F#&%ing the Crocodile

OK, bear with me a moment here. The introductory paragraph is a little weird but the meaning will become clear shortly.

Joe Boyd - producer of classic albums by Fairport Convention, Richard Thompson, Sandy Denny, Nick Drake, the Incredible String band, Ivo Papasov, and many others - recently wrote a book entitled "White Bicycles: Making Music in the 1960s." (Highly recommended; his other big claim to fame is actually setting up the sound system the night Dylan went electric in 1965, and he provides a definitive, first-person account of the ensuing controversy.) Anyway, he writes about a decision he once made to explore Scientology - not because he intended to convert, but because he wanted to better understand friends and colleagues who had already converted. There was no way to casually learn about Scientology; you had to dive in head-first. He compared it to a William Burroughs story about a man searching for enlightenment who consulted a rainforest shaman said to know a ceremony that would unlock all the secrets of the universe. It turns out that the ceremony involved "fucking the sacred crocodile." So, Joe Boyd decided to fuck the sacred crocodile, learn all he could about Scientology, and hopefully make a safe escape once the ceremony was over.

My computer experience is pretty much limited to turning the damn thing on and off, using simple business software, sending emails, surfing the web, and of course checking in on this blog. I have no knowledge about digitally capturing, restoring, and preserving audio and/or video material related to KCAC and early KDKB. Therefore, in the past week or so, I have been consulting, via private emails, with other KCAC Lives! bloggers about buying a computer set-up that would let me do so. I received much good advice, but there was no consistent set of answers that I could translate into a particular plan of action.

Therefore, I have decided to fuck the sacred crocodile. Based on (or in spite of) the advice of many helpful people, today I went out and bought a computer and related products that will, I hope, allow me to finally get to the job at hand. I went to Fry's Electronics here in Tempe and purchased the following items:

(1) A Hewlett Packard Pavilion a1700n computer with an AMD Anthlon 64X2 Dual-Core Processor, 250GB hard-drive storage, and 1024 MB PC2-2400 DDR2 SDRAM. (If anybody knows what that last bit means, please tell me.)

(2) An Envision H190L 19-inch monitor.

(3) A Pinnacle Studio MovieBox that will supposedly allow me to convert analog video to digital, provide assorted editing and enhancement software, and allow me to burn the results to DVD. (It also has some limited audio-related functions, but it is essentially a video-oriented product.)

(4) An Internet Media Recorder that can record streaming audio and/or video off the Web.

Please notice that I did NOT buy any audio-oriented software yet. This is primarily because there are several types out there that I want to research before choosing, and also because none of them indicated (at least on the box artwork) that they had speed-correction capabilities (critical to preserving the 1 7/8th IPS tapes provided by Jeff and Jennifer Crawford). The three audio software packages I've looked at so far are Cakewalk Pyro 5, SoundForge Audio Station, and Majix Audio Cleaning 11 Lab. If anybody can recommend one over the other, or some entirely different software product, please let me know.

The above is NOT a perfect, ideal, top-end collection of hardware and software; it is what I could almost afford that also seems capable of doing what I need it to do. The choice of the HP computer was largely a matter of cost - it's a refurbished unit sold at about 60% of the cost of comparable new models. I managed to walk out of the store for just under $1000, which was my upper limit

Anyway, comments and suggestions are welcome. There will be a rather steep learning curve for me, but I hope to get some grasp on the process by the end of June, and get started in earnest on the KCAC tapes later in the summer.

Tom

Recognize these guys?

I think it was April 1970. At the Janis Joplin concert at what is now called Diablo stadium. That's Ron Harris (aka Papa Eric on KCAC) on the left, and yours truly Marty Manning in the flag shirt. We were doing a really dumb comedy routine as the Captain America Repertory Company (Chapter 2). Bob Gately was the promoter, with the James Cotton Blues Band as the opening act. I met Janis briefly backstage and she gave me a shot of her Southern Comfort with a bite of her apple as a chaser. A few months later, she was gone.

Thanks to Tom Story for the photos

WHAT DID THEY KNOW? WHEN DID THEY KNOW IT?

THE FIRESIGN THEATRE

HOW COULD THEY POSSIBLY KNOW That the Nazi Party would win World War II sixty years later - not with a military victory but with a slow erosion of the political structure of America - from Within?

How did they know that SHOES FOR INDUSTRY would fashion the social structure of the 1950's, 60's... right up to current times? HOW COULD THEY POSSIBLY HAVE KNOWN that this nation once divided - would assume that it was Jewish?

How IS George Bushed? Why does he not ride his bicycle anymore? It's in the script - next to the cream cheese. WHY NOT invite him into the "real" skull & bones society?

Firesign Theatre
Were Bringing the War Back Home Lyrics

----------------------------------
We're bringing the war back home
Where it ought to have been before!
We'll kill all the bees
And spiders and flies
And we wont play in iceboxes lying on their sides
We'll wash our hands after wee-wee.
And if we're a girl, before!
And we'll march,march,march, et cetera!
'Til we never do march no more!
(All together, now, boys!)
We're bringing the war back home
Where it ought to have been before!
The pretty donut girl on the corner
Will be smilin' with a wringer in her hair!
We'll wash our hands after wee-wee,
And if we're a girl before!
And we'll march, march, march, et cetera!
'Till we don't have to march no more
(Hum along now...)
We won't have to March!
We won't have to March!
We won't have to March no more!

▄▀▄▀▄▀▄ THE LIST ▄▀▄▀▄▀▄

To tune your computer to Radio Free Phoenix, click the headline above and OPEN the stream file when presented with options. Dial-up streams will be in mono on both channels.

"We are not gathered here to find a purpose - The Purpose has found us and gathered us together here."

