Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

The once-secret FBI files of Morrison, Hendrix, and Joplin

The CIA Ate My Homework

Some of Hoover’s pages on the three are available for public scrutiny in Washington. - Image by Rick Geary
Some of Hoover’s pages on the three are available for public scrutiny in Washington.

I have an acid-soaked friend who claims it’s well known that Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, and Jimi Hendrix were killed by Nixon’s CIA for all the obvious reasons. I not only have never heard this theory but refuse to believe it. I’d like you to put this absurd rumor to rest— it’s ridiculous, never happened, it’s stupid. Right? Sheesh. — St. James Woo... (Wood? Wool? Woof? Wookie?), faxland

(Sorry, St. James Illegible.) In a Halloween-y mood, let’s neutralize a couple of spooky questions composting in my file labeled “Conspiracies, or, The CIA Ate My Homework.” Received two fresh entries just this past week, so paranoia again peaks in Aliceland. Sheesh, indeed. Your friend’s right about one thing, the rumor is “well known.” But if “notorious” equaled “correct,” I’d still be working as the marital-aids buyer for that chain of triple-X video stores. Anyway, despite our fondest wishes and a number of books to the contrary, M, H, and J died of self-imposed, drug-related causes,, not a plot. But here’s how this stuff might get going.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Do we need more confirmation of the official, if unwritten, government stand on rock music than the Panama City incident? The federal brain trust believed Led Zep and Blue Oyster Cult, cranked to the threshold of pain and blasted at Manuel Noriega’s hideout, would be the aural equivalent of tear gas. Most of us in Manuel’s spot would have just sent out for pizzas and a keg. But that episode confirmed what we’ve all “known” for at least 30 years—that “the government” is a bunch of sour old Mitch Miller fans dedicated to the elimination of those gol-dern rocknrollers and their subversive caterwauling. So when a rock icon or three or four succumbs to personal weakness, who better for us to blame than the federal fogeys? Certainly, it wasn’t the fault of our love objects.

So here we sit, our brains like fertile petri dishes waiting for a bacterium of truth to land; then we’ll weed and water it, mix it with what we already suspect, and spread it around. In the case of Morrison, Hendrix, and Joplin, the convenient germ was the rockers’ once-secret FBI files. Some of Hoover’s accumulated pages on the three are available for public scrutiny in Washington. Since the FBI’s busy, busy staff in those days kept similar files on practically everybody, it’s unlikely they were all on a government hit list.

And the FBI is kinda like the CIA, except the CIA is even spookier and sneakier and capable of almost anything, right? And of course, it would take a force that powerful to defeat another force as powerful as a rock star. And so a rumor is born. The truth is just too disappointing sometimes to be worth believing.

-

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Domestic disturbance at the home of Mayor Gloria and partner

Home Sweet Homeless?
Some of Hoover’s pages on the three are available for public scrutiny in Washington. - Image by Rick Geary
Some of Hoover’s pages on the three are available for public scrutiny in Washington.

I have an acid-soaked friend who claims it’s well known that Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, and Jimi Hendrix were killed by Nixon’s CIA for all the obvious reasons. I not only have never heard this theory but refuse to believe it. I’d like you to put this absurd rumor to rest— it’s ridiculous, never happened, it’s stupid. Right? Sheesh. — St. James Woo... (Wood? Wool? Woof? Wookie?), faxland

(Sorry, St. James Illegible.) In a Halloween-y mood, let’s neutralize a couple of spooky questions composting in my file labeled “Conspiracies, or, The CIA Ate My Homework.” Received two fresh entries just this past week, so paranoia again peaks in Aliceland. Sheesh, indeed. Your friend’s right about one thing, the rumor is “well known.” But if “notorious” equaled “correct,” I’d still be working as the marital-aids buyer for that chain of triple-X video stores. Anyway, despite our fondest wishes and a number of books to the contrary, M, H, and J died of self-imposed, drug-related causes,, not a plot. But here’s how this stuff might get going.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Do we need more confirmation of the official, if unwritten, government stand on rock music than the Panama City incident? The federal brain trust believed Led Zep and Blue Oyster Cult, cranked to the threshold of pain and blasted at Manuel Noriega’s hideout, would be the aural equivalent of tear gas. Most of us in Manuel’s spot would have just sent out for pizzas and a keg. But that episode confirmed what we’ve all “known” for at least 30 years—that “the government” is a bunch of sour old Mitch Miller fans dedicated to the elimination of those gol-dern rocknrollers and their subversive caterwauling. So when a rock icon or three or four succumbs to personal weakness, who better for us to blame than the federal fogeys? Certainly, it wasn’t the fault of our love objects.

So here we sit, our brains like fertile petri dishes waiting for a bacterium of truth to land; then we’ll weed and water it, mix it with what we already suspect, and spread it around. In the case of Morrison, Hendrix, and Joplin, the convenient germ was the rockers’ once-secret FBI files. Some of Hoover’s accumulated pages on the three are available for public scrutiny in Washington. Since the FBI’s busy, busy staff in those days kept similar files on practically everybody, it’s unlikely they were all on a government hit list.

And the FBI is kinda like the CIA, except the CIA is even spookier and sneakier and capable of almost anything, right? And of course, it would take a force that powerful to defeat another force as powerful as a rock star. And so a rumor is born. The truth is just too disappointing sometimes to be worth believing.

-

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

The Fellini of Clairemont High

When gang showers were standard for gym class
Next Article

Filmora 14’s AI Tools Streamline Content Creation for Marketers

Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader