Bob Batchelor's Blog, page 6
November 12, 2022
JIM MORRISON ARRESTED -- AGAIN
Jim Morrison couldn't stay out of trouble, especially when actor Tom Baker was instigating. They got really drunk and rowdy on a flight to Phoenix to see the Rolling Stones, but instead, got arrested and in serious jeopardy when charged with felony offenses.
Jim Morrison -- Arrested Again
Between March 5, 1969, when acting Miami police chief Paul Denham took warrants out on Jim, and the start of the trial on August 10, 1970, the federal government, the state of California, and the state of Florida tried several legal maneuvers to get the Doors front man to submit. At the same time, Jim’s attorney, Max Fink, fought these efforts, including filing several motions to dismiss the case.
"Too High in Sky" -- Jim Morrison Arrested & Jailed in Phoenix
While the wrangling sped along, Morrison’s personal life continued to unravel. He was arrested twice more in that seventeen-month span, first in November for causing a disturbance on a flight and then later the next August for public drunkenness in West Hollywood (when a sixty-eight-year-old woman found him sleeping on her porch and called police). According to Ray Manzarek, "Between Miami and Phoenix, Jim was facing a maximum of over thirteen years in prison."
"Arrested here" -- Morrison Faces Federal Offense
"Between Miami and Phoenix, Jim was facing a maximum of over thirteen years in prison."
— Ray Manzarek
For more great stories, interesting analysis, and an in-depth look at the Doors and Jim Morrison, check out Roadhouse Blues: Morrison, the Doors, and the Death Days of the Sixties (Hamilcar Publications)
Roadhouse Blues by Cultural Historian Bob Batchelor
November 11, 2022
The Sound of the Sixties -- The Doors "Electric Eclectic"
Ray Manzarek calls the Doors sound: "electric eclectic"
On November 5, 1967, the new Billboard list of top-selling albums had the Doors’ self-titled debut sitting at number three. Their latest release, Strange Days, had climbed to number four. Having two albums in the top five at the same time was Beatles territory and spoke to the band’s widespread appeal. You would find Doors fans among the hippest of hippies, but at the same time Morrison was a heartthrob for teenage girls. 16 magazine had recently named him “one of the up and coming stars.”
Fans snapped up Strange Days faster than Elektra execs had anticipated, totally different from the slow-growth sales of the debut. Two weeks earlier, journalists had reported that the record label received more than 350,000 advance orders. Others thought the preorders had topped half a million.
The jazz influences on rock music, according to Ray Manzarek
What fans around the world were hearing, according to Ray Manzarek, was “electric eclectic,” a mix of jazz, blues, and hard rock — all infused with a mix of American grit and psychedelic vibes that the band brought to life. That combination came from the gifts of each band member, from Ray’s intensity and grace, Robby’s charging guitar, John’s jazzy beat and musical spirit, and Jim’s “literary side.”
Journalist Bob Micklin had figured out the band’s formula for success, calling them “the inheritors, and the advancers, of the brief legacy of contemporary message music established by the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, and Donovan.” What was at the core of this “message music” sweeping the nation? “An uneven mixture of blues, rock ’n roll, existential philosophy, imagistic poetry, and pure electronic sound.”
Jim Morrison addresses the conflict of the age, including war and drugs
In early 1967, Time published a story on the hippies, which they identified as some 300,000 young people between seventeen and twenty-five years old. Most were upper-middle-class and well-educated, but they were antiestablishment and advocated a “subversion of Western society” through nonviolence and the example they hoped to create. The Doors as people may have leaned hippie in thinking and action, but most of their music was from a different perspective and ran counter to what the majority of hippies preached.
Jim and his band mates were also outspoken on issues about culture and politics. Morrison, in particular, provided great sound bites for the media as it honed its need for quick summations. The idea that “war” and “flower children” existed along the same line of thinking was an advanced example of Jim’s critical thinking acumen.
For readers and listeners, the Doors could be a kind of truth serum, bringing issues and topics to light in new and interesting ways. To the establishment, however, they were dangerous. Morrison did not place them in the center of the “conflict,” but they would become symbolic of the gap between those in power and the youth movement.
Roadhouse Blues by cultural historian and biographer Bob Batchelor
In 1967, the world was changing fast and everything was a blur for the Doors. Yet, it was the music that pushed them into a new stratosphere.
Like the Rolling Stones with “Satisfaction,” “Light My Fire” changed everything for the Doors. “For the first half of the year, we were touring in a van as unproven unknowns,” Krieger recalled when thinking about 1967. “For the second half, we were being flown to headlining gigs as number-one artists.”
In less than twelve months, the Doors had become America’s top band.
October 31, 2022
The Doors Light Up the Night on Halloween in Kentucky
Jim Morrison on stage on Halloween night 1968
By the fall of 1968, the Doors had released three albums — all had reached #1 on the charts — and had two #1 singles: “Light My Fire” and “Hello, I Love You.” Although it might seem to contemporary readers that the band was on top of the world, the Doors were also less than a year removed from the infamous New Haven concert when a backstage run in with police, got Jim Morrison maced, and later arrested on stage after he baited the officers guarding the band by telling the packed crowd about the incident.
While the Doors were one of the most popular bands in the world based on record sales and numbers of fans, Morrison’s New Haven arrest turned them into the establishment’s #1 suspect. Lots of bad vibes about hippies, drugs, and the Sixties were dropped on the band and their front man, who seemed at ease in whipping young people into a frenzy.
"Weird happening," says reporter
Journalist Glenn Rutherford of the Louisville Courier-Journal covered the band’s concert in Kentucky on its 1968 tour. His descriptions of the crowd epitomized the way many people viewed the Doors and the counterculture in that era — “weird,” “strangely dressed” — as well as the oddity that hippies and young people embodied: “apparently look that way all the time.”
Morrison a sex symbol
Like many reporters and writers during the heyday of the Doors, Rutherford juxtaposed the grungy band and its fans to Morrison’s “sex symbol” status. Again, the idea is that these people — hippies, musicians, those from California — are not like us, as if they have invaded Kentucky and polluted its good citizens.
[Rutherford wasn’t alone in seeming to dislike the Doors. They were a polarizing band in the 1960s, which adds spice to our often-nostalgic views of the era today. What seems amazing, though, is how threatening the band and Morrison specifically was to so many people!]
"Neanderthal pounding"
The most eye-opening part of Rutherford’s review came near the end of the piece when he compared the music to “neanderthal pounding.” Of course, even some hardened critics during the band’s run reacted negatively to Morrison’s poetic posturing, his voice, or the pomposity they saw in the band’s “erotic politicians” stance. However, few journalists blasted the music emanating from Ray Manzarek’s keyboards, Robby Krieger’s guitar, or John Densmore’s drum kit.
In contrast, even when Morrison was at his drunken worst, observers noted how tight the Doors were as musicians. The comparison of them to a jazz trio was a high compliment.
Roadhouse Blues: Morrison, the Doors, and the Death Days of the Sixties by cultural historian Bob Batchelor
In his scribbling about “neanderthal pounding,” what the journalist completely missed is the beauty of the song he quoted: “Soul Kitchen.”
On the surface, “Soul Kitchen” seems like a simple ditty, an ode to a diner the band had haunted. But, a deeper examination of Morrison’s poetics reveals a much deeper, more meaningful exploration of lost love and its consequences.
Well, your fingers weave quick minarets
Speak in secret alphabets
I light another cigarette
Learn to forget, learn to forget
Learn to forget, learn to forget
— Jim Morrison, “Soul Kitchen”
The narrator laments his love’s secret language and begs for her acceptance. Yet, when she turns him out, he is forced to “wander” and ends up “stumblin’ in the neon groves” of Los Angeles.
