Episode 154: Talk W/ Jeff Finn ( Fillmmaker behind Before the End: Searching for Jim Morrsion)

0:01 Hey there, everybody. You are tuning in to the very first ever. That's right, youtube video and podcast video and podcast audio for the Uncle Dad Talks show. I am Uncle Dad and with me is, if you haven't listened to the show, we'll get to that in a second. We are Uncle Dad Talks and with me is the ever so handsome, the Tarot-certified sexiest co-host, and now they can see you. Let's give it up for Just Mike. They're all disappointed too, I know. Just, mike, we are here doing this for the first time eye to eye, you know, for the public consumption. I guess you would say We'll see how this goes.

0:41 But, mike, you know I always give the spiel about what the show is. But I think it's your turn. What the show, what we do here? Yeah, what do we do here at Uncle Dad Talks? Well, we well, as someone has said, we talk to all walks of life. I think we would consider ourselves mostly an interview driven podcast where we talk to people who do something right. So artists, musicians, writers, illustrators, actors, actresses, directors, boom, boom, you name it. If you have something to say and you're doing something to contribute to the world, we'll talk to you and we'll have an interview with you and we will try to help promote whatever it is that you're doing, as long as it isn't something horrible like killing puppies.

1:31 Yeah, definitely That'll never happen here. Please know that you can always come to this channel, listen to this podcast and never have to worry about that. I do want to kind of give a little caveat to what you're saying. Not only do we do all that good stuff, but we also have our own little family of characters that show up from time to time in this show. We also have little unique events that happen sometimes on this show. So, yeah, while it is mostly an interview-driven podcast, you'll never know what will happen One day. It might be a game show, it might be a quiz show, it might be me making Mike eat something from 1960, which has happened, isn't that right, mike? Several times. That's right, yes. So you never know what's going to happen and we are just so happy for you to be here on our YouTube channel, on our podcast channel, all that good stuff.

2:16 Now what you're going to notice is that all the episodes going forward are going to be 152 forward, are going to be on what's called the Uncle Dad Talks show platform, which will be YouTube, our website, uncledadtalkscom. Every podcast streaming network service you can think of, just Uncle Dad Talks show, sorry, the Uncle Dad Talks show. So the space, uncle Dad, one word space talks, space show. How many spaces did I put in there? I don't know, but I've been meaning to tell you that I need more space. So you're doing great. Thank you, good man. Good man, all right. Alley-oop, alley-oop indeed, I love it. There's an. Aaron Fox in the house. Yeah, oh nice, Thank you. There you go, and if you want to learn more about that, what you will find?

2:57 All episodes from 1 to 151 on there, mostly without video, just audio. But now, eventually we might import the audio here, maybe, I don't know. We'll see what we have time for. Yeah, good point, good point. This does take a lot of time and this is our first one, so please, everybody be kind, because we're trying our best to figure this out. We are two older gentlemen and I just wish there was a guide for me to figure that out. I don't know, but maybe there is, and if you know what I'm talking about, thank you for being an avid listener.

3:49 So, mike, just to quickly kind of put a bow on this and I'll talk about my side in a second Can you just tell the audience who you are if they don't know who you are and your involvement in the show? Yes, well, hello. Yeah, my name is Just Mike on the show and also known as Mike Hampton. That's my full name. I'm an artist, illustrator, graphic designer, former rapper and former three-point champion. Yeah, so I'm co-host of the show here on Uncle Dad Talks and I do the graphics for the show and all the place cards that you see that tell you who's on our show and what event we're at covering. I put all that together and I just like to chime in with my smart street wisdom over the years of growing up in Louisiana and California and helping the Uncle Dead Talk show become what it is destined to be.

4:33 I love that, and we're also best bros. That's right. I like to always throw that in there. Yeah, I know you. Yeah, we're friends, yes, and on the show I am the what do you call it? The number one beetle? I don't want to say that, though we're friends, yes, and on the show I am the. I don't know, I am the what do you call it? The number one beetle? I don't want to say that, though. We're all the number one beetles in my heart. So together we are the beetles. There is no one that's better. I'm not Paul, I'm not whatever. I'm just as important as that person is, and Mike is just as important as I am. I am, but I am the lead, I guess. But you know what? There's going to be some episodes where Mike will take over and he'll do his thing, and vice versa, it'll be me. But we're here, always exploring the arts, exploring stories, exploring fun and exploring mysteries, which will tie into what I'm about to talk about, and I am so thankful and grateful that you are here.

