2008 – The Times: The story in this morning’s paper is on the ruses various celebrities use to evade reporters outside the main criminal courthouse in Manhattan. Actor Rip Torn, for example, once led paparazzi through a park and past a gaggle of chanting construction workers before jumping into the cab of an occupied 18-wheeler, jumping out again, and rolling underneath the truck. Kirk Jones snuck in a side entrance while his driver successfully impersonated the rapper to photographers, sultry actress Uma Thurman enlisted the help of court officers and producer Sean Combs has a mini secret-service brigade. But the most fascinating courthouse celebrity by far is criminally insane singer Courtney Love, who sashays in and out of the building as though surrounded by adoring fans:
Courtney Love used the sidewalk like a red carpet, chatting and joking with reporters…
Sometimes celebrities do what they do best: bask in the attention. Ms. Love latched onto her lawyer, Scott B. Tulman, as they left the courthouse and gushed as if they were an item:
“Isn’t he handsome? Isn’t he beautiful?” Ms. Love then suggested she was pregnant with Mr. Tulman’s child.
“Are you out of your mind?” Mr. Tulman recalled telling her. “What are you doing?”
Another day outside the courthouse she finished off a partially smoked cigarette that she bummed from a passer-by.
“It’s like having a wild kid,” Mr. Tulman said. “After a while, you just shake your head.”
PR consultant Eric Dezenhall told the Times Love’s antics are fine, since “anything that extends the half-life of her career is probably a net positive.” Uh, sure. Maybe even get charged with more crimes like disorderly conduct and so forth and get spotted outside the glamorous criminal courthouse even more often, maybe!
2005 – Bob Moog, inventor of his namesake range of synthesizers and one of the most significant figures in the evolution of electronic music, dies at his home in Asheville, N.C. He is 71. A native of N.Y., Moog was diagnosed with brain cancer in late April and had since undergone radiation treatment and chemotherapy.
Dr. Robert Arthur Moog (pronounced /ˈmoʊɡ/ to rhyme with “rogue”) (May 23, 1934 – August 21, 2005) was an American pioneer of electronic music, best known as the inventor of the Moog synthesizer.
Life
A native of New York City, Robert Moog attended the Bronx High School of Science, graduating in 1952. Moog earned a bachelor’s degree in physics from Queens College, New York in 1957, another in electrical engineering from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in engineering physics from Cornell University. Moog’s awards include honorary doctorates from Polytechnic University (New York City) and Lycoming College (Williamsport, Pennsylvania)
During his lifetime, Moog founded two companies for manufacturing electronic musical instruments. Moog also worked as a consultant and vice president for new product research at Kurzweil Music Systems from 1984 to 1988, helping to develop the Kurzweil K2000. He spent the early 1990s as a research professor of music at the University of North Carolina at Asheville.
Moog received a Grammy Trustees Award for lifetime achievement in 1970. In 2002, Moog was honored with a Grammy Tech Award, and an honorary doctorate degree from Berklee College of Music.
He gave an enthusiastically-received lecture at the 2004 New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME-04), held in Hamamatsu, Japan’s “City of Musical Instruments”, in June, 2004. Moog was the inspiration behind the 2004 film Moog.
Moog’s first wife was Shirleigh Moog (née Shirley May Leigh) a grammar school teacher whom he married in 1958. The couple had 3 daughters (Laura Moog Lanier, Michelle Moog-Koussa, Renee Moog) and one son (Matthew Moog) before their divorce. Moog was married to his second wife Ileana Grams, a philosophy professor, for nine years until his death. Moog’s stepdaughter, Miranda Richmond, is Grams’ daughter from a previous marriage. Moog also had five grandchildren.
Robert Moog was diagnosed with a glioblastoma multiforme brain tumor on April 28, 2005. Nearly four months later, Moog died at the age of 71 in Asheville, North Carolina on August 21, 2005. His end of life journey was captured using CaringBridge. The Bob Moog Foundation was created as a memorial, with the aim of continuing his life’s work of developing electronic music.
Development of the Moog synthesizer
Main article: Moog synthesizer
The Moog synthesizer was one of the first widely used electronic musical instruments. Early developmental work on the components of the synthesizer occurred at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center, now the Computer Music Center. While there, Moog developed the voltage controlled oscillators, ADSR envelope generators, and other synthesizer modules with composer Herbert Deutsch.
Moog created the first subtractive synthesizer to utilize a keyboard as a controller and demonstrated it at the AES convention in 1964. In 1966, Moog filed a patent application for his unique low-pass filter U.S. Patent 3,475,623 , which issued in October 1969. He holds several dozen patents.
Robert Moog employed his theremin company (R. A. Moog Co., which would later become Moog Music) to manufacture and market his synthesizers. Unlike the few other 1960s synthesizer manufacturers, Moog shipped a piano-style keyboard as the standard user interface to his synthesizers. Moog also established standards for analog synthesizer control interfacing, with a logarithmic one volt-per-octave pitch control and a separate pulse triggering signal.
The first Moog instruments were modular synthesizers. In 1971 Moog Music began production of the Minimoog Model D which was among the first widely available, portable and relatively affordable synthesizers.
One of Moog’s earliest musical customers was Wendy Carlos whom he credits with providing feedback that was valuable to the further development of Moog synthesizers. Through his involvement in electronic music, Moog developed close professional relationships with artists such as Don Buchla, Keith Emerson, Rick Wakeman, John Cage, Gershon Kingsley, Clara Rockmore, and Pamelia Kurstin. In a 2000 interview, Moog said “I’m an engineer. I see myself as a toolmaker and the musicians are my customers. They use my tools.”
R.A. Moog Co. and Moog Music
The Moog Music logo
The Moog Music logo
Main article: Moog Music
In 1953 at age 19, Robert Moog founded his first company, R.A. Moog Co., to manufacture theremin kits. During the 1960s, the company was employed to build modular synthesizers based on Moog’s designs.
In 1972 Moog changed the company’s name to Moog Music. Throughout the 1970s, Moog Music went through various changes of ownership, eventually being bought out by musical instrument manufacturer Norlin. Poor management and marketing led to Moog’s departure from his own company in 1977.
In 1978 after leaving his namesake firm, Moog started making electronic musical instruments again with a new company, Big Briar. Their first specialty was theremins, but by 1999 the company expanded to produce a line of analog effects pedals called moogerfoogers. In 1999, Moog partnered with Bomb Factory to co-develop the first digital effects based on Moog technology in the form of plugins for Pro Tools software.
Despite Moog Music’s closing in 1993, Robert Moog did not have the rights to market products using his own name throughout the 1990s. Big Briar acquired the rights to use the Moog Music name in 2002 after a legal battle with Don Martin who had previously bought the rights to the name Moog Music. At the same time, Moog designed a new version of the Minimoog called the Minimoog Voyager. The Voyager includes nearly all of the features of the original Model D in addition to numerous modern features.
Theremin
Robert Moog constructed his own theremin as early as 1949. Later he described a theremin in the hobbyist magazine Electronics World and offered a kit of parts for the construction of the Electronic World’s Theremin, which became very successful. In the late 1980s Moog repaired the original theremin of Clara Rockmore, an accomplishment which he considered a high point of his professional career. He also produced, in collaboration with first wife Shirleigh Moog, Mrs. Rockmore’s album, The Art of the Theremin. Dr. Moog was a principal interview subject in the award-winning documentary film, THEREMIN- An Electronic Odyssey, the success of which led to a revival of interest in the theremin. Moog Music went back to its roots and once again began manufacturing theremins. Thousands have been sold to date and are used by both professional and amateur musicians around the globe. In 1996 he published another do-it-yourself theremin guide. Today, Moog Music is the leading manufacturer of performance-quality theremins.
Pronunciation
The surname Moog is one of the most divergently pronounced names in popular culture. The following interview excerpt reveals Robert Moog’s preferred pronunciation:
— Reviewer: First off: Does your name rhyme with “vogue” or is like a cow’s “moo” plus a “G” at the end?
— Dr. Robert Moog: It rhymes with vogue. That is the usual German pronunciation. My father’s grandfather came from Marburg, Germany. I like the way that pronunciation sounds better than the way the cow’s “moo-g” sounds.
(Note that the English , which has a monophthong and devoiced final consonant.)
In a deleted scene from the DVD version of the documentary Moog, Moog describes the three pronunciations of the name Moog: the original, Dutch pronunciation . Moog reveals that some of his family members prefer the English pronunciation, while others, including himself (and his wife) prefer the Anglo-German pronunciation.
1994 – The historic Fillmore club reopens in San Francisco. The opening acts include Smashing Pumpkins, Ry Cooder & David Lindley and American Music Club.
The Fillmore (also known as Fillmore Auditorium, or in error as Fillmore West) is a historic music venue in San Francisco, California made famous by Bill Graham. Named for its original location at the intersection of Fillmore Street and Geary Boulevard, it lies on the boundary of the Western Addition and the Pacific Heights neighborhoods. In 1968 Graham moved his concerts to a different venue at Market Street and South Van Ness Avenue (formerly known as The Carousel Ballroom and El Patio) which he renamed Fillmore West; the original Fillmore Auditorium continued under the name The Elite Club. Graham began presenting concerts at the original Fillmore Auditorium again in the 1980s, but it was closed due to earthquake damage in October 1989. After much structural work, in 1994 the original Geary Boulevard location re-opened as The Fillmore.
As of 2008, The Fillmore is leased and operated by Live Nation.
History
In the mid-1960s, The Fillmore Auditorium became the focal point for psychedelic music and counterculture in general, with acts such as The Grateful Dead, The Who, Cream, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Jefferson Airplane, Pink Floyd, The Doors and Big Brother and the Holding Company performing at the venue.. Besides rock, Graham also featured non-rock acts such as Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Charles Lloyd and Otis Redding as well as poetry readings. The venue was legendary for its ambience as well as the stellar performances, with swirling light-show projections, strobe lights and uninhibited dancing. At the end of the evening, Bill Graham often stood next to a huge bin of fresh apples at the front exit saying good night to the patrons and handing out apples, and handing out free posters custom designed as souvenirs for each show by poster artists who would become as famous as The Fillmore itself.
After two years there, because of a deteriorating neighborhood and the modest capacity of the hall, in July 1968 Bill Graham moved from the original Fillmore at Fillmore Street and Geary Blvd to the Carousel Ballroom at the corner of Market Street and South Van Ness Avenue (now the location of a Honda car dealership), which was renamed Fillmore West (in contrast with Graham’s Fillmore East auditorium in New York City). The distinction between the original Fillmore Auditorium and the later Fillmore West is often lost on many music fans and journalists, especially those overseas who didn’t experience the San Francisco scene personally.
The original Fillmore location became a private club called The Elite Club. For several years in the early 1980s, punk promoter Paul Rat booked punk rock shows at this venue. Punk bands that performed at The Elite Club include Black Flag, Bad Brains, The Dead Kennedys, TSOL, Flipper, Gang of Four, and Public Image Ltd.
The Fillmore reopened under Graham’s management by the late 1980s, but it was damaged and closed by the Loma Prieta earthquake of October 1989. After Graham died in a helicopter crash in 1991, those close to him decided to carry out his final wish to retrofit and reopen the original Fillmore. The Fillmore re-opened in 1994 with the band The Smashing Pumpkins playing the first show. The Fillmore has once again become a San Francisco hotspot with frequent shows. For a standard show, the capacity of the Fillmore is 1,250 guests.
The Fillmore is also well known for its psychedelic concert posters by designers including Wes Wilson and Rick Griffin. Copies of these posters are given to fans free of charge as they exit selected, sold-out shows. A chronological collection of these posters is on display in the mezzanine level of the auditorium today.
Other traditions are carried on to this day. One is a large tub of free apples for concertgoers positioned near the entrance. Another is a “greeter”, a staff member who welcomes each guest as they enter (“Welcome to the Fillmore!”).
Live Nation has recently begun a campaign to expand the Fillmore “brand” by changing the names of a number of established clubs it owns around the U.S. to “The Fillmore____.” This includes clubs in Detroit, Philadelphia (Fillmore at the TLA), New York (Fillmore at Irving Plaza), Denver, and Miami Beach (Fillmore at the Jackie Gleason Theatre). Plans underway to construct a Fillmore in the Washington, DC suburb of Silver Spring, Maryland have been met with opposition
From WikiPedia
1978 – All You Need is Cash (Eric Idle’s Beatle satire) gets its first TV showing.
By The Rutles – Rhino (1996) – Comedy Rock, Pop/Rock
Short of a reunion and tour by the Rutles, this DVD is the deepest and widest-ranging experience of the group that any fan is likely to see. The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash pre-dated This Is Spinal Tap by many years, and broke so much new ground in comedy and television feature production that it’s virtually a creation unto itself. The satire of the Beatles’ music history was too sophisticated to garner a major audience on American network television when it aired on NBC in 1978, but serious Beatles fans and devotees of Monty Python’s Flying Circus and the Bonzo Dog Band devoured it; appropriately enough, it was originally released in America by Pacific Arts Video, a company owned by Michael Nesmith, the ex-member of the Monkees. As if the original Rutles special weren’t enough by itself to recommend the purchase of this DVD, the supplement is so full of extras that it’s practically a new version of the program. The documentary is intact, of course, and in sterling color and sound, but along with it comes a set of unused scenes (including performances of “Blue Suede Schubert” and extended portions of the Mick Jagger and Paul Simon interview material; the real treat, however, is the director’s commentary by Eric Idle. At times he’s very pedestrian, explaining the obvious source of various gags, but he also gives a good account about how certain shots were constructed, as well as how the interview material — largely improvised — ended up being more revealing about Mick Jagger’s feelings about the Beatles than was obvious. Some of the narration is frustrating, as when Idle mentions that many of the Bill Murray outtakes are very funny to watch; we’d like to have seen the outtakes appended to the movie. Idle praises co-director Gary Weiss, who handled the actual shooting of the scenes (as opposed to the acting) during the first third of the movie, but starting mid-way through, he finally gets around to praising Neil Innes, who wrote the Rutles’ repertory, pointing out that Innes’ song “I Must Be in Love” spawned the movie. He also mentions the fact that George Harrison and Ringo Starr had sung the Rutles song “Ouch!” to Idle and Innes at a friendly get-together in 2000. The menu pops up automatically on start-up and is very easy to navigate, with musical accompaniment as well. The other cool feature, apart from the bonus features (which includes a new intro by Idle), is the built-in program command that allows viewers to play the songs exclusively. The 27 chapter breaks are well-selected and include the key gag sequences as well as the songs. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide
1955 – Edward Lodewijk “Eddie” Van Halen (born January 26, 1955), is a Dutch guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter and producer most famous for being the lead guitarist and co-founder of the rock band Van Halen.
Biography
Childhood
Van Halen was a son of saxophonist Jan Van Halen; his mother Eugenia was from Java, Indonesia. At the early age of seven, he moved with his family to the city of Nijmegen (Netherlands). In 1962 they moved to Pasadena, California. Eddie learned to play the piano as a child, and has won many different talent shows. His older brother Alex also played the piano.
However, playing the piano did not prove sufficiently engaging — he once said in an interview, “Who wants to sit in front of the piano? That’s boring.” Consequently, while Alex began playing the guitar, Eddie bought a drum kit and began practicing drumming. After Eddie heard Alex’s performance of the The Surfaris’ drum solo in the song “Wipe Out”, he grew annoyed that his brother had overtaken his ability and decided to switch and begin learning how to play the electric guitar.
He has stated that he would often walk around at home with his guitar strapped on and unplugged, practicing. It’s said that he would sit in his room for hours with the door locked, as a teen practicing the guitar. He once claimed that he had learned almost all of Eric Clapton’s solos in the band Cream “note for note” by age 14; in later interviews he stated he could never play the solos precisely, instead he would modify them slightly to suit his style.
In April 1996, in an interview with Guitar World, when asked about how he went from playing his first open A chord to playing “Eruption”, Eddie replied:
“ Practice. I used to sit on the edge of my bed with a six-pack of Schlitz Malt talls. My brother would go out at 7pm to party and get laid, and when he’d come back at 3am, I would still be sitting in the same place, playing guitar. I did that for years — I still do that. ”
Eddie has many influences, most notably Eric Clapton. He has also acknowledged the influence of Queen guitarist Brian May and fusion guitarist Allan Holdsworth, as well as the likes of Montrose guitarist Ronnie Montrose.
Van Halen formation
Van Halen, originally called “Mammoth”, was formed in 1972 in Pasadena, California, United States. The band consisted of Eddie Van Halen on guitar and vocals, his brother, Alex on drums, and bassist Mark Stone. They had no P.A. system of their own, so they rented one from David Lee Roth Soon, Michael Anthony replaced Mark Stone on bass. They opted to change the name of the band, reportedly due to another band using the same name — Roth is normally attributed with suggesting the name ‘Van Halen’.
In 1977 Gene Simmons saw one of Van Halen’s shows at Gazzari’s in Hollywood,and subsequently financed their first demo tape, flying the band to Electric Lady Studios in New York to record “House of Pain” and “Runnin’ With the Devil”. Eddie disliked his playing on the demo, because he wasn’t using his own equipment, and had to overdub guitar parts (which he had never done before.)
In 1977, Van Halen was offered a recording contract with Warner Bros. Records. Later that year, they recorded their first album, “Van Halen”, which was released on February 10, 1978. Eddie claims that their first single, “You Really Got Me”, a cover of the original Kinks song, was not his first choice. The band was forced to release the song before other bands (notably L.A. rival “Angel”) who heard Van Halen’s rendition and were trying to beat them to the punch.
