04.09.07 (AP) Florida Governor Charlie Crist is being asked to pardon the late Jim Morrison, lead singer of The Doors, 38 years after he was convicted of exposing himself during a Miami concert. Dave Diamond, a cable TV producer from Dayton, Ohio, wrote to Crist last month asking for the pardon. Diamond said the goal is to remember the Melbourne, Fla., native as an artist, not a rock 'n' roll bad boy with a rap sheet. Crist is an alumnus of Florida State, which Morrison had attended. "Well, given that fact, I'm certainly willing to review it," said Crist. Morrison was charged days after a concert at Dinner Key Auditorium in Coconut Grove in 1969. He alleged exposed himself and simulated a sex act, which he denied doing. He was acquitted on a felony charge for lewd and lascivious behavior, but was convicted of indecent exposure and profanity. Many feel the Miami arrest put Morrison and the band in a downward spiral, which led to promoters canceling concerts and earned the band a stream of negative publicity. Diamond and other fans say Morrison wouldn't have been charged if the same situation occurred today. "We'd just like to see where we get to a point to let Morrison be judged because of the music and poetry and not be judged because of this Miami case," said Diamond. The hard-living Morrison died of heart failure in a Paris bathtub in 1971, while his case was still on appeal. He was 27. Morrison's father, retired U.S. Adm. George S. Morrison, 87, who lives in California, said he would support a pardon. Crist, however, cannot pardon someone by himself. He needs two of the three other members of the Florida Cabinet, which acts as the state clemency board. In addition, there are no procedures for posthumous pardons. In his letter to Crist, Diamond noted the former New York Gov. George Pataki pardoned the late comedian Lenny Bruce on an obscenity conviction. "It's not about Jim Morrison's image as the Lizard King or The Doors music. It's about a citizen of Florida who was convicted in a case where the law was not applied," said Diamond, 34.
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04.08.07 (RockAndMetal.com) He didn't have the onstage theatrics of Ace Frehley or the fret fireworks of Vinnie Vincent, but Mark St. John was more than a foot soldier in the Kiss Army. The guitarist, who followed Frehley and Vincent in the legendary band's early 1980s lineup, died Thursday from an apparent brain hemorrhage. He was 51. St. John, who's real name was Mark Leslie Norton, was the band's third lead guitarist, taking over for Vincent after he was fired by band leaders Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley following a tour in March 1984. Originally a studio session player and guitar teacher, St. John participated in the recording of Kiss' 1984 album, "Animalize," generally considered to be the band's best album during their unmasked period in the '80s. St. John's stint was short-lived, however. After playing three live shows and appearing in the video for 'Heaven's On Fire,' the musician was diagnosed with reactive arthritis, aka Reiter's Syndrome, during rehearsals for a world tour. The condition caused his hands and arms to swell. In December 1984, Simmons and Stanley replaced St. John with Bruce Kulick, who remained on the Kiss roster through the rest of the decade. St. John is the second former Kiss member to die of brain hemorrhage. Eric Carr, who replaced drummer Peter Criss for a stretch, died on Nov. 24, 1991 (the same day as Queen singer Freddie Mercury) after suffering two cerebral hemorrhages. Born on Feb. 7, 1956 in Hollywood, California, St. John spent his childhood and teen years in the SoCal city of Garden Grove, where his interests ran more toward jockdom than Rock 'N' Roll. "I played all sports, in fact I played sports before I got into music, especially basketball. I mean, I tried all sports, but basketball is what I excelled in," he told fanzine Kiss Strike. In 1972, during his sophomore year... [full story]
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04.03.07 (AP) Keith Richards has acknowledged consuming a raft of illegal substances in his time, but this may top them all. In comments published Tuesday, the 63-year-old Rolling Stones guitarist said he had snorted his father's ashes mixed with cocaine. "The strangest thing I've tried to snort? My father. I snorted my father," Richards was quoted as saying by British music magazine NME. "He was cremated and I couldn't resist grinding him up with a little bit of blow. My dad wouldn't have cared," he said. "... It went down pretty well, and I'm still alive." Richards' father, Bert, died in 2002, at 84. Richards, one of Rock's legendary wild men, told the magazine that his survival was the result of luck, and advised young musicians against trying to emulate him. "I did it because that was the way I did it. Now people think it's a way of life," he was quoted as saying. "I've no pretensions about immortality," he added. "I'm the same as everyone ... just kind of lucky. I was No. 1 on the 'who's likely to die' list for 10 years. I mean, I was really disappointed when I fell off the list," Richards said.
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