[Shelby68]

Thanks for the info on the Paris notebook. I wonder how much it sold for. I guess Jim's 1968 notebook is owned by a private collector as well. Please lord, let me win the Powerball...

The bisexual angle pursued by Davis really does seem like someone with an agenda to put forward. I'm not biased against any sexual persuasion, but Jim was so obviously heterosexual. It wouldn't alter my admiration of Morrison in the least if he experimented or whatever (it was the 60's!) but there's so far not been credible information that he was anything but het.

The more biographies I read, the more it seems that what the reader actually learns about is the writer, almost moreso than the subject.

[Shebang]

Davis is way off the mark in his assertions, considering the fact that he never met Jim Morrison. Those who did know him deny Davis' allegations.

http://www.contactmusic.com/new/xmlfeed.ns....-says-manzarek

THE DOORS keyboard player RAY MANZAREK has rubbished claims in a new book that the band's late frontman JIM MORRISON was bisexual.

Manzarek has slammed author STEPHEN DAVIS for allegations in his tome JIM MORRISON: LIFE, DEATH that Morrison enjoyed intimate relationships with both men and women.

He says, "I saw him with lots of girls but no men. If Jim was bisexual, he did a brilliant job of hiding it.

"I never had sex with Jim and to the best of my knowledge neither did anyone else in the band."

01/07/2004 14:04

It's one thing to write a biography that reveals new insights into a person's character, but what Davis did in this book was attempt to put the most lurid spin he could on rumors that had no basis in fact. Like the disgusting allegations Davis repeats about the Admiral. Or his retelling of a story about Jim hitting his head on the low ceiling at the Ondine nightclub, and passing out. Davis claimed that somebody backstage who "may or may not have been a drag queen" molested Jim and gave him a blow job while he was passed out unconscious. Which doesn't prove anything about Jim, but says a lot about the people who spread this rumor.

[Shelby68]

Well, he does quote Doors booking agent Todd Schiffman as saying he (Schiffman) saw Jim and Michael McClure at some gay parties in Hollywood, and assumed they were a couple. C'est la vie. What gay man *doesn't* assume nearly every other man is gay or open to persuading I keed! I have 2 gay brothers.

In other news, Davis claims (and someone on the IMDB - Internet Movie Database affirms it) that Jim appears as an uncredited extra in Agnes Varda's celebrated film Lions Love. Jim plays a theatre patron. I haven't been able to find that film on Amazon (US or UK), Netflix, etc. I don't even know if it ever came out on DVD or VHS for that matter. I'd sure like to get my hands on it though.

[Dandelion]

Davis is way off the mark in his assertions, considering the fact that he never met Jim Morrison. Those who did know him deny Davis' allegations.

http://www.contactmusic.com/new/xmlfeed.ns....-says-manzarek



It's one thing to write a biography that reveals new insights into a person's character, but what Davis did in this book was attempt to put the most lurid spin he could on rumors that had no basis in fact. Like the disgusting allegations Davis repeats about the Admiral. Or his retelling of a story about Jim hitting his head on the low ceiling at the Ondine nightclub, and passing out. Davis claimed that somebody backstage who "may or may not have been a drag queen" molested Jim and gave him a blow job while he was passed out unconscious. Which doesn't prove anything about Jim, but says a lot about the people who spread this rumor.

Davis must have been trying to be funny, too.

[Shebang]

This review of the Davis book from Amazon is right on the money

http://www.amazon.com/review/R1UD63VTZSPCNP

Disappointing Derivative Biography, January 16, 2009
By Jym Cherry "Writing Under The Influence of Rock 'n' Roll www.jymsbooks.com"

The program for this evening is not new, you've seen this entertainment through and through.
-Jim Morrison.

Stephen Davis is the author of the acclaimed Led Zeppelin biography Hammer of the Gods, so it was probably a no-brainer for someone to think he would write the definitive biography of Doors singer Jim Morrison. Unfortunately, that's not what happened. Jim Morrison is a derivative biography relying on the interview and research of previous biographies. It was the Morrison biography No One Here Gets Out Alive that got me excited about The Doors. However, this book provokes no such excitement about The Doors. At times, it doesn't even seem as if Davis gave The Doors catalog a thorough listening as he claims that on Roadhouse Blues Lonnie Brooks played guitar and that you can hear Morrison yell "do it Lonnie, do it!" when it's clearly "do it Robby, do it!" Referring to Doors guitarist Robby Krieger. When Davis does seem to show up for the writing of this biography, it's to claim Jim Morrison was a closeted homosexual based on the evidence that he hung out with some famous homosexual poets. This, at best, seems ridiculous. I bought this book when it first came out. After reading it, I gave the book to a cute girl neither of which I saw again. It's unfortunate about the girl.

[rhymin_reason]

This review of the Davis book from Amazon is right on the money

http://www.amazon.com/review/R1UD63VTZSPCNP

Lonnie Mack played on Roadhouse Blues. Not Lonnie Brooks.

