|
|
|
During the Doors’ stay in New York in September
[1967] there were three important photography sessions and it was for
these that [Jim] went to Jay Sebring, Hollywood’s most fashionable hair
stylist, before he left Los Angeles. "What do you want it to look like?"
Jay asked. "Like this," Jim said, producing a page torn from a history
book showing a picture of a statue. "Like Alexander the Great."15 |
Two years later, Morrison bought his long-time girlfriend
Pamela Courson a boutique in Los Angeles. An artist friend was hired from
Topanga to design the shop.16 Jim also bought Pamela a cottage in Topanga.17 As
you may recall, Topanga was the area where Charlie Manson’s satanic
acquaintances lived. Gary Hinman lived in Topanga Canyon. Hinman’s mutilated
body was found at his home on July 31, 1969. He was the first victim of the
notorious "Manson murders." On September 3, 1970, the body of Morrison’s
friend, Canned Heat guitarist Alan Wilson, was also found in a wooded area
in Topanga Canyon near the home of Canned Heat’s lead vocalist, Bob Hite,
whose home was in that area. (NOTE: At the time of Wilson’s death, he was
been living with Hite, but often slept outdoors in a sleeping bag.)
Canned Heat drummer Fito de la Parra claimed that Hite
boasted of "knowing Manson family members."18 It is quite possible—given the
location of Hite’s home in Topanga Canyon—that Hite met members of the
Manson family at the Spiral Staircase, the Satanic house in Topanga Canyon
where Manson and his family members once spent a lot of time. It seems odd
that Morrison was acquainted with one of the victims of the Manson murders,
Jay Sebring, and his girlfriend’s boutique was being designed by someone who
lived near the satanic cult which the Manson family visited in Topanga
Canyon. Also, Jim Morrison’s birthday is December 8th, the same
day John Lennon was killed. On December 9, 1970—the day after Morrison
celebrated his 27th birthday—he sensed things were unraveling. As
Jim sat on a couch, in the Doors’ business office, gazing at the LA Times,
he saw where a grand jury had indicted Charlie Manson and four others for
the slayings of Sharon Tate, Jim’s hair dresser friend Jay Sebring, and
others. Jim put down the paper and said to others in the room, "I think I’m
having a nervous breakdown."19
The Miami Concert
Jim got into hot water with the FBI and the courts after
he gave a controversial performance at a Doors concert in Miami, Florida on
March 1, 1969.20 It is commonly known that Jim attempted to expose himself
during the Miami show, and was charged with a variety of crimes dealing with
immorality. Jim was specifically accused of exposing his penis to the crowd,
and was eventually convicted of "indecent exposure" (a misdemeanor),
although it is generally accepted by rock historians that he did not expose
himself as charged. It is true that Jim intended to take off his pants
during the show, and he was somewhat intoxicated at the time, but there’s
more to the story than a drunken singer merely trying to get naked in front
of his fans. It may seem contrived, but Jim was making a political
statement. He often got intoxicated in order to perform, so relating his
intoxication to his attempt to disrobe is not necessarily as simple as it
might seem. Before we proceed, let’s back up for a moment and examine the
political and social climate of the time.
March 1969 was a tumultuous period during the late 1960s.
Richard Nixon* had been inaugurated
President of the United States just six weeks earlier, on January 20, 1969.
Lyndon Johnson had left the White House leaving behind 540,000 American
soldiers (mostly draftees) in South Vietnam. By mid-March seven men—dubbed
the "Chicago Seven"—were indicted for leading anti-Vietnam war
demonstrations, which turned violent, at the Democratic National Convention
in Chicago the previous summer. Many viewed the incident as a police riot.
Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy had been assassinated less than a year
earlier—in April and June of 1968—which triggered race riots in scores of
cities across America throughout the ensuing summer. The Beatles released
the song, Revolution, written and sung by John Lennon, during the
summer of 1968. Several other rock musicians began to openly call for
revolution. Riots on college campus were routine occurrences. On November
29, 1968, John Lennon shocked the rock music world when he and his
then-girlfriend Yoko Ono released an avant-garde album, Two Virgins,
which showed the couple stark naked on the album cover. Shortly afterwards,
they appeared semi-nude in a photo collage which accompanied the Beatles’
White Album. On March 20, 1969, John and Yoko were married in Gibraltar.
On their honeymoon the couple staged a "bed-in" for peace in Amsterdam from
March 25 through March 31.21 By the spring of 1969, the Vietnam War was
driving America to the brink of revolution and Jim Morrison was following a
spiritual calling to join the resistance through rock music, as John Lennon
was already doing. The following is a description of Jim’s feelings about
revolution, as described by Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugerman in their book,
No One Here Gets Out Alive:
|
[Jim] would never say so aloud to anyone but his
closest friends, but he thought of himself as a revolutionary figure,
one who had had to provide a social balance by opposing his father [the
admiral]. Or so it seemed. Jim didn’t like to admit it, but he was a lot
like his father. Their goals may have been opposing, but they had the
same kind of ambition and drive. Jim did not necessarily want to lead
the revolution, but if there was going to be one, he was all for it.
Though he claimed that some of his songs came to him in a vision, he was
never unaware of the mutinous and apocalyptic nature of that vision.
When his fans and the rock public came to regard him as a figurehead in
the political/social movement taking place, Jim was publicly unmoved,
but secretly flattered. For a long while he believed records could serve
the same purpose that books and printed manifestos had in earlier
revolutions.22 |
Jim was searching for a better means of political
expression than merely writing rock songs with politically or socially
conscious lyrics and performing them at concerts. He was looking for
something more, a new direction, but he wasn’t exactly sure what it was. He
was probably impressed with John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s use of nudity as a
form of political/social expression, but he was reportedly influenced by
others as well. Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugerman claim Jim was inspired by
the works of radical dramatic theorist, Antonin Artaud, whose
disciples—Judith Malina and Julian Beck—led "The Living Theatre," an
avant-garde theater group.23 In early 1969, The Living Theatre staged a
revolutionary show called Paradise Now which culminated with a scene
where the actors challenged authority by taking off their clothes. In
February 1969, The Living Theatre performed Paradise Now on five
nights at the University of Southern California (USC). Jim Morrison and
several friends attended all five of the scheduled performances.24 The
following is a description—per Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugerman, from their
book, No One Here Gets Out Alive—of the Living Theatre’s last
performance of Paradise Now at USC, which occurred on February 28,
1969, the night before the Doors performed in Miami:
|
[Jim] was seated with friends in the front row, as he
had been all week long. The play opened with "The Rite of Guerilla
Theater," in which actors mingled with the spectators speaking first of
five key, cathartic phrases.
"I am not allowed to travel without a passport."
The Living Theater was touring the United States
after four years of self-imposed exile in Europe. During that time the
troupe had become international in composition and knew the hassles of
border-crossing firsthand. They engaged the spectators in dialogue,
baiting them if necessary to get a response, shouting the words in
anguish and frustrations.
"I cannot travel freely, I cannot move about at
will."
"I am separated from my fellow man, my boundaries are
set arbitrarily by others!"
"The Gates of Paradise are closed to me!"
In a few minutes’ time the actors were close to
hysteria, and the USC theater was transformed. Jim was on his feet with
many others, shouting slogans, bellowing for Paradise Now.
The actors retired quietly, returning to the stage,
paused for a moment, then began again, now with the second phrase: "I
don’t know how to stop the wars!"
And so it went: a catalogue of complaints, presented
with explosive energy.
"You can’t live if you don’t have money!"
"I’m not allowed to smoke marijuana!"
And finally: "I’m not allowed to take my clothes
off!"
"The body itself of which we are made is taboo!"
"We are ashamed of what is most beautiful, we are
afraid of what is most beautiful!"
"We may not act naturally toward one another!"
"The culture represses love!"
"I am not allowed to take my clothes off!"
The actors began to strip, removing much of their
clothing, then standing in the aisles and on the stage, the forbidden
areas of their bodies covered. It was an active demonstration of the
prohibition. When the stripping reached the legal limit, the actors
shouted once more, "I’m not allowed to take my clothes off! I am
outside the Gates of Paradise!"
That was when the cops moved in and stopped the play
from continuing.25 |
Jim was apparently quite inspired after seeing The Living
Theater’s show. The next night, March 1, 1969, he attempted to incorporate
elements of Paradise Now in the Doors concert in Miami. He planned to
taunt the audience about not being allowed to take off his clothes, claiming
it was a restriction on his personal freedom, just as the The Living Theatre
had done the night before. He planned to work the crowd into a frenzy, then
take off his pants, but he was wearing large boxer shorts. Unfortunately he
hadn’t told anyone in his band or entourage of what he planned to do.
