The weirdest rumor is floating around Riverside, California radio stations -- that the body of Gram Parsons has been dug up in the nearby Mojave desert.

Parsons and Keith were great friends in the early 1970s, and Parsons may have inspired (some say written) "Wild Horses."
Parsons' road manager, Phil Kaufman, claimed that Parsons had remarked that he did not want to be buried when he died, but wanted his body to be taken to Joshua Tree National Park in the Mohave Desert (where he and Keith took often ate mushrooms together) and buried there. The body was placed there in 1973 after Parsons' death.

Anyhow, a radio station now claims that the body has been dug up and may be auctioned in secret.

Pretty weird shit. Has anybody heard about this?

I bid two hot burritos!

I always thought they burned his body out there, not buried it.

then I cancel my order, Cindy....

why? he might look good above your fireplace

Seems the National Enquirer are in to radio nowadays!

I found this on a random site describing what Kaufman says happened. If this is true, then the rumor appears to be just that, as his body is no longer there.


Keeping his promise, Kaufman and a crony stole Parsons' body from a local airport, took it to the Cap Rock formation in Joshua Tree National Monument, and torched it. It wasn't a smooth heist, as Kaufman recalls. "Things didn't go quite like we planned it, it was sort of like an episode of 'Laurel and Hardy steal the stiff.'" They got caught and arrested. Parsons' partially burned remains were transported to family members and interred in a New Orleans cemetery.

Here's the source for this, it's a few years old, but until now, it doesn't appear anything's changed.
[atlanta.creativeloafing.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2006-04-11 00:39 by CindyC.

A load of utter crap

Gram isnt buried in the Mojave desert, but in a grave provided by his family (in New Orleans I think) ..anyway if you watch the BBC documentary which was rerun last night, it actually shows you the plot)

He was never buried in the Mojave Desert. His coffin was burned and abandoned there. It was then recovered and what was left of his remains were given by a proper burial by his family.

Gazza Wrote:
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> A load of utter crap
>
> Gram isnt buried in the Mojave desert, but in a
> grave provided by his family (in New Orleans I
> think) ..anyway if you watch the BBC documentary
> which was rerun last night, it actually shows you
> the plot)
>
> He was never buried in the Mojave Desert. His
> coffin was burned and abandoned there. It was then
> recovered and what was left of his remains were
> given by a proper burial by his family.

Wasn't his family from somewhere else in the South? NC, SC, GA?

Maybe they're going to prop him up next to Johnny Winter and they can do a few duets.

Gazza is right. The body and coffin were set on fire in the California desert by Phil Kaufman and a friend. whatever was left was shipped to a New Orleans cemetary and buried by Gram's stepfather.

Gram was originally from Waycross, Georgia, near the Florida line. Another in the long line of great Georgia musicians - Otis, Little Richard, James Brown, Ray Charles, etc.

Don't forget me and Leavell!

Duane in Houston Wrote:
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> Maybe they're going to prop him up next to Johnny
> Winter and they can do a few duets.

Hey; Johnny Winter is still alive and - err, sitting

I always thought he was in the endzone at Giants Stadium Meadowlands;

reg thorpe Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I always thought he was in the endzone at Giants
> Stadium Meadowlands;

Nah, must be Jimmy Hoffa

Maybe they should bury a charred bone or two in the garden at Nellcote.