Jim Cherry's Blog, page 18
March 15, 2010
Page Readers Radio Interview Today
Hello!
I had a radio interview on Page Readers Blog Talk Radio Show this morning. I think it went fairly well. I posted it on my Myspace page www.myspace.com/jymsbooks
I hope you can listen!
Jim
I had a radio interview on Page Readers Blog Talk Radio Show this morning. I think it went fairly well. I posted it on my Myspace page www.myspace.com/jymsbooks
I hope you can listen!
Jim
March 6, 2010
Jim's Radio Interviews
I've had a couple of interviews on blogtalk radio shows, Rants, Raves & Rock 'n' Roll, Sonar4 Magazine Radio Talk Show, and one March 15th, 2010 at 11 AM (Mountain time).
You can listen to the interviews on my Myspace page www.myspace.com/jymsbooks
Jim
You can listen to the interviews on my Myspace page www.myspace.com/jymsbooks
Jim
January 2, 2010
The Last Stage Serialized!
Hello Everybody!
I've started serializing The Last Stage at my Doors Examiner site. If you would like to read it, it will be published at the rate of a chapter every Monday for a year. If you subscribe you will automatically be notified when a new chapter is published (along with other Doors Examiner articles)
The Link is: http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-21...
I hope you enjoy The Last Stage!
Happy New Year!
Jim Cherry
I've started serializing The Last Stage at my Doors Examiner site. If you would like to read it, it will be published at the rate of a chapter every Monday for a year. If you subscribe you will automatically be notified when a new chapter is published (along with other Doors Examiner articles)
The Link is: http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-21...
I hope you enjoy The Last Stage!
Happy New Year!
Jim Cherry
The Last Stage Serialized!
Hello Everybody!
I've started serializing The Last Stage at my Doors Examiner site. If you would like to read it, it will be published at the rate of a chapter every Monday for a year. If you subscribe you will automatically be notified when a new chapter is published (along with other Doors Examiner articles)
I hope you enjoy The Last Stage!
Happy New Year!
Jim Cherry
I've started serializing The Last Stage at my Doors Examiner site. If you would like to read it, it will be published at the rate of a chapter every Monday for a year. If you subscribe you will automatically be notified when a new chapter is published (along with other Doors Examiner articles)
I hope you enjoy The Last Stage!
Happy New Year!
Jim Cherry
December 18, 2009
Fiction; A Short Story
FICTION
One of Jim’s students raised their hand.
“Yes?”
“Mr. Cherry, why aren’t you a writer?” The student was talking about the stories he read in class, stories of his youth, stories he’d written when he did have literary ambitions, and he’d had adventures to make into stories. Once he had opened the sluice gates of his imagination where he wrote so hotly that he had to carry notebooks around with him so the words wouldn’t get away from him. Stories all his friends told him were great and that he should write a book. He did write a book, a novel, and now it sat in his “files” an affectation he picked up from his literary heros. But he didn’t work on it any more. He hadn’t read it in a long time, he didn’t even think about it much any more.
“I did write a little,” he said, answering the girl’s question. “But I discovered as a writer I was a much better teacher, and that it was more rewarding teaching you guys about Hemingway and Fitzgerald.” He wondered if the answer satisfied them. He wondered if the answer satisfied him.
He closed the door of his apartment behind him and he turned on the TV. Some people with broken dreams sat in bars drinking trying to forget the promises of their youth, promises to themselves. Some drowned that misery in a sea of possessions, a big house, all the best cars, stereos, Blu-Ray players, iPods that money can buy. But television was his drug of choice, it numbed him. Numbed him against the flood of images from his subconscious, quieted the riot of voices that sought release through him.
The television flickered vacant images against the wall of the next room, Jim fell across his bed like a sailor washed ashore on a desolate beach. He stared up into the milky blankness of the ceiling. He closed his eyes and hoped for sleep. He could see the far off life he dreamt of for himself. His new book being released by a major publisher to critical and popular acclaim, being interviewed by the major newspapers and magazines, the interviewer hanging off his every word. Book signings with a line of people trailing through the store, all waiting for him. The movie deals for his books sitting on his desk waiting for him to sign. The lunches with agents and attorneys and when his cell phone rang excusing himself and taking the call. When the writer had a few minutes to himself to think, he thought of himself as a teacher, and how he should have taken the simpler path in life.