Consequently, they got nervous when it appeared he was going to remove his
pants on stage, so one of his handlers physically restrained him, thereby
giving the impression that he had in fact intended to expose himself. After
that, Jim proceeded to get wild with audience, encouraging them to dance and
jump on the stage. It became potentially dangerous because the stage could
have collapsed, but it didn’t and no one was hurt. According to Hopkins and
Sugerman, even the cops enjoyed themselves. Jim’s attempt to expose his
boxer shorts—which looked like he was going to be vulgar—was apparently an
innocent miscommunication between himself, the band, and the group’s
entourage. It was innocent enough, but it was used by the FBI to bring Jim
down.26 The following is a summary of events that occurred AFTER the Miami
concert.
-
On March 5, 1969, warrants are issued for Morrison’s
arrest charging him with one felony and three misdemeanors. The felony is
"lewd and lascivious behavior." The misdemeanors are indecent exposure,
open profanity, and drunkenness. If convicted of the felony charge, Jim
could be sent to Raiford Prison—one of Florida’s toughest—for seven and a
half years.27
-
In late March 1969, the FBI issues a warrant for
Morrison’s arrest, charging him with "unlawful flight," although Jim had
left Miami three days before any warrants were issued.28
-
On April 4, 1969, Jim surrenders himself to the FBI,
accompanied by his lawyer, and is released on $5,000 bail.29
-
On May 23, 1969, PBS airs a Doors performance of the
song, Build Me a Woman, and a ten minute interview with Jim
Morrison by Richard Goldstein. Jim is sober and presents a new image.30
-
On August 10, 1970, the trial of Jim Morrison begins in
Miami for his controversial conduct at a concert given by the Doors in
that city on March 1, 1969.31
-
On September 19, 1970, a jury convicts Jim of two
misdemeanors—indecent exposure and drunkenness—but acquits him of the
felony charge, lewd and lascivious behavior and the other misdemeanor,
open profanity.32
-
On October 30, 1970, Judge Murray Goodman sentences Jim
to six months hard labor at Dade County jail for the exposure conviction
and sixty days of the same for the profanity charge. In addition, Jim is
to be put on probation, after the jail term is completed, for two years
and four months. Goodman also fines Jim $500.33
At the beginning of the trial, around the evening of
August 12, 1970,34 Jim sat in with Canned Heat for four songs at the Marco
Polo Hotel in Miami.35 Canned Heat drummer, Fito de la Parra, described the
gig in his book, Living the Blues: Canned Heat’s Story of Music, Drugs,
Death, Sex and Survival. The following is an excerpt:
|
One night in Miami, Jim Morrison joined us on stage,
then hung around afterward sitting at a table with Alan [Wilson],
talking quietly. Two very tormented souls. It was the last time they saw
each other and the last time I saw Jim.36 |
Twenty-two days later, on September 3, 1970, Alan Wilson
was found dead in his sleeping bag in a wooded area in Topanga Canyon.
Fifteen days after that, on September 18th, Jimi Hendrix was
found dead in a London hotel. The next day, September 19th, Jim
Morrison was convicted of indecent exposure and drunkenness. Before going to
court that morning, Jim read about Hendrix’s death in a Miami newspaper; he
reportedly asked aloud, "Does anyone believe in omens?"37 Hopkins and Sugerman
claim Jim went into a "desperate funk" when he heard that Janis Joplin was
dead of an overdose a few weeks later. Hopkins and Sugerman claim Jim’s
standard line to friends while out on the town was, "You’re drinking with
Number Three."38 Given Jim’s personal friendship with Alan Wilson, and the
close time span between Wilson’s death and the deaths of Hendrix and Joplin,
it seems more likely that Morrison’s line was "You’re drinking with Number
FOUR."
Morrison’s death
Jim Morrison was found dead in a Paris apartment on July
3, 1971. His death was ruled a heart attack;*
he was age 27. Several facts surrounding his death point to foul play and
conspiracy. One of the last places Morrison visited during his final days
was Marseilles [France]. In my book, Opium Lords, I
concluded that President Kennedy’s assassins were [French Corsicans] recruited in
Marseilles,
probably at the behest of the FBI, because the Bureau was created by a
member of a famous Corsican family, the Bonapartes. In 1908, the Bureau was
created by Attorney General Charles Joseph Bonaparte, great nephew of
Napoleon Bonaparte. The following is a description of the time Jim Morrison
and longtime girlfriend Pamela Courson spent in Corsica, from the book No
One Here Gets Out Alive by Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugerman:
|
[Around June 1971] Jim and Pamela left for Corsica.
They flew to Marseilles, where Jim lost his driver’s license, passport,
and wallet, necessitating a return to Paris to acquire duplicates at the
American Embassy. They again flew to Marseilles and finally to Ajaccio,
the island’s major port and capital city, as well as the birthplace of
Napoleon. Corsica is also known for the inordinate number of recruits it
provides for the Paris police force, its high red thrusts of rock,
quaint villages at the bottom of a mountain as awesome as any part of
the Rockies or the French mainland Alps, wet-eyed fishermen’s widows
shrouded in black, a lack of young people, and the pungent and pervasive
smell of Corsican maquis (grass), which is eaten by the cattle
and appears in the meat, cheese, and milk. Jim and Pamela toured the
island for ten days. On every day but one it rained. Pamela said it was
idyllic.39 |
Corsica may have seemed idyllic to Pamela on a
superficial level, but it is also an area known for heroin trafficking,
organized crime, and hit men mercenaries who provide their services to
intelligence services around the globe. This was not a safe place for a
young rock star who energized large crowds to rebel against authority
figures, who opposed the Vietnam War, who encouraged revolution, and who
wrote militant lyrics like "we want the world and we want it now!" As
previously stated, the roots of the FBI are in Corsica, via the Bonaparte
family, and the FBI had targeted Jim Morrison as an agitator. If Morrison
was in fact murdered, the loss of his driver’s license, passport, and wallet
in Marseilles may not have been accidental. This information would
facilitate the writing of a death certificate—prior to the actual death—and
other official documents related to the unexpected death of a young American
citizen who expired on foreign soil. Having stated that, the following are
excerpts from No One Here Gets Out Alive, by Jerry Hopkins and Danny
Sugerman, which describe the official version of Morrison’s death:
|
…On Friday night, the 2nd of July [1971],
Alan [Ronay, Jim’s American friend] suggested the three of them [Alan,
Jim and Pamela] have dinner at an outdoor café not far from the Morrison
flat…After supper Jim…sent a telegram to Jonathan Dolger, his editor,
regarding the cover of [his book, The Lords and The New Creatures]…He
then took Pamela home…
[AUTHOR’S NOTE: It is unclear where Jim went after
taking Pamela home, although Hopkins and Sugerman speculate on several
possibilities: he goes to the movies, he goes to a night club, he boards
a plane, he walks all night, and so on. At some point he came home to
his flat.]40
Pam and Jim were alone at the flat (sometime after
midnight, Saturday, July 3, 1971) when Jim regurgitated a small quantity
of blood. He had done this before, Pam said, and although she was
concerned, she was not really upset.
(AUTHOR’S NOTE: According to researcher Alex
Constantine, Morrison had developed an ulcer from the FBI’s relentless
harassment.41 This would explain why he coughed up blood and why Pamela
was not overly alarmed.)
