Danny Sugerman, Cybertalk, 1/29/96 OnlineHost: Welcome to CYBER-TALK! CYBER-TALK (TM) is : Warner/Reprise Online's weekly interactive talk : show. Each segment of CYBER-TALK (TM) features : a different music persona. OnlineHost: Danny Sugerman was born in Los Angeles in 1954. : He saw the Doors in concert in 1967, and never : looked back. He landed a job at the Doors' West : Hollywood office, began answering fan mail, and : eventually became their management assistant. : No One Here Gets Out Alive, co-authored by : Danny Sugerman with Jerry Hopkins, is the : definitive biography of Jim Morrison. OnlineHost: To send your question to the speaker, click on : the Interact icon, then use the Ask a Question : option. Max Warner: We will begin in a few moments Max Warner: Here we go From RudeDog91 Question: DANNY-ILOVE THE DOORS-& IM AGENERATION OR 2 AFTER THIERS- WHAT DO YOU THINKS IMMORTALIZES Question: THIER MESSAGE AS WELL AS THIER MUSIC? DannySuger: Jim and the rest of the band tried to make art, that is, music and poetry that would withs DannySuger: tood the test of time and transcended the time in which it was created. Jim asked the ban DannySuger: d to "TRY AND WRite about timeless elements, earth, air, fire, water." You got Light My DannySuger: Fire, Not to Touch the Earth, Waiting for the Sun, etc. They were artists who wrote about DannySuger: universal elements, consciously invoking the unconscious. I think. Max Warner: BTW, Danny Sugerman is "DannySuger" From Bret Weer Question: Have you heard of any plans to release the RAW recordings of Jim's studio poetry Question: readings??? DannySuger: There are no plans that I know of. An American Prayer, as I'm sure you know, is the best DannySuger: of the poetry Jim recorded and I think it would be disrespectful to his memory and his int DannySuger: entions to release something like RAW. From ABarcello Question: Is there a extra fee to chat with danny? DannySuger: If you want to send it,...just kidding. No charge. Just a cool chance to talk with other DannySuger: doors fans. From Chafee Question: What does Mr. S. think Morrison would be doing today, and would have done since 1971? DannySuger: It's hard to picture Jim alive still. He seemed so wise and beyond his years at 27 years DannySuger: old. So much of who he was seemed wrapped up in his insatiable urge to see more and do mo DannySuger: re, all at once, everything all the time, break on through, I think, intensity is the summ DannySuger: ary word. But, for the helluva it, I think he'd be writing poetry, commentating on what's DannySuger: going on in his own way. He loved reading. He could've directed films, written books, hi DannySuger: s talent was extraordinary. From RudeDog91 Question: YOU KNEW JDM PERSONALLY - YET YOU ARE CRITCIZED FOR YOUR ACCOUNT OF THE ERA BY SOME WHO ALSO EXPERIENCED IT. WHAT IS YOUR DEFENSE/REACTION? DannySuger: I can take the criticism. I don't think it was directed at me for my depection of the era, DannySuger: but rather my admittedly biased attitude towards Jim. I was accused of "not being objective" DannySuger: . As I was saying, I just wanted to turn the world onto the Doors and Morrison. And, as l DannySuger: ong as I have the opportunity, I was also accused of not being qualified, that I was "just DannySuger: the kid Jim hired to answer the fan mail" when in fact, Jim encouraged me to be a writer a DannySuger: nd by the time I was 15 years old was writing articles for a half dozen publications, much DannySuger: Jim himself read and encouraged. So, I was a writer, as far as I considered myself, when DannySuger: I was 20 when I started work on what became No One Here Gets Out Alive. Jim had told me t DannySuger: o write what I knew and what I knew was rock and roll and Jim. From Paris1302 Question: Are you still married to Fawn Hall? DannySuger: Yes. We are very much in love, living together, with our dog, Bunky, in the H.weird Hills DannySuger: In retrospect, we shoulnd't have gone to the Golden Triangle for our honeymoon, however. DannySuger: But we're all better now. From U47Tube Question: Did you write the GUNS n ROSES book to educate the "gunners" as Jim did for you? DannySuger: I wrote the book on GNR, not as a biography, but because I found them the most interesting DannySuger: and exciting around at the time. It was more of a critique/appreciation/biographical essa DannySuger: y bound like a book. I found it a very rewarding book to research as it afforded me the o DannySuger: pportunity to read a lot of books that Jim Morrison had read and to really dealve into the DannySuger: realm of creativity and self destruction, rock and roll style. I know Axl liked, and lear DannySuger: ned from the book. And I love most of their work. They're Bacchanalian frenzy personifie Max Warner: Danny: great photographs DannySuger: Then I wrote Wonderland Avenue, which is sort of an autobiographical novel, the book I al DannySuger: ways wanted to write, since I started writing. I consider it my best work. Guns N' Roses DannySuger: were a platform for me to write about things that interested me--drugs, creativity, DannySuger: destruction, archtypical elements, mythology, the role of music, the shaman, the trickster DannySuger: NBeitzsche, Jung, topics Jim got me hooked, sort to speak, on. A chance to continue the e DannySuger: ducation Jim started me on. I think Axl is the closest to Jim was there was at the time. DannySuger: Eddie Vedder is probably the closest now, but this isn't to say they are as great as Jim w DannySuger: as, just that they come from the heart and generate the heat Jim was capable of producing. DannySuger: Live onstage, Morrison was intoxicating, ecstatic, yet terrifying, you were afraid you wou DannySuger: ld not leave that concert hall alive. You thought he was crazy, dangerous. And he was. DannySuger: But mainly, he could rock the house like no one you've ever seen. I'm working on a book o DannySuger: f all live photographs of the Doors live and these images of Jim, from onstage at the Whis DannySuger: ky in LA in 1967 through the Isle of Wight 1970, the faces, the moves, the changes, the cr DannySuger: owd reacting, the riots he sparked, just amazing. I fall in love with the Doors and Jim a DannySuger: ll over again as I go over these photographs--the Doors and I have been saving them for a DannySuger: special picture book, and we're going to try and get it out by the Fall of '96 to coincide DannySuger: with the release on CD of Absolutely Live, sort of a "Doors live" campaign. You listen to DannySuger: that music and look at these photographs and boy, it's as close to the Doors Experience as DannySuger: you can get. The video's are all great, but the Doors concert experience was so transcend DannySuger: ental it's like they never happened when the film camera was on, like the camera inhibited DannySuger: Jim--like, he's almost tame at the Hollywood Bowl. But that could have been because Jim w DannySuger: wasn't too fond of performing outside to begin with. The Doors are Open, the European con DannySuger: cert of them in London is pretty damn close, but Bowl is in color, stereo, no cuts of non- DannySuger: doors footage. "Roadhouse Blues" on the Dance on Fire home video captures the doors at th DannySuger: eir riotous best. But these pics...no words. Just a beautiful Doors photobook of concert DannySuger: photos only. 99% never before seen, never published. From RudeDog91 Question: WHAT ABOUT THE MOVIE-OBVIOUSLY HOLLWOODIZED- BUT SOMEWHAT ACCURATE? DannySuger: Somewhat. Not very accurate. Oliver Stone did his version. It's what he thought Jim was DannySuger: like. He made up a lot of scenes--Jim never threw a tv set at Ray, he loved Ray, man. Th DannySuger: Doors never licensed a song to Ford, or Buick, like the film says they did. To this day, DannySuger: the group turns down millions dollars in commercial offers. Jim was so much more likeable and I think Jim would have been flattered that a filmaker of Oliver Stone's caliber chose to tell his From PIZZCLAM Question: Is your book still going to made into a movie? DannySuger: Which book? Max Warner: Hey PIZZ, what book are you refering to? PIZZCLAM: The one that is an address DannySuger: Oh, that one, Wonderland Avenue. Let me put it this way, there's been five screenplays wr DannySuger: itten, and I wish I made