This Sunday marks the 40th anniversary of the death of Doors singer Jim Morrison. He died of heart failure in his bathtub in Paris at the age of 27, although news of his death was not made public until after he was buried a few days later in Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris. There was no autopsy because the medical examiner claimed there was no evidence of foul play.

Morrison moved to Paris in March 1971 with his girlfriend, Pamela Courson, after completing what turned out to be his last album with The Doors, L.A. Woman. Pamela reportedly said he died of a heroin overdose, but she also claimed to have killed him. She died of a heroin overdose in 1974.

Like they do most years, Doors guitarist Robby Krieger and keyboardist Ray Manzarek will perform in Paris on Sunday, the start of their European tour. The U.S. dates start August 5th in Costa Mesa, California.

[www.wtam.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-07-03 12:22 by Massimo68.

Yesterday in Paris :

THE DOORS have a 2 disc L.A. WOMAN due out later this year. no word yet on what will be on disc 2 although on their forum they asked for fan input

Ti quite sad that in a Rolling Stones forum the anniversary of Jim Morrisons death gets mentioned, but not Brian Jones.

I read on the BBC that thousands of people visit Morrisons grave everyday. I remember visiting about 20 years ago there was no-one else there, maybe the Franch tourism board are making publicity, weird........

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humanriff77
I read on the BBC that thousands of people visit Morrisons grave everyday. I remember visiting about 20 years ago there was no-one else there, maybe the Franch tourism board are making publicity, weird........

Thousands every day? Pure exaggeration. Even if you count up to 50 every day (and I mean EVERY day), then it's app. up to 1500 every month.

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humanriff77
I read on the BBC that thousands of people visit Morrisons grave everyday.

Every day? That's gotta be a misprint. Every month maybe.

I've never been, but for that many people every day would require crowd control, and I'm not aware of that being in place for Morrison's grave.

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Edith Grove

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humanriff77
I read on the BBC that thousands of people visit Morrisons grave everyday.

Every day? That's gotta be a misprint. Every month maybe.

I've never been, but for that many people every day would require crowd control, and I'm not aware of that being in place for Morrison's grave.

Everyday, from the opening of the gates to the closing, there are permanently many people around Jim's grave in Paris.
Summer or winter.
There are fences around the grave, many closed-circuits tv cameras and at least a policeman.
It costs big money to Paris city every year, and the families of the people buried near Jim Morrison are pissed off with all this daily barnum.

With Elvis in Memphis, Jim Morrison in Paris is the most visited dead artist in the world.
But it's free in Paris (and many other famous people are buried here : Oscar Wilde, Edith Piaf, Maria Callas, Molière, Chopin, Modigliani, Max Ernst, Delacroix, and dozens other celebrities).
(it's said that the grave is one of the most viewed places in Paris, after Eiffel Tower and Louvre Museum).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-07-03 16:27 by Massimo68.

I visited Père-Lachaise in 2007, the day after the Stones show at Stade de France. I remember being in high spirits 'cause I had heard All Down The Line for the first time in concert.
Anyway, can't believe Morrison's been gone for 40 years, I wasn't even born then. I been listening a lot to The Soft Parade lately.

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keefriffhard4life
THE DOORS have a 2 disc L.A. WOMAN due out later this year. no word yet on what will be on disc 2 although on their forum they asked for fan input

What forum is that? Do you have a link?

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The Sicilian
What forum is that? Do you have a link?

It's on the official website :

[www.thedoors.com]

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Edith Grove

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humanriff77
I read on the BBC that thousands of people visit Morrisons grave everyday.

Every day? That's gotta be a misprint. Every month maybe.

I've never been, but for that many people every day would require crowd control, and I'm not aware of that being in place for Morrison's grave.

Thousands of people visit Morrison's grave every year



I am a Frenchie ,as Mick affectionately called them in the Old Grey Whistle Test in 1977 .



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-07-03 18:19 by SwayStones.

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Massimo68

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Edith Grove

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humanriff77
I read on the BBC that thousands of people visit Morrisons grave everyday.

Every day? That's gotta be a misprint. Every month maybe.

I've never been, but for that many people every day would require crowd control, and I'm not aware of that being in place for Morrison's grave.

Everyday, from the opening of the gates to the closing, there are permanently many people around Jim's grave in Paris.
Summer or winter.
There are fences around the grave, many closed-circuits tv cameras and at least a policeman.
It costs big money to Paris city every year, and the families of the people buried near Jim Morrison are pissed off with all this daily barnum.

With Elvis in Memphis, Jim Morrison in Paris is the most visited dead artist in the world.
But it's free in Paris (and many other famous people are buried here : Oscar Wilde, Edith Piaf, Maria Callas, Molière, Chopin, Modigliani, Max Ernst, Delacroix, and dozens other celebrities).
(it's said that the grave is one of the most viewed places in Paris, after Eiffel Tower and Louvre Museum).

To mention it in the same breath as Graceland, the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre as a visitor attraction is stretching credibility to the extreme.

Any time I've been there, theres usually a few people in the area. However,as its a cemetery which is in itself a tourist attraction because of the number of famous people who are interred there, its a bit much to assume that Jim's the main reason why people go there. Last time I was there - in 2005 - there were as many people visiting Edith Piaf and Oscar Wilde's final resting place.

