Can you imagine a 73 year old Mojo Risin?
Because I can sort of picture it. He might have remnants of his long wild hair-- just grey now. His tall, lean figure would sway slowly as he took a hit before taking his arthritis medication. Maybe drugs wouldn't have much of an effect anymore because he has developed a tolerance over the past seven decades...
Maybe The Doors would break up in 1973 and he'd shut himself in a small house on the hills of southern France until 1978. He'd write a poetry anthology in those 5 years, then rip it up the day he went to the publishing house.
He'd move back to the U.S. and start scripting a movie in L.A. about a Native American family that had a car accident and stop filming in the middle of the climax scene.
Then he'd fly to a tiny town in Florence, on the Arno River in 1990 and grow his own olive grove. He'd try to grow drugs, but realize that it would affect the quality of his olive oil.
He would study renaissance architecture and art and marry a sandy-haired Italian woman half his age. They'd have a son in 1993, named Niccolo or Frediano (depends on the neighborhood they conceived him). Jim wouldn't let his son be baptized in the Catholic church and instead would hold a Native American/ Shamanistic dance
Jim and his Florentine wife would divorce as he couldn't understand much Italian and he was still in love with Pamela.
There would be talk of a reunion tour in the late 90s, but it wouldn't happen, so people moved on. Seattle grunge was taking over the music scene, then bubble gum pop would replace it.
Jim would reside in his L.A. home throughout the millennium and the paps rarely bothered him. He also refused to admit he had a son (partially to protect his son's identity, and partially because he didn't know how to be a father).
Then he'd return to Italy in 2011 for his son's high school graduation, but his son would drop out a few weeks prior.
His son would have sandy brown hair like his mom, but be just as tall, skinny, charming, yet lost like his father.
The American media would stalk Jim's son throughout his life and music companies would try to convince him to sign, but Jim would refuse to let them take his son.
Jim and his son would lose contact until 2016 because Jim refused to buy an iPhone or other technology.
That summer, Jim would suffer a severe heart attack and his son would fly to the U.S. for the first time to see his father...
Most of us want to live long lives doing what we love, being surrounded by the people we love and overcoming great hardships.
But there's something immortal about dying prematurely. There's something very fantastical and tantalizing about never growing old and leaving the material world at the peak of your fame, fortune, and legendary influence.
Some people do not belong to this society; their ideas, their music, their behavior was out of control and out of this world.
Jim Morrison (1943-1971) still lives today on the radio, in films, books, pop culture, T-shirts, memes, and everything in between because he left us so early in his career. Maybe Janis Joplin (1942-1970), Jimmy Hendrix (1942-1970), and so many others would not have such universal recognition 4 decades after their deaths had they lived long enough to retire, leave the industry, and fade away.
With the passing of Prince and David Bowie in 2016, we're reminded of their music and iconic style from their prime years, but it's too late.
In the world of music, you either live long enough to be forgotten, or die so early that you're mythologized.
