March 1, 1969 the Doors walked out onto the Dinner Key Auditorium’s shifty stage. The Miami ‘concert hall’ was more aptly described as an old airport hangar who’s 8,000 seat venue was oversold by 5,000 tickets. As The 27s describes, “Mr. Morrison was already drunk from a long day spent in airports and on planes, and he took to the scene like a bothered hornet.”

What occurred next has gone down as music legend. (Read the full account at the end of this posting). In the end, Jim’s wrongful arrest caused not only Morrison and the Door’s career to suffer, but any band that assimilated with them.

Well, this past Friday (December 10th) Jim was given a posthumously pardon from Florida’s state clemency board.

A complete statement by Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida, which was read by the governor during the clemency board meeting, appears below:

Remarks by
GOVERNOR CHARLIE CRIST
to the Florida Board of Executive Clemency
Tallahassee, Florida

December 9, 2010

In this case, guilt or innocence is in God’s hands, not ours. That is why I ask my colleagues today to pardon Jim Morrison.

(Excerpt taken from The 27s, written by Eric Segalstad.)

After “Light My Fire,” the requisite crowd pleaser, Jim urged the crowd to come up on stage. “Let’s get on up here! No limits! No laws! Come on. COMMMME OOOON!” Dozens of people crawled up. Off mike he asked some of the kids if they wanted to see his cock. He unbuckled his belt while Ray, John, and Robbie watched in shock and fear.

The stage became rapidly tumultuous. Hundreds of camera flashes documented what ensued. Road manager Vince Treanor held up Morrison’s pants by the waistband—he says the singer didn’t attempt to pull the pants down. The promoters rushed to the stage; one of the brothers attempted to take the microphone, but Jim pushed him away; the other retaliated by flipping him into the audience. Not missing a beat, Jim led the crowd in a chaotic whirlpool around the dark, filthy hangar. “It was Dionysus calling forth the snakes,” Ray Manzarek described years later, referring to a myth about the Greek god of wine and intoxication.

A few days after the Doors’ disastrous Miami show, a young reporter for the Miami Herald wrote an article about the concert that claimed Morrison had exposed himself and incited a riot. The reporter’s vendetta gained momentum after he quizzed the city’s police chief on what he planned to do about the rock star’s sordid antics. Ignited by the inquiries, the chief summoned the troops, and the incident quickly reverberated.

Miami’s self-styled moral protectors protested the Doors’ performance with a “Rally for Indecency” that was attended by the city’s archdiocese and comedian Jackie Gleason. President Nixon took the time to send a letter of support.

At the end of March ’69, the FBI contacted Morrison’s lawyer with a warrant signed by a federal judge for his arrest. Jim had left the state before any charges had been filed, yet the warrant cited interstate flight. Never mind that not one of the innumerable cameras that went off when Jim supposedly exposed himself actually captured anything indecent. Driven by lust for re-election and national notoriety, the Dade County prosecutor wanted to set an example, but Jim’s lawyer knew what to do. By prior arrangement Jim was booked by the FBI office in Los Angeles and released a few minutes later on $5,000 bail.

With a new direction in life, Jim didn’t worry too much about the non-legal repercussions from what supposedly happened in Florida—he left that to the rest of the Doors machinery. A flood of cancellations followed a dire warning by the Concert Halls Management Association. Radio stations dropped The Doors from airplay for the remainder of the year. Unfortunately the anti-Doors campaign affected other bands as well.

In mid-March, the Grateful Dead’s management was informed that the group’s upcoming show in Miami was canceled because the local promoters believed the two bands were of the same ilk. A few months later Janis Joplin was busted for profanity in Tampa, Florida. During the show the police demanded that the audience sit still in their seats. When the request went unheeded a policeman walked up on stage and blew a foghorn during “Summertime.” Janis flipped, and after the show she oozed with profanities toward a backstage cop. The blowout earned her two indictments for “vulgar and indecent language.” The affair was eventually settled with a fine, but it had a negative impact on her bookings as well.” (To continue reading, pick up a copy of The 27s today!)

Jim Morrison (“The Lizard King”)

Born: December 8, 1943, in Melbourne, Florida
Died: July 3, 1971, in Paris, France
Band: The Doors

A self-styled “erotic politician,” James Douglas Morrison was a creative soul, a loud drunk, and a fantastic entertainer who knew how to push the buttons of individuals, an audience, and society at large. The Doors worked hard at the Whiskey Go Go in Los Angeles. Jim’s early stage presence was poor, but as the band grew tighter he grew comfortable with the role.

“Light My Fire” sealed the band’s success and Jim was lauded as a mysterious Greek god and featured in teeny magazines. Morrison quickly grew tired of the success and wanted to be viewed as a filmmaker and poet. His lyrics for the Doors touched on subjects such as the meaningless war in Vietnam (“Unknown Soldier”), ecology (“When The Music’s Over”), and sketches from his life and imagination (“LA Woman,” “The End,” “Riders on the Storm”)

In 1969, after a concert in Miami, Morrison was accused of exposing himself on stage. The charges were ridiculous, witnesses dubious, and the trail bore strong markings of a farce. He was eventually let go with a fine, but he was done with his leather clad show biz persona. Jim Morrison gained weight, grew a beard, wrote poetry, directed a movie, and moved to Paris. One morning his girlfriend Pamela found him dead in the bathtub of the Paris apartment they shared. The official cause of death was heart failure. Morrison apparently did heroin the night of his death, and there are several conspiracy theories surrounding his death (i.e. did he really OD in the bathroom at the Rock & Roll Circus?).

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