Paris, July 3rd, 1999
    Gee, where will I start? May be like this. Paris 1999, a wonderful summer, a great week in Paris and lots of cool people. Was it the last time it had felt this good? Well, the first time I met Darryl Read was in 1999. He had this idea to publish his book set. He told me about his poems, about the album "Freshly dug", which he recorded with Ray Manzarek.

   Wow, I could see the book right there before my eyes, although we'd drunk quite a lot. Yeah, it was a great time. The summer of 1999 - Paris. One week later I was home again. The telephone rang; it was Darryl. We did the book. The rest is history. The first 500 copies were made by hand, hardcover and all.

   Later we also did a softcover version. I really dig his poetry, so it wasn't any trouble to do the book with all my love and craftmanship.

   At July 3rd 1999, a woman died in the Renaissance cafe. You should all read the poem "A lonely way to die" Darryl wrote about that (www.darrylread.com). Summer 2000. I was all fed up with Paris, the Morrison wannabe's, the lunatics and the freaks. Although it wasn't easy, I decided not to go to Paris for the first time in years. It's strange, but I didn't really miss it. That city drags me down anyway. It's funny. Ray said once that Jim should have gone to Amsterdam or London. I can agree with that. I had been thinking that a long time before I heard Ray say that. But every year to Paris, every year getting down.. C'mon Jim!!

   Anyway, after the book Darryl and me stayed in contact. We discussed whether we should visit Paris in 2001. I had a lot of trouble to make up my mind, so I decided not to decide. One or two days before the deadline, Darryl forced me to make a decision. Okay, I'm coming!

   Deep within, I had already said goodbye to all that "3rd of July" shit. No, certainly not because of Jim. But I felt I could celebrate the day of his death more easily at home.

   We were on our way to Paris, Darryl and me. July 3rd, 2001. Jim's 30th. We had a lot of fun. And luggage! Darryl had told me we would be meeting Ray Manzarek. Was he kidding me?

   I had brought my two Doors gold-awards along, which had already been signed by Robby and John, and some other items. In Belgium I asked Darryl whether he had his papers on him. Well, too late, he hadn't! He had forgotten his passport, which is a problem when you're entering France, since French customs DO check your papers, contrary to most other European borders. Shit, big problem. What now? Well, nothing! Just ride on and see what happens! Finally, we approached the border and yes, they WERE checking the paperwork. We're f**ked, man. Fortunately, a busload of tourists attracted the attention of the border guards. If Darryl hadn't talked to that bathroom attendent in Belgium the bus hadn't been in front of us. Yeah Jim, we're coming!

At the Renaissance... We met hardcore Doors fans.

Paris, July 1st - July 4th
    After we had checked in, we made ourselves on our way to the Renaissance cafe. We met hardcore Doors fans there. After a few drinks everything was the way it had always been.. just cool. It was a pity my Dutch friend Hans Bezemer wasn't there. Neither was Nick from Sweden. But it was okay. The next day Ray and Danny arrived in Paris. Darryl called Ray and made an appointment. Wow, I was about to meet Ray for the first time!!

That's me! Jochen Maassen and Ray. I'd been waiting for this moment all my life!

Paris, July 2nd, at 4:30 PM
    Darryl and I met Ray. They are old friends and were pleased to see each other again, but I was very nervous. Ray was very nice... I was shitting my pants, believe me! I had been waiting for this moment for all my life. Ray ordered some soft drinks, which I declined. I wouldn't have been able to hold on to my glass, I was that nervous. Ray signed my awards and his book "Light my fire", both the English and the German edition. That moment I must have been the happiest person on earth. Ray asked me for a Camel filter. Sure, man ...

Ray and Darryl Read had things to discuss,  so I left

    I noticed Ray and Darryl had things to discuss, so I left the hotel for about 20 minutes. As I returned Ray and Darryl were about to end their conversation. I packed my stuff, asked Ray a few questions and congratulated him on his work with the "Bright Midnight Label". Finally, Ray, Darryl and me took some pictures. It was hard to get away, since we seemed to be unable to break up. Why, I can't tell you.

    Ray thought Darryl's book was absolutely fabulous. Ray asked us whether we had tickets for the evening show at July 3rd. Unfortunately, we didn't. Fans were queueing up at the FNAC at 2:30 in the morning. Ray said, we'd meet at the cemetery anyway and he would see if he was still able to get any. Thanks! Great!