However, its certainly pleasing that its reasonably well sealed off now and better protected from the sort of nutcases that used to routinely desecrate it and the graves surrounding it.

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Massimo68

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The Sicilian
What forum is that? Do you have a link?

It's on the official website :

[www.thedoors.com]

Oh crap, a website that plays music when you open it...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-07-03 18:24 by Koen.

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Gazza
However, its certainly pleasing that its reasonably well sealed off now and better protected from the sort of nutcases that used to routinely desecrate it and the graves surrounding it.

Absolutely. People making love on the grave, others trying to steal his corpse at night, graffiti all over the place (and surrounding graves), well, how low could it go?

Jim Morrison was a great composer, singer and performer. I like the music of The Dorrs very much. Also he was my idol to the time, I was a teenager.

THE FRENCH killed him!

That is the The French... Connection.
Appearently JM snorted H in the toilets of some St.Germain Des Prés club, but he wasn't aware that the powder that was sold in France was hardly cut. He instantly ODed.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-07-04 00:33 by dcba.

Remembering the actual time, the summer of 1971, was quite strange. Instead of reading it in the newspaper it was almost a passing item in Newsweek. And this quite a few days after his death. I could attribute it to a different time, but Brian's death was world news immediately. Very mysterious circumstances. I'm not inferring foul play with Morrison, but I don't think they reported the heroin use at the time. I think they just noted a heart attack. Most people attributed that to him drinking himself to death.

It tooks a few years for Jim Morrison to attain the vaunted reputation he now has. The infamous early 80s Rolling Stone cover 'He's Hot, He's Sexy, He's Dead' pretty much sums up what happened. I remember rock critics of the time putting the Doors in a gimmick band category, like Alice Cooper. Morrison was not yet recognized as a poet, or the Doors as musical pioneers. I think it's the soundtrack to 'Apocalypse Now' that started the revival that peaked with Oliver Stone's 'The Doors'. Jimi, Janis and Jim (all members of the legendary 27 Club);
American Rock Royalty beheaded in an 8-month span.

R.I.P. JimBo and thanks for the music.

Here is a new clip of John Densmore talking about the infamous Miami 1969 concert:


[www.msnbc.msn.com]

The Doors are my favorite band! But i always think that they sound obscure... The "Jim Morrison legend", his good looking, and the Rolling Stone revival helped a lot... Nevertheless, i think that Jim Morrison was a great vocal and "persona" on stage... And he had the "balls" to sing the blues
[url=

][/url]

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24FPS
Remembering the actual time, the summer of 1971, was quite strange. Instead of reading it in the newspaper it was almost a passing item in Newsweek. And this quite a few days after his death. I could attribute it to a different time, but Brian's death was world news immediately. Very mysterious circumstances. I'm not inferring foul play with Morrison, but I don't think they reported the heroin use at the time. I think they just noted a heart attack. Most people attributed that to him drinking himself to death.

I think it wasnt announced until about 5-6 days later, when the Doors manager Bill Siddons made a public statement that he'd just returned from Paris, where he had attended the funeral of Jim Morrison. The official cause of death was a 'heart stoppage' (according to the certificate which was signed by a doctor who conveniently couldnt be traced afterwards) - there was never any suggestion of an overdose, although there were whispers at the time that he'd OD'd in a club (ironically, considering Brian died on this date too, called 'Rock n roll circus') which weren't given widespread credibility for many years afterwards.

Siddons apparently didnt even know Morrison was dead when he left the US for Paris. Pamela had asked him to fly over immediately (making it sound like he was a couple of blocks away) and when he arrived at the apartment, she showed him in and he found himself standing in front of a coffin.

There was probably relatively little fuss made about it at the time because Jim was already buried (there were maybe only about half a dozen mourners) by the time it was announced that he was dead.

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alimente

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Gazza
However, its certainly pleasing that its reasonably well sealed off now and better protected from the sort of nutcases that used to routinely desecrate it and the graves surrounding it.

Absolutely. People making love on the grave, others trying to steal his corpse at night, graffiti all over the place (and surrounding graves), well, how low could it go?

Much more respectable now!

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Koen

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Massimo68

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The Sicilian
What forum is that? Do you have a link?

It's on the official website :

[www.thedoors.com]

Oh crap, a website that plays music when you open it...

hopefully this helps you and others more but since its been announced the fan input part has ended:
[www.thedoors.com]

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Gazza

Much more respectable now!

You look like your ready to pull out that pistol.

At least you could have respected the American tradition of not tucking in your shirt for Jim!

Morrison was a one in a million, and I mourn the music that he never lived to create. Great photo, Gazza! Very nice indeed.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-07-04 03:11 by mickschix.

overrated, but still a good vocalist. densmore wrote better songs. morrison was always on some substance that had to make anyone around him annoyed by it all.

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21stcenturystones
overrated, but still a good vocalist. densmore wrote better songs. morrison was always on some substance that had to make anyone around him annoyed by it all.

densmore was the drummer. i think you meant kreiger wrote better tunes and no his tunes were mostly radio friendly tunes with the same structure.

yes, i meant kreiger. didn't he write "light my fire"?

It really doesn't matter who wrote what lyrics because Jim was the draw. Yes, he was a damn good poet too, if not a bit out there, still good!! Read American Poet and see how impressive Morrison was. I think he was a little deviant...and folks pick on Townshend?? I think ole Jim was into some strange things and I don't just mean Pamela!