1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,520 Speaker 1: The twenty seven Club is a production of I Heart 2 00:00:02,600 --> 00:00:08,080 Speaker 1: Radio and Double Elvis Media. Jim Morrison died at the 3 00:00:08,119 --> 00:00:11,440 Speaker 1: age of and he lived a life unlike any other. 4 00:00:12,160 --> 00:00:14,480 Speaker 1: I can give you twenty seven reasons why that statement 5 00:00:14,560 --> 00:00:17,160 Speaker 1: is true. Five would be the number of years he 6 00:00:17,160 --> 00:00:19,840 Speaker 1: would front an l a band that matched up blues, 7 00:00:19,920 --> 00:00:23,279 Speaker 1: frat rock, and poetic psychedelia. Another one would be the 8 00:00:23,360 --> 00:00:26,280 Speaker 1: number of riots he incited while on stage in Queens, 9 00:00:26,320 --> 00:00:29,080 Speaker 1: New York. Four more would be the number of years 10 00:00:29,080 --> 00:00:31,000 Speaker 1: old he was when he felt the soul of another 11 00:00:31,040 --> 00:00:34,440 Speaker 1: person entered his body. Another nine would be the number 12 00:00:34,479 --> 00:00:38,000 Speaker 1: of seconds it took for blues songstress Janis Joplin to 13 00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:41,279 Speaker 1: react to his drunken hijinks at a Hollywood party him 14 00:00:41,280 --> 00:00:44,760 Speaker 1: put him firmly in his place. In Eight would be 15 00:00:44,800 --> 00:00:47,040 Speaker 1: the number of years he had left to live after 16 00:00:47,080 --> 00:00:49,520 Speaker 1: a Florida cop threw him up against the patrol car 17 00:00:49,840 --> 00:00:53,959 Speaker 1: and cuffed him for petty larceny in resisting arrest. On 18 00:00:54,040 --> 00:00:57,520 Speaker 1: this our first episode of twenty seven Club Season two. 19 00:00:58,320 --> 00:01:01,920 Speaker 1: Riots Soul Transfer is the first of many run ins 20 00:01:01,920 --> 00:01:06,319 Speaker 1: with Johnny law In, Jim Morrison lost in Fantasy, I'm 21 00:01:06,440 --> 00:01:40,960 Speaker 1: Jake Brennan and This is the Tony seven clock. Jim Morrison, 22 00:01:41,120 --> 00:01:44,560 Speaker 1: the Lizard King, Mr Mojo Risen, the Dionysus of the 23 00:01:44,600 --> 00:01:48,360 Speaker 1: Sunset Strip, The Boardwalk Gutter Poet was writhing around on 24 00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:51,800 Speaker 1: the floor of the stage at the Singer Bowl in Flushing, Queens, 25 00:01:51,840 --> 00:01:54,800 Speaker 1: New York. It was a revolving stage, but it had 26 00:01:54,800 --> 00:01:58,000 Speaker 1: stopped revolving while Jim's band, The Doors, were giving a 27 00:01:58,080 --> 00:02:02,280 Speaker 1: riotous performance. Halfway through their set. It broke the stage 28 00:02:02,480 --> 00:02:04,960 Speaker 1: like it couldn't handle anymore, like it knew that Jim 29 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:06,840 Speaker 1: wanted to break it, Like it knew that Jim wanted 30 00:02:06,880 --> 00:02:10,640 Speaker 1: to break on through, but to break things physically and metaphorically, 31 00:02:11,040 --> 00:02:13,440 Speaker 1: and so like it was just doing the lead singer 32 00:02:13,520 --> 00:02:17,400 Speaker 1: of Favor. It broke for him. It bent to his will. 33 00:02:18,639 --> 00:02:22,079 Speaker 1: Lying on the stage, Jim's brown leather pants crinkled up 34 00:02:22,080 --> 00:02:24,640 Speaker 1: like a potato chip bag as his knees pulled up 35 00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:28,560 Speaker 1: tight against his chest. His purple Paisley shirt was drenched 36 00:02:28,600 --> 00:02:31,760 Speaker 1: with sweat. It's lapel is sharp and dramatic, like his wit. 37 00:02:32,200 --> 00:02:35,680 Speaker 1: His shoulder length mahogany hair waving it dusted up the 38 00:02:35,720 --> 00:02:38,600 Speaker 1: dirt and the grind from the stage floor. His body 39 00:02:38,639 --> 00:02:44,040 Speaker 1: contorted spasm, kicked, flailed, cried out, beckoned. The stage knew it, 40 00:02:44,120 --> 00:02:46,520 Speaker 1: The crowd knew it. The cops and they knew it too. 41 00:02:46,840 --> 00:02:50,360 Speaker 1: Jim Morrison was out of control, and he was calling 42 00:02:50,360 --> 00:02:53,160 Speaker 1: out to every impressionable face that watched him with fear 43 00:02:53,200 --> 00:02:56,200 Speaker 1: and wonder. He found himself on the floor of the 44 00:02:56,240 --> 00:03:00,560 Speaker 1: stage and typically dramatic fashion, just moments before four he 45 00:03:00,600 --> 00:03:02,720 Speaker 1: had leapt into the air some three ft or so. 46 00:03:02,880 --> 00:03:06,280 Speaker 1: His legs struck out straight like some maniacal Arabesque, his 47 00:03:06,400 --> 00:03:09,239 Speaker 1: wiry body came down hard onto the stage floor with 48 00:03:09,320 --> 00:03:12,760 Speaker 1: a thud. The drums drowned out his fall. He leapt 49 00:03:12,840 --> 00:03:15,359 Speaker 1: so far and landed so hard that a few of 50 00:03:15,400 --> 00:03:19,520 Speaker 1: the cops on stage started to move towards him preemptive triage, 51 00:03:19,960 --> 00:03:22,560 Speaker 1: but he kept moving on the ground, kept flailing. The 52 00:03:22,639 --> 00:03:25,799 Speaker 1: cops thought better, the hippie freak was obviously doing his 53 00:03:25,880 --> 00:03:30,160 Speaker 1: hippie freak thing. In best they keep their distance. Each 54 00:03:30,160 --> 00:03:32,920 Speaker 1: of the two dozen police prowling the Singer Bowl stage 55 00:03:32,960 --> 00:03:36,240 Speaker 1: thought the same thing, Hank tough, get through these last 56 00:03:36,320 --> 00:03:38,520 Speaker 1: few minutes of overtime and you can make it home 57 00:03:38,520 --> 00:03:42,040 Speaker 1: in time for Carson and a stiff drink. And there 58 00:03:42,040 --> 00:03:45,120 Speaker 1: were more than sixteen th kids in the crowd somewhere 59 00:03:45,200 --> 00:03:48,040 Speaker 1: up close and could easily see their gutter pied piper 60 00:03:48,320 --> 00:03:52,040 Speaker 1: as he did his wild horizontal dance. Others strained to 61 00:03:52,040 --> 00:03:54,320 Speaker 1: see what was going on from behind those up front. 62 00:03:54,640 --> 00:03:57,080 Speaker 1: It didn't help that there were what seemed like a 63 00:03:57,160 --> 00:04:01,200 Speaker 1: million cops on the stage. Cops obscured a clear view 64 00:04:01,240 --> 00:04:04,160 Speaker 1: of Jim. It pissed the kids off, and they were everywhere. 65 00:04:04,200 --> 00:04:06,920 Speaker 1: The cops standing still at ease, pritty to toss and 66 00:04:06,960 --> 00:04:10,120 Speaker 1: tussle with any long hair who wanted to step to them. 67 00:04:10,160 --> 00:04:13,760 Speaker 1: And just like the cops, the kids thought the same thing, too, 68 00:04:14,280 --> 00:04:18,520 Speaker 1: fucking pigs. The kids in the crowd try not to 69 00:04:18,600 --> 00:04:21,680 Speaker 1: let the authoritative presence of the police ruined their enjoyment 70 00:04:21,760 --> 00:04:24,320 Speaker 1: of the end. The long track that had closed out 71 00:04:24,360 --> 00:04:28,560 Speaker 1: the doors recently released self titled debut album, The chaotic, 72 00:04:28,640 --> 00:04:33,560 Speaker 1: improvised finale, drawn out and unpredictable and explosive, was perfectly 73 00:04:33,600 --> 00:04:38,200 Speaker 1: soundtracking this moment. The song was originally written about a breakup, 74 00:04:38,640 --> 00:04:41,800 Speaker 1: but was so heavy with edible torment and apocalyptic vision 75 00:04:42,080 --> 00:04:44,400 Speaker 1: that it felt more likely to inside a riot than 76 00:04:44,400 --> 00:04:48,719 Speaker 1: a reconciliation. Symbols crashed down the oregan Winnie, the guitar 77 00:04:48,839 --> 00:04:52,120 Speaker 1: playing the Eastern styled riffs caught some discordant feedback from 78 00:04:52,160 --> 00:04:55,560 Speaker 1: the amp. Jim screeched into the microphone, clutched close to 79 00:04:55,640 --> 00:04:58,480 Speaker 1: his chest, and nearly thrust it down his throat. A 80 00:04:58,640 --> 00:05:02,400 Speaker 1: banshee howling into the muggy August night with wild abandoned. 