Jim woke up, the morning light prying it’s way through the windows. He sighed and realized he was still here, he had to get ready for work again, to teach. It had all seemed so close, so real, like he could almost touch that other life, that he could insert himself into that life, but it was dream, it melted like sugar in the realization it was a little wish fulfillment displayed like a movie flickering against the walls of his movie mind. Or was it? Maybe this life was the dream? A waking dream of the writer of what his life could have been like? He heaved another sigh. He didn’t know. Metaphysics bows before reality or at least before the work a day world. He had to push such dreams to the side to get dressed, go to work, teach kids, all day wondering which was the dream? And which was the fiction?
One of Jim’s students raised their hand.
“Yes?”
“Mr. Cherry, why aren’t you a writer?” The student was talking about the stories he read in class, stories of his youth, stories he’d written when he did have literary ambitions, and he’d had adventures to make into stories. Once he had opened the sluice gates of his imagination where he wrote so hotly that he had to carry notebooks around with him so the words wouldn’t get away from him. Stories all his friends told him were great and that he should write a book. He did write a book, a novel, and now it sat in his “files” an affectation he picked up from his literary heros. But he didn’t work on it any more. He hadn’t read it in a long time, he didn’t even think about it much any more.
“I did write a little,” he said, answering the girl’s question. “But I discovered as a writer I was a much better teacher, and that it was more rewarding teaching you guys about Hemingway and Fitzgerald.” He wondered if the answer satisfied them. He wondered if the answer satisfied him.
He closed the door of his apartment behind him and he turned on the TV. Some people with broken dreams sat in bars drinking trying to forget the promises of their youth, promises to themselves. Some drowned that misery in a sea of possessions, a big house, all the best cars, stereos, Blu-Ray players, iPods that money can buy. But television was his drug of choice, it numbed him. Numbed him against the flood of images from his subconscious, quieted the riot of voices that sought release through him.
The television flickered vacant images against the wall of the next room, Jim fell across his bed like a sailor washed ashore on a desolate beach. He stared up into the milky blankness of the ceiling. He closed his eyes and hoped for sleep. He could see the far off life he dreamt of for himself. His new book being released by a major publisher to critical and popular acclaim, being interviewed by the major newspapers and magazines, the interviewer hanging off his every word. Book signings with a line of people trailing through the store, all waiting for him. The movie deals for his books sitting on his desk waiting for him to sign. The lunches with agents and attorneys and when his cell phone rang excusing himself and taking the call. When the writer had a few minutes to himself to think, he thought of himself as a teacher, and how he should have taken the simpler path in life.
Jim woke up, the morning light prying it’s way through the windows. He sighed and realized he was still here, he had to get ready for work again, to teach. It had all seemed so close, so real, like he could almost touch that other life, that he could insert himself into that life, but it was dream, it melted like sugar in the realization it was a little wish fulfillment displayed like a movie flickering against the walls of his movie mind. Or was it? Maybe this life was the dream? A waking dream of the writer of what his life could have been like? He heaved another sigh. He didn’t know. Metaphysics bows before reality or at least before the work a day world. He had to push such dreams to the side to get dressed, go to work, teach kids, all day wondering which was the dream? And which was the fiction?
December 6, 2009
Lewis Shiner Coming Back Into Print
I know there are a few Lewis Shiner fans out there, and he's found a publisher to put his titles back in print. Black & White came out in paperback and I Deserted Cities of the Heart was just released in the last day or so. Other Shiner titles are expected in the near future.
November 8, 2009
Review from a Reader
I just finished the last stage experience- I call it that because it felt more like a phone conversation with Michael Gray than reading his book. I like Katherine Reinhart's take that the book is about figuring out Gray's complex personality. You really have fun wondering if he an artist or a businessman, ambitious or a daydreamer, intellegent or a junkie.
From the very cover you can tell the book has to do with Jim Morrison and this was a sound literary decision. Michael Gray comfortably fits into a backdrop that the DOORS created so there isn't a lot of having to explain or describe things- we all knew who the DOORS were and what they stood for. At least we think we do and no one can tell us different.
