Jim Morrison Explains The Miami Incident

By Jack Brummet, music editor

You may remember the "Miami Incident" if you were listening to music back in 1969 (which would also mean you're pushing 60 or >). If you weren't, you may have heard about it. My friend Frank Curran was at a Doors show in Seattle sometime later, when someone yelled "play Miami!", and Jim Morrison unloaded on Seattle (as I also heard Jimi Hendrix do in his last hometown show).

The "Miami Incident" landed Morrison in serious hot water with the FBI and the courts. On March 1, 1969, he gave a controversial performance at a Doors concert in Miami, Florida, and was later charged with public drunkenness, and various other crimes. He was specifically accused of exposing himself to the crowd, and was eventually convicted of "indecent exposure," a misdemeanor, and not the felonies he was initially charged with. He was sentenced to serve time. But he never served it; he moved to Paris and died at the age of 27.


One night later, Morrison was out with a bunch of people, and his friend Tom Baker started goading him (it was getting hostile):  "Tell us now, Mr. Jim Morrison, rock star. Tell us what happened in Miami."

Morrison glared at Baker, and drained his drink.

And, yes, he did bring a live sheep on lamb on stage.  Someone 

brought it to the show and handed it off to Morrison on stage. 

"Come on, Jim, tell us once and for all."

"Well," Morrison said in a quiet voice, "I wanted to see what it looked like in the spotlight."

The crowd burst out laughing, spraying the bar with their drinks and Jim grinned proudly.

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