Mrs Mojo Rises
Gray drizzly VERY bad-hair day. I spent the afternoon in midtown, taping my contribution to a Doors (NOT Jim!) documentary being assembled by Prism Films, a British outfit with some very good past docs to their credit (Captain Beefheart, featuring my old friend Gary Lucas; Dylan; few more).
The interviewer/producer, Tom O'Dell, was hands down the best interviewer I've ever encountered. Fantastically intelligent questions from a very well-informed and honorable individual. I'll only be a tiny part of it---he's talked to literally dozens of people, from fellow critics Robert Christgau and Richard Goldstein to biographer James Riordan to producer Billy James and other figures from the dawn times, so my screen time will be minimal.
And I hope I did the questions credit: I got to talk about a lot of stuff I never ever get to talk about, such as how the Doors were perceived by audiences in NY as opposed to those in LA and the UK; how the songwriting chores were divvied up; how Jim perceived his role in the band and as a person, what he told me, what we discussed privately as opposed to what we discussed in interview settings; the music and how it changed as the band got more widely known; how they saw themselves; the trial and how it affected our lives; all kinds of really interesting slants on what he and the band did.
The interview was about the Doors as I perceived them, first as a fan, then as a rock critic, and only last and distantly as Mrs. Morrison. Which is as it should be. And hardly a mention of You-Know-Who, and I don't mean Voldemort, the whole time. Bit after, off-camera, to clear up a few misconceptions, but that was it.
I've always maintained that the synergy of the Doors was lightning in a bottle, and history bears it out. The three never did anything after Jim's death even remotely comparable; we'll never know what Jim himself would or could have done, but he was instructing me to look for not only a loft for us to live in but a studio and likely engineer for himself, once he extricated himself from Paris and came back to me in NYC, so he obviously had creative purposes in mind that didn't involve the other guys.
Anyway, since I NEVER get asked stuff like this, it was really, really satisfying to be treated as a Founding Mother of Rock Criticism and one who was present at the creation, not as the Yoko Ono of the Doors. So deepest thanks to Tom and Alec, and this may actually be one doc I'll watch without cringing. Well, too much, anyway.
(Oh, for the jewel porn fans: our claddaghs, my Keltic tourmaline and six diamond bracelets on my left hand; my emerald engagement ring and the white sapphire 25-year memorial ring on my right hand; pearl studs; and the huge ruby-and-diamond-framed opal heart with Jim's inscription in his own handwriting on the back: "To my wife/my Patricia/I love you/Jim". Fun stuff.)
The interviewer/producer, Tom O'Dell, was hands down the best interviewer I've ever encountered. Fantastically intelligent questions from a very well-informed and honorable individual. I'll only be a tiny part of it---he's talked to literally dozens of people, from fellow critics Robert Christgau and Richard Goldstein to biographer James Riordan to producer Billy James and other figures from the dawn times, so my screen time will be minimal.
And I hope I did the questions credit: I got to talk about a lot of stuff I never ever get to talk about, such as how the Doors were perceived by audiences in NY as opposed to those in LA and the UK; how the songwriting chores were divvied up; how Jim perceived his role in the band and as a person, what he told me, what we discussed privately as opposed to what we discussed in interview settings; the music and how it changed as the band got more widely known; how they saw themselves; the trial and how it affected our lives; all kinds of really interesting slants on what he and the band did.
The interview was about the Doors as I perceived them, first as a fan, then as a rock critic, and only last and distantly as Mrs. Morrison. Which is as it should be. And hardly a mention of You-Know-Who, and I don't mean Voldemort, the whole time. Bit after, off-camera, to clear up a few misconceptions, but that was it.
I've always maintained that the synergy of the Doors was lightning in a bottle, and history bears it out. The three never did anything after Jim's death even remotely comparable; we'll never know what Jim himself would or could have done, but he was instructing me to look for not only a loft for us to live in but a studio and likely engineer for himself, once he extricated himself from Paris and came back to me in NYC, so he obviously had creative purposes in mind that didn't involve the other guys.
Anyway, since I NEVER get asked stuff like this, it was really, really satisfying to be treated as a Founding Mother of Rock Criticism and one who was present at the creation, not as the Yoko Ono of the Doors. So deepest thanks to Tom and Alec, and this may actually be one doc I'll watch without cringing. Well, too much, anyway.
(Oh, for the jewel porn fans: our claddaghs, my Keltic tourmaline and six diamond bracelets on my left hand; my emerald engagement ring and the white sapphire 25-year memorial ring on my right hand; pearl studs; and the huge ruby-and-diamond-framed opal heart with Jim's inscription in his own handwriting on the back: "To my wife/my Patricia/I love you/Jim". Fun stuff.)
posted by Patricia Kennealy Morrison | 10:23 PM
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