Jim Cherry has taken a few points to ponder about the Jim Morrison mystique and these are what cleverly unfold in this book. A couple of these are Morrison's ability to spellbind audiences, his relationship with women, the reality of how he did business with band members and bar owners.
The name Michael Gray conjures up Dorian Gray from Oscar Wilde's famous novel. Michael's wanting to resurrect a band that existed 20 years prior hinges on Dorian's wanting to stay young forever.
I was amazed by how Cherry brings forgotten child television star Jimmy Stark is brought into the thick of things. Cherry allures the reader's trust so that he is able to drop this coincidence onto their lap. It greatly enhances the book in light of what really happend to Jim Morrison who also experienced stardom early in life but saw it disipate with his legal and drug troubles. This is a fun book that reads fast- an eighties version of On the Road.
From the very cover you can tell the book has to do with Jim Morrison and this was a sound literary decision. Michael Gray comfortably fits into a backdrop that the DOORS created so there isn't a lot of having to explain or describe things- we all knew who the DOORS were and what they stood for. At least we think we do and no one can tell us different.
Jim Cherry has taken a few points to ponder about the Jim Morrison mystique and these are what cleverly unfold in this book. A couple of these are Morrison's ability to spellbind audiences, his relationship with women, the reality of how he did business with band members and bar owners.
The name Michael Gray conjures up Dorian Gray from Oscar Wilde's famous novel. Michael's wanting to resurrect a band that existed 20 years prior hinges on Dorian's wanting to stay young forever.
I was amazed by how Cherry brings forgotten child television star Jimmy Stark is brought into the thick of things. Cherry allures the reader's trust so that he is able to drop this coincidence onto their lap. It greatly enhances the book in light of what really happend to Jim Morrison who also experienced stardom early in life but saw it disipate with his legal and drug troubles. This is a fun book that reads fast- an eighties version of On the Road.
Visual Arts Junction Review
Jim Cherry: Guest Interview
Nov, 6th, 2009
By Shelagh Watkins
Jim Cherry has written three books: the semi-autobiographical novel Becoming Angel, a collection of short stories, Stranger Souls and the Doors inspired novel, The Last Stage.
Shelagh: Hi Jim, please tell everyone a bit more about yourself.
Jim: I grew up in Chicago in the sixties, I remember and absorbed it all. I remember being born and the kaleidoscope images of childhood. My mother read to me, acting out the characters and put the pictures in my head. I danced on a corner and made it rain, I discovered magic or power, it was child’s play. Art was another early discovery when I saw a bunch of girls crowded around a fellow classmate I looked over to see what was going on, he was drawing Peanuts characters. I read just about everything that came my way; a writer has to live both in his imagination and the world of experience and I think I’ve done both. I lived the first twenty-three years of my life in my imagination. From the earliest years reading about pirates, baseball players, racecar drivers, mythology and after I put the books down the adventures continued in my head and backyard.
Shelagh: When did the writing bug bite, and in what genre(s)?
Jim: I started writing when I was thirteen. I read about Ernest Hemingway and how a writer can be an artist and I wanted to be an artist but can’t draw. The first thing I ever wrote was a Mad Magazine style satire, complete with traced out drawings from Mad. My mother laughed and I took it wrong I had intended it be serious fiction.
Shelagh: When you started writing, what goals did you want to accomplish? Is there a message you want readers to grasp?
Jim: The goals I started with in writing don’t seem to be the ones I’m accomplishing. The writing process seems to have taken on a life of its own and the books seem to create themselves as I go along. Yes, there is a message I want readers to grasp but I don’t want to say what that is because I don’t want to impose my bias on the reader. I want readers to be free to find whatever message they do find. I’ve written things where I thought the message was pretty clear but other readers saw other things in the piece and I couldn’t discount it, because I saw that they could be right. I don’t want to bias the reader with my interpretation which may or may not be right.
Shelagh: Briefly tell us about your latest book. Series or stand-alone?
Jim: The Last Stage. I think too many writers take on too much with writing a series of books. In the past I’ve read some series by some to the best writers and they don’t always stand up. While I admire the imagination and dedication writers take in creating a series, I like all my novels to stand on their own; I don’t want to commit my readers to too much. Or maybe I don’t want to commit myself to too much!
