Finally!!! Florida Gets Pardoning Right! For The Lizard King. 40 Years Later

[twyacht]

No, NOT that lizard king,.....

Jim Morrison.

 I was there, although I was in utero,...My Mom was pretty pregnant with me at the time, but I was jammin' in the womb.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40583989/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/?gt1=43001

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Forty years after Jim Morrison was convicted of exposing himself at a wild Miami concert, this is the end: Florida's Clemency Board, egged on by departing Gov. Charlie Crist, pardoned The Doors' long-dead singer Thursday.

Some people who were at the Miami show March 1, 1969, insist even today that he exposed himself, though others in the audience and Morrison's bandmates contend he was just teasing the crowd and only pretended to do the deed. Crist, tuned in to the controversy by a Doors fan, said there was enough doubt about what happened at the Dinner Key Auditorium to justify a pardon.

The board, which consists of Crist and a three-member Cabinet, voted unanimously to pardon Morrison as they granted several other pardons Thursday. At the hearing, the governor called the convictions a "blot" on the record of an accomplished artist for "something he may or may not have done."


He said Morrison died before he was afforded the chance to present his appeal, so Crist was doing that for him. Board members pointed out several times that they couldn't retry the case but that the pardon forgave Morrison and negated his sentence.

***

More at link,

But the original charge(s) also included oral copulation with a female fan, and indecent exposure. 



RIP JIM, "Dead and Living In Paris"....

[Hazcat]

And the gov't wastes more time and money on something that will make no difference to anybody!

[Timothy]

+1000 Haz...

As much as I like the Doors simplistic music and poetic hippyism style, what FL does about a 41 year old alleged crime is f....k stupid...

RIP Jim...shoulda stayed off the smack....

[TAB]

And the gov't wastes more time and money on something that will make no difference to anybody!

that pretty much summs it up

[twyacht]

First off, I agree. Seems a token gesture, and a waste of precious resources best used for more important things.

Secondly, I would hardly call the music simplistic, sure it was a different time, but I would hardly consider Ray Manzarek, John Densmore, great drummer, or Krieger, on guitar, simplistic.

The band took its name from Aldous Huxley's book The Doors of Perception,[3] the title of which was a reference to a William Blake quote: "When the doors of perception are cleansed, things will appear to man as they truly are...infinite."

I wonder how many modern bands even read actual sheet music. Manzarek, was a graduate from Juliard, Krieger was classically trained, and preferred Rachmaninoff, and Tchiakovsky. Densmore was a percussionist with a degree in Music Theory.

Morrison was buried in the "Poets Corner" of Père Lachaise Cemetery on July 7. The epitaph on his headstone bears the Greek inscription "ΚΑΤΑ ΤΟΝ ΔΑΙΜΟΝΑ ΕΑΥΤΟΥ", literally meaning "According to his own daimōn" and usually interpreted as "True to his own spirit".[40][41]

True to his own spirit.......Not in a manner we may approve of, but one IMHO, I can respect.

So, they set the bar a little higher. Just like others from the time.

I'll take it over the dribble of the majority of today's music anyday. Jim was pissed, fed up, tired of the bullshit, tired of the "man", and he wrote and sang about it.

Plus, considering what local, state, and federal gov't are doing to us, a pardon long overdue seems harmless.

Just my .02 cents. Who will remember most of the so-called current musical "artists" 40 years from now?

[Sponsor]

[Timothy]

No offense meant TW.....

When I said simplistic, maybe it was a bit off the mark but I've never held Krieger in the same class as some others of his era like Beck, Clapton, Montrose, Santana, Hendrix, Walsh, Garcia or any number of other better guitar players.  I'm sure he's in the top 100 but there is a whole lot of talent out there from the 60-70's era.

The 80's, 90's, not so much though Eddy VanHalen kicks it as does Slash from G&R....

Simple doesn't always mean bad......BB King plays a great blues guitar but Johnny Winter can make Strat flame out with his verbose fingerings and speed....both have their place and the Doors had theirs.

Not much makes it to my iPod and the Doors are definitely there as well as all of the above.....

And an up and coming blues band....."BLUEBONE!"


 

If your interested in some really crazy guitar playing, check out Stanley Jordan....

[twyacht]

It's all good Timothy, the post was a bit of levity to current BS in Politics.,..... the "era" was distinct in its ability to "push the envelope".  Hendrix, Clapton, Santana, even Country Joe & The Fish.  To Jimmy Page with the Yardbirds (much more simplistic),, The Who, Joplin even pseudo masturbated with a whiskey bottle on stage in 69', Blue Cheer, and Spooky Tooth, among others, broke the mold. Eric Burdon, etc,....et,...al,..

It wasn't about who was a "better" musician, it just was about walking the walk, breaking the mold, and taking it to another level.

The Doors, and many others did that. The Amboy Dukes, when Ted Nugent was just a teenager, was garage band stuff, but it's awesome to hear.

Lindsey Buckingham, smoked hash with Stevie Nicks before Fleetwood Mac, but still made amazing music, in his style. OBTW,

Love Stanley Jordan...and Joe Satriani