Like many of Morrison’s lyrics, “Soul Kitchen” is evergreen and open to multiple interpretations. The great rock critic and aficionado Paul Williams compared “Soul Kitchen” to Bob Dylan’s classic “Blowin’ In the Wind.”
Both songs ask the listener’s mind to expand to places known and unknown via unanswerable questions that are deeper than imagined on the surface, even when they might allude to a specific moment in time.
So much for neanderthal pounding…
October 18, 2022
EXCLUSIVE -- Excerpt from Stan Lee: A Life
Fans who have been waiting to catch Stan Lee: A Life by award-winning cultural historian and biographer Bob Batchelor can now read an exclusive excerpt at Forces of Geek, one of the premiere pop culture websites publishing today. Over the years, millions of fans have been entertained by FOG, which delivers outstanding columnists and opinion, reviews, and insightful analysis of geek culture from today and our nostalgia-tinged youths.
Exclusive! Read an Excerpt From Stan Lee: A Life by Bob Batchelor
Stefan Blitz is FOG editor-in-chief. In the introduction to the excerpt, he also revealed that Batchelor “will be joining the site next year.” He will be writing a column on Gen X and other popular culture topics.
On Stan Lee: A Life, Blitz explains, “Take the opportunity to check out an exclusive excerpt from his fantastic book, which might be the last word on one of pop culture’s most inimitable icons.”
The excerpt, “How the Marvel Universe Conquered the Globe,” is the first chapter from Stan Lee: A Life.
Forces of Geek — your home to discover and embrace the unknown, the forgotten, and the beloved from popular culture — has published an exclusive excerpt from Stan Lee: A Life (Rowman & Littlefield, 2022).
“While there are generations of great science fiction films and action movies, the difference between the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and the others is voice…The Marvel feeling is so ingrained in the heads of fandom that it feels subconscious. It’s driven by Lee’s voice. No matter who directs an MCU film or plays a superhero or supervillain, the internal consistency prevails: Thor’s humor and stilted formality, Iron Man’s snark, Spider-Man’s relentless patter and earnestness. This is Stan’s enduring legacy.”
— Bob Batchelor
While some readers might never have thought of the term “voice,” Batchelor breaks it down via the way the concept is outline by eminent writer Jerome Charyn, one of the most important voices in American literature today.
Charyn describes voice as “music.” Charyn’s concept, although focused on books, can be applied to Lee’s comic book writing:
“Writing…is about the music, it’s about the voice. This is what predominates. The music is all, the music is total, it’s absolute.”
— Jerome Charyn
Stan’s dialogue provided Marvel with a kind of music that readers could hear and matched their internal rhythms, resulting in an experience that transformed them. “It’s music alive with extreme sympathy,” Charyn explained, “there is no space between you and the text.” As a result, readers could feel the Marvel style, while simultaneously that Lee patter paralleled the cultural explosion booming across society. We hear this in the Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove and 2001: A Space Odyssey, and J. D. Salinger’s short stories.
October 14, 2022
Stan Lee Spreads the Gospel of Marvel Comic Books
Stan Lee claims Shakespeare and Michelangelo would be great comic book creators
Although Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four revolutionized the comic book industry, Stan Lee still felt the sting of working in a third-class business at a time when most adults thought comic books were aimed at children. What Lee realized, though, was that college students in the 1960s and 1970s were responding to Marvel in a new way — gleefully reading and re-reading the otherwordly antics of the costumed heroes.
Stan Lee was in demand as a college lecture speaker
While he lamented that adults didn’t understand Marvel or superheroes as stories they could enjoy, Lee turned his attention to teenagers and college students, crisscrossing the nation to give lectures, like this one held at the prestigious Johns Hopkins University on October 14, 1975.
At the lectures, Stan did what he always did best — give attendees an inside look at comic books, Marvel history, and his firsthand account of the industry. What set him apart was his exuberance, unparalleled enthusiasm and excitement. Students found Lee’s spirit infectious, which made them love Marvel — and him — even more.
Lee had keen insight into American culture, understanding that the meaning of success in contemporary pop culture necessitated that he embrace the burgeoning celebrity culture. If a generation of teen and college-aged readers hoped to shape him into their leader, Lee would gladly accept the mantle, becoming their gonzo king. Fashioning this image in a lecture circuit that took him around the nation, as well as within the pages of Marvel’s books, Lee created a persona larger than his publisher or employer.
As a result, he transformed the comic book industry, essentially transforming into the face of the industry for comic book readers and the general public. The college appearances led to invitations to do television shows and a constant stream of media stories regaling the success of Marvel superheroes and the editor who they credited for making it all happen.
Stan Lee delivers "immutable laws" of Marvel comic books
While many adults looked down on Lee for writing comic books, especially early in his career, he developed a masterful style that rivals or mirrors those of contemporary novelists. Lee explained:
“Every character I write is really me, in some way or other. Even the villains. Now I’m not implying that I’m in any way a villainous person. Oh, perish forbid! But how can anyone write a believable villain without thinking, “How would I act if he (or she) were me? What would I do if I were trying to conquer the world, or jaywalk across the street?...What would I say if I were the one threatening Spider-Man? See what I mean? No other way to do it.”
Over time, Stan’s voice — the literal words in the mouths of comic book superheroes — became a part of popular culture and eventually transforming into a kind of American folklore.
October 13, 2022
1983 -- STAN LEE LAMENTS LACK OF FILM INTEREST IN MARVEL SUPERHEROES
Marvel icon Stan Lee with artisti John Romita
Stan Lee looked West and saw Hollywood as the future of Marvel. The superheroes he and his colleagues had created were part of modern American folklore. While studio executives showed interest, none of the comic book characters had yet made it to the big screen.
Lee was in an odd position in Hollywood. He was already a big name, which made it difficult (if not impossible) for him to learn the business from the ground up. Lee had the mighty Marvel content, which opened doors, but simultaneously raised expectations on the part of his bosses that the path to success would be smooth. Lee was also used to calling the shots, but Hollywood simply didn’t work that way. Stan had to attempt to win over skeptical television executives.
Stan Lee laments the challenges of turning superhero characters into films
Yet the winds of change seemed to help. In addition to Marvel’s ascension to the top of the comic book world and Lee’s pervasive influence on popular culture, science fiction and fantasy films and television shows were wildly popular. On the small screen, The Six Million Dollar Man (1974-1978) proved that audiences would respond to a superhero-like lead. Steve Austin (actor Lee Majors) developed into a pop culture phenomenon, spawning comic books (featuring artwork by Lee’s friends Howard Chaykin and Neal Adams), albums, and action figures. The spinoff The Bionic Woman (1976-1978) expanded the cyborg adventures, featuring Jaime Sommers (actress Lindsay Wagner). Her popularity also meant a merchandise line, ranging from action figures and a board game to lunchboxes (a must-have item for elementary school kids).
The Six Million Dollar Man lunchbox, an essential for every kid in the 1970s
The late 1960s had paved the way for superhero and science fiction narratives. In 1968, for example, the films 2001: A Space Odyssey and Planet of the Apes thrilled audiences, generating strong box office returns. These films reinforced a new style of storytelling. Later, a film like Logan’s Run (1976) demonstrated how science fiction could be enhanced by technology and special effects. In 1977, George Lucas’ Star Wars showed the world the genre’s vitality. After all, didn’t Luke Skywalker seem like a futuristic version of Spider-Man, an outsider who must deal with possessing extraordinary powers? And Darth Vader’s similarities to Dr. Doom were clear.
A year later, the mighty Superman (actor Christopher Reeve) flew into the theater, touting the use of special effects to blow the audience’s mind. Just as it had with the Superman and Batman television shows, DC beat Marvel to the punch by getting its superheroes into theaters.