Shelagh: How do you develop characters? Setting?
Jim: The characters develop organically. When I start a story I have an idea of who the people are and what motivates them. But during the writing I usually discover something about the characters I hadn’t known. Most of the stories I write are set in the environment I’m familiar with, suburbs
Shelagh: Do you have specific techniques to help you maintain the course of the plot?
Jim: No. When I start writing I know the beginning and the end of the story, but as I write the middle tends to write itself and I’m usually surprised at how things work out.
Shelagh: Do you have a specific writing style? Preferred POV?
Jim: I usually write in the first person. I really don’t set out with the POV in mind, I just find that first person is the best for giving the reader the sense of immediacy and participation in the story that I’m looking for.
Shelagh: How does your environment/upbringing color your writing?
Jim: I was raised in middle to upper class suburbs and still live in them, so that’s where most of my settings occur, it really isn’t anything conscious it’s just as the characters develop that’s their background. And my characters aren’t the type that the more status conscious residents of the suburbs want to see. My characters usually are struggling with the world they find themselves in, they either don’t fit in or are having trouble trying to attain the goals associated with those suburbs and its residents.
Shelagh: Share the best review (or a portion) that you’ve ever had.
Jim: I always find the latest review of my books is the best! I try my best to write the best I can and I think I’ve been lucky the books are what I’ve envisioned and get good reviews. True to form here’s the latest:
This book has long intrigued me as a Doors fan, and now that I have read it, I am completely wowed by it. What would it be like to be Jim Morrison performing up on stage? Read this book and find out.
It’s very well written, and includes details about all the little things that Doors fans appreciate. That gives the book a very real, almost non-fiction feeling. I kept saying “yes! yes!” as I read it, because the book totally nails a lot of the emotion that Doors fans have for the band. The characters are vivid, and their dialog snappy. But most of all, the descriptions of the various locations made the book come alive. Like the various bars where the band plays their gigs. And the road trip they go on throughout the midwest. From Chicago to New Orleans, I felt like I was right there as I read it. I got a kick reading about the various girlfriends and “Doors groupies” that they met on the road trip. Some of them were laugh out loud funny, others were sad. But all were fascinating to read about.
The main character has a very complex character, and I was immediately drawn in to trying to figure out what made him tick. Was he just a devoted Morrison fan? Or did he have a self identity problem? Every scene that unfolded had me even more engrossed in trying to figure out what he was trying to accomplish. By the end of the story, this guy was in Los Angeles, getting ready to perform at Whisky a Go Go, carousing with aging rock stars and actors, interviewing agents and screenplay writers, reliving Jim Morrison’s lifestyle, and exploring all his old haunts. I won’t give away the ending, but it is very, very poignant and real.
Shelagh: What are your current projects?
Jim: I actually have quite a few projects in mind. I currently write articles as The Doors Examiner which are about the rock group The Doors. As far as creative writing, I’m working on a novel, Ghosts, which is about the death of a friend of mine, and the ghosts we carry around with us throughout our lives. I also have another Rock ‘n’ Roll novel up my sleeve titled Ghost Dance (yes, I may be in a ghost period, like Picasso’s blue period!) it’s about an American Indian rock band that hits the big time. It’s a bit of a thriller.
Shelagh: Where can folks learn more about your books and events?
Jim: My website www.jymsbooks.com www.examiner.com/x-21763-the-doors-ex... Facebook, www.myspace.com/jymsbooks
Writing Under the Influence of Rock ‘n’ Roll! www.jymsbooks.com
Nov, 6th, 2009
By Shelagh Watkins
Jim Cherry has written three books: the semi-autobiographical novel Becoming Angel, a collection of short stories, Stranger Souls and the Doors inspired novel, The Last Stage.
Shelagh: Hi Jim, please tell everyone a bit more about yourself.
Jim: I grew up in Chicago in the sixties, I remember and absorbed it all. I remember being born and the kaleidoscope images of childhood. My mother read to me, acting out the characters and put the pictures in my head. I danced on a corner and made it rain, I discovered magic or power, it was child’s play. Art was another early discovery when I saw a bunch of girls crowded around a fellow classmate I looked over to see what was going on, he was drawing Peanuts characters. I read just about everything that came my way; a writer has to live both in his imagination and the world of experience and I think I’ve done both. I lived the first twenty-three years of my life in my imagination. From the earliest years reading about pirates, baseball players, racecar drivers, mythology and after I put the books down the adventures continued in my head and backyard.
