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Mr. Mojo Risin'
What happened to Jim Morrison in Paris and who is really buried in Pere Lachaise cemetery? In the early hours of 3rd July 1971, Jim Morrison, the lead singer of The Doors, supposedly died of heart failure in a bath tub at 17 Rue Beautreillis, in the 4th Arrondissement, Paris. He was 27 years old. The novel examines the questions surrounding his supposed death. It examines what happened on that fateful night and in the weeks leading up to it. And more importantly, what happened afterwards. Crime novelist Ron Clooney, a Doors fan since his teenage years, does what others have not dared to do. Ron has opened the past as if it were a criminal investigation, only this time he attempts to explain how it was done. Suicide? Accident at the hands of his girlfriend's heroin? Murder? Simple heart attack? Or a complete and utter hoax? Ron looks into the complex mind of Jim Morrison and explores the nature of his relationship with his partner, Pamela Courson, so he can answer one of pop's greatest What really happened to Mr Mojo Risin'? A novel mixed with fact, this will appeal to all Doors fans and lovers of conspiracy theories. Ron Clooney gives a credible explanation of what really happened to Mr Mojo Risin'....
298 pages, Paperback
First published September 4, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 25, 2011
Rock ‘n’ Roll fiction books are rare, good ones are rarer, Ron Clooney’s, Mr. Mojo Risin’ Ain’t Dead, falls into the rarer category.
Mr. Mojo Risin’ Ain’t Dead follows journalist, “Ron Clooney”, after he encounters a man at a bar outside of Pere LaChaise Cemetery, whom he believes is a still alive Jim Morrison. “Ron” then sets off on his journalist’s quest to find Jim Morrison. He first visits all the French archives, then he starts to meet people whom he thinks might be Morrison but discovers he might be seeing Morrison’s face in the face of everyone he meets. Then he meets a street musician, alcoholic, Doug Prayer, who claims that he recorded an album with Jim Morrison in Paris, and offers him a tantalizing bit of evidence in a note in Jim Morrison’s handwriting dated 1976, and then disappears. “Ron” tracks down and befriends Prayer, and slowly cajoles the story of Jim Morrison out of Prayer as well as his own story which is inextricably entwined with Morrison’s.
In the category of Rock ‘n’ Roll books, there might be the sub-genre of “Jim Morrison is still alive” (that includes non-fiction as well as fiction) and includes Doors keyboardist, Ray Manzarek’s novel The Poet in Exile, which for the most part is a novel of lost opportunities, but Clooney in Mr. Mojo Risin’ makes full use of those opportunities, and doesn’t shy away from themes that you have to deal with in a book that looks at Jim Morrison, such as fathers and sons, existential issues of life and death, and the inner self.
Clooney also does something almost unheard of and unique in Mojo Risin’, he includes photographs of Morrison’s haunts, both the known and speculative. The first novel I ever saw this used in was From Time to Time by Jack Finney (a time travel book of another sort), I don’t know if Clooney is familiar with Finney’s book but he uses the device to great effect, it helps the reader to picture the environments Morrison frequented and adds a level of verisimilitude to the “Morrison is alive” storyline, instantly putting you in the world Jim Morrison would have experienced.
Mr. Mojo Risin’ also considers what most other books about Jim Morrison don’t or examine only peripherally and that is Pam Courson. Courson who was Jim Morrison’s “cosmic mate” and part of Morrison’s life from the almost the beginning of The Doors until Paris July 1971, she is intimately a part of the story than she is usually given credit for, and Clooney demonstrates a rare insight into Pam Courson.
There’s a muscularity in the writing that belies the conclusion, which is startlingly different for this type of novel. Mr Mojo Risin’ is a book that Doors fans of all stripes will want to read.
Mr. Mojo Risin’ Ain’t Dead follows journalist, “Ron Clooney”, after he encounters a man at a bar outside of Pere LaChaise Cemetery, whom he believes is a still alive Jim Morrison. “Ron” then sets off on his journalist’s quest to find Jim Morrison. He first visits all the French archives, then he starts to meet people whom he thinks might be Morrison but discovers he might be seeing Morrison’s face in the face of everyone he meets. Then he meets a street musician, alcoholic, Doug Prayer, who claims that he recorded an album with Jim Morrison in Paris, and offers him a tantalizing bit of evidence in a note in Jim Morrison’s handwriting dated 1976, and then disappears. “Ron” tracks down and befriends Prayer, and slowly cajoles the story of Jim Morrison out of Prayer as well as his own story which is inextricably entwined with Morrison’s.