Roth years
Van Halen released a total of 6 albums: Van Halen (1978), Van Halen II (1979), Women and Children First (1980), Fair Warning (1981), Diver Down (1982), and 1984 (1984); however, the band had trouble working together as a cohesive unit; according to Gene Simmons’ book Kiss and Make Up, Eddie Van Halen approached Simmons in 1982 about possibly joining Kiss, replacing Ace Frehley. According to Simmons, Eddie did so chiefly due to his personality conflicts with Roth.
Simmons persuaded Eddie to return to Van Halen, and shortly afterwards the band released the album 1984; which yielded the band’s first #1 hit, “Jump”. Other singles released from the album also sold well, particularly “Hot for Teacher”, the video for which featured a skimpily dressed model playing the part of elementary-school teacher and school-age boys portraying younger versions of the band members. The album peaked at #2 on the Billboard charts, behind Thriller by Michael Jackson, to which he contributed a guitar solo in the hit song Beat It.
Hagar years
With the arrival of former Montrose singer Sammy Hagar, the band’s sound changed somewhat, as Eddie’s keyboard playing became a permanent fixture, heard in songs such as “Dreams” and “Love Walks In”. The change in sound prompted many fans, both positively and negatively, to refer to the band as “Van Hagar.” However, tensions within the band again rose, and Hagar departed in 1996.
Following Hagar’s departure, the group briefly reunited with original singer David Lee Roth and released Best of Volume I, a greatest hits package, in 1996. Two new songs were recorded for the album, with the single “Me Wise Magic” reaching #1 on the mainstream rock chart (“Can’t Get This Stuff No More” was the other new single). However, previous disagreements resurfaced and the reunion did not last.
The band auditioned many prospective replacements for Hagar, finally settling on Gary Cherone, former frontman for Extreme, a band also represented by Van Halen’s manager. Cherone predicted that the new line-up would last ‘ten years’, however the Van Halen III album was received poorly. Cherone soon had an amicable departure, and without a lead singer, Van Halen went into hiatus.
Hagar reunion
In 2004, Van Halen returned with Hagar as their lead singer. A greatest hits package, The Best Of Both Worlds, was released to coincide with the band’s reunion tour.
The band toured the US, covering 80 cities. Despite taking $55 million dollars, it was revealed in Rolling Stone that the promoters had actually lost money on the tour. The final date on the tour appeared to bring tensions between Eddie Van Halen and Sammy Hagar to the surface, culminating in Eddie violently smashing his guitar before leaving the stage on the last date.
Reviews of the tour differed – some reviews were enthusiastic, whereas many stated the band had poor musicianship and the concerts contained apparently drunken behaviour. Michael Anthony stated that Eddie regularly performed in an alcoholic stupor:
“ I hate to talk smack about anyone in the band or whatever, but, y’know, Eddie, you know, he’s still doing a bit of drinking and everything. There were nights where it was kind of like a roller ”
Roth reunion
On February 2, 2007, it was officially announced on the band’s website that David Lee Roth would rejoin Van Halen for their summer tour.
Persistent rumors had long indicated the Van Halen brothers were in talks with Roth to rejoin the band for a tour and/or new material. In the February 2007 edition of Guitar World magazine, Van Halen had talked about working with Roth during the summer of 2006:
“ I’m telling Dave ‘Dude get your ass up here and sing, bitch! Come on!’ As it stands right now, the ball is in Dave’s court. Whether he wants to rise to the occasion is entirely up to him, but we’re ready to go. ”
Regarding the news that Van Halen’s then 15-year old son Wolfgang was to play bass in Van Halen in the fall (replacing Michael Anthony), Van Halen claimed his son’s presence would have a positive effect on the band: “ Wolfgang breathes life into what we’re doing. He brings youthfulness to something that’s inherently youthful. He’s only been playing bass for 3 months, but it’s spooky. He’s locked tight and puts an incredible spin on our shit. The kid is kicking my ass! He’s spanking me now, even though I never spanked him. To have my son follow in my footsteps on his own, without me pushing him into it, is the greatest feeling in the world. ”
Van Halen also stated in a Howard Stern interview that although Roth was a “loose cannon,” he was willing to deal with that. David Lee Roth had previously stated that reuniting with the band was “inevitable”: “ I see (the reunion) absolutely as an inevitability. There’s contact between the two camps, and they have legitimate management. To me, it’s not rocket surgery. It’s very simple to put together. And, as far as hurt feelings and water under the dam… so what? It’s showbiz! So I definitely see it happening. ”
Recent events
Eddie Van Halen underwent hip replacement surgery in 1999, after an existing degenerative condition became unbearable.
Since the 2004 tour, Eddie Van Halen has largely disappeared from the public eye, with the exception of occasional appearances such as the 14th annual Elton John Academy Awards party, and a performance at a Kenny Chesney concert.
In December 2004 at Dimebag Darrell’s funeral, Eddie donated his famous black and yellow guitar from the Van Halen II album inlay, stating that Dimebag had always said that was his all time favorite guitar. The guitar was put in Darrell’s Kiss Kasket, and he was buried with it.
On December 5, 2005, Eddie’s wife, Valerie Bertinelli filed for divorce in Los Angeles Superior Court. The Complaint for Divorce revealed that the couple separated on October 15, 2001. In an interview on Howard Stern’s radio show on September 8, 2006, Eddie stated that he and Valerie share custody of their son, and that he sees him every day. Van Halen’s divorce became final on December 20, 2007.
On March 8, 2007, Van Halen announced on their website that Eddie was entering rehab for unspecified reasons. However, both Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony have made statements indicating that Ed’s personality had changed due to alcohol abuse. Hagar, Anthony and David Lee Roth have repeatedly stated their support and well wishes towards Ed’s recovery since the announcement. Hagar stated at the 2007 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, “I hope he gets through this and we can have our buddy back” with Anthony visibly agreeing in the background.
Van Halen emerged from rehab and appeared publicly as an honorary official during the April 21, 2007 NASCAR event at Phoenix International Raceway. He also unveiled a new Fender Stratocaster with a paintjob made for the NASCAR races before the ceremony.
In 2007, Eddie was honored in the Xbox 360 version of Guitar Hero II. A player receives the “Eddie Van Halen” achievement for hitting 500 or more notes in succession.
On October 6, 2008, it was reported that Eddie Van Halen proposed to his longtime girlfriend Janie Liszwski, an actress and stuntwoman who became Van Halen’s publicist in 2007. He proposed to her while vacationing in Hawaii. They are currently engaged and are said to be married in June 2009.
Cancer
During the late 1990s Eddie Van Halen was treated twice for tongue and mouth cancer. During an interview with Howard Stern on September 8, 2006, Eddie claimed that holding a metal pick in his mouth 12-14 hours per day while immersed in the electromagnetic radiation of his music studio caused his tongue cancer. He said he continues to smoke because “cigarettes didn’t cause the cancer”, despite the fact that they could in fact contribute to the cancer’s potential for resurgence.
Eddie also revealed that he stopped the cancer via an illegal method (the nature of which he declined to specify) in conjunction with a pharmaceutical lab with which he’s affiliated in New York State. He said a portion of his tongue was removed and experimented on, and then the technique was performed on him. He said he has lost one third of his tongue, though his speech is virtually unaffected. Despite his battles with oral cancer, Eddie has been photographed in public as recently as June 2006 smoking cigarettes.
Technique
Edward Van Halen’s approach to the guitar involves several distinctive components. His innovative use of two-handed tapping, natural and artificial harmonics, vibrato, and tremolo picking, combined with his rhythmic sensibility and melodic approach, have influenced an entire generation of guitarists. The solo in “Eruption” was voted #2 on Guitar World magazine’s readers poll of the 100 Greatest Guitar Solos.
Tapping
The instrumental “Eruption” showcased a solo technique called tapping, utilizing both left and right hands on the guitar neck.
Although Van Halen popularized tapping, he did not, despite popular belief, invent the tapping technique. The tapping technique in Blues and Rock was being picked up by various guitarists in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Steve Hackett from the group Genesis used a tapping technique as early as 1971 on the album Nursery Cryme .
Ritchie Blackmore has said in an interview that he and Jimi Hendrix saw Harvey Mandel tap at a nightclub in the late 1960s. From a Feb 1991 Guitar World Ritchie Blackmore interview “The first person I saw doing that hammer-on stuff was Harvey Mandel, at the Whisky A Go-Go in ’68″ .
A 1976 live performance has Eddie Van Halen performing Eruption (or what would later be called Eruption) without using any tapping techniques . The Eruption version on the first Van Halen album from 1978 does feature tapping, indicating that EVH started using the tapping technique in Van Halen songs sometime in late 1976 or early 1977.
EVH’s comments about how he came across the tapping technique vary from interview to interview. This is one interview excerpt. “ I think I got the idea of tapping watching Jimmy Page do his “Heartbreaker” solo back in 1971. He was doing a pull-off to an open string, and I thought wait a minute, open string … pull off. I can do that, but what if I use my finger as the nut and move it around ?” … I just kind of took it and ran with it. ”
EVH also employs tapping harmonics. He holds the pick between his thumb and middle finger, which leaves his index finger free for tapping and also makes for easy transitions between picking and tapping. In support of his two-handed tapping techniques, Van Halen also holds a patent for a flip-out support device which attaches to the rear of the electric guitar. This device enables the user to play the guitar in a manner similar to the piano by orienting the face of the guitar upward instead of forward.