Shelagh: When did the writing bug bite, and in what genre(s)?
Jim: I started writing when I was thirteen. I read about Ernest Hemingway and how a writer can be an artist and I wanted to be an artist but can’t draw. The first thing I ever wrote was a Mad Magazine style satire, complete with traced out drawings from Mad. My mother laughed and I took it wrong I had intended it be serious fiction.
Shelagh: When you started writing, what goals did you want to accomplish? Is there a message you want readers to grasp?
Jim: The goals I started with in writing don’t seem to be the ones I’m accomplishing. The writing process seems to have taken on a life of its own and the books seem to create themselves as I go along. Yes, there is a message I want readers to grasp but I don’t want to say what that is because I don’t want to impose my bias on the reader. I want readers to be free to find whatever message they do find. I’ve written things where I thought the message was pretty clear but other readers saw other things in the piece and I couldn’t discount it, because I saw that they could be right. I don’t want to bias the reader with my interpretation which may or may not be right.
Shelagh: Briefly tell us about your latest book. Series or stand-alone?
Jim: The Last Stage. I think too many writers take on too much with writing a series of books. In the past I’ve read some series by some to the best writers and they don’t always stand up. While I admire the imagination and dedication writers take in creating a series, I like all my novels to stand on their own; I don’t want to commit my readers to too much. Or maybe I don’t want to commit myself to too much!
Shelagh: How do you develop characters? Setting?
Jim: The characters develop organically. When I start a story I have an idea of who the people are and what motivates them. But during the writing I usually discover something about the characters I hadn’t known. Most of the stories I write are set in the environment I’m familiar with, suburbs
Shelagh: Do you have specific techniques to help you maintain the course of the plot?
Jim: No. When I start writing I know the beginning and the end of the story, but as I write the middle tends to write itself and I’m usually surprised at how things work out.
Shelagh: Do you have a specific writing style? Preferred POV?
Jim: I usually write in the first person. I really don’t set out with the POV in mind, I just find that first person is the best for giving the reader the sense of immediacy and participation in the story that I’m looking for.
Shelagh: How does your environment/upbringing color your writing?
Jim: I was raised in middle to upper class suburbs and still live in them, so that’s where most of my settings occur, it really isn’t anything conscious it’s just as the characters develop that’s their background. And my characters aren’t the type that the more status conscious residents of the suburbs want to see. My characters usually are struggling with the world they find themselves in, they either don’t fit in or are having trouble trying to attain the goals associated with those suburbs and its residents.
Shelagh: Share the best review (or a portion) that you’ve ever had.
Jim: I always find the latest review of my books is the best! I try my best to write the best I can and I think I’ve been lucky the books are what I’ve envisioned and get good reviews. True to form here’s the latest:
This book has long intrigued me as a Doors fan, and now that I have read it, I am completely wowed by it. What would it be like to be Jim Morrison performing up on stage? Read this book and find out.
It’s very well written, and includes details about all the little things that Doors fans appreciate. That gives the book a very real, almost non-fiction feeling. I kept saying “yes! yes!” as I read it, because the book totally nails a lot of the emotion that Doors fans have for the band. The characters are vivid, and their dialog snappy. But most of all, the descriptions of the various locations made the book come alive. Like the various bars where the band plays their gigs. And the road trip they go on throughout the midwest. From Chicago to New Orleans, I felt like I was right there as I read it. I got a kick reading about the various girlfriends and “Doors groupies” that they met on the road trip. Some of them were laugh out loud funny, others were sad. But all were fascinating to read about.
The main character has a very complex character, and I was immediately drawn in to trying to figure out what made him tick. Was he just a devoted Morrison fan? Or did he have a self identity problem? Every scene that unfolded had me even more engrossed in trying to figure out what he was trying to accomplish. By the end of the story, this guy was in Los Angeles, getting ready to perform at Whisky a Go Go, carousing with aging rock stars and actors, interviewing agents and screenplay writers, reliving Jim Morrison’s lifestyle, and exploring all his old haunts. I won’t give away the ending, but it is very, very poignant and real.
