320 --> 00:07:32,200 Speaker 1: George Morrison hadn't spoken to his son, Jim Morrison, and 116 00:07:32,360 --> 00:07:34,280 Speaker 1: so long that it was starting to feel like he 117 00:07:34,320 --> 00:07:36,840 Speaker 1: didn't have a son anymore, Like maybe he had just 118 00:07:36,920 --> 00:07:39,240 Speaker 1: imagined that he had a son. Do you remember the 119 00:07:39,240 --> 00:07:41,320 Speaker 1: times he had played the piano for his children for 120 00:07:41,440 --> 00:07:43,680 Speaker 1: Jim and encouraged them to take an interest in music. 121 00:07:44,120 --> 00:07:46,640 Speaker 1: But Jim's idea of music wasn't music at all, and 122 00:07:46,720 --> 00:07:50,480 Speaker 1: that noisy, shouty, scratchy blues music he insisted on listening 123 00:07:50,520 --> 00:07:54,640 Speaker 1: to a teenager was primitive in George Morrison's eyes. Jim 124 00:07:54,640 --> 00:07:58,920 Speaker 1: needed some refinement. Jim needed some taste. He certainly wasn't 125 00:07:58,920 --> 00:08:00,720 Speaker 1: going to find out at U c l A, where 126 00:08:00,720 --> 00:08:03,880 Speaker 1: he was wasting time and money making pointless movies half 127 00:08:03,880 --> 00:08:06,760 Speaker 1: asking it. Jim didn't heed his professor's advice, just like 128 00:08:06,800 --> 00:08:09,120 Speaker 1: he didn't heed the advice of anyone older than himself. 129 00:08:09,360 --> 00:08:11,720 Speaker 1: Double splices film at it so that the film wouldn't 130 00:08:11,760 --> 00:08:14,360 Speaker 1: get caught in the projector his film of depart when 131 00:08:14,360 --> 00:08:17,480 Speaker 1: he tried to show it to the class George Morris 132 00:08:17,640 --> 00:08:19,920 Speaker 1: had to put Jim out of his mind. Thinking of 133 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:22,240 Speaker 1: him wound him up too much. And the heat was enough, 134 00:08:22,320 --> 00:08:25,080 Speaker 1: the humidity was enough. Whatever was happening off the coast 135 00:08:25,080 --> 00:08:27,600 Speaker 1: of Vietnam was enough. Were they being fired at? Were 136 00:08:27,600 --> 00:08:30,280 Speaker 1: they firing back? He'd do what he did at home 137 00:08:30,320 --> 00:08:33,120 Speaker 1: with Jim, with his kids. He'd stand up tall and 138 00:08:33,240 --> 00:08:36,400 Speaker 1: straight like the father. He was the authority figure, he was, 139 00:08:36,600 --> 00:08:40,040 Speaker 1: the American he was, and he'd make himself known. He 140 00:08:40,200 --> 00:08:42,400 Speaker 1: ordered the U. S. S. Matics and the U. S. S. 141 00:08:42,440 --> 00:08:45,480 Speaker 1: Turner Joyed right up against the shores of Vietnam and 142 00:08:45,559 --> 00:08:48,400 Speaker 1: make sure that every single Vietnamese person standing on the 143 00:08:48,440 --> 00:08:56,360 Speaker 1: coast saw that goddamn flag. In nineteen sixty eight, when 144 00:08:56,440 --> 00:08:59,120 Speaker 1: Jim and his father were long past even acknowledging each 145 00:08:59,160 --> 00:09:03,320 Speaker 1: other's existing, the escalation and confusion in the world continued, 146 00:09:03,640 --> 00:09:07,679 Speaker 1: providing easy fodder for protesters, activists, and artists in America 147 00:09:07,720 --> 00:09:12,240 Speaker 1: who just wanted peace, perhaps an idealized, hard to actualize concept, 148 00:09:12,440 --> 00:09:15,760 Speaker 1: but peace. Nonetheless, it's what the human being at Golden 149 00:09:15,760 --> 00:09:18,280 Speaker 1: Gate Park was all about. And the Summer of Love 150 00:09:18,440 --> 00:09:22,679 Speaker 1: and the following year would stock in nearly half a 151 00:09:22,720 --> 00:09:25,960 Speaker 1: million US troops were involved in Vietnam. It was the 152 00:09:25,960 --> 00:09:29,200 Speaker 1: most expensive year of the war and the deadliest. The 153 00:09:29,320 --> 00:09:33,240 Speaker 1: US saw almost seventeen thousand casualties that year. In the South, 154 00:09:33,360 --> 00:09:38,719 Speaker 1: Vietnamese lost over twenty seven thousand. If that weren't fodder enough. 155 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:42,200 Speaker 1: In November that year, Richard Nixon was elected President of 156 00:09:42,200 --> 00:09:46,040 Speaker 1: the United States, Tricky Dick moving on up the poster 157 00:09:46,160 --> 00:09:50,080 Speaker 1: boy for cricket politicians. Nixon talked about withdrawal from Vietnam, 158 00:09:50,320 --> 00:09:53,600 Speaker 1: but the lies to the American public piled on. Whatever 159 00:09:53,679 --> 00:09:57,400 Speaker 1: protracted withdrawal of troops was counterbalanced by even more covert 160 00:09:57,480 --> 00:10:02,240 Speaker 1: operations and deceptions. The peace loving flower Child movement had 161 00:10:02,280 --> 00:10:05,280 Speaker 1: its boogeyman, and Nixon a snake oil salesman who said 162 00:10:05,320 --> 00:10:08,600 Speaker 1: one thing and did another, just like his predecessor, but 163 00:10:08,679 --> 00:10:12,599 Speaker 1: with less gravitas. Even before Nixon entered the picture that 164 00:10:12,720 --> 00:10:17,280 Speaker 1: Doris saw hypocrisy, saw unnecessary bloodshed and bigotry and chaos. 165 00:10:17,640 --> 00:10:19,840 Speaker 1: And they could be political, they could take a stand. 166 00:10:20,280 --> 00:10:23,679 Speaker 1: They were a melting pot of American music, after all, jazz, blues, 167 00:10:23,760 --> 00:10:27,200 Speaker 1: beat poetry, beach party music, and their front man used 168 00:10:27,240 --> 00:10:32,200 Speaker 1: his microphone to protest. But Jim wasn't always protesting against 169 00:10:32,200 --> 00:10:36,200 Speaker 1: social injustice and mass murder and political corruption, and Jim's 170 00:10:36,240 --> 00:10:39,360 Speaker 1: protests were often more about himself than anyone else or 171 00:10:39,400 --> 00:10:43,520 Speaker 1: any cause. Often they were cries for attention from an 172 00:10:43,559 --> 00:10:46,360 Speaker 1: ego ravished drunk at the back of the club, and 173 00:10:46,440 --> 00:10:48,760 Speaker 1: sometimes the only way to bring him back down to 174 00:10:48,840 --> 00:10:51,440 Speaker 1: earth was to drag him into the night air and 175 00:10:51,559 --> 00:11:32,440 Speaker 1: suck it to him. One time, Yeah, Dennis Wilson, the 176 00:11:32,440 --> 00:11:35,360 Speaker 1: beach boy, tapped on Jimbo's shoulder to get his attention. 