81 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:05,440 Speaker 1: Jim talked to the kids and the crowd the whole show, 82 00:05:05,800 --> 00:05:09,200 Speaker 1: tempted them with liberation from their parents, teased them with 83 00:05:09,240 --> 00:05:12,760 Speaker 1: a glimpse of an uninhibited life, shocked them with obscenities, 84 00:05:12,920 --> 00:05:16,160 Speaker 1: and seduced them with his wobbly leather clad legs. That 85 00:05:16,240 --> 00:05:19,359 Speaker 1: wanted the liberation Jim was selling. They wanted the freedom, 86 00:05:19,400 --> 00:05:23,039 Speaker 1: that danger, the transcendence that was right there on the stage, 87 00:05:23,320 --> 00:05:26,000 Speaker 1: right in front of him, right past the row of cops. 88 00:05:26,240 --> 00:05:28,160 Speaker 1: If they could just make it to Jim, touch him, 89 00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:30,640 Speaker 1: be with him, they too could be liberated from the 90 00:05:30,720 --> 00:05:34,120 Speaker 1: rules of their parents, their homes, a society run by 91 00:05:34,160 --> 00:05:39,440 Speaker 1: cops with nightsticks. The kids said fuck it. They rose up, 92 00:05:39,480 --> 00:05:45,440 Speaker 1: and they charged the stage. Jim planted the seeds before 93 00:05:45,480 --> 00:05:49,160 Speaker 1: the show even started. Before the doors began playing, Jim 94 00:05:49,200 --> 00:05:52,760 Speaker 1: had walked patiently through the crowd, signed programs for fans. 95 00:05:53,080 --> 00:05:56,000 Speaker 1: A documentary crew followed the group around, and Jim made 96 00:05:56,040 --> 00:05:59,440 Speaker 1: sure to flash his pearly whites wide and often kids 97 00:05:59,480 --> 00:06:02,440 Speaker 1: reached out and grabbed locks of his classically gorgeous hair. 98 00:06:02,880 --> 00:06:07,000 Speaker 1: He smiled, played nice Dorian Gray on display. It wasn't 99 00:06:07,040 --> 00:06:12,600 Speaker 1: too drunk yet. It was just the calm before the storm. 100 00:06:12,680 --> 00:06:15,800 Speaker 1: When he took the stage, Jim was feeling good, loose, 101 00:06:16,080 --> 00:06:18,840 Speaker 1: liquored up. He sucker punched a fan in the stomach 102 00:06:18,839 --> 00:06:20,600 Speaker 1: as he climbed the stairs for the funk of it, 103 00:06:20,760 --> 00:06:23,880 Speaker 1: and laughed when a bodyguard pummeled another fan the pig 104 00:06:24,040 --> 00:06:27,400 Speaker 1: taking his cue from the Pisto pop star. The Doors 105 00:06:27,400 --> 00:06:29,960 Speaker 1: were headlining. It was the first and a series of 106 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:34,040 Speaker 1: shows at the Singer Bowl in August, dubbed the New 107 00:06:34,120 --> 00:06:38,440 Speaker 1: York Rock Festival. The Singer Bowl outdoor stadium was built 108 00:06:38,480 --> 00:06:42,000 Speaker 1: just a few years before by the Singer Sewing Machine Company. 109 00:06:42,320 --> 00:06:45,840 Speaker 1: The company donated it for the nineteen sixty four World's Fair. 110 00:06:46,440 --> 00:06:50,120 Speaker 1: It hosted Olympic trials. It hosted boxing matches in in 111 00:06:50,160 --> 00:06:52,960 Speaker 1: addition to the Doors. Later that month, the Singer Bowl 112 00:06:53,160 --> 00:06:56,320 Speaker 1: would host other big acts like the Jimmie Hendricks, experience 113 00:06:56,400 --> 00:06:59,719 Speaker 1: and Big Brother in the Holding Company, featuring none other 114 00:06:59,760 --> 00:07:05,000 Speaker 1: than hard drinking blues singer Janice Joplin. When the Doors 115 00:07:05,080 --> 00:07:08,240 Speaker 1: followed The Who that night, Who did the expected thing 116 00:07:08,279 --> 00:07:11,480 Speaker 1: and smashed their instruments to pieces after a rousing version 117 00:07:11,520 --> 00:07:15,400 Speaker 1: of My Generation to close out their set. After the Who, 118 00:07:15,480 --> 00:07:18,600 Speaker 1: Blue Minds, Jim Morrison spent the majority of the Doors 119 00:07:18,600 --> 00:07:23,440 Speaker 1: set stumbling on stage, swooning, screaming the booze, the drugs, 120 00:07:23,480 --> 00:07:26,880 Speaker 1: the music, the thousands of fans. He wanted to take everything, 121 00:07:27,080 --> 00:07:30,880 Speaker 1: make a cocktail of chaos and catapult himself somewhere else, 122 00:07:31,240 --> 00:07:35,280 Speaker 1: somewhere that wasn't humdrum reality. He angled for high fantasy 123 00:07:36,120 --> 00:07:39,200 Speaker 1: on the floor of the Singer Bowl stage. He convulsed 124 00:07:39,240 --> 00:07:42,360 Speaker 1: and angled some more. It was completely far into the 125 00:07:42,400 --> 00:07:45,400 Speaker 1: cops in attendance, there to keep things cool, keep them 126 00:07:45,400 --> 00:07:48,760 Speaker 1: from exploding, and they were freaked out, scared, and they've 127 00:07:48,760 --> 00:07:51,480 Speaker 1: never seen anything like Jim Morrison before. They had their 128 00:07:51,560 --> 00:07:55,000 Speaker 1: nightsticks out, swinging, swinging at the kids in white button 129 00:07:55,040 --> 00:07:57,480 Speaker 1: up shirts and black horn rimmed glasses as they bum 130 00:07:57,600 --> 00:08:01,240 Speaker 1: rushed the stage, charged the cops added to the chaos. 131 00:08:02,200 --> 00:08:05,760 Speaker 1: Suddenly Jim was the least of their problems. The cops 132 00:08:05,760 --> 00:08:08,280 Speaker 1: turned their focus to the kids and tossed them back 133 00:08:08,320 --> 00:08:13,280 Speaker 1: into the crowd. Night sticks raised swinging wildly, but they 134 00:08:13,280 --> 00:08:15,680 Speaker 1: weren't the only ones swinging. The kids would go down 135 00:08:15,800 --> 00:08:18,440 Speaker 1: swinging if they had to. They grabbed wooden chairs from 136 00:08:18,480 --> 00:08:21,000 Speaker 1: the floor and tossed them into the air, tossed them 137 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:23,720 Speaker 1: at the cops blocking their way, broke them into pieces, 138 00:08:23,720 --> 00:08:27,640 Speaker 1: and hurled splinter projectiles wildly. Chairs hit not only cops 139 00:08:27,680 --> 00:08:30,440 Speaker 1: but kids in the audience as well. Heads opened up, 140 00:08:30,560 --> 00:08:33,839 Speaker 1: blood rushed down, and the audience was screaming, screaming just 141 00:08:33,920 --> 00:08:36,640 Speaker 1: like Jim was screaming from the floor of the broken stage. 142 00:08:37,120 --> 00:08:39,320 Speaker 1: The cops kept prowling from one side of the stage 143 00:08:39,320 --> 00:08:41,760 Speaker 1: to the next as chairs flew through the air and 144 00:08:41,800 --> 00:08:45,120 Speaker 1: skulls get whacked. The who is Pete Townsend went home 145 00:08:45,160 --> 00:08:47,640 Speaker 1: that night and wrote Sally Simpson for his new rock 146 00:08:47,679 --> 00:08:51,600 Speaker 1: opera Tommy. After witnessing the insanity that the Doors had wrought. 147 00:08:52,360 --> 00:08:55,959 Speaker 1: Another witness, twenty year old John Cummings a k a. 148 00:08:56,200 --> 00:08:59,640 Speaker 1: Johnny Ramone, was blown away by the intensity of Jim 149 00:08:59,720 --> 00:09:03,120 Speaker 1: mar sit in the doors in his own backyard. No less, 150 00:09:03,720 --> 00:09:06,400 Speaker 1: he would see the Doors play live ten times and 151 00:09:06,440 --> 00:09:09,040 Speaker 1: translate part of what he saw into his own group, 152 00:09:09,200 --> 00:09:14,120 Speaker 1: the Ramans, when they formed six years later. Johnny Ramone 153 00:09:14,160 --> 00:09:17,000 Speaker 1: saw the kids and queens bleed. That night, they took 154 00:09:17,040 --> 00:09:20,680 Speaker 1: their spontaneous revolution to the streets. They went beyond the 155 00:09:20,760 --> 00:09:24,560 Speaker 1: Singer Bowl. The cops struggled to maintain order, maintain the 156 00:09:24,640 --> 00:09:27,880 Speaker 1: thin blue line of authority. From the floor of the 157 00:09:27,920 --> 00:09:31,840 Speaker 1: broken stage. Jim contorted his body some more. This was 158 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:35,920 Speaker 1: his fantasy, the scene of chaos, a teenage waste land. 159 00:09:36,720 --> 00:09:39,080 Speaker 1: His eyes rolled into the back of his head. He 160 00:09:39,240 --> 00:09:43,000 Speaker 1: screamed something incoherent into the microphone, and he assumed control 161 00:09:43,040 --> 00:09:47,000 Speaker 1: over the whole thing, the kids, the cops, the entire scene. 162 00:09:47,440 --> 00:09:50,199 Speaker 1: He lorded over it from his mind. He did this, 163 00:09:50,640 --> 00:09:54,880 Speaker 1: He made this happen. He could do anything. He broke 164 00:09:54,920 --> 00:10:34,400 Speaker 1: on through to the other side. Captain George Stephen Morrison 165 00:10:34,520 --> 00:10:38,360 Speaker 1: was speeding down Interstate when he nearly lost control of 166 00:10:38,400 --> 00:10:42,679 Speaker 1: the station wagon. Captain Morrison wasn't one to lose control. 167 00:10:42,960 --> 00:10:46,680 Speaker 1: He maintained control, kept it under his thumb, lorded over it. 168 00:10:46,920 --> 00:10:50,640 Speaker 1: He was control and they were halfway between Alburquerque and 169 00:10:50,679 --> 00:10:53,280 Speaker 1: Santa Fe when he had to turn his body around 170 00:10:53,480 --> 00:10:56,120 Speaker 1: for the third time. Until his four year old son 171 00:10:56,200 --> 00:10:59,040 Speaker 1: in the back seat to settle down, and the kid 172 00:10:59,200 --> 00:11:03,200 Speaker 1: was practically hysterical, crying, breathing fast, worked up way too 173 00:11:03,280 --> 00:11:06,120 Speaker 1: much for his own good. Captain Morrison would pull this 174 00:11:06,200 --> 00:11:10,440 Speaker 1: goddamn car over again. So help him. The captain's wife, Clara, 175 00:11:10,640 --> 00:11:13,679 Speaker 1: sat in the passenger seat and clucked her tongue disapprovingly. 176 00:11:14,160 --> 00:11:16,600 Speaker 1: She echoed her husband's sentiment, but with the sort of 177 00:11:16,640 --> 00:11:19,360 Speaker 1: sat in drape calm tone that wise of husband's with 178 00:11:19,400 --> 00:11:24,400 Speaker 1: short fuses possessed. Jimmy, she said, reassuringly, please calm down. 179 00:11:25,040 --> 00:11:27,520 Speaker 1: She took his hand in hers and squeezed it tight. 180 00:11:29,120 --> 00:11:32,760 Speaker 1: But four year old James Douglas Morrison, Little Jim Morrison, 181 00:11:33,080 --> 00:11:35,560 Speaker 1: knew the racket he was making was for good reason. 182 00:11:36,080 --> 00:11:39,120 Speaker 1: He was there, he saw it, he felt it. His 183 00:11:39,240 --> 00:11:41,400 Speaker 1: father didn't feel what he felt on the side of 184 00:11:41,440 --> 00:11:44,760 Speaker 1: the highway. His father couldn't feel that. His father was 185 00:11:44,840 --> 00:11:48,600 Speaker 1: too hardened to feel anything, let alone feel empathy for 186 00:11:48,679 --> 00:11:54,080 Speaker 1: another human being. Jim could, Jim did. Little Jim Morrison 187 00:11:54,120 --> 00:11:56,640 Speaker 1: had sat behind the glass of the car's back window, 188 00:11:57,160 --> 00:12:00,480 Speaker 1: hands stuck to the pain. It was there, the soul 189 00:12:00,520 --> 00:12:05,719 Speaker 1: of the dying Native American entered his body. There was 190 00:12:05,760 --> 00:12:08,319 Speaker 1: an accident on the side of the highway. A pickup 191 00:12:08,320 --> 00:12:11,760 Speaker 1: truck was on its side. Smoke sizzled from under its hood, 192 00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:15,080 Speaker 1: just like everything else is loud in the New Mexico Desert, 193 00:12:15,440 --> 00:12:18,080 Speaker 1: exposed to the sun, to the wind, to the elements 194 00:12:18,120 --> 00:12:21,600 Speaker 1: that blew through on their way north or south. Two 195 00:12:21,640 --> 00:12:24,640 Speaker 1: men from the nearby Pueblo tribes for next to the truck. 196 00:12:25,040 --> 00:12:27,640 Speaker 1: They'd been thrown from it. Another was still stuck in 197 00:12:27,640 --> 00:12:31,720 Speaker 1: the driver's scene. Jim saw the carnage, this unexpected and 198 00:12:31,920 --> 00:12:35,520 Speaker 1: terrible scene as they came up on it. He felt 199 00:12:35,520 --> 00:12:38,440 Speaker 1: the tingle of electricity as they approached the accident, a 200 00:12:38,480 --> 00:12:40,720 Speaker 1: tickle on the back of his neck. It was like 201 00:12:40,760 --> 00:12:43,320 Speaker 1: the scene was calling to him and they had to stop, 202 00:12:43,360 --> 00:12:46,800 Speaker 1: had to help, had to do something. Captain Morrison obliged. 203 00:12:47,640 --> 00:12:50,160 Speaker 1: He pulled the station wagon behind another car that had 204 00:12:50,200 --> 00:12:53,000 Speaker 1: pulled off the road, told Jim to stay in his seat, 205 00:12:53,160 --> 00:12:56,439 Speaker 1: and got out to inspect the scene before his father 206 00:12:56,480 --> 00:12:58,800 Speaker 1: got back in the car to reassure Jim that someone 207 00:12:58,840 --> 00:13:01,160 Speaker 1: had gone to call for help, that the authorities are 208 00:13:01,200 --> 00:13:03,400 Speaker 1: on their way. Before he told Jim that there was 209 00:13:03,480 --> 00:13:05,880 Speaker 1: nothing they could do but continue on down the stretch 210 00:13:05,920 --> 00:13:11,920 Speaker 1: of Southwestern Highway Jim had connected. The connection was hot electric. 211 00:13:12,720 --> 00:13:14,880 Speaker 1: The eyes of one of the Publo men slouched on 212 00:13:14,920 --> 00:13:17,400 Speaker 1: the side of the highway at Jim's they locked in. 213 00:13:18,040 --> 00:13:21,480 Speaker 1: Jim felt a vibration. His hands, still flushed against the 214 00:13:21,520 --> 00:13:24,719 Speaker 1: car window started to burn up, got hot, and the 215 00:13:24,800 --> 00:13:27,680 Speaker 1: window fogged up around the outline of his palms, and 216 00:13:27,760 --> 00:13:30,560 Speaker 1: then his hands and his arms went numb. Jim's vision 217 00:13:30,600 --> 00:13:32,600 Speaker 1: went blurry in the air between the car and the 218 00:13:32,640 --> 00:13:36,080 Speaker 1: crash scenes suddenly flared like it does when heat rises 219 00:13:36,080 --> 00:13:39,640 Speaker 1: from the street. Was in an instant. Jim felt different. 