Shelagh: What are your current projects?
Jim: I actually have quite a few projects in mind. I currently write articles as The Doors Examiner which are about the rock group The Doors. As far as creative writing, I’m working on a novel, Ghosts, which is about the death of a friend of mine, and the ghosts we carry around with us throughout our lives. I also have another Rock ‘n’ Roll novel up my sleeve titled Ghost Dance (yes, I may be in a ghost period, like Picasso’s blue period!) it’s about an American Indian rock band that hits the big time. It’s a bit of a thriller.
Shelagh: Where can folks learn more about your books and events?
Jim: My website www.jymsbooks.com www.examiner.com/x-21763-the-doors-ex... Facebook, www.myspace.com/jymsbooks
Writing Under the Influence of Rock ‘n’ Roll! www.jymsbooks.com
October 21, 2009
The Last Stage Review from Reviewermagazine.com
By Kathryn Reade
Michael Gray, a 30 year old liberal arts student, losing support from his parents and unable to further his degree; at a crossroads with his girlfriend and life. He comes up with an idea while perched on a bar stool at his local hang out.
Through kismet he meets a group of young musicians that have aspirations of their own. Michael Gray plots to turn his idea into the dream of a lifetime. They form a tribute cover band of the legendary Doors, called Ghost Dance. A month of rehearsing, fine tuning stage presence and getting their first gig. The members of the band live the dream and tour in a second hand van from their newly acquired manager.
The tour leads the band to various venues around the States, including the New Orleans Jazz Fest. Ghost Dance band members deal with Michael Grays inflated ego until They arrive at the famed Whiskey a Go-Go in L.A. where the Doors first played and had their start. Unfortunately for Michael Gray and his Jim Morrison personae it is the end, but he has his kicks before the whole shit house goes up in flames, to paraphrase Jim Morrison. The rest of the band mates fulfill their dream of doing their own music and making it to the big time.
I recommend The Last Stage by Jim Cherry for anyone who has a dream of being a rock star or if you’re a Doors fan. Cherry has researched his subject matter and placed it in a well written 240 page book. You can get a copy of The Last Stage in paperback at www.Xlibris.com or at the author’s website.
www.jymsbooks.com
THE LAST STAGE on Amazon
at Barnes & Noble
http://reviewermag.com/press/?p=687
Michael Gray, a 30 year old liberal arts student, losing support from his parents and unable to further his degree; at a crossroads with his girlfriend and life. He comes up with an idea while perched on a bar stool at his local hang out.
Through kismet he meets a group of young musicians that have aspirations of their own. Michael Gray plots to turn his idea into the dream of a lifetime. They form a tribute cover band of the legendary Doors, called Ghost Dance. A month of rehearsing, fine tuning stage presence and getting their first gig. The members of the band live the dream and tour in a second hand van from their newly acquired manager.
The tour leads the band to various venues around the States, including the New Orleans Jazz Fest. Ghost Dance band members deal with Michael Grays inflated ego until They arrive at the famed Whiskey a Go-Go in L.A. where the Doors first played and had their start. Unfortunately for Michael Gray and his Jim Morrison personae it is the end, but he has his kicks before the whole shit house goes up in flames, to paraphrase Jim Morrison. The rest of the band mates fulfill their dream of doing their own music and making it to the big time.
I recommend The Last Stage by Jim Cherry for anyone who has a dream of being a rock star or if you’re a Doors fan. Cherry has researched his subject matter and placed it in a well written 240 page book. You can get a copy of The Last Stage in paperback at www.Xlibris.com or at the author’s website.
www.jymsbooks.com
THE LAST STAGE on Amazon
at Barnes & Noble
http://reviewermag.com/press/?p=687
September 19, 2009
A Lost Literary Influence
Most Doors fans know that Jim Morrison’s ambition in life was to be taken seriously as a poet. Even his going to the Venice Beach rooftop to write what would more or less become the lyrics for The Doors’ first two albums was more the act of the poet seeking a garrett than someone planning to start a rock band.