Tone
Van Halen achieved his distinctive tone, known as the “Brown sound”, by using a Frankenstrat guitar, a stock 100-watt Marshall amp, a Variac (to lower the voltage of the amp to change the tone) and effects such as a Echoplex, an MXR Phase 90, an MXR Flanger and EQs. Van Halen constructed his Frankenstrat guitar using a Charvel factory 2nd body and neck, a vintage Gibson P.A.F. humbucker pickup (sealed in paraffin wax to reduce microphonic feedback), a pre-CBS Fender tremolo bridge (later to be a Floyd Rose bridge) and a single volume control (with the volume knob labelled as ‘tone’ ).
The now famous single pickup, single volume knob guitar configuration was arrived at due to Van Halen’s lack of knowledge in electronic circuitry and his failure to find a decent bridge and neck pick-up combination. Upon installing the humbucking pickup, he did not know how to wire it into the circuit, so he wired the simplest working circuit to get it to function. His later guitars include various Kramer models from his period of endorsing that company (most notably the Kramer “5150″, from which Kramer in its Gibson-owned days based their Kramer 1984 design, an unofficial artist signature model) and three signature models: the Ernie Ball/ Music Man Edward Van Halen Model (Which continues as the Ernie Ball Axis), the Peavey EVH Wolfgang (which has been succeeded by a similar guitar called the HP Special), and the Charvel EVH Art Series, on which Eddie does the striping before they are painted by Charvel.
In an interview he gave to Guitar World magazine in July, 1985, Van Halen states that his “brown sound” is “basically a tone, a feeling that I’m always working at…It comes from the person.” He continues, “If the person doesn’t even know what that type of tone I’m talking about is, they can’t really work towards it, can they?”
Tuning
Though rarely discussed, one of the most distinctive aspects of Van Halen’s sound was Eddie Van Halen’s tuning of the guitar. Before Van Halen, most distorted, metal-oriented rock consciously avoided the use of the major third interval in guitar chords, creating instead the signature power chord of the genre. When run through a distorted amplifier, the rapid beating of the major third on a conventionally tuned guitar is distracting and somewhat dissonant.
Van Halen developed a technique of flattening his B string slightly so that the interval between the open G and B reaches a justly intonated, beatless third. This consonant third was almost unheard of in distorted-guitar rock and allowed Van Halen to use major chords in a way that mixed classic hard rock power with “happy” pop. The effect is pronounced on songs such as “Runnin’ With the Devil”, “Unchained”, and “Where Have All the Good Times Gone?”.
With the B string flattened the correct amount, chords in some positions on the guitar have more justly intonated thirds, but in other positions the flat B string creates out-of-tune intervals. As Eddie once remarked to Guitar Player:
“ A guitar is just theoretically built wrong. Each string is an interval of fourths, and then the B string is off. Theoretically, that’s not right. If you tune an open A chord in the first position and it’s perfectly in tune, and then you hit a barre chord an octave higher, it’s out of tune. The B string is always a motherfucker to keep in tune all the time! So I have to retune for certain songs. And when I use the Floyd onstage, I have to unclamp it and do it real quick. But with a standard-vibrato guitar, I can tune it while I’m playing.” ”
Volume swells
Eddie used a volume technique in the instrumental “Cathedral”. He hammered notes on the fretboard with one hand while rolling the volume knob with the other. This altered the attack and decay of the notes so they mimicked the sound of keyboards. This “volume swells” sound was originally popularized by 70′s progressive rock bands like Yes and Rush (while Ritchie Blackmore peformed this technique a lot live) but was usually performed with a volume pedal, at a slower pace. “Cathedral” also employs an electronic delay, with the delay set at 400 milliseconds (ms) and the delayed note set at the same amplitude as the original note. Most of the composition’s notes come from hammering on the notes of a major 5th string barre chord (ascending and then descending) and replicating this pattern up and down the neck of the guitar. The end result of this technique made the composition sound as if it is being played on a church/cathedral organ.
Equipment
Guitars
Eddie Van Halen built his guitar (Black and White) by hand, using an imperfect body and a used neck picked up at Wayne Charvel’s guitar shop. The body and neck were constructed by Lynn Ellsworth of Boogie Bodies guitars, who was working for Wayne at the time. In his guitar he wanted to get a Gibson sound with the Fender feel. In 1979, Eddie began to play a black, rear loaded Charvel with yellow stripes. This was later replicated by Charvel along with the black and white striped model and the red white and black model (EVH Art Series Guitars). He also used a stock unmodified Ibanez Destroyer on a lot of the tracks on Van Halens first album such as You Really Got Me and Runnin’ With the Devil and a modified Ibanez Destroyer on some tracks on Van Halens second album and a borrowed unmodified Ibanez Destroyer on some tracks on the Women and Children First album.
Also, in 1979 Eddie’s original guitar was repainted with Frankenstein artwork. Eddie also changed the neck, removed part of the scratchplate and eventually installed a Floyd Rose vibrato unit. The guitar itself is known both as a “Frankenstrat” and as THE “Frankenstrat.” Fender reissued the guitar in relic form in 2007, the limited run selling at $25,000 a guitar. However, a “new” (non-reliced) Frankenstrat is currently available through the Charvel company for significantly less, the first time Van Halen has consented to the commercial release of a guitar with his signature graphics on it.
In 1983, Eddie began to use a brand new Kramer guitar with artwork similar to its predecessor and with a hockey-stick or “banana” headstock, which came to be known as the “5150.” This guitar was rear-loaded (no scratchplate), had a Floyd Rose vibrato unit and a neck that was later electronically mapped in order for it to be copied on the later Music Man and Peavey signature models. This guitar was last used on the track “Judgment Day” on the For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge album. Various versions of it can be seen in the music videos for “Panama”, “Hot for Teacher”, “When It’s Love”, “Feels So Good” and the concert video, Live Without a Net. The guitar itself was a variant of a Kramer Pacer, although not a model that was technically available at the time.
It was painted with Krylon paints by Van Halen himself and used through the OU812 tour, after which it was “retired.” However, Edward did break out the guitar for use on the 2004 reunion tour, although the neck had finally given out and had apparently been replaced. A copy of this guitar is available today (although not with Van Halen’s permission) through the current manufacturer of Kramer’s, Music Yo, a subsidiary of the Gibson company. However, the commercially available copy does NOT feature the custom graphics, as the “Frankenstein” graphics are trademarked by Edward Van Halen.
In the mid 1990s, Ernie Ball produced an EVH signature “Music Man” guitar, and Eddie used this on For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge and Balance albums. This guitar is still commercially available under the “Axis” name, and retains all of the original features of the Edward Van Halen model. Edward was allegedly upset that Ernie Ball could not produce enough of this guitar to meet demand, and subsequently moved his endorsement to the Peavey Electronics corporation.
Eddie named his line of signature Wolfgang Guitars after his son, Wolfgang. The guitar itself was similar to the previous Axis line, but with a slightly altered shape and many additional options available in Peavey’s much larger custom shop. These guitars included a device called a “D-Tuna” which enabled a guitarist to tune the low E string down to D with a slight turn of a knob attached to the end of the bridge. In 2003, at the NAMM show, the relationship between Peavey and Eddie began to strain. Peavey constructed Eddie a glass enclosed stage to play for VIP’s at 2PM. Eddie arrived late, shocking fans there with his disheveled appearance, as he immediately went upstairs and initially refused to play. After an hour of negotiations, Eddie came down while fans, who had lined up for hours prior to the appearance, roared with approval. Eddie ended up spending his short time on stage, talking about Wolfgang guitar production and his promise to take a keen interest in quality control.
Eddie left, having only played a few notes and small riffs, much to the dissatisfaction of the fans and Peavey. The end came in 2004, when Peavey company parted ways with Van Halen, reportedly because Eddie launched an on-line sale of hand patterned (by Edward) Charvel guitars, sold by the name of the “EVH Art Series Guitars”, while he was still contractually obliged to Peavey. The guitars sold for large sums on eBay, and were essentially replicas of his famous “Frankenstrat” guitars, played by Van Halen mainly during the David Lee Roth era of the band. Eddie also launched Frankenstein replicas as noted above, which are the only Van Halen guitars currently endorsed by Eddie.
