How stupid can you get?

I haven't blogged about the Doors for a long time, but I just had to have my say on this topic. Some Frenchman had the clever idea to open up a bar and cash in on the small, but heavily drinking crowd that comes along once or twice a year. Conveniently located near the infamous 17 Rue Beautreillis he thought he just couldn't miss. Of course, in order to succeed he needed to give it a nice Jim Morrison touch, but he wasn't looking forward to all the red tape that came with that. Even worse, the Doors could just say "No". So he decided to completely ignore this part of his business plan and go ahead anyway. After all, a small bar in Paris, who was gonna notice?

Tada! Surprise, the Doors sniffed him out anyway and sent a nice "cease-and-desist" order. Take it all down or you're gonna bleed. No Morrison, no clientèle, no money, no bar - expect perhaps for a few local alcoholics who fancy a nifty cocktail every now and then. So he decided to go public, counting on the bleeding heart fans out there who swallowed his story that this was just a tribute to the late alcoholic and self-proclaimed poet Jim Morrison, who had drank himself to death 40 years ago.

Some of those fans think we can still achieve this "brave new world" that was promised us in the sixties and started a Facebook page in order to "petition the Doors with prayer". Now that may not have been the deciding factor. What was important is that the media picked up the story. Especially the part that "the Doors don't want to be associated with alcohol" did it particularly well, given the daily consumption of the substance by their late lead singer.

This threatened to become a PR-disaster, so the Doors reacted quickly, coming up with a bunch of flimsy excuses, from "it's the lawyers fault, we never saw the letter" to "it was badly translated and we don't read French". Of course, the fans don't take the remaining members of Jim's accompanying band too serious - which they shouldn't - but who cares. As long as there are still idiots who are willing to fork out 70 bucks for one of the worst tribute bands in the world or buy the zillionth "The Best Of" album just to complete their collection, things are just fine.

So, all's well that ends well - and everyone can continue to make money. Fans excepted, of course. Morrison said it so well, so many years ago:

Ya walk across the floor with a flower in your hand
Trying to tell me no one understands
Trade in your hours for a handful dimes
Gonna' make it, baby, in our prime

You get yours, baby
I'll get mine
Gonna make it, baby
If we try

Well, everybody made it, except for Morrison himself and his rather ignorant following. The fun part of it all is, everybody acted stupid. The owner of the bar, who conveniently skipped a few steps in executing his clever business plan. The Doors, who thought they could get away with such a rational business decision. The fans, who figured that they could make a difference, although everybody knows (especially the bean counters of the Doors Music Corporation) they are so hooked on their poison that they will continue to voluntarily hand out all their cash to the estate of their beloved idol.

And in the end everybody got what they wanted. The owner of the bar, who can continue to charge five or ten bucks for a pop of ROTS. The Doors, who will continue to cash in on their dead "friend", trademarking anything that can be remotely associated with the myth of the Lizard King. The fans, who can continue to live on in a cloud of "peace and understanding".

There are no winners and no losers. I can just shake my head once again. Why for Pete's sake, do I love that music so much?