The Doors were a very literary band and when they became famous they practically released a reading list for fans, mentioning the beats such as Jack Kerouac, Arthur Rimbaud, Baudelaire, and Hart Crane to name only a few. Morrison himself befriended beat poets Allen Ginsburg (whose influence you see in Morrison’s poems) and Michael McClure. As a teenager Morrison visited Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco when his family lived there, and he was surely aware of Kenneth Rexroth who was well known in the bay area and a friend of the beats. A poet we have never heard in connection with Jim Morrison is Weldon Kees, a man who was as restless as Morrison himself to find new avenues of artistic expression, and whose death/disappearance is more mysterious than Morrison’s own in Paris.
Weldon Kees was born in Beatrice, Nebraska in Feburary 24, 1914, on the heels of the successful release of his first book of poems, The Last Man, in 1943 he moved to New York and began making the social scene there attending the parties of Edmund Wilson and Lionel Trilling, and his writings, mostly fiction, started to appear in magazines like the New York Times, The New Republic, Partisan Review, Poetry and Furioso. He never felt comfortable in the literary scene and started to paint influenced by abstract expressionists like Willem de Kooning and his paintings hung in galleries next to Picasso. In 1947 he published another book of poems, The Fall of the Magician.
Dissatisfied with life in New York he moved to San Francisco where he started playing New Orleans style Jazz and was good enough to play professionally. He also developed an interest in experimental filmmaking and provided soundtrack for others’ films. He still maintained an interest in poetry reading at places such as Kenneth Rexroth’s house, which was a beat meeting place in the 50’s. The story of his disappearance was recently the subject of the New Yorker article The Disappearing Poet, but the agreed upon facts are these: on July 19, 1955 his car was found on the north side of the Golden Gate Bridge keys still in the ignition. Suicide is presumed, although, prior to his disappearance he told friends that like Hart Crane he wanted to disappear into Mexico, and “that sometimes a person needs to change his life completely.” Upon searching his apartment all that was found was his cat Lonesome and a pair of red socks in the sink, and his bank account was emptied and his sleeping bag was missing.
Besides these biographical details and similarities that would have attracted Morrison what else is there to lead us to believe Kees was an influence on Jim Morrison? Two poems, one of Kees’ and one of Morrison’s.
" Subtitle"
We present for you this evening
A movie of death: observe
These scenes chipped celluloid
reveals unsponsored and tax-free
We request these things only
All gum must be placed beneath the seats
or swallowed quickly, all popcorn sacks
must be left in the foyer. The doors
Will remain closed throughout
The performance. Kindly consult
Your programs: observe that
there are no exits. This is
A necessary precaution
Look for no dialogue, or for the
Sound of any human voice: we have seen fit
To synchronize this play with
Squealing of pigs, slow sounds of guns
The sharp dead click
Of empty chocolatebar machines.
We say again: there are
no exits here, no guards to bribe,
No washroom windows.
No finis to the film unless
the ending is your own
Turn off the lights, remind
The operator of his union card:
Sit forward, let the screen reveal
Your heritage, the logic of your destiny.
Weldon Kees, 1935
And Jim Morrison’s The Movie which was first on An American Prayer:
The Movie will begin in five moments,
The mindless voice announced,
All those unseated will await the next show.
We filed slowly, languidly into the hall.
The auditorium was vast and silent.
As we seated and were darkened, the voice continued:
The program for this evening is not new,
You’ve seen this entertainment through and through.
You’ve seen your birth, your life and death,
You might recall all the rest.
Did you have a good world when you died?
Enough to base a movie on?
As you can see the subject is an identical theme, sitting in a movie theater and seeing your life projected on the screen for you and others to watch. The ideas of no exiting, locked doors, and the end are all things that would have attracted Morrison, and ideas he used time and again in his lyrics and poetry. The structure is similar with Morrison’s having a more musical quality to it. I think it’s safe to assume that we can add Weldon Kees to the list of influences on Jim Morrison, if not biographically then poetically. I don’t know about you but I think this is a very exciting find and I’ve already ordered my copy Kees’ biography, The Vanished Act: The Life and Art of Weldon Kees by James Reidel (also check your local library!)
This article was written for The Doors Examiner, if you would like to read more articles you can read them at:
www.examiner.com/x-21763-the-doors-ex...