Most recently Eddie has collaborated with Fender guitars to produce a replica of the Frankenstrat. Eddie and Chip Ellis of the Fender Custom Shop teamed up to produce a guitar priced at $25,000 each. Also, Eddie has collaborated with Fender to launch his own EVH brand of guitars, amps, and musical instrument equipment, starting with his new EVH Brand 5150 III amplifier. Eddie now uses prototypes of his new EVH Brand Wolfgang, which is an updated version Eddie’s Peavey Wolfgangs but with new pickups, knobs, a thinner but very elaborate quilted maple top to allow the basswood the dominant tone, providing more tonal resonance but with a balanced high sustain. Also, the new Wolfgang is equipped with an Original Floyd Rose. In addition, the new guitar has a slightly altered headstock. This is because this was Ed and Hartley Peavey’s original design for the headstock, which Eddie had patented without the scoop on final version of the Peavey Wolfgang. He has been seen with 3 new Wolfgang guitars, first a sunburst one, then a black one which he stated he liked less than the sunburst one and now he uses a white one, the best sounding one out of the three prototypes according to Ed.
Amplifiers
Ed’s main amplifier in the early years was a 100 watt Marshall amplifier that had a 12301 serial number which dates it to the 1967-1968 transitional period at Marshall when the circuit of the 100 watt Marshall 1959 changed gradually from the ‘Bass’ circuit to the ‘SuperLead’ circuit. It has often been claimed that Ed’s main 100 watt Marshall amplifier might have been modified. Amp tech Mark Cameron has claimed that he found a schematic of Ed’s amp in amp tech Jose Arredondo’s shop after he died that showed modifications that had been performed by Jose. One of these was the Jose 16 Ohm load box which was used for re-amping and another was a Jose master volume amplifier modification. The Jose 16 Ohm load box was a transformer-coupled line out that was used to create a line level output signal from Ed’s main 100 watt Marshall amplifier and then the line out signal was fed into another Marshall amp’s input to be reamplified or re-amped.
A single basic tube amplifier has to usually be run at high volumes to produce a overdriven tone but with re-amping the first amplifier can be made to produce an overdriven tone and it’s line level output can then be fed into a second amplifier which can then control the volume level of the first amplifiers overdriven tone which results in a volume controlled overdriven tone. Re-amping with the first amplifier having a Jose master volume modification and the second amplifier being stock was most likely used to record Van Halen I. A variac set at 90 volts was also used on the first amplifier which was Ed’s main 100 watt Marshall. Pictures from the Van Halen II recording sessions show Ed’s main 100 watt amplifier with what appears to be the Jose master volume modification to the amplifiers back panel and re-amping does not seem to have been used for Van Halen II.
Between 1993 and 2004 Eddie was sponsored by Peavey Electronics to use their 5150 Amplifiers, which he had a part in designing. Following the ending of this relationship, Peavey renamed the amplifier as the ‘Peavey 6505′, with slightly updated styling but original circuitry. Eddie is now sponsored by Fender and has debuted his new amp called the 5150 III. The 5150 III features 3 channels with their own independent controls, a 4-button foot-switch and his famous striped design on the head.
Floyd Rose system
A crucial component of Van Halen’s personal style is his use of the Floyd Rose fulcrum vibrato for electric guitars. Developed in the mid-20th century, early versions of this device allowed the guitarist to impart a vibrato to a chord or single string via movement of the bar with the picking hand. Van Halen went on to collaborate with Floyd Rose on improvements to Rose’s device.
Van Halen also pioneered the mainstream use of the Trans-Trem system on the Steinberger line of guitars on “5150″, most notably on the songs “Summer Nights” and on “Me Wise Magic” off of “Best of Volume I” where the song goes through several key changes while retaining the same chord voicings. The Trans-Trem system allows for the effect of an instant “capo”, increasing the pitch of all strings by up to a minor third or lowering the pitch by as much as a perfect fourth.
Solo work
Eddie Van Halen has appeared on several projects outside of his eponymous band.
* Most famously he was called in by Quincy Jones to play guitar on the song Beat It, from Michael Jackson’s 1982 album, “Thriller”. Steve Lukather of Toto played the main guitar riff and rhythm, with Eddie playing a solo that was allegedly blended, or “comped”, from three different takes. The subsequent success of the track played a key role in getting R&B videos played on MTV. The combination of Jackson’s pop sensibilities, Quincy Jones’ production and Van Halen’s guitar work melded several genres of music, and helped each to find new fans. Concurrently, Van Halen’s song Jump was played in discos, inner-city R&B clubs, and on rock radio. Famously, Eddie refused the money he was offered for playing on the track.
* In 1983, Eddie collaborated with Queen guitarist Brian May on the Star Fleet Project, a 3-track EP consisting of a rock styled rendition of the theme to the popular anime children’s show, a May penned track (Let Me Out), and an improvised blues track (Blues Breaker).
* In 1984, Eddie recorded several instrumentals for a movie called “The Wild Life.” Some of those recordings used ideas that showed up later in Van Halen songs such as “A.F.U. (Naturally Wired)” and “Right Now.” However, only “Donut City” was included on the soundtrack album, which was released on vinyl and cassette, and never made it to CD format.
* Also in 1984, he provided the score for the 1984 TV film, The Seduction of Gina.
* He played bass on Sammy Hagar’s 1987 solo album I Never Said Goodbye.
* In 1989 he played bass on the opening track, (Twist the knife) from Steve Lukather’s debut album, as well as giving the guitar part which was taken from an outtack from the 5150 album titled “I want some action”. The main riff was also latter used by Eddie Van Halen in the 3 album for “Dirty Water Dog”.
* He has also done soundtrack work for movies such as Back to the Future, Over The Top (Winner Takes It All, a collaboration with Sammy Hagar), Twister (The track Humans Being featuring Sammy Hagar, along with the instrumental Respect The Wind), The Wild Life, and Lethal Weapon 4 (The track Fire In The Hole from Van Halen III)
* He has recorded with Dweezil Zappa, Jeff Porcaro, Roger Waters, Steve Lukather, and Thomas Dolby, amongst others.
* In July 2006, Eddie Van Halen recorded two new instrumental tracks (Rise and Catherine) which debuted in an unusual format: in a pornographic feature entitled “Sacred Sin” directed by a friend of the guitarist, well known adult director Michael Ninn. These tracks have since surfaced on the internet. Eddie also composed some minor uncredited piano interludes in the feature.
1943 – Jim Morrison of the Doors is born in Melbourne, Fla., the son of a U.S. Navy admiral.
James Douglas Morrison (December 8, 1943—July 3, 1971) was an American singer, songwriter, poet, writer and film director. He is best known as the lead singer and lyricist of The Doors and is widely considered to be one of the most charismatic frontmen in rock music history. and the director of a documentary and short film. Morrison was known for his baritone vocals.
Biography
Early years
Morrison was born in Melbourne, Florida, to future Admiral George Stephen Morrison and Clara Clarke Morrison. Morrison had a sister, Anne Robin, who was born in 1947 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and a brother, Andrew Lee Morrison, who was born in 1948 in Los Altos, California. He was of Scottish and Irish ethnic heritage.
In 1947, Morrison, then four years old, allegedly witnessed a car accident in the desert, where a family of Native Americans were injured and possibly killed. He referred to this incident in a spoken word performance on the song “Dawn’s Highway” from the album An American Prayer, and again in the songs “Peace Frog” and “Ghost Song”.
Indians scattered on dawn’s highway bleeding
Ghosts crowd the young child’s fragile eggshell mind
Morrison believed the incident to be the most formative event in his life and made repeated references to it in the imagery in his songs, poems and interviews. Interestingly, his family does not recall this incident happening in the way he told it. According to the Morrison biography No One Here Gets Out Alive, Morrison’s family did drive past a car accident on an Indian reservation when he was a child, and he was very upset by it. However, the book The Doors written by the remaining members of The Doors, explains how different Morrison’s account of the incident was from the account of his father. This book quotes his father as saying, “We went by several Indians. It did make an impression on him . He always thought about that crying Indian.” This is contrasted sharply with Morrison’s tale of “Indians scattered all over the highway, bleeding to death”. In the same book, his sister is quoted as saying, “He enjoyed telling that story and exaggerating it. He said he saw a dead Indian by the side of the road, and I don’t even know if that’s true.”
With his father in the Navy, Morrison’s family moved often. He spent part of his childhood in San Diego, California. In 1958, Morrison attended Alameda High School in Alameda, California. However, he graduated from George Washington High School (now George Washington Middle School) in Alexandria, Virginia in June 1961. His father was also stationed at Mayport Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Florida.
Morrison went to live with his paternal grandparents in Clearwater, Florida where he attended classes at St. Petersburg Junior College. In 1962, he transferred to Florida State University in Tallahassee where he appeared in a school recruitment film.
In January 1964 Morrison moved to Los Angeles, California. He completed his undergraduate degree in UCLA’s film school, the Theater Arts department of the College of Fine Arts in 1965. He made two films while attending UCLA. First Love, the first of these films, was released to the public when it appeared in a documentary about the film Obscura. During these years, while living in Venice Beach, he became friends with writers at the Los Angeles Free Press. Morrison was an advocate of the underground newspaper until his death in 1971.
The Doors
In 1965, after graduating from UCLA, Morrison led a Bohemian lifestyle in Venice Beach. Photographer Joel Brodsky took a series of black-and-white photos of Morrison. Known as “The Young Lion” photo session, the pictures included the shot that was later featured on the Best of the Doors LP cover.
Morrison and fellow UCLA student Ray Manzarek were the first two members of The Doors. Shortly thereafter, drummer John Densmore and guitarist Robby Krieger joined. Krieger auditioned at Densmore’s recommendation and was then added to the lineup.
It is widely believed that the Doors took their name from the title of Aldous Huxley’s The Doors of Perception (a reference to the ‘unlocking’ of ‘doors’ of perception through psychedelic drug use), Huxley’s own title was a quote from William Blake’s The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, in which Blake wrote that “If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.”
Although Morrison is known as the lyricist for the group Krieger also made significant lyrical contributions, writing or co-writing some of the group’s biggest hits, including “Light My Fire”, “Love Me Two Times”, “Love Her Madly” and “Touch Me”.
In 1967, Morrison and The Doors produced a promotional film for “Break On Through”, which was to be their first single release. The video featured the four members of the group playing the song on a darkened set with alternating views and close-ups of the performers while Morrison lip-synched the lyrics. Morrison and The Doors continued to make music videos, including “The Unknown Soldier”, “Moonlight Drive”, and “People Are Strange”.
In June 1966, Morrison and The Doors were the opening act at the Whisky a Go Go on the last week of the residency of Van Morrison’s band Them.
The Doors achieved national recognition after signing with Elektra Records in 1967.
By the release of their second album, Strange Days, The Doors had become one of the most popular rock bands in the United States. Their blend of blues and rock tinged with psychedelia included a number of original songs and distinctive cover versions, such as the memorable rendition of “Alabama Song”, from Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill’s operetta, Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. The band also performed a number of extended concept works, including the songs “The End”, “When The Music’s Over”, and “Celebration of the Lizard”.
In 1968, The Doors released their third studio LP, Waiting for the Sun. Their fourth LP, The Soft Parade, was released in 1969. It was the first album where the individual band members were given credit on the inner sleeve for the songs they had written.
After this, Morrison started to show up for recording sessions inebriated (he can be heard hiccuping on the song “Five To One”). He was also frequently late for live performances. As a result, the band would play instrumental music or force Manzarek to take on the singing duties.
By 1969, the formerly svelte singer gained weight, grew a beard, and began dressing more casually – abandoning the leather pants and concho belts for slacks, jeans and T-shirts.
During a 1969 concert at The Dinner Key Auditorium in Miami, Morrison attempted to spark a riot in the audience. He failed, but a warrant for his arrest was issued by the Dade County Police department three days later for indecent exposure. Consequently, many of The Doors’ scheduled concerts were canceled.
Following The Soft Parade, The Doors released the Morrison Hotel LP. After a lengthy break the group reconvened in October 1970 to record their last LP with Morrison, L.A. Woman. Shortly after the recording sessions for the album began, producer Paul A. Rothchild — who had overseen all their previous recordings — left the project. Engineer Bruce Botnick took over as producer.
Solo: poetry and film
Morrison began writing in adolescence. In college, he studied the related fields of theater, film and cinematography.
He self-published two volumes of his poetry in 1969, The Lords / Notes on Vision and The New Creatures. The Lords consists primarily of brief descriptions of places, people, events and Morrison’s thoughts on cinema. The New Creatures verses are more poetic in structure, feel and appearance. These two books were later combined into a single volume titled The Lords and The New Creatures. These were the only writings published during Morrison’s lifetime.
Morrison befriended Beat Poet Michael McClure who wrote the afterword for Danny Sugerman’s biography of Morrison, No One Here Gets Out Alive. McClure and Morrison reportedly collaborated on a number of unmade film projects to include a film version of McClure’s infamous play The Beard in which Morrison would have played Billy The Kid.
After his death two volumes of Morrison’s poetry were published. The contents of the books were selected and arranged by Morrison’s friend, photographer Frank Lisciandro, and girlfriend Pamela Courson’s parents, who owned the rights to his poetry. The Lost Writings of Jim Morrison Volume 1 is titled Wilderness, and, upon its release in 1988, became an instant New York Times best seller. Volume 2, The American Night, released in 1990, was also a success.
Morrison recorded his own poetry in a mausoleum in a professional sound studio on two separate occasions. The first was in March 1969 in Los Angeles and the second was on December 8, 1970. The latter recording session was attended by Morrison’s personal friends and included a variety of sketch pieces. Some of the segments from the 1969 session were issued on the bootleg album The Lost Paris Tapes and were later used as part of the Doors’ An American Prayer album, released in 1978. The album reached number 54 on the music charts. The poetry recorded from the December 1970 session remains unreleased to this day and is in the possession of the Courson family.
Morrison’s best-known but seldom seen cinematic endeavor is HWY: An American Pastoral, a project he started in 1969. Morrison financed the venture and formed his own production company in order to maintain complete control of the project. Paul Ferrara, Frank Lisciandro and Babe Hill assisted with the project. Morrison played the main character, a hitchhiker turned killer/car thief. Morrison asked his friend, composer/pianist Fred Myrow, to select the soundtrack for the film.
Personal life
Morrison’s family
Morrison’s early life was a nomadic existence typical of military families. Jerry Hopkins recorded Morrison’s brother Andy explaining that his parents had determined never to use corporal punishment on their children. They instead instilled discipline and levied punishment by the military tradition known as “dressing down”. This consisted of yelling at and berating the children until they were reduced to tears and acknowledged their failings.
Once Morrison graduated from UCLA, he broke off most of his family contact. By the time Morrison’s music ascended to the top of the charts in 1967 he had not been in communication with his family for more than a year and falsely claimed that his parents and siblings were dead (or claiming, as it has been widely misreported, that he was an only child). This misinformation was published as part of the materials distributed with The Doors’ self-titled debut album.
In a letter to the Florida Probation and Parole Commission District Office dated October 2, 1970, Morrison’s father acknowledged the breakdown in family communications as the result of an argument over his assessment of his son’s musical talents. He said he could not blame his son for being reluctant to initiate contact and that he was proud of him nonetheless.
Women in his life
Morrison met his long-term companion, and she encouraged him to develop his poetry. At times, Courson used the surname “Morrison” with his apparent consent or at least lack of concern. After Courson’s death in 1974 the probate court in California decided that she and Morrison had what qualified as a common law marriage (see below, under “Estate Controversy”).
Courson and Morrison’s relationship was a stormy one, however, with frequent loud arguments and periods of separation. Biographer Danny Sugerman surmised that part of their difficulties may have stemmed from a conflict between their respective commitments to an open relationship and the consequences of living in such a relationship.
In 1970 Morrison participated in a Celtic Pagan handfasting ceremony with rock critic and science fiction/fantasy author Patricia Kennealy. Before witnesses, one of them a Presbyterian minister, however, none of the necessary paperwork for a legal marriage was filed with the state. Kenneally discussed her experiences with Morrison in her autobiography Strange Days: My Life With and Without Jim Morrison and in an interview reported in the book Rock Wives.
Morrison also regularly had sex with fans and had numerous short flings with women who were celebrities in their own right, including Nico, the singer associated with The Velvet Underground, a one night stand with singer Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane, an on-again-off-again relationship with 16 Magazine’s editor in chief Gloria Stavers and an alleged alcohol-fueled encounter with Janis Joplin. Judy Huddleston also recalls her relationship with Morrison in Living and Dying with Jim Morrison. At the time of his death there were reportedly as many as 20 paternity actions pending against him, although no claims were made against his estate by any of the putative paternity claimants, and the only person making a public claim to being Morrison’s son was shown to be a fraud.
Death
Morrison moved to Paris in March 1971, taking up residence in an apartment. Once there, Morrison grew a beard.
It was in Paris that Morrison made his last studio recording with two American street musicians — a session dismissed by Manzarek as “drunken gibberish”. The session included a version of a song-in-progress, “Orange County Suite”, which can be heard on the bootleg Lost Paris Tapes.
Morrison died on July 3, 1971, aged 27. In the official account of his death, he was found in a Paris apartment bathtub by Courson. Pursuant to French law, no autopsy was performed because the medical examiner claimed to have found no evidence of foul play. The absence of an official autopsy has left many questions regarding Morrison’s cause of death.
In Wonderland Avenue, Danny Sugerman discussed his encounter with Courson after she returned to the U.S. According to Sugerman’s account, Courson stated that Morrison had died of a heroin overdose, inhaling the substance because he thought it was cocaine. Sugerman added that Courson had given numerous contradictory versions of Morrison’s death, at times saying that she had killed her common-law husband, or that his death was her fault. Courson’s story of Morrison’s unintentional ingestion of heroin, followed by accidental overdose, is supported by the confession of Alain Ronay, who has written that Morrison died of a hemorrhage after snorting Courson’s heroin, and that Courson nodded off, leaving Morrison bleeding to death instead of phoning for medical help.
Ronay confessed in an article in Paris-Match that he then helped cover up the circumstances of Morrison’s death. In the epilogue of No One Here Gets Out Alive, Hopkins and Sugerman write that Ronay and Varda say Courson lied to police who responded to the death scene and later in her deposition, telling them Morrison never took drugs.
