You'd Look Better With a Raptor...

psychojello:

ohcamil:

circlesky66:

ohcamil:

circlesky66:

psychojello:

roseofcimarron replied to your post: roseofcimarron replied to your post: Jim Morrison…

I agree, I think Jim was just an awful, awful drunk but Brian had huge problems that went beyond any kind of addiction. I think it’s very telling that Marianne Faithfull and Keith Richards had…

I’ve heard a few people say that Jim could be a nice guy when he was sober. The thing is, he was rarely sober. He wasn’t much of a scenester in LA to start with, and I think his drunken antics alienated him even further from those people. Those cooler-than-thou famous hippie types were (supposedly) into drugs like pot and acid because they expanded your consciousness and made you more creative. Most viewed alcohol as the drug of choice for Middle America, for your mom and dad, not for “enlightened” types such as themselves. (These high ideals came crashing down in the 70’s when cocaine came on the scene, of course). Jim’s ambition (and this is not hyperbole) was to be an old-fashioned, drunken reprobate poet. That doesn’t exactly fit in with the trippy flower-power crowd. Most in LA seemed to be scared of him and since he was a huge a-hole when he was drunk that didn’t help his reputation any.

I always think that if he could have quit drinking and grown up a bit, Jim might have been ok. I don’t know. 

It’s funny you mention the drinking thing; Judy Collins talks about making herself drink wine because it was acceptable although what she really wanted was some “hard” liquor but, yeah, that was not considered “cool” in the late 60s LA scene.

One of the stories I’ve read about Jim involves him being a real jerk to a server in a bar - he grabs her by the hair and yanks her down to him because he wants another drink.  And she does what should be acceptable to ANYONE in that kind of circumstance and puts the fear in him but because he’s a jackhole he has her fired for it.  And word gets around and eventually she ends up getting a record company job as an apology from his handlers and over time Jim feels guilty and tries to make up for it and I guess she decides he’d kind of okay after all.

I don’t really believe that alcohol “makes” anyone do anything (although I do believe that about some other drugs) but I do think it definitely lowers the inhibitions and eats away the filters so that it’s the worst of people that ends up on display and not their best.

He had some great insight into the world as a whole but I don’t think he had a lot of inner sight.  Maybe he would’ve gone on to be a decent person (a lot of guys who were total  jackholes then have since aged into pretty okay people) but maybe not.  It’s hard to say.

I read that story about the server -I think she worked at the Troubador - and Jim actually called her at her record company job and talked to her for an hour (She had to keep putting him on hold to answer other calls). She told him his behavior was fucked up and that he needed to stop drinking and he was saying “Yeah, you’re right, I know”. Kind of sad, actually. That was one incident he seemed to honestly regret but it didn’t make him stop, either. Maybe even without booze he might have been self-destructive. He used to do crazy shit like jump out of windows and out of moving cars, so maybe that was a sign of deeper issues or maybe just Stupid Macho Jackass Syndrome.

He was a complex guy for sure and an interesting one (from a distance!). I can’t imagine anyone having a deep relationship with him, though some did - he seems like he would be a difficult person to love sometimes. 

For some reason I was thinking it was the Whisky but yeah, I think you’re right, it’s the Troub.  (Too lazy to reach down and pick up my Nook, I have a book on it that contains this story.) Adding this story to many others I’ve read or heard about Jim, I get the feeling that he definitely was a huge thrill seeker.  That doesn’t have to get someone in trouble, there are so many healthy ways to channel that impulse but I don’t know if it even dawned on Jim to try going that route. 

I’m TOTALLY with you here on that he would be a hard person to love.  I think of him as I do a few people I’ve known - someone for whom I’ve had genuine admiration and affection but also a need to keep at arm’s length at all times.  

Word to all of this ^^

Old conversation, but it piqued my interest because I’ve considered it before. While I’m not an expert, a lot of Jaco (Pastorius’) shall we say similar “antics” were later diagnosed as bipoloar disorder. But that wasn’t until 1982…  Not saying alcohol wasn’t the major contributing factor to Jim’s behavior, but in compound with something like m/d just makes it worse.