Mr Mojo (17 page)

It might be Morrison's birthday, but today is pretty much the same as any other at Père-Lachaise. There are no TV crews, no huge groups of worshippers – only the odd tourist, a few tokens of remembrance and the inevitable litter. Hugh, a student from Bristol, is disappointed. ‘I thought there'd be more people here,' he says. ‘I'm a big fan of Jim's, and I thought his other fans would be here too.' He arrived from Britain this morning, and will be leaving later this afternoon. It's his first time in Paris, and he won't be visiting anywhere else – ‘What's the point? This is what I came for.'

Janette Cutter is from Connecticut, and her two-month tour of Europe is just beginning. ‘I'm here with a bunch of college friends. When we decided to come, Jim Morrison's grave was the one thing which we all had to see. It was our only definite plan.'

Today is also her birthday – her twenty-first – and she's giving Morrison the bunch of red roses given to her this morning. ‘I think he's so cool, you know? I like his poetry, I have his poem books, and I thought it would be a neat thing to come today, because it's our
birthday. I'd read about the grave before, but it's kinda disgusting. I met someone last night whose father's buried near here, and he hates the graffiti on his grave. It says ‘Jim this way', and he's kinda offended by that.'

The tourists come and go, carrying the ubiquitous accessories for sightseeing in Paris: cameras and bottles of Evian. A look of disappointment tends to cross their faces when they appear at the grave. Paris's fourth most popular tourist attraction is certainly an underwhelming sight. Being a Saturday, tomorrow will be busier, and Jackie will be here. Forty-year-old Jackie comes every Saturday, at 11 a.m., to clean and to tidy the grave. She brings a bottle of champagne or Jim Beam, and sits on a nearby stone, talking to herself in her quiet Parisienne voice, ignoring those around her.

Jackie, and others like her, is one of the people Michelle Campbell sees here regularly. Michelle, an American in her mid-thirties, has been photographing Père-Lachaise cemetery every day since January, a personal project which she hopes to have published. ‘I was here for the anniversary of his death in July, and it was crazy. There were about fifty of these really drunk German fans, singing at the top of their voices. That's when the obsessives come out of the woodwork.

‘Earlier in the year they had five guards around the grave all day, though they let up in the summer. Sometimes they try and hide the grave, or tell people
he's not buried here anymore. They hate the mess, and the graffiti. They really wish he was gone.'

At four o'clock the day draws to a close. The wind pushes the leaves through the pathways and the avenues in between the graves, like a cheap effect in a pop video. It's time to go. There is nothing more to see. Tomorrow, the next day, and the day after that, more people will arrive. Some will pass by in minutes, while others will moon about the dead dark star, dressed from head to toe in black, paying homage to the original rock and roll wastrel, hoping some of Morrison's stardust falls their way.

As Michelle turns to go, she beckons me over: ‘I was here in August, and this American guy turns up with his two young daughters. One of them asks him why a Traveling Wilbury is buried in France. On being told that Morrison wasn't in the band, she says, “You mean this isn't Roy Orbison?” I think it was the only dead rock star she knew. Another time, there were these American college students here, and this one girl says, at the top of her voice, “Wow, what a concept of death. He coulda had any stone he wanted, he was rich, man, and look at what he chose. What a concept.”'

Bibliography

Balfour, Victoria,
Rock Wives
, Beech Tree Books, 1986

Bangs, Lester,
Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung
, Heinemann, 1988

Christgau, Robert,
Any Old Way You Choose It
, Penguin, 1973

Cohn, Nik,
Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom
, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1969

Crosby, David and Carl Gottlieb,
Long Time Gone
, Heinemann, 1989

Des Barres, Pamela,
I'm With the Band
, Pamela Des Barres, Beech Tree Books, 1987