NEW FEATURE!
[[[Click here]]] to email your party invitation or other communications to everyone shown on "The List" at the same time!
~
Adams, Lynne
Alves, Jack
Apicella, John
Arizona Music and Entertainment Hall Of Fame
Arnold, Linda
Bailey, Jim
Baldwin, Mike
Baldwin, Russ
Beals,Ken (AMEHOF)
Bowen, Ray
Bell, Bob Boze
Bennett, Fran
Bentley, Connie
Bethancourt, Joe
Botkin, Jim
Boyle, Liz (AMEHOF/Radio Free Phoenix)
Bradychocks, Julie
Cahal, John (REBIRTH) (private - contact vagabondvet)
Carroll, Todd
Carter, Marsha
Carver, Sue
Clark, Doug
Collins, Michael
Compton, Bill (R.I.P.)
Compton-Glenn, Carole
Cookenboo, Hank (R.I.P.)
Covington, Dan
Crazy (Jan Isbell)(R.I.P.)
Curry. Robert S.
Curtis, Mike
Davis, Marc (TERROS)
DeGray, Helen
Deerhake, David
Dickinson, Ted
Dixon, John [Johnny D[\] (AMEHOF)
Drake George F. (Springfield, Mass?)
Dunn, Bob
Emery, Vince
English, Alton
English, Jerry "Magic"
Fendelman, Jane
Fenimore, David
Flannigan, Julie
Fleming, Mariah (AMEHOF)
Frank, Bruce (REBIRTH FOUNDER)
Frank, Raman (REBIRTH)
Frank, Gregg (REBIRTH - Contact Bruce Frank)
Friedman, Barry
Frieflander, Karen
Galindo, Alicia
Gant, Pegi {Cookenboo}
Garneau, Joe (REBIRTH FOUNDER.)
Garneau, Larry (REBIRTH)
Garneau, Michelle (REBIRTH) (private - contact vagabondvet)
Gately, Bill (R.I.P.)
Gately, Bob cowboysonmars.com
Geist, Barry (REBIRTH)
Goodman, Mike
Grieger, Kathy (contact through Bruce Frank)
Griffin, Dan
Harris, Ron (Eric) 'Pappa'
Harris, Sue Fenner
Harshberger, Dan
Herbert, Kimmer
Holmes, Chuck
Hoyle, Rich
Johnson, Don
Johnson, June
Johnson, Mike (REBIRTH)
Jones, Scott
Kerr, Jon (KCAC/KDKB)
Kinsey, Gary "Toad Hall" (R.I.P.)
Kinsey, Filipa
Kitchell, Nancy
Kollassa, Mike
Koors, Tim
Kothrade, Michael (REBIRTH)
Lange, Patrick
Lederman, Cindy
Lehr, Bob
Magahern, Jimmy (KCAC LIVES!)
Manning, Marty (KCAC/KDKB)
Martin, Peter
McBroom, Dennis (KDKB)
McCarty, Chris
McCarty, Steve
Meighan, Bob
Mell, Ed
Migdoll, Susan
Moody, Kim (ALWUN HOUSE)
Morrison, Barbara
Murray, Jim
Nadworney, Nina "Nina Joy"
Niccolson, Scott (KCAC/KDKB)
Norton, Virginia
Nussbaum,Belle "Belle Starr"
Nykanan, Mark
Olson, Andy (RADIO FREE PHOENIX FOUNDER)
Olson, Hans (AMEHOF)
P.J.
Paceley, Ken
Page, Daniel "vagabondvet" (REBIRTH)
Peterson, Linda (REBIRTH)
Peterson, Marsha
Porter, Sharon Elaine
Powell, Lee
Price, Bill
Pyle, Slagge T. (KDKB)
Radina, Kathy
Rameesh
Robb, Gary (R.I.P.)
Robertson, John (KDKB)
Robinson, Duane (REBIRTH)
Rogers, Bob
Rogers, Rich
Roland. Ed
Schneider, Sue
Shaw, Russell "Wonderful Russ"
Schecter, Eric
Skaggs, Ken - (AMEHOF Vice President)
Slagle, Bonnie
Smith, Doug
Smith, Erica
Soderquist, George (R.I.P.)
Soderquist, Skio
Stratton, Ted
Sussman, Terri (AMEHOF President)
Sweet, Cheryl
Thomson, Betty
Thomson, Ray (Private - see Freespeak@gmai.com )
Thompson, Linda
Thrift, Bill (TERROS)
Tindle, Dwight www.dwightindle.com (KDKB FOUNDER) (R.I.P.)
Usry, Kent
Vascocu, Tommy
Wakefield, Ken
Wales, Lissa www.drumpics.com (R.I.P.)
Webb, Kevin (DO IT NOW FOUNDATION) (R.I.P.)
Whitener, Kasey
Wortham, Ron (KCAC/KDKB)
Wright, Tom
Zelisko, Dan

Please leave a comment to kcaclives@gmail.com to have information added, updated, edited or deleted. Clicking hyperlinked (underlined) names will launch an email to that person. Have a great day!

If you are an anonymous [new] poster or reader with memories, tapes, pictures, wine, food, love and would like to be added to The List, please drop a line to kcaclives@gmail.com kcaclives@gmail.com to be added. You can email your contribution or inquiry the first time and we will send you an invitation to join the conversation with our merry band of regular posters. All you need is a memory, picture, tape or hug - to share.

The List has become a reference point for memories and emails to old friends. It also has become kind of a Social Register and will be something of a reference list for reunions and such in the future. Not only that, SOMEONE - maybe someone special from the old days, MAY be trying to find YOU.

Link / computer advice?

Hi all -

Mariah: great article about Lissa, but... am I missing somethink or is there no link to the photos?

On another matter: I'm currently bidding (on EBay) for a vintage tape recorder with the proper playback speed for the Crawford Collection of KCAC tapes. I'm also looking into a computer system that is compatible with high-end audio recording, restoration, and storage. Ron Wortham teels me to seriously consider a Mac - and I am - but based on my limited investigations so far it looks like the iMac 24-inch model would be the best (250 GB hard drive with optional 500 or 750 GB upgrades). Trouble is, that set-up costs $2000, which is about double what I'd hoped to pay (I won't say "afford" because I can't "afford" anything right now, except by going deeper into credit-card hell). Anybody out there got some advice on a cost-effective audio work station?

Thanks,

Tom

***LISSA WALE'S PHOTOS AVAILABLE***

How many photographers receive tributes from music icons, current rock and roll heroes all the way back to Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr? Annie Leibowitz leaps to mind, of course. And in the music industry, so does the name Lissa Wales. You'd all know it too, if Lissa's vibrant life had not been cut short in October 2005 after her 18 month battle with acute myelogenic leukemia.

If you love music, you'll love Lissa Wales photos. In the world of rock and roll she's legend. That is not exaggeration; just Google her to find out. Lissa photographed virtually every famous-to-mega star drummer you can think of in the last couple of decades.

Since Lissa left us for a loftier rock and roll universe, I can't count how many times people from all over the world have asked 'What happened to Lissa's rock and roll photos?" Now I'm glad to report that under the guiding hands of her loved ones, Lissa Wale's website at www.drumpics.com has been lovingly updated and features a really cool 2007 "Lissa Wales Tribute Calendar" of fantastic drummer pictures (proceeds for sales of the calendar go to the City of Hope bone marrow transplant center in Phoenix.)

For fans and collectors alike, Lissa's portfolio is the Mother Lode. Her immense collection of drummer pictures (of which only a small fraction are featured on the site so far) are rare up close and personal shots of virtually every famous drummer of the last several decades. Plus she gives an inside look at her work.

Click on one of the many images to read her entertaining and endearing descriptions of these photo shoots, as well as her comments about the photos. It's a bittersweet but truly uplifting experience to see these photos and to read what Lissa has to say about them.

Let's keep Lissa's legacy of work alive. We're lucky to have these musical fingerprints from the world of rock and roll. Lissa's photos are emotion in motion. You can have a unique piece of this rock and roll history. Check it out. These are the real deal, so rock and roll!!

God is Alive, Magic is Afoot.

For more info contact KCAC Lives!

MY GENERATION F**KS - YOUR GENERATION S**KS

LIVE EARTH IS GOING TO BE A MONSTER THIS JULY
But you have to wonder WHERE are they gonna spend all that money - give it to commuters and truck drivers to stay parked? Give it to Al Gore to shut up? WHAT DO YOU DO with all those millions? Research on what to do to control global warming? Give it to China so we can buy more barium for chemtrails?

Of course there is the cost of advertising and promotion, staging, executive salaries, taxes, portable toilets, bank charges, vendors fees, transportation and lodgng, costumes and utilities. And oh yes - legal fees.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The rocker, who used to sing about my g-generation, added: "My answer is to burn all the f***ing oil as quick as possible and then the politicians will have to find a solution.” CLICK THE HEADLINE FOR THE REST OF THE STORY AND A CURRENT PIC.

SMOKING VS. MICROWAVE POPCORN

So you take a carton of cigarettes - good ones - without the addictive chemicals... You take a full case of microwave popcorn, plus some margarine and buttery-flavor salt and some of that whipped spread in a tub that looks and tastes like butter.. and you give it all to some fool to consume.

He comes down with lung cancer and dies. So you pass a law to get them nasty-smelling cigarettes outlawed. 'Course the guy is DEAD now so it doesn't matter.

Proved your point - right? Have some popcorn.

CLICK THE HEADLINE.

HELP WANTED

Courtesy of Wunnerful Russ.