220 00:13:40,120 --> 00:13:42,600 Speaker 1: His father got back into the car, and it wasn't 221 00:13:42,600 --> 00:13:44,960 Speaker 1: his father. His mother turned around to give him a 222 00:13:44,960 --> 00:13:48,240 Speaker 1: comforting smile, and it wasn't his mother. He felt out 223 00:13:48,240 --> 00:13:52,040 Speaker 1: of place, a wild child, bound to no one, stuck 224 00:13:52,040 --> 00:13:55,959 Speaker 1: inside someone else's reality. He needed to escape, to find 225 00:13:56,000 --> 00:13:58,240 Speaker 1: what was out there beyond the confines of the so 226 00:13:58,320 --> 00:14:02,760 Speaker 1: called family station wagon doing the speed limit down Interstate five. 227 00:14:06,000 --> 00:14:09,160 Speaker 1: The Morrison's had come to New Mexico from Florida, where 228 00:14:09,200 --> 00:14:12,120 Speaker 1: Jim was born. In the city of Melbourne on December eight. 229 00:14:14,520 --> 00:14:17,560 Speaker 1: Captain Morrison was stationed there, and when Jim was just 230 00:14:17,640 --> 00:14:21,280 Speaker 1: six months old, Captain Morrison left Melbourne to fly hellcats 231 00:14:21,320 --> 00:14:25,680 Speaker 1: on aircraft carriers. Jim's first three years were mostly spent 232 00:14:25,720 --> 00:14:30,400 Speaker 1: with his mother and his grandparents in Clearwater, Florida. Only 233 00:14:30,440 --> 00:14:34,040 Speaker 1: Florida could give us Jim Morrison. He's the kind of 234 00:14:34,040 --> 00:14:36,600 Speaker 1: guy you'd read about in the headline of a newspaper article. 235 00:14:36,960 --> 00:14:41,080 Speaker 1: Headlines like drunk, shirtless Florida man harasses people in the park, 236 00:14:41,600 --> 00:14:45,880 Speaker 1: Florida man allegedly gave alligator beer, enticed reptile to bite him, 237 00:14:46,160 --> 00:14:50,120 Speaker 1: Florida man caught exposing himself, and Walmart pillow Isle. Jim 238 00:14:50,160 --> 00:14:54,520 Speaker 1: Morrison is Florida Man. But it's a little more complicated 239 00:14:54,520 --> 00:14:58,280 Speaker 1: than that. Jim Morrison was a revolutionary, a catalyst for 240 00:14:58,320 --> 00:15:02,680 Speaker 1: a new confrontational style of poetic rock and roll. He 241 00:15:02,760 --> 00:15:08,520 Speaker 1: was unafraid, violently handsome, sexually liberated, chasing transcendence. He was provocative, 242 00:15:08,800 --> 00:15:11,120 Speaker 1: peered over the edge, stepped over the edge, left the 243 00:15:11,200 --> 00:15:14,480 Speaker 1: edge in his swan diving wake. He taunted, he dared, 244 00:15:14,520 --> 00:15:17,080 Speaker 1: He said funk authority, he said fuck the police. He 245 00:15:17,240 --> 00:15:20,040 Speaker 1: beckoned to the masses join him, break on through with him. 246 00:15:21,040 --> 00:15:24,280 Speaker 1: But Jim Morrison was also a dilettant, a wanna be 247 00:15:24,440 --> 00:15:30,680 Speaker 1: a moocher, a phony playing the part of a sincere intellectual, belligerent, insufferable, pretentious, selfish, 248 00:15:30,920 --> 00:15:34,040 Speaker 1: a walking eleventh grade English class Most of the time 249 00:15:34,080 --> 00:15:36,760 Speaker 1: he was fucked up, tripping his balls off on acid, 250 00:15:36,800 --> 00:15:42,640 Speaker 1: housed on a block of hasheesh, blind, stinking, drunk, almost always. 251 00:15:42,720 --> 00:15:47,600 Speaker 1: Sometimes his philosophy was poetic, profound, shockingly new. Other times 252 00:15:47,840 --> 00:15:50,480 Speaker 1: his philosophy was nothing more than a thirty rack of 253 00:15:50,520 --> 00:15:54,760 Speaker 1: watery domestics in a bloated, bearded face to match, Jim 254 00:15:54,760 --> 00:15:59,480 Speaker 1: Morrison sought fantasy, looked for an escape away out, away 255 00:15:59,520 --> 00:16:03,800 Speaker 1: from his parents, away from authority, away from repressed societal 256 00:16:03,880 --> 00:16:07,720 Speaker 1: norms that didn't allow him to truly express himself. It 257 00:16:07,880 --> 00:16:10,080 Speaker 1: started with that soul swap in the back of the 258 00:16:10,120 --> 00:16:13,400 Speaker 1: station wagon. His father would tell him that it had 259 00:16:13,440 --> 00:16:15,960 Speaker 1: all been a dream, that Jim and made it all up. 260 00:16:16,440 --> 00:16:20,480 Speaker 1: The accident, the horrific scene, the soul that somehow made 261 00:16:20,480 --> 00:16:22,640 Speaker 1: its way from the body of a dying stranger on 262 00:16:22,640 --> 00:16:26,200 Speaker 1: the side of the road in New Mexico into Jim. 263 00:16:26,240 --> 00:16:29,920 Speaker 1: It was obviously a fantasy. Captain Morrison insisted it was 264 00:16:29,960 --> 00:16:34,560 Speaker 1: a constructor. Jim's four year old mine. But for Jim 265 00:16:34,680 --> 00:16:41,720 Speaker 1: it was the truth, whether or not it actually was true. 266 00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:44,360 Speaker 1: It gave Jim a reason at an early age to 267 00:16:44,440 --> 00:16:47,880 Speaker 1: look beyond his clear and present reality, and it instilled 268 00:16:47,920 --> 00:16:51,440 Speaker 1: in him this undeniable urge, the urge to escape and 269 00:16:51,480 --> 00:16:53,720 Speaker 1: to challenge all of those who came in his way. 270 00:16:54,080 --> 00:16:56,560 Speaker 1: The urge would take him to Venice Beach to Los Angeles, 271 00:16:56,640 --> 00:17:00,160 Speaker 1: to New York City, to Mexico City, to Amsterdam to Paris, 272 00:17:00,320 --> 00:17:02,920 Speaker 1: into many cities and towns in between, where he would 273 00:17:02,960 --> 00:17:06,359 Speaker 1: provoke the youth and enraged the police. He would be told, 274 00:17:06,520 --> 00:17:08,639 Speaker 1: don't do that, and then he'd do it. He'd be 275 00:17:08,680 --> 00:17:10,800 Speaker 1: told don't say that, and then he'd say it. He 276 00:17:10,920 --> 00:17:13,320 Speaker 1: shouted up sanities in public, and then when that got 277 00:17:13,359 --> 00:17:16,240 Speaker 1: him in trouble, he'd start throwing punches. He'd stand in 278 00:17:16,280 --> 00:17:18,359 Speaker 1: front of thousands of fans, reached down to the crotch 279 00:17:18,400 --> 00:17:20,119 Speaker 1: of his jeans and see how far he could get 280 00:17:20,119 --> 00:17:23,200 Speaker 1: his zipper down before he was stopped. He was their buffoon, 281 00:17:23,520 --> 00:17:26,280 Speaker 1: and he was also their shaman. He'd played the buffoon 282 00:17:26,320 --> 00:17:29,320 Speaker 1: more often than not, though he would find himself elevated 283 00:17:29,320 --> 00:17:31,840 Speaker 1: to the upper rational one of Hollywood royalty. One of 284 00:17:31,920 --> 00:17:34,399 Speaker 1: the most famous rock stars in the world, proved to 285 00:17:34,440 --> 00:17:37,639 Speaker 1: those charmed life scenarios full of rock stars, movie stars, 286 00:17:37,640 --> 00:17:40,919 Speaker 1: beautiful women, handsome men, and like a dog that bites 287 00:17:40,920 --> 00:17:43,359 Speaker 1: the hand that feeds it, Jim would tiewan on and 288 00:17:43,400 --> 00:17:48,400 Speaker 1: try to funk it all up, because why not? Who 289 00:17:48,520 --> 00:17:51,880 Speaker 1: was he really? Why wouldn't he