Latest news with #bust
CBC
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Marble bust of rock legend Jim Morrison found, 37 years after it disappeared
The bust was uncovered in Paris during an unrelated investigation Image | CORRECTION Jim Morrison Bust Caption: The grave of American rock singer and poet Jim Morrison stands in France's most famous graveyard, Le Pere LaChaise cemetery, in a photo taken Dec. 8, 1982. The bust disappeared in 1988, and was recovered earlier this year. (Herve Merliac/The Associated Press) Media Audio | As It Happens : Marble bust of rock legend Jim Morrison found, 37 years after it disappeared Open Full Embed in New Tab Loading external pages may require significantly more data usage than loading CBC Lite story pages. A marble bust of rock legend Jim Morrison vanished without a trace in 1988, leaving behind only rumours, speculation and a mystery that baffled fans for decades. Now, 37 years later, it's finally been found — unexpectedly uncovered in Paris during an entirely unrelated investigation. On May 16, the Paris Public Prosecutor's Office announced the recovery of the long-missing sculpture. The police's Financial and Anti-Corruption Brigade discovered the bust while executing a search order from an examining magistrate at the Paris Court. For Jeff Jampol, manager of Morrison's estate, the discovery was as unexpected as it was surreal. "I thought, 'Wow, it's a really interesting twist,'" Jampol told CBC's As It Happens host Nil Köksal. "It was really interesting how they came across it while they were undergoing a different operation." Croatian sculptor Mladen Mikulin installed the bust, carved from Macedonian white marble, to place on Morrison's tombstone in 1981, on the tenth anniversary of the Doors frontman's death. But over time, it was vandalized — its nose and lips chipped, covered in graffiti. And in 1988, it disappeared completely. Now recovered, the sculpture is reportedly in the same condition it was when it disappeared — still marred by decades-old graffiti, the nose still broken. There was no immediate word on whether the bust would be returned to the grave or what other investigation might take place, according to The Associated Press. Jim Morrison of The Doors: Rock and Roll Poet for a Generation Larger than life Morrison and the Doors left an indelible mark on the music scene of the 1960s. Co-creating the groundbreaking psychedelic rock band with keyboardist Ray Manzarek in Los Angeles, Morrison helped launch a sound that was dark, experimental and provocative. "The Doors were a very edgy, dark, psychedelic band, and they sang about and spoke of things that most bands do not," said Jampol. "It taps into a certain zeitgeist and a certain part of the conscious and unconscious. [They] stood apart from every other band I knew." The band exploded from obscurity to stardom with their 1967 breakout hit Light My Fire. At the heart of that mystique was Morrison — nicknamed The Lizard King — whose magnetic voice and outlandish performances, became a symbol of rebellion and counterculture. Before his days on stage, Morrison studied film at UCLA was a devoted reader of William Blake, Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg — poets whose influence bled into his lyrics. More than a bust In 1971, at the height of his fame, Morrison moved to Paris with his longtime partner, Pamela Courson. He hoped to devote himself to writing poetry. But just months later, he was found dead in their apartment bathtub at the age of 27. Though no autopsy was performed, his death was ruled a heart attack. Morrison was buried in Paris's famed Père-Lachaise Cemetery, resting among cultural giants like Oscar Wilde, Édith Piaf, and Frédéric Chopin. "Jim had commented he would love to be buried there. He's with his fellow artists," said Jampol. Morrison's grave quickly became one of the most visited in Paris. Tourists and fans alike continue to flock there each year on the anniversary of his death. "In a country where you have the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe and the Notre-Dame Cathedral and Euro Disney and the Louvre Museum and the Champs d'Elysées, Jim's gravesite at Père-Lachaise is one of the top five most visited sites in France," Jampol said. For fans, the bust is a tangible connection to Morrison's legacy. But for Jampol, his essence lies elsewhere. "There's so much mythology and lore ... tied up in Jim Morrison and the band," he said. "Some [fans] are attached to physical objects.… They attach some kind of outsized lore to them." "But for us [and] for the Morrison family, we're interested in the art, the music, the poetry and the filmmaking of Jim. That's what's important to us [than] which guitar Robby Krieger played, or which shirt Jim Morrison wore. 'The art and the message is what's key to us."
CTV News
23-05-2025
- CTV News
Sudbury police seize $63K in drugs, arrest two wanted men and teen from southern Ont.
Four people have been charged after Sudbury police seized $86K in drugs, a gun, and $5K in cash during an Elm Street bust sparked by a bylaw tip.
The Independent
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Jim Morrison bust found in ‘chance discovery' after disappearing from Paris cemetery 37 years ago
The missing bust of American singer Jim Morrison, which mysteriously disappeared from his Paris grave in May 1988, has been found by French authorities - and it was completely by accident. It was only by chance the financial and anti-corruption squad of the Paris police came upon the stone carving of the legendary Doors singer 37 years after its disappearance while investigators were looking into a fraud. "This was a chance discovery during a search carried out in a fraud case,' the Paris prosecutor's office said. The city's judicial police shared on social media their delight that 'this iconic symbol for the singer's fans was recovered'. The bust was created one decade after Morrison, the poetic songwriter of the band at the forefront of 1960s counterculture, was found dead in a Paris bathtub in 1971 by his girlfriend, Pamela Courson. The timing of his death has seen Morrison inaugurated into the infamous 27 Club, an informal list of rockstars and musicians who died at that age, including Jimi Hendrix and Amy Winehouse. Morrison's official cause of death was listed as heart failure, but in the absence of an official autopsy, further theories have swirled around his passing. French journalist Sam Bernett claims the icon overdosed in the toilets of a Parisian nightclub, the 'Rock'n'Roll Circus'. On the tenth anniversary of Morrison's death, Croatian sculptor Mladen Mikulin placed the marble bust of his own construction at the grave. It became a site of pilgrimage for fans of the Doors. Despite the cult-like adulation for one of the world's most famous musicians, Morrison's bust was not well looked after, and was repeatedly damaged by vandals before it was stolen from the cemetery in 1988. For 37 years it was lost, with the circumstances of its disappearance still shrouded in mystery. Whether its discovery in the fraud case will spark further investigation is yet to be confirmed by French authorities. Several theories were attributed to its disappearance according to Benoît Gallot, curator of the Père-Lachaise cemetery where Morrison is buried. Some believe a moped had entered the cemetery during the night before it disappeared, he told Le Figaro following the discovery. Others suggested the government itself might have taken the sculpture to store it away from visitors for its own protection. Also unclear is whether the bust will be returned to its original place. "The police have not contacted us, I don't know if the bust will be returned to us,' Mr Gallot said.
New York Times
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Long-Lost Bust of Jim Morrison Is Recovered in Paris
A bust of Jim Morrison that was stolen from his gravesite in Paris in 1988 was rediscovered last week, the French police said Monday. The bust had been taken from Père-Lachaise, the cemetery in the 20th arrondissement in east Paris where many notable figures are buried, including Frédéric Chopin, Gertrude Stein, Richard Wright, Édith Piaf, Sarah Bernhardt and Oscar Wilde. A spokeswoman for the Paris prosecutor's office said the find was made by chance during a search carried out in connection with an unrelated investigation, but declined to comment further. The police and the mayor's office did not respond to requests for comment. There was no immediate word on when or if the bust would be returned to the gravesite. Morrison, the lead singer of the Doors, known for hits like 'Light My Fire' and 'Riders on the Storm,' died in Paris in 1971 at age 27, officially of heart failure, although he had struggled with drugs and alcohol and no autopsy was performed. He had moved there a few months before. Despite the notability of many of those interred around him, Morrison's grave has consistently been among the most popular for the millions of tourists who visit every year, many of them not yet born when he died. The bust of Morrison, which was sculpted by a Croatian artist, Mladen Mikulin, and unveiled in 1981 on the 10th anniversary of Morrison's death, had a rocky few years by his grave before it vanished. Fans chipped off bits for souvenirs and covered it with graffiti. Then in 1988, the 300-pound bust was stolen. Even without the bust, Morrison's grave is a magnet for fans. Scrawls can be seen elsewhere in the cemetery pointing people in the right direction, often simply 'Jim' with an arrow. There is graffiti in multiple languages with messages like 'Jim lives' or simply the names of Doors songs. Some fans push the boundaries by drinking, smoking or behaving rowdily, perhaps, in their minds, as the fast-living Morrison might have wanted. Though Morrison is the star, Père-Lachaise, named for Louis XIV's priest, attracts fans of many other interred celebrities of yore. For years, people kissed Wilde's tomb, leaving it covered in lipstick marks. But the makeup was damaging the stone, so after a deep cleaning, a barrier was erected to deter smoochers. Visitors also like to rub the groin area of the bronze effigy of the journalist Victor Noir in the belief that the act will bring fertility. As a result, that particular area of his likeness has a marked shine. The cemetery, which has phased out the use of pesticides, is also a haven for foxes, owls and other fauna in the city. Like much of Paris, the cemetery also carries the scent of history. In 1871, the Commune, the revolutionary government that briefly ran Paris, made its last stand there. The French army lined up and executed more than 100 of the last remaining soldiers of the Commune in a place now known as the Communards' Wall.
CBS News
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Jim Morrison bust found by chance during police search — 37 years after it was stolen from singer's grave
French police have recovered by chance the long-lost bust of American singer Jim Morrison that once adorned the grave of the iconic frontman of The Doors, 37 years after it was stolen from a Paris cemetery. The sculpture, missing since 1988, was found during a search tied to a fraud case led by the Paris public prosecutor's office, a source close to the investigation told AFP. Nostalgic rock fans still flock to Morrison's grave at the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris, where he was buried after his death in the French capital in 1971 at the age of 27. The bust at the tomb of Jim Morrison in Paris, France, in June 1985. Laurent MAOUS/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images The sculpture, by Croatian artist Mladen Mikulin, had been placed at the grave to mark the 10th anniversary of Morrison's death. It was found by the financial and anti-corruption brigade of the judicial police department of the police. Morrison's grave – known as the Poet's Corners – is perhaps the world's most-visited resting place of a musician. In 1991, on the 20th anniversary of the singer's death, a riot broke out at his grave, the BBC reported, forcing the cemetery to hire extra security. After that, a guard was "permanently stationed at Morrison's grave, but messages continue to appear on surrounding tombs," the New York Times reported in 1993. Flowers and photographs lie at the grave of singer Jim Morrison at Pere Lachaise cemetery on April 17, 2021 in Paris, France. Sam Tarling / Getty Images The exact circumstances of the singer's death are still shrouded in mystery, with most early accounts saying he died of cardiac arrest in his bathtub. A French journalist, Sam Bernett, claimed in a 2007 book that close friends and family spun the official version of Morrison's death to sanitize his reputation. Bernett said Morrison actually died from a heroin overdose on the toilet of a nightclub that the journalist owned at the time, the "Rock 'n' Roll Circus" on Paris' Left Bank. The Doors, founded in Los Angeles, were among the most influential rock groups of the late 1960s and early 70s and a mainstay of the counterculture at the time. Their hits include "Riders on the Storm", "Light My Fire" and "The End", a haunting song that features prominently in Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 Vietnam war movie "Apocalypse Now". In February, Paris named a bridge after the iconic singer, located just steps from the bohemian Marais district where he last lived.
