The 27 Club includes popular musicians, artists, actors, and other celebrities who died at the tender age of 27, these deaths are often a result of drug and alcohol abuse or violent means such as homicide and suicide, transportation-related accidents also make up the list.. A lot of famous people tend to have mental problems which can also contribute to there suicides.. The "club" has been repeatedly cited in music magazines, journals and the daily press. Several exhibitions have been devoted to the idea, as well as novels, films and stage plays. The deaths of several 27-year-old popular musicians between 1969 and 1971 led to the belief that deaths are more common at this age. Music biographer Charles R. Cross wrote: "The number of musicians who died at 27 is truly remarkable by any standard. [Although] humans die regularly at all ages, there is a statistical spike for musicians who die at 27."
Morrison developed an alcohol dependency throughout the band's career, which at times affected his performances on stage. On July 3, 1971, Morrison died unexpectedly in Paris at the age of 27, amid several conflicting witness reports. His premature death is often linked with the 27 Club. Since no autopsy was performed, the cause of Morrison's death remains disputed.
James Douglas Morrison (December 8, 1943 – July 3, 1971) was an American singer, poet and songwriter who was the lead vocalist of the creative and music expansive band The Doors. With a silky organ backing and deep and grungy vocals from Jim Morrison the band has an affluent and componding style that still eminates today.. Due to his wild personality, poetic lyrics, distinctive voice, unpredictable and erratic performances, and the dramatic circumstances surrounding his life and early death, Morrison is regarded by music critics and fans as one of the most influential frontmen in rock history. Since his death, Morrison's fame has endured as one of popular culture's top rebellious and oft-displayed icons, representing the generation gap and youth counterculture.
Jim Morrison
Riders on the Storm - The Doors HD
"Riders On The Storm"
Riders on the storm
Riders on the storm
Into this house we're born
Into this world we're thrown
Like a dog without a bone
An actor out on loan
Riders on the storm
There's a killer on the road
His brain is squirmin' like a toad
Take a long holiday
Let your children play
If you give this man a ride
Sweet family will die
Killer on the road, yeah
Girl, you gotta love your man
Girl, you gotta love your man
Take him by the hand
Make him understand
The world on you depends
Our life will never end
Gotta love your man, yeah
Riders on the storm
Riders on the storm
Into this house we're born
Into this world we're thrown
Like a dog without a bone
An actor out on loan.
Riders on the storm
Riders on the storm
Riders on the storm
Riders on the storm
Riders on the storm
Riders on the storm
Ray Manzarek - Keyboardist
Together with pianist Ray Manzarek, Morrison founded the Doors in 1965 in Venice, California. The group spent two years in obscurity until shooting to prominence with their number-one single in the United States, "Light My Fire", taken from their self-titled debut album. Morrison recorded a total of six studio albums with the Doors, all of which sold well and received critical acclaim. He was well known for improvising spoken word poetry passages while the band played live. Manzarek said Morrison "embodied hippie counterculture rebellion".
In the middle of 1965, after graduating with a bachelor's degree from the UCLA film school, Morrison led a bohemian lifestyle in Venice Beach. Living on the rooftop of a building inhabited by his UCLA classmate, Dennis Jakob, he wrote the lyrics of many of the early songs the Doors would later perform live and record on albums, such as "Moonlight Drive" and "Hello, I Love You". According to fellow UCLA student Ray Manzarek, Jim lived on a diet of canned beans and LSD for several months.
Created by artist/muralist Rip Cronk in 1991, the mural of Jim Morrison is made of acrylic paint and is 12 feet wide and 35 feet tall and located on the side of an apartment complex at 1811 Ocean Front Walk in Venice California..
In 1947, when he was three to four years old, Morrison allegedly witnessed a car accident in the desert, during which a truck overturned and some Native Americans were lying injured on the side of the road. He referred to this incident in the Doors' song "Peace Frog" on their 1970 album Morrison Hotel, as well as in the spoken word performances "Dawn's Highway" and "Ghost Song" on the posthumous 1978 album An American Prayer. Morrison believed this incident to be the most formative event of his life, and made repeated references to it in the imagery in his songs, poems, and interviews. Morrison believed the spirits or the ghosts of those "dead Indians leapt into [his] soul," and that he was "like a sponge, ready to sit there and absorb it.
Morrison's senior year English teacher described Jim Morrison as an avid book reader of difficult to find covers, Jim read as much and probably more than any student in class, but everything he read was so offbeat I had another teacher (who was going to the Library of Congress) check to see if the books Jim was reporting on actually existed. I suspected he was making them up, as they were English books on sixteenth- and seventeenth-century demonology. I'd never heard of them, but they existed, and I'm convinced from the paper he wrote that he read them, and the Library of Congress would've been the only source."
The Library of Congress (LC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the de facto national library of the United States. It is also the oldest federal cultural institution in the entire country.. Most of the original collection was burnt by the British during the War of 1812, with the library beginning efforts to restore its collection in 1815. The library purchased Thomas Jefferson's entire personal collection of 6,487 books, and its collection slowly expanded in the following years, although it suffered another fire in its Capitol chambers in 1851. This destroyed a large amount of the collection, including many of Jefferson's books.
Jim Morrison was formally charged with inciting a riot, indecency and public obscenity. He quickly posted bond and the charges were later dropped. It would be a sad moment in The Doors singer’s life as it set down a marker for further depleting behaviour. He would soon be exposing himself in Miami, would find himself arrested again just a few months later as his drug and drink use continued to spiral wildly. The Miami incident would see cities refuse the band and essentially end their touring career.
Peace Frog (2020 Remaster)
In late 1967, during a concert in New Haven, Connecticut, Jim Morrison was arrested on stage in an incident that further added to his mystique and emphasized his rebellious image. Prior to the show, a police officer found Morrison and a woman in the showers backstage. Not recognizing the singer, the policeman ordered him to leave, to which Morrison mockingly replied, "Eat me." He was subsequently maced by the officer and the show was delayed. Once onstage, he told the concertgoers an obscenity-filled version of the incident. New Haven police arrested him for indecency and public obscenity, but the charges were later dropped. Morrison was the first rock performer to be arrested onstage during a live performance.
During a concert on March 1, 1969, at the Dinner Key Auditorium in Miami, Morrison attempted to spark a riot in the audience, in part by screaming, "You wanna see my cock?" and other obscenities. Three days later, six warrants for his arrest were issued by the Dade County Public Safety Department for indecent exposure, among other accusations. Consequently, many of the Doors' scheduled concerts were canceled. On September 20, 1970, Morrison was convicted of indecent exposure and profanity by a six-person jury in Miami after a sixteen-day trial. Morrison, who attended the October 30 sentencing "in a wool jacket adorned with Indian designs", silently listened as he was sentenced to six months in prison and had to pay a $500 fine. Morrison remained free on a $50,000 bond. At the sentencing, Judge Murray Goodman told Morrison that he was a "person graced with a talent" admired by many of his peers.
Dinner Key Auditorium in Miami
Interviewed by Boc Chorush of the L.A. Free Press, Morrison expressed both bafflement and clarity about the Miami incident, clarifying:
I wasted a lot of time and energy with the Miami trial. About a year and a half. But I guess it was a valuable experience because before the trial I had a very unrealistic schoolboy attitude about the American judicial system. My eyes have been opened up a bit. There were guys down there, black guys, that would go each day before I went on. It took about five minutes and they would get twenty or twenty-five years in jail. If I hadn't had unlimited funds to continue fighting my case, I'd be in jail right now for three years. It's just if you have money you generally don't go to jail.
Morrison's father was not supportive of his career choice in music. One day, an acquaintance brought over a record thought to have Morrison on the cover, which was the Doors' debut album. Upon hearing the record, Morrison's father wrote him a letter telling him "to give up any idea of singing or any connection with a music group because of what I consider to be a complete lack of talent in this direction." In a letter to the Florida Probation and Parole Commission District Office dated October 2, 1970, Morrison's father acknowledged the breakdown in family communications as the result of an argument over his assessment of his son's musical talents. He said he could not blame his son for being reluctant to initiate contact and that he was proud of him.
