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Charity says hello to door from the past

By JIM HARRINGTON

Article published on Thursday, Aug. 2, 2007

Photo by JIM HARRINGTON

A specially crafted door like those that will be auctioned off for charity, this piece of work by Doug Wright is displayed at a developer’s office. This door is one of many from the home of Jim Morrison’s grandparents.

CLEARWATER – At first, Jim Warren was too busy for the project.

An accomplished artist who has done design work for a famous musician, Warren was caught up in too many undertakings to take on still another.

But it sort of nagged at him.

He started to think, gee, this is no ordinary rock group. It’s The Doors.

In high school, Warren used to sketch what he termed “pretend album covers,” a teenage musing that eventually led him to draw the album jacket for Bob Seger’s 1980 music recording, “Against the Wind.” He had even drawn a few Doors covers.

So when he was asked by the developer of Triangle Development Company to memorialize the occasional boyhood home of Jim Morrison, he didn’t have to think too hard about it.

“I didn’t have a clue” about what he wanted to do, though, Warren said.

“I’ll take the challenge. It’s a unique project,” Warren said.

Singer and poet Jim Morrison spent time in Clearwater as an infant and then as a teenager according to VH1.com. As a young adult, Morrison was sent by parents to live with his grandparents and he enrolled in St. Petersburg College.

Eventually, he got into Florida State University and then traveled west to California where he met his fellow band mates.

The lead singer for the 1960s-era rock group The Doors, Morrison died in 1971 of an apparent heart attack in Paris. He and his wife left the country for France to work on his poetry. Morrison’s legal skirmishes, which usually spiraled around the singer’s drug and alcohol use as he delved into the inner workings of the unconscious mind, left the band in financial ruin. That, and a general feeling of being harassed by the authorities for his sexual on-stage provocations, contributed to his desire to skip town.

For the charitable project, the developer removed more than 65 pieces from the home of Paul and Caroline Morrison, Jim Morrison’s grandparents who lived just north of Drew Street on Osceola Avenue and who cared for him as a baby and again as a rebellious teenager.

A few of the 1940s-style homes along the west side of Fort Harrison Boulevard were termite ridden, but the site of the now demolished Morrison home is under construction and will soon rise as the Island View condominiums.

In addition to Warren, Clearwater artist Doug Wright is also working on a few parts of the Morrison home, which will be auctioned off on eBay after they’ve been displayed at a party at the Largo Cultural Center.

Peace Frog, a musical act that re-creates the experience of a Doors concert, will play a Tribute to Jim Morrison and The Doors, Aug. 25, 8 p.m. They’ll sing hits like “Hello, I Love You”, “Light My Fire”, “L.A. Woman”, among others.

And there will be a special charity kick-off party at 6:30 p.m. where Doug Wright’s work will be shown and which will feature a ’60s/’70s costume contest. An online auction will commence at the party, the proceeds of which benefit the Partners N Progress for the Arts.

Call 587-6793.

Article published on Thursday, Aug. 2, 2007