In the epilogue to No One Here Gets Out Alive, Hopkins says that 20 years after Morrison’s death Ronay and Varda broke silence and gave this account: They arrived at the house shortly after Morrison’s death and Courson said that she and Morrison had taken heroin after a night of drinking in bars. Morrison had been coughing badly, had gone to take a bath, and had thrown up blood. Courson said that he appeared to recover and that she then went to sleep. When she awoke sometime later Morrison was unresponsive and so she called for medical assistance.
Courson herself died of a heroin overdose three years later. Like Morrison, she was 27 years old at the time of her death.
However, in the epilogue of No One Here Gets Out Alive, Hopkins and Sugerman also claim that Morrison had asthma and was suffering from a respiratory condition involving a chronic cough and throwing up blood on the night of his death. This theory is partially supported in The Doors (written by the remaining members of the band) in which they claim Morrison had been coughing up blood for nearly two months in Paris. However, none of the members of the Doors were in Paris with Morrison in the months before his death.
In the first version of No One Here Gets Out Alive published in 1980, Sugarman and Hopkins gave some credence to the theory that Morrison may not have died at all, calling the fake death theory “not as far-fetched as it might seem”.
In a July 2007 newspaper interview, a self-described close friend of Morrison’s, Sam Bernett, resurrected an old rumor and announced that Morrison actually died of a heroin overdose in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Circus nightclub, on the Left Bank in Paris. Bernett claims that Morrison came to the club to buy heroin for Courson then did some himself and died in the bathroom. Bernett alleges that Morrison was then moved back to the rue Beautreillis apartment and dumped in the bathtub by the same two drug dealers from whom Morrison had purchased the heroin. Bernett says those who saw Morrison that night were sworn to secrecy, in order to prevent a scandal for the famous club,
Grave site
Morrison is buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in eastern Paris, one of the city’s most visited tourist attractions. The grave had no official marker until French officials placed a shield over it which was stolen in 1973. In 1981, Croatian sculptor Mladen Mikulin placed a bust of Morrison and the new gravestone with Morrison’s name at the grave to commemorate the 10th anniversary of his death; In the 1990s a flat stone was placed on the grave, possibly by his birth family, with the Greek inscription: ???? ??? ??????? ??????. Mikulin later made two more Morrison portraits in bronze but is awaiting the license to place a new sculpture on the tomb.
Estate controversy
In his will, made in Los Angeles County on February 12, 1969, Morrison (who described himself as “an unmarried person”) left his entire estate to Courson, also naming her co-executor with his attorney, Max Fink. She thus inherited everything upon Morrison’s death in 1971.
When Courson died in 1974, a battle ensued between Morrison’s and Courson’s parents over who had legal claim to Morrison’s estate. Since Morrison left a will the question was effectively moot. Upon his death his property became Courson’s; and on her death her property passed to her next heirs at law, her parents. Morrison’s parents contested the will under which Courson and now her parents had inherited their son’s property.
To bolster their positions Courson’s parents presented a document they claimed she had acquired in Colorado, apparently an application for a declaration that she and Morrison had contracted a common-law marriage under the laws of that state. The ability to contract a common-law marriage was abolished in California in 1896, but the state’s conflict of laws rules provided for recognition of common-law marriages lawfully contracted in foreign jurisdictions — and Colorado was one of the 11 U.S. jurisdictions that still recognized common-law marriage. As long as a common-law marriage was lawfully contracted under Colorado law it was recognized as a marriage under California law.
Artistic roots
As a naval family the Morrisons relocated frequently. Consequently Morrison’s early education was routinely disrupted as he moved from school to school. Nonetheless he proved to be an intelligent and capable student drawn to the study of literature, poetry, religion, philosophy and psychology, among other fields.
Biographers have consistently pointed to a number of writers and philosophers who influenced Morrison’s thinking and, perhaps, behavior. While still in his teens Morrison discovered the works of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. He was also drawn to the poetry of William Blake, Charles Baudelaire and Arthur Rimbaud. Beat Generation writers such as Jack Kerouac also had a strong influence on Morrison’s outlook and manner of expression; Morrison was eager to experience the life described in Kerouac’s On the Road. He was similarly drawn to the works of the French writer Céline. Céline’s book, Voyage au Bout de la Nuit (Journey to the End of the Night) and Blake’s Auguries of Innocence both echo through one of Morrison’s early songs, “End of the Night”. Morrison later met and befriended Michael McClure, a well known beat poet. McClure had enjoyed Morrison’s lyrics but was even more impressed by his poetry and encouraged him to further develop his craft.
Morrison’s vision of performance was colored by the works of 20th century French playwright Antonin Artaud (author of Theater and its Double) and by Julian Beck’s Living Theater.
Other works relating to religion, mysticism, ancient myth and symbolism were of lasting interest, particularly Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces. James Frazer’s The Golden Bough also became a source of inspiration and is reflected in the title and lyrics of the song “Not to Touch the Earth”.
Morrison was particularly attracted to the myths and religions of Native American cultures. While he was still in school, his family moved to New Mexico where he got to see some of the places and artifacts important to the Southwest Indigenous cultures. These interests appear to be the source of many references to creatures and places such as lizards, snakes, deserts and “ancient lakes” that appear in his songs and poetry. His interpretation of the practices of a Native American “shaman” were worked into parts of Morrison’s stage routine, notably in his interpretation of the Ghost Dance, and a song on his later poetry album, The Ghost Song. The songs “My Wild Love” and “Wild Child” were also inspired by his ideas of Native American rhythm and ritual. He also consumed 8 buttons of peyote and tripped for a week and wrote about seeing the “God of Peyote”.
Influence
Morrison remains one of the most popular and influential singers/writers in rock history as The Doors’ catalog has become a staple of classic rock radio stations. To this day he is widely regarded as the prototypical rock star: surly, sexy, scandalous and mysterious. The leather trousers he was fond of wearing both on stage and off have since become stereotyped as rock star apparel.
Iggy and the Stooges are said to have formed after lead singer Iggy Pop was inspired by Morrison while attending a Doors concert in Ann Arbor, Michigan. After Morrison’s death, Pop was considered as a replacement lead singer for The Doors; the surviving Doors gave him some of Morrison’s belongings and hired him as a vocalist for a series of shows.
Wallace Fowlie, professor emeritus of French literature at Duke University, wrote Rimbaud and Jim Morrison, subtitled “The Rebel as Poet – A Memoir”. In this book, Fowlie recounts his surprise at receiving a fan letter from Morrison who, in 1968, thanked him for his latest translation of Arthur Rimbaud’s verse into English. “I don’t read French easily”, he wrote, “…your book travels around with me.” Fowlie went on to give lectures on numerous campuses comparing the lives, philosophies and poetry of Morrison and Rimbaud.
Scott Weiland, the vocalist of Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver, as well as Scott Stapp of Creed, claim Morrison to be their biggest influence and inspiration. Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver have both covered “Roadhouse Blues” by the Doors. Weiland also filled in for Morrison to perform “Break On Through” with the rest of the Doors. Stapp filled in for Morrison for “Light my fire”, “Riders on the Storm” and “Roadhouse Blues” on VH1 Storytellers. Creed performed their version of “Riders on the Storm” with Robbie Krieger for the 1999 Woodstock Festival.
The book The Doors by the remaining Doors quotes Morrison’s close friend Frank Lisciandro as saying that too many people took a remark of Morrison’s that he was interested in revolt, disorder, and chaos “to mean that he was an anarchist, a revolutionary, or, worse yet, a nihilist. Hardly anyone noticed that Jim was restating Rimbaud and the Surreal poets.”
Books
By Jim Morrison
* The Lords and The New Creatures (1969). 1985 edition: ISBN 0-7119-0552-5
* An American Prayer (1970) privately printed by Western Lithographers. (Unauthorized edition also published in 1983, Zeppelin Publishing Company, ISBN 0-915628-46-5. The authenticity of the unauthorized edition has been disputed.)
