Rupert Cornwell: ‘F Scott Fitzgerald’s novels are read by millions, but he was buried in near anonymity’ ind.pn/122DKEF

— The Independent (@Independent) May 12, 2013

A second wind for chapels in Père Lachaise

Along the tree-lined paths of Père Lachaise (20th), many funerary chapels are showing signs of cracks and rust. But this year, the cemetery is testing an innovative solution: Funerary chapels that accommodate the urns of eight families rather than the lineage of one family.

The objective is twofold: Make room for the increasing number of urns and restore abandoned chapels. Indeed, restoring these monuments, which symbolized success in the 19th century, is very expensive. After several years of administrative procedure, the Paris city government obtains ownership and converts the chapels, which are in turn rented for € 3,500 to each family.

Parisian cemeteries are transforming their abandoned monuments into columbariums

“For me, urns are the future and help preserve the cemetery landscape in Paris”, states Pascal-Hervé Daniel, head of the capital’s cemeteries. Near the writer Colette’s grave, one of three funerary chapels has plaques, a grille for each niche, plus a private space to leave flowers or an object in memory of the deceased.

“It blends in perfectly with the Père Lachaise landscape” adds Pascal-Hervé. “It was an immediate success with families. In one month, 24 niches were rented!” Following this successful experiment—which earned a prize for innovation by local governments—the Paris city government will renovate 10 more chapels in Père Lachaise, Montparnasse (14th) and Montmartre (18th).

Twenty Parisian cemeteries will follow, thus facilitating access for local residents to these sites which have been saturated since the 19th century.

Evolving funerary practices have resulted in an explosion of cremations. In addition to these funerary chapels, rounded stelae (funerary monuments in the form of a low pillar placed near the foot of a tree or grove) could be installed in these green cemeteries.

In 2013, this initiative will be tested in Batignolles (17th). “We cannot put a grave near a tree because the roots cause damage. There are many empty niches in the columbarium. Families want to bury their deceased outside, in nature.”

Photo credits

Top photo: Père Lachaise workyard © Mike Jennings via Flickr
All other photos © Jim Morrison’s Paris

#NYBookFair opens tonight. Our #JimMorrison archive is generating a lot of press interest: come and see what the fuss is about at booth B25

— Lucius Books (@LuciusBooks) April 11, 2013

Source: Lucius Booksellers York, England http://www.luciusbooks.com/

Site Update: A 40-YEAR MYSTERY SOLVED! thedoorsguide.com/news.html#2013…

— The Doors Guide (@TheDoorsGuide) May 1, 2013

@jmorrisonparis @seerjadalee This is a painting I have done of Jims Grave stone twitter.com/BUMCHEEKS2/sta…

— BUMCHEEKS (@BUMCHEEKS2) April 13, 2013

Artist’s portfolio @ http://bumcheeks2.deviantart.com/

We list our Top 10 Iconic Gravestones from Wilde to Man Ray to Chanel. Who have we missed? ow.ly/jVkcN twitter.com/AnOtherMagazin…

— AnOtherMagazine (@AnOtherMagazine) April 10, 2013

L’HISTOIRE DU JOUR | La délinquance par amour des vedettes ou quand l’adoration mène à la profanation. bit.ly/15gCUVv

— France Info (@franceinfo) March 18, 2013

An interesting article, despite several inaccuracies (see footnotes). Please find following an English translation.

When idol worship leads to desecration

Claude François’* family is going to press charges for vandalism. Located at his famous home at the Dannemois water mill in Essonne (1), the singer’s grave was vandalized Saturday night. When idol worship leads to desecration.

For 25 years, questions remain about who stole Jim Morrison’s bust from his grave in Père Lachaise cemetery. The theft is said to have taken place during the night on May 9, 1988. The story goes that two fans of the Doors’ singer stayed in the cemetery after closing, and then left on a scooter with the 128 kilo sculpture under their arms.

Some time later, Globe magazine even published an interview with the anonymous fans identified as the thieves of Morrison’s bust, named X and Y. Other versions claim the bust was taken down by the cemetery conservatory and is safe and sound in their storage.

Morrison fans, just amateurs

Morrison fans are just amateurs in comparison to Mister R., aka “Rochat”. A Polish refugee, Rochat was 23 years old in 1978. A couple of weeks before, Charlie Chaplin died and was buried in the small cemetery in Corsier-sur-Vevey. On March 2, 1978, during the night, and in the rain, Rochat and an accomplice desecrated Chaplin’s grave and took Charlot’s casket.

The next day, the horrified family received a phone call from Rochat asking for a million francs to return the body. It would take two months for the police to hunt down the guilty party and Chaplin’s casket which was buried hastily by the kidnappers near a lake. Rochat got four and half years of prison time.

The Italian police, for their part, have been working on a similar case for the last two years. On September 8, 2010 (2), one of Italy’s biggest stars, 85 year old Italian television host Mike Bongiorno, passed away. His was buried in Arona cemetery up until January 25, 2011… To the bewilderment of Bongiorno’s widow, his casket disappeared. To date, there has been no ransom request, no clues, no leads. Mike Bongiorno has still not been found (3).

This case, however, has inspired Art Funeral Italy to offer a casket anti-theft, called the “Mike”. This luxury, high-tech last resting place is equipped with sensors connected directly to the police to ensure eternal tranquility.

Balade dominicale au père Lachaise vine.co/v/bXlmiHpzQhA

— Jacques Perconte (@jacquesperconte) March 3, 2013

Is this Freddie Mercury’s final resting place? Mystery of Queen legend’s ashes could finally be solved – bit.ly/XBoifW

— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) February 25, 2013

http://www.kensalgreencemetery.com/

Update

Freddie Mercury mystery: Plaque dedicated to Queen singer at cemetery goes missing mirr.im/XHD0UQ

— Daily Mirror (@DailyMirror) March 5, 2013

New item: Jim Morrison – 1971 “Paris Journal” Manuscript / Notebook (The Doors) recordmecca.com/store/museum-q…

— Jeff Gold (@recordmecca) February 19, 2013

What do Jim Morrison, American sixties rock star, and Pussy Riot, 21st century Russian protest performers, have in common? Surprisingly, a lot. Both risked their personal freedom to make public statements about freedom, and both paid heavily for their gestures by being persecuted by the reigning authorities.

Decadence rocks

Pussy Riot

Let’s start with the outrageous acts of Pussy Riot, a Russian feminist punk-rock collective with about eleven rotating members. They were founded in August 2011, the day Vladimir Putin returned to presidential politics.

On February 21, 2012, Pussy Riot went to Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior and staged a protest performance in front of the main altar. This was a Thursday, during the day, so there weren’t many people in the church. Their protest was directed at Orthodox Church leaders support for Vladimir Putin during his election campaign. Four members danced in front of the main altar reciting their “Punk Prayer”, “Mother of God, chase Putin away”. All this lasted less than a minute before they were stopped by security officials.

Later three members were arrested and charged with hate crimes against the Church, the very same Church that suffered persecution under Stalin, so the persecuted became the persecutors. Pussy Riot became a cause célèbre, with Amnesty International designating the arrested women prisoners of conscience. Music luminaries such as Madonna, Sting, Paul McCartney and Yoko Ono took up their cause.

Two were later sentenced to two years in a penal colony, with the third getting a suspended sentence due to a legal technicality. Her lawyer pointed out that she was taken away by security before she got a chance to chant. Putin stated that the women had undermined the moral foundations of the nation and got what they deserved. He also won his bid for the presidency.

Rock’n’roll’s first on-stage arrest

Jim Morrison being arresting on stage in New Haven, CT on December 9, 1967

On stage the police didn’t like the attention and promptly arrested Morrison. He was charged with breach of peace, resisting arrest, and indecent or immoral exhibition. The police called it an indecent performance. All charges were eventually dropped, but this incident was a portent of things to come.

Under the influence

Living Theatre and loincloths

The week before the Doors debacle Morrison attended several performances in Los Angeles by the Living Theatre, an experimental group that still exists today. One of their aims was to attempt to dissolve the wall between them and the spectators. To do this they invited audience participation and often provoked them.

The night before Miami Morrison saw their piece, “Paradise Now”, notorious for a scene in which actors recited social taboos like, “I’m not allowed to smoke marijuana” and “I’m not allowed to take my clothes off” (see 3m50s in video below).

