The ghosts of Père Lachaise

Untold stories

Interview with Mark Opsasnick about the book

“The Lizard King was here”

From all books on Morrison one stands out for the depth, seriousness, accuracy and criteria of the research it is solidly based on. A tremendous amount of interviews, visits, transcripts, hard work and persistence have resulted in a valid, balanced and realistic vision of Jim’s years in Alexandria as some of the roots of his thought, writing and personality. (It only makes us wonder how priceless it would be to have the same kind of investigation techniques and high standards applied to the Florida period.)

The author is Mark Opsasnick, author also of more than 70 published articles on subjects as music or popular culture and 7 books (the most popular being "Capitol rock").

For these reasons I can only sincerely recommend that you read The Lizard King was here : the life and times of Jim Morrison in Alexandria, Virginia.

“If the concern of biography is the human individual in all his aspects, it would be imperative to examine his various activities, endeavors, interests, his environment, and his relations with others.” p. 18

ether glow: Exactly how much material did you gather while researching for this book? Will it ever be published?

Mark Opsasnick: A tremendous amount of material was collected – enough for two books. I have another Morrison book outlined, but I’m not sure if I’ll be writing it or not. I’m very much involved with a difficult project right now that deals with documenting the entire history of Washington, D.C.-area popular music from the 1800s to the 1970s and all my time and energy is being absorbed by this endeavor. When this book is finished I’ll sit back and see if another Morrison venture is forthcoming.

“It was at UCLA where Morrison reportedly escalated his drinking habits and experimented with drugs such as marijuana and LSD.” p. 27

ether glow: Did Morrison ever express any willingness or curiosity to experiment with drugs during the Alexandria period?

Mark Opsasnick: None whatsoever. Not one person I interviewed ever saw or heard of Morrison doing any type of drugs during his Alexandria years. He just wasn’t hitting the chemicals yet.

“From this period of his life there are no known surviving letters, notebooks, journals, drawings, collages, or personal photos (in fact, the only known image of Morrison from this period is his senior year photo), and although he did take the time to sign several yearbooks for his classmates – usually only scribbling “Jim” or “J. Morrison” – he didn’t record any thoughts or shared experiences.” p. 73

ether glow: Question: What is the source of this statement?
Mark Opsasnick: Not one person I interviewed who knew Morrison in Alexandria, including his brother Andy, recalled there being any type of surviving material from these years – aside from a couple of paintings that are rumored to now be privately owned by Tandy Martin and Jim Merrill.

“A limited quantity of rare Jim Morrison poetry has surfaced in recent years on the Internet. This material has mainly consisted of short poems that were uncovered from his stray notebooks or lifted from obscure European books and magazine articles. One such poem that has surfaced is a piece entitled “All the Poems,” which was allegedly written during his high school years and dedicated to Tandy Martin. While I don’t have permission to quote the poem directly, I will paraphrase the work and tell that it is presented in two “Acts”, the first of which talks of a beautiful woman who dances in a ring of fire (no doubt an allusion to Tandy Martin’s thirst for intrigue and adventure) and concludes with parting words in which the writer and his “beautiful one” are joined in a dream-like union.” p. 108

ether glow: What makes you believe that “All the Poems” was written by Jim Morrison?

Mark Opsasnick: A close friend of Tandy Martin’s provided this information and I believed it to be true. Shortly after the book was released, Tandy Martin herself contacted me and verified that this particular poem was, in fact, written about her by Morrison.

ether glow: Did you interview Tandy Martin? Will the content of the conversation(s) be released or eventually incorporated in a new edition of “The Lizard King was here”? How enlightening was your dialogue and how did it manage to fill the gaps of “The Lizard King was here” left by the absence of Tandy Martin’s testimony?

Mark Opsasnick: Since the publication of “The Lizard King Was Here” I have spent some time with Tandy Martin and talked with her at length, but she has never discussed Jim Morrison with me. I haven’t pressed the issue with her. If I do another Morrison book, I may ask her to cooperate, but right now it’s not on the schedule.