The Doors were a very literary band and when they became famous they practically released a reading list for fans, mentioning the beats such as Jack Kerouac, Arthur Rimbaud, Baudelaire, and Hart Crane to name only a few. Morrison himself befriended beat poets Allen Ginsburg (whose influence you see in Morrison’s poems) and Michael McClure. As a teenager Morrison visited Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco when his family lived there, and he was surely aware of Kenneth Rexroth who was well known in the bay area and a friend of the beats. A poet we have never heard in connection with Jim Morrison is Weldon Kees, a man who was as restless as Morrison himself to find new avenues of artistic expression, and whose death/disappearance is more mysterious than Morrison’s own in Paris.
Weldon Kees was born in Beatrice, Nebraska in Feburary 24, 1914, on the heels of the successful release of his first book of poems, The Last Man, in 1943 he moved to New York and began making the social scene there attending the parties of Edmund Wilson and Lionel Trilling, and his writings, mostly fiction, started to appear in magazines like the New York Times, The New Republic, Partisan Review, Poetry and Furioso. He never felt comfortable in the literary scene and started to paint influenced by abstract expressionists like Willem de Kooning and his paintings hung in galleries next to Picasso. In 1947 he published another book of poems, The Fall of the Magician.
Dissatisfied with life in New York he moved to San Francisco where he started playing New Orleans style Jazz and was good enough to play professionally. He also developed an interest in experimental filmmaking and provided soundtrack for others’ films. He still maintained an interest in poetry reading at places such as Kenneth Rexroth’s house, which was a beat meeting place in the 50’s. The story of his disappearance was recently the subject of the New Yorker article The Disappearing Poet, but the agreed upon facts are these: on July 19, 1955 his car was found on the north side of the Golden Gate Bridge keys still in the ignition. Suicide is presumed, although, prior to his disappearance he told friends that like Hart Crane he wanted to disappear into Mexico, and “that sometimes a person needs to change his life completely.” Upon searching his apartment all that was found was his cat Lonesome and a pair of red socks in the sink, and his bank account was emptied and his sleeping bag was missing.
Besides these biographical details and similarities that would have attracted Morrison what else is there to lead us to believe Kees was an influence on Jim Morrison? Two poems, one of Kees’ and one of Morrison’s.
" Subtitle"
We present for you this evening
A movie of death: observe
These scenes chipped celluloid
reveals unsponsored and tax-free
We request these things only
All gum must be placed beneath the seats
or swallowed quickly, all popcorn sacks
must be left in the foyer. The doors
Will remain closed throughout
The performance. Kindly consult
Your programs: observe that
there are no exits. This is
A necessary precaution
Look for no dialogue, or for the
Sound of any human voice: we have seen fit
To synchronize this play with
Squealing of pigs, slow sounds of guns
The sharp dead click
Of empty chocolatebar machines.
We say again: there are
no exits here, no guards to bribe,
No washroom windows.
No finis to the film unless
the ending is your own
Turn off the lights, remind
The operator of his union card:
Sit forward, let the screen reveal
Your heritage, the logic of your destiny.
Weldon Kees, 1935
And Jim Morrison’s The Movie which was first on An American Prayer:
The Movie will begin in five moments,
The mindless voice announced,
All those unseated will await the next show.
We filed slowly, languidly into the hall.
The auditorium was vast and silent.
As we seated and were darkened, the voice continued:
The program for this evening is not new,
You’ve seen this entertainment through and through.
You’ve seen your birth, your life and death,
You might recall all the rest.
Did you have a good world when you died?
Enough to base a movie on?
As you can see the subject is an identical theme, sitting in a movie theater and seeing your life projected on the screen for you and others to watch. The ideas of no exiting, locked doors, and the end are all things that would have attracted Morrison, and ideas he used time and again in his lyrics and poetry. The structure is similar with Morrison’s having a more musical quality to it. I think it’s safe to assume that we can add Weldon Kees to the list of influences on Jim Morrison, if not biographically then poetically. I don’t know about you but I think this is a very exciting find and I’ve already ordered my copy Kees’ biography, The Vanished Act: The Life and Art of Weldon Kees by James Reidel (also check your local library!)
This article was written for The Doors Examiner, if you would like to read more articles you can read them at:
www.examiner.com/x-21763-the-doors-ex...
