Happy Morrison Liberation Day, everyone!

"L.A. Woman" is on the radio and I just realized that today is Morrison Liberation Day. I haven’t thought about that for years.

Morrison Liberation Day commemorates the date on which Jim Morrison shuffled off this mortal coil (or shuffled off into hiding with Elvis and Amelia Earhart, if you prefer). It was invented by two friends of mine, Missy and Ann, who hailed from a podunk town in western Pennsylvania where they were the only people who cared about music and art. I met them when I, along with my then-bandmates, moved to Camden, New Jersey, in 1989. Most of us only lived in Camden a short while before fleeing across the river to Philadelphia, but it was a very intense while. Someday the events of that time should really be committed to paper (or disk, I suppose), but….

Anyway. Missy and Ann lived with my bandmates Brenden and Aldo and my future girlfriend Sherri in a dark five-bedroom house that was literally in the shadow of the Benjamin Franklin Bridge. Like, if it had been a couple of yards to the south, it would have been under the bridge. The Ben Franklin, besides carrying 7 lanes of car traffic across the Delaware between New Jersey and Pennsylvania, also carries the PATCO Speedline, a train that ferries South Jersey commuters to and from their jobs in Philly. Because the house was near the end of the bridge, the train, on its way up from ground level, passed directly by the second and third stories. Every time it did, it rattled the house, and its occupants, to their bones. Remember Elwood’s apartment in The Blues Brothers? Like that.

I mention this because one of the highlights of the Morrison Liberation Day celebration in 1989 was lobbing water balloons at the Speedline from the roof of the house. I don’t think anyone actually succeeded in hitting a train, but it was fun to watch the faces of the riders as we tried.

Other traditional MLD activities include:

1) Listening to the Doors.
2) Smokin’ the ganja.
3) Drinking 40s of Olde English 800.
4) Saying things like, "Morrison, man…that dude was…ooh, watermelon!"
5)Watching feral cats copulate in the yard.

Some years later, long after the ol’ gang had split up, I threw an MLD bash for some friends and co-workers, and it was fun, but…well, let’s just say ain’t no party like a Camden party. Missy and Ann, if you’re out there, Happy Morrision Liberation Day, and I miss you. Also, can I have my bong back?