“To be as fair as possible, I felt it was imperative to obtain the perspective of Jim’s younger brother, Andy Morrison, on several family-related issues.” p. 118

ether glow: Did you try to contact Anne Morrison for your research?

Mark Opsasnick: No. None of Morrison’s friends from GW High had anything to say about here and no one remembers her ever going into Washington, DC with Jim. Andy was a different story. Jim was more involved in Andy’s life at that point in time.

“The closest concentration of bookstores to the bus stop at 12^th and Pennsylvania was the infamous 9^th Street Strip that Andy Morrison had alluded to, a then-seedy Times Square-like stretch of run-down arcades, peep shows, billiard parlors, liquor stores, lunch rooms, restaurants, bars, and adult theatres that was billed by the local media as “The Bowery.” In 1960 this area was also home to some of the city’s favorite used book shops including the Bargain Book Shop (808 9^th Street NW), the Central Book Shop (906 9^th Street NW), George Friend’s Book Shop (922 9^th Street NW), and the Park Book Shop (919 G Street NW). Jim Morrison must have loved this slowly decaying stretch of old shops and the hidden treasures they held.” p. 159

ether glow: This paragraph bears an impressive similarity with “The Lords” (“But in the grimy ring immediately surrounding the daylight business district exists the only
real crowd life of our mound, the only street
life, night life. Diseased specimens in dollar
hotels, low boarding houses, bars, pawn shops,
burlesques and brothels, in dying arcades which
never die, in streets and streets of all-night
cinemas.”). Do you consider that it may have been an inspiration?

Mark Opsasnick: Personally, I am almost certain it was – because he just described 9^th Street NW exactly as it was in 1960. However, we have no way of verifying that. Only Morrison himself could tell us if he had D.C. or L.A. in mind when he wrote those lines.

“Those who spent time with Jim Morrison during his Alexandria tenure basically agree that he frequently liked to surprise and even shock the people around him without forewarning. Often times he would exhibit strange and inexplicable behavior for whomever he was with, then measure their reactions like a silent psychologist conducting esoteric social experiments. His penchant for quashing the comfort zone of those in his company was perhaps just one method of testing his philosophy of free activity, a process of thought that encompassed concepts of chaos, disorder, and rebellion in the face of authority.” p. 245

ether glow: What exactly is the philosophy of free activity?

Mark Opsasnick: Exactly as the line says: “a process of thought that encompassed concepts of chaos, disorder, and rebellion in the face of authority.” Trying to understand Morrison’s teenage behavior is futile; he was a free spirit and did whatever he liked without regard to consequence or the way it would affect other humans around him. It seems liked he was always trying to alter the conventional processes around him – he did things to push the boundaries of socially acceptable behavior and gauge the reactions he got. Of course, maybe his motivation was simpler; maybe he just got off on freaking people out.

“… and he had to deal with feelings of rootlessness, a byproduct of the constant relocating most military families endured.” p. 251

ether glow: It has been widely discussed weather the constant relocating of the Morrison family affected Jim or not and in what way. Jeff Morehouse depreciated such effect saying “A lot of people talk about the instability, yet there was a basic stability because we had families that we did move with, so there wasn't complete shock every time we went somewhere. A lot of times we really were in with a bunch of other people we'd known forever. There were a lot of families that did that.” (BUTLER, Patricia – “Angels dance and angels die”. London [etc.]: Omnibus Press, 2007, p. 5)”. You seem to have a different opinion about it. On what did you base it?

Mark Opsasnick: There are two schools of though on this and based on what was told to me by several of Jim’s friends, I believe the rootlessness definitely affected Morrison in some way. Jim Merrill told me something to the effect of “Morrison was there, but it was like he wasn’t really there.” He had relocated so much it seemed like he was always on the move and really made no effort to make friends or cater to anyone else. People gravitated towards him. He knew that as soon as high school was over, he’d be in motion again. That has to adversely affect a teenager in some way.