These films proved that technology improvements could power plots and characters. Special effects were finally catching up with the imaginations of writers and artists, opening doors for science fiction and fantasy on large and small screens. The time was ripe for comic book characters to make the transition.
Christopher Reeve as Superman
Lee crisscrossed the nation, attempting to keep his fingers on the comic book division, while increasingly focused on Hollywood. Los Angeles was “Nirvana,” a celestial utopia enabling him to launch a new path without discarding his accomplishments. The trepidation of leaving New York City got swept away in the excitement about the work and sheer magnificence of the West Coast – warm breezes blowing off the Pacific Ocean and hidden hillside enclaves deep in thick woods.
October 12, 2022
Meet Stan Lee -- October 12, 1991
Meet Stan Lee!
From the early 1960s until his death in 2018, Stan Lee was different than other celebrities — approachable and committed to staying connected to the fans that helped build Marvel into a global brand.
Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World's Greatest Comics by Les Daniels
Les Daniels’ book — Marvel: Five Five Fabulous Decades of the World's Greatest Comics not only gave fans an inside look at Marvel’s history, but for those fans lined up at the Paramus Barnes & Noble, they were in for a treat — meeting Stan and Spider-Man!
Two heroes for the price of one!
To learn more about the Marvel maestro’s amazing life, please read Stan Lee: A Life, available wherever you like to purchase books.
October 11, 2022
Spider-Man Film Rights Tangled in Web (of Lawsuits) -- October 11, 1998
Spider-Man film rights stuck in legal quagmire
Stan Lee had a vision — an entire Marvel Universe on screen! He had worked for decades to get Hollywood executives and studio heads to believe him. As always, he placed his faith in his most successful co-creation — Spider-Man.
Stan Lee with his number one creation -- Spider-Man
Even a person as optimistic as Stan had a difficult time keeping his cool as a series of productions companies bought the rights to Spider-Man, but then fell into development hell as they attempted to figure out just how to bring the web-slinger to life.
The extensive licensing and rights deals attached to the character led to a series of high-profile lawsuits that stalled progress and infuriated Lee. At various points the legal battles included many of Hollywood’s greatest names, from MGM and Viacom to Sony and 21st Century. Even the great James Cameron — who would later become a hit-maker based on Titanic (1997) — couldn’t move the mountains necessary to make a Spider-Man film based on his 1991 treatment.
Stan Lee hoped James Cameron would make a Spider-Man film
The legal battles were not cleaned up until early 1999, when Columbia Pictures acquired the rights to all previous Spider-Man scripts in a deal with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Sony then purchased the rights from MGM. Sam Raimi was hired to direct the Tobey Maguire-starring vehicle in 2000 and the film came out two years later.
Spider-Man (2002) is finally made!
Spider-Man was 2002’s highest grossing film, generating more than $407 million in North America, while earning a staggering $418 million overseas. Wiping out all the doubts about whether a superhero film might work, Spider-Man soon became the highest-grossing superhero film of all time after its release, both domestically and worldwide.
Spidey turned Stan Lee’s dream into a reality!
To learn more about the Marvel maestro’s amazing life, please read Stan Lee: A Life, available wherever you like to purchase books.
October 10, 2022
Stan Lee Predicts Marvel's Future -- 50 Years Ago Today
Newspaper article on Marvel superheroes featuring Stan Lee
The power and global influence of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is pervasive today, but imagine having nearly every door in Hollywood slammed in your face at the mere thought that anyone would want to see Marvel superheroes on the big screen.
This was Stan Lee’s reality 50 years ago in 1972, even though comic books were a $200 million industry at the time. Ironically, the Dallas Times Herald journalist who interviewed Stan was named Bill Marvel, a daily reporter who had started his career in 1961, at the dawning of the Marvel comic book renaissance, which began with the launch of the Fantastic Four, co-created with artist Jack Kirby.
Stan Lee is prescient in forecasting Marvel's future
Despite being roundly ignored (or laughed out of the room) by Hollywood executives, Lee persevered, asserting that Marvel was in the midst of a major transformation from comic book company to media “hot property.”
