jim morrison died in paris of heroin overdose, 38 years ago today

on july 3, 1971, jim morrison was found dead in the bathtub of his paris apartment. while no autopsy was performed, the anecdotal evidence suggested that morrison died of a heroin overdose. and so closed the doors to his very brief, but intense, life on earth - he was only 27 years old! amazingly, the doors continued to perform and record without him, as a trio, until the band finally called it quits in 1973.

my interest in jim morrison and the doors peaked in high school, when that iconic image (the head shot of which is the above photo) of morrison, arms outstretched, was postered to my bedroom door. thereafter my fascination with would periodically reemerge: reading the now classic biography, "no one gets out of here alive," watching val kilmer play him in "the doors" and, most recently, watching two original band members in concert!

last year i caught "riders on the storm" with ray manzarek and robby kreiger, play at the fillmore here in nyc. their front man was a dead ringer for morrison, and so too were their covers of the doors classics. great memories!

so take a minute and listen to some doors music today - in honor of a wild child who broke on thru to the other side - way too soon.

r.i.p. jim morrison