Jim claimed he felt okay and said he was going to
take a bath. Pamela fell asleep again. At five she woke, saw Jim had not
returned to bed, went into the bathroom, and found him in the tub, his
arms resting on the porcelain sides, his head back, his long, wet hair
matted against the rim, a boyish smile across his clean-shaven face. At
first Pamela thought he was playing one of his macabre jokes, but then
she called the fire department’s resuscitation unit. A doctor and police
followed, Pamela said, but all were too late…42
…By Monday morning, July 5, Jim was rumored to be
dead43…Clive Selwood, who ran Elektra’s English office, called the
company’s office in France for verification. Elektra France was not even
aware that Jim was in France44…He then decided to call Bill Siddons [Doors
manager45] in Los Angeles46…[Siddons] decided to call Jim himself. Pamela
answered the phone and told [Siddons] he’d better come right over47…Siddons
arrived in Paris on Tuesday, July 6. He was met by Pamela, a sealed
coffin, and a signed death certificate. Funeral arrangements were
quickly and secretly confirmed48…Siddons was efficient, and on Wednesday
afternoon [July 7] the coffin was lowered into the ground at Père La
Chaise [a cemetery]…Five mourners were present: Pamela, Alan Ronay,
Agnes Varda, and Robin Wertle. *
They threw flowers on the grave and said their goodbyes49…
One factor causing much of the initial disbelief was
timing. Bill [Siddons,] told his story to the media a full six days
after Jim died, two days after the funeral50… |
Co-authors Hopkins and Sugerman glossed over the timing
anomaly, merely quoting from Siddons’ announcement: "The initial news of his
death and funeral was kept quiet because those of us who knew him intimately
and loved him as a person wanted to avoid all the notoriety and circuslike
atmosphere that surrounded the deaths of such other rock personalities as
Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix."51 Hopkins and Sugerman were apparently
satisfied with that explanation because they dropped the issue, but it is an
important point, so I will pick up where they left off. If six days passed
before Bill Siddons told the media that Morrison had died, this means
Siddons made the announcement on July 9, 1971. If Siddons arrived in Paris
on Tuesday, July 6, 1971, this means he waited three days before announcing
to the world that Jim Morrison had died. What was Siddons doing during that
three days? As previously stated, Siddons had Jim buried the next day, July
7 (Wednesday), so that explains one of the three days, but what about the
other two? Siddons’ explanation of wanting to "avoid all the notoriety and
circuslike atmosphere" gets him off the hook until the day of the funeral,
but it does not explain the other two days? What happened between Wednesday,
July 7, when Jim was buried, and Friday, July 9, when Siddons announced
Jim’s death to the media? This does not add up at all. We have an American
rock star hounded and harassed relentlessly by the FBI, suddenly he turns up
dead in Paris at the age of 27, and his manager’s primary concern is getting
the body buried, then waiting another two days to tell the world that his
famous client is dead. Hopkins and Sugerman did not pursue the missing two
days, but they focused on another point:
|
Another factor causing much of the disbelief was the
fact that Siddons never saw the body. What he did see at Jim and
Pamela’s flat was a sealed coffin and a death certificate with one
doctor’s signature. There was no police report, no doctor present. No
autopsy had been conducted. All he had was Pamela’s word that Jim was
dead…Who was the doctor? Siddons didn’t know; Pamela didn’t remember.
But signatures can be forged or bought.52 |
That was the extent of the information provided by
Hopkins and Sugerman in 1980 when they first published No One Here Gets
Out Alive. They also mentioned in passing that Pamela "died three years
after Jim"53 in 1974. Fifteen years later, it 1995, their book was reissued
with an Epilog—written by Jerry Hopkins—which, among other things, stated
that Pamela "died of an overdose of heroin."54 Other than explain the legal
entanglements she was involved in when she died, Hopkins offered no further
details about Pamela’s death, not even the precise date, only the year.
Nevertheless, Hopkins provided new information pertaining to Jim’s death.
The following is an excerpt from the Epilog—written solely by Jerry
Hopkins—in the 1994 edition of No One Here Gets Out Alive, by Jerry
Hopkins and Danny Sugerman:
|
There was controversy regarding how Jim died. During
the lead-up to the film’s release [Oliver Stone’s 1990 movie, The
Doors] and in the months that followed, new information was made
available. First, the official documents from the Paris police were
uncovered. These did nothing but add detail to the official story, that
Jim had died of a heart attack in the bathtub. But then, after 20 years
of silence, Alan Ronay and Agnes Varda, two of the five present at the
funeral, gave an interview to Paris-Match, saying Pamela called
them after finding Jim dead. They rushed to the Morrison flat, where
they found firemen and police already on the scene.
They were told that cardiopulmonary resuscitation
efforts had failed and Jim’s body had been moved from the bathroom to
the bed. A physician arrived. Pamela told police on the scene and later
in her deposition that Jim never used drugs and had a breathing problem
complicated by a chronic cough. She said he had a history of asthma and
was a heavy smoker. The doctor examined the body, found no evidence of
foul play—such as puncture marks as might be caused by intravenous drug
use—and said the death was due to natural causes, a "myocardial
infarction," or heart attack. No autopsy was required under the
circumstances and Pamela was allowed to continue with her funeral plans.
Now, 20 years later, Ronay and Varda told
Paris-Match that Jim and Pamela shared some heroin—Jim, perhaps even
for the first time—after a night of drinking in bars. Jim put a tape of
the first Doors album on the sound system, and they nodded out. Pamela
said she was awakened by Jim’s coughing. Jim said he wanted to take a
bath. Pam went back to sleep, awoke a few moments later, and went to the
bathroom, where she found Jim in the tub, complaining that he was going
to be sick. Three times Pamela brought a kitchen cooking pot to him,
cleaning it in a nearby sink each time he vomited. Pamela told Varda and
Ronay that Jim seemed to recover, telling her to return to bed. He said
he’d join her in a minute. The next time Pamela woke up, she called the
police.
The assumption is that Jim died of an inadvertent
overdose, that the heroin and the alcohol acted synergistically, when
the joint action of drugs taken together increase each other’s
effectiveness. In other words, one plus one equals three…55 |
In the same Epilog, Jerry Hopkins takes the following
parting shots at both Pamela and Jim:
|
Danny [Sugerman] talked with Pamela and while he said
she seemed wracked with guilt—an opinion shared by Diane Gardiner—much
of the time when she talked about Jim, she was radically inconsistent,
veering from the assertion "it was not my fault" to "if he’s alive,
he’ll call." |
Hopkins’ remarks about Pamela have all the earmarks of
what is known in the intelligence world as a "fallback position." When
someone is bumped off by an intelligence agency, an official explanation
surfaces along with one or more fallback positions. They’re all false, but
they’re floated about as a diversion. While Hopkins overtly accepts the
official heart attack scenario, he leaves the door open to blame Pamela for
Morrison’s death. Notice how Hopkins wrote that "Danny [Sugerman] talked
with Pamela and while he said she seemed wracked with guilt…she was
radically inconsistent…" Hold on, who wrote the Epilog, Hopkins or Sugerman?
Of course, it was Hopkins. But one has to wonder, if Sugerman actually
talked to Pamela and observed that she seemed "wracked with guilt" and her
stories were "radically inconsistent", why didn’t he (Sugerman) write the
Epilog instead of Hopkins? Frankly, the Epilog doesn’t pass the smell test.
Jerry Hopkins maligned Pamela Courson’s character, but Hopkins referenced
Danny Sugerman as the source for the damning comments. By using this
approach, neither Hopkins or Sugerman can be nailed for libel because
Hopkins can always claim he merely quoted Sugerman and Sugerman can claim
his words were taken out of context. It’s similar to tag-team wrestling.
What about the witch?
Hopkins and Sugerman have another gaffe in their
biography of Jim Morrison. They completely dropped the ball regarding
Morrison’s wife, Patricia Kennely, a practicing witch, or Wiccan. They
describe the Wiccan marriage in Chapter 10 (which begins on page 293 of
No One Here Gets Out Alive), but as the book continues, Patricia
basically disappears and Jim moves to Paris with his regular girlfriend,
Pamela Courson, who is not the least bit concerned that her long-term
boyfriend chose to marry another woman instead of her. I realize Jim
Morrison was a multi-woman man, but for the sake of proper writing, one
would think Hopkins and Sugerman would explain how Morrison ditched the
witch for the so-called junkie, Pamela. Maybe I have an innate bias against
witches, but it would seem logical that since Hopkins and Sugerman chose to
speculate that one of Morrison’s ladyfriends did him in, one would think
that his wife—the witch—would be a prime suspect.
To be fair, Hopkins and Sugerman provided a lot of
information about Patricia Kennely, the witch, but their timeline and dates
are difficult to follow. Nevertheless, I shall attempt to piece together
their version of events regarding Jim Morrison and his marriage to Patricia
Kennely, a practicing witch. The following excerpts are from No One Here
Gets Out Alive, by Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugerman:
|
Jim had begun calling and writing New York editor and
critic Patricia Kennely the previous September [1969], had renewed his
communication in March [1970], and in April, when she reviewed his book
of poems in her magazine Jazz & Pop, he telegrammed his thanks.