question everything he knew 290 00:17:51,880 --> 00:17:54,920 Speaker 1: he wasn't Jim Morrison, the person his parents had intended 291 00:17:54,960 --> 00:17:57,360 Speaker 1: him to be. A Pueblo man dying on the side 292 00:17:57,400 --> 00:17:59,359 Speaker 1: of the road in New Mexico made him question his 293 00:17:59,520 --> 00:18:03,159 Speaker 1: very exact instance, and he never stopped questioning what was 294 00:18:03,240 --> 00:18:07,399 Speaker 1: reality what was fantasy. Jim was empowered, felt godlike. He 295 00:18:07,440 --> 00:18:10,560 Speaker 1: would do anything to challenge the status quo. He would 296 00:18:10,640 --> 00:18:13,399 Speaker 1: roll up to one of those charmed life scenarios, grabbed 297 00:18:13,440 --> 00:18:15,400 Speaker 1: the head of the nearest woman if you wanted to, 298 00:18:15,600 --> 00:18:18,440 Speaker 1: and swing it like a rag doll. Even that head 299 00:18:18,480 --> 00:18:34,320 Speaker 1: belonged to Janice Choplin. We'll be right back after this 300 00:18:34,400 --> 00:18:39,840 Speaker 1: word word word. If Janice Choplin knew one thing, it 301 00:18:39,920 --> 00:18:41,720 Speaker 1: was that this wouldn't be the last time she would 302 00:18:41,800 --> 00:18:44,040 Speaker 1: hit that punch drunk prick over the head with a 303 00:18:44,080 --> 00:18:49,440 Speaker 1: liquor bottle asshole. She never called Jim Morrison by his 304 00:18:49,600 --> 00:18:53,120 Speaker 1: actual name, and there was no dignifying that lumpy, massive, 305 00:18:53,200 --> 00:18:58,200 Speaker 1: delusional machismo, that belligerent, petty fuck. Everyone knew Jim Morrison 306 00:18:58,240 --> 00:19:01,160 Speaker 1: was a dick, but the doors were huge, so most 307 00:19:01,160 --> 00:19:04,359 Speaker 1: people just let it slide. It came with the territory, 308 00:19:05,080 --> 00:19:07,760 Speaker 1: but not Janice. Janice just didn't feel the need to 309 00:19:07,800 --> 00:19:10,359 Speaker 1: pussy foot around it. If it walks like a fucking 310 00:19:10,440 --> 00:19:14,240 Speaker 1: talks like a prick, it's an asshole dick. Janice was 311 00:19:14,320 --> 00:19:16,720 Speaker 1: making a name for herself too, and even though she 312 00:19:16,840 --> 00:19:19,320 Speaker 1: liked to get deep into the sauce, she didn't behave 313 00:19:19,359 --> 00:19:22,600 Speaker 1: in any way like Jim Morrison. She was singing for 314 00:19:22,680 --> 00:19:26,120 Speaker 1: Big Brother in the Holding Company, the San Francisco psychedelic 315 00:19:26,160 --> 00:19:29,680 Speaker 1: blues rock band, and their second album, Cheap Thrills, had 316 00:19:29,720 --> 00:19:32,399 Speaker 1: just been released. It was about to race up the charts. 317 00:19:33,359 --> 00:19:36,359 Speaker 1: Unlike Jim, Janice didn't have to create a fantasy world 318 00:19:36,400 --> 00:19:39,080 Speaker 1: where she could do whatever she wanted. She could party, 319 00:19:39,320 --> 00:19:41,959 Speaker 1: have a good time. The big bottle of Southern Comfort 320 00:19:42,040 --> 00:19:44,280 Speaker 1: she held tightly in her right hand made that clear. 321 00:19:47,920 --> 00:19:50,199 Speaker 1: Jim had been all over Janice at a party at 322 00:19:50,280 --> 00:19:54,480 Speaker 1: John Davidson's house in the Hollywood Hills. Davidson a former 323 00:19:54,560 --> 00:19:57,520 Speaker 1: underwear model and a regular on the smash television game 324 00:19:57,560 --> 00:20:00,919 Speaker 1: show Hollywood Squares. Huge smile, great hair. You know the 325 00:20:00,960 --> 00:20:04,000 Speaker 1: one was making himself scarce that night if he was 326 00:20:04,040 --> 00:20:07,399 Speaker 1: even home at all. These parties then materialized at this 327 00:20:07,480 --> 00:20:10,639 Speaker 1: house without apartment in the Hills on the Strip. Half 328 00:20:10,640 --> 00:20:12,680 Speaker 1: the time, you wouldn't even bump into the host of 329 00:20:12,760 --> 00:20:15,359 Speaker 1: the party or the owner of the house. Jim and 330 00:20:15,440 --> 00:20:18,400 Speaker 1: Janice were both too drunk to even really know who 331 00:20:18,400 --> 00:20:21,359 Speaker 1: they were bumping into that night, but Jim kept bumping 332 00:20:21,400 --> 00:20:24,840 Speaker 1: into Janice, thrusting himself at her. She would sit down 333 00:20:24,880 --> 00:20:26,840 Speaker 1: on the couch and Jim would try to get on 334 00:20:26,880 --> 00:20:29,720 Speaker 1: her lap. She'd attempted to mingle with a group of people, 335 00:20:29,960 --> 00:20:32,239 Speaker 1: and Jim would bought in, drape his arm around her 336 00:20:32,240 --> 00:20:34,760 Speaker 1: shoulder and blow in her ear. Try to slop his 337 00:20:34,880 --> 00:20:38,520 Speaker 1: beer soaked lips all around hers before you slip in 338 00:20:38,600 --> 00:20:42,240 Speaker 1: the unconsciousness. I'd like to have another kiss, Mr and 339 00:20:42,359 --> 00:20:46,080 Speaker 1: Mrs Rock and Roll. He yelped, not at anyone in particular, 340 00:20:46,359 --> 00:20:48,399 Speaker 1: but it bugged the hell out of the small crowd 341 00:20:48,480 --> 00:20:51,000 Speaker 1: standing next to them, who walked away to find someone 342 00:20:51,080 --> 00:20:55,200 Speaker 1: less ship house to mingle with. Janice was different than Nico, 343 00:20:55,440 --> 00:20:57,840 Speaker 1: not as shy, not as reserve, not as already in 344 00:20:57,880 --> 00:21:01,280 Speaker 1: aloof and you know, not as European in. Jim had 345 00:21:01,280 --> 00:21:04,800 Speaker 1: been introduced to Nico the Velvet Underground singer recently, but 346 00:21:04,960 --> 00:21:08,520 Speaker 1: Doris publicist Danny Fields, and as far as Jim was concerned, 347 00:21:08,840 --> 00:21:12,720 Speaker 1: Nico was way different. She appealed to the life pondering, 348 00:21:12,800 --> 00:21:17,320 Speaker 1: existential poet inside of him, tickled that higher artbone. Janice. 349 00:21:17,720 --> 00:21:23,000 Speaker 1: Janice was something entirely different Raw Ferrell, fucking real man. 350 00:21:23,680 --> 00:21:25,760 Speaker 1: She sang like no one else and drank like a 351 00:21:25,840 --> 00:21:29,280 Speaker 1: doctor sailor. Jim wanted her. They could really be a pair. 352 00:21:29,800 --> 00:21:33,320 Speaker 1: Mr and Mrs rock and Roll was right the first first. 