Flash of Eden

IN THE HOUSE OF LOVE When “Light My Fire” broke on national radio, The Doors had been an L.A. band that played in San Francisco and New York on occasion. When the song started to climb in the national charts, the tours began. I was lucky enough to have been there at the time as the band’s only staff photographer. I was just finishing up the concert book and poster that would be sold at concerts. I began shooting 16mm film of the group wherever I could. This was not an easy assignment. Most people shy from the eye of the camera. It’s a process of wearing them down by being there so much that they get used to you. I had melted into the group’s psyche and was filming at ease. The early tours took us to places like Ohio where the kids in the audience still had short hair and were wearing suits. I was in the audience a lot, shooting Jim on stage. Jim and I had a close relationship. The other three Doors had wives and girlfriends and left right after the shows for their hotel rooms or whatever. I was single, and Jim acted as if he was even though he had a steady girlfriend. I developed a scheme to line up the pretty willing young girls for after-show partying. I usually gave out the hotel name and address, including our room numbers. On one particular night in Ohio, Jim and I were in rooms next to one another. By the time we packed up after the concert and hit a few bars, the hallway in front of our rooms was filled with young girls. They were lined up along the velvet-crested wallpaper. It was an older hotel with steam heat and dark wood paneling. I don’t think you can ever get used to something like that! So many beautiful girls. I had done my job well. It wasn’t like in the movie “Almost Famous” where there were tons of band members and roadies, etc. Here there were only girls, Jim and I. They swarmed around us as we approached our rooms. Jim made it into his room with a very pretty girl and shut the door. I turned around to a line of girls. This was the Soft Parade. We had a busy night ahead of us. We opened the door joining our two rooms and had a dialogue going. If they couldn’t have Jim, they wanted me. They didn’t even know who I was. They thought I was a band member. The first girl into my room asked if I was the bass player. I said yes. She took her clothes off. She was a corn-fed blonde around 18 or 19 years old. Long and lean, just how I liked them. Her skin was pale, her breasts were young and fresh. How they learned to fuck like porn stars was beyond me. She talked about Jim as she straddled me, bucking like a cowgirl. She wanted to do Jim next. I promised her I would make that happen. I knew neither Jim nor I wanted sloppy seconds, but I still promised. She didn’t want to leave and there were still several girls waiting in the hallway. I heard Jim’s door slam. His girl had left and he had grabbed another. I helped my girl to dress and showed her to the door. Another girl stepped in and the scene started all over again. I don’t know if anything can prepare you for an experience like this. We were young and full of energy, thank god, and did the best we could. We were making it up as we went along. An older attractive woman approached me in my doorway. She had the hand of a younger girl who she introduced as her daughter. They were both blonde and blue-eyed. The mother was dressed a little like a hippie; the daughter was a carbon copy. They wanted to meet Jim. They wanted to touch the greatness. I told them to wait right there. I went to the door joining our rooms and entered slowly. Jim had his current girl pinned against the headboard and was slamming her as hard as he could. I whispered in his ear about the mother and daughter team standing outside in the hall. He took a double take at me and smiled. “Yeah,” he motioned. He hadn’t missed a stroke. His current girl looked up at me with a giant grin on her face. She was fucking Jim Morrison, what more could she ask for? I brought the mother and daughter into my room. When Jim finished with the cheerleader he was fucking, he showed her out, promising to see her again. He was building a sexual fan base one at a time and I was going to help him all I could. He came into my room and met the mother-daughter team. The three of them went into his room. I can only imagine what happened because he didn’t tell me about it, and my imagination will have to do.