Patricia was an initiated, practicing witch, high
priestess of a coven—something that fascinated Jim—and the day after his
telegram arrived, she was in Philadelphia visiting other witches56…
Twenty-four years old at the time [1970], Patricia
was the editor-in-chief of a rock magazine, and one of the several Doors
loyalists in the East Coast rock critical establishment. She had adored
Jim from the moment they met, eighteen months previously when she had
interviewed him at the Plaza Hotel…Since then, Patricia had written
about Jim and the Doors often in her magazine57…
[While spending the night a Patricia’s New York
apartment in the summer of 1970, Jim developed a high fever.] Her
doctor, who only lived two blocks away, wouldn’t make house calls. Jim’s
temperature rose to 1050F58…At two o’clock Patricia decided to
take his temperature one more time before calling an ambulance. Suddenly
the fever broke, dropping from 1050 to 1010F in
fifteen minutes. Within three hours Jim was up and walking around as if
nothing had happened…The following night Jim and Patricia were
married59…Midsummer Night, 1970. Candles were lighted in Patricia’s
Victorian Gothic apartment. The wedding ceremony was explained. Witches,
or Wiccans, are not Satanists; they worship the ancient forces of
nature, the Triple Goddess, the Great Mother, and her male counterpart,
the Lord, the Horned God. It is a religious tradition that predates
Christianity and Judaism, and is thought by many scholars to be a
survival of the oldest universal religion.
A Wicca wedding, Patricia explained, is a blending of
souls on a karmic and cosmic plane that has an effect on future
incarnations of the two involved: death does not part, and the vow taken
is "forever in the Goddess’s sight." Patricia told Jim there was legend
that Henry VII and Anne Boleyn had been married in the witch
ritual—probably for some of the same reasons.
One of Patricia’s friends, a high priestess of a
coven, conducted the ceremony, assisted by a high priest. They led Jim
and Patricia through a traditional handfasting, with prayers and an
invocation of the Goddess, blessings, the making of two small cuts on
each partner’s wrist and forearm, and the mixing of a few drops of their
blood into a consecrated cup of wine from which they later drank, a
ritual stepping over a broomstick, the exchanging of certain vows, and
the final calling down of the Goddess’s presence.
To Patricia, this was a perfectly natural ceremony in
her religion, but Jim was totally caught up in the ritual. He gave
Patricia a silver claddagh, the traditional Irish wedding ring, and she
gave him a matching gold one. The officiating priestess and Patricia, in
her capacity as a priestess, made out two hand-printed documents, one in
English, one in witch runes. Everybody present signed, with Jim and
Patricia required to mark their signatures in blood. The pair were
declared wedded, and Jim fainted.60
(AUTHOR’S NOTE: It is presumed that Morrison fainted
because he had just recovered that day from a 1050F fever. In
addition, he apparently gave a small amount of blood which was used to
sign the Wiccan marriage document.) |
Hopkins and Sugerman do not specify if the Wiccan
marriage was legal or not. They never mention a marriage license, blood
tests, or any of the legal things normally associated with getting married
in the United States. The only blood mentioned was marking their signatures
in blood on the Wiccan marriage documents. Somehow that doesn’t sound like
it would go over very well at the local courthouse.
Kennely threatens Morrison with maternity suit during the
Miami trial
According to Hopkins and Sugerman, Jim never lived with
Patricia Kennely as husband and wife, but she claimed to have gotten
pregnant with his child only a few months after their Wiccan wedding.
Hopkins and Sugerman portray Morrison as the heavy, but they never explore
the possibility that perhaps Kennely wasn’t really pregnant at all, or if
she was, perhaps Jim was not the father. The couple had a sexual
relationship, but their sexual encounters couldn’t have occurred with much
frequency since they lived in separate cities. Married couples sometimes
have to work at having sex on a regular basis in order to achieve pregnancy.
Yet Kennely got pregnant with just a few sexual acts. Sure, it’s possible;
but given her background (She’s a witch, remember? Not exactly Rebecca of
Sunnybrook Farm.), it’s also possible she was part of a conspiracy to push
Jim over the edge emotionally after he had already been drained by the Miami
trial. Within this context, Jim comes across as a fairly secure man when
threatened by his so-called wife. The following is an excerpt from No One
Here Gets Out Alive, by Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugerman:
|
Monday night [presumably August 17, 1970; the second
week of the Miami trial] a second drama began with the arrival of
Patricia Kennely. Jim had talked to Patricia by telephone on Friday,
[September] 14th, learned that she was pregnant, and asked
her to join him in Miami. He sent his publicist and one of his lawyers
and the lawyer’s wife to meet her at the airport. Jim was most cordial
as they drank at the hotel bar, but whenever Patricia tried to direct
conversation toward her pregnancy, he skated away61…
(AUTHOR’S NOTE: Why is Patricia Kennely, a pregnant
woman, drinking in a bar, or anywhere else? Hopkins and Sugerman’s
attempt to portray Kennely as the fair-haired damsel violated by
Morrison, the irresponsible ogre, doesn’t quite ring true upon closer
analysis.)
[Two days later, around August 19, 1970] the
long-promised talk began. "I know it’s not exactly the best time and
place to ask you to deal with this, with the trial and all," said
Patricia, "but the fact remains, it happened and now—"
Jim smiled awkwardly and said, "We’ll manage."
"Listen, I’m not exactly thrilled by the idea either,
you know. But you happen to be the only man I ever considered good
enough to father a child of mine, and now it’s come to pass and I don’t
know what to do. I do think you owe me a bit more than your checkbook."
Jim glanced at her, then away. "If you have that
baby, it’ll ruin our friendship. A baby isn’t going to change my life at
all, but it would alter yours tremendously, forever."
"I could take it to court."
(AUTHOR’S NOTE: It is unclear why Kennely would take
Morrison to court. She reportedly told him he owes her "a bit more than
your checkbook," which is an acknowledgment that she believes Morrison
would support the child financially. Basically, money is all the courts
require from fathers estranged from their children. The courts cannot
mandate that a father love his offspring or spend time with him/her. All
they can do is tell him to pay a certain amount of money per month.
Kennely’s statement reveals that she believes Jim will fulfill his legal
responsibility as father of her child, which is to pay child support.
Therefore her threat of legal action is apparently intended to
intimidate Morrison.)
He looked surprised by the idea. "Another trial?
Well, of course, you could do that, and it’d be just like this one we’re
doing now. It’d take a long time, though. First you’d have to have the
baby; that’s, what, another six months. Then you’d have to set up a
preliminary hearing, with blood tests and all that, just to find out if
you have a real case, and maybe there wouldn’t be any witnesses because
I’d buy everybody off first. And even if you finally got it to court,
you might not win, and there would be incredible publicity, which you
would hate. And even if you won in the end, what would you have gotten
out of it? Some money and some satisfaction and a lot of bad feelings. I
don’t think you think it’s worth it."62… |
Hopkins and Sugerman provided quite a bit of additional
dialogue between Jim and Patricia, but the bottom line is Patricia agreed to
have an abortion and Jim promised to accompany her but he didn’t show up.
Perhaps Jim acted like a rat, or perhaps he smelled a rat and decided to
stay away. His eyes may have been opened when the Wiccan/witch threatened
him with a paternity suit in the midst of what he viewed as a governmental
effort to destroy him. The ensuing summer (1971), Jim gets together with his
longtime girlfriend Pamela Courson and they move to Paris, where he dies and
Hopkins and Sugerman subtly suggest that Courson may have had something to
do with his death. Frankly, Hopkins and Sugerman do a terrible job of
connecting the dots between Jim’s marriage to Patricia Kennely and his
ongoing relationship with Pamela Courson. It’s believable that Pamela was
willing to share Jim with other women, but it stretches credulity to think
that she might quickly forgive him for marrying someone else. Hopkins and
Sugerman don’t mention Jim’s marriage to Kennely other than describing the
Wiccan wedding ceremony. In fact they later refer to Pamela as Jim’s common
law wife. How can someone be the common law wife of a man who is already
married to another woman? Excuse me, but that’s either poor writing or
Disinformation 101. Something doesn’t add up.
