0:00

The seven Club is the production of I

0:02

Heart Radio and Double Elvis

0:04

Media. Jim

0:06

Morrison died at the age of and

0:09

he lived the life that defied categorization.

0:12

I can give you twenty seven reasons why that statement

0:15

is true. Five would be one

0:17

of the two numbers in a given ratio. You

0:19

know, five to one baby one in five,

0:22

No one here gets out alive. Another

0:25

five would be the number of studio albums he had

0:27

released with The Doors By They

0:30

came at a strong clip. The gap between

0:33

that run and their final record l a Woman

0:35

would be the longest in their short career.

0:38

One would be the number of cult leaders that Jim

0:41

Is doppelganger Jimbo would be mistaken

0:43

for when he was found passed out on someone's

0:45

store step. Two more would

0:48

be the number of slices on his wrist and forearms

0:50

that he endured during a wicked marriage ceremony

0:53

surrounded by a few strangers, candles,

0:55

and ritualistic jetsam.

0:58

Another four would be the number of Credence clear

1:00

Water Revival band members who would welcome

1:02

him as one of their own when Jim fantasized

1:04

himself away from the reality of living

1:06

behind bars. In ten

1:09

will be the number of months he'd have left to live

1:11

after Miami jury reached its verdict

1:13

and decided the fate of one of the biggest

1:16

rock stars in the world. On

1:18

this our eighth episode of season

1:21

two, Doppelgangers, we Can

1:23

Marriage Ceremonies choolin and

1:25

Jim Morrison lost in Fantasy

1:29

um Jake Brennan and this is

1:32

the twenty seven clock. Eleanor

2:02

Brow had never seen anything like it before.

2:05

She'd never seen a man passed out on her doorstep

2:08

before. In her sixty eight years

2:10

on this planet and all the time spent

2:12

at her home in West Los Angeles, she'd

2:14

never walked outside on a warm August

2:17

morning, the rising sun splintering

2:19

through the patterns of palm trees, to find

2:21

an unconscious, bearded man blocking

2:23

her path to her newspaper, Bloody

2:26

Red Son of Fantastic l A.

2:29

The Times was there on the lowest and

2:31

final step of her stup. It was all

2:33

she wanted that morning, the paper, in her coffee,

2:36

a cigarette or two. In silence.

2:39

She could hear the kitchen radio from inside

2:41

talking about street riots in Ireland, talking

2:44

about traffic in l A. She

2:46

wanted that newspaper, but it was on

2:48

the lowest and final step beyond

2:50

the man who was curled up, snoring,

2:52

rank a derelict, perhaps,

2:55

some homeless man who had wandered well beyond

2:57

the reaches of downtown l a Eleanor

3:00

stretched out her left leg and jabbed her foot

3:02

into the sleeping man's side. He rustled,

3:05

rolled onto his back, His eyes flickered

3:07

open, bloodshot and dull, empty,

3:09

dark and uncaring, completely

3:12

unbothered, completely unaware. What

3:14

if he was more than a derelict, elen her

3:16

thought, more than an annoyance.

3:19

What if he was a member of that family, the

3:21

Manson family. It

3:25

had been almost a year since the Manson family

3:27

sent bad vibrations through Los Angeles,

3:30

through the country, through the entire world.

3:32

Almost a year since they walked into houses

3:34

and murdered innocent people with state knives

3:37

and bayonets, murdered that pregnant

3:39

actress in the coldest of cold

3:41

blood. Almost a year since

3:43

death to Pigs and Helter Skelter were

3:45

written in blood on living room walls and refrigerator

3:48

doors. And despite the passing

3:50

of time, the murders hungover l

3:52

a like psychological smog, the

3:54

cellular memory of a metropolis,

3:56

a nightmare that couldn't be shaken away,

3:59

couldn't be sold off a doorstep. It

4:02

had been almost a year, but Eleanor thought,

4:05

what if? What if they didn't catch them all?

4:07

What if one of them escaped? What if there are others,

4:09

new family members who were carrying the torch.

4:13

She looked down at the bearded vagrant waking

4:15

up on her west l a doorstep, and

4:17

she was convinced she had a Manson

4:20

accolade at her feet, a devotee

4:22

of fear and chaos and evil obstructing

4:24

her path to her morning paper. Eleanor

4:27

ran back inside, locked the front door,

4:29

snapped the radio off, picked the phone

4:32

receiver up from its cradle on the wall,

4:34

and called the police. She

4:36

was one of the lucky ones. She knew it. She

4:38

was spared and others would be spared as

4:40

well. When the l a p. D arrived,

4:43

they didn't find a Manson family member, or

4:45

even a Manson family want to be. But

4:47

they did find a familiar face on Eleanor's

4:50

steps, Jim Morrison's pal,

4:53

Jimbo. The

4:55

cops knew Jimbo by sight, knew Jimbo

4:58

by sound, knew Jimbo by smell. They

5:00

didn't know his full name. Didn't even know if Jimbo

5:02

was his real name. Oh. The cops also

5:05

didn't know that Jimbo had spent some time hanging

5:07

with Charlie Manson a wizard cracking

5:10

open Bruski's catching doors or Herstal's

5:12

scoping chicks. I'm a girl

5:14

watcher, the wizard would sing under his breath,

5:16

the Jimbo and Jimbo would giggle. Eleanor

5:19

Brow wasn't all that far off. Jimbo

5:23

never carried any i d Sometimes

5:25

he had shoes on, and other times he couldn't be

5:27

bothered to lace up. He was always

5:29

in need of a cold shower, black coffee in

5:31

the swift smack upside the head. The

5:34

cops book Jimbo. The next day, the

5:36

doors manager, Bill Sidne has posted his twenty

5:39

five dollar bail, and Jimbo was free again.

5:42

Now that the idealism of the sixties have been

5:44

replaced by the nihilism of a new, less

5:46

naive decade, Jimbo was spending

5:49

less time in the shadows, less

5:51

time in the background. He had been

5:53

calling out the flower children on their bullshit

5:55

since the human being, if not earlier,

5:58

and now that his insults were everyone else, his

6:00

reality he felt welcome, so

6:03

welcome that he would sometimes take Jim's

6:05

place at parties, and no one was the wiser.

6:08

Jim had grown his beard o which made

6:10

his already striking resemblance to Jimbo

6:13

even more striking, and they both

6:15

hid behind a bushy massive on camp, facial

6:17

hair hair grown out, and waving

6:20

paunch. Getting paunch here, Jimbo

6:24

could so easily pose for Jim that no

6:26

one was the wiser when he showed up at I'm

6:28

on Egan's house party in Jim's place.

6:31

This was early the following year in

6:34

v and I'm in This fancy

6:36

guest were watching Alan Shepard and er

6:38

Mitchell Walk on the Moon on a small TV

6:41

set in the living room. He had invited

6:43

Jim in order to coax him and the Doors away

6:45

from Elektra to Atlantic Records, the label

6:48

he had founded in nineteen nine with

6:50

ten grand from his dentist and had since

6:52

built into the pre eminent R and B soul,

6:55

jazz and rock record label. Atlantic

6:57

had Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin, Coultran

7:00

Megus Internet home in Buffalo Springfield,

7:03

Led Zeppelin, Crosbie Stills, Nash,

7:05

and Young I'm had just pulled

7:07

a similar move with the Rolling Stones. He

7:09

invited Mick Jagger to a party, and

7:11

in that smooth talking son of a Turkish

7:14

diplomat way made the Stones

7:16

in Atlantic Records band with a one million

7:18

dollar advance. But

7:21

Jimbo didn't want to talk business, didn't

7:23

want to talk about record deals and advances

7:25

and royalties. Jimbo wanted

7:27

to drink scotch. Jimbo wanted to

7:29

make a scene, wanted to tear a ragged

7:32

edge to the sophisticated party's cheeky

7:34

scene. Jimbo

7:36

stood up on the couch much time at chagrin.

7:39

He was wearing shoes that night, and

7:41

Jimbo stomped on the couch, bounced up

7:43

and down, emulating the bouncing moonwalks

7:45

of Shepherd and Mitchell in the TV screen,

7:48

the Scotch and Ice and his tumbler splashing

7:51

around and dropping onto the couch, his spotless

7:53

leather the Capital's

7:56

pigs, Jimbo

7:58

yelled, reaching the except tuple din of

8:00

the genteel house party atmosphere.

8:03

He bounced on the couch, his boot heels

8:06

twisting into the expensive leather. He

8:08

reached out to the magret paintings that hung

8:10

in the nearby wall and attempted to knock

8:12

them down. His fingers clipped the frame

8:15

in a painting swan Precariously, I've

8:18

been down so goddamn long

8:20

that it looks like up to me

8:22

one the fucker's um

8:24

that stood. Silentness. Silence

8:26

would help end Jimbo's rant. Sooner,

8:29

your capitalist pigs holding

8:32

art hostage, greedy

8:35

fucking pigs, The artists

8:37

will win. Eddie gone, The

8:40

artists will have the last laugh.

9:09

Jim and Pam were fighting again. Dishes

9:12

flew across the kitchen, pots and pans

9:14

were volleyed. When hurtful words weren't enough.

9:17

When the cupboards were emptied, they went for

9:19

the kitchen drawers. The cutlery came

9:21

out. Now they were fighting to be heard

9:23

above the clank and clatter of stainless steel

9:26

tumbling to the floor. Just

9:29

like the last time they fought, these two

9:31

hot and cold, on again, off again life

9:33

partners parted ways in a huff,

9:36

a tiff, then a huff, and neither of them

9:38

seeing the situation from the other's perspective.

9:42

When Pam got angry at Jim, she'd

9:44

call up Jim's limo driver and get the

9:46

Royal rock star girlfriend treatment. The

9:49

driver will pull the car around and smile and

9:51

say hello, opened the door for

9:54

shut it once she climbed inside, show

9:56

for her around l a when she shot, until

9:58

she dropped, and Jim would go off

10:00

and find another girl to occupy his time.

10:03

He knew it bugged the ship out of Pam, as

10:05

it should, and part of his desire to get

10:07

some strange was so Pam would bristle.

10:10

He'd find a groupie, a fan, a friend,

10:12

a friend of a friend, and the stranger the

10:14

better. This time, he

10:16

wanted to take it even further, that maybe

10:18

this would be the time he'd leave Pam forever. Maybe

10:21

he wasn't meant to keep crawling back to her.

10:23

Life was short, too short to be lived

10:25

Angry and throwing dinnerware around the kitchen.

10:30

It was this thinking that led to where he was standing

10:32

now and Patricia Kneely's

10:35

New York apartment, where he was sliced

10:37

at his wrist and form and was married

10:39

in a wickened wedding ceremony. Jim

10:42

had met Patricia, an editor for Jazz

10:45

and Pop magazine, the previous year when

10:47

she interviewed him for a feature. She

10:50

told him she was a witch, and in that

10:52

moment she had him interest

10:54

Pete site set. From

10:57

then, the two kept in touch. Recently,

11:00

on tour with the Doors, Jim had split his downtime

11:02

in the city between Pam's hotel room

11:04

and Patricia's apartment. The

11:06

plot thickened. Patricia was tight

11:08

with the High Priestess of the Coven Wickens

11:11

not Satanists, mind you, dirt

11:13

worshippers, Earth's disciples of

11:15

the Great Mother, the matriarch of all

11:18

humanity and all life. The

11:21

High Priestess could bind the two of them

11:23

for all eternity a hand fasting

11:25

ceremony. They wouldn't

11:27

need to file paperwork at city Hall, wouldn't

11:30

need to stand at a church surrounded by family

11:32

members they hadn't seen since grade school.

11:35

All they needed were candles, the

11:37

High Priestess and their own blood.

11:40

They'd sliced their wrists, their forearms.

11:43

They let the blood drip into a cup. They

11:45

drink from it. They'd be bound, wet

11:48

in the eyes of the Earth, the Great

11:50

Mother. The

11:52

first thing Jim thought, standing there and Patricia's

11:55

candle at apartments surrounded by oddly

11:57

shaped rocks and seashells, animal

11:59

horns and dried flowers. Was that Pam

12:01

would flip her wig if she were here? Holy

12:04

funk, would she lose her ship? He thought? He

12:07

laughed, and then he looked up into Patricia's eyes.

12:10

He felt something graze against his arm, and

12:12

he looked down, blood running from

12:14

his wrists. The priestess was

12:16

there to catch it in her spiritual chalice,

12:18

and the group started in incantation. These

12:21

are the hands that will work alongside yours

12:23

as together you build your future. Jim's

12:27

eyes caught Patricia's again. He reached

12:29

his hand out to touch hers. You

12:31

were thus now and forevermore bound

12:33

to your vow. The room started

12:36

to go blurry. Jim struggled to make

12:38

out Patricia only a few feet away from

12:40

him. He felt the heat from the candles,

12:42

smelled the scent of Patricia's perfume,

12:45

the dried flowers, the decaying animal

12:47

handlers. He couldn't bear to look at his

12:49

arm again, but he could feel the warm stream

12:52

of blood running down slow. He

12:54

thought of the wizard standing there with jimbo

12:57

at the door's rehearsal, wearing that sinking

13:00

in that seemed to indicate that he knew something

13:02

Jim didn't. He thought

13:04

of the housekeeper in Jamaica, thought about

13:06

how the place went dark, thought about dying,

13:09

and about standing on the precipice, teetering

13:11

between this life and the unknown. Teetering.

13:15

The very thought of the word made him think of his mother

13:17

telling him not to teeter in his chair as a five

13:19

year old. She said if he teetered that he would

13:21

fall backwards and the hardwood floor

13:24

would be a rude awakening for his head. He

13:27

teetered anyway, and it happened just

13:29

like his mother said. He slipped and fell

13:31

backwards, head meet Flora. His

13:36

mother said it was God punishing him for not

13:39

listening. Jim closed

13:41

his eyes to snub out the blurriness,

13:43

and when he reopened them, he wasn't there.

13:46

He was no longer standing in Patricia's candidate

13:49

department. He was standing on the side

13:51

of Highway one two outside

13:53

Modesto, California. The

13:56

wind kicked up and blew his long hair

13:58

across the front of his face. That's

14:00

wide open, desolate

14:03

horizon, expansive and without promise,

14:05

just a never ending stretch of pavement and muted

14:08

vegetation, double lines, no clouds.

14:12

The stars seemed to be multiplying in the newly

14:14

darkened night sky. He felt his

14:16

heart beating in his ears. He

14:19

thought about Highway an American pastoral,

14:22

a short experimental film he shot

14:24

the year before in the Mohabi Desert, a

14:26

glorified student film, posing his high

14:28

arm. In it, he plays a character

14:31

named Billie who climbs out of a quarry

14:33

soaking wet and puts his boots on.

14:36

In the desert, he flags down a passing

14:38

car standing

14:41

on the side of Highway one thirty two. The

14:43

station wagon had already stopped, he

14:45

didn't have to flag it down, and

14:48

Jim approached the driver's side door that was

14:50

rolled down. In the driver a young woman hung

14:52

her left arm out into the warm night time

14:54

air, and Jim

14:56

peered inside, saw the toddler

14:59

sitting in the back seat. Saw the woman's protruding

15:01

belly nestled up against the steering wheel.

15:05

Jim asked the woman if she was having car trouble.

15:07

She said she thought one of her rear wheels felt

15:09

wobbly. It was teetering.

15:12

Jim said he would check it out. He walked

15:14

back to the passenger's side rear tire

15:16

and immediately found the loose lug nuts,

15:19

but instead of tightening them, he made

15:21

them looser. He clenched his hand

15:23

around the thick steel and went counterclockwise

15:26

lefty lucy. He would catch

15:28

the pregnant woman's gaze in her side mirror

15:31

and give her a thumbs up. She

15:33

was all set. She would start to drive

15:35

away, but the tire would wobble every more dramatically

15:37

than before, and she pulled back over just

15:40

the ways up the road, and

15:43

Jim would be there, ready to intervene,

15:45

to offer his assistance. He

15:48

was no longer the hitchhiker and an experimental

15:50

film. He was the one picking up easy

15:53

prey, a pregnant mother with her

15:55

toddler alone on this never ending

15:57

stretch of Highway one thirty two. It

16:00

didn't get any easier. A

16:02

few of the faraway stars in the night sky

16:05

flickered and flashed and made Jim's eyes

16:07

burn. He blinked four

16:09

times, each blink in attempt to blot

16:11

out the brightness, to gain the upper hand

16:14

on sight. He opened

16:16

his eyes again, and he was back in Patricia's

16:18

apartment. Patricia stood across from

16:20

him, holding onto his hands, bloody and trembling.

16:23

Was modesto A memory, a premonition,

16:25

a daydream, a hallucination brought

16:28

on by drugs, by blood loss,

16:30

a complete fantasy. Jim

16:32

started to open his mouth to say something

16:35

to Patricia, repeat a vow to betray

16:37

the fact that he had just gone to an entirely

16:39

new geographic location in his head.

16:41

But he couldn't speak. His heart

16:43

was still beating in his ears, and now

16:45

he felt it in his arms and in his wrists.

16:48

He looked down at his wrists outstretched

16:50

to lock hands with Patricia. He saw

16:53

the blood spurting from his arm in the rhythm

16:55

of his heartbeat. Each thump, and red

16:57

droplets jumped from inside of him and landed

16:59

on his skin. He looked down at his wrists,

17:02

his eyes wide, and didn't watch the blood

17:04

go bomp, bomp, bump. Four

17:06

more blinks, quicker now than before, and

17:08

Jim Morrison passed out. Teetered

17:12

his head hit the hardwood floor. He

17:17

may have gotten married, but

17:20

Jim Morrison had no idea what

17:22

exactly happened in that apartment that

17:24

night. We'll

17:39

be right back after this word word

17:41

word, John

17:54

Fogerty called the corner pocket. He

17:57

pulled the pool cue back slowly and then

17:59

suddenly thrust it forward.

18:02

This solid red ball sunk into the corner

18:05

pocket, just as John Fogerty said it would.

18:08

He threw out a subtle, celebratory fist

18:10

pump. Nothing too flashy, nothing condescending,

18:13

just a simple acknowledgement of a sweet shot.

18:16

Fogerty standard issue dress code flannel

18:19

shirt and blue cheets, his everyman outfit

18:21

that allowed both hippies and rednecks, traditionalists

18:24

and futures alike to identify with

18:26

him struck a funny contrast to

18:28

the swank Penhouse suite at the Fountain

18:30

Blue on Miami Beach, where Crean's Clearwater

18:32

Revival were stationed while on the tour.

18:35

This is the hotel where Frank Sinatra taped

18:38

a welcome home special for Elvis Pressley

18:40

when he returned from the Army, was the

18:42

highest rated TV special in ninet Not

18:45

for nothing, then Fogerty in the gang called

18:47

their Penhouse Digs Sinatra swite.

18:51

Jim Morrison, never wanted to not sniff

18:53

out a good party, had dropped in to hang

18:55

out when he heard that he and CCR were

18:57

in the same city at the same time. He

19:00

left. The nub of the joint he was smoking hang

19:02

from his lips as he clapped his hands together

19:04

and showed Fogerty some love for sinking

19:06

the pocket shop. The previous year,

19:09

nineteen sixty nine, was all about

19:11

CCR three type back

19:13

to basics roots rock albums released

19:15

in just over nine months, a slew

19:17

of perfect singles. Born on the Bayou,

19:20

Green River, Bad Moon Rise in Lowdi

19:22

down on the corner of Fortunate Son In

19:25

the US, they outsold even the Beatles,

19:27

and they were on tour behind Cosmos Factory,

19:30

one of the two LPs they had released in nineteen

19:33

seventy. It was an album that would help them

19:35

cement a chart record for the most number two

19:37

hit singles without a number one, a

19:39

record they still hold to this day.

19:42

Critics hated them, but that didn't matter.

19:45

Here they were, in August of nineteen

19:47

seventy, the boys who railed against Fortunate

19:50

Sons and were called back home by Bullfrogs,

19:52

live in the high life, flanked by spiral

19:54

staircases and grand pianos and billiard

19:57

tables inside their hotel room

19:59

on a particular, really choice stretch of Florida

20:01

Beach. Born on the Bayou.

20:04

They weren't, but for Jim it was

20:06

all good. Jim looked in forward his eyes

20:09

and saw a fellow fantasy man, just

20:11

another tall tale teller, a good time seeker,

20:13

another one who had conjured up a fantasy and

20:16

inserted himself inside of it. The

20:18

guy's record label was called Fantasy Records

20:20

for crying out loud, who knew what forward

20:23

he saw when he looked out his back door. Jim

20:27

put the joint out in an ashtray and picked

20:29

up a pool queue. It was his turn. Whatever

20:32

forward he was playing at, he was damn

20:35

good at cutthroat, and Jim would have to really

20:37

concentrate to keep up. He could

20:39

do this all day. Truth be told, Jim would rather

20:41

take in a penthouse hang session with Willie

20:43

and the Poor Boys any day over what he was

20:45

actually in Miami for. Jim

20:49

was back in Miami out of obligation. He

20:51

was there to pay the piper, to answer

20:53

for his actions, to unwillingly exit

20:56

his self constructed fantasy and deal with

20:58

reality, a reality that he had

21:00

a party. The Obscenity

21:02

trial was here. He already

21:05

had one legal win under his belt.

21:07

The federal charges in Phoenix when Jim

21:09

and Tom Baker had harassed flight attendants

21:11

had been dropped when it was determined that Tom,

21:14

not Jim was the primary instigator.

21:18

But Jim wasn't gonna be able to wriggle away from the

21:20

Miami charches as easily. They

21:23

had him right where they wanted him. And there were

21:25

thousands of witnesses at the Miami concert

21:28

And even though many of them had dissenting opinions

21:30

of what exactly happened that night, all

21:32

it would take were a few brave souls to

21:34

step up to the box and bear witness

21:36

against the drunk, disorderly, rabble

21:39

rouser who subsisted on fantasy.

21:42

Jim took a shot and looked around the room.

21:44

He had an idea away out fuck

21:47

the reality of the Miami courtroom.

21:50

Maybe if he buried his head, made

21:52

himself real scarce, made himself

21:54

into a completely different person, then

21:56

maybe the drama would end. Maybe

21:59

they draw up the case forget all about Jim

22:01

Morrison. He

22:05

looked at Fogerty laughing at the side of the

22:07

pool table with his brother Tom and the other guys

22:09

in CCR, Stu Cook and Doug

22:11

Clifford. Nearby, he saw

22:13

Denham flannel mustaches, cowboy hat,

22:15

sunglasses. The whole fucking band

22:17

looked like four guys in witness protection.

22:20

Jim had an idea. He'd called together

22:22

his own CCR character. He'd

22:24

get inspiration from the four guys in the band,

22:27

John's flannel, Tom's Denham Stew's

22:29

glasses, Tom's hat. He'd shave

22:31

his beard and leave the mustache. He

22:34

would be the newest member of CCR. They'd

22:36

call him Buck Harrington. That

22:39

Buck Harrington man duke could not sink a

22:41

pocket shot and cut throat, but he sure looked good

22:43

holding the guitar. It would be like

22:45

the old days with Rick and the Ravens. Jim

22:47

would hold the guitar on stage and strum

22:49

it, but they wouldn't plug him in. He would

22:52

disappear. Fogerty

22:54

and the guys would love the idea. They'd welcome

22:56

him with open arms. Why not Jim

22:59

Buck could play in their traveling band. He

23:01

gets stuck in lowd eyes off and has needed As

23:03

long as it Mandy wouldn't have to face a jury in the Miami

23:06

courtroom, and the

23:08

Miami p D would eventually come to the penhouse

23:10

were at the Fountain Blue. When Jim didn't show up

23:12

to his hotel trial, they questioned

23:15

the guys at CCR. They'd say

23:17

that they heard that one of the last places Jim Morrison

23:19

I've been seeing was with that shooting shipping

23:21

pool, with Jim Morrison,

23:23

a shitty shooting pool, as they said he was.

23:26

The guys had all nervously laugh and say, yeah,

23:28

for sure, dude couldn't sink a simple pocket

23:30

shot to save his life. But

23:32

they'd stopped laughing, perhaps a little too

23:34

quickly, and say that Jim had only hung out for a

23:36

few hours and then was on his way. The

23:40

cops would walk up the Buck last. They

23:42

look him up and down, focusing on his curious

23:44

mustache, his glasses, his hat. Don't

23:47

we know you from somewhere, They'd ask him.

23:51

They tapped their pens against their pocket notebooks

23:53

like they were running through a portfolio of faces

23:55

and names in their heads, trying

23:57

to place this Buck Harrington. Guy. Buck

24:00

would just shake his head, shrug his shoulders.