“They served as inspiration for his poetry and personal writings (which during his high school years reportedly appeared on his notebook pages as a succession of abstract, symbolistic fragments taken from scattered life experiences), and later amalgamated into the body of lyrics that became the very foundation for his life’s work with the Doors.” p. 252

ether glow: Where can we find the source of this information?

Mark Opsasnick: Many of Morrison’s high school friends recall how he would carry those flip-up style little notebooks in his possession and would constantly write in them regardless of his immediate environment. Several individuals have opined that bits and pieces of this material surfaced in Doors lyrics, though at this point it is impossible to cite specific pages as examples, since none of those notebooks survived his Alexandria period. We must take their testimony at face value.

“For those who wondered whatever happened to Morrison’s incredible book collection after he passed away, it was donated to the Alexandria Library in 1972 by his brother Andy. Each title, heavily laced with Jim’s scribblings and notes and underlines, was likely sold off for twenty-five cents apiece at ensuing library book sales.)” p. 252

ether glow: Did Andy write down the titles or remember them?

Mark Opsasnick: No. Andy remembers nothing in terms of specific titles. We can only speculate on what was in Jim’s collection. Those books are gone forever.

“Morrison’s rebellion against rules and boundaries and his perpetual resistance to authority can be looked upon as responses to his father’s military background, practices that were fostered in Alexandria and stayed with him throughout his tempestuous existence.” p. 254

ether glow: Did the same happen to Andy and Anne since they were exposed to the exact same background?

Mark Opsasnick: Not to my knowledge. However, I feel that Jim Morrison, being the eldest of the three, had a different relationship with his father than his siblings did. Andy and Anne never had the opportunities to rebel while in Alexandria. Jim Morrison did.

“Both Bob Hemphill and John Huetter had kept in touch with Morrison to some extent after their high school days together had concluded. Hemphill had actually exchanged letters with him during their college years and was probably one of the last from Alexandria to enjoy any type of semi-regular contact with Morrison.” p. 257

ether glow: What happened to these letters?

Mark Opsasnick: Bob Hemphill told me he still has those letters in his possession. If true, they are worth a fortune.

This is an excerpt of an exclusive interview for www.etherglow.blogspot.pt conducted by email with Mark Opsasnick in 2012.

The Heart of the Silence - Tandy Martin

Teaser for a film featuring a trek to sacred lagoons at 17,000 feet in the Peruvian Andes with Shaman Americo Yabar and the Q'ero Indians. We performed ceremonies at various apecheta's or energetic doorways on the way up the mountain. At the lagoons we sat with Q'ero Indians Don Mariano Apasa and his son Nazario who laid one of the cornerstones of the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington DC. Americo teaches energetic passes, and the dictum "Come down from the head to the heart and live life through heart."

Dom Juan de Molière

Musique The Doors 

Par la Cie La Naïve 

Mise en scène Jean-Charles Raymond 

Avec : 

Bruno Bonomo, Silvia Cimino, Patrick Henry, Christelle Golovine, Hervé Pezière, Charles-Eric Petit, Marie Salemi

Quand la plus grande figure du libertinage du XVIIe sièclese retrouve propulsée en pleine période seventies où le puritanisme fait rage, elle devient « rebelle », rock-star. Alors la foi devient mystique, la famille devient mafia, la fuite un road movie, mais le mythe reste intact.

Il y a toujours eu et il y aura toujours des êtres qui s’opposeront à tout ce qu’une majorité accepte. La fin des années 60 et le début des années 70 ont révélé quelques figures devenues aujourd’hui mythiques, comparables à ce fameux "jeune noble libertin" du XVIIe, notamment Jim Morrison ; TheDoors sont donc convoqués pour la BO de ce road-movie, marqué par de nombreux clins d’œil cinématographiques, de Stanley Kubrick à Terry Gilliam, Martin Scorsese ou Francis Ford Coppola.

[L’hebdo Marseille] Des rappels dignes de ceux d’un concert de rock ! Un vrai bonheur !