Twenty paternity suits
Hopkins and Sugerman mention in passing that Morrison had
"no less than twenty paternity suits" filed against him by December 1969;
however they treat the suits lightly. Can you imagine one man having twenty
paternity suits filed against him? The following is Hopkins and Sugerman’s
description—from No One Here Gets Out Alive—of the growing pressures
on Jim which included the stated paternity suits:
|
The pressures were growing. Jim was being pulled and
twisted this way and that. Frank [Liscisandro], Paul [Ferrara], and Babe
[Hill] wanted more money to finish the [documentary] films and the Doors
wanted the filming stopped, believing it was draining Jim of his energy
he should be devoting to the group. They also wanted Jim to shave his
beard and shed a few pounds for the string of concerts starting in New
York in just a few weeks. Pam [Courson] was instantly demanding that Jim
give up his singing career with the Doors and begin a domestic life with
her, in which she envisioned him peacefully at work on his poetry. At
the same time no less than twenty paternity suits were pending. Jim knew
that the audiences on the upcoming tour would be expecting the grotesque
when all he wanted to do was stand still and sing…63 |
Notice how Hopkins and Sugerman interject the twenty law
suits, then change the subject. They seem to be avoiding it for some reason.
I doubt that they would include such an outrageous fact in their book if the
twenty or so suits had not been filed. On the other hand, their avoidance of
the issue is quite telling. Let’s analyze it logically. Morrison was a
good-looking young male rock star constantly on the road. If he had sex with
twenty different women while on the road, who would they be? Groupies, of
course. He may have met a few under different circumstances, but most of
them would be groupies. Next question: how many times would he have sex with
a typical groupie? They were likely one night stands for the most part.
Think about it. What are the chances of a man impregnating twenty different
women with whom he had sex with each only one time? IMPOSSIBLE. Perhaps he
had an ongoing relationship with a few of these women which resulted in
repeat sexual encounters. But that would only be a handful.
Let’s focus on groupies for a moment. The average groupie
is interested in what? Having a good time with her targeted rock star. Do
you think a groupie is going to file a law suit against a famous rock star
because she believes he impregnated her? Not likely. These are groupies,
women who aggressively look for sex from a star, not a bunch of virgins
interested in protecting their reputations. If twenty or so groupies filed
law suits against Jim, someone probably put them up to it, possibly paid
them to do it. Recall how earlier we referenced the Church Committee’s
report on dealing with the New left. (See Chapter 11,) It stated that "[FBI]
Agents were instructed to gather information on the New Left’s ‘immorality’
and the ‘scurrilous and depraved’ behavior, ‘habits, and living conditions’
of the members of the targeted groups."64 It appears that the FBI may have
been doing a number on Morrison by encouraging twenty or more women, who
genuinely had sex with him, to file bogus paternity suits. This would
explain why Hopkins and Sugerman mentioned the suits in passing, then
dropped all discussion of them.
Tom Baker and Leon Barnard
Patricia Kennely was not the only suspicious character in
Morrison’s life. Close analysis of No One Here Gets Out Alive, by
Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugerman, reveals that at least two other people
seemed to be with Morrison when trouble occurred. Their names were Tom Baker
and Leon Barnard. Hopkins and Sugerman do not explain who Leon Barnard was,
or what he did for a living, only that he worked at the Doors business
office.65 I have learned from other sources, however, that Barnard was the
Doors’ press agent. Tom Baker was a young actor acquainted with Jim Morrison
in a very odd way. They had shared the same girlfriend, Pamela Courson. The
following is Hopkins and Sugerman’s description of how Jim became friends
with Tom Baker:
|
The band returned to Los Angeles the end of November
[1966] and Jim moved in with Pamela Courson. They’d been seeing each
other off and on for about a year and now she had a small place in
Laurel Canyon. If Pamela hadn’t fully accepted Jim’s irresponsibility,
by now she’d come to expect it…More important—and frustrating—to Pamela
was the fact that just because Jim spent Tuesday through Friday nights
in her bed, it didn’t mean he’d be there Saturday and Sunday, or the
following Wednesday or Thursday nights.
In fact, it worked both ways. When the Doors were in
New York Pamela had called their hotel room three times a day trying to
find Jim in his room, then gave up and began seeing a young actor named
Tom Baker. When Jim returned (and Pamela returned to Jim), the two men
became friends, learning they shared a love for the theater and poetry
and a nomadic military background.66 |
On November 11, 1969, about eight months after the
infamous Miami concert (which occurred on March 1, 1969), Baker managed to
get Jim and himself arrested by the FBI for drunk and disorderly conduct
while flying on a commercial airliner. They were also charged with a more
serious crime of "interfering with the flight of an aircraft" (a felony).
The two men were traveling from Los Angeles en route to Phoenix to attend a
Rolling Stones concert. They were accompanied by two other men, Leon Barnard
and Frank Liscisandro.* The following is an
excerpt from No One Here Gets Out Alive where Hopkins and Sugerman
described how the FBI arrested Jim and Tom:
|
The plane was empty except for the four and FBI
agents from the Phoenix office, who cuffed Jim’s and Tom’s hands behind
them before taking them out for the gathered photographers…Jim and Tom
were charged with being drunk and disorderly and interfering with the
flight of an aircraft, the latter an offense against the new skyjacking
law that could result in a $10,000 fine and a ten-year sentence. Jim was
not yet twenty-six, and this possible sentence, added to the three years
hanging over him in Miami, meant he could spend the next thirteen years
of his life in prison.67 |
Basically the foursome behaved like teenage boys getting
slightly rowdy and being fresh with a female flight attendant, but Tom Baker
was the instigator, not Jim. At one point, Baker grabbed the flight
attendant’s thigh. The following is Hopkins and Sugerman’s description of
events on the plane that led to Jim and Tom’s arrest:
|
"My name is Riva," said the stewardess, starting her
pre-flight warmup.
"If your name is Riva," Baker called out, "then your
old man must be called Old Man Riva."
Jim and Leon and Frank joined Tom in a chorus of the
song: "That old man Riva, he just keep rolling…"
The stewardess was visibly upset, but began giving
instructions about oxygen masks. As the mask fell down from her hand,
Tom called out again, "My girlfriend has one of those, but she calls it
a diaphragm!"
Tom then went to the toilet and on the way back
dropped a bar of soap in Jim’s drink. Jim pushed the button for the
stewardess, and when she came out, he whined, "He put soap in my drink."
"All right, Jim, all right, keep it cool, okay? I’ll
bring you another."
Instead she brought the plane’s captain, who said,
"If you young men don’t change your attitude, we’ll turn this ship
around and return to Los Angeles, where you’ll be arrested, all four of
you."
They were quiet for a while, but as a stewardess
named Sherry went by, Tom reached for her thigh. Soon after, Jim threw
Leon the sandwiches he’d been served and Tom threw an empty plastic
drink at Jim. The stewardesses and the ship’s officers seemed to ignore
the rowdiness, but as the plane rolled to a stop in Phoenix, it was
surrounded by cars with revolving top-lights. An announcement came over
the plane’s PA system: "Ladies and gentlemen, please accept
Continental’s apologies…disembarkation will be delayed for just a few
short moments." Suddenly the police appeared before Jim and Tom.
"As captain of this ship, I am placing you both under
arrest. The other passengers will exit first and you will be escorted
off by the FBI."68 |
This has the earmarks of a sting operation where Tom
Barker was probably used as an FBI informant to entrap Jim. It was Baker who
interrupted Riva, the stewardess who was trying to give preflight
instructions. It was Baker who led the four young men in a rendition of "Old
man Riva." It was Baker who made the vulgar remark to Riva comparing the
oxygen mask to his girlfriend’s diaphragm. It was Baker who dropped a bar of
soap in Jim’s drink, causing yet another scene. It was Baker who reached for
another stewardess’s thigh, probably the most serious offense. All Jim did
on his own was throw some sandwiches at Leon. Everything else was instigated
by Tom Baker.
Not long after the Phoenix incident, Tom Baker became
verbally belligerent with Morrison at Barney’s Beanery Bar, in Los Angeles,
while the two men were drinking with Frank Liscisandro and Babe Hill. The
following is an excerpt from No One Here Gets Out Alive where Hopkins
and Sugerman describe how the Baker tried to instigate a brawl with
Morrison:
|
"You’re a pussy, Morrison," said Tom, baiting his
friend. "You’re a goddamn no-count pussy."
Jim ignored the taunt. Frank and Babe stared into
their drinks.
"Tell us now, Mr. Jim Morrison, rock star," Tom went
on, a voice that traveled the length of the bar, "tell us what happened
in Miami."
It was a tiresome subject for Jim. He glared at Tom,
took another swallow from his drink.
"Come on, Jim, tell us once and for all."
"Yes," said Jim quietly, "I did it."
"Did what, Jim?" Tom’s voice was strident,
triumphant.
"I showed my cock."
"Why, Jim? When I showed mine in my movie, you said
it wasn’t art."
"Well," Jim said in a low voice so everyone present
had to strain to hear him, "I wanted to see what it looked like in the
spotlight."