177 00:11:35,920 --> 00:11:38,480 Speaker 1: Did you hear what I said? Dennis had a shout 178 00:11:38,559 --> 00:11:40,439 Speaker 1: to be heard over the sound of the band to 179 00:11:40,640 --> 00:11:44,560 Speaker 1: semi hollow body electric guitars, Oregon bass drums, the rattling 180 00:11:44,559 --> 00:11:46,599 Speaker 1: of the girls, and cages of her head, not to 181 00:11:46,720 --> 00:11:48,959 Speaker 1: mention the sound Jimbo was making as he heckled the 182 00:11:49,040 --> 00:11:53,240 Speaker 1: singer on stage at the Whiskey. Jimbo, chuckling to himself, 183 00:11:53,520 --> 00:11:56,320 Speaker 1: turned his head to face Dennis. The bemused look on 184 00:11:56,400 --> 00:12:00,520 Speaker 1: his face gradually turned into a scowl. God damned Dennis Swilson, 185 00:12:00,760 --> 00:12:03,040 Speaker 1: parishing his buzz. Leave it to him to be the 186 00:12:03,080 --> 00:12:05,200 Speaker 1: party pooper, and then you have a wave to catch 187 00:12:05,320 --> 00:12:09,320 Speaker 1: somewhere or something. Fucking jerk off. Dennis was already three 188 00:12:09,360 --> 00:12:11,360 Speaker 1: sheets to the wind, and he thought it was Jim 189 00:12:11,360 --> 00:12:14,560 Speaker 1: Morrison making the ruckets, though it was Jim Morrison's shoulder 190 00:12:14,600 --> 00:12:17,280 Speaker 1: he was tapping on. Jim and Jimbo were looking more 191 00:12:17,280 --> 00:12:20,400 Speaker 1: and more like these days, and Dennis's beer soaked brain 192 00:12:20,480 --> 00:12:26,160 Speaker 1: couldn't tell the difference. Jimbo offered up a weak facial expression, unimpressed, 193 00:12:26,320 --> 00:12:31,520 Speaker 1: bothered stone, a facial expression that simply said, what motherfucker? 194 00:12:32,120 --> 00:12:35,200 Speaker 1: Dennis had had enough of Jimbo's macho bullshit, his lack 195 00:12:35,240 --> 00:12:38,520 Speaker 1: of respect, his annoying banshee whale. As he launched heackles 196 00:12:38,559 --> 00:12:41,640 Speaker 1: at the stage, he pushed his face in close to Jimbo's, 197 00:12:41,679 --> 00:12:44,319 Speaker 1: thinking he was Jim's went in way past the socially 198 00:12:44,360 --> 00:12:46,920 Speaker 1: accepted distance for the faces of two people who barely 199 00:12:46,920 --> 00:12:50,480 Speaker 1: know each other, and repeated his question. I said, why 200 00:12:50,480 --> 00:12:53,600 Speaker 1: don't we take this outside? Jimbo took him up on 201 00:12:53,640 --> 00:12:56,360 Speaker 1: the offer. The two spilled out from the confines of 202 00:12:56,400 --> 00:12:58,679 Speaker 1: the whiskey of Go, going out onto the sidewalk of 203 00:12:58,760 --> 00:13:02,160 Speaker 1: Sunset Boulevard, the l a air warm, their ears still 204 00:13:02,240 --> 00:13:06,200 Speaker 1: ringing from the music inside. Jim often returned to the 205 00:13:06,240 --> 00:13:08,480 Speaker 1: scene of the crime the whiskey where had gutting his 206 00:13:08,600 --> 00:13:11,959 Speaker 1: starn locked in the door's career solidified his place in 207 00:13:12,000 --> 00:13:15,000 Speaker 1: the pantheon of rock gods, the place where he intentionally 208 00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:17,880 Speaker 1: tried to ruin it all, and that was standard operating 209 00:13:17,880 --> 00:13:20,960 Speaker 1: procedure these days. Jimbo would meet him there, have a 210 00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:24,439 Speaker 1: few pops, heckle, a few bands. They both felt so untouchable, 211 00:13:24,480 --> 00:13:27,360 Speaker 1: so invincible, and they would smell the smell of the room, 212 00:13:27,480 --> 00:13:29,920 Speaker 1: feel what it felt like. Jim would relive the moment 213 00:13:29,920 --> 00:13:32,200 Speaker 1: in his mind and his fantasy. He could come and 214 00:13:32,200 --> 00:13:34,960 Speaker 1: go as he pleased, stroll down Memory Lane like a 215 00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:38,240 Speaker 1: tight rope walking boss. On this night, it was just 216 00:13:38,400 --> 00:13:45,600 Speaker 1: Jimbo doing the tight rope walking as Jim's proxy. Dennis 217 00:13:45,600 --> 00:13:48,880 Speaker 1: called him out on it. Dennis Wilson was often classified 218 00:13:48,880 --> 00:13:52,280 Speaker 1: as a sweetheart, a bearded bohemian teddy bear, the kind 219 00:13:52,280 --> 00:13:55,040 Speaker 1: of glass half bold optimist who would take one look 220 00:13:55,080 --> 00:13:58,839 Speaker 1: at someone like Charles Manson and see not a deranged psychopath, 221 00:13:59,080 --> 00:14:02,760 Speaker 1: but an artist, a musician struggling to let his song 222 00:14:02,840 --> 00:14:06,240 Speaker 1: be heard. And that's not untrue. But it's also true 223 00:14:06,440 --> 00:14:08,720 Speaker 1: that Dennis Wilson was relegated to the back of the 224 00:14:08,720 --> 00:14:12,920 Speaker 1: Beach Boys pecking order. Metaphorically and physically. He was the 225 00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:15,480 Speaker 1: drummer at the back of the stage, the real life 226 00:14:15,480 --> 00:14:18,040 Speaker 1: model for the beach life the Beach Boys sang about 227 00:14:18,040 --> 00:14:21,160 Speaker 1: in their formative songs. He wasn't taken seriously as an 228 00:14:21,240 --> 00:14:24,320 Speaker 1: artist the way his genius composer brother Brian Wilson was, 229 00:14:24,720 --> 00:14:26,680 Speaker 1: or the way his brother Carl Wilson was with his 230 00:14:26,720 --> 00:14:30,240 Speaker 1: angelic voice. He was the surfer boy who looked good 231 00:14:30,240 --> 00:14:34,240 Speaker 1: in a white T shirt, unbuttoned pendleton in Khaki's Son, kissed, 232 00:14:34,240 --> 00:14:39,160 Speaker 1: wind swept blonde hair blown dramatically to one side eye candy. 