[La Marseillaise] La téléportation réussie du libertin de Molière dans les seventies de Jim Morrison. Au-delà de belles idées de mise en scène (des idées tout simplement géniales), l’essentiel est dans le jeu. Un impressionnant Charles-Éric Petit, délicieusement cynique et sensuellementdélétère. Le reste de la distribution est au diapason, mêlantles registres du gag et du drame avec une belle énergie.

[Zibeline] Géniale analogie qui fonctionne avec cohérence et légèreté, un miracle !

Informations

Tarif Général 23€ 

Tarif Réduit 19€ 

Etudiants (-25ans) / Demandeurs d’emploi 10€ 

Jeudis étudiants : 8€ 

Patch Culture : 5€ 

Tarifs préférentiels Abonnés


dossier de presse

Jim Morrison - Jean-Yves Reuzeau

Chaman, poète maudit, sorcier des mots, James Douglas Morrison, dit Jim Morrison (1943-1971), chanteur des Doors, continue de fasciner des générations d'auditeurs et de lecteurs.

Cette biographie très documentée retrace l'aventure fulgurante d'un artiste hors du commun qui réinventa le rock and roll. L'équipée sauvage de celui qu'on appelait le «Roi lézard» fut aussi celle d'un groupe, les Doors, dont les mélodies et les textes font aujourd'hui parti de l'histoire de la musique : «Riders On The Storm», «Light My Fire», «You Make Me real»... Auteur de plusieurs livres sur Jim Morrison, Jean-Yves Reuzeau travailla une dizaine d'années pour le label Elektra, celle des Doors.

                                                                                                                                     Gallimard

Hard Rock Cafe Lisboa recebe exposição The Art of Hard Rock

A partir desta quarta-feira e até dia 26, o Hard Rock Cafe Lisboa recebe a exposição The Art of Hard Rock.

Ao todo, estão 40 obras de nomes como Michael Jackson, Pete Townshend, John Entwistle e Roger Daltrey dos The Who, Paul Stanley dos Kiss, Frank Zappa, Alice Cooper, Billy Idol, Lou Reed, Julian Lennon, George Clinton, Mike Oldfield, Marty Balin dos Jefferson Airplane, Marillion, Ugly Kid Joe, Ringo Starr dos Beatles, Jim Morrison e Iron Maiden. Na imagem, pode ver-se um quadro pintado propositadamente por Ronnie Wood para posterior leilão.

A exposição que durante este ano percorreu as principais cidades europeias termina a digressão em Lisboa. A entrada para a exposição é livre e o espaço está aberto todos os dias.

link

The real Jim Morrison - The conspiracy show podcast

           EPISODE TITLE: THE REAL JIM MORRISON

           AUTHOR: RICHARD SYRETT
           INTERVIEW WITH: ALAN GRAHAM

           PUBLISHED: 30 SEPTEMBER 2012

           PODCAST TITLE: THE CONSPIRACY SHOW PODCAST
           PODCAST EPISODE: EPISODE OF 30 SEPTEMBER 2012
           PART: I (OF II)
           LENGHT OF PART I: 00:00:00 TO 00:52:13

           RADIO STATION: ZOOMER RADIO

           AVAILABLE: Zoomer Radio

Therefore, time does not exist.

Interview with Judy Huddleston about the book

“This is the end… my only friend”

Judy Huddleston is a sweet and generous person. She was born in California, where she studied Visual Arts at California Institute of the Arts and teaches writing at California State University at Monterey. Her prose is realistic, vivid and raw. Her non-fiction is honest, unprejudiced and undisguised. Her poetry is deep, mystical and serene. She lives among trees, sun, deer, owls, wild turkeys and a dog called Obie. Her house has white screen doors facing a pines wood. Publisher Chicago Review Press will make "Love him madly : an intimate memoir of Jim Morrison" available in May, 2013.