There was a moment’s pause before Babe and Frank
simultaneously burst out laughing, spraying the bar with their drinks.
Jim grinned mischievously.69 |
On March 25, 1970, the night before the Phoenix trial,
Tom Baker and Leon Barnard both become belligerent with Jim. Baker was
trying to get Jim drunk while Barnard shouted vulgarities at him. The
following is an excerpt from No One Here Gets Out Alive, by Jerry
Hopkins and Danny Sugerman, which describes how Baker and Barnard
antagonized Jim on the night before the Phoenix trial:
|
Jim remained distracted throughout this period. His
thoughts were on the impending Phoenix trial and the possible heavy
sentences he faced: up to three months and $300 on the assault charge
[being drunk and disorderly], up to 10 years and $10,000 on the federal
charge of interfering with airline personnel on a commercial flight.
Jim, Frank [Liscisandro], Tom [Baker], and Leon [Barnard] flew to
Phoenix on Wednesday, March 25, for a brief pretrial meeting with Bill
Siddons and Jim’s lawyer, Max Fink. Drinks were ordered from room
service. As usual, Jim and Tom began to compete. Tom was getting
belligerent. He wanted to go out drinking. "Fuck this
drinking-in-the-room bullshit! C’mon, Jim." Jim said sure and lurched to
his feet. Siddons suggested they stick around. He didn’t want Jim out in
public, not tonight. He figured sure as hell he would get arrested for
drunkenness, at least, which would have made for a lovely press the day
of the trial. Suddenly Leon [Barnard] was standing on a coffee table
screaming at Jim, "Asshole! Asshole! Asshole!"
"Why are you calling me that?" Jim asked. "Why are
you talking to me like a child?"
"Because you’re acting like one."
Frank [Liscisandro] moved in and told Leon to mind
his own fucking business…70 |
Hopkins and Sugerman did not attempt to explain why the
Doors’ press agent, Leon Barnard, shouted vulgarities at Jim Morrison for no
apparent reason on the night before the trial in Phoenix. Hopkins and
Sugerman ended the story by explaining how things were interrupted by a
"pneumatic blond" who knocked on the door and asked to see Jim. Everyone
else quickly "tiptoed out," leaving Jim alone with the woman, and that was
the end of that. Hopkins and Sugerman wrote: "Jim was quickly all over her,
running his mouth down her blouse." Now let’s back up a moment. A few
sentences back, Hopkins and Sugerman wrote that "Jim remained distracted…His
thoughts were on the impending Phoenix trial and the possible heavy
sentences he faced…" Yet he apparently arranges to have a sexual encounter
with a groupie on the night he met with his lawyer and manager to discuss
the very case that had him so preoccupied. This defies logic. Who was the
"pneumatic blond"? Hopkins and Sugerman made no attempt whatsoever to
explain who she was or who invited her.
A few more questions need to be asked. First, why were
drinks ordered from room service? Why would Jim’s attorney, Max Fink, allow
such conduct? The others were young men in their twenties, but he was older,
supposedly more responsible. Why would he allow his client to be drinking
the night before he went to court, whether it was in a bar or in a hotel
room? After all, alcohol consumption had contributed to Jim’s Phoenix arrest
in the first place. Why would Mr. Fink not attempt to keep Jim and the
others sober on the night before the trial? Second, why was the Doors’ press
agent, Leon Barnard, shouting vulgarities at Jim? Once again, Barnard’s
conduct—like Tom Baker’s—has all the earmarks of an FBI sting operation.
Also, the fact that Max Fink apparently encouraged his clients to drinks the
night before they went to trial suggests that he was also working with the
FBI to bring Jim down. But being a licensed attorney, Fink could not go as
far as Baker or Barnard in entrapping Jim, but Fink certainly allowed Jim to
incriminate himself. Earlier, Baker got Jim arrested on trumped up charges
after he (Baker) created a ruckus on a planed headed to Phoenix. Now Baker
and Barnard were apparently trying to rattle Jim on the night prior to the
trial for the Phoenix incident. Baker tries to get Jim drunk—and probably
arrested again—while Barnard belittles him. When Frank Liscisandro comes to
Jim’s defense, a sexy blond suddenly appears at the door and seduces Jim on
the spot.
On March 26, 1970, Jim was convicted of two charges, and
Tom—the instigator—got off scot-free. The following is Hopkins and
Sugerman’s description—from No One Here Gets Out Alive—of the Phoenix
trial:
|
Next morning [March 26, 1970] Jim and Tom both wore
white shirts and ties and double-breasted blazers. Their long hair was
brushed back behind their ears. Leon and Frank were called as witnesses,
as were the stewardesses, Riva Mills and Sherry Ann Mason. It was
Sherry’s testimony that convinced the judge. She said she was pawed at
throughout the flight by one of the defendants, despite several warnings
to him to keep his hands off her. She identified Jim as her assailant.
[Note: It was actually Tom Baker, not Jim who had reached for Sherry Ann
Mason’s thigh on the plane.]
Jim was bewildered. Each time Sherry described
something she said he had done, she was actually describing Tom’s
actions. She had the two of them confused. It was like a scene from
Alice in Wonderland. Finally the prosecution asked his witnesses not to
refer to Jim and Tom by name, but as "person in seat A" and "person in
seat B." Jim was found innocent of the federal charge, but guilty of
"assaulting, threatening, and interfering with the performance of" the
two stewardesses. Tom was acquitted of all charges. Sentencing was set
for two weeks later…71
On April 6 [1970], Jim returned to Phoenix with Max,
ostensibly for sentencing on the skyjacking law violations. When Max
told the court that the stewardess named Sherry had made a mistake and
wanted to change her testimony, the judge deferred sentencing and
rescheduled Jim for another appearance later in the month…72
On April 17 and 18 [1970] the Doors played a huge
convention center in Honolulu. Then, leaving the other Doors behind to
begin a short vacation, Jim flew back to Phoenix with [Bill] Siddons to
meet Max Fink and the stewardess named Sherry [Ann Mason]. Sherry
reversed her testimony on the 20th and the final charge
against Jim was dropped.73 |
This was a great turn of events for Jim, but he had
endured quite a bit of abuse from his so-called friend Tom Baker the day
after he (Jim) was convicted of "assaulting" the stewardesses, while
Baker—the true perpetrator—had been acquitted. March 27, 1970, the day after
Jim was convicted, Baker continued to get Jim in trouble with the law, but
Jim began to see Baker as a troublemaker and confronted him. The following
is Hopkins and Sugerman’s description—from No One Here Gets Out Alive—of
how Morrison finally confronted Baker:
|
The next morning [March 27, 1970] they all returned
to Los Angeles where Jim went to the Palms bar with Tom and some
girls—one of them mysteriously brought back from Phoenix by Jim, the
other a long-time Doors groupie. They drank heavily and played pool. Tom
got drunk and tipped over the pool table. The bar owner called the
sheriff’s office and Jim and Babe wrestled Tom back to the Doors’ office
nearby.
[NOTE: Tom Baker’s behavior was highly suspicious. On
the previous day, he and Jim had faced assault and skyjacking crimes in
Phoenix. Jim was convicted for Baker’s actions, and Baker was acquitted
of all charges. So why did Baker feel the need to get drunk and rowdy?
If anyone had the right to feel angry, it was Jim, not Tom. Still Baker
had the nerve to tip over a pool table at a bar, apparently attempting
to pull Jim deeper into problems with the local authorities.]
On the way Tom bellowed, "Morrison, you’re no fucking
good! Whole world hates you! Hates you! You’re no fucking good at all!"
In the office Jim and Babe [Hill] and some of the
others suggested that Tom leave. Finally, Jim explained [to Tom] what
was eating him. He [Jim] had paid all of Tom’s Phoenix expenses: the
plane tickets, the hotel rooms, meals, drinks, lawyers, the whole shot.
He had also taken the rap for Tom, and all he got back was crap.
Jim threw himself at Tom and tried to wrestle him
toward the door. Tom was laughing. "You gotta get outta here," Jim
grunted, "this is a place of business."
A friend of Tom’s appeared and threw himself at Jim;
then Tony Funches [Jim’s bodyguard] arrived and grabbed Tom’s friend.
Tony was joined by Babe in punching the friend. Jim slipped away into
Bill Siddons’ office to call the sheriff. A car came quickly, direct
from the previous call to the Palms.
"You mean to tell me you called the cops?" asked Tom.
He was standing apart from the others now, looking at Jim, stunned.
