Strange Days: My Life With and Without Jim Morrison

Rating:
Summary: Patricia Kennealy-Morri$on...
Review: Funny how people get so nasty when confronted with a truth that they don't want to believe. The "Shoot The Messenger" theory. I get such a kick when people quote Ray and Danny as reliable sources when trashing Patricia Kennealy and her book, Strange Days. Let's not forget folks, that Ray and Danny have an agenda. That agenda is "Let's-Protect-The-Myth-Of-Jim-Morrison-That-We've-Worked-So-Hard-All-These-Years-To-Build," and that myth includes the Tragic Love Affair of Jim (Romeo) & Pamela (Juliet). Let's also not forget that it was Ray and Danny who for YEARS perpetuated the ridiculous notion that Jim may still be alive with the publication of No One Here Gets Out Alive. Let's also talk about the Doors "fans" that she speaks of in the book. Would those be the same ones who year after year since 1971 have made the pilgrimage to Pere-Lachaise to scrawl graffiti on, leave litter strewn about and ultimately VANDALIZE the final resting place of a man that they claim to love and adore so much? That's exactly the type of "fan" that she refers to. Was I there? No. But neither were any of those who amazingly seem to have this 6th sense that enables them to know which books contain the truth and which contain lies. I've read several books on Jim Morrison and/or the Doors and this is the first and ONLY book, out of the ones that I have read, that gives the reader more than just a glimpse of Jim Morrison as an actual human being, as opposed to a myth or a commodity. And what of her words regarding Pam? They're no different than the "venom" with which so many now use to trash her. What's their justification, I wonder? Let's face it folks, Patricia Kennealy's mere existence flies in the face of everything that so many want to believe about Jim Morrison and just can't seem to break away from. Which is exactly why this book is important...and why it has (obviously) upset so many people. Maybe the angry among us need to ask the question "What if she's telling the truth?", although I suspect that they already have...

Rating:
Summary: Great read
Review: I first read Patricia's book when I was in high school and it has remained one of my favorite books about Jim Morrison. Patricia paints a vivid picture of what her life was like before Jim, with Jim, and the sorrow after his death. She has remained true to him and told the truth, regardless of what would be said about her, and such nastiness did ensue. I'm still awaiting the day that she will publish "Fireheart" which is a compilation of the writings and letters to her from Jim. I have heard that she will not publish anymore books, which is a shame, because I've enjoyed the Keltiad series as much as I did "Strange Days". Patricia still has loyal fans out there who would love to see a new book from her.

Rating:
Summary: You're lost, little girl!
Review: I-slept-with-a-rock-star stories are a dime a dozen in the rock bio world, and it takes something unusual to make the storyteller seem like anything but a groupie. Patricia Kennealy-Morrison has something all right, but her obnoxious attitude and sketchy details make it hard to regard "Strange Days: My Life With And Without Jim Morrison" as much more than a curiosity.

Kennealy-Morrison was a journalist/editor working for Jazz'n'Pop magazine in the late 1960s. She was sent in to interview legendary rock bad boy Jim Morrison of the Doors, and was immediately impressed by him (the feeling was mutual, she says). They soon struck up a friendship, then became lovers while remaining on opposite sides of the United States.

Morrison and Kennealy-Morrison wed in a witch handfasting some months later, despite the fact that Morrison was still with his longtime lover Pamela Courson. Kennealy-Morrison chronicles the remainder of their increasingly volatile relationship, her abortion, Morrison's mysterious death in Paris, and the production of the distorted movie adaptation by Oliver Stone.

Never has so much been written over so little. Not very often, anyway. Morrison's brief involvement with Kennealy-Morrison is blown up into an affair to rival Guinevere and Lancelot (her own comparison). What an unbiased reader sees is a rather average rock romance, full of the necessary sex, drugs and rock'n'roll. And lots and lots of Kennealy-Morrison's everyday life.

Kennealy-Morrison has a curiously self-centered view of the world: whenever anybody is less than friendly to her, they must be upset over her gender, brains, religion or relationship with Morrison. Her attitude (a bull getting ready to charge at a matador) wears thin quickly. She heaps scorn on almost all rock'n'roll stars, on any girl who slept (or wanted to) with Jim, on any friend of Pamela Courson's, on Doors fans, on rock audiences... pretty much everybody. Special vitriol is reserved for Pam; rather than take Morrison to task for his behavior, Kennealy-Morrison vents on the pleasant, clueless Courson.

While Kennealy-Morrison is clearly knowledgeable, she seems to use her IQ solely to set herself above the groupies. She lacks the class, wisdom and vibrance of other rock paramours like Marianne Faithfull. If this book is anything to go by, her intellect is stagnant and unsophisticated, and her personality is childish (she beats a groupie for coming on to Jim). In fact, her claims that she's a strong, decisive, take-no-guff woman becomes funny when you see that she was allowing a ridiculous amount of garbage from Morrison. There's no denying that Kennealy-Morrison is a talented writer. At times her lyrical, detailed writing makes this seem almost like a novel. It's especially vibrant during scenes like Doors concerts and the famous Woodstock. But too often her words are used as arrows rather than paintbrushes.