    We returned to our hotel and then got back at the Renaissance. There were Lots of people over there! To be honest, the place was completely filled up! Lots of new and young faces, camera-crews from MTV-Italy, SAT1, ARD Tagesthemen, Japanese TV.. But after meeting Ray Manzarek of the Doors, the pressure was gone. That night there was a lot of drinking going on. When I was a cigarette length from leaving the cafe, who was standing on my feet? Right. Danny Sugerman! I could hardly believe it. He asked me where Kerry Humpherys was. I pointed him out. Still, nobody had recognized him. The barkeeper tried to charge Danny for a glass of water until I explained him who this was. I'm quite sure he finally wrote it on my bill, but what the heck!

    Then, somebody found out Danny was there and he was swarmed by Doors-fans. I wouldn't have been surprised it people had asked him to sign a piece of toiletpaper.. Suddenly, he as quick as he appeared, he disappeared into the Paris night.

    We had a long, hard night, believe me.. Then it was July, the 3rd.

Paris, July 3rd
    A heatwave had just hit Paris and we had no air conditioning in our room. All we could do was open up the windows. At 4:00 AM cars came through the street. Smelling, sweating, tired, warm, but it felt great.

    At noon, we were at Pere Lachaise. Never before I had seen so many people. There was hardly any room to breathe; the heat was vibrating in the air, like in the desert. The scent of sweat, drugs, alcohol was everywhere, as were the police.

    There were at least a thousand people at the grave and more were coming. I was losing count, there were just too many. 2:00 PM. Where is Ray? Fans everywhere, drinking wine, champagne, beer, smoking joints. The police stayed cool. No limits, no laws. People were doing everything that was usually not allowed. Taking videos, drinking, ascending the graves to get a good look. Love and peace it was. For the first time, there were even official signs with "Jim" and "Exit", which had never been there before.

    Finally, the time was there. People were yelling, whistling, fainting, applauding (I you weren't there, you'll never know how it felt). And yes, Ray, Dorothy and Danny were coming on foot up the hill (Can you imagine? On foot amongst thousands of people?). They came to Jim's grave. Ray demanded a minute of silence in honor of Jim. And it was dead silent, from one second to the other. It was a trip like an orgasm, something that cannot be said with words. People broke and cried. Need I say more? Suddenly Kerry came to me and asked me whether I had a hangover (it had been a hard night..), but I told him everything was cool. He laughed and said that we Germans could drink more than anyone else on any other nation on earth or something like that. After that he asked me too if I had a ticket.. and gave me a special red one, for press only. Hey, Kerry THANK YOU!!

    Then the moment came that Ray, Dorothy and Danny left Pere Lachaise, followed by thousands of fans. People were freaking out, yelling to Ray "Sign this, sign that". Ray stayed cool and smiled, while he gave out hundreds of autographs. Then people crowded up from behind and started to push. The atmosphere changed. I tasted fear. The police and security became more nervous by the minute. Dorothy fell. Danny helped her up and guarded her. Ray never stopped signing autographs.

    I could never have done anything like that. The moment was too precious to destroy, but dangerous too. It could have gotten out of control any minute and personally, I think we weren't very far away that moment. If it had come to a riot, they would never have been able to control it without any casualties or worse. Ray, Dorothy and Danny, I salute you! You were very brave.

"Hey Darryl, come along. You're in!"

Suddenly Ray noticed Darryl and me and said "Hey Darryl, come along. You're in!". What a feeling! What an honor! I decided to leave the scene to make a few pictures . It took a few seconds for the security people to understand that Darryl belonged to the party with Ray and Danny.

    A fan that tried Ray to sign a bootleg, made me laugh. Ray simply said "I'm not gonna sign this, man. Get a proper one!" He asked him four or five times. Same question, same answer. Funny. Finally they reached the secure, black limousine. But it wasn't enough. In the middle of the crowd Ray told Darryl: "Hey, Dorothy has got your tickets, man! See you at the show!"

    I decided to leave the cemetary, before all the others decided to do so. I wish I'd had a videoCAM at that moment. The mercedes slowly passed me, a black window came down and Ray said to me "Hey man, Darryl has got your tickets. Where is he. Hey, watch out, there he is.. In front of you.. See ya' tonight."

   --Jochen Maassen