"You mean it was you who called us?" asked the
cops, equally stunned.
Babe began bad-mouthing the sheriff’s deputies, who
chose to ignore him and leave. Tom got into his friend’s car and drove
away, leaving Jim standing with Babe and Tony on the sidewalk. When Tom
returned ten minutes later to throw a rock through the Doors’ office
window, Jim had already gone to Barney’s Beanery to have another drink.
It was the last time Jim saw Baker for almost a year.74 |
A couple of questions arise. First, who was this "friend"
of Tom Baker’s who appeared from nowhere and threw himself at Jim while Jim
was "wrestling" Baker to the door, trying to get him to leave the Doors’
business office? A few sentences back, Hopkins and Sugerman wrote that Jim
and Babe had wrestled Tom back to the Doors’ office from the Palms bar after
Tom had gotten drunk in the morning, tipped over a pool table at the Palms,
causing the owner to call the sheriff. There was no mention of a "friend"
helping Jim and Babe. And think about it, if Tom was so drunk that the
police had been called, a genuine drinking buddy would probably put some
distance between himself, Tom and the sheriff. If this so-called friend of
Tom’s "appeared" when trouble erupted at the Doors’ office, this means the
friend surreptitiously followed Jim, Babe, and Tom back to the Doors’
office, which suggests that the friend was a spy; perhaps an FBI agent,
informant, or undercover cop. Whoever he was, it sounds like he got beaten
up by Jim’s bodyguard, Tony Funches, assisted by Babe Hill.
This leads to a second question. Why did Babe Hill become
upset with the deputies? They were on his side, right? Yet when the cops
arrived, summoned by Jim to take away the troublemakers (Tom Baker and his
unidentified friend), Babe Hill suddenly switched teams and began
"bad-mouthing" the cops. It makes no sense that it would have happened that
way, but if in fact that is the correct version of events, Hopkins and
Sugerman should have provided an explanation to clarify why Babe Hill got
mad at the cops. Just speculating, it is highly possible that the
unidentified friend of Tom Baker’s was in fact an undercover cop—or an FBI
agent—and the sheriff deputies recognized him, saw that he was being beaten
up by Hill and Funches, and threatened to arrest Hill and Funches. Of course
the deputies probably didn’t tell anyone that the guy being manhandled by
Hill and Funches was a cop, but they probably jumped to the guy’s defense,
which likely upset Hill. Why else would Hill be angry with the cops?
Apparently they were angry with him but Hopkins and Sugerman omitted that
part of the story. Within two weeks Babe Hill had some bad luck. The
following is Hopkins and Sugerman’s description:
|
[Around April 8, 1970] Babe Hill fell from a moving
car and broke two vertebrae in his neck after a drinking bout with Jim
at the Phone Booth…75 |
Was this a genuine accident, or was it reprisal for
beating up an FBI agent or undercover cop?
Strange things began to happen to Jim after the Phoenix
trial and the ensuing confrontation with Tom Baker. As previously stated, in
June 1970, Jim married Patricia Kennely in a Wiccan wedding ceremony. On the
day of the wedding, Jim’s temperature shot up to 1050F then
dropped. Jim’s immune system was apparently fighting off pneumonia but he
didn’t realize it at the time. A few days later Jim went to Paris with Leon
Barnard. When Jim returned to the states, he realized he had pneumonia.
Pamela Courson reportedly nursed him back to health at her apartment.76
On August 10, 1970, Jim’s Miami trial started.77 On
September 3, 1970, Alan Wilson died. On September 18, 1970, Jimi Hendrix
died. On September 19, 1970, a jury convicted Jim of two
misdemeanors—indecent exposure and drunkenness—but acquitted him of the
felony charge, lewd and lascivious behavior and the other misdemeanor, open
profanity.78 On October 4, 1970, Janis
Joplin died. On October 30, 1970, Judge Murray Goodman sentenced Jim to six
months hard labor at Dade County jail for the exposure conviction and sixty
days of the same for the profanity charge. In addition, Jim was to be put on
probation, after the jail term was completed, for two years and four months.
Goodman also fined Jim $500.79
In June 1971, Jim ran into Tom Baker just before he (Jim)
left for Paris. They reportedly acted like brothers. The following is Jerry
Hopkins and Danny Sugerman’s description of the reunion, from the book,
No One Here Gets Out Alive:
|
The next day Patricia [Kennely] returned to New York
and Tom Baker came back [to L.A.] from eight months in London. It had
been at least that long since Jim and Tom had last seen each other. Now
they fell on each other as brothers, and by the end of the day Jim had
become so drunk and obnoxious that they were thrown out of one of the
Santa Monica Boulevard clubs.80 |
On July 3, 1971, Jim died at his apartment in Paris,
reportedly of a heart attack. Given Tom Baker’s treacherous behavior toward
Jim, one has to wonder if Baker had anything to do with his death. Based on
Hopkins and Sugerman’s description of Baker, I would suspect him of being
involved in Jim’s death more than Pamela, who obviously loved him.
What really happened?
Based on my research and analysis of the Morrison case, I
have developed a scenario of what probably happened to Jim Morrison in the
early morning hours of July 3, 1971 in Paris. The following is a summary:
-
Jim was drained emotionally by the FBI and numerous
informants who penetrated his inner circle for two and a half years prior
to his death, beginning with the notorious Miami concert on March 1, 1969.
Four informants in Jim’s inner circle were probably Tom Baker, Leon
Barnard, Patricia Kennely, and Bill Siddons. Baker was Pamela Courson’s
former boyfriend who befriended Jim several years earlier. (Courson was
Jim’s long-term girlfriend whose relationship with Jim was constantly on
and off.) Baker was essentially a provocateur for the Bureau whose mission
was to befriend Jim, become his "drinking buddy," then encourage him to
get in trouble with the law so he could be prosecuted and imprisoned.
Barnard was the Doors’ press agent. He too was apparently a provocateur,
although not as aggressive as Baker. Barnard sometimes times belittled
Jim, calling him vulgar names in front of friends and colleagues. Kennely
was a practicing witch and a rock journalist who married Jim in a Wiccan
wedding ceremony, although it was apparently not a legal union. In the
midst of the Miami trial, Kennely claimed she was pregnant with Jim’s
child and threatened to file a paternity suit against him. Twenty
additional paternity suits were filed against Jim by other various women,
presumably groupies.
-
The FBI worked with local police forces, local district
attorneys, and an endless supply of informants to get Jim arrested,
publicly humiliated and prosecuted for numerous crimes, some of them
felonies. The primary charges resulted from (a) his controversial
performance with the Doors at a concert in Miami on March 1, 1969, and (b)
an incident—on November 11, 1969—where he was entrapped by provocateur Tom
Baker into committing mischievious acts on a commercial airliner while
traveling from Los Angeles en route to Phoenix to attend a Rolling Stones
concert.
-
The FBI likely sponsored the murder of L.A. hair
stylist Jay Sebring—along with Sharon Tate and several others in the
notorious "Manson murders"—in order upset Jim and possibly cause him to
have an emotional breakdown. Sebring was specifically targeted because he
was well-acquainted with Jim. At Jim’s request, Sebring cut Jim’s hair
like Alexander the Great in 1967. Sebring’s hairstyling of Jim had a lot
to do with the mystique that surrounded—and still surrounds—Jim Morrison.
-
Jim’s wallet, driver’s license, and passport were
intentionally stolen by professional criminals while he and Pamela Courson
visited Marseilles in June of 1971. The stolen documents were probably
used to create a fraudulent death certificate while Jim was still alive.
-
Someone close to Pamela—possibly Tom Baker, her old
boyfriend and Jim’s friend—encouraged her to get Jim to try heroin, but
not by needle. After Jim tried it, the assassins sneaked into the couple’s
apartment at night, while Jim was taking a bath, and smothered Jim with a
pillow or strangled him with a wide piece of clothe such as a bath towel,
two assassination techniques which cannot be detected in a postmortem
examination.
-
Pamela acted guilty because she genuinely felt
responsible for Jim’s death because she had encouraged him to try heroin.
-
Doors’ manager Bill Siddons was part of the cover-up.
He aggressively intervened, did not allow an autopsy to be performed, and
made certain Jim’s body was buried for several days before announcing his
demise to the world.