in royalties what these five guys have been paid to write these l DannySuger: lame ass, embarassing screenplays. If you're reading this, you screenwriters, I'm sorry. DannySuger: But the new one, it's pretty good, but I gotta rewrite it. And it's being optioned by the DannySuger: 6th producer, so to answer your question, hopefully. From Ritzy2 Question: Danny, I loved youe book"No one gets out of here alive"!! It sparked an interest in Jim Question: that goes on and on. What is your most intense memory of him? DannySuger: When, after he got busted in Miami, and he was back in L>A> and the whole Doors tour was c DannySuger: ancelled because of the Miami bust, he was walking up the stairs to the office and I was w DannySuger: alking up behind him and he was drunk and not a happy guy at that time and he just turned, DannySuger: totally unexpected and demannded of me (I was 14) "WHAT DO YOU THINK I SHOULD DO, COMPROMI DannySuger: SE WITH THE ESTABLISHMENT OR SLIDE WITH REALITY?!!!" And I said, "I don't know, slide with DannySuger: reality, I guess." and he said, "You don't know you guess, what the f###to you know anyway DannySuger: ? What do they want from me?" He was quite scary that particular morning. I'd never not DannySuger: seen himn in a good mood. He was usually so affable, great sense of humor. Not that day, DannySuger: no sir. Bad morning. From Benji King Question: have you seen any of the films jim did put together? what is your view on his cinematic Question: talent? DannySuger: He was a better actor than director. From AKrall Question: Glad to hear that you and Fawn are doing well. Any kids on the way?? DannySuger: Hopefully, god willing. I'd like to be a father someday. I couldn't imagine it before I DannySuger: Great Pleasure. Wonderful, entertaining. Max Warner: We will answer two more questions DannySuger: Great pleasure, witty, entertaining, he made me laff, his observations were astounding. S DannySuger: pontaneous, delightful. Possibly dangerous however, always lurking. From GARRSHAW Question: Were you aware of what was happening around you at that time or did you discover more Question: about where you were after it had transpired? DannySuger: Both. I knew I was in the presence of the most powerful person I had ever met. I knew. DannySuger: eeing the doors in concert changedx my life, my destiny. A real God shot. But, I am able DannySuger: to make sense of it, able to understand Jim, only in retrospect. I was so young. HE was DannySuger: so young. He was 10 years older than me, that means when I was 12 he was 22. I didn't kn DannySuger: ow my a-hole from my elbow, as Jim himself pointed out to me, and he suggested if I listen DannySuger: more and talked les I might learn something. He., as usual, was right. I learned the wor DannySuger: ld from him. Max Warner: Last question, sorry we could not get to all of them... From LilyDkRos Question: Are there any projects Ray and/or Robby are currently working on? Will Ray and Michael Question: McClure do another poetry tour? DannySuger: Robby has just come off the road and is in the first stages of development for a new insr DannySuger: ental album, John Densmore is writing a novel, Ray and McClure will be playing around the DannySuger: copuntry in the coming year, with a new CD out sometime before the years end and the three DannySuger: Doors will work together on the compilation, production and presentation of the Doors Box DannySuger: Set--inc. 2 cd's of never before heard material. Great stuff. Probably out Fall of 97. DannySuger: Paul Rothchild, their longtime producer and friend died last year and it set the whole pro DannySuger: ject back. One more question>? Time? Max Warner: Thanks everybody, Thanks Danny. Any closing remarks? DannySuger: Uh, the futurre's uncertain and the end is always near? DannySuger: Good to be hear. You guys I didn't get to can e mail me either care of this site or my ow Max Warner: His e-mail is DSugerman Max Warner: He'll try and get to as many as he can Max Warner: See you next Monday night. OnlineHost: Copyright (C) 1996 Warner Bros. Records. : CYBER-TALK (TM) is produced in-house by : a Warner Bros. Records staff.