[jim4371]

Yea and he played bass, not lead guitar. That is a claim Lonnie makes himself.
The reviewer probably confused Harvey Brooks and Lonnie Mack.

[Shebang]

Lonnie Mack played on Roadhouse Blues. Not Lonnie Brooks.

Yes, but the point he is trying to make is that Jim said "Do it Robby", not "Do it Lonnie". The Davis book is the source of this misinformation, and it has since been spread to Wikipedia and other sites.

Other Davis misinformation about Jim Morrison has also been picked up by Wikipedia. (see below)

http://infao5501.ag5.mpi-sb.mpg.de:8080/to...1.xml&style

[jim4371]

Yes, but the point he is trying to make is that Jim said "Do it Robby", not "Do it Lonnie". The Davis book is the source of this misinformation, and it has since been spread to Wikipedia and other sites.

Other Davis misinformation about Jim Morrison has also been picked up by Wikipedia. (see below)

http://infao5501.ag5.mpi-sb.mpg.de:8080/to...1.xml&style

The Davis book just took errors from other sources (in this case Lonnie Mack's own word) and repeated them.

[Hamlet]

- Davis is the most credible book of them all.- Because he describes the genius Morrison was, good and bad. Very, very cool!

[Shebang]

- Davis is the most credible book of them all.- Because he describes the genius Morrison was, good and bad. Very, very cool!

So does John Densmore's book.

[GG Morrison]

Davis SO wants Jim to be gay.

Why doesn't he write a juicy fan fiction and get it out of his system?

[queenhwy]

Davis SO wants Jim to be gay.

Why doesn't he write a juicy fan fiction and get it out of his system?

He wants/wishes to be gay with Jim. That's the true story behind it!!

GG, where ya been? People were asking around for you!

[Salli]

- Davis is the most credible book of them all.- Because he describes the genius Morrison was, good and bad. Very, very cool!

Davis just copied from others. There are no original thoughts there.

Densmore's book captures Jim better, genius and all.


Welcome back G.G.

[Hamlet]

So does John Densmore's book.

the problem w/ that book, is that he clearly dislikes Morrison. Even though Morrison made Densmore a millionaire.

[BallroomDays67]

The big selling point on the flap AND the back cover is that Jim was a "bisexual omnivore"….and yet, the so-called "evidence" he supplies to back up that fact is to point to another author’s book (a book which, incidentally, removed that little juicy nugget from future printings).

Why was it removed? Was it the story involving Max Fink?

[QueenOfTheHighway71]

This is my first time here.
I really would like to know which book about Jim has the most credibility? I'd prefer to say: Light My Fire from Ray Manzarek, because he was the one who was there in the beginning. But when I read that Ray still thinks that Jim is still alive and living on an island(I guess he is joking!), than I start to wonder.. What is your opinion?

[Shebang]

This is my first time here.
I really would like to know which book about Jim has the most credibility? I'd prefer to say: Light My Fire from Ray Manzarek, because he was the one who was there in the beginning. But when I read that Ray still thinks that Jim is still alive and living on an island(I guess he is joking!), than I start to wonder.. What is your opinion?

Ray's book The Poet in Exile is clearly labeled as fiction. It is his fantasy about Jim, that's all. It has a lot of scolding in it, and in that context, Ray is very honest in writing about how he really feels about Jim's destructive lifestyle. His book Light My Fire is much more forgiving and sympathetic about Jim's personal issues. John Densmore's book Riders on the Storm is less sympathetic, but at the same time he is more honest about his feelings about Jim's lifestyle. John didn't need to write a second book for the scolding like Ray did. Both John and Ray's nonfiction books are credible, John's seems a bit more credible to me, but to get the full picture of what really happened within the group you need to read Ray's book as well.

The best biography written by a non member of the group is Break on Through by Riordan & Prochnicky. Very comprehensive, it has a lot of interview quotes, lots of well researched background info, and doesn't rely on sensationalistic made-up crap like the Davis book.

[jymwrite]

the problem w/ that book, is that he clearly dislikes Morrison. Even though Morrison made Densmore a millionaire.

Where do you get that? I reread the book recently, & he may be mad at Morrison for being self-destructive, and being mad at someone for dying is almost a typical reaction of survivors. The book also quite clearly details episodes where John & Jim are hanging out together. & for the recent contretremps of Ray Robby & John, they all contributed to the success of The Doors. Do you believe anybody would be discussing the poetry of Jim Morrison had he not been a rock star? Except for maybe in academic circles.

[Shebang]

Where do you get that? I reread the book recently, & he may be mad at Morrison for being self-destructive, and being mad at someone for dying is almost a typical reaction of survivors. The book also quite clearly details episodes where John & Jim are hanging out together. & for the recent contretremps of Ray Robby & John, they all contributed to the success of The Doors. Do you believe anybody would be discussing the poetry of Jim Morrison had he not been a rock star? Except for maybe in academic circles.

Exactly. And without the musical talents of John, Ray & Robby, Jim wouldn't have become a big rock star at all. He would have sounded more like Jomo and the Smoothies.