THE DOORS of the 21st CENTURY - visit to Jim's grave on December 8, 2003

 

http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/Music/12/08/morrison.birthday.ap/

 
Entertainment

Former band mates pay homage to Jim Morrison

Singer, poet would have turned 60 on Monday

Monday, December 8, 2003 Posted: 11:58 PM EST (0458 GMT)

PARIS, France (AP) -- Jim Morrison's former band mates burned candles, a rose and a poem at his grave in Paris on Monday, a tribute to the "Light My Fire" singer and cult figure on what would have been his 60th birthday.

"We're trying to evoke the spirit of Jim," Robby Krieger, former guitarist for The Doors, told dozens of fans kept behind police barriers. Many held white candles and old album covers.

Had the hard-living singer survived to turn 60, he would have been "happy, laughing, joking, a good man," Ray Manzarek, The Doors' keyboardist, told The Associated Press. The two were in Paris for concerts with their new band, The Doors 21st Century.

Morrison's tomb was covered with votive candles, flowers, beer cans, photos and a silvery "Happy Birthday" banner. Security agents patrolled the shady, cobblestoned Pere Lachaise cemetery.

After burning the poem and rose left behind by fans, Manzarek and Krieger asked reporters to leave for a moment of silent contemplation.

John Densmore, drummer for The Doors, did not attend. He filed a lawsuit against Manzarek and Krieger in February for breach of contract for touring without him under the name of a band that includes the words "The Doors."

Another lawsuit was filed by Morrison's parents and in-laws in May, accusing Manzarek and Krieger of tarnishing the former group's reputation by continuing to make new music and tour.

Morrison was found dead in the bathtub of his Paris apartment July 3, 1971, at age 27. French police said he died of a heart attack, though his regular use of drugs and alcohol was likely a factor.

One fan at the graveside, Martin Skotniczny, a 23-year-old Polish art student, hitchhiked for 30 hours to get to Paris for the anniversary.

"Jim's music and poetry changed my life," said Skotniczny, who wears his hair shaggy and shoulder-length like Morrison's was. "He showed me a different side, a darker side, of my own mind."

Other notables buried at Pere Lachaise include writers Oscar Wilde and Marcel Proust, painter Eugene Delacroix and singer Edith Piaf.

Morrison's grave, which has a sober gray headstone marked James Douglas Morrison, attracts the most attention, and a full-time security guard watches over it. That doesn't prevent Morrison fans from leaving behind graffiti, some of it referencing his songs.

One fan scrawled on a nearby mausoleum: "This is not the end."


 

Original Doors members Ray Manzarek, left, and Robby Krieger, right, stand at Jim Morrison's grave, along with Ian Astbury of The Doors 21st Century.

 
Original Doors members Ray Manzarek, left, and Robby Krieger, right, stand at Jim Morrison's grave, along with Ian Astbury of The Doors 21st Century.

 

 

 

(thanks, Beverly and Tom)

 

Doors in birthday visit to Morrison's Paris grave
 AFP
Mon Dec 8,12:56 PM ET
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PARIS (AFP) - Two of the three surviving members of the 1960s band the Doors were joined by fans, journalists and security guards in roughly equal numbers for a photo-op at the Paris graveside of late lead singer Jim Morrison on what would have been his 60th birthday.

Robby Krieger, 57 year-old guitarist, and keyboard-player Ray Manzarek, 64, were in France on the European leg of a world tour with the Doors of the 21st Century -- the re-formed Doors with Morrison-lookalike Ian Astbury of British band The Cult at the microphone.

The pair lit candles and set fire to a piece of paper bearing a poem to Morrison that had been left on the tomb in Paris's Pere-Lachaise cemetery. They then blew the ashes over the grave. "It is to invoke the spirit of Jim," said Krieger.

Press photographers and cameramen filmed the visit but questions were not allowed. Krieger and Manzarek were briefly joined at the graveside by Astbury, whose mop of dark hair was uncannily reminiscent of the man he was chosen to replace.

The creator of classic rock-songs such as Light My Fire and Riders on The Storm, Morrison was 27 when he died of a drug-induced heart attack in Paris in 1971.

His tomb is one of the most visited in the Pere-Lachaise cemetery -- resting-place of other artistic greats such as Oscar Wilde and Edith Piaf  -- and bears a permanent decoration of flowers, album covers, photographs, candles and beer cans.

After Krieger and Manzarek formed the Doors of the 21st Century in 2002, the third survivor of the original group, drummer John Densmore, tried to sue them for misappropriating the trademark. Morrison's parents George and Clara Morrison also filed suit at a Los Angeles court.

(thanks, Alex)

 


Former members of The Doors, Ray Manzarek, keyboardist, left, and guitarist Robby Krieger, light candles at the grave of Jim Morrison at the Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris Monday Dec. 8, 2003. Morrison, the legendary singer of the rock badnd who died in Paris in July 1971 would turn 60 Monday. (AP Photo/Remy de la Mauviniere)

Former members of The Doors, Ray Manzarek, keyboardist, left, and guitarist Robby Krieger, light candles at the grave of Jim Morrison at the Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris Monday Dec. 8, 2003. Morrison, the legendary singer of the rock band who died in Paris in July 1971 would turn 60 Monday. (AP Photo/Remy de la Mauviniere)

(thanks, Alex)

 

Founding members of the Doors, Robby Krieger(R) and Ray Manzarek pay their respect on the tomb of late band frontman Jim Morrison at the Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris(AFP/Joel Robine)

 

Former members of The Doors, Ray Manzarek, keyboardist, left, and guitarist Robby Krieger, hold candles at the grave of Jim Morrison at the Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris Monday Dec. 8, 2003. Morrison, the legendary singer of the rock badnd who died in Paris in July 1971 would turn 60 Monday. (AP Photo/Remy de la Mauviniere)

 

American pop band The Doors founding members Ray Manzarek, on keyboards, left, burns a poem left by a Doors fan while guitar player Robby Krieger, holds a candle at the grave of Jim Morrison at the Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris Monday Dec. 8, 2003. Jim Morrison, the legendary singer of The doors, died in Paris in July 1971 and would turn 60 today.(AP Photo/Remy de la Mauviniere)

The Doors founding members Ray Manzarek, left, and Robby Krieger burn a poem left by a fan at Jim Morrison's grave.

 

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