233 00:14:39,400 --> 00:14:43,000 Speaker 1: So while Dennis played the lighthearted ash Chuck's beefcake teddy 234 00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:46,840 Speaker 1: bear role, deep down he had some serious reservations about 235 00:14:46,840 --> 00:14:49,480 Speaker 1: the type casting. He was more than the role he'd 236 00:14:49,480 --> 00:14:52,120 Speaker 1: been asked to play. He could write songs, he could sing, 237 00:14:52,200 --> 00:14:54,880 Speaker 1: he could front a band, He could be as somebody. 238 00:14:55,080 --> 00:14:57,720 Speaker 1: Some nights he felt like a nobody in a famous 239 00:14:57,720 --> 00:15:01,080 Speaker 1: band of somebody's and this loud mouth Marris and Ship, 240 00:15:01,320 --> 00:15:04,360 Speaker 1: he swore it was Marris and this overrated loudmouth was 241 00:15:04,400 --> 00:15:08,000 Speaker 1: flaunting his somebody's status On this particular night, the entitled 242 00:15:08,080 --> 00:15:11,760 Speaker 1: Vibe just sucked. Don't get Dennis wrong. Jim was all right. 243 00:15:11,800 --> 00:15:13,360 Speaker 1: The doors were all right. One of the songs he 244 00:15:13,360 --> 00:15:16,280 Speaker 1: would write for the Beach boys Sunflower album in v 245 00:15:16,520 --> 00:15:18,680 Speaker 1: Slip On Through, was a hat tip to the door's 246 00:15:18,720 --> 00:15:21,080 Speaker 1: break on Through to the other side, and the feeling 247 00:15:21,160 --> 00:15:23,640 Speaker 1: was mutual. Jim loved one of the Beach Boy's most 248 00:15:23,640 --> 00:15:27,320 Speaker 1: recent records, Wild Honey. But this wasn't about the music. 249 00:15:27,760 --> 00:15:31,040 Speaker 1: This is about the guy he mistook for Jim being unreasonable, 250 00:15:31,280 --> 00:15:35,240 Speaker 1: and about Dennis feeling inadequate. The emotional cocktail was simply 251 00:15:35,280 --> 00:15:38,280 Speaker 1: too potent, and soon Dennis was waving at Jimbo to 252 00:15:38,320 --> 00:15:40,480 Speaker 1: follow him out of the door that led them outside. 253 00:15:41,040 --> 00:15:43,840 Speaker 1: As soon as they exited the whiskey, Dennis shoved him. 254 00:15:44,120 --> 00:15:46,200 Speaker 1: Jimbo scooted back on the heels of his boots and 255 00:15:46,280 --> 00:15:48,160 Speaker 1: hung on to a parking meter so that he wouldn't 256 00:15:48,200 --> 00:15:52,160 Speaker 1: topple over the fuck. Dennis must have been high. Jim 257 00:15:52,200 --> 00:15:54,920 Speaker 1: both thought he must have been so stoned, stoned out 258 00:15:54,920 --> 00:15:57,400 Speaker 1: of his gourd. His brother Brian had gone over the 259 00:15:57,440 --> 00:16:00,320 Speaker 1: deep bed. Half deaf from an abusive father, are now 260 00:16:00,400 --> 00:16:03,880 Speaker 1: half crazy from fisticuals of Olesley tabs. Brian was in 261 00:16:03,920 --> 00:16:08,720 Speaker 1: a dark room somewhere in southern California, suffering from auditory hallustinnations, 262 00:16:09,200 --> 00:16:11,280 Speaker 1: and Jimbo wouldn't be surprised if Dennis was about to 263 00:16:11,360 --> 00:16:14,720 Speaker 1: ride that wave too. Dennis shoved him again, pushing Jimbo 264 00:16:14,800 --> 00:16:17,920 Speaker 1: further away from the whiskey people shuffled by on sunset 265 00:16:17,920 --> 00:16:20,080 Speaker 1: and gave little pause to the Golden rock god in 266 00:16:20,160 --> 00:16:23,520 Speaker 1: the bearded beech drummer engaging in a little fisticuffs. Jimbo 267 00:16:23,560 --> 00:16:26,320 Speaker 1: put up his hands a white flag laughed it off. 268 00:16:26,880 --> 00:16:29,280 Speaker 1: Na Dennis wasn't gonna let Jimbo get away with being 269 00:16:29,280 --> 00:16:32,160 Speaker 1: an asshole tonight. Dennis looked in his eyes and saw 270 00:16:32,240 --> 00:16:37,720 Speaker 1: Morrison's eyes self righteous, self important, entitled, spoiled military brat, 271 00:16:37,760 --> 00:16:40,800 Speaker 1: Florida punk heckling. Ricking the Ravens as a nobody was 272 00:16:40,880 --> 00:16:43,400 Speaker 1: one thing. Heckling an up and coming band on newcomer's 273 00:16:43,480 --> 00:16:48,920 Speaker 1: night as is somebody was just fucking rude. Words just 274 00:16:49,080 --> 00:16:51,720 Speaker 1: tumbled out of Jimbo's mouth like they were squirreled away 275 00:16:51,760 --> 00:16:54,440 Speaker 1: there for moments like this, moments when he was called 276 00:16:54,440 --> 00:16:56,920 Speaker 1: out and had to pause his fantasy world for a moment, 277 00:16:57,160 --> 00:16:59,480 Speaker 1: stick his head back into the reality. Everyone else was 278 00:16:59,600 --> 00:17:03,640 Speaker 1: hit and beg for forgiveness and his patronizing way. Hey man, 279 00:17:04,200 --> 00:17:08,000 Speaker 1: I was just having fun. Dennis took two good sized 280 00:17:08,040 --> 00:17:11,119 Speaker 1: strides towards Jimbo, cocked his right arm back and swung 281 00:17:11,160 --> 00:17:14,680 Speaker 1: his fist in hard to Jimbo's chest. Jimbo's puffy shirt 282 00:17:14,720 --> 00:17:17,520 Speaker 1: fluttered and collapsed like a punctured hot air balloon. His 283 00:17:17,600 --> 00:17:20,359 Speaker 1: ass was on the pavement. He gasped for breath that 284 00:17:20,400 --> 00:17:24,480 Speaker 1: warm l a air, dry and stagnant. Jesus, he thought, 285 00:17:24,680 --> 00:17:29,600 Speaker 1: you are Dennis Wilson. You're so much tougher than you look. 286 00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:33,080 Speaker 1: Jimbo pushed himself up with his hands, dusted the ass 287 00:17:33,119 --> 00:17:35,480 Speaker 1: of his pants off, and attempted to strike a boxing 288 00:17:35,520 --> 00:17:38,200 Speaker 1: pose when he had seen Muhammad Ali strike in a 289 00:17:38,240 --> 00:17:40,600 Speaker 1: fight a few years ago before he refused to be 290 00:17:40,680 --> 00:17:43,680 Speaker 1: drafted into the army and saw his career go on hold, 291 00:17:44,040 --> 00:17:47,320 Speaker 1: just like Jimbo, Just like Jim Ali did, whatever the 292 00:17:47,359 --> 00:17:50,520 Speaker 1: funk you wanted. Jimbo got into the post, bent his 293 00:17:50,560 --> 00:17:53,400 Speaker 1: knees