Doe, Andrew and John Tobler,
The Doors in Their Own Words
, Omnibus Press, 1988

Farren, Mick,
The Black Leather Jacket
, Plexus, 1985

Green, Jonathan,
Days in the Life
, Minerva, 1988

Harman, Gary,
Rock'n'Roll Babylon
, Plexus, 1982

Hopkins, Jerry and Danny Sugerman,
No One Here Gets Out Alive
, Warner Books, 1980

Jahn, Mike,
Jim Morrison and the Doors
, Grosset & Dunlap, 1969

Jones, Mablen,
Getting It On: The Clothing of Rock'n'Roll
, Abbeville Press, 1987

Lisciandro, Frank,
Jim Morrison, An Hour for Magic
, Delilah, 1982

Morrison, Jim,
The Lords and The New Creatures
, Omnibus, 1985

Morrison, Jim,
Lyrics and Poems
, Stampa Alternativa, 1989

Morrison, Jim,
Wilderness: The Lost Writings of Jim Morrison
, Villard, 1988

Nilsen, Per and Dorothy Sherman,
Iggy Pop: The Wild One
, Omnibus, 1988

Peellaert, Guy and Nik Cohn,
Rock Dreams
, Popular Library, 1973

Stallings, Penny,
Rock'n'Roll Confidential
, Vermilion, 1984

Stein, Jean,
Edie
, Jonathan Cape, 1982

Sugerman, Danny,
The Doors: The Illustrated History
, Omnibus Press, 1983

Sugerman, Danny,
Wonderland Avenue
, Sidgwick & Jackson, 1989

Tobler, John and Andrew Doe,
The Doors
, Bobcat Books, 1984

Various,
The Day the Music Died
, Plexus, 1989

Warhol, Andy and Pat Hackett,
POPism: The Warhol Sixties
, Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1980

Williams, Paul,
Outlaw Blues
, E.P. Dutton & Co., 1969

Magazine articles

Bell, Max, ‘Weird Scenes Inside the Goldmine',
NME
, 1975

Breslin, Rosemary, Jerry Hopkins and Paul Williams, ‘He's Hot, He's Sexy, He's Dead',
Rolling Stone
, 1981

Dorrell, David, ‘Mr Mojo Rises Again',
NME
, 1983

Farren, Mick, ‘The Hunting of the Lizard King',
NME
, 1975

Zwerin, Michael, ‘The Jim Morrison Bust',
Cheetah
, 1968

‘The 100 Best Singles of the Last 25 Years',
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, 1988

Articles from:
RAM
,
Cheetah
,
Crawdaddy
,
Creem
,
Dark Star
,
Doors Quarterly
,
Eye
,
Guardian
,
Keyboards and Music Player
,
Los Angeles Free Press
,
Melody Maker
,
Newsweek
,
New York
,
New York Times
,
Passion
,
Record Mirror
,
Sounds
,
Time
,
Village Voice
,
American Vogue
,
Way Ahead

Films

Dance On Fire
, CIC, 1985

The Doors Are Open
, Granada, 1968

The Doors in Europe
, Castle Hendring, 1989

Live at the Hollywood Bowl
, Doors Video Co., 1987

A Tribute to Jim Morrison
, Warner Brothers, 1981

Radio series

The Doors from the Inside
, produced by Sandy Gibson

Acknowledgements

With thanks to Ed Victor, Nigel Newton, Jonathan Newhouse, Karl Badger, Max Bell, Maurice Boland, Gordon Burn, Robert Christgau, Nik Cohn, Nicholas Coleridge, John Densmore, Robin Derrick, Pamela Des Barres, Jeff Dexter, Tony Elliott, Danny Fields, Kathryn Flett, Steve Harris, Jerry Hopkins, Alice Howarth, Nick Humphrey, Terry and Tricia Jones, David Keeps, Patricia Kennealy-Morrison, Nick Kent, Robby Krieger, Nick Logan, Christian Logan Wright, Ray Manzarek, Jim McClellan, Haoui Montaug, Lisa Nesselson, Lee Ellen Newman, The New York Public Library, Tony Parsons, Tony Peake, John Peel, David Reynolds, Helen Ridge, Alix Sharkey, Stephanie Sleap, Neil Spencer, Danny Sugerman, James Truman, John Williams, and to Sarah, Edie, Georgia, Audrey and Mike.