5:18 Mike is as well. This is officially our fifth year. We're on the road to five years. Our fifth year anniversary comes in May, so keep an eye out for that More content to come from that, of course, and I am Uncle Dad, I am your host and I am forever grateful for you being a part of the Uncle Dad family. So thank you, and I know Mike agrees with that statement. I do wholeheartedly, and for our fifth year anniversary, we'll both be here naked. Oh, if your anniversary, we'll both be here naked. Oh, and for free. Not on OnlyFans either. Nice, that's right. Yes, I don't know if you'll see it because it's you know, the camera is very high, up, close to our faces, but we could be naked. We could be naked, You're right, I like that. And speaking of naked, let's get down to the naked truth about this mystery that we got to cover.

6:05 That's right. What you're going to see is the document or not documentary. Which we're going to see is an interview that I got to partake in by interviewing Jeff Finn. I know I always have a hard time remembering names. Just so, just so you guys know let it be known. If there's a name to be slaughtered, uncle dad will do it, or he just won't say the name and the guest will look strangely at us like why didn't we say his name? So be on a watch for that. That's always fun. We are with Jeff Finn and we talk about his documentary DocuMystery series. It's a three-part series and, mike, because I feel like you are the resident Jim Morrison fan, can you tell them the name of this documentary really fast and what your thoughts about it were?

6:46 The name of it, I believe, was Before the End. Mm-hmm. Yeah, it was a three-part docu-series, docu-mystery. It's very mysterious, it's like Scooby-Doo, very yeah. And so I guess I'll throw it in a nutshell Jeff is a huge fan, as a young boy, of the Doors and obviously the band's front man, jim Morrison. You know, I didn't even realize this because I'm aware of the Doors. I like some Doors songs, I'll play them from time to time, but apparently there was all this controversy around Jim Morrison's death. Whether he died or not, whether he faked his death, I didn't know anything about it. So starting to watch it, I was taken by surprise and it's actually very interesting because he talks to a lot of people that grew up with Jim, knew Jim, had relationships with Jim, have drawings from when Jim was a teenager here in Alameda, california, and he just goes really deep down the rabbit hole just trying to find out what really happened to Jim and if he's still alive, and I don't know.

7:52 It kind of makes you think he's still alive. Yeah, you know, and in the interview he kind of lets you, he never gives too much away. But when I talked to Jeff, what I kind of gathered is that he really wanted to make you form your own opinion and your own idea, because he's not telling you that he's right, because he doesn't know. He's telling you in a way that it makes you think about it. Right, like well, maybe he is. But let me ask you this Should we want to find these people or should we be okay with them kind of living their life? Well, I think it's kind of one of those things with all conspiracy theories, right Like it's. Everyone will form their own opinion, and it's kind of fun to not really know the truth.

8:36 Like, did we go to the moon, you know, like there's all kinds of controversy and conspiracy theories about that, right. But you know, jim Morrison, being dead or alive is just as big as whether or not we landed on the moon. So everyone will have to just sit with their own weird or not weird opinion on it. I don't know. I don't think that if someone faked their own death, they obviously don't want to be found. Right. Which makes it more fun to try to find them, I think. So Jim Morrison is the real life, whereas Waldo then. Yes. Yes. Yes, exactly, let's make a game or a book, I'm sorry, a book.

9:19 Oh, I like that. I like that. Uncle Dad Talks Presents. Where's Jim? Yeah, maybe we can get Jeff to sponsor it. I like that. I like that Uncle Dad Talks Presents. Where's Jim? Yeah, maybe we can get Jeff to sponsor it. I like that idea, I know. So let me ask you this you know you weren't on the interview that we're about to show, but you want to tell our audience kind of sometimes you're not here on these interviews, but that's okay. You're a busy man, right? You weren't here for that one. I that when I took care of it, but sometimes you're just not here. Sometimes I'm not here. Yeah, I guess. He's not here. You know, a lot of my work involves me being on the road, and so there are times where I I'm just not available for the actual interview. But hopefully I could chime in and say a bunch of nonsense with you before or after, like we're doing now.

10:03 Exactly, you know, and I was telling I wanted to share this with you. Uh, mike, since you haven't heard it yet, I told jeff but that, uh, when I, when I was watching the video or the first episode, I actually took a micro dose of shrooms to watch it, and he was so elated that I did that because he was like that's the way you should discover that type of thing, that's the way you should listen to the door, that's the way you should discover that type of thing, that's the way you should listen to the Door, that's the way you should kind of think, because if you watch the documentary, which people will on January 13th when it comes out on Video On Demand, but when you watch it, it does have a very psychedelic visual aspect to it, would you agree with that? Yeah, he does a lot of that negative effect with the camera. With the camera there's a lot of cutaways to just kind of some abstract footage of when he's traveling or when he's talking to someone who doesn't want to be on camera.

10:51 Yeah, so there's a lot of cool visuals, which I think goes in part with music like the Doors and of that era, right, oh, absolutely. I mean the 70s was the psychedelic era, right, that was 70s and late 60s. Right, that was 70s and late 60s, right. Is that the era of free love? I don't know. I would say, yeah, that is Late, 60s for sure. Yes, Okay, I like the era of free love. That sounds nice. Yeah. So you know, I don't want to spend too much time, just you and I talking, because we have a great interview. We had 30 minutes of awesome video with me, jeff Finn, talking about his latest project, video with me, jeff Finn, talking about his latest project and, mind you everybody, this gentleman, jeff Finn, spent 38 years of his life working on this project.

11:31 You know, mike, you're an artist and I'm sure there hasn't been a project that you have done for over 30 years. You know what I mean. No, just the project of my life, which you know. Who knows how that's going. But yeah, I mean talking about a fan. I think the only person I I don't know my favorite band is the Red Hot Chili Peppers, right? So would I spend 38 years, if Anthony Kiedis died years ago, trying to find out if he was really dead? I don't know, I don't know. If it didn't fit right. Maybe you would, maybe I would. Yeah, I've been thinking about that. Personally, I feel like I would dive down a rabbit hole if, like Kevin Smith, might have died in a way that didn't add up you know, yeah, or maybe you know, I should really get to the bottom if Bruce Willis really has aphasia dementia, whatever it is now I should go figure this out and see if it's the real deal or not I mean, I'm pretty sure that is.

12:30 But you are yeah, we don't. We don't want, uh, we don't want that community to come against us, okay all right maybe you're right. Yeah, that's a very real thing. Yes, okay, okay, you think it's real okay, yeah um, but uh, you know, one of the things I wanted to point out with his work is that this is pretty much all funded by Jeff. You know he did everything on his own and as an artist, you know how hard that is to just get everything to get out there and come out and finally get your artwork out there and it's finally there. And so for him you know he said it's about to hit 39 years this year and he just can't believe it. So I can't tell you guys enough Go check it out Before the end. You're going to find an all-video on-demand platforms for I don't know the price of it, unfortunately, but it does come out January 13th.

13:13 I'm sure it'll be on more streaming services as time goes on, but you have to go watch it. You have to see it and kind of form your own opinion and especially if you love the doors, 70s music or even mike, even if you love true crime. Yeah, I mean, it's just. You know, like I said in the beginning, I'm not a huge doors fan. I like the some of their songs, but I was fully intrigued by this, like not knowing what to expect. I didn't even really realize that it was about the fact that his death was controversial at all. So, uh, I think it's highly entertaining and very interesting and definitely worth a watch. You heard that. You heard that first. My Campton approves. All right, everybody, before we go, please check us out on Instagram at Uncle Dad Talks.