“I wrote the first draft of this book when I was in my early twenties. Though I’ve been over it several times since then, I’ve tried to stay as close to the truth as the original.” p. 3

ether glow: Did you keep diaries through the time you met Jim? Did you use them as the basis of the book? Will they ever be published?

Judy Huddleston: Yes, I did, but they were mostly sketches and poems. I doubt that they are publishable.

“When I heard Oliver Stone was going to direct a film about Jim and The Doors, I was both excited and scared. As one of Jim’s countless romantic interests, I was found by his researchers. After my first meeting with Oliver, his producer asked me to work as a technical advisor on his movie.” p. 4

ether glow: What is your opinion about the movie?

Judy Huddleston: I felt it was too sensationalistic and the portrayal of Jim was too one-sided.

““I loved your manuscript. But it’ll be a hard sell.” I didn’t mention how long I’d been trying.” p. 4

ether glow: Yours was one of the first books to be published about Jim Morrison. How hard was it to get it published? How was it received?

Judy Huddleston: It is almost always difficult to get a first book published. Since the publisher went bankrupt shortly after publication, it was barely “received” at all.

“He starts talking about dreams being interesting writing material, and telling me how he keeps his in notebooks. Then he turns them into poems”. p. 18

ether glow: Did Jim give any example of a poem written that way (a dream turned into a poem)?

Judy Huddleston: No, he didn’t give any examples.

““It’s getting late,” he says.

“I know, I have to go.” I put my head against his chest for a moment, full of his pain that came unannounced. I’m bursting and suffocating with the knowledge that I can never have him – he is not something to have.” p. 23

ether glow: How were you so sure and so quickly that Jim was not something to have?

Judy Huddleston: His entire being was based on having freedom.

“Most of my time is spent in isolation, reading William Blake, Greek drama, Dostoyevsky and comparative religion. I begin writing morbidly obsessive poems and begin new fantasy drawings.” p. 52-53

ether glow: Where are those poems and drawings? Do they still exist?

Judy Huddleston: They’re in journals in storage.




“We’d had a debate over the good and bad points of L.A., and I’d taken the side that it was to flashy.” p. 75

ether glow: Why was Jim so fond of LA?

Judy Huddleston: He seemed mixed, but liked the straightforward city aspects.

““It never works out, something’s always wrong. You believe all these things about love, but it’s never true the way you thought. Still, you keep believing something will work, and it’s just not possible! Never.”

“What about Pam?”” p. 81

ether glow: In your opinion why did the love and friendship between Jim and Pam last for so long? And why were they so drawn to each other?

Judy Huddleston: Honestly, I don’t know how it worked. Fate, karma, love, sex, mutual addictions and codependence?

““I’ll have to give you a copy of my book. It’s really good, and I’ll sign it for you. Then, someday when I’m dead, you’ll have money ’cause it’ll be a collector’s item.”” p. 116

ether glow: What is your opinion about the book? Did you like it? Did you share your opinion with Jim (besides what is on p. 172)?

Judy Huddleston: Some of it was excellent and I liked it. Some of it I didn’t.

“I drive away, convinced that he’s incomprehensible, promising myself I’ll never again attempt to understand anything he says or does.” p. 117

ether glow: What was in Jim’s nature that made him so incomprehensible?

Judy Huddleston: Deep paradox.




““I wander what it will be like when we’re in our thirties and people respect us?”” p. 136

ether glow: Did Jim talk a lot about the future? He used to say he wouldn't be around for long.

Judy Huddleston: Not much future; seemed aware he wouldn’t be alive long.




“He needs an extra dose – an extra dose of everything.” p. 136

ether glow: In your opinion why was Jim so excessive?

Judy Huddleston: The basic addictive personality.

“I suffer mild culture shock (I am not a hippie, I am too screwed up). I feel combined guilt, hostility, and rebellion towards the enlightened ones. They’ve set up a new norm, and I don’t fit it, either.

