LUCIFER RISING

Part 6

Touring with the Doors, Morrison had become infamous for his “Nobody Gets Out of Here Alive” performances inspired by Antonin Artaud’s, Theater of Cruelty. 

Ray Manzarek wrote that his bandmate soon developed an “evil doppelganger” – “Jimbo.” The Doors keyboardist described this alter-ego as “a Frankenstein monster, the destructive golem… on a quest for domination, power, and kicks.” 

Added Jimbo’s producer, Paul Rothchild: “You just never knew, Was he going to be Dr. Jekyll, or was he going to be Mr. Hyde?” 

As for Jim, he called himself The Lizard King. “The lizard,” he explained, “is identified with the unconscious and with the forces of evil.” 

Off tour, the singer would disappear in the underbelly of L.A. or out in the desert on shamanic “vision quests.” Or, on his “Manson trip,” as Manzarek called it, he would go out near Spahn Ranch, get loaded and play with guns. 

Like Manson, Morrison was no flower-in-the-barrel love child. “Hate is a very underestimated emotion,” said the rock’s anti-hippie. “If I had an ax,” he went on, “Man, I’d kill everybody.” Or, at least Simon and Garfunkel. “Those fuckers hated me, A and I hated them,” said Jim. “I wanted to kill them.”

By 1969, Morrison was running out of violent theatrics on his “road of excess which led to the palace of wisdom.” There was only one thing left to do.  “I wanna change the world. No limits. No LAWS!” he roared to the crowd of 13,000 in Miami. “I’m not NORMAL, can’t you fuckers see? Your all a buncha fuckin idiots. You’re all a bunch of slaves, man!”

The Lizard King was arrested for Lewd and Lascivious Behavior, Indecent Exposure, and Drunkenness. The Doors tour was cancelled. And their music was banned on most radio stations. 

Returning to L.A. for a sabbatical, Morrison began filming his noire cinema verite, HWY. He played the lead: a homicidal hitcher, “The Kid.” Co-producer, Frank Lisciandro described the hero as “an archetypical character of Billy the Kid, Jesse James, and Jack the Ripper.” 

Morrison filmed HWY in Manson’s neck of the woods, near the Spahn Ranch commune. Years before, Duel in the Sun, The Lone Ranger, and other classic westerns had been shot here. More recently, Satanist, Kenneth Anger, had chosen it as the site for Lucifer Rising, staring Bobby Beausoliel. But, due to money problems, the production was delayed and Cupid laid off.