"Strange Days: My Life With And Without Jim Morrison" is a weird read. In the end, it's hard to see it as anything but Kennealy-Morrison's side of the story, but without any wisdom brought by time and thought. This is not the place to look for the "real" Jim Morrison.

Rating:
Summary: The Truth?!
Review: If you are looking for the truth, that can be found in the oft mentioned "Rock Wives", by Victoria Balfour. It's a whole lot shorter than this book, since a two week affair only takes about 10 pages to describe. Kennealy says so herself in "Rock Wives" when her affair with Jim really began. Compare both books, and you will realise it started in June 1970, and he basically started ignoring her after the ten day fling was over. Then she basically started stalking him, showing up uninvited in CA, and making a joke of herself (read all about it in the Doors Collectors Annual from 1999, now there is the truth!). If you are looking for a book full of half-truth and fantasy, "Strange Days" is the book for you! Due to the ammount of fantasy and exaggeration, "Strange Days" is a lot longer! So if you want to be as delusional as Kennealy is over her "affair" with Jim Morrison, go ahead and only read this one, and believe all the B.S. in it! "Fireheart" could have been published in 2003, due to change in copyright laws. I wonder why it wasn't? Gee, could it have something to do with Danny Sugarman (Doors manager) and Andy Morrison (Jim's own brother) viewing certain writings that Kennealy claimed was stuff Jim wrote and gave her....but both Danny and Andy said this particular writing was NOT JIM'S, was faked or forged! That is the truth! My warning to Doors fans is to get the truth from some other book. You won't find it in this book, except in miniscule doses.

Rating:
Summary: Patricia Kennealy-Morri$on...
Review: Kennealy can't seem to keep her stories straight. In "Rock Wives," she told author Victoria Balfour that she'd clock Morrison if he showed up at her doorstep today. Now all of a sudden she's his "Lizard Queen." In "Rock Wives," she said that Morrison probably didn't take their handfasting seriously. In "Strange Days," it's transcendent experience followed by mind-blowing sex. Kennealy changed her story after the Doors movie came out and added the "Morrison" to her surname as well (something she probably wouldn't have done if Jim were alive). A tribute to her beloved, perhaps? More like greed.

This woman's "Lizard Queen" act has always rung false, and no wonder. See "Your Ballroom Days Are Over, Baby" from Doors Collectors Magazine for a more accurate picture of Kennealy's real relationship with Jim Morrison.

Rating:
Summary: she's in a world of make believe
Review: patricia kennealy is a sorry soul. for thirty years she has done nothing but think about jim morrison, it's very sad that a fling on jim's part became such an important part of kennealy's life that she never moved on. one of the reviews by amanh from Chicago, IL said that kennealy had more of a relationship with jim than pam courson did. that is so untrue. pam and jim were together before he became famous, he stayed with her as well as she stayed with him. if patricia was the love of his life, why did he always stay with pam? why did he follow pam to paris? why did he leave everything he had, his entire estate to pam? come on people...kennealy is living in la la land. and tell me, how can you believe a book that gives you daily word for word conversations, exact wardrobe wearings and types of food, drinks, narcotics consumed over 30 years ago?? i don't care how many journals one keeps, they do not write every single conversation word for word! the book is a good read, but the contents are make believe. and another thing, if kennealy hates oliver stone so much and the movie made by him, why would she be in it? did she go into the movie blindly? not knowing anything about the storyline, the script, nothing? no way, if she's as intelligent as she claims to be, she would have known exactly what she was getting into. maybe she just wanted to see her narcissistic-self on the big screen!! oh yea...there are a few photos, and when you see a picture of this woman you will be shocked!! there is only one of jim and kennealy together, and it has to be the only one she owns, because if she had another phote of them i don't believe she would have used the one she did. SCARY! if you want to read a book about jim and his true love pam, then read a book that took four years to research called angels dance, angels die by patricia butler, it's a beautiful, true, tragic love story of jim and his cosmic mate (jim's words).