Although he could not get producers to agree, Stan told the journalist that he viewed television and film as the future of the company. He was betting his own future on that vision after a lifetime in creating comic books and decades ahead of his peers at Marvel or in the entertainment industry.
“The next phase is where the much bigger money might lie.”
— Stan Lee
Stan Lee with the book Origins of Marvel Comics
Stan certainly did not have a crystal ball, but his tireless dedication to the basic notion that adults would enjoy films centered on Marvel superheroes eventually transformed the film industry around the globe. Lee was just decades ahead of his time!
To learn more about the Marvel maestro’s amazing life, please read Stan Lee: A Life, available wherever you like to purchase books.
September 30, 2022
When Robby Krieger Met Jim Morrison!
Fans of the Doors and rock ‘n roll history lovers have been waiting decades for Robby Krieger — Doors guitarist and songwriter extraordinaire — to write a memoir of his days and nights in America’s iconic rock band. Set the Night on Fire: Living, Dying, and Playing Guitar With the Doors came out in October 2021, but the paperback is set to publish October 25, 2022.
A quick review: FANTASTIC!
Set the Night on Fire, a new memoir by Doors guitarist and songwriter Robby Krieger
Although fans of the Doors certainly enjoyed memoirs from Ray Manzarek and John Densmore, Krieger’s book serves up those heady years in his deeply reflective, authentic style that brings the era to life in an engaging, heartfelt fashion. It is as if Krieger learned lessons from those earlier books and deliberately set out to be entertaining, thoughtful, and honest about the rollercoaster ride the bandmates were on and the lifelong consequences.
“Rather than pushing myths or trying to make himself larger than life, Krieger delivers an honest, authentic perspective of the amazing days and nights of playing in America’s most important band.”
One of the aspects of memoir readers enjoy is the perspective, especially in a celebrity book, of what happened before the rocket ship of fame, notoriety, excess, and decadence took flight. Krieger captured those days perfectly — a struggling band that had pinned its hopes to a singer who hadn’t sung and was too shy to even face his bandmates, let alone a live audience.
Yet, there was something about this skinny kid that the teenage Krieger trusted and was echoed by Ray and John:
“Ray saw something in Jim when Jim first sang a song to him on the sands of Venice Beach, and Ray’s confidence never wavered from then on,” Krieger writes. “John saw something in Jim, enough to convince me to audition for the band. I didn’t see it. Not at first. Not the way Ray and John did. I liked Jim personally.”
If you haven’t read Set the Night on Fire, you’re particularly going to enjoy Robby’s insider perspective on the mysterious Jim Morrison as he developed from that shy kid to the vaunted Lizard King (and the repercussions for him and the band).
Robby remembers:
“He had a gentle nature when he wasn’t screaming at drug dealers or getting in bar fights or nuking record deals. Even my mom found him charming—she saw him as a soft-spoken southern gentleman. He wrote great lyrics, but he wasn’t yet a crooning, leather-clad sex god. All I saw was a shaky-voiced, corduroy-clad introvert.”
Roadhouse Blues: Morrison, the Doors, and the Death Days of the Sixties by Bob Batchelor
“All I saw was a shaky-voiced, corduroy-clad introvert.”
— Robby Krieger
Trying to uncover the “real” or “authentic” Morrison led me to write Roadhouse Blues: Morrison, the Doors, and Death Days of the Sixties (Hamilcar Publications).
A true cultural history, the book examines the death days of the 1960s for listeners fed up with the happy ditties of the Beatles and mellow vibes of San Francisco hippie bands. In Morrison, fans had a living, breathing representation of the violence and anger raging through the national consciousness. As the band grew more popular, Morrison became wilder and volatile. A poet at heart, the singer drank prodigious amounts of alcohol and searched for ways to “Break On Through” to anarchy and destruction, a new vision of the Sixties as the decade gave way to the dirty Seventies.
