light my fire

When I was 13 years-old, I was a good little 60's teenybopper who knew her place .... most of the time. My concert experiences were innocent and few: I was in the audience when the The Monkees filmed their Phoenix, Arizona concert (I told you I moved a lot) for an episode of their TV series. During this time in my life, I also saw Sonny & Cher (whom I still adore) and another great band called The Association. Suffice to say that I was as innocent and naive as I could have possibly been.

Until The Lizard King came to town. If my Mom had harbored any clue as to just how un-innocent The Doors -- and their fans -- were, she never, ever would have dropped me and my girlfriend off at the Phoenix Coliseum that night. Of course, it was a night I will never forget.

It was the first time I encountered marijuana -- no, I didn't smoke it, silly -- I was a good girl, after all -- but the smoke hung thick in the air and it seemed like everyone around us was partaking.

Oddly enough, there didn't seem to be much security present -- no one was getting busted for drugs -- and I was able to walk right down to the stage and snap a couple of photos of Jim Morrison with my little Kodak Instamatic and no one said a word to me.

(In contrast, it was just a year or two later that Jim was arrested in Miami .... for exposing himself to the audience. I'm still wondering what effect that experience might have had on my only half-formed 13 year-old brain.)

While I was kneeling in front of the stage snapping the pictures, Jim actually looked down at me and our eyes met for just a moment. I don't think he actually saw me, though -- it was as if his eyes were looking somewhere deeper and far more exotic than my little mod-dressed baby-faced visage. At least I hope they were because, honey, I was anything but interesting.

The concert was wonderful and even though I (regrettably) didn't do a single thing that would have disappointed my parents, I still left feeling a teensy bit more grown-up than when I arrived.

Looking into the eyes of The Lizard King will do that to you.