Rating:
Summary: Don't need 6th sense, just common sense
Review: The woman called "Tiffany" in "Strange Days", her real name is Janet Erwin. She went public in '99, writing "Tiffany Talks" for the Doors Collector's Annual magazine. She found Patricia's journal while Patricia was using her for a crash pad. Janet most likely made copies of that journal. If Kennealy is telling the truth and Janet is the liar, Kennealy would sue Janet and Doors Annual, like she threatened! Maybe then I'd believe her. However, she backed down from a lawsuit. I used to believe much of what Kennealy wrote, the worst I thought was she's a bit delusional, but only because she loved Jim so much. My opinion has grown worse. Her only request through a lawyer was that Janet not accuse her of stealing Jim's poetry writings while Patricia waited in his car. Janet didn't have proof of that in the journal, so she didn't write about it in the article! There are worse things in the article that didn't get edited! Much worse, so what does that tell you? I once believed Patricia's book, for the most part. That is, until I read Janet's version. Janet's version rings true. Example: If someone kicked you in the stomach, tossed you down a flight of stairs, almost murdered you (as Patricia claims she did "Tiffany"), would you drive them to the airport?! Janet's more realistic telling of events is Patricia hit her on the shoulder a couple times while drunk, not too hard. There was no severe, "Kill Bill" type beating. Now I believe Patricia tends to exaggerate, or write things as she "wishes" they had happened, much like her sci-fi novels. Janet revealed Pat's journal was full of Patricia whining she is more worthy of Jim's love than Pamela! Janet quotes Patricia's journal as saying Jim continued to "cleave unto" Pam. LOL. Lots of crazy stuff, saying she knows she's making a fool of herself, but can't stop. If she had written that in "Strange Days", I'd maybe give the book 2 stars! Very amusing. Janet's telling of Ray Manzarek's disgust at Patricia, who turned up uninvited at the Doors studio, is worth a million $$$. Same with Janet's recounting of Patricia getting chewed out by the Doors publicist. If you read "Strange Days", you should have a copy of Janet's article and Victoria Balfour's "Rock Wives" on hand, to compare notes. Patricia really turned into an obsessed stalker who blew a ten day booty-call into the romance of her life! Jim forgot about it after a couple weeks, Patricia wouldn't let go. He wasn't the one following her around. Go ahead and trash Doors fans for not being gullible enough to believe this book. 99.9% of us would never write grafitti on Jim's grave either, so get over it. Victoria Balfour and Janet Erwin are still waiting to be sued, but "someone" is afraid of taped conversations and copies of journals.

Rating:
Summary: Don't need 6th sense, just common sense
Review: The woman called "Tiffany" in "Strange Days", her real name is Janet Erwin. She went public in '99, writing "Tiffany Talks" for the Doors Collector's Annual magazine. She found Patricia's journal while Patricia was using her for a crash pad. Janet most likely made copies of that journal. If Kennealy is telling the truth and Janet is the liar, Kennealy would sue Janet and Doors Annual, like she threatened! Maybe then I'd believe her. However, she backed down from a lawsuit. I used to believe much of what Kennealy wrote, the worst I thought was she's a bit delusional, but only because she loved Jim so much. My opinion has grown worse. Her only request through a lawyer was that Janet not accuse her of stealing Jim's poetry writings while Patricia waited in his car. Janet didn't have proof of that in the journal, so she didn't write about it in the article! There are worse things in the article that didn't get edited! Much worse, so what does that tell you? I once believed Patricia's book, for the most part. That is, until I read Janet's version. Janet's version rings true. Example: If someone kicked you in the stomach, tossed you down a flight of stairs, almost murdered you (as Patricia claims she did "Tiffany"), would you drive them to the airport?! Janet's more realistic telling of events is Patricia hit her on the shoulder a couple times while drunk, not too hard. There was no severe, "Kill Bill" type beating. Now I believe Patricia tends to exaggerate, or write things as she "wishes" they had happened, much like her sci-fi novels. Janet revealed Pat's journal was full of Patricia whining she is more worthy of Jim's love than Pamela! Janet quotes Patricia's journal as saying Jim continued to "cleave unto" Pam. LOL. Lots of crazy stuff, saying she knows she's making a fool of herself, but can't stop. If she had written that in "Strange Days", I'd maybe give the book 2 stars! Very amusing. Janet's telling of Ray Manzarek's disgust at Patricia, who turned up uninvited at the Doors studio, is worth a million $$$. Same with Janet's recounting of Patricia getting chewed out by the Doors publicist. If you read "Strange Days", you should have a copy of Janet's article and Victoria Balfour's "Rock Wives" on hand, to compare notes. Patricia really turned into an obsessed stalker who blew a ten day booty-call into the romance of her life! Jim forgot about it after a couple weeks, Patricia wouldn't let go. He wasn't the one following her around. Go ahead and trash Doors fans for not being gullible enough to believe this book. 99.9% of us would never write grafitti on Jim's grave either, so get over it. Victoria Balfour and Janet Erwin are still waiting to be sued, but "someone" is afraid of taped conversations and copies of journals.

Rating:
Summary: C'mon Patricia
Review: This book gave a lot of information on how Patricia was absolutely infatuated with Jim Morrison. I have never read so much hatred against Pam in my life!!! I found it pretty sad that she blamed Pam for Jims death. I mean, did Pam force a grown man to do drugs? Patricia stated in her book, "How wise you were, Pamela Susan, to have smacked out yourself in 1974, because if you were alive right now, I would be on my way to California to kill you. Be glad you are dead." I mean c'mon. Absolutely un-called for. This woman needs mental help.

I believe this book is written in a fantasy that she believed in.
Her crazy fantasy.

Rating:
Summary: The Inside Story
Review: This book is the closest you will ever get to the actual truth about Jim Morrison. Granted, she was deeply offended by Pam Courson...as virtually any lover of Jim's would be. Strange, though, Pam did not appear jealous of Patricia...Kennealy is a very talented writer. You will not be able to put this book down. Even the ghost parts. And the love parts are incredible. She does not adore all The Doors equally, as I do. But then she is entitled to her own observations. Personally, I feel a book with great integrity is John Densmore's "Riders On The Storm". That one is also jam packed full of Jim info...which I crave. Do you?