Communes for grown folks

I'm working on a story for Phoenix Magazine about the "co-housing movement" around Arizona. According to a story in AARP (yes, our generation has gone from coverage in Rolling Stone to AARP), "In cohousing, the residents themselves plan their communities and choose the appearance. They own their own units and divide duties for maintenance, gardening and other chores. And they rotate responsibilities for fixing meals that are shared two or three times a week in a community building."
Sounds like an updated version of the communes of the 60's - which I know some of y'all lived in. If you'd like to offer some comments for this article (both on what that kind of scene was like in the 60's and what might be good about it today), please drop me a line at fishcough@gmail.com.
Thanks!
-Jimmy

FOUR DEAD IN OHIO - AUDIOTAPE RELEASED

CLICK THE HEADLINE FOR THE CBS STORY
ALSO
http://www.may4.org

POLITICAL ACTIVISM HOMEWORK 1 of 4

KCAC and the spirit thereof, was hugely involved in Political Activism. It was a different era, a different war, a different time - which recalls that old, tired saying; "Those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it"

As gawdawful TRITE as that old saying is, it echos down through the years and lifetimes of those we loved, as an echo that seems to be gaining in volume by the day. Think of it as echos in an open-mike feedback loop, growing louder and louder until you can't stand it anymore. Now apply that same principal to History Repeating Itself - Deja'Vu. We DIDN'T learn from it. We sold out. We dropped our guards, assuming that a military victory meant the end of The War. Wrong.

Now, we have TWO FULL GENERATIONS of younger people who don't realize what is SUPPOSED to be theirs. National Parks, highways, bridges, private properties, inheritances, water systems and much more that is being SOLD OFF without a vote or permission from anyone - to "International Corporations" (read Middle Easterners).

For reasons we don't understand YET we got involved in a hysteria that took us to Korea, Viet Nam, etc, etc, and now Afghanistan - er, Kuwait, er, Iran - No Iraq. War without end, Amen, Amen.

Meanwhile WE (you and I) are paying for the construction of an "American Embassy" in Iraq that when completed, will be bigger than The Vatican. Be sure to request your share of the deed.

In this 4-part POLITICAL ACTIVISM HOMEWORK series you can read some of the "COMPLETELY ABSURD CHARGES" circilating on the Internet having to do with the destruction of YOUR country - not from a military standpoint - but from WITHIN OUR OWN GOVERNMENT.

PERHAPS this is all just attention-grabbing bullshit. But there is REASON to use REASON in your own analysis - if nothing more than to use the freedom of your own reasoning powers, as an exercise. Right or wrong, this information is being suppressed. IF IT IS NOT TRUE, THEN WHY?

In this introductory homework, we go back to repeat what was essentially the only warning we got at the time, from exiting President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

CLICK THE HEADLINE

POLITICAL ACTIVISM HOMEWORK 2 of 4

The story of the Deathbed Comfession of E. Howard Hunt to his son Saint John Hunt - naming names, dates, places and conspiracies regarding the assasination of JFK. Sub-plots include miscellaneous Mafia figures, FBI Director J.Edgar Hoover, CIA Operative George Bush (One of two by that name) and - would you believe - Lyndon Baines Johnson.
CLICK THE HEADLINE

"The Wink". See agent to the left, facing LBJ.

POLITICAL ACTIVISM HOMEWORK 3 of 4

The influence and genealogy of the Nazi Party in America since WWII, purporting that GHW Bush is an imposter, planted by those who looted the talents and inventive genius of Nicoli Tesla.
CLICK THE HEADLINE

POLITICAL ACTIVISM HOMEWORK 4 of 4

Christian faction demanding Bush be impeached for Worshiping Satan
CLICK THE HEADLINE

▄▀▄▀▄▀▄ THE LIST ▄▀▄▀▄▀▄

To tune your computer to Radio Free Phoenix, click the headline above and OPEN the stream file when presented with options. Dial-up streams will be in mono on both channels.

"We are not gathered here to find a purpose - The Purpose has found us and gathered us together here."

NEW FEATURE!
[[[Click here]]] to email your party invitation or other communications to everyone shown on "The List" at the same time!
~
Adams, Lynne
Alves, Jack
Apicella, John
Arizona Music and Entertainment Hall Of Fame
Arnold, Linda
Bailey, Jim
Baldwin, Mike
Baldwin, Russ
Beals,Ken (AMEHOF)
Bowen, Ray
Bell, Bob Boze
Bennett, Fran
Bentley, Connie
Bethancourt, Joe
Botkin, Jim
Boyle, Liz (AMEHOF/Radio Free Phoenix)
Bradychocks, Julie
Cahal, John (REBIRTH) (private - contact vagabondvet)
Carroll, Todd
Carter, Marsha
Carver, Sue
Clark, Doug
Collins, Michael
Compton, Bill (R.I.P.)
Compton-Glenn, Carole
Cookenboo, Hank (R.I.P.)
Covington, Dan
Crazy (Jan Isbell)(R.I.P.)
Curry. Robert S.
Curtis, Mike
Davis, Marc (TERROS)
DeGray, Helen
Deerhake, David
Dickinson, Ted
Dixon, John [Johnny D[\] (AMEHOF)
Drake George F. (Springfield, Mass?)
Dunn, Bob
Emery, Vince
English, Alton
English, Jerry "Magic"
Fendelman, Jane
Fenimore, David
Flannigan, Julie
Fleming, Mariah (AMEHOF)
Frank, Bruce (REBIRTH FOUNDER)
Frank, Raman (REBIRTH)
Frank, Gregg (REBIRTH - Contact Bruce Frank)
Friedman, Barry
Frieflander, Karen
Galindo, Alicia
Gant, Pegi {Cookenboo}
Garneau, Joe (REBIRTH FOUNDER.)
Garneau, Larry (REBIRTH)
Garneau, Michelle (REBIRTH) (private - contact vagabondvet)
Gately, Bill (R.I.P.)
Gately, Bob cowboysonmars.com
Geist, Barry (REBIRTH)
Goodman, Mike
Grieger, Kathy (contact through Bruce Frank)
Griffin, Dan
Harris, Ron (Eric) 'Pappa'
Harris, Sue Fenner
Harshberger, Dan
Herbert, Kimmer
Holmes, Chuck
Hoyle, Rich
Johnson, Don
Johnson, June
Johnson, Mike (REBIRTH)
Jones, Scott
Kerr, Jon (KCAC/KDKB)
Kinsey, Gary "Toad Hall" (R.I.P.)
Kinsey, Filipa
Kitchell, Nancy
Kollassa, Mike
Koors, Tim
Kothrade, Michael (REBIRTH)
Lange, Patrick
Lederman, Cindy
Lehr, Bob
Magahern, Jimmy (KCAC LIVES!)
Manning, Marty (KCAC/KDKB)
Martin, Peter
McBroom, Dennis (KDKB)
McCarty, Chris
McCarty, Steve
Meighan, Bob
Mell, Ed
Migdoll, Susan
Moody, Kim (ALWUN HOUSE)
Morrison, Barbara
Murray, Jim
Nadworney, Nina "Nina Joy"
Niccolson, Scott (KCAC/KDKB)
Norton, Virginia
Nussbaum,Belle "Belle Starr"
Nykanan, Mark
Olson, Andy (RADIO FREE PHOENIX FOUNDER)
Olson, Hans (AMEHOF)
P.J.
Paceley, Ken
Page, Daniel "vagabondvet" (REBIRTH)
Peterson, Linda (REBIRTH)
Peterson, Marsha
Porter, Sharon Elaine
Powell, Lee
Price, Bill
Pyle, Slagge T. (KDKB)
Radina, Kathy
Rameesh
Robb, Gary (R.I.P.)
Robertson, John (KDKB)
Robinson, Duane (REBIRTH)
Rogers, Bob
Rogers, Rich
Roland. Ed
Schneider, Sue
Shaw, Russell "Wonderful Russ"
Schecter, Eric
Skaggs, Ken - (AMEHOF Vice President)
Slagle, Bonnie
Smith, Doug
Smith, Erica
Soderquist, George (R.I.P.)
Soderquist, Skio
Stratton, Ted
Sussman, Terri (AMEHOF President)
Sweet, Cheryl
Thomson, Betty
Thomson, Ray (Private - see Freespeak@gmai.com )
Thompson, Linda
Thrift, Bill (TERROS)
Tindle, Dwight www.dwightindle.com (KDKB FOUNDER) (R.I.P.)
Usry, Kent
Vascocu, Tommy
Wakefield, Ken
Wales, Lissa www.drumpics.com (R.I.P.)
Webb, Kevin (DO IT NOW FOUNDATION) (R.I.P.)
Whitener, Kasey
Wortham, Ron (KCAC/KDKB)
Wright, Tom
Zelisko, Dan

Please leave a comment to kcaclives@gmail.com to have information added, updated, edited or deleted. Clicking hyperlinked (underlined) names will launch an email to that person. Have a great day!

If you are an anonymous [new] poster or reader with memories, tapes, pictures, wine, food, love and would like to be added to The List, please drop a line to kcaclives@gmail.com kcaclives@gmail.com to be added. You can email your contribution or inquiry the first time and we will send you an invitation to join the conversation with our merry band of regular posters. All you need is a memory, picture, tape or hug - to share.

The List has become a reference point for memories and emails to old friends. It also has become kind of a Social Register and will be something of a reference list for reunions and such in the future. Not only that, SOMEONE - maybe someone special from the old days, MAY be trying to find YOU.

HEY ANDY - TURN THAT DAMN THING DOWN!

THE RIAA IS SNEAKNG INTERNET-RADIO LEGISLATION RIGHT IN THROUGH YOUR FEEDING TUBE. IT'S A BUST - SO WHAT'S NEW? CLICK THE HEADLINE FOR THE FREEP STORY

The Most Over-Rated Band of All Time>?

Yes, I'm talking about the Doors. Jim Morrison had a terrific voice and an intermittent gift for lyrics on the first album or two, then he sunk into a lot of self-indulgent bullcrap and alcohol-soaked gibberish. "The End" is widely considered his masterpiece - and it is, if you consider it a comic parody of "serious" late-60s poetry. "Father? Yes son? I want to kill you. Mother..." etc. Armchair Freudian shit, any high-schooler could come up with its equivalent. To the extent that the Doors were successful, it was usually when Morrison stifled his pretensions and just sang his dark but relatively accessible lyrics. Listen again to "Light My Fire;" that's a great BAND cooking behind him, and the words don't get in the way as they did later on. The Doors were, as a matter of fact, a "singles" band - a Top 40 act with a series of hits and a whole lot of album filler. A twisted version of Three Dog Night or similar professional entertainers. Robbie Krieger, Ray Manzarek, and John Densmore had as much to do with the band's best records as their drunken, self-obsessed front man.

Yeah, this is heresy, I know. I just don't buy into the Dead Jim cult, and I never did. You don't become an Important Artist by living recklessly and dying young. You do it by creating memorable, meaningful art regardless of your personal lifestyle or fate. Ask Neil Young. Ask Bob Dylan. Ask Frank Sinatra or Louis Armstrong. Or Billie Holiday or Hank Williams or Kurt Cobain or Nick Drake or Ronnie Van Zandt, who all died young but whose achievements have lasted in a way that, ultimately, Jim Morrison's don't. In my humble opinion. For what it's worth. As Neil Young might say: rust never sleeps, but it sure does corrode some people faster than others. Better to burn out than to fade away? Neil is living proof that you don't have to do EITHER.

By the way: second most over-rated band? The Eagles. None of them died tragically, but again, they produced only a few good singles and one OK-for-its-time album. Their fame and fortune have far outstripped the quality and significance of their music. Plus, they gave rise to the whole modern Nashville sound: by watering down both country and rock, they blended the worst of both, and for that alone they should burn in hell. Well, except for Joe Walsh, who is just a hired gunslinger but clearly the most talented of the bunch. And Don Henley's voice, which can work wonders when applied to the right material (but is a smug pain in the ass the rest of the time).

Third in line? Frank Zappa, with his endless sophomoric sex/excrement/drug jokes. I'm talking about Zappa the solo artist, not the early Mothers of Invention line-up with their brilliant social satire. Zappa had the real stuff as a guitarist and bandleader but he wasted far too much time and effort on shitty, smutty material.

That's all for now, but contact me anytime if you want to see more Sacred Icons of Rock (SIR's) tossed unceremoniously off their pedestals.

Tom

SAVE US! JESUS!

JIM MORRISON

Yeah, it ain't pretty. He looks pretty fucked-up. Having been in a lineup or two and having mugshots made, I can tell you that being photogenic and looking pretty for the camera is not the most important thing on your mind at the time.

What I am concerned with is the UNFAIR descriptions that have survived to this day of Jim Morrison being such a DARK charater of the hippie days. So maybe he was drunk out of his mind or stoned on anything handy but look at how he lived and what he SAID and where and when he SAID it - right in front of Barry Goldwater, LBJ, Nixon and Yo Mamma. He was ready to die for The Truth and that takes some guts. It also takes a lot of whiskey and smoke. As a famous guru once said; "Life is a long journey full of struggles and pain - get all the pussy you can".

I used to HEAR things wrongly while listening to music back in the old days.. especially songs that seemed to be covered in White Noise. Now I hear more clearly and while reading lyrics that have been heard and typed by others, I realize that they hear it differently too...

I believe Jim Morrison was a Christian. Not a Bible-thumping, finger-pointing antiquated jerk but a REAL Christian that called in Faith, for help - in some of his music. The lyrics below that are highlighted and notated, point out WHAT I PERSONALLY HEAR at the lines indicated. I call it to your attention because we need to get it right for history's sake.

There is THE WORD of God
and there is
The MEANING of the Word Of God.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When The Music's Over Lyrics
Artist(Band):The Doors

Yeah, c'mon
When the music's over
When the music's over, yeah
When the music's over
Turn out the lights
Turn out the lights
Turn out the lights, yeah
When the music's over
When the music's over
When the music's over
Turn out the lights
Turn out the lights
Turn out the lights
For the music is your special friend
Dance on fire as it intends
Music is your only friend
Until the end
Until the end
Until the end
Cancel my subscription to the Resurrection
Send my credentials to the House of Detention
I got some friends inside
The face in the mirror won't stop
The girl in the window won't drop
A feast of friends
"Alive!" she cried
Waitin' for me
Outside!
Before I sink
Into the big sleep
I want to hear
I want to hear
The scream of the butterfly
Come back, baby
Back into my arm
We're gettin' tired of hangin' around
Waitin' around with our heads to the ground
I hear a very gentle sound
Very near yet very far
Very soft, yeah, very clear
Come today, come today
What have they done to the earth?
What have they done to our fair sister?
Ravaged and plundered and ripped her and bit her
Stuck her with knives in the side of the dawn
And tied her with fences and dragged her down
I hear a very gentle sound
With your ear down to the ground
We want the world and we want it...
We want the world and we want it...
Now
Now?
Now!
Persian night, babe <<[WOULD YOU LIKE, BABE]
See the light, babe <<[TO SEE THE LIGHT, BABE]
Save us!
Jesus!
Save us!
So when the music's over
When the music's over, yeah
When the music's over
Turn out the lights
Turn out the lights
Turn out the lights
Well the music is your special friend
Dance on fire as it intends
Music is your only friend
Until the end
Until the end
Until the end!