slightly, thought he was bobbing a bit. Arms bent, 294 00:17:53,560 --> 00:17:57,560 Speaker 1: fist balled up. You fuck, you beach bum fuck, he 295 00:17:57,640 --> 00:18:01,320 Speaker 1: yelled at Dennist go back to Hawthorn of fucking more 296 00:18:01,920 --> 00:18:07,920 Speaker 1: and then Dennis hit him again. Dennis left the strip 297 00:18:07,960 --> 00:18:10,480 Speaker 1: and went back to helping his friend Charles Manson with 298 00:18:10,560 --> 00:18:13,479 Speaker 1: some of the new songs he was working on. Dennis 299 00:18:13,520 --> 00:18:15,879 Speaker 1: had first met Manson when he picked up some girls 300 00:18:15,920 --> 00:18:18,560 Speaker 1: hitchhiking on the side of the road. Dennis had a 301 00:18:18,600 --> 00:18:21,639 Speaker 1: soft spot for hitchhikers, in an even softer spot for 302 00:18:21,680 --> 00:18:26,119 Speaker 1: female hitchhikers. He was recently divorced and ready for whatever 303 00:18:26,200 --> 00:18:28,800 Speaker 1: jumped in the car. The hitchhikers turned out to be 304 00:18:28,840 --> 00:18:32,080 Speaker 1: some of the girls in the Manson family. Soon, Manson 305 00:18:32,160 --> 00:18:35,000 Speaker 1: and upwards of twenty girls were crashing at Dennis's Sunset 306 00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:38,680 Speaker 1: Boulevard house, and Manson and Dennis were bonding over music 307 00:18:38,760 --> 00:18:42,119 Speaker 1: and being underdogs, and the girls took care of whatever 308 00:18:42,200 --> 00:18:45,159 Speaker 1: other desire would suddenly come over Dennis whatever he needed. 309 00:18:45,640 --> 00:18:49,880 Speaker 1: Dennis called Manson the Wizard. Dennis wasn't the only one 310 00:18:49,920 --> 00:18:53,200 Speaker 1: with a soft spot for hitchhikers. Jimbo had that soft 311 00:18:53,240 --> 00:18:56,199 Speaker 1: spot too, and one day, stopping to pick up a 312 00:18:56,240 --> 00:18:58,719 Speaker 1: couple of teenagers in the side of La Sianaga led 313 00:18:58,760 --> 00:19:01,359 Speaker 1: him back to Manson's dead end at the Old Spawn Ranch. 314 00:19:01,920 --> 00:19:04,320 Speaker 1: The family had relocated to the far edge of l 315 00:19:04,359 --> 00:19:07,440 Speaker 1: A County after their freeloading at Dennis's mansion costs their 316 00:19:07,440 --> 00:19:10,679 Speaker 1: host upwards of a hundred thousand dollars in food, medical bills, 317 00:19:10,680 --> 00:19:15,040 Speaker 1: and property damage. Jimbo and Manson bonded over some LSD 318 00:19:15,200 --> 00:19:18,320 Speaker 1: tabs and a couple of beers. Manson told Jimbo he 319 00:19:18,400 --> 00:19:21,800 Speaker 1: was an artist musician. He was working with the Beach Boys. 320 00:19:22,080 --> 00:19:24,760 Speaker 1: Neil Young gave him some advice. Manson said he loved 321 00:19:24,760 --> 00:19:27,480 Speaker 1: to work with Hendricks, and the wind blew through the 322 00:19:27,520 --> 00:19:31,000 Speaker 1: open western geography of the ranch. The vegetation the same 323 00:19:31,040 --> 00:19:33,359 Speaker 1: bland shade of tope as the dirt and the dust. 324 00:19:34,040 --> 00:19:35,840 Speaker 1: Jimbo said he'd help Manson get him to the foot 325 00:19:35,880 --> 00:19:42,000 Speaker 1: in the door. New young Hundricks cuts cool. What about 326 00:19:42,080 --> 00:19:46,080 Speaker 1: the doors? Jimbo knew those guys. Next time Charlie was free, 327 00:19:46,400 --> 00:19:49,840 Speaker 1: Jimbo would borrow Jim Morrison's Mustang, swing by and pick 328 00:19:49,920 --> 00:19:58,520 Speaker 1: him up and they go watched the doors, rehearse we'll 329 00:19:58,560 --> 00:20:05,240 Speaker 1: be right back after the we were were Jim Morrison 330 00:20:05,280 --> 00:20:07,920 Speaker 1: grabbed his wild locks of hair in his hand, hold 331 00:20:07,960 --> 00:20:11,120 Speaker 1: them tight into a makeshift ponytail, and started a saw 332 00:20:11,160 --> 00:20:14,120 Speaker 1: away with a pair of scissors. He tried to see 333 00:20:14,119 --> 00:20:16,040 Speaker 1: what he was doing in the bathroom mirror, but it 334 00:20:16,080 --> 00:20:19,800 Speaker 1: was nearly impossible, so this came down entirely to feel. 335 00:20:20,400 --> 00:20:22,960 Speaker 1: He unclenched a few fingers to fish around for any 336 00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:25,680 Speaker 1: loose strands of hair that had escaped his claw grasp, 337 00:20:26,040 --> 00:20:29,640 Speaker 1: and retightened his fist. The scissors were an old metal pair, 338 00:20:29,880 --> 00:20:32,520 Speaker 1: the pin barely holding the two blades together, and when 339 00:20:32,560 --> 00:20:35,840 Speaker 1: the sawing motion seemed ineffective, he attempted to cut with 340 00:20:35,880 --> 00:20:38,160 Speaker 1: the blades, as if his thick mane was nothing more 341 00:20:38,200 --> 00:20:41,480 Speaker 1: than a few pieces of paper. And that's all anyone 342 00:20:41,560 --> 00:20:45,720 Speaker 1: wanted to talk about Jim Morrison's hair. Girls talked about 343 00:20:45,720 --> 00:20:48,600 Speaker 1: how long and fox he was. The band talked about 344 00:20:48,600 --> 00:20:51,520 Speaker 1: how dirty and greasy it was. The press always referred 345 00:20:51,520 --> 00:20:53,919 Speaker 1: to it when they wrote about a door show. Rednecks 346 00:20:53,920 --> 00:20:56,280 Speaker 1: called him a pussy for having hair so long. Hippy 347 00:20:56,320 --> 00:20:59,720 Speaker 1: saw a kindred spirit and insisted Jim fight for their causes. 348 00:21:00,160 --> 00:21:02,359 Speaker 1: People the age of Jim's parents would pass him on 349 00:21:02,400 --> 00:21:05,320 Speaker 1: the street and cast our glances in his direction, and 350 00:21:05,359 --> 00:21:07,360 Speaker 1: that wasn't how a man was supposed to wear his hair. 351 00:21:08,080 --> 00:21:11,800 Speaker 1: So you know what, fuck it small talk. He just 352 00:21:11,880 --> 00:21:14,120 Speaker 1: cut it all off and that will give him something 353 00:21:14,160 --> 00:21:17,760 Speaker 1: to talk about. The media had a field day. It 354 00:21:17,880 --> 00:21:20,320 Speaker 1: was all they talked about. Jim short hair. He had 355 00:21:20,359 --> 00:21:23,119 Speaker 1: shocked them all once again. As soon as he shot 356 00:21:23,160 --> 00:21:25,320 Speaker 1: the long, flowing access from the back of his head, 357 00:21:25,480 --> 00:21:30,840 Speaker 1: he felt a weightlifted. But it looked horrible, a hack job. Indeed, 358 00:21:30,840 --> 00:21:32,680 Speaker 1: it looked like a five year old to cut Jim's 359 00:21:32,680 --> 00:21:35,080 Speaker 1: hair while he was sleeping. This was the kind of 360 00:21:35,160 --> 00:21:39,000 Speaker 1: problem that Jay Sbrin would have to fix. Hairdressers weren't 361 00:21:39,040 --> 00:21:42,960 Speaker 1: considered celebrities until Jay Sbrin came to town. J was 362 00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:45,720 Speaker 1: a self made stylist who moved to Los Angeles after 363 00:21:45,800 --> 00:21:49,080 Speaker 1: serving in the Korean War. He changed his name, changed 364 00:21:49,080 --> 00:21:52,360 Speaker 1: his identity in l a you can do that, reinvent yourself, 365 00:21:52,440 --> 00:21:54,840 Speaker 1: break on through to your own fantasy. On the other 366 00:21:54,880 --> 00:21:57,600 Speaker 1: side was where the good stuff was at. He took 367 00:21:57,600 --> 00:22:00,520 Speaker 1: classes at a beauty school, poned his cry in the open, 368 00:22:00,560 --> 00:22:03,400 Speaker 1: the cutting edge salon that was more European than American, 369 00:22:03,800 --> 00:22:06,000 Speaker 1: just like Elmer Valentine had done when he brought go 370 00:22:06,119 --> 00:22:09,640 Speaker 1: go culture to the Whiskey. He was no longer John 371 00:22:09,720 --> 00:22:13,439 Speaker 1: Comer from Birmingham, Alabama, He liked fast cars, so he 372 00:22:13,560 --> 00:22:15,800 Speaker 1: changed his name to match the name of the popular 373 00:22:15,880 --> 00:22:19,000 Speaker 1: raceway in Florida. He liked women and was a champion 374 00:22:19,040 --> 00:22:21,520 Speaker 1: of discretion, so he built a VI I P Room 375 00:22:21,560 --> 00:22:23,720 Speaker 1: in the back of his salon that doubles a private 376 00:22:23,720 --> 00:22:28,800 Speaker 1: path for clandestine hookups. The celebrities flocked to Jay the men, 377 00:22:28,920 --> 00:22:34,400 Speaker 1: especially men like Paul Newman, Stephen Queen, Jim Morrison. Jim's 378 00:22:34,480 --> 00:22:37,240 Speaker 1: Lion Maine hairstyle that sat upon his off and shirt 379 00:22:37,280 --> 00:22:39,800 Speaker 1: was torso was that j C bring piece. There is 380 00:22:39,840 --> 00:22:43,639 Speaker 1: a stoce. The words spread. He opened a seabring salon 381 00:22:43,680 --> 00:22:47,040 Speaker 1: in New York City, London, Hollywood came calling. J added 382 00:22:47,160 --> 00:22:50,880 Speaker 1: lead hair designer to his resume. Vegas came calling. Soon 383 00:22:50,960 --> 00:22:53,359 Speaker 1: he was styling the heads of the rat Pack Sinatra 384 00:22:53,520 --> 00:22:56,320 Speaker 1: running vocal scales while the smoke from his camel wrapped 385 00:22:56,320 --> 00:23:01,040 Speaker 1: its way around the room. The most indelible friendship Ja maintained, however, 386 00:23:01,359 --> 00:23:04,200 Speaker 1: was with actress Sharon Tate. She would walk into a 387 00:23:04,320 --> 00:23:06,280 Speaker 1: room and do that thing with her hand and her 388 00:23:06,320 --> 00:23:08,760 Speaker 1: hair and all would be right in the world. The 389 00:23:08,800 --> 00:23:11,920 Speaker 1: two were romantically involved at first, but when Sharon met 390 00:23:11,960 --> 00:23:15,840 Speaker 1: director Roman Polanski, she and Jay down shifted the besties 391 00:23:16,160 --> 00:23:20,200 Speaker 1: inseparable besties. But Jay would do anything for Sharon. He'd 392 00:23:20,280 --> 00:23:22,679 Speaker 1: drive her around l A and his GT. Three fifty. 393 00:23:22,880 --> 00:23:25,480 Speaker 1: He'd take her shopping, get drinks, catch a movie, sit 394 00:23:25,640 --> 00:23:28,720 Speaker 1: in blissful silence, put a record on. He'd listened to 395 00:23:28,720 --> 00:23:30,760 Speaker 1: her complain about the long days on the set of 396 00:23:30,800 --> 00:23:34,600 Speaker 1: the latest feature she was shooting. He'd even put himself 397 00:23:34,640 --> 00:23:37,879 Speaker 1: in between Sharon and the cold blooded Manson family. The 398 00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:41,080 Speaker 1: night they broke into one zero zero five zero Celo 399 00:23:41,240 --> 00:23:45,919 Speaker 1: drive knives out on strict orders to kill everyone inside. 400 00:23:46,960 --> 00:23:49,440 Speaker 1: They had tacos that night with friends and went back 401 00:23:49,480 --> 00:23:54,119 Speaker 1: to Sharon's. The three Manson family members, Patricia Kranwinkel, Susan Atkins, 402 00:23:54,119 --> 00:23:57,120 Speaker 1: and Texas Watson entered the house out of nowhere. Once 403 00:23:57,160 --> 00:24:00,240 Speaker 1: it was so dark outside that even shadows didn't exist. 404 00:24:00,600 --> 00:24:02,800 Speaker 1: The Manson family told them all they were going to 405 00:24:02,880 --> 00:24:08,040 Speaker 1: die right now inside this house. Jay begged them, begged 406 00:24:08,040 --> 00:24:11,280 Speaker 1: for Sharon's life, she was nearly nine months pregnant, and 407 00:24:11,320 --> 00:24:13,960 Speaker 1: then a spare life and the life of her unborn child. 408 00:24:14,280 --> 00:24:18,679 Speaker 1: Jay begged them, He insisted text Watson shot Jay first, 409 00:24:19,400 --> 00:24:29,480 Speaker 1: and then they killed the rest of them. Jim Morrison 410 00:24:29,520 --> 00:24:32,159 Speaker 1: didn't know much about Charles Manson or is so called 411 00:24:32,240 --> 00:24:35,360 Speaker 1: family living out its spawn ranch. Jim knew him as 412 00:24:35,359 --> 00:24:38,040 Speaker 1: the Wizard, the scrawny bearded guy with the sunken in 413 00:24:38,160 --> 00:24:42,520 Speaker 1: eyes an oddly agreeable demeanor. He was Jimbo's friend. Maybe 414 00:24:42,600 --> 00:24:44,880 Speaker 1: friend was too much of a stretch. It was hard 415 00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:48,439 Speaker 1: saying how many friends Jimbo really had. Jimbo showed up 416 00:24:48,440 --> 00:24:51,480 Speaker 1: one afternoon at the Door's rehearsal space in Hollywood, And 417 00:24:51,600 --> 00:24:54,239 Speaker 1: Jimbo was always showing up at the rehearsal space so 418 00:24:54,359 --> 00:24:57,200 Speaker 1: much that sometimes jim imagine he was there even when 419 00:24:57,200 --> 00:25:00,840 Speaker 1: he wasn't, like some sort of false memory. The band 420 00:25:00,920 --> 00:25:03,280 Speaker 1: was playing five to one when the door opened and 421 00:25:03,359 --> 00:25:07,520 Speaker 1: Jimbo lumbered in, the Wizards skulking behind him. The old 422 00:25:07,560 --> 00:25:10,639 Speaker 1: get old and the young gets stronger. May take a week, 423 00:25:10,680 --> 00:25:14,560 Speaker 1: and it may take longer. Jimbo hoisted two fists holding 424 00:25:14,600 --> 00:25:17,680 Speaker 1: six packs into the air like some triumphant viking back 425 00:25:17,720 --> 00:25:20,800 Speaker 1: from pillaging a nearby fridge, and then started banging his 426 00:25:20,880 --> 00:25:24,199 Speaker 1: head and attempting to place some remedial air guitar. Unlike 427 00:25:24,280 --> 00:25:27,240 Speaker 1: jim Jimbo hadn't cut his hair off. Then it appeared 428 00:25:27,280 --> 00:25:30,240 Speaker 1: like it hadn't seen a shower in weeks. Standing next 429 00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:33,359 Speaker 1: to the wizard, Jimbo looked like a giant. He plucked 430 00:25:33,359 --> 00:25:35,400 Speaker 1: a can from the six pack, like a grape from 431 00:25:35,400 --> 00:25:38,320 Speaker 1: a cluster, and stuffed it into the Wizard's hands. Jim 432 00:25:38,400 --> 00:25:41,720 Speaker 1: kept singing, Your ballroom days are over, Baby, night is 433 00:25:41,800 --> 00:25:45,679 Speaker 1: drawing near. The Wizard popped open his beer and stood 434 00:25:45,720 --> 00:25:49,320 Speaker 1: across the room staring at Jim. Jim would routinely close 435 00:25:49,400 --> 00:25:52,320 Speaker 1: his eyes while he sang, really get lost in the song, 436 00:25:52,680 --> 00:25:55,640 Speaker 1: but at the moment he could feel the Wizard's vacant gaze. 437 00:25:56,000 --> 00:25:59,320 Speaker 1: Those sunken eyes like little black holes with many white 438 00:25:59,320 --> 00:26:02,080 Speaker 1: dots law us in the middle, his long hair and 439 00:26:02,160 --> 00:26:06,239 Speaker 1: beard scruffed, unkempt, and unpredictable. He made no movement, just 440 00:26:06,240 --> 00:26:09,439 Speaker 1: stood against the wall with an unblinking stare, while Jimbo 441 00:26:09,560 --> 00:26:12,199 Speaker 1: seated on the floor with his legs crossed, nodded his 442 00:26:12,240 --> 00:26:15,080 Speaker 1: head to the beat drunkenly. The two were a study 443 00:26:15,119 --> 00:26:19,720 Speaker 1: in contrast. Jim sang on shadows of the evening crawl 444 00:26:19,760 --> 00:26:22,480 Speaker 1: across the ears. He opened his eyes again, and the 445 00:26:22,480 --> 00:26:24,960 Speaker 1: Wizard was just finishing a swake from the beer can. 446 00:26:25,440 --> 00:26:28,199 Speaker 1: Eyes still on Jim, and now his head began to 447 00:26:28,240 --> 00:26:31,840 Speaker 1: move a little bob up and down with the song's rhythm. 448 00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:35,200 Speaker 1: As the Wizard's head began to bob more and more emphatically, 449 00:26:35,480 --> 00:26:38,439 Speaker 1: the corners of his mouth began to twist upwards. A 450 00:26:38,560 --> 00:26:42,240 Speaker 1: smile was forming his eyes, still sunken and still black. 451 00:26:43,119 --> 00:26:46,720 Speaker 1: Five to one, baby one and five, no one here 452 00:26:47,080 --> 00:26:52,119 Speaker 1: gets out alive. Jimbo let loose a loud burp, tossed 453 00:26:52,119 --> 00:26:54,320 Speaker 1: his empty beer can on the floor and reached for 454 00:26:54,359 --> 00:26:56,720 Speaker 1: another one, and the Wizard was in the groove, now 455 00:26:57,040 --> 00:27:01,480 Speaker 1: locked in the crazy smile, still planted on space the drums, 456 00:27:01,560 --> 00:27:04,960 Speaker 1: the bass choved on. Jim thought it was eerie. The 457 00:27:05,040 --> 00:27:07,040 Speaker 1: dude was a little on the quiet side, but this 458 00:27:07,119 --> 00:27:09,840 Speaker 1: was just fucking weird. The other guys in the band 459 00:27:09,880 --> 00:27:12,439 Speaker 1: felt too, and they started to rush the temple of 460 00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:14,280 Speaker 1: the song just so they could get through it. And 461 00:27:14,440 --> 00:27:16,600 Speaker 1: ended and maybe Jim could talk with Jim bow and 462 00:27:16,680 --> 00:27:19,679 Speaker 1: moved the Wizard along, driving back to the ranch. He 463 00:27:19,800 --> 00:27:24,200 Speaker 1: was harboring some strange mojo. The band wrapped. Jim humored 464 00:27:24,200 --> 00:27:26,280 Speaker 1: the Wizard and said he listened to his demo tape 465 00:27:26,320 --> 00:27:29,159 Speaker 1: the next time. Jimbo brought him by, and everyone left, 466 00:27:29,680 --> 00:27:31,280 Speaker 1: and Jim didn't know if he would ever see the 467 00:27:31,280 --> 00:27:51,600 Speaker 1: Wizard again. He didn't care either. Jim Morrison was sitting 468 00:27:51,640 --> 00:27:53,960 Speaker 1: in the front row and the cops shut down the show. 469 00:27:54,720 --> 00:27:56,880 Speaker 1: Some of the actors were still on the stage, many 470 00:27:56,920 --> 00:27:58,800 Speaker 1: of them had made their way into the audience. And 471 00:27:58,800 --> 00:28:01,919 Speaker 1: they're all in various stage just a undress, some that 472 00:28:01,960 --> 00:28:04,840 Speaker 1: remove their shirts, their pants, others had stripped bare, and 473 00:28:04,880 --> 00:28:08,320 Speaker 1: we're covering their private bits with their hands. Jim looked 474 00:28:08,320 --> 00:28:11,400 Speaker 1: around and marveled at the stage of flesh, the audience 475 00:28:11,440 --> 00:28:14,480 