Jim Morrison – 8 moving moments of the Lizard King

Even today, there exists a massive graffiti, a portrait of the 'Lizard King' as we remember him - untidy hair framing his face, bare-chested and in black leather pants, and a look that hides an eccentric, mysterious, and scandalous singer from the late '60s, in Venice, Los Angeles.

Every year of his death and birthday, the entire world joyously prepares a playlist and appreciates The Doors' greatest musical moments. We've assembled a list of 8 fascinating and emotional facts about Jim Morrison that you (may) not have known.

He agreed with Mick Jagger about the overvaluation of rock and fame

When Mick Jagger wanted to organize a large American concert in 1968, his agent Tito Burns suggested he talk with none other than 'The Doors.' He quickly boarded the first aircraft to Los Angeles and met Morrison at the Alta Cienega Motel. In a casual conversation, Jagger asked Morrison if he meditated before performing (he didn't). Morrison inquired about Brian Jones's health (he wasn't feeling well at the moment). You get the idea, of the most casual business conversation between two stars.

He also had a close encounter with John Fogerty

Morrison showed up for Fogerty's party at the Fontainebleau Hotel, according to his memoir 'Fortunate Son: My Life, My Music.'

“I remember standing in the kitchen talking about things like machines taking over the future, things that I really believed in at the time, and Jim was like, 'Oh, I don't believe that. The human spirit will always find a way to survive. I reacted to that with the question 'Is this the Jim Morrison I've been hearing about? A character who sings about killing his father?'. He was all optimistic, and I was the one who spoke of gloomy themes and doom."

There is a species of extinct lizard named after him

Morrison nicknamed himself the Lizard King, and scientists recently discovered the world's largest herbivorous lizard, a species that went extinct 35 million years ago. Because the research's director, Jason Head, was a huge fan of The Doors, he named the two-meter lizard "Bearded King Morrison," i.e. Barbaturex morrisoni. The name will live on for eternity!

"I listened to a lot of Doors during my study. Some of the musical imagery includes reptiles and old lands, and Jim Morrison was the Lizard King, so it all came together."

On one occasion he jammed  with Jimi Hendrix

Between March 6 and 7, 1968 (because of a loss of sense of time, it is unknown what time of night it occurred), Hendrix, Morrison, and Janis Joplin were all present in the New York bar The Scene. According to the narrative, Hendrix was jamming with a few musicians on stage when an obviously inebriated Morrison rushed on stage and spat out lewd lyrics to their bluesy groove.

But he eventually collapsed, fell from the platform while clutching Hendrix's legs, and in an attempt to flee, knocked over the table, spilling the drink over Janis Joplin's lap.

How he almost landed the plane because of alcohol problems

According to Morrison's biography No One Here Gets Out Alive, the trip was delayed long enough for Morrison and actor Tom Baker to get intoxicated, and when the plane finally took off, the two got into an altercation with cabin employees.

However, at the captain's discretion, it was determined that the plane would not return to the departure airport in order to hold the pair. However, when the travelers arrived in Phoenix, they were hailed by FBI officers. They might have received a $10,000 fine or ten years in prison for jeopardizing a flight, yet they never served a day.

He was pardoned for a misdemeanor even 39 years after his death

Jim Morrison was pardoned by a governor's order in 2010 after being convicted of public indecency in front of an audience for decades. The alleged exhibitionism allegation against him occurred at the infamous March 1, 1969, concert in Miami.

Morrison allegedly stripped naked in front of 10,000 people and faked masturbation. Despite a paucity of evidence at the trial in 1970, just before the singer's death, he was sentenced to six months in prison. The governor of Florida finally apologized to The Doors' late singer 39 years too late.

He was fascinated by the JFK assassination case

Although Morrison was supposedly unaware of it, when his father, Admiral George S. Morrison, took command of the battleship USS Bon Homme Richard in November 1963, one of his first jobs was to inform him that President John F. Kennedy had been slain in Dallas.

Kennedy's death occupied a dark corner of Morrison's psyche, as evidenced by the subject's many appearances in his songs and later poems, particularly in the song "Celebration of the Lizard" and the poetry "Not to Touch the Earth."

He declared his own parents dead

Jim Morrison has always been an incredibly clever youngster and an exemplary student, yet he rebelled at a young age due to his father's rigid upbringing. He was supposedly so frightened as a child that he began to pronounce his parents dead. "I looked over his resume and biography before we signed the contract," Steve Harris, Elektra Records' vice president at the time, admitted. "It stated on the inside that his parents had died. And I believed in it ".

Post by Bryan C.