On the western edge of the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, overlooking the waters of Loch Roag, stand the mysterious Calanais standing stones. Erected around 5000 years ago, the stones form a circle surrounded by a cruciform shape, and are believed to have been an important site of ritual activity during the Bronze Age. A chambered tomb is also contained within the site but this is believed to have been added at a later date. Numerous other sites lie nearby, many within view of the main site, including several other stone circles and single stones. It is believed that this area was a focus for ritual and religious activity for over 1500 years, before finally being abandoned around 800 BCE.
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So why are the stones here and what purpose did they serve? It is generally assumed that the stones at Calanais functioned as an astronomical lunar calendar. The moon’s position in relation to the visible horizon varies over time, peaking every 18.61 years. The Calanais Stones accurately mark this cycle.
At the major lunar standstill (the moon’s most northerly position in the night sky during the 18 year cycle) the moon aligns with the southern hills. The shape of the hills form the silhouette of a woman, known as “Cailleach na Mointeach” or the Old Woman of the Moors. The moon rises at the feet of the Old Woman, and slowly travels along the ridge of the hills, framed by the stones.
The next major lunar standstill will occur in April 2025 but you don’t need to leave it until then to visit the Isle of Lewis! The stones are a wonderful place to visit, whatever the season.
In astrology, the Moon represents our emotions. Traditionally, the Moon has a connection between our maternal memories (our relationships with our mothers) and how we nurture others. If we look closer at the Moon’s relationship to our birth charts, we can find that it also represents memories, comfort foods — and also where and how we feel safe within our relationships with others and ourselves.
There are other standing stones on the Isle of Lewis, but none more impressive than the Callanish Stones. The entire arrangement forms a cross shape across the landscape of the island’s west coast, but the stone circle at the centre is thought to be the oldest portion of the pattern, erected around 2900 BCE. Historians aren’t sure what purpose the Callanish Stones served, though there are plenty of theories. Perhaps the most prominent theory suggests that the stones formed a kind of astronomical observatory. Folklore on the island includes the tale that the stones were once giants who became petrified when they refused to convert to Christianity.
Pamela Susan Courson (December 22, 1946 – April 25, 1974) was a long-term companion of Jim Morrison. Courson stated she discovered Morrison's body in the bathtub of a Paris apartment in 1971. She died three years after him, in 1974.
Courson and Jim Morrison met at the London Fog nightclub on the Sunset Strip in 1965, while she was an art student at Los Angeles City College. In his 1998 memoir, Light My Fire: My Life with The Doors, keyboardist Ray Manzarek states that Courson and a friend saw the band during their stint at the London Fog. Morrison and Courson had an open relationship, at times very charged and intense, and also described as "on-again, off-again" as both maintained ongoing relationships with others, while also being strongly committed to each other in their own way. One of Courson's more significant, ongoing relationships was with the French nobleman and heroin dealer, Jean de Breteuil. Morrison hated heroin and would become angry at Courson for using.
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From 1969 to 1971, Courson operated Themis, a fashion boutique that Morrison bought for her with his royalties from the album Strange Days.
Courson stated that on July 3, 1971, she awoke to find Morrison dead in the bathtub of their apartment in Paris. The coroner's report listed his cause of death as heart failure, although no autopsy was performed. According to Morrison's will at the time, which stated that he was "an unmarried person", Courson was named his heir, and therefore in line to inherit his entire fortune. Lawsuits against the entire estate would tie up her quest for inheritance for the next two years..
Friend Diane Gardner is quoted as saying in the book Break on Through by Riordan and Prochnicky:
Pam was one of the funniest people I ever met. She was beautiful, she looked like the Snow Queen and yet she did things like collect Lugers.
Jim Morrison bought Pamela Courson a fashion Boutique called Themis..
The Pistole Parabellum—or Parabellum-Pistole (Pistol Parabellum), commonly known as just Luger or Luger P08 is a toggle-locked recoil-operated semi-automatic pistol. The Luger was produced in several models and by several nations from 1898 to 1949. The Luger is well known for its wide use by Germany during World War I and World War II, along with the interwar Weimar Republic and the postwar East German Volkspolizei..
Jim Morrison, Pamela Courson, and friends at her shop 'Themis' in LA. 1969.