24:03

No idea, officers, he responded, I've

24:05

never had to run in with the law in my life. And

24:08

the cops would eventually leave, and as soon

24:11

as the penthouse sweet doors slammed shut,

24:13

the guys in CCR would all look at

24:15

each other and bust out laughing. Soon

24:20

the national media would get hold of the story of

24:22

Jim Morrison's disappearance, and it would

24:24

be on the nightly news, front page news. The

24:26

guys in the doors would be distraught, but they

24:29

get over it. Honestly, they always

24:31

found Jim to be more of a liability than

24:33

not, so this would likely be a blessing in

24:35

disguise. The

24:37

charges in Miami would be dropped after a while

24:39

because there was no longer a Jim Morrison to

24:41

face them. He would disappear, He

24:44

would beat reality. He closed his eyes,

24:46

It would be easy. He opened his

24:48

eyes, and CCR were gone. He

24:50

was no longer standing slouch next to a pool

24:53

table in the penthouse sweet at the Fountain Blue.

24:55

He was sitting in a Miami courtroom where fate

24:57

was about to balance out his good luck in Phoenix

24:59

would some very bad news. He

25:02

bit in and out of this courtroom for over a

25:04

month. The jury was shown photos

25:06

of Jim giving Robbie's guitar head on

25:08

stage in Miami, photos of his hands

25:11

down his pants, photos of his belt

25:13

unbuckled. Jim reclined

25:15

back in his seat, scanned the room with his eyes,

25:17

and slipped back into CCR of fantasy.

25:20

Over a month Eventually, the jury

25:22

deliberated, The jury came back,

25:25

the jury had reached their verdict. The

25:27

gavel came down. That woodham wood

25:29

crack of old school authority, the

25:31

sound of the man of an out of touch generation,

25:34

of a stifled bunch of conservatives who

25:36

got off on harshing everyone's mellow. It

25:39

echoed through the courtroom and snapped Jim

25:41

out of a day dream. Jim

26:03

Morrison had just lit his cigarette with the

26:05

roach of his fading joint when he saw the

26:07

breaking news report on TV. As

26:10

soon as he saw the face of Jimmie Hendricks in the

26:12

caption forty two to

26:14

nineteen seventy, he stubbed out

26:16

the grass and stumbled forward to turn the

26:18

volume up on the TV set. He

26:21

already couldn't believe what he was seeing, but

26:23

then it was Florida TV. A

26:26

guy could see a lot of unbelievable things

26:28

on Florida TV. Jim

26:30

had seen a lot of himself on Florida TV

26:32

in recent months, more than he wanted

26:35

the square Floridians he had sought to escape

26:38

from, sought sanctuary from long ago,

26:40

spoke to reporters and hoolier than that, tones

26:43

kids, teenagers, regressing into the dismissive

26:46

ways of an older generation, distancing

26:48

themselves from the incident.

26:51

They couldn't even bring themselves to describe what had

26:53

happened on that stage. It was just the

26:55

incident. Local and state

26:57

politicians took to their microphones to condemned

27:00

deprevity, preach morality. When

27:02

you're strange, people come out in the

27:04

rain. The whole lot of them would

27:06

have tarred and feathered Jim Morrison if they could have gotten

27:08

away with it, dragged him out into the street,

27:11

shot him, and aired it live on black and

27:13

white TV sets throughout the nation. But

27:16

now it was time for something completely

27:18

different. The press had a new rock star

27:20

to fill their air time, another musician

27:23

that they could use to strike sweeping social

27:25

post is about decency. The ABC

27:27

anchor had interrupted regularly scheduled

27:29

programming to make a special announcement. Jimmie

27:32

Hendricks was dead. The

27:35

black and white TV flickered the picture

27:37

and focus, but the edges fuzzy and speckled

27:40

Jimmy's frozen, smiling face.

27:43

The anchor cold and composed cut

27:46

to the chase. Jimmie

27:48

hendricks experience is over. The

27:50

acid rock musician died today in London

27:52

a hospital, apparently from an overdose of drugs.

27:57

Buck Hendrick's gone

28:00

guy was light years beyond anyone else and

28:02

only seven, just like Brian

28:05

Jones the year before, same ripe

28:07

young age. That was strange.

28:09

Jim tried to remember the last time he had seen Jimmy.

28:12

It may have been Montreal, and Jim tried

28:14

to hijack Jimmy stage for a second

28:16

time. Jimmy denied him.

28:19

They all denied him. Janice, Dennis

28:21

Wilson, the whole fucking city of Miami,

28:25

and the prosecuting attorney used the conservative

28:27

public's perception of Jim as an opportunity

28:29

to ridicule him during cross examination,

28:32

get him to cop de lude and the sivious

28:34

behavior, like when he got on his knees

28:36

on the Miami stage and pretended to give Robbie

28:38

head while he's soloed. But

28:40

Jim was onto them. He was onto

28:43

them all, smug attorney.

28:45

You have seen Robbie Creaker do that solo thousands

28:48

of times, haven't you. Jim

28:50

could be smug attorney,

28:53

But you get down on your knees to study the intricate

28:55

fingerwork. Jim, Well,

28:57

he gets better all the time. He

29:00

was quick witted. He was smart, not like

29:02

everybody said that he was dumb. He could handle

29:04

things. The Beatles said this kind of ship all

29:06

the time at press conferences, and they get compared

29:08

to the Marx brothers. But not Jim.

29:11

He was stepped over. It wasn't the way he wanted

29:13

it. When

29:15

twenty one year old photographer David Levine

29:17

took the stand to talk about the under exposed

29:19

photos he captured the night of the Miami Show,

29:22

the prosecuting attorney didn't think there were enough

29:24

to work with, and he wasn't wrong. Levine

29:26

had photos of Jim with his hands down his pants,

29:29

and photos of Jim holding the lamb in his arms

29:31

and laughing, but there was no smoking gunshot.

29:34

Even Jim's lawyer knew that already. He

29:37

had contacted Levin before the trial and

29:39

bought a handful of photos to see what the fuss

29:41

was about. Not much of us, from the looks

29:43

of it, But the prosecuting attorney

29:45

needed more from Levin, so when the photos

29:48

didn't do the trick, he asked Levine

29:50

about the masturbatory emotions that Jim

29:52

made on stage, asked him to demonstrate

29:54

for the jury exactly what Jim did

29:57

with his hand. Here was crotch. Levine

30:00

clenched his fist and started to work his

30:02

wrists down near his belt buckle. Lefty

30:04

lucy, righty tidy. The motion

30:07

was slow, it was subtle, and it

30:09

was instantly identifiable. Levine

30:12

blush. A few of the jurors gasped,

30:15

hands covered gaping mouths. One of them smirked.

30:17

Levin kept making the motion and looked over

30:19

at Jim. Jim raised his eyebrows

30:22

up and down. Nostros flared In silently

30:24

mouthed la la, and Levine's

30:27

general direction. When

30:30

the jury returned to the Dade County Courthouse,

30:33

their verdict was as swift as the trial

30:35

was sluggish. Guilty

30:38

of open profanity, guilty

30:41

of indecent exposure, both misdemeanors.

30:45

On September, the

30:48

sentence came down six months

30:50

hard labor five.

30:53

Jim Morrison was given the right to appeal, which

30:55

many could walk away from this harsh reality

30:58

and try to come up with a new game, but

31:01

things would just get even more complicated.

31:04

He was only delaying the inevitable, pretending

31:06

to think about an appeals process when life

31:08

and fantasy would both get in the way. He

31:11

would have himself convinced he wasn't going

31:13

to jail, and then he convinced himself

31:16

that it wasn't his kid. When Patricia

31:18

confronted him one day to say that she was

31:20

pregnant, there would

31:22

be more fights, more outbursts, more insane

31:24

attempts to build a new reality, and

31:28

there would be blood. Um,

31:31

Jake Brennan, and this

31:33

is the seven Club, all

31:47

right. The seven Club is scored and co written

31:49

by myself, Jake Brennan. Zef Blundy

31:52

is the lead writer and editor on the show. Matt

31:54

Bowden mixes the show. Additional

31:56

music and score elements by Ryan Spreaker

31:59

and Henry Linnetta. The twenty seven

32:01

Club is produced by myself for Double Elvis

32:03

and partnership with I Heart Radio. Sources

32:06

for this episode are available at Double Elvis

32:08

dot com on the twenty seven Club series

32:10

page. The twenty seven Club is released

32:12

weekly every Thursday. Season one

32:14

features twelve episodes on Jimmie Hendricks, which

32:17

are all available for you to binge right

32:19

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32:21

if you like what you hear, please be sure to subscribe

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And as always, you can find me labbing about other

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32:54

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33:00

enemy. What's

33:05

the Fear is