Findings of rock researcher Alex Constantine
Rock researcher Alex Constantine published an interesting
book entitled The Covert War Against Rock (2000). The book has
several flaws. For example, the cover is atrocious, a picture of Lee Harvey
Oswald’s grimaced face the moment he was shot and killed by Jack Ruby, but a
hand clutching a microphone is superimposed on the picture. The cover gives
the impression that Oswald is a singer in a rock band. Given the tragedy of
President Kennedy’s assassination, and the tragedy that befell Oswald’s
surviving family members, the satirical picture of Oswald is truly an
appalling display. Even worse than its lack of sensitivity to a serious
topic, it gives the impression that Constantine’s book is a satire, not a
serious endeavor. A second flaw in Constantine’s book is his obsession with
blaming everything on the CIA, the Mafia, fascists, and Nazis, rather than
focusing on the crimes themselves. He often mentions the FBI but he creates
the impression that the CIA and the FBI are one big happy band of killers.
What he fails to realize is the two agencies are extremely adversarial.
In addition, Constantine’s endless discussions about the
Mafia are pointless because they deflect from the driving force behind the
war on rock stars. He gives the impression—as many researchers do—that
carrying out political assassinations is an extremely complex process.
Nothing could be further from the truth. It requires three things: (a)
nerve, (b) professional assassins, and (c) complete control over the
American news media in order to cover up the crime. Of the three
requirements, C is the most difficult; and from my research, the FBI is the
only intelligence agency capable of pulling it off. There is no evidence
that the CIA or the Mafia has absolute control over the news media, but
there is plenty of evidence that the FBI does. With such control, political
assassination becomes a piece of cake. It’s done the same way it has been
done since the beginning of time. No sophistication is needed; just nerve,
professional assassins and the money to pay them, plus sufficient power to
cover up the crime by pushing a cover story on the populace via the news
media.
Having stated the criticisms of Constantine’s book, I
wish to state that I am not criticizing Constantine personally. After all,
he may have had little control over the book’s cover. And his editor or
publisher may have insisted that he pepper comments about the CIA, Mafia,
and Nazis throughout the book. It’s difficult to say why his book is so
needlessly flawed, but nevertheless, it is. Having stated that, I wish to
point out the constructive parts of his book. If one strips away
Constantine’s hyperbole about the CIA, the Mafia, fascists, and Nazis, a lot
of interesting information is revealed. The following is a summary of Alex
Constantine’s research, as it relates to Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison—less
the CIA/Mafia/Nazi spin—from the book, The Covert War Against Rock:
-
Jim Morrison’s biographer, Danny Sugerman, co-author of
No One Here Gets Out Alive, is married to Fawn Hall, Oliver North’s
secretary at the National Security Council who shredded documents linking
President Reagan to the Iran-Contra scandal. Because of Sugerman’s
connection to US intelligence, he downplayed foul play regarding
Morrison’s death in his book.81 (AUTHOR’S NOTE: This explains why a
fallback position was introduced to blame Jim’s death on Pamela Courson.)
-
Doors’ organist Ray Manzarek believed the FBI paid
special attention to Morrison because he was more influential than other
rock stars of the era. The following are Manzarek’s comments (from an
interview conducted around 1991) as presented by Alex Constantine:
|
They [the FBI] were going to stop all rock ‘n’ roll
by stopping the Doors. As far as Americans were concerned, he was the
most dangerous…Janis Joplin was just a white woman singing about getting
drunk and laid a lot, and Jimi Hendrix was a black guy singing, "Let’s
get high." Morrison was singing, "We want the world and we want it now."
There was plenty of hounding…The vice squad would be at the side of the
stage with our names filled in on the warrants, just waiting to write in
the offense. Narks to the left, vice squad to the right, into the valley
of death rode the four…They wanted to stop Morrison. They wanted to show
him that he couldn’t get away with it.82 |
-
The FBI harassed Morrison so much that he contracted an
ulcer. Constant arrests drained him financially and took away his
motivation to perform.83
-
The FBI collected seven pages of notes on Jimi Hendrix,
89 pages on Jim Morrison, and 663 "documents" on Elvis Presley. The Bureau
opened a file on Presley since he exploded on the music scene in 1954.
Hoover received complaints from conservatives demanding that he "do
something" about Presley.84
-
The FBI opened a file on Jimi Hendrix in 1969 after he
participated in a concert for Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Tom Hayden,
Bobby Seale and the other defendants of the Chicago Seven conspiracy
trial. In addition, Hendrix made controversial statements about the United
States government in an interview published in a rock magazine. Teenset
published an interview with Hendrix on January 1969 entitled, "Hendrix:
Black Power and Money." He made the following comments: [We have to] get
the Black Panthers not to kill anybody, but to scare the [federal
officials]…I know it sounds like war, but that’s what’s gonna have to
happen. It has to be a war…You come back to reality and there are some
evil folks around and they want you to be passive and weak and peaceful so
that they can just overtake you like jelly on bread…You have to fight fire
with fire."85
-
Jimi Hendrix’s manager, Michael Jeffrey admitted he was
an intelligence agent.86 Constantine cites information uncovered by Hendrix
biographers Harry Shapiro and Caesar Glebeek in their book, Jimi
Hendrix: Electric Gypsy; from rock historian R. Gary Patterson in his
book, Hellbounds on Their Trail: Tales from the Rock ‘n’ Roll Graveyard;
and from John McDermott and Eddie Kramer in their book, Hendrix:
Setting the Record Straight. The following is a summary of their
collective findings:
-
Jeffrey often boasted of "undercover work against the
Russians, or murder, mayhem and torture in foreign countries." Jeffrey’s
father said his son had been stationed in Egypt years earlier and could
speak Russian.87
-
Friends of Hendrix suspected Jeffrey was crooked and
they (the friends) confiscated documents from his office which indicated
he was embezzling large amounts of money from Jimi’s concert
performances. The friends gave the documents to Hendrix, who reportedly
took legal actions to recover the embezzled money.88
-
In July 1970, two months before his death, Hendrix
broke all communications with Jeffrey. At that time, Hendrix told film
director Chuck Wein: "The next time I go to Seattle will be in a pine
box."89
-
Two days after Hendrix’s death, Michael Jeffrey
confessed to recording engineer Alan Douglas that he was involved in the
murder. "In my opinion," Douglas reportedly stated, "Jeffrey hated
Hendrix.90
-
The Denver Rock Festival (June 1969, a month before
Woodstock) at Mile High Stadium was a disaster. It featured Jimi Hendrix,
Joe Cocker, Mothers of Invention, and Credence Clearwater Revival, among
others. Police beat youths who tried to get in for free. Bikers were hired
to run security, although Constantine does not specify if it was Hell’s
Angels or another gang. According the Constantine, a group of 300 police
initiated a confrontation with a group of "non-paying long-hairs"
listening to free music. Someone on the rocker side threw a piece of
watermelon at the police who responded by igniting a huge cloud of tear
gas and scalding mace on the crowd of youths. Later, the Denver police
chief blamed the incident on the American Liberation Front, an anti-war
group that advocated revolution through rock music.91
-
Hell’s Angel Ralph "Sonny" Barger was chief of security
at the a nightmarish rock festival at Altamont Motor Speedway outside of
San Francisco on December 6, 1969. Constantine alleges that Barger was an
informant and hit man on the payroll of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms (ATF).92
-
Beach Boys’ drummer Dennis Wilson signed into St.
John’s Hospital, two days before his death, to "be clean of alcohol and
drugs." Two visitors, a man and a woman, came to see him. He signed out
and went to a yacht.93 As previously stated, on December 28, 1983 Dennis
Wilson died from drowning while free-diving in the frigid waters of Marina
Del Rey Harbor. According to the official story, he was legally
intoxicated.94 He was 39.95
-
Abigail Folgier—the wealthy coffee heiress found dead
at Sharon Tate’s residence on August 9, 1969—had financed Charlie Manson
and Timothy Leary. Manson reportedly met Folgier at the home of Cass
Elliot (real name, Ellen Naomi Cohen), singer with the Mamas and the
Papas. Cass Elliot died July 29, 1974 in London, England. Cause of
death is uncertain. The coroner’s report stated that she "probably choked
to death," but there was also "a possibility of heart attack."96 -
J. Edgar Hoover had an FBI file on Cass Elliot which
stated the following: "She reportedly has associated with drug addicts and
individuals opposed to the President’s Vietnam policy."97
-
Cass Elliot was reportedly friends with Sharon Tate. On
June 4, 1968, the evening Bobby Kennedy was killed,*
Cass reportedly had dinner with Sharon and husband Roman Polanski "at the
home of film director John Frankenheimer in Malibu Beach."98
|
|