She had a vicious sense of humor. She loved travel because she said you never had to think about it. When you were traveling and you were a tourist, you got up and life happened to you. I liked her. She was the most dangerous girl I ever met. After Jim died and we were both just out of our heads we would do things like go to Tijuana and get crazy. We'd check into sleazy hotels and go down to Rosarito Beach and drink everything in sight. One time this guy that was with us yelled some really bad things to La Policia and they came after us. One guy was trying to take the keys to Pam's new VW away, so I hit him over the head with my shoe. And we had to pay off on our MasterCard. We ran it through at a hotel and they actually let us charge our bribe. I don't behave like that normally. Pam had that kind of effect on me.
Pamela Courson's grave site at the mausoleum at Fairhaven Memorial Park in Santa Ana, California.
On April 25, 1974, Courson died of a heroin overdose on the living room couch at the Los Angeles apartment she shared with two male friends. Like Morrison, she was just 27 years old when she died. Her cremated remains were interred in the mausoleum at Fairhaven Memorial Park in Santa Ana, California. The plaque reads "Pamela Susan Morrison 1946–1974", even though "Morrison" was never part of Courson's legal name. Several months after her death, her parents inherited her fortune. Jim Morrison's parents later contested the Coursons' executorship of the estate, leading to additional legal battles. In 1979 both parties agreed to divide the earnings from Morrison's estate equally. Jim Morrisons father did not like or support his son's music but still wanted his earnings when he died..
Been down so Long (Alternate Take)
The Doors - Been down so Long (Alternate Take)
Pamela Des Barres
Pamela Ann Miller; September 9, 1948) is an American rock and roll groupie, writer, musician, and actress.. She is best known for her 1987 memoir, I'm with the Band: Confessions of a Groupie, which details her experiences in the Los Angeles rock music scene of the 1960s and 1970s. She is also a former member of the experimental Frank Zappa produced music group the GTOs.
Throughout his career, Morrison had regular sexual and romantic encounters with fans (including groupies) such as Pamela Des Barres, as well as ongoing affairs with other musicians, writers, and photographers involved in the music business. They included Nico; singer Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane, and editor Gloria Stavers of 16 Magazine, as well as an alleged alcohol-fueled encounter with Janis Joplin. David Crosby stated many years later that Morrison treated Joplin cruelly at a party at the Calabasas, California, home of John Davidson while Davidson was out of town. John Davidson is an American actor, singer and game show host.. Joplin reportedly hit him over the head with a bottle of whiskey during a fight in front of witnesses, and thereafter referred to Morrison as "that asshole" whenever his name was brought up in conversation. Janis Joplin is another member of the notional 27 club who died aged 27 years. (January 19, 1943 – October 4, 1970) was an American singer and musician. One of the most successful and widely known rock stars of her era, she was noted for her powerful mezzo-soprano vocals and "electric" stage presence.
A Young Mick Jagger..
An infatuated Pamela Des Barres had the hots for Mick Jagger.
Des Barres idolized The Beatles group and the King of rock 'n' roll Elvis Presley as a child, she also fantasized about meeting and dating her favorite Beatle, Sir Paul McCartney. Later, upon discovering the Rolling Stones, she began to daydream of the lead singer Mick Jagger..
Today, Pamela Des Barres continues to author books, contribute to others' works as an editor and consultant, and pen articles for online and print publications. She writes a regular column for Please Kill Me, in which she confessed that she once kissed murderer and former Manson family member Bobby Beausoleil in Golden Gate Park during his pre-Manson days.
Zappacast Episode #52: All Different Kinds of Love with Pamela Des Barres.
During the 1970s, Des Barres pursued a career as an actress, appearing in movies (including Zappa's 200 Motel), doing commercials, and playing a recurring role on the soap opera Search for Tomorrow throughout 1974. She continued to work as a nanny/babysitter for Zappa, who urged her to continue writing the diary she had begun in high school, in which she had faithfully recorded the important details of her life. When her acting career stalled, she continued to work for the Zappa family as a nanny for Zappa's children, Dweezil and Moonn Unit..
Fans of the Doors' lead singer and poet Jim Morrison pay homage at his gravesite in the Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris on July 3, 2011. Morrison died in Paris on July, 2, 1971.
