Dance on fire
The way I picture it, I’ll approach the grave at a solemn, slow motion pace with wind blowing from all directions. Crows will take flight at my passage, all but one disappearing in a cloud of black against the pale Paris sky. One fat, ominous blackbird will remain behind, perched on a headstone, watching me with the searing gaze of a predator. In my head, the woeful opening rifts of “The End” will play with growing volume too powerful to be blown away by the wind. I’ll turn to look at that gazing crow and there will be an ancient Indian standing there instead.
And then weird stuff will start happening.
So I’ve decided that this will be the year I visit Jim Morrison’s grave at Perè Lachaise cemetery in Paris. You may call me a sappy ass hippie girl if you’d like. But dammit, it’s been on my list of things to do since I was a long-haired, bandana wearing hippie girl of 17. And I figure I can’t wait for a midlife crisis to get it done because Morrison will likely be evicted from the poet’s graveyard by then.
When I visited Edgar Allan Poe’s grave a few years ago, it was melancholy mixed with hip hop. Poe’s grave is located on the grounds of a church on a very busy intersection of Baltimore, Md. I had visions of that visit too, but the reality of them were interrupted by wailing horns, passing rap starts and the screams of murder victims. Some guy hit me up for loose change and some broad tried to sell me crabs. And not the good kind Maryland is famous for.
So I expect the visit to Morrison’s burial ground to be perfect. I want that crow, that wind and that Indian. So it’s clear what I have to do. I have to drop some acid. Who’s got some?
January 17th, 2007 at 6:10 am
Were you really a long haired, bandanna wearing hippie? Going to visit Jim Morrison’s grave is a fabulous goal for the year, and I hear the wind often blows from all directions there.
And since you introduced the meteorological reference, I just want to mention that it’s 7 degrees below zero here in Wilton, not counting the wind chill. A lesson learned: be careful what you wish for. Some of us were sorry about the winterless winter.
Have a great day and stay warm. Betty, if you are reading this, I hope it’s warm where you are.
January 17th, 2007 at 6:29 am
It’s so cold outside the dogs went out, peed and immediately turned around running for the door. They are not impressed with the cold, fur or no fur. It’s COLD!!
So, you are headed to Père Lachaise. Need an interpreter? I speak French, you know.
January 17th, 2007 at 10:04 am
And, in the archives of … “colder than a…” ………….
Just how cold IS a witches tit?
Just wondering…..
And, LaFlamme, I do break many wine glasses………..
And, Mainetarr, I am from PA, but currently I reside in the SJ advertising department.
January 17th, 2007 at 10:41 am
So anyone else got a grave they just have to go see….?
For me – John Belushi….I grew up watching saturday Night Live – gotta go see that one, on Martha’s Vineyard I beleive.
2nd choice Buddy Holly,
January 17th, 2007 at 12:54 pm
Hey, Linda,
Yep, I read you every day, girl. I don’t always comment, but It’s great jump-starting my day (while sipping my green tea), reading the antics of you Maine people. You’re great!
But I can do without THAT kind of cold. 7 DEGREES BELOW WHAT??? DO YOU MEAN BELOW ZERO??? Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr … I haven’t seen that kind of weather since I was a kid in Ohio, except for short visits to Lake Tahoe in the winter where I’m usually inside, gambling away the hard-earned money, so it doesn’t effect me.
Well, kids, we ARE having a cold wave and we’re all shivering and whining (like true Californians tend to do). It got down to a shocking 28 degrees (that’s ABOVE) and I was practically crying (and that was in the middle of the night). I wasn’t crying over the cold so much, but the thought of our wonderful fruits and veggies freezing beyond redemption, thus causing price increases … Well, THAT really made me blubber.
The days have risen to 52 or so, which isn’t so bad … except when the chill factor’s high … That’s when the wind rips right through to my bones. And that’s when I hibernate.
Linda, I hope you have a great heating system, or a big, rugged Maine Man to keep you warm.
As for visiting someone’s tombstone, I may like horror novels, but have never had the desire to visit ANY cemetery. I would rather remember the deceased as they were, but Robert’s choices ain’t bad. IF ANY, it would be Marilyn Monroe’s I would wish to see. It was really romantic the way Joe DiMaggio had a single rose sent there every day.
January 17th, 2007 at 1:40 pm
Tttto ccold ttoo ttype
January 17th, 2007 at 1:50 pm
Hey, Robert. Click on Morrison’s face and you’ll get a link to “find a grave,” which will direct you to any corpse you seek.
For me, Morrison and Poe were always the big ones. I’ve been to Poe’s grave three or four times and it’s always surreal. I’ve been to Hawthorne’s grave and to Washington Irving’s but those were incidental.
January 17th, 2007 at 4:00 pm
That link is everywhere….what’s going on??
January 17th, 2007 at 4:13 pm
I would love to go visit the grave of Marilyn. Also Mae West. Edgar Allen Poe would be cool. And not that there is anyone famous there, but would love to walk the cemetaries in New Orleans with the beautiful and gothic tombs. (Hopefully they were not too damaged.)
January 17th, 2007 at 4:28 pm
Betty, I cried too about your fruit. I mean, your fruit is our fruit, you know? And yes, I have good heating, a warm man, and a 100 lb dog so I’m pretty comfortable, thanks for asking
I love graveyards. Not specifically any famous person’s site, but just in general. Trying to figure out the stories from the stones.
January 17th, 2007 at 5:09 pm
No one famous, but when I’m up there in July, I plan to visit the graves of my parents and grandparents. I usually try to get there when I’m in Maine.
January 17th, 2007 at 6:41 pm
I love graveyards too. They’re so…peaceful. I really do enjoy looking at old grave markers. My mom and I used to take regular trips to cemeteries. I went to one when I was living in Westwood, Mass. It was very old. The one tombstone that stood out to me was one for a woman whose name was Experience. All I could think of was that, hr mother went through such a hard labor birthing that girl that after it was all over she exclaimed: Phew, that sure was an Experience! Hence, the name.
January 17th, 2007 at 7:28 pm
Hey. Isn’t anyone here old enough to have seen The Doors in concert? Let me do some quick math… they were hot in 1967 so a 20 year old at the time would have been born in… carry the four… positive integer…. somewhere around World War I.
January 17th, 2007 at 7:38 pm
Morrison sucks. He was an over-rated half-ass poet, just like that nasal asshat Dylan. You wanna go to a great American’s gravesite go to Charlottesville Va to see Thomas Jefferson’s, or to Simi Valley to see (stands with hand over heart) Ronald Reagan’s.
I’ll give you Poe and Irving, at least they were truly talented.
January 17th, 2007 at 7:42 pm
Or go to Greenwood Memorial Park, Renton, Washington to see Hendrix’s site for a REAL musician. Or the coast of Cali to visit the ashes of Janis.
January 17th, 2007 at 7:49 pm
I was just reading a scene last night where a drunken Morrison crawled onto the stage where Hendrix was playing, shouted a few obscenities and then fell off the stage, spilling drinks onto Joplin’s lap. Janis is said to have quipped something like: “That would be alright if only that boy could sing.”
January 17th, 2007 at 8:01 pm
Ohhhhhh, Gil just captured my heart. Hendrix and Joplin! Right on, man! Have you ever heard of my short story, The Search for Bobby McGee? Well, I’m a Joplin fan from way back.
But you lost me on that RONALD REAGAN one. Now JFK, I’d looove to see that one!
Where’s Treehugger? When Linda mentioned cold and her man and her dog, I immediately thought of TH. Now wonder why that is? (Tee-Hee) Could he be hiding from me? Mark, go out and check behind the nearest tombstone.
(But as Mark always tells me: Behave yourself, Betty!)
And I was just “popping smart-mouth” when I said I wouldn’t want to visit ANY cemetery. Like most of you, I really do enjoy reading the tombstones, and the atmosphere’s not bad, either; even on dreary days. They’re quite fascinating when I take time to think about it. But like I told the plot salesman who tried to sell me a first-rate plot of my very own, “I’m too busy worrying about living to make any plans for dying.”
Linda just sent me a smoke signal, letting me know I’m getting slap-happy and it’s time to move on outta here.
January 17th, 2007 at 8:03 pm
What? When did *I* ever tell anyone to behave? It’s just not my way. I’m a proponent of misbehavior.
January 17th, 2007 at 8:09 pm
I know; that’s why we hit it off and struck up such a long-distance relationship! (I just said that for effect!) If anything, you encourage me to outrageous behavior; good thing I have SOME morals left or I’d be out in those Maine woods I read so much about … chasing ol’ TH all over the place..
Cute story about Morrison and Joplin. She WAS a kick, wasn’t she? But where in the world do you dig up all this stuff and HOW do you find the time. You are SUPPOSED to be slaving over that next horror novel for your “legion of fans.”
January 17th, 2007 at 8:12 pm
Yeah, she was a kick. She beat Morrison over the head with a liquor bottle once because he shoved her head toward his crotch at a party. I’m told.
January 17th, 2007 at 8:16 pm
Again. Hasn’t anybody heard the news? Jim Morrison isn’t dead. It was all just a hoax. He’s still alive, doing drugs and living happily in Paris. Yeah, he’s older than dirt but, he’s still got a bunch of groupies hanging on to him because..he looks like an old version of Jim Morrison.
Gil, although I do love the Door’s, you’re dead on with Jimi Hendrix. One of the best. Oh, can’t forget Janis or, as Crystal pointed out, Mae West (!) my all time hero!
January 17th, 2007 at 8:23 pm
Sorry! I guess I should have read ALL the posts before I commented on Jimi and Janis.
Betty, back in the 70′s Janis was my alarm clock. My older sister used to just WAIL “Piece Of My Heart” every morning. A lot of people I know just thought she screamed, but I’ve always thought she wailed. My son, whose 17, proudly wears his Jimi Hendrix hooded sweatshirt almost everyday. And, I’m the one who bought it for him. The only time he’s not wearing it is when I can get him to leave it behind so I can wash it!
Yup. I’m a proud mom!
January 17th, 2007 at 8:26 pm
Man, if you guys dig Janis that much, you should be checking out Concrete Blonde. The lead singer, Johnette Napolitano has a voice that rivals Joplins.
January 17th, 2007 at 8:29 pm
I would like to go to St. Peters Bascillica to the burial grounds of Pope John Paul II. Imagine what that must be like?
January 17th, 2007 at 8:34 pm
You’re just trying to finagle a trip to Italy, MT. And I’m all over it. Let’s head over by way of Paris.
January 17th, 2007 at 8:40 pm
Never saw the Doors though I am old enough. Morrison was definitely a pig but that didn’t stop me listening to their music a lot. You know, lying on the floor with the bass turned up. I’ve probably said enough about that. And I have to agree with the Jimi-Janis lovefest.
Rome and Paris, eh? sounds like fun. I like tombs in churches too. And I believe they sell wine in both those countries.
January 17th, 2007 at 9:05 pm
Damn, man. Morrison ain’t getting no lovin around here. Friggin Gil. He started a Jimi and Janis riot. Everybody rush the stage!
January 17th, 2007 at 9:16 pm
There is a small cemetary behind where I go to church. On many of the tombstones they have exactly how long the person lived.. Years, months and days. I really kind of interesting. Especially when you have a childs tombstone next to an elderly person, to note the vast difference in age.
January 17th, 2007 at 10:13 pm
A church with it’s own cemetery, that’s ok. Just stay away from a hospital with it’s own cemetery.
January 17th, 2007 at 10:16 pm
And don’t forget Flamer, Jimi served in the 101st.
And from what I’ve heard, Janis served over 101.
January 17th, 2007 at 10:19 pm
Yeah. And she was a screamer.
January 18th, 2007 at 12:14 am
http://churchofpainfultruth.blogspot.com/
Blog update. Nothing fancy, just hadn’t posted in a while.
January 18th, 2007 at 9:25 am
Darn, that web site to find the graves wont work on the computer at the office…funny how they do that…
January 18th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
if I went to Paris I’d have to look for Simone de Beauvoir’s, & anyone & anything one I can find out about her old haunts.
‘
January 18th, 2007 at 1:15 pm
if I went to Paris I’d have to look for Simone de Beauvoir’s, & anyone & anything I can find out about her old haunts.
‘
January 18th, 2007 at 1:37 pm
I would not waste either my time or money going to see the grave of a dead druggie if I went to France. Think I’d head to Normandy instead. At least the people buried there died overseas for a reason
January 18th, 2007 at 2:06 pm
so you are a perfect person, Mr Anonymous?
normandy? herb, is that you?
January 18th, 2007 at 2:40 pm
Two things-it was 24 below the other night here, without the wind chill factor; found the family graveyard on the find a grave site and can even see where my parents are buried.
Pretty soon everything that’s good for you to eat is going to be too expensive to eat and that will only leave cheap junk food.
January 18th, 2007 at 2:41 pm
Two things-it was 24 below the other night here, without the wind chill factor; found the family graveyard on the find a grave site and can even see where my parents are buried.
Pretty soon everything that’s good for you to eat is going to be too expensive to eat and that will only leave cheap junk food.
January 18th, 2007 at 8:01 pm
Bobbie, that is already the case. Anyone ever shop at Save-A-Lot?? Check the ingredients for most generic carb food (saltines, ritz, noodles, etc), they almost ALL contain trans-fats…and what’s even worse is that the trans-fats come from BEEF TALLOW!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yuck to the max!!!!! Not even simply hydo-veggie oil, but animal fat!
But damn, that stuff is affordable — gross — but affordable (which pisses me off to no end, it’s like the govt WANTS the “poor” to be fat!). I do MUCH more label-reading now.
January 18th, 2007 at 8:02 pm
Oh! And on topic…
What about John Lennon?
January 18th, 2007 at 9:14 pm
Just for the record, not that anyone cares … that Anon above was not me. I was in a meeting at the time with no blogging facilities.
Nadine! missed you girl!
People go to the store and stock up for storms: water, batteries, potato chips, soda, beer and kitty litter. Go figure.
I guess the kitty litter could be to sprinkle on the icy walkways. Doesn’t burn the dogs’ paws like salt does.
January 19th, 2007 at 10:31 am
I shop at save-a-lot. Can’t figgure out why we are getting so fat .
I never buy potato chips & beer; I do buy soda & cat litter(now), need batteries, and I didn’t buy water until I read the notice above the water fountain at the library about the city water.
lewiston city water: 8-1/2 cups of water for 70 years= 1 in 10,000 chance of getting cancer
How likely am I to be that lucky, I mean, unlucky?
January 19th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
More Morrison bashing, Joplin loving, misguided commentary over at the Shrunken Heads blog on the SJ site.