Speaker 1: of flesh, the sea of flesh, people stripped to their 476 00:28:14,520 --> 00:28:19,320 Speaker 1: bare essence, all inhibitions gone, clothing gone, all social norms 477 00:28:19,320 --> 00:28:24,919 Speaker 1: and niceties gone. It was unexpected, thrilling, and the cops 478 00:28:24,920 --> 00:28:27,879 Speaker 1: surrounded the place, the audience and the actors in an 479 00:28:27,880 --> 00:28:31,760 Speaker 1: impatient cops stance, rhythmically pounding night sticks in their palms, 480 00:28:32,080 --> 00:28:36,960 Speaker 1: loudly chewing wads of gump, completely unfazed by the rampant nudity, 481 00:28:37,080 --> 00:28:39,480 Speaker 1: and they repeated their order for the show to cease 482 00:28:39,520 --> 00:28:42,440 Speaker 1: and started tossing items of clothing at the actors and 483 00:28:42,480 --> 00:28:44,480 Speaker 1: as some of the audience members who had followed the 484 00:28:44,480 --> 00:28:48,000 Speaker 1: actor's lead and started to strip two. The audience had 485 00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:51,720 Speaker 1: been told, coaxed, provoked, challenged. The actors had told the 486 00:28:51,760 --> 00:28:53,880 Speaker 1: audience They're all going to get naked and take the 487 00:28:53,920 --> 00:28:58,360 Speaker 1: performance to the streets. This was a collective experience. They're 488 00:28:58,400 --> 00:29:00,800 Speaker 1: all in this together. No, and here it gets out 489 00:29:00,920 --> 00:29:05,080 Speaker 1: without tuning in and turning on. In fact, the audience 490 00:29:05,120 --> 00:29:09,120 Speaker 1: had been goaded all night, and the performers chanted, repeated phrases, 491 00:29:09,160 --> 00:29:13,360 Speaker 1: addressed audience members. They struck up conversation. They encouraged the 492 00:29:13,400 --> 00:29:17,120 Speaker 1: spectators to repeat their missives of anti capitalism, anti war 493 00:29:17,320 --> 00:29:20,520 Speaker 1: in progress. I don't know how to stop the war, 494 00:29:20,600 --> 00:29:23,320 Speaker 1: as they stated. An audience members stood up and said 495 00:29:23,320 --> 00:29:26,600 Speaker 1: it with them, I'm not allowed to smoke marijuana, they stated. 496 00:29:26,800 --> 00:29:29,480 Speaker 1: An audience members stood up and said that with them, 497 00:29:29,520 --> 00:29:32,080 Speaker 1: I'm not allowed to take my clothes off, they stated. 498 00:29:32,320 --> 00:29:34,760 Speaker 1: An audience members stood up, and then they said that 499 00:29:34,800 --> 00:29:37,880 Speaker 1: with them too. And the performers were in the audience, 500 00:29:38,080 --> 00:29:41,240 Speaker 1: the audience was on the stage. And there was no plot, 501 00:29:41,480 --> 00:29:44,560 Speaker 1: no protagonists. They were all the plot. They were all 502 00:29:44,600 --> 00:29:48,720 Speaker 1: the protagonists. It was the opposite of Broadway, the opposite 503 00:29:48,720 --> 00:29:51,640 Speaker 1: of dinner theater, the opposite of just about any performance 504 00:29:51,720 --> 00:29:54,480 Speaker 1: anyone in the room at the University of Southern California 505 00:29:54,680 --> 00:29:57,840 Speaker 1: had ever attended. They broke the fourth wall that there 506 00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:01,840 Speaker 1: was no fourth wall. Jim was so excited about the 507 00:30:01,880 --> 00:30:05,720 Speaker 1: concept of the Living Theater coming to town he prepared appropriately. 508 00:30:06,120 --> 00:30:08,320 Speaker 1: He snatched up front road tickets to each of the 509 00:30:08,360 --> 00:30:11,480 Speaker 1: five shows. When it was announced the Radical Groundbreaking Troop 510 00:30:11,480 --> 00:30:14,560 Speaker 1: would played the USC campus on an American tour after 511 00:30:14,640 --> 00:30:18,320 Speaker 1: self imposed exile in Europe, the thirty two member troop 512 00:30:18,360 --> 00:30:22,560 Speaker 1: would perform Paradise, Now, a four hour experimental theater piece. 513 00:30:22,880 --> 00:30:26,200 Speaker 1: Jim could hardly wait. He had learned about the Living 514 00:30:26,240 --> 00:30:29,400 Speaker 1: Theater from a friend who talked about attending a performance 515 00:30:29,400 --> 00:30:31,720 Speaker 1: and how it changed his life. How he took his 516 00:30:31,800 --> 00:30:34,680 Speaker 1: clothes off on stage, tak home a dozen people he 517 00:30:34,720 --> 00:30:37,800 Speaker 1: had never met before, had an epiphany about his life, 518 00:30:37,960 --> 00:30:40,480 Speaker 1: went back to his stiff day job the next day, 519 00:30:40,480 --> 00:30:44,480 Speaker 1: and told his boss to shove it. Jim craved that feeling. 520 00:30:44,760 --> 00:30:48,000 Speaker 1: He had to feel that feeling. The Living Theater was 521 00:30:48,040 --> 00:30:51,520 Speaker 1: the creation of Judith Molina and Julian beck Too, artists 522 00:30:51,520 --> 00:30:53,600 Speaker 1: who met before the age of twenty while living in 523 00:30:53,640 --> 00:30:57,600 Speaker 1: New York City. They loved De Cooney Pollock t s Elliott, 524 00:30:57,840 --> 00:31:00,520 Speaker 1: and they married in ninety nine, around the time they 525 00:31:00,520 --> 00:31:03,920 Speaker 1: decided to launch a new theater company. A living theater, 526 00:31:04,240 --> 00:31:06,920 Speaker 1: or simply the living as it was sometimes called. Would 527 00:31:06,920 --> 00:31:09,680 Speaker 1: have one foot in the world of poetry, another in 528 00:31:09,720 --> 00:31:12,960 Speaker 1: the world of politics, and yet another ghostly appendage, and 529 00:31:13,160 --> 00:31:18,440 Speaker 1: something more unseen, unknown, provocative, undefined, and they would create 530 00:31:18,480 --> 00:31:21,640 Speaker 1: something new and challenging, something that would inspire some and 531 00:31:21,760 --> 00:31:27,040 Speaker 1: shock of others. It was Liberated Theater Antarchic Theater. In 532 00:31:27,200 --> 00:31:30,480 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty nine, Julian explained the Living theater to the 533 00:31:30,520 --> 00:31:33,160 Speaker 1: New York Times. We believe in the theater as a 534 00:31:33,240 --> 00:31:37,040 Speaker 1: place of intense experience, half dream, half ritual, in which 535 00:31:37,120 --> 00:31:40,560 Speaker 1: the spectator approaches something of a vision of self understanding, 536 00:31:40,840 --> 00:31:44,360 Speaker 1: going past conscious to unconscious, to an understanding of the 537 00:31:44,480 --> 00:31:48,480 Speaker 1: nature of all things. Some would call it transcendence, others 538 00:31:48,960 --> 00:31:52,480 Speaker 1: call it fantasy. For Jim Morrison, it was all of 539 00:31:52,520 --> 00:31:55,960 Speaker 1: the above. It was a new door. It was sixty nine, 540 00:31:56,240 --> 00:31:58,800 Speaker 1: a new year. He was tired of the same old 541 00:31:58,840 --> 00:32:01,400 Speaker 1: song and dance, tired of standing in front of the 542 00:32:01,400 --> 00:32:05,080 Speaker 1: band on stage, hanging onto the mic stand, beckoning some 543 00:32:05,200 --> 00:32:07,840 Speaker 1: unknown baby to let his fire to love him two 544 00:32:07,880 --> 00:32:11,160 Speaker 1: times to find the next whiskey bar. People were strange, 545 00:32:11,240 --> 00:32:15,720 Speaker 1: blah blah blah, so fucking what. He loved crooners like 546 00:32:15,760 --> 00:32:18,920 Speaker 1: Sinatra and rock and rollers like Elvis. But it was 547 00:32:19,040 --> 00:32:23,239 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty nine and times change, people change. He had 548 00:32:23,280 --> 00:32:26,040 Speaker 1: to keep changing or else there was literally no point. 549 00:32:27,480 --> 00:32:29,840 Speaker 1: He would bring the Living Theater to the stage of 550 00:32:29,840 --> 00:32:33,440 Speaker 1: a Doors show Miami. Miami was the kickoff for the 551 00:32:33,440 --> 00:32:36,520 Speaker 1: biggest tour of the Door's career. If he learned anything 552 00:32:36,600 --> 00:32:38,760 Speaker 1: from the Living Theater, it was that there was no 553 00:32:38,960 --> 00:32:42,480 Speaker 1: time like the President. There was only the President. What 554 00:32:42,680 --> 00:32:47,040 Speaker 1: better platform to deliver this new promise of liberation, of paradise, 555 00:32:47,200 --> 00:32:50,040 Speaker 1: of shock than from the leadoff date of the conquering 556 00:32:50,080 --> 00:32:53,360 Speaker 1: tour of the biggest band in America. America was excited 557 00:32:53,400 --> 00:32:55,400 Speaker 1: to catch him in the Doors Live on tour in 558 00:32:55,480 --> 00:32:58,680 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty nine, but they had no idea what they 559 00:32:58,680 --> 00:33:02,960 Speaker 1: were in for. He would provoke, he would incite, confront, 560 00:33:03,040 --> 00:33:06,320 Speaker 1: perform shock. He would break the fourth wall. He would 561 00:33:06,320 --> 00:33:09,000 Speaker 1: break on through. There would be no fourth wall, and 562 00:33:09,120 --> 00:33:12,360 Speaker 1: he delivered delivered on that promise to himself to give 563 00:33:12,400 --> 00:33:15,200 Speaker 1: the people something new, a night they would never forget 564 00:33:15,400 --> 00:33:18,680 Speaker 1: He'd never forget either, nor would the police. The entire 565 00:33:18,760 --> 00:33:22,760 Speaker 1: country would take no in Miami, Jim Morriston was ready 566 00:33:22,760 --> 00:33:25,200 Speaker 1: to do the most shocking thing anyone had ever seen. 567 00:33:26,320 --> 00:33:43,560 Speaker 1: Um Jake Brennan and this is seven Club, all right. 568 00:33:43,640 --> 00:33:46,160 Speaker 1: The seven Club is scored and co written by myself, 569 00:33:46,240 --> 00:33:49,240 Speaker 1: Jake Brennan. Zef Blundy is the lead writer in editor 570 00:33:49,360 --> 00:33:52,560 Speaker 1: on the show. Matt Bowden mixes the show. Additional music 571 00:33:52,600 --> 00:33:57,000 Speaker 1: and score elements by Ryan Spreaker and Henry Linnetta. Club 572 00:33:57,080 --> 00:33:59,800 Speaker 1: is produced by myself for Double Elvis and partnership with 573 00:34:00,040 --> 00:34:03,840 Speaker 1: I Heart Radio. Sources for this episode are available at 574 00:34:03,840 --> 00:34:06,880 Speaker 1: Double Elvis dot com on the twenty seven Club series page. 575 00:34:07,280 --> 00:34:10,640 Speaker 1: The twenty seven Club is released weekly every Thursday. Season 576 00:34:10,680 --> 00:34:13,520 Speaker 1: one features twelve episodes on Jimmie Hendricks, which are all 577 00:34:13,560 --> 00:34:16,279 Speaker 1: available for you to binge right now wherever you get 578 00:34:16,320 --> 00:34:18,680 Speaker 1: your podcasts. And if you like what you hear, please 579 00:34:18,680 --> 00:34:20,600 Speaker 1: be sure to subscribe to the twenty seven Club on 580 00:34:20,640 --> 00:34:23,160 Speaker 1: Apple podcast to I Heart Radio Apple wherever you get 581 00:34:23,160 --> 00:34:24,879 Speaker 1: your shows. And if you'd like to win a free 582 00:34:24,880 --> 00:34:27,799 Speaker 1: twenty seven Club poster designed by the man himself, make 583 00:34:27,880 --> 00:34:30,680 Speaker 1: Gonzalez and leave a review for twenty seven Club on 584 00:34:30,719 --> 00:34:34,839 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts or hashtag subscribe to twenty seven Club on 585 00:34:34,880 --> 00:34:37,800 Speaker 1: social media, and we'll pick two winners each week and 586 00:34:37,880 --> 00:34:40,919 Speaker 1: announce them on the Double Elvis Instagram page that's at 587 00:34:40,960 --> 00:34:43,160 Speaker 1: double Elvis. You're gonna want to give that a fallow, 588 00:34:43,960 --> 00:34:45,680 Speaker 1: So get out there and spread the word about twenty 589 00:34:45,719 --> 00:34:47,840 Speaker 1: seven Club. And as always, you can find me labbing 590 00:34:47,840 --> 00:34:50,520 Speaker 1: about other crazy rock stars on my other show, disgrace Land, 591 00:34:50,680 --> 00:34:53,000 Speaker 1: and you can talk to me per usual on Instagram 592 00:34:53,120 --> 00:35:08,600 Speaker 1: and Twitter at disgrace Land Pod Rock and Roll, What's 593 00:35:08,680 --> 00:35:09,480 Speaker 1: up for your ears