My girlfriend, Linda, has become full-fledged hippie of pure intent. She introduces me to the people of the village, hoping I will come out of my catatonic coma. It just makes me worse. I can’t believe that the city gave birth to smog, jealousy, politics, meat-eating and other bad things. I can’t passively accept each new day as glorious. In the middle of the gentle flow around me, I want to scream, “You’re hypocrites!”

In homespun, embroidered clothes, with no make-up and my hair hanging loose and moppy, I’m viewed as a sister; but if I wear make-up, curl my hair, and eat at Taco Bell, I’m a spiritual reject. I do both on purpose, and, I am amazed at the reactions my surface image causes. People actually believe you are what you look like.” p. 142-143

ether glow: How did Jim feel about the hippies?

Judy Huddleston: Amused, fond, misguided idealism.




“I know I can never really reach him, he’ll never really believe that I do honestly love him. I could go down on my knees, cry testimony to God, beg him to believe, but somehow it feels he never will.” p. 152

ether glow: Why didn’t Jim believe that someone could honestly love him? Why was he so unreachable?

Judy Huddleston: Back to the wounded self.

“When I wake up, I see Jim inspecting the stack of books by my bed.

“Are these all for school? he asks, amazed.

“No. None of them are. They’re for me.” I say.

He has come upon a William Blake book, and is quoting random blurbs from memory.

“I really love Blake! He’s one of my favorite writers,” he says ecstatically.” p. 162

ether glow: What other writers did he mention he liked?

Judy Huddleston: Rimbaud, Artaud.

“Have some peace of mind.” p. 163

ether glow: Was it any occasion you saw Jim in peace of mind? What do you think tortured him constantly?

Judy Huddleston: Fleeting moments of peace. Otherwise hypersensitive and raw nerve endings tuned to pain, uncertainty, and loss.

“”Well, that line – about pulling your eyes out!”

“That,” the adult explains, “is about a contemporary issue. SMOG!” I see he does not care for criticism.

“I liked the part, about being metamorphosized from a mad dancing body on hillsides to…”

“To a pair of eyes staring in the dark,” he finishes for me, his anger forgotten." p. 172

ether glow: Did you discuss any other of Jim’s poems or lyrics?

Judy Huddleston: A feast of friends / When the music’s over / People are strange. I can’t remember if it’s in the book, but he said he wrote People are strange after a fight with Pam.

““Was it awful?” I don’t know many details about his trial in Miami, I just know he and the law can’t possibly mix. “I mean, all the bullshit. Legal games. Money for freedom…” I trail off, feeling inappropriate as he makes a meaningless gesture and dismisses further discussion of this subject by putting a wall over his face.” p. 180-181

ether glow: Do you think Miami affected him in a deep way?

Judy Huddleston: Yes, touched his fundamental flaw.

“When he reaches one painting I did more under his influence than mine, he doesn’t even notice. Anyone who was able to read and hear what his images evoked could’ve seen the blatant similarity. It’s all in muted warm and cool shades of pale yellow, the differences blocking out a highway leading to a desert horizon. Above this, there’s a moon, and a highway’s edge, stretched like a shoreline, a row of symbols: fish skeletons, round arrows, sun signs underlined, parts of an alternate language.” p. 184

ether glow: What did his images evoked to you? Does this painting still exist?

Judy Huddleston: Basic eternity. It’s in storage.

“Winter has taken its fluid California turn into spring, when I hear Jim has left Los Angeles for France. Rock hasn’t worn well, he wants to write, lose his sex-symbol image, be taken seriously.” p. 191

ether glow: Did he tell you what the real reason for leaving was? How did you know he’d be back in September?

Judy Huddleston: No. I just thought (incorrectly) that he’d be back.

“Now bending over, she gets the full view, an unmarked, but for a purple felt-pen transgression, ground grave, like a swimming pool hole filled with yellow and white growing flowers.” p. 200

ether glow: When and how many times did you visit Jim’s grave?

Judy Huddleston: 1973-74

This is an excerpt of an exclusive interview for www.etherglow.blogspot.pt conducted by email with Judy Huddleston in 2012.