* Wilderness The Lost Writings Of Jim Morrison (1988). 1990 edition: ISBN 0-14-011910-8
* The American Night: The Writings of Jim Morrison (1990). 1991 edition: ISBN 0-670-83772-5
About Jim Morrison
* Linda Ashcroft, Wild Child: Life with Jim Morrison, (1997) ISBN 1-56025-249-9
* Lester Bangs, “Jim Morrison: Bozo Dionysus a Decade Later” in Main Lines, Blood Feasts, and Bad Taste: A Lester Bangs Reader, John Morthland, ed. Anchor Press (2003) ISBN 0-375-71367-0
* Patricia Butler, Angels Dance and Angels Die: The Tragic Romance of Pamela and Jim Morrison, (1998) ISBN 0-8256-7341-0
* Stephen Davis, Jim Morrison: Life, Death, Legend, (2004) ISBN 1-592-40064-7
* John Densmore, Riders On The Storm: My Life With Jim Morrison and the Doors (1991) ISBN 0-385-30447-1
* Dave DiMartino, Moonlight Drive (1995) ISBN 1-886894-21-3
* Wallace Fowlie, Rimbaud and Jim Morrison (1994) ISBN 0-8223-1442-8
* Jerry Hopkins, The Lizard King: The Essential Jim Morrison (1995) ISBN 0-684-81866-3
* Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugerman, No One Here Gets Out Alive (1980) ISBN 0-85965-138-X
* Patricia Kennealy, Strange Days: My Life With And Without Jim Morrison (1992) ISBN 0-525-93419-7
* Frank Lisciandro, Morrison — A Feast Of Friends (1991) ISBN 0-446-39276-6
* Frank Lisciandro, Jim Morrison — An Hour For Magic (A Photojournal) ISBN 0-85965-246-7
* Ray Manzarek, Light My Fire (1998) ISBN 0-446-60228-0L. First by Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugerman (1981)
* Peter Jan Margry, The Pilgrimage to Jim Morrison’s Grave at Père Lachaise Cemetery: The Social Construction of Sacred Space. In idem (ed.), Shrines and Pilgrimage in the Modern World. New Itineraries into the Sacred. Amsterdam University Press, 2008, p. 145-173.
* Thanasis Michos, The Poetry of James Douglas Morrison (2001) ISBN 960-7748-23-9 (Greek)
* Mark Opsasnick, The Lizard King Was Here: The Life and Times of Jim Morrison in Alexandria, Virginia (2006) ISBN 1-4257-1330-0
* James Riordan & Jerry Prochnicky, Break on through : The Life and Death of Jim Morrison (1991) ISBN 0-688-11915-8
* Adriana Rubio, Jim Morrison: Ceremony…Exploring the Shaman Possession (2005) ISBN 0-9766590-0-X
* The Doors (remaining members Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger, John Densmore) with Ben Fong-Torres, The Doors (2006) ISBN 1-4013-0303-X
Films
By Jim Morrison
* HWY: An American Pastoral (1969)
* A Feast of Friends (1970)
Documentaries featuring Jim Morrison
* The Doors Are Open (1968)
* Live in Europe (1968)
* Live at the Hollywood Bowl (1968)
* Feast of Friends (1969)
* The Doors: A Tribute to Jim Morrison (1981)
* The Doors: Dance on Fire (1985)
* The Soft Parade, a Retrospective (1991)
* Final 24: Jim Morrison (2008), The Biography Channel
Films about Jim Morrison
* The Doors (1991), A film by director Oliver Stone, starring Val Kilmer as Morrison and with cameos by Krieger and Densmore. Kilmer’s performance was praised by critics. Members of the group criticized Stone’s portrayal of Morrison, however.
Footnotes
1. ^ Bio of Jim Morrison.
2. ^ a b “See e.g., Morrison poem backs climate plea”, BBC News, January 31, 2007.
3. ^ Bio of Jim Morrison.
4. ^ “Dead Famous: Jim Morrison”, The Biography Channel. (Retrieved Dec. 2, 2007).
5. ^ Riordan, James (1992). Break on Through: The Life and Death of Jim Morrison, HarperCollins. pp. 32. ISBN 0688119158.
6. ^ Walters, Glenn D. (2006). Lifestyle theory: Past, Present And Future, Nova Publishers. pp. 78. ISBN 1600210333.
7. ^ “Recruitment Film”. Retrieved on 2008-08-24.
8. ^ “FSU Arrest”. Retrieved on 2008-06-24.
9. ^ Melissa Ursula Dawn Goldsmith, “Criticism Lighting His Fire: Perspectives on Jim Morrison from the Los Angeles Free Press, Down Beat, and The Miami Herald (master’s thesis, Interdepartmental Program in Liberal Arts, Louisiana State University, 2007). Available at “http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-11162007-105056/”.
10. ^ Getlen, Larry, Opportunity knocked so The Doors kicked it down, http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/investing/20030616a1.asp, retrieved on 24 August 2008
11. ^ Paul Lawrence (2002). “The Doors and Them: twin Morrisons of different mothers”. waiting-forthe-sun.net. Retrieved on 2008-07-07.
12. ^ Hinton (1997), page 67.
13. ^ Corry Arnold (2006-01-23). “The History of the Whisky-A-Go-Go”. chickenonaunicyle.com. Retrieved on 2008-06-30.
14. ^ “Glossary entry for The Doors”. Archived from the original on 2007-03-10. from Van Morrison website. Photo of both Morrisons on stage. Access date 2007-05-26.
15. ^ “Doors 1966 – June 1966″. doorshistory.com. Retrieved on 2008-10-13.
16. ^ Leopold, Todd, Confessions of a record label owner, http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/Music/04/19/holzman.elektra/index.html, retrieved on 9 September 2007
17. ^ Light My Fire, http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/6595880/light_my_fire, retrieved on 24 August 2008
18. ^ When the Doors went on Sullivan, http://archives.cnn.com/2002/SHOWBIZ/TV/10/03/ed.sullivan.sidebar/index.html, retrieved on 9 September 2007
19. ^ The Doors: Biography: Rolling Stone, http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/thedoors/biography, retrieved on 24 August 2008
20. ^ Dead Rock Star to Get Pardon?, http://www.wltx.com/fyi/story.aspx?storyid=48833, retrieved on 9 September 2007
21. ^ Notable Actors – UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, http://www.tft.ucla.edu/alumni/notable-actors/, retrieved on 3 December 2008
22. ^ McClure, Michael, Michael McClure Recalls an Old Friend, http://archives.waiting-forthe-sun.net/Pages/Players/Personal/mcclure_recalls.html, retrieved on 9 September 2008
23. ^ Unterberger, Richie, Liner Notes for Diane Hildebrand’s “Early Morning Blues and Greens, http://www.richieunterberger.com/diane.html, retrieved on 24 August 2008
24. ^ HWY: An American Pastoral, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0388097/combined, retrieved on 24 August 2008
25. ^ Jim Morrison Biography, http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biography_story/1930:2450/1/Jim_Morrison.htm, retrieved on 24 August 2008
26. ^ Letter from Jim’s Father to probation department 1970
27. ^ Hoover, Elizabeth, The Death of Jim Morrison, http://www.americanheritage.com/entertainment/articles/web/20060703-jim-morrison-doors-drugs-rock-n-roll-aldous-huxley-paris-heroin-pamela-courson.shtml, retrieved on 24 August 2008
28. ^ Jim Morrison Biography, http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biography_story/1930:2450/4/Jim_Morrison.htm, retrieved on 24 August 2008
29. ^ Kennealy, Patricia (1992). Strange Days: My Life With And Without Jim Morrison. New York: Dutton/Penguin. pp. p.63. ISBN 0-525-93419-7.
30. ^ Kennealy (1992) plate 7, p.175
31. ^ Davis, Steven (2004) “The Last Days of Jim Morrison” in Rolling Stone. Retrieved 25 December 2007
32. ^ Kennealy (1992) pp.314-16
33. ^ “Ask Ray Manzarek” Transcript, Talk, BBC, 10 April 2002,
34. ^ Ronay, Alain (2002) “Jim and I – Friends Until Death”. Originally published in KING. Retrieved 25 December 2007
35. ^ Kennealy (1992) pp: 385-92 quotes from Ronay’s interview in Paris-Match
36. ^ Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugarman, No One Here Gets Out Alive page 373
37. ^ Hopkins, Jerry; and Danny Sugerman (1980) No One Here Gets Out Alive ISBN 0-85965-138-X
38. ^ Kennealy (1992) pp.344-6
39. ^ Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugarman, No One Here Gets Out Alive page 375, also see copyright in front of book on new material added in 1995
40. ^ Walt, Vivienne, How Jim Morrison Died, http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1643884,00.html, retrieved on 24 August 2008
41. ^ “The shocking truth about Jim Morrison’s death surfaces”. AndhraNews.net story, July 8, 2007.
42. ^ “The shocking truth about how my pal Jim Morrison REALLY died”, mailonsunday.co.uk Accessed July 13, 2007.
43. ^ Doland, Angela, Morrison Bathtub Death Story Questioned, http://news.aol.com/entertainment/music/story/_a/morrison-bathtub-death-story-questioned/20070711145609990001, retrieved on 24 August 2008
44. ^ Mladen Mikulin – Sculptor
45. ^ photo of defaced bust on Morrison’s grave before it was stolen.
46. ^ Jim Morrison, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_gx5221/is_2005/ai_n19141572/pg_2, retrieved on 24 August 2008
47. ^ The Stooges: Biography: Rolling Stone, http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/thestooges/biography, retrieved on 24 August 2008
48. ^ Webb, Robert, ROCK & POP: STORY OF THE SONG – ‘THE PASSENGER’ Iggy Pop (1977), http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20051014/ai_n15713651, retrieved on 24 August 2008
49. ^ The Doors (remaining members Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger, John Densmore) with Ben Fong-Torres), The Doors, page 104
50. ^ Biography Channel documentary
51. ^ The Doors (1991)
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