In the category of Rock ‘n’ Roll books, there might be the sub-genre of “Jim Morrison is still alive” (that includes non-fiction as well as fiction) and includes Doors keyboardist, Ray Manzarek’s novel The Poet in Exile, which for the most part is a novel of lost opportunities, but Clooney in Mr. Mojo Risin’ makes full use of those opportunities, and doesn’t shy away from themes that you have to deal with in a book that looks at Jim Morrison, such as fathers and sons, existential issues of life and death, and the inner self.
Clooney also does something almost unheard of and unique in Mojo Risin’, he includes photographs of Morrison’s haunts, both the known and speculative. The first novel I ever saw this used in was From Time to Time by Jack Finney (a time travel book of another sort), I don’t know if Clooney is familiar with Finney’s book but he uses the device to great effect, it helps the reader to picture the environments Morrison frequented and adds a level of verisimilitude to the “Morrison is alive” storyline, instantly putting you in the world Jim Morrison would have experienced.
Mr. Mojo Risin’ also considers what most other books about Jim Morrison don’t or examine only peripherally and that is Pam Courson. Courson who was Jim Morrison’s “cosmic mate” and part of Morrison’s life from the almost the beginning of The Doors until Paris July 1971, she is intimately a part of the story than she is usually given credit for, and Clooney demonstrates a rare insight into Pam Courson.
There’s a muscularity in the writing that belies the conclusion, which is startlingly different for this type of novel. Mr Mojo Risin’ is a book that Doors fans of all stripes will want to read.
March 3, 2013
This is a book of contradictions. A well written and flowing narrative but an utterly preposterous premise; a first half that is repetitious, meandering and in sore need of some judicious editing and a second half that comes to life to such an extent that it is a most compelling read; an author posing as journalist writing a possible (probable) fiction. If I think about it too much it makes my head spin.
Did I like it? Yes. Did I find it tedious at time? Yes. Would I recommend it? Probably, but more as a curio than anything else. I nearly gave up on it after the first 150 pages or so and did take a lengthy break at around that point before returning to it and reading the remainder in pretty much one sitting because it gripped me and captured my attention in a way that the first half did not.
Do you need to be a fan of The Doors to enjoy it? Probably not. I was a big fan of The Doors in my teens and remember having an argument with one of my friends at that time about Jim Morrison's death so it brought back memories of that time and of my enjoyment of their music but there is no music present here. The story takes place after the recording of LA Woman and it is as if someone has faded down the volume to such an extent that it is almost as if the music no longer exists.
Do you need to be a fan of conspiracy theories to enjoy it? Again, probably not, but it certainly wouldn't hurt.
Did I like it? Yes. Did I find it tedious at time? Yes. Would I recommend it? Probably, but more as a curio than anything else. I nearly gave up on it after the first 150 pages or so and did take a lengthy break at around that point before returning to it and reading the remainder in pretty much one sitting because it gripped me and captured my attention in a way that the first half did not.
Do you need to be a fan of The Doors to enjoy it? Probably not. I was a big fan of The Doors in my teens and remember having an argument with one of my friends at that time about Jim Morrison's death so it brought back memories of that time and of my enjoyment of their music but there is no music present here. The story takes place after the recording of LA Woman and it is as if someone has faded down the volume to such an extent that it is almost as if the music no longer exists.
Do you need to be a fan of conspiracy theories to enjoy it? Again, probably not, but it certainly wouldn't hurt.
December 31, 2014
Interesting take on what may have happened to Mojo Risin
Started off slow and the author seemed to ramble or give you some insight on how his life/upbringing primarily is a lot like Jim Morrison..that got a bit tedious and annoying to get through sometimes but the story got a bit more interesting towards the end. Seemed like the author did a lot of research on Jim Morrison and his writings he seemed like the usual obsessed fan. Not that there's anything wrong with it because so am I and I enjoy reading works from a person ok who seems to be just as invested as I am about Morrison and The Doors. Good read..fun times...
Started off slow and the author seemed to ramble or give you some insight on how his life/upbringing primarily is a lot like Jim Morrison..that got a bit tedious and annoying to get through sometimes but the story got a bit more interesting towards the end. Seemed like the author did a lot of research on Jim Morrison and his writings he seemed like the usual obsessed fan. Not that there's anything wrong with it because so am I and I enjoy reading works from a person ok who seems to be just as invested as I am about Morrison and The Doors. Good read..fun times...
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews