The Doors’ Jim Morrison pardoned for indecent exposure
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The Doors frontman Jim Morrison received a posthumous pardon for a 1969 indecent exposure conviction from the state of Florida on Thursday, one day after what would have been his 67th birthday.
Now, we here at the Ministry are more of the ‘Oh, a thousand pardons’ mind-set when it comes to hotties exposing themselves in public (via cellphone is a whole ‘nother story), but to hear it from Morrison’s bandmates, no gratuitous beefcake moment happened at the March 1969 show in Miami.
‘It never actually happened. It was mass hypnosis,’ keyboard player Ray Manzarek told the Associated Press.
Manzarek and guitarist Robby Krieger said Morrison’s behavior was influenced by an acting troupe that disrobed during plays.
‘He was just doing a mind trip — as they would say — a mind trip on the audience and they totally fell for it,’ Manzarek said.
Patricia Kennealy Morrison, author of ‘Strange Days: My Life With and Without Jim Morrison’ told CNN that even though fans had lobbied for the pardon, the singer wouldn’t have wanted it, because he hadn’t done anything wrong.
‘Since the original charges and trial were a publicity stunt to begin with, it doesn’t surprise me in the slightest that the pardon should follow in those footsteps,’ she said.
Also, she added: ‘Despite the fact that there were 10,000 people in the hall that night, funny thing, no one has a picture of the actual exposure of the Lizard King’s lizard.’
Morrison was convicted of public profanity and indecent exposure and sentenced to six months in jail and a $500 fine. He died of a heart attack in Paris in 1971, at age 27.
Hmm. Might it be that Florida Gov. Charlie Crist -- who started working on the pardon in 2007 and finally secured the support needed from the state clemency board -- is simply a fan of indecent exposure himself?
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-- Christie D’Zurilla
[For the record, 8:06 a.m. Friday: Speaking of mind trips -- an earlier version of this post referred to author Patricia Kennealy Morrison as Jim Morrison’s wife. No legal marriage was recorded. Thanks to commenters @Q and @karen dapello for flagging that stupid gaffe/cdz]