The distinction between actors and audience faded and much of the action took place in the aisles. At the end, the entire cast stripped down to loincloths, formed a human pyramid, and spelled out “A-N-A-R-C-H-I-S-M”.

That night officials cancelled the remainder of their engagement. This was too much even for Los Angeles. Evidently Morrison was greatly inspired and went on to use similar ideas and techniques the next night in Miami.

Miami, my ass

On March 1 ,1969, the Doors performed in Miami, Florida at the Dinner Key Auditorium (1), and what happened that night was not a normal rock concert by anyone’s standards. To begin with, the promoters cheated the band by taking out the seats and overselling the venue, so instead of 7,000 there were about 13,000 spectators packed into what became an oven. Jimbo arrived very late and drunk after having a fight with his girlfriend, Pamela Courson, and missing several flights.

Drunk on stage, he invited the crowd to come up and “love his fucking ass”. In between half songs he called them a bunch of fucking idiots who like having their faces rubbed in shit.

Miami, March 1, 1969, Dinner Key Auditorium

He continued his tirade: “I want to see some action out there… no limits, no laws”. Somebody poured champagne on Jimbo, so he took off his shirt, saying, “Let’s see a little skin, let’s get naked”.

Then he went further, asking the crowd if they wanted to see “it”. He then danced around with his shirt in front of him, much like a bullfighter, saying, “I’m going to show it to you… Did ya see it, did ya see it”.

He was thrown off the sagging stage, now full of people, and led many in the crowd in a huge snakedance. Robby Krieger recalled that it looked like a scene from the movie “The Snake Pit”, where people were rushing around in endless waves.

The rest of the Doors escaped bodily injury as the stage partially collapsed. After the concert the floor was littered with beer cans, wine bottles and clothes, including bras and panties, showing much proof of audience participation. Some had heeded Morrison’s call for no limits.

Snakeskin

Whether Jimbo actually exposed himself is still subject to much debate, but at the minimum he did succeed in creating a mass hallucination. Even through not one of the 150 photographs taken during the concert and submitted as evidence at his trial showed him exposing himself, Morrison was later charged with the felony of “lewd and lascivious behavior” and five other misdemeanors: Two counts of indecent exposure, two counts of public profanity, and one of public drunkenness.

Snakeban

The concert had lasted almost an hour, but it was to have a very lasting effect on the Doors and their career. A planned twenty concert tour was cancelled and many radio stations banned their music. One newspaper headline read, “The Doors are closed”. Some say that Miami cost the band almost a million dollars in lost revenue.

More snaky

Morrison’s charges were reduced from a felony to all misdemeanors. He was found guilty of exposure and profanity and given the maximum fine of $500 and six months at hard labor in one of America’s most notorious prisons. His case was on appeal when he died mysteriously in Paris at age 27 (2).

Taboos become taboobs

FEMEN

Pussy Riot was greatly inspired by a Ukrainian Women’s political protest group called FEMEN, who, on December 9, 2011, demonstrated in Moscow in front of the same cathedral. This was just a few months before Pussy Riot’s ill-fated protest on February 21, 2012.

Now FEMEN is famous for demonstrating topless. They stated, “if we staged simple protests with banners, then our claims would not have been noticed”. They have been proven right. The internet and other media are full of their bare-breasted protests.

Strangely, most of the photos are altered to hide the nipples. Taboos become taboobs. Facebook initially blocked their page out of fears of pornography.

On August 17, 2012, following the conviction and sentencing of the two members of Pussy Riot in Moscow, a FEMEN member protested by using a chain saw to cut down a five-meter Christian cross in Kiev. The group was charged with hooliganism, and three days later the offending member felt compelled to leave the Ukraine for France and found a group there. Now FEMEN has groups in different countries around the world.

Game not over

Now Pussy Rioters Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, age 23, and Maria Alyokhina, age 24, are serving their time behind bars, far from family and friends. They said they had no regrets and didn’t expect clemency.

Ms. Alyokhina stated during her closing statement at her so-called trial, “you can only take away my so-called freedom but nobody can take away my inner freedom”.

The most important kind of freedom is
to be what you really are.

Jim Morrison said, “the most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are… There can’t be any large-scale revolution until there’s a personal revolution, on an individual level… You can take away a man’s political freedom and you won’t hurt him unless you take away his freedom to feel”.

Pussy power

The freedom fight continues thanks to media. Millions of people around the world have seen various Pussy Riot videos on the net. The documentary, “Punk Prayer” has just been premiered at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival, and the rights have been bought by the HBO Television Channel. The film opens with a quote by Russian Futurist poet Vladimir Mayakovsky:

Art is not a mirror to reflect the world,
but a hammer with which to shape it.

Filmmakers Mike Lerner and Maxim Posdorovklin said, “it’s not a film about Russia, it’s about all of us. It’s about the allowable limits of free expression… It’s about pushing the boundaries of allowable dissent, and when you cross that boundary, you get a very severe reaction.”

Many argue that it was the backlash of the Miami concert, the charges, subsequent trial and lack of public support that broke Morrison’s spirit. He was greatly disappointed that the press and public didn’t come to his defense. He told reporters outside the courtroom “the significant issue here is artistic freedom of expression”. Instead of public support, the Doors were banned from the airwaves and concert halls.

Morrison misunderstood

Morrison lived in the “land of the free” and Pussy Riot live in a “land of the oppressed”, but their treatment wasn’t much different. Both faced stiff reprisals for their actions. Both were charged and arrested days after the fact, after authorities had had time to think about their “crimes”.

Morrison was never affirmed or really understood for his Miami fiasco.

There was a difference in that Morrison’s performance was an artistic statement and Pussy Riot’s was politically motivated. Pussy Riot was criticized in Russia but embraced outside their country for their actions. Morrison was never affirmed or really understood for his Miami fiasco.

Doors Stoned

The band got more Stoned when Oliver Stone released his bio-pic, “The Doors”, in 1991. He chose March 1 as the official release date of the film in the United States, to coincide with the date of the infamous Miami concert.

Père Lachaise, rock is not dead

Because of the worldwide publicity generated by the film, thousands of Doors fans came to Paris, where Morrison is buried, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of his death on July 3, 1991.

Doors film poster in metro, June 1991

Père Lachaise cemetery could not accommodate so many visitors, many of them stoned and drunk in homage, so they had to close. All day the crowd partied outside its historic walls.

No limits, no laws

I was there photographing. I remember one young girl dancing and shaking her long hair for fours, chanting repeatedly Morrison’s words from Miami, “you’re all a bunch of fucking slaves”.

The whole day was orchestrated to Doors music and tear gas. The crowd sang, “break on through” as they battered the cemetery Doors with a metal barricade. They shouted “light my fire” when they tried to burn them. Morrison had sung, “try to set the night on fire” and they did just that. Some celebrants used a stolen car to finally break open the main gates.

They were repelled by security, police, and lots of tear gas. Twenty years after his death Morrison sparked a riot to Doors’ music. Much like Miami, the crowd wanted “no limits, no laws”. They wanted to see some action in there. They wanted inside Père Lachaise to “love his fucking ass”. The scene outside looked much like the aftermath of the Miami concert with glass and garbage everywhere.

Raw video

Freedom and media

The themes that bind all of this together are freedom and media. Both Morrison and Pussy Riot used media to reach their public. Morrison said, “whoever controls the media, controls the mind”. Pussy Riot understands the principal very well, posting their videos for world-wide distribution on YouTube.

The freedom man

Jim Morrison sang, “I was turning keys and setting people free… I am the freedom man”. Strangely, Doors music and Morrison’s poetry are not overtly about freedom, but seemingly more about sex and death.

Nothing about Flower Power and The Summer of Love here. Maybe it’s something in the life he led and his example of personal and creative freedom. He stated, “I want the freedom to try everything”.

I have met many Doors fans over the years who have told me that Jim Morrison helps them to feel free, that he somehow gives them the freedom to be or do what they want, to write poetry or paint, start a rock’n’roll band, or to take that new job.

The Croatian artist, Mladen Mikulin, who made the beautiful white bust that adorned Jim’s grave for seven years, said that he saw Morrison as a “torchbearer of freedom”.

Another example would be Monica from Poland. I met her last July 3, 2012, as she stared at Jim’s grave, clutching a copy of his poetry book, “Wilderness”. She told me that he had changed her life. Even though she found his music dark, there is something free in it that helps you to be free, change. She said she couldn’t really talk about it or put it into words.