353 00:21:33,320 --> 00:21:35,760 Speaker 1: He wanted to kick the swinging party at John Davidson's 354 00:21:35,760 --> 00:21:38,879 Speaker 1: place in a high gear, next level that ship. Someone 355 00:21:38,960 --> 00:21:42,119 Speaker 1: give me a phone, Jim Hollard. Let's call Jimbo and 356 00:21:42,160 --> 00:21:45,679 Speaker 1: get him over here. Jimbo kicked his lame fucking party 357 00:21:45,720 --> 00:21:48,639 Speaker 1: up a notch. He looked at Janice and raised his 358 00:21:48,680 --> 00:21:52,040 Speaker 1: eyebrows a few times in quick succession. His face a 359 00:21:52,080 --> 00:21:54,320 Speaker 1: whole lot of handsome with a smudged nose and a 360 00:21:54,359 --> 00:21:56,480 Speaker 1: gaping mouth that looked like it was about to holler 361 00:21:56,560 --> 00:21:59,840 Speaker 1: one syllable words or puke or both at the same time. 362 00:22:00,640 --> 00:22:03,880 Speaker 1: It was a look that said, hey, you ever done 363 00:22:03,880 --> 00:22:07,560 Speaker 1: it with two Jim's at once. Jim was, of course, 364 00:22:07,640 --> 00:22:11,640 Speaker 1: referring to Jimbo. And no one wanted Jimbo to come over. 365 00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:14,360 Speaker 1: And when I say no one, I mean no one. 366 00:22:15,200 --> 00:22:17,520 Speaker 1: Even the drunk is torny is the most royally fucked 367 00:22:17,560 --> 00:22:21,360 Speaker 1: up party goer. I didn't want Jimbo hanging around. If 368 00:22:21,400 --> 00:22:24,560 Speaker 1: you thought Jim Morrison was bad, Jim's drunk alter ego, 369 00:22:24,640 --> 00:22:29,800 Speaker 1: Jimbo was ten times worse. A sloppy drunk, a hedonistic, narcissist, violent, 370 00:22:29,920 --> 00:22:33,040 Speaker 1: lumbering oh fish on a path of complete self annihilation 371 00:22:33,119 --> 00:22:36,680 Speaker 1: that would raise anything in his path, and he brought 372 00:22:36,680 --> 00:22:40,280 Speaker 1: out the worst in Jim. Just recently, Jimbo had shown 373 00:22:40,359 --> 00:22:42,960 Speaker 1: up at one of the Door's rehearsal sessions. The Doris 374 00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:46,040 Speaker 1: drummer John Densmore threw his sticks across the room and 375 00:22:46,080 --> 00:22:49,960 Speaker 1: walked out quit. The Doors could handle just about any groupie, fan, 376 00:22:50,080 --> 00:22:53,080 Speaker 1: business type or musician. He could deal with Jim's other 377 00:22:53,119 --> 00:22:56,280 Speaker 1: drinking buddies, Guys like Tom Baker, the Warhol Factory actor 378 00:22:56,480 --> 00:22:59,040 Speaker 1: and Alice Cooper, leader of the l a rock band 379 00:22:59,040 --> 00:23:01,240 Speaker 1: of the same name that had just been signed by 380 00:23:01,240 --> 00:23:06,040 Speaker 1: Frank Zappa. But Jimbo Jimbo was too fucking much. Jim 381 00:23:06,080 --> 00:23:09,119 Speaker 1: and Jimbo laughed as John stormed out of the rehearsal space, 382 00:23:09,400 --> 00:23:12,760 Speaker 1: his drumsticks rolling around the floor behind him. Jim knew 383 00:23:12,760 --> 00:23:14,800 Speaker 1: he would be back, and if he didn't come back, 384 00:23:14,880 --> 00:23:19,439 Speaker 1: well fuck it. Then Jimbo collapse, passed out in the 385 00:23:19,480 --> 00:23:23,480 Speaker 1: corner and pissed his jeans. Jim and met Jimbo in 386 00:23:23,560 --> 00:23:27,439 Speaker 1: Los Angeles in a moment of complete drunken stupor, and 387 00:23:27,480 --> 00:23:30,840 Speaker 1: the two hit it off immediately. They both liked poetry, 388 00:23:30,880 --> 00:23:33,240 Speaker 1: they both liked to shock and be provocative, and they 389 00:23:33,280 --> 00:23:36,000 Speaker 1: both liked to palm fistfuls of acid tabs and guzzle 390 00:23:36,080 --> 00:23:40,320 Speaker 1: them back with herculeans swiggs from Papa Top beer cans. Plus, 391 00:23:40,520 --> 00:23:42,560 Speaker 1: they thought it was funny that they had the same name. 392 00:23:42,960 --> 00:23:45,200 Speaker 1: The two went by Jim and Jimbo so as to 393 00:23:45,280 --> 00:23:49,280 Speaker 1: keep themselves separate. Regardless, Janis knew that one Jim was 394 00:23:49,359 --> 00:23:52,000 Speaker 1: one too many. She couldn't find the party's host, so 395 00:23:52,040 --> 00:23:54,600 Speaker 1: she went into the kitchen and yelled at random partygoers 396 00:23:54,680 --> 00:23:57,480 Speaker 1: to hide the goddamn phone, ripped the goddamn phone cord 397 00:23:57,520 --> 00:23:59,359 Speaker 1: out of the wall. If you had to, don't let 398 00:23:59,440 --> 00:24:02,240 Speaker 1: Jim called Jimbo. Not unless you want this nice Hollywood 399 00:24:02,280 --> 00:24:05,480 Speaker 1: Hills home torn to shreds by a hawkish, slobbering psychopath. 400 00:24:06,520 --> 00:24:09,600 Speaker 1: Janice knew she had a shut Jim Morrison down, which 401 00:24:09,640 --> 00:24:12,280 Speaker 1: was bullshit because she was just trying to enjoy herself, 402 00:24:12,600 --> 00:24:14,880 Speaker 1: but she had to be the responsible one. As Jim 403 00:24:14,920 --> 00:24:17,440 Speaker 1: continued to make a scene. It wouldn't be the first 404 00:24:17,440 --> 00:24:20,320 Speaker 1: time this would happen. She sat back on the couch, 405 00:24:20,720 --> 00:24:24,000 Speaker 1: knowing that Jim would follow, and he did. Jim sat down, 406 00:24:24,080 --> 00:24:29,720 Speaker 1: looked Janice dead in the eyes and said something. Then 407 00:24:29,720 --> 00:24:32,400 Speaker 1: he grabbed Janice's long locks of hair and the move 408 00:24:32,560 --> 00:24:35,520 Speaker 1: was quick and violent and surprised even Janice. And this 409 00:24:35,560 --> 00:24:37,439 Speaker 1: is something she would have expected Jimbo to do, but 410 00:24:37,520 --> 00:24:41,280 Speaker 1: not necessarily Jim. Janice screamed as Jim pulled her face 411 00:24:41,320 --> 00:24:44,919 Speaker 1: straight down into his crotch. His dirty blue jeans smelled 412 00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:48,280 Speaker 1: a stale beer, a stale cigarettes, stale dude. Jim had 413 00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:49,960 Speaker 1: been living in his pair of jeans for the better 414 00:24:49,960 --> 00:24:52,200 Speaker 1: part of a week, Janice could tell by the face 415 00:24:52,240 --> 00:24:55,480 Speaker 1: full of stank Denim. Jim laughed and smushed her face 416 00:24:55,520 --> 00:25:01,040 Speaker 1: into his crotch some more total dick move, literally total Jim. 417 00:25:01,040 --> 00:25:03,760 Speaker 1: But Janie had a better move, a power move. She 418 00:25:03,880 --> 00:25:07,880 Speaker 1: broke free from Jim's clutches, red faced and humiliated, still 419 00:25:07,920 --> 00:25:10,960 Speaker 1: inhaling the rank funk of Jim's Denham clad junk, and 420 00:25:11,040 --> 00:25:13,720 Speaker 1: lifted that Southern Comfort bottle straight up into the air 421 00:25:13,960 --> 00:25:17,240 Speaker 1: and brought it down hard on Jim's head, set him reeling, 422 00:25:17,440 --> 00:25:21,480 Speaker 1: knocked him back, and shut him the funk up. If 423 00:25:21,480 --> 00:25:24,000 Speaker 1: there was one thing Janice Choplin knew, it was the 424 00:25:24,080 --> 00:25:27,080 Speaker 1: bottle's of Southern Comfort. They were good for drinking, sure, 425 00:25:27,440 --> 00:25:30,240 Speaker 1: but in a pinch, they were good for weaponizing and 426 00:25:30,320 --> 00:25:32,840 Speaker 1: for pulling Jim Morrison out of whatever fantasy he was 427 00:25:32,880 --> 00:25:52,280 Speaker 1: in and putting that asshole back into his place. As 428 00:25:52,320 --> 00:25:54,639 Speaker 1: soon as Jim Morrison took the cops helmet from the 429 00:25:54,680 --> 00:25:57,720 Speaker 1: patrol car, he knew he had officially gone too far. 430 00:25:58,640 --> 00:26:01,119 Speaker 1: He just didn't care. He had been drinking that wine 431 00:26:01,119 --> 00:26:04,600 Speaker 1: spotyote all of it, walking sideways down the streets of 432 00:26:04,640 --> 00:26:07,280 Speaker 1: Tallahassee with his friends on route to a Florida State 433 00:26:07,359 --> 00:26:10,920 Speaker 1: University football game. Juiced, he cat called at the girls 434 00:26:11,119 --> 00:26:14,359 Speaker 1: and made fun of the football players dumbass thug jock's 435 00:26:14,359 --> 00:26:17,719 Speaker 1: a bunch of shoulder pad wearing troglodites one tackle away 436 00:26:17,760 --> 00:26:20,479 Speaker 1: from a head injury. They wouldn't recognize the passage from 437 00:26:20,560 --> 00:26:22,919 Speaker 1: nietzschear room Beaux if it was read all slow and 438 00:26:22,960 --> 00:26:25,840 Speaker 1: remedial like to them. Couldn't make heads or tails about 439 00:26:25,840 --> 00:26:27,840 Speaker 1: Holland Wolf's song if it quickly bit them in the 440 00:26:27,880 --> 00:26:31,480 Speaker 1: gass like smokestack lightning. And they weren't cultured like Jim. 441 00:26:32,280 --> 00:26:36,320 Speaker 1: Jim felt superior. Jim whistled, made some rude gestures get 442 00:26:36,400 --> 00:26:38,560 Speaker 1: his friends laughing like he was on stage and they 443 00:26:38,600 --> 00:26:42,960 Speaker 1: were doting audience. These friends were his new friends. The 444 00:26:43,119 --> 00:26:46,119 Speaker 1: last batch roommates he shared a house with. Cut them 445 00:26:46,160 --> 00:26:49,359 Speaker 1: loose after we routinely eat their food, drank their beers, 446 00:26:49,600 --> 00:26:52,600 Speaker 1: and played their Elvis Presley records way too loud. At night, 447 00:26:53,119 --> 00:26:56,400 Speaker 1: when he crashed his roommates Ford Thunderbird into a telephone pole, 448 00:26:56,680 --> 00:26:59,160 Speaker 1: all of his roommates held a long overdue house meeting. 449 00:26:59,640 --> 00:27:03,080 Speaker 1: Jim was out out of the house and now on 450 00:27:03,240 --> 00:27:06,760 Speaker 1: this night with his new friends. The patrol cars passengers 451 00:27:06,800 --> 00:27:09,639 Speaker 1: side door was wide open, the cop was looking the 452 00:27:09,680 --> 00:27:12,240 Speaker 1: other way, and the helmet was sitting there on the seat, 453 00:27:12,560 --> 00:27:15,479 Speaker 1: begging to be taken. And these cops, these cops were 454 00:27:15,560 --> 00:27:17,760 Speaker 1: just like his parents, just like his old man, and 455 00:27:17,880 --> 00:27:20,080 Speaker 1: just like the jocks on the gridiron, a bunch of 456 00:27:20,200 --> 00:27:23,960 Speaker 1: rule followers, slaves to authority, incapable of a unique thought, 457 00:27:24,680 --> 00:27:27,160 Speaker 1: and they thought they could tell him how to live 458 00:27:27,240 --> 00:27:29,760 Speaker 1: his life. His friends stood next to Jim as he 459 00:27:29,840 --> 00:27:32,680 Speaker 1: drunkenly swooned from left to right, thinking about the ways 460 00:27:32,720 --> 00:27:34,560 Speaker 1: in which he didn't like being told what to do, 461 00:27:34,960 --> 00:27:37,280 Speaker 1: thinking about his friends standing there waiting for the next 462 00:27:37,359 --> 00:27:39,480 Speaker 1: thing he'd do that was shocknut and make him laugh. 463 00:27:40,160 --> 00:27:43,159 Speaker 1: Sucked the police and sucked his stupid little helmets. He 464 00:27:43,280 --> 00:27:45,640 Speaker 1: grabbed one out the passenger seats, stuck in on his head, 465 00:27:45,680 --> 00:27:48,679 Speaker 1: and swiveled around to face his friends. You're under arrest, 466 00:27:48,880 --> 00:27:51,680 Speaker 1: he yelled jokingly, and then made a jerk off hand 467 00:27:51,760 --> 00:27:54,280 Speaker 1: gesture down near his crotch while winking like a pig. 468 00:27:54,800 --> 00:27:56,960 Speaker 1: The next thing he felt was the cop throwing his 469 00:27:57,040 --> 00:27:59,280 Speaker 1: body up against the squad car and the hand of 470 00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:01,480 Speaker 1: authority that ripped the helmet from his head and put 471 00:28:01,560 --> 00:28:04,719 Speaker 1: his hands and cuffs. Jim laughed and broke free from 472 00:28:04,760 --> 00:28:07,760 Speaker 1: the cops, grasp with his friend's gasps and chuckles as 473 00:28:07,840 --> 00:28:10,520 Speaker 1: his laugh track. He got about five feet away, his 474 00:28:10,680 --> 00:28:14,120 Speaker 1: hands strapped tightly behind his back, before another cop tackled 475 00:28:14,200 --> 00:28:17,119 Speaker 1: him and made him taste the asphalt. Jim laughed to 476 00:28:17,240 --> 00:28:20,680 Speaker 1: himself as he thought, fantastic. My old man is gonna 477 00:28:20,920 --> 00:28:25,480 Speaker 1: fucking hate this. He was nineteen, jim and crashed with 478 00:28:25,560 --> 00:28:28,359 Speaker 1: his grandparents in Clearwater in order to attend f s 479 00:28:28,480 --> 00:28:32,840 Speaker 1: U while his family was in Alexandria, Virginia, or Coronado, California, 480 00:28:33,160 --> 00:28:34,920 Speaker 1: or wherever the latest stop in the life of a 481 00:28:35,040 --> 00:28:38,600 Speaker 1: military family had led them. Jimmy moved out of the house, 482 00:28:38,960 --> 00:28:41,360 Speaker 1: and although he was no longer a military brat, he 483 00:28:41,480 --> 00:28:45,120 Speaker 1: remained a brat. Nonetheless, it was a brat partly because 484 00:28:45,360 --> 00:28:47,600 Speaker 1: he didn't want this life that he was being forced 485 00:28:47,680 --> 00:28:50,479 Speaker 1: to accept as his reality. He wanted to be out 486 00:28:50,520 --> 00:28:53,240 Speaker 1: in Los Angeles studying film at u c l A, 487 00:28:53,720 --> 00:28:55,840 Speaker 1: out in the sun with the artists and the poets 488 00:28:55,920 --> 00:29:01,000 Speaker 1: and the filmmakers. Fuck Florida, Florida was all jah, all squares. 489 00:29:01,400 --> 00:29:03,800 Speaker 1: They had better grass in California, and there was a 490 00:29:03,840 --> 00:29:08,520 Speaker 1: revolution in San Francisco and Boccanalian distractions in Hollywood. But 491 00:29:08,680 --> 00:29:11,920 Speaker 1: that was a trademark Jim Morrison fantasy, and his parents 492 00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:15,880 Speaker 1: snapped him out of it. It wasn't even up for discussion. Earlier, 493 00:29:16,240 --> 00:29:19,400 Speaker 1: Jim and hitchhike a cross country with his friend Brian Gates, 494 00:29:19,520 --> 00:29:23,200 Speaker 1: a fellow military bride. Brian was graduating from f s U. 495 00:29:23,520 --> 00:29:26,800 Speaker 1: It was headed to California. Jim fashioned himself the next 496 00:29:26,880 --> 00:29:30,040 Speaker 1: Dean Moriarty in the road trip was his own personal 497 00:29:30,240 --> 00:29:34,400 Speaker 1: on the road fantasy. He craved something different, something off 498 00:29:34,480 --> 00:29:37,440 Speaker 1: the beaten path. He wanted to avoid the tourist traps 499 00:29:37,480 --> 00:29:40,440 Speaker 1: of the archetypal American road trip and go straight for 500 00:29:40,560 --> 00:29:44,240 Speaker 1: the strange riding thumb. We gotta get to the fringe, man, 501 00:29:44,560 --> 00:29:46,600 Speaker 1: That's what he told Brian one night as they planned 502 00:29:46,640 --> 00:29:49,560 Speaker 1: their own Karawackian odyssey. And then we get to get 503 00:29:49,960 --> 00:29:54,000 Speaker 1: beyond the fringe. In New Orleans, he hit on a 504 00:29:54,080 --> 00:29:56,640 Speaker 1: Southern girl in a gay bar until her girlfriend stuck 505 00:29:56,720 --> 00:29:59,560 Speaker 1: him with a knife and threatened his life. In Louisiana, 506 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:01,640 Speaker 1: we're hitting on the side of the road and picked 507 00:30:01,720 --> 00:30:04,040 Speaker 1: up by a one eyed redneck with a shotgun who 508 00:30:04,080 --> 00:30:06,520 Speaker 1: had just gotten out of prison. He thrust a bottle 509 00:30:06,560 --> 00:30:09,280 Speaker 1: of shine in their faces and with his fingers caressing 510 00:30:09,360 --> 00:30:12,920 Speaker 1: the shotguns, Barrel told him to drink up in Texas. 