JACQUES BRINON, AP. Jim Morrison was buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery Paris, one of the city's most visited tourist attractions, where Irish playwright Oscar Wilde, French cabaret singer Edith Piaf, and many other poets and artists are also buried. The grave had no official marker until French officials placed a shield over it, which was stolen in 1973. The grave was listed in the cemetery directory with Morrison's name incorrectly arranged as "Douglas James Morrison".
PARIS — A Florida politician's proposal to move the grave of The Doors' lead singer, Jim Morrison, to Florida’s Space Coast from the 210-year-old Père Lachaise Cemetery is getting a thumbs down from the representative of the iconic musician's estate, the cemetery and fans of the '60s rock star.
“This is just a bunch of silliness,” said Jeff Jampol, a Los Angeles-based music executive who manages The Doors brand as well as Morrison’s estate on behalf of the singer’s heirs.
West Melbourne City Councilman John Tice, president of the Brevard Hall of Fame, proposed moving Morrison’s grave to the hall in Melbourne last month. He said he had heard that cemetery officials had offered to move the singer’s remains to his birth home in the Florida town. Morrison’s grave would help promote the region, he said.
The cemetery, which draws a steady flow of tourists to Morrison's grave, said it has not received any request to move the body. According to its website, only Morrison’s family could request to move his remains.
The grave of Jim Morrison at Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris on Dec. 8, 2003.
JOEL ROBINE, AFP/GETTY IMAGES
The Doors - Love Her Madly
“There is not a chance for this to happen,” said Regis Dufour Forrestier, president of the Association of the Friends and Lovers of the Pere Lachaise. “There is a cult of Jim Morrison's grave.” About 3 million people visit the cemetery annually. On the 40th anniversary of Morrison’s death in 2011, Forrestier said, 4,000 fans paid their respects at his gravesite. Fans who visit the grave place photos, flowers, notes, ribbons and candles on his modest tombstone, which bears the inscription "True to Your Own Spirit" in Greek. Visitors often stick chewing gum on a nearby tree as a sign of independence and flouting of authority — hallmarks of Morrison’s life.
“The chewing gum is just a way for people to say ‘I was here,’ ” said Paul Bauer, a tour guide who has worked at Pere Lachaise for 30 years. “Also many people come and drink whisky, they smoke," he added disapprovingly. "It is a cemetery, not a cafe.” On a recent day, a constant flow of visitors speaking many languages lined up to see the grave. "This is where he wanted to be,” said Amanda Arp, 37, an artist and stay-at-home mom from Tennessee who decided to visit the cemetery as soon as her husband announced they were traveling to Paris as a surprise Christmas present. "He was so private, and toward the end, he wanted to be alone. So I think that's the best place for him."
She rejected the idea of moving Morrison’s remains. "If he were in the States, I think he would be hounded even more than he is now," Arp said. "When a body is at rest, it should stay at rest."
In 1991, Oliver Stone directed a biopic film about Morrison, with actor Val Kilmer portraying him. Kilmer learned over twenty of the Doors' songs to achieve Morrison's role. While the film was inspired by many real events and individuals, the film's depiction of Morrison was heavily criticized by many people who knew him personally, including Patricia Kennealy and the other Doors members. Manzarek said about the film's portrayal, "It was ridiculous ... It was not about Jim Morrison. It was about 'Jimbo Morrison', the drunk. God, where was the sensitive poet and the funny guy? The guy I knew was not on that screen."Krieger agreed that the movie didn't capture "how Jim [Morrison] was at all. "He also noted the impact of the film's representation on numerous people he talked to: "He's never a real guy in that movie. People find it hard to believe he could just be a normal person–a good friend and a great guy to be with."
Robby Krieger was the guitarist of rock band and became a member in 1965, joining keyboard player Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore and vocalist Jim Morrison. At the time Manzarek's brothers were in the early band line up but left. At an early Doors rehearsal Morrison heard Krieger playing bottleneck guitar and initially wanted the technique featured on every song on the first album. Krieger's fingerstyle approach to the electric guitar, broad musical tastes, and songwriting helped establish the Doors as a successful rock band in the 1960s. After Morrison's death in 1971, Krieger, Manzarek and Densmore carried on as a trio. They released two more albums as the Doors before disbanding in 1973, though they did reconvene a few years later to create music for poetry that Morrison had recorded shortly before his death, released as the 1978 album An American Prayer.