Perhaps the best way to end is with Morrison’s own words. In a letter he wrote for an interview some months before he died, he signed off with :

I am not mad
I am interested
in freedom.
Good luck,
J Morrison

Also by Michelle Campbell

• Rockin’ The Dead In Zagreb, The real story of Jim Morrison’s bust
• Walk Jim Morrison’s Paris with Michelle Campbell

Here’s a photo I took of Ian Astbury of The Cult at Jim Morrison’s graveside in Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise Paris twitter.com/KCMANC/status/…

— Kevin Cummins (@KCMANC) February 8, 2013

Four photos of Jim Morrison’s grave at Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise, Paris. Taken over a few years … 1/4 twitter.com/KCMANC/status/…

— Kevin Cummins (@KCMANC) February 8, 2013

Four photos of Jim Morrison’s grave at Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise, Paris. Taken over a few years … 2/4 twitter.com/KCMANC/status/…

— Kevin Cummins (@KCMANC) February 8, 2013

Four photos of Jim Morrison’s grave at Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise, Paris. Taken over a few years … 3/4 twitter.com/KCMANC/status/…

— Kevin Cummins (@KCMANC) February 8, 2013

Four photos of Jim Morrison’s grave at Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise, Paris. Taken over a few years … 4/4 twitter.com/KCMANC/status/…

— Kevin Cummins (@KCMANC) February 8, 2013

See also Bust photo by British photographer, Kevin Cummins

twitpic.com/bwtciq - Père Lachaise fermé pour cause de neige à Paris

Paris sous la neige (photos exclusives au Père-Lachaise) topcao.com/index.php/phot… via @topcao

—
TopCao® (@topcao) January 20, 2013

“Cold snap special”

En raison de la neige à Paris, le Père Lachaise, que est à 2 pas de @RueDesPrairies reste fermé jusqu'à nouvel ordre. http://t.co/zLvTdx64

—
Russell-Rivoallan (@RussinParis) January 20, 2013

Update

Still closed, Wednesday January 23.

La cimetière du Père Lachaise, proche de la @RueDesPrairies est toujours fermée... La photo à été prise à 9h ce matin http://t.co/AWBFFyF8

—
Russell-Rivoallan (@RussinParis) January 23, 2013

Update

Reopened, Thursday January 24.

@RueDesPrairies le Cimetière du Père Lachaise est à nouveau ouvert depuis ce matin ! facebook.com/photo.php?fbid… http://t.co/8UTe1r8W

—
Russell-Rivoallan (@RussinParis) January 24, 2013

World's oldest pet cemetery where a lion and a racehorse are among 40,000 bodies is discovered in Paris goo.gl/moGTE via @MailOnline

—
Jim Morrison’s Paris (@JMorrisonParis) January 15, 2013

See also Le Cimetière des Chiens—the Dog Cemetery in Asnières-sur-Seine (Cool Stuff in Paris)

Flickr photo © John Kroll

Croatian artist, Mladen Mikulin, sculpted a bust effigy of Jim Morrison and placed it at his grave days before the 10th anniversary of Jim’s death on July 3, 1981. See Rockin’ The Dead In Zagreb: The Real Story of Jim Morrison’s Bust by Michelle Campbell.

The bust was stolen in 1988. This we know. But who stole it? To what end? Where is it now?

Before and after

A piece of the puzzle

Film director and screenwriter, Olivier Chateau, has been researching the history of Jim’s grave for several years and is one of the foremost authorities on the subject. He has graciously provided a very rare document from his collection that sheds some light on the mystery surrounding the stolen bust. Following is the article and photo—as it appeared in the French magazine, Globe*—exposing the two guilty parties. By their own admission.

My sincere gratitude to Olivier for this most welcome contribution.

The interview and photo of the two anonymous fans who stole Jim Morrison’s bust.
Published by the French magazine, Globe*.

Related links

Burn Away Fade Out, sculpture by Graham Dolphin

** The letter from Père Lachaise curator, G. Martin, to Mladen Mikulin—dated April 7, 1989—states March 1988 as the date the bust was stolen. (Source: Mladen Mikulin, The Portraitist of Jim Morrison)

@nancan79 @jmorrisonparis @youtube Thanks glad you liked it. Most of the song was writ under the English Channel. X

—
robert james selby (@robertjselby) January 05, 2013

Acoustic version

www.robertjamesselby.com
www.facebook.com/robertjamesselbymusic
@robertjselby

I received an incredible and unexpected email the other day from Lue Isaac informing me that her brother, Keith Keller, was briefly the guardian of Jim’s first gravestone in the late 90s. So it is with my sincerest thanks to Lue that I share with you this amazing story.

“My deceased brother, Keith Keller, who was a music producer in New Orleans at Chez Flames Recording, died of a broken heart after Katrina. For a couple of months, he briefly had possession of the original gravestone shown in one of the 1972 photos which Breeze Minnis sent to you.

As I understand it, the person who took it off of the grave in the early 70s was a friend of a friend, the identity of either of whom I do not know, which was my brother’s intention. The plaque had been left for a number of years with this mutual friend, who just kept it in storage, I guess.

New Orleans was evidently a spot both of these people occasionally frequented, so it was left at my brother’s studio so that the person who had pinched it originally could pick it up, which he evidently did after a couple of months. It was creepy and spooky having it in the studio, even by New Orleans standards. My brother died without revealing the identity of either person to me.

It is my assumption that the plaque is now in the possession of the person who had removed it from Paris in the 70s.

Keith photographed the plaque during the time he had it, as he was aware that this was one of the big mysteries in the music world. The close-up photo hung in my brother’s studio, Chez Flames Recording, for many years, and was seen by many artists and players, who, seeing the ardor of fans from the other side, simply accepted it as another magic coincidence from the spiritual vortex which is New Orleans, and kept the secret.

Incidentally, a similar mystery surrounds the remains of Gram Parsons, some of which ended up in a cemetery in New Orleans. We used to visit that grave, which had been marked with a steel arrow hovering above it in the cemetery. It had a small round grave marker which read “God’s own singer”. The arrow has disappeared, and after 10 years, I am no longer able to locate that grave.

Neither I, nor my brother, has been to Jim’s grave.”

—Lue Isaac

Remembering Keith Keller (1952–2006), producer and engineer

• RIP Keith Keller, aka Fred Flames, OffBeat Louisiana Music & Culture Magazine, Volume 19, No. 10 (October 2006)
• Jazz Funeral March, New Orleans, 2006 by Douglas Isaac

Took - YET ANOTHER - trip to Pere Lachaise yesterday. The colors and shapes and sounds of that place are amazing... http://t.co/pHZPBo2u

Rare photos from my archive: 5. Jim Morrison's tomb. Le Cimetière du Père-Lachaise, Paris, France. The bust was stolen http://t.co/Za9DtUsb

—
Kevin Cummins (@KCMANC) December 20, 2012

See also Ian Astbury of The Cult at Jim Morrison’s grave

Reminiscences

American solider Brian “Breeze” Minnis was stationed in Langendamm, Germany for 14 months in the early 70s with the German army at Clausewitz-Kaserne. In February 1972, Brian and a couple of army buddies “jumped on the train and took off across Europe”. He was 20 years old.

“We were in Paris for a visit to the Louvre and Pigalle. We knew Jim was interred there and, being big fans, we had to go to the grave. Thought it would be cool, and we liked him, so we would pay our respects.

I wondered why there wasn’t a better head stone. I thought it was junkie for a man of his means, but with the graffiti, and being 20, I thought it’s Jim, and it’s cool. Right up his alley. We were the only ones there at the time as I recall. His was the only grave of interest to us.

I really don’t remember how I learned about his death, but it had to be from the radio or newspaper. I was a soldier boy then.

I do remember, when we talked to this man at the cemetery, he knew right off the bat who we were looking for, even though we didn’t speak the same language. So that tells me Jim had lots of company then. So the old fellow gave us the paper [situation de sépulture] and off we went.”

Brian “Breeze” Minnis

Brian has been retired for two years and lives in Morrisonville, Illinois. He tries to enjoy every day as much as he can. He hasn’t been back to Paris since, but hopes to come back next spring or summer. And he’s got some great words to live by: “Remember life is short, break some rules”.

Thank you Brian!!