511 00:30:13,240 --> 00:30:15,960 Speaker 1: One of Vice President Linda Johnson's cousins picked them up 512 00:30:15,960 --> 00:30:17,680 Speaker 1: and brought them to the L. B. J Ranch in 513 00:30:17,760 --> 00:30:21,840 Speaker 1: Johnson City for some barbecue. Lb J was in Washington, naturally, 514 00:30:22,040 --> 00:30:25,680 Speaker 1: and sent his regrets in Horace, Mexico. They checked into 515 00:30:25,720 --> 00:30:28,880 Speaker 1: a horrhouse, which went down pretty much exactly like you'd expect. 516 00:30:30,400 --> 00:30:33,200 Speaker 1: Jim and Brian stuck their thumbs out along the stretches 517 00:30:33,240 --> 00:30:37,200 Speaker 1: of just about every highway between Tallahassee and Coronado, California, 518 00:30:37,360 --> 00:30:40,240 Speaker 1: fucking and drinking and not giving two ships along the way. 519 00:30:42,160 --> 00:30:44,880 Speaker 1: When they got to California, Jim's mother wouldn't let him 520 00:30:44,880 --> 00:30:47,400 Speaker 1: into the house until he cut his hair. God forbid 521 00:30:47,480 --> 00:30:50,240 Speaker 1: his father see Jim's long curly Maine. Who knows what 522 00:30:50,360 --> 00:30:53,320 Speaker 1: he'd do. And so Jim was sent back and back 523 00:30:53,360 --> 00:30:55,960 Speaker 1: to clear Water, back to Tallahassee, and back to the 524 00:30:56,040 --> 00:31:00,120 Speaker 1: last place on earth. He wanted to be Florida, and 525 00:31:00,240 --> 00:31:03,320 Speaker 1: like he already said, fuck Florida, he had to get out. 526 00:31:03,600 --> 00:31:05,560 Speaker 1: He had to make them force him out. Grab a 527 00:31:05,600 --> 00:31:08,360 Speaker 1: pig's helmet, throw up a middle finger at some football players, 528 00:31:08,600 --> 00:31:10,520 Speaker 1: Go drink a bunch of wine and make everyone else 529 00:31:10,560 --> 00:31:14,240 Speaker 1: feel uncomfortable. Something would stick, something would help him transcend 530 00:31:14,320 --> 00:31:18,440 Speaker 1: this god forsaken phallic shaped peninsula. Maybe he'd get banned 531 00:31:18,480 --> 00:31:21,080 Speaker 1: from Florida forever and that would be just fine with him, 532 00:31:21,440 --> 00:31:23,600 Speaker 1: And in the meantime he'd have a grand old time 533 00:31:23,720 --> 00:31:26,040 Speaker 1: just doing whatever the hell he felt like doing. He'd 534 00:31:26,040 --> 00:31:29,480 Speaker 1: get himself banned, and then some not only Florida, but 535 00:31:29,560 --> 00:31:32,240 Speaker 1: just about every other major city in the country would 536 00:31:32,280 --> 00:31:35,360 Speaker 1: find itself seduced and then burned by Jim Morrison. In 537 00:31:35,400 --> 00:31:38,040 Speaker 1: the years to come, he would be loved, and then 538 00:31:38,400 --> 00:31:41,040 Speaker 1: just as quickly, he would be hated. He would just 539 00:31:41,120 --> 00:31:43,120 Speaker 1: float on through, do what he wanted to, close his 540 00:31:43,200 --> 00:31:49,280 Speaker 1: eyes and picture himself living that fantasy, fuck everyone else's reality. First, 541 00:31:49,640 --> 00:31:52,200 Speaker 1: he'd will himself to that place that offered an idyllic 542 00:31:52,280 --> 00:31:57,520 Speaker 1: backdrop for that fantasy, California. He'd make it to the 543 00:31:57,600 --> 00:32:00,560 Speaker 1: Golden States sooner than he thought. He'd walk that beach 544 00:32:00,680 --> 00:32:02,760 Speaker 1: soak up the sun. His mother wouldn't be able to 545 00:32:02,800 --> 00:32:05,160 Speaker 1: tell him to cut his hair. He gets so famous 546 00:32:05,200 --> 00:32:08,400 Speaker 1: that even the pigs couldn't keep him down. In California, 547 00:32:08,480 --> 00:32:11,520 Speaker 1: he would find strips upon strips of acid tabs. He'd 548 00:32:11,560 --> 00:32:14,280 Speaker 1: find bottles to drown in. He'd find three guys who 549 00:32:14,320 --> 00:32:17,200 Speaker 1: would provide a jazz carnival backbeat to the songs in 550 00:32:17,280 --> 00:32:20,160 Speaker 1: his head, songs that as a nineteen year old in 551 00:32:20,240 --> 00:32:24,160 Speaker 1: Florida he didn't even know existed yet within him. But first, 552 00:32:24,480 --> 00:32:27,000 Speaker 1: when he finally got to California, he would find a 553 00:32:27,080 --> 00:32:30,360 Speaker 1: world ready to riot. People took to the streets. Los 554 00:32:30,400 --> 00:32:34,040 Speaker 1: Angeles would be on fire, and so would Jim Morris's fantasy. 555 00:32:34,840 --> 00:32:51,719 Speaker 1: I'm Jake Brennan and this is the Seven Clubs, all right. 556 00:32:51,800 --> 00:32:54,280 Speaker 1: The seven Club is scored and co written by myself, 557 00:32:54,440 --> 00:32:57,400 Speaker 1: Jake Brennan. Zeh Blundy is the lead writer and editor 558 00:32:57,520 --> 00:33:00,720 Speaker 1: on the show. Matt Bowden mixes the show. Additional music 559 00:33:00,800 --> 00:33:04,280 Speaker 1: and score elements by Ryan's Breaker and Henry Linnetta. The 560 00:33:04,360 --> 00:33:07,160 Speaker 1: twenty seven Club is produced by myself for Double Elvis 561 00:33:07,200 --> 00:33:11,160 Speaker 1: and partnership with I Heart Radio. Sources for this episode 562 00:33:11,200 --> 00:33:13,640 Speaker 1: are available at Double Elvis dot com on the twenty 563 00:33:13,720 --> 00:33:16,800 Speaker 1: seven Club series page. The twenty seven Club is released 564 00:33:16,880 --> 00:33:21,000 Speaker 1: weekly every Thursday. Season one features twelve episodes on Jimmie Hendricks, 565 00:33:21,160 --> 00:33:23,560 Speaker 1: which are all available for you to binge right now 566 00:33:23,800 --> 00:33:26,000 Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts. And if you like what 567 00:33:26,080 --> 00:33:28,160 Speaker 1: you hear, please be sure to subscribe to the twenty 568 00:33:28,200 --> 00:33:30,720 Speaker 1: seven Club on Apple podcast to I Heart Radio Apple 569 00:33:30,760 --> 00:33:32,680 Speaker 1: wherever you get shows. And if you'd like to win 570 00:33:32,720 --> 00:33:35,680 Speaker 1: a free twenty seven Club poster designed by the man himself, 571 00:33:35,840 --> 00:33:38,760 Speaker 1: Nike Gonzalez, then leave a review for twenty seven Club 572 00:33:38,800 --> 00:33:42,560 Speaker 1: on Apple podcasts or hashtag subscribe to twenty seven Club 573 00:33:42,840 --> 00:33:45,760 Speaker 1: on social media and will pick two winners each week 574 00:33:45,880 --> 00:33:48,840 Speaker 1: and announce them on the Double Elvis Instagram page that's 575 00:33:48,880 --> 00:33:50,880 Speaker 1: at Double Elvis and you're gonna want to give that 576 00:33:50,960 --> 00:33:53,320 Speaker 1: a fall, So get out there and spread the word 577 00:33:53,360 --> 00:33:55,400 Speaker 1: about twenty seven Club. And as always, you can find 578 00:33:55,440 --> 00:33:57,920 Speaker 1: me blabbing about other crazy rock stars and my other show, 579 00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:00,320 Speaker 1: dis Graceland, and you can talk to me per usual 580 00:34:00,400 --> 00:34:08,759 Speaker 1: on Instagram and Twitter at disgrace Land pod Rockamo. Yeah, 581 00:34:16,480 --> 00:34:17,640 Speaker 1: what's up for your ear is