 

BY THE SAME AUTHOR

Elvis Has Left the Building: The Day the King Died

The Eighties: One Day, One Decade

From The Ground Up: U2 360° Tour Official Photobook

When Ziggy Played Guitar: David Bowie and Four Minutes That Shook the World

The Biographical Dictionary of Popular Music: From Adele to Ziggy, the Real A to Z of Rock and Roll

British Heroes in Afghanistan
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Cameron on Cameron: Conversations with Dylan Jones

Mr. Jones' Rules for the Modern Man

iPod Therefore I Am: A Personal Journey Through Music

Meaty, Beaty, Big & Bouncy: Classic Rock and Pop Writing from Elvis to Oasis

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Index

16
magazine 
here

Absolutely Live
(album) 
here
,
here

‘Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)' 
here

Albuquerque, New Mexico 
here

‘All Day and All of the Night' 
here

Amsterdam 
here
,
here

An American Prayer
(album) 
here
,
here

Apocalypse Now
(film) 
here

Apollonian–Dionysian split 
here
,
here

Applegate, Christina 
here

Artaud, Antonin 
here

Atlanta 
here

Atlanta Film Festival 
here

Aura Records 
here

‘Back Door Man' 
here
,
here

Baker, Tom 
here
,
here
,
here
,
here

Balzac, Honoré de 
here

BAM
magazine 
here

Bangs, Lester 
here
,
here
,
here

Basquiat, Jean-Michel 
here

Beach Boys, the 
here

Beatles, the 
here
,
here
,
here
,
here

beatniks 
here

Beatty, Warren 
here

Beiderbecke, Bix 
here

Belew, Bill 
here

Blake, William 
here
,
here

Blue (JM grave visitor) 
here
,
here

bohemian culture 
here

Bolan, Marc 
here

Botnick, Bruce 
here

Bow, Clara 
here

Bowie, David 
here
,
here
,
here
,
here

Brando, Marlon 
here
,
here

‘Break On Through' 
here
,
here
,
here
,
here

Brecht, Bertolt 
here

Brown, James 
here

Brown, Mick 
here

Broyard, Anatole 
here

Bruce, Lenny 
here

Buffalo Springfield 
here

Butts Band 
here

Byrds, the 
here

California, sixties 
here

Campbell, Michelle 
here

Canyon Country Store, Laurel Canyon 
here

Captain Beefheart 
here
,
here

‘Cars Hiss by my Window' 
here

Castle Hotel 
here

‘Celebration of the Lizard' 
here
,
here

Chicago 
here
,
here

Chorush, Bob 
here
,
here

Christgau, Robert 
here

Claremont, California 
here

Clearwater, Florida 
here
,
here

Cleveland 
here

Cobain, Kurt 
here
,
here
,
here

cocaine 
here

Cohn, Nik 
here

Columbia Records 
here
,
here

Conrad, Joseph,
Heart of Darkness
 
here

Cooper, Alice 
here
,
here
,
here

Cope, Julian 
here

Copenhagen 
here

Coppola, Francis Ford 
here

Courson, Pamela 
here

death 
here

Doors contribution 
here

first meets JM 
here

JM moves in with 
here

and JM's death 
here
,
here

meeting with Kennealy 
here

in Paris 
here

relationship with JM 
here
,
here
,
here
,
here
,
here
,
here

‘Crawling King Snake' 
here

Creem
magazine 
here
,
here

Crosby, David 
here

Crosby, Stills & Nash 
here

Curtis, Ian 
here
,
here

Cutter, Janette 
here

Dallas 
here

Davies, Ray 
here

Dean, James 
here
,
here

Demelo, Lee 
here