"Love Thy Neighbor" Illegal in Miami

I'm hooked.

Can't stay off the Google Books Search Engine after reading Anon's comment on Patty's blog yesterday. That's Google's growing-like-a-tumor library of books searchable and readable on-line.

Who can resist slipping our own names (or our characters' names) into the window? It's a way of finding out, not what we've written --presumably we know that-- but what others have written about us.

Mn name popped up in a book titled, "Sex Sells! The Media's Journey from Repression to Obsession," by Rodger Streitmatter. Okay, so my name popped up in a footnote. And truth be told, it was an article I wrote as a court reporter for The Miami Herald 37 years ago that grabbed Mr. Streitmatter's attention.

"Singer Exposed Self, 2 Spectators Testify" That was the headline on a story I wrote while covering Jim Morrison's trial for "lewd and lasivicious conduct."

Lewd and Lascivious Conduct. Ooh, even the charge sounds dirty.

Here's an excerpt from the book, citing my Herald article as the source.


It was the hottest story of the year.

Every morning at breakfast, readers from across the country devoured the juicy details in the newspaper -- from the jury being selected all the way through until the judge announced sentence -- so they were fully prepared to join their co-workers in the heated debates that broke out every day at the water cooler, on coffee breaks, and during lunch.

[If you'll pardon my interruption, that sentence is too long for my tastes. And now, back to the book].

And there was plenty of juice.

First came the prosecution witnesses, including a woman who testified that the defendant [Jim Morrison] most definitely "had rolled down his tight pants to a point midway between his waist and knees" and "placed his hands on his exposed genitals" before proceeding to masturbate in front of 12,000 people.

Next came the tape recording of the infamous concert. "I want you to have some fun," the rock star told his fans. "I want you to love your neighbor until it hurts. I want love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love," ending with the final quote as sanitized for newspaper readers. "Grab you f______ friend and love him."

Goodness! Throw that man in jail.

BUT ENOUGH LOOKING TOWARD THE PAST....

Let's look ahead. I'm done with the fourth entry of SOLOMON vs. LORD. The new book is called TRIAL AND ERROR. The book will be out June 1. Here's a sneak peek at the cover. More details, including an excerpt, later. Or, depending on the outcome of various litigation, you can just wait a while and get the whole thing off Google for free.


Paul