30th Anniversary of Jim Morrison's Death

P A R I S, July 3 -- Paying tribute at one of rock's mostenduring shrines, hundreds of fans pressed around the Parisgrave of The Doors singer Jim Morrison today, 30years after his death.

On alert for the trouble that has marred previousanniversaries, French security guards hovered as a mix of aginghippies, teenage fans and bemused-looking tourists took photosand laid wreaths at his modest plot in Pere-Lachaise cemetery.

But with alcohol and music now banned — and not a whiff ofthe marijuana that shaped the American's own peace and lovegeneration — the mood was more that of an ordinary familyfuneral than a late 1960s "happening."

Morrison Was a 'True Rebel'

"Jim Morrison is a giant hero of modern times, a truerebel," said Patrice Conus, 42, of Lausanne, Switzerland,wearing tight snakeskin-print trousers and puffing tobaccosmoke from a fist-sized ornamental pipe.

"But this is a cemetery after all, people have got a rightto their rest," added Conus of Pere Lachaise's roll-call offamous residents, from Oscar Wilde and Edith Piaf to Moliere,Bizet and Chopin.

Rocker Preferred Paris

Morrison was the archetypal 1960s rock star whose tousledgood looks and raucous stage show combined with his band'shard-edged mix of electronic blues and West Coast psychedelicsounds to give them a string of international hits.

While tracks like "Light My Fire" were hymns to sexualabandon, "Unknown Soldier" was an unmistakable anti-war protestsong and other pieces delved into Morrison's eclectic interestin everything from Greek tragedy to ecology.

Tiring of his groupies and increasingly trailed bynarcoticsofficials, he left the United States in early 1971 to settle inFrance to write poetry.

On July 3, 1971 — at age 27 — he was found dead in the bathtub ofhis Paris flat, apparently having succumbed to a lethal mix ofalcohol, drugs and asthma. The French coroner'sverdict of death by "natural causes" and his hurried burialhave sparked cover-up theories ever since.