13:57 That's where you can find the overall Uncle Dad life, everything the promotions, all that good stuff. If you want to follow my man Mike over here right there everything the promotions, all that good stuff, if you want to follow my man Mike over here right there, you can just go to at Mike Hampton Art. And, of course, when you listen to our show, if you don't want to watch it here on YouTube, you just want to listen just go to UncleDadTalkscom. You'll find everything you need right there, mike. Am I forgetting? anything I don't know. Are the listeners going to hear who we heard in the background on this show? Can we get him an introduction to who that is? Well, he's gone right now. You know what that's for the OG fans. They know who that is. Sometimes there's a surprise guest that floats around in the background. Every now and then Two of them, actually, right but we will see you guys all next week and, for the first time ever, live on video.

14:45 Mike, we're not uncles, we're not dads, we're just someone you can talk to and we'll see you all next week. All right, everybody, uncle dad here hanging out with somebody who is going to prove something. That's such a mystery and I'm very excited to speak to this person. Let's give it up for filmmaker jeff finn. Jeff, how are you? hey, I'm good. Thanks for having me. How are you doing? I'm pretty good man. I'm very interested in learning, uh, the mind behind this. Uh, it is fascinating series because it's such a. There's two things I noticed when I had when I viewed it, and the first thing is where? Well, I guess the first thing is more of a question where does the I don't want to use the word uh, like um, where does the fascination come from of jim morrison before he dies or during his music?

15:36 Like, when do you really dive into the fascination of Jim Morrison? Because it's so I love you can feel the passion behind this story. Oh, thank you, I appreciate that. Yeah, for me personally, you know, I guess I sort of worked backwards. If you will, you never see a launch pad. A starting point is the death, or the alleged death, as I say. And then, you know, you sort of retroactively work your way back to the origin. You know which is his, of course his birth and his childhood, his formative years.

16:18 You know who he was as a teenager, as a college student. You know who he was before he became Jim Morrison of the Doors. You know, and most people, I think they don't really realize or that maybe they forget that he was 21 years old before the doors formed, you know. So he was already technically an adult and those 21 years are just general, generally, you know. Uh, given a footnote in his larger life story, you know, they're sort of glossed over because everyone is in such a hurry to get to the. You know the glamour of the sex, drugs, rock, rock and roll and the Doors era, you know, and but ironically, those 21 years are what shaped him, the way they do for all of us.

17:06 You know, your formative years form you, you know, and forge you and develop you into who you become as a, as an adult, and that certainly was the case with jim, and he had a very turbulent and, I believe, traumatic uh childhood and that helped inform who he later became so a follow-up on that. Why does that resonate with you so much? Because you know like I'm a big fan of, like kevin smith right, I love kevin smith and he resonates to me in a way that I can go on and on about. And I'm curious how does jim morrison why does he resonate? Resonate with you so much? you know what? I once met, kevin smith. Oh, nice aside.

17:49 Uh, I haven't thought of this in years. Uh, I met him at, um, what used to be Meltdown Comics yeah, I know that. Yeah, sunset Boulevard, and we ended up talking about, before the end I was in the early days my doc and I said, hey, would you be interested in you know producer or something like that. And we had a lovely little talk. But anyway, yeah, see, all things are connected right, uh, but with jim, yeah, it's just, um, you know, again working backwards, you know, uh, same way I work backwards from his supposed death to his birth and his formative years.

18:33 I also worked backwards from his rock stardom, you know, of course, the Doors are these legendary performers, you know, and for good reason. They were brilliant and unique and unparalleled, and that says so much about them that in an era where the Beatles were like the top, the Doors were right up there with them, you know, and putting their own unique stamp on the late 1960s, early 70s. You know. So that says a lot about their talent and their influence. But, yeah, so I would, you know, I would backtrack from the rock stardom. And well, who? How did he get there? You know, like, where did it begin? What was his origin story, if you will begin?

19:16 What was his origin story, if you will? And that's, of course, where we go back to the formative years. And he started out as a writer, a reader, and then a writer and a poet, and that was, I think, who he really was at his core. You know, was a poet and a writer and a genuine artist. You know, he also was an amazing visual artist which is rarely touched upon upon, so it's a rabbit hole he. It could be argued that we're all rabbit holes unto ourselves, but morrison had an amazing trajectory. Uh, like alice in wonderland, you know been down that rabbit hole for 39 years now yeah, I want to touch on that in a second, but before I get to that, uh, this whole concept of um film was, like you, presented as a docu-mystery, and I really haven't seen that too often in the docu-series world right, in the true crime world right.

20:02 Usually it's like, hey, you know, you kind of have the hard facts and that's it right, but you're creating like almost like an experience out of it. Where does that concept come from? Is that just something you wanted to see as a person who enjoys documentaries, or is that something you just wanted to play around with? oh, that's a great question. Um, you know, I've I've said this many times. You know on the record that, uh, a number of people have told me over the years hey, I think you coined uh all genre, you know, or I think you coined that term docu mystery, and I don't know if that's true. I know I've been using the term uh for uh since I started my production company, z Machine uh back in 2010.

20:42 So I'm now entering year 15 this summer will be 15 years and I've been using that term ever since I did my first uh tiny doc, which was a UFO doc, um, called Strange Septembers. But, yeah, it, just it, just fit. You know it, just it, just it fit. And I tried to bring new elements to the documentary genre with, like, lots of psychedelic colors, day glow colors. I wanted to really enliven the format, you know, with all due respect to the original format, where, you know you would have this guy talking and now we switch to this guy talking and this woman talking, you know, and it'd be very dry and I wanted to really, you know, spice that up and tribute to Jim's psychedelic era, you know, and all the mysteries that go along with that, which are endless, that which are endless.

21:34 Yeah, you know, I'm glad you brought up the visual aspect of things, because so I personally microdose myself mushrooms and I actually watched the first episode microdosed so I could get that feeling, because I feel like that would make sense, right, and so I did that and the visuals and the feeling you get of everything really adds to that. And I'm not saying, I'm not saying hey, everybody, go out there and do it. You know, obviously, if you're a part of that community already, you know what I'm talking about. But I you nailed the feeling of what I feel like a doors mystery or Jim Morrison mystery documentary would feel like, because the whole time, as it's going with the visual aspect of things, I feel myself getting more and more hooked into what's happening, right, like it feels like you're diving down the rabbit hole.

22:22 So, with the psychedelic aspect of things, how important do you think that is to the story? Well, I guess it's a good thing that I'm drinking ayahuasca as we speak. So no, I'm kidding, I'm kidding. I was like man, you went all in. Huh, you were really doing this show with a co-host named Mike and he actually partaked in that before, so we would add a whole thing, yeah. Genuinely, seriously, as a fan of microdosing. I'm tipping my cap to you there and I think that's brilliant that you watched it in that context. You know, I've done so myself and it's uh, it's a beautiful, you know, yeah, yeah, but yeah, it's uh.

23:03 Uh, I'm being so silly here. Uh, well, I'm sorry, what was the? I would just like what I mean. I love that. I love that, you know, because it is. You know, it is a serious subject we're talking about, right, let's have fun with it, you know. But uh, second, it's like the importance of psychedelics in this story. Yeah, yeah, what's? It is a serious subject we're talking about, right, let's have fun with it. It's like the importance of psychedelics in this story. What's your thought on that? Yeah, it's huge. I mean, Jim Morrison of course didn't invent the psychedelic era, but he was a major player in that and I might even argue that he defined it, you know, and that of course wasn't all that was to him, musically, or the doors, you know.

23:47 But yeah, he was a hugely important figure, not just to the psychedelic era. I argue that he's a vastly vital component to you know culture in general, you know human history and you know, at this incredibly late date in human history, while the planet is still spinning, hopefully, hopefully, you know, I think it's it's important to study him the way we study any icon or legend in in cultural history. You know we say from you know George Washington to you know Miles Davis.

24:32 You know who Jim loved by the way to you know you name it, any anyone who's in that pantheon? You know it's. You know you study the past right to understand the present and to hopefully evolve and go forward in the future. And yeah, so I think approaching him from the context of his times, you know the psychedelic era was really important. Yeah, and you know, I also found that kind of like a parallel to what's happening in the world right now, because I would argue that the psychedelic era is kind of coming back in many ways right, like you know, mushrooms and cannabis and everything right, there's a huge presence of it than it ever had before and a legal presence right, and so I felt that kind of like connection through the modern world to the past, right, in that sense especially, you know, microdosing at that time.

25:22 You know you feel that connection of that. So, talking about connection, you know you spent a lot of your life in this project. You know what, what was like the, what are like some of the highs of that and what are some of the lows of that. If we can talk about that, what? are like some of the highs of that and what are some of the lows of that, if we can talk about that. Oh, that's a great question. Uh, and yeah, you know, to riff on what you just what you prefaced that question with. You know, I I say it all the time and it dates me. It makes me sound like the old dude that I am. I'm gonna be 58 in february, so you do not look 58 at all, just so just know that I didn't look at day over 57, maybe 56 on a good day, uh, but yeah, um, you know, it's, it's, uh, and it's just amazing to be at this point, you know, and to have the opportunity to spend that time down that rabbit hole.

26:21 You know, I never anticipated it. I mean it's, you know, I guess you can't really anticipate anything when it becomes such a major part of your life. It just unfolds organically, you know. But I often ask myself, like, uh, where are the people, the young people today, you know, in their 20s or 30s, uh, like, or college student age, you know that kind of thing that would go out and form a band, like the dwarves, you know, and again, it could be argued they were unique, there could never be another one. Of course, same with the beatles, you know, um, but where are they like, why aren't they? The world is in such a uh hideous, you know. But where are they Like? Why aren't they? The world is in such a hideous state, you know, everyone's so polarized and it's like, where are those young bands that are using music as a platform to protest against the powers?

27:09 That be the way Jim did, you know, and others, of course, his peers, his peers, you know, so I often that question really digs into me, like, and again, maybe I'm misinformed, maybe there are bands out there, but the only ones I can think of right now are pussy riot, who are brilliant. Yeah, absolutely. Kathleen hannah, who keeps, keeps on, keeping on with bikini kill, and I think she's amazing. But Kathleen's my age, she was born a little after me and Pussy Riot's been around for over a decade. So where are the young bands right now? And I am realizing that because I'm so tired this morning, I probably didn't answer the second question. No, you're fine, but I do want to touch on that, what you just talked about, and this is when we do this show.

27:55 We always like to have an open conversation, so I love that we're doing that right now. But I to touch on what you're saying about the youth, and you know, I think it's kind of changed, though right, like now there isn't the band aspect of things, right, but I do think that there is an aspect of, like the SoundCloud, rap culture, right, the, the, the youth is more doing the digital side of things, I think, and they're doing the digital activism, right, or they're doing social media in a way, or they're rapping, or they're producing music through the computer these days, right, to combat some sort of, you know, whatever things going in their life, right. But as far as, like, the band goes, you're right. You know, I'm 35 and even I can tell you I don't really know of any youth bands that are, like you said, in the Jim Morrison, you know, age group, right, coming out and doing that.

28:41 You know, and and maybe that's something that will be reignited, you know, after this is Doc, it's a DocuMystery, right, you know, or maybe that's bring that up. And but my follow my. My second part of that question was you know what are some of the highs and lows of you diving to this world? Maybe I was subconsciously trying to avoid that. The high? That's a great question though. Seriously, the highs, of course there were so many. You know, just being in the position to do this is a high in and of itself. You know, and I'm always grateful for even on my shittiest days and I've had so many.

29:23 I mean, I'm a one person operation working with freelancers. You know, I don't, I'm not like Steven Spielberg or even Michael Moore. Yeah, true, I don't. I'm not part of Hollywood. I live in la, but I side of the perimeter to use gyms. Out here on the perimeter there are no stars. I'm immaculate and I love, I love, I live. That you know. So, yeah, the highs have been many, maybe too many to even recount the lows. You know, during COVID I had just begun the process of like holy shit.

30:06 I got to rebuild this entire project to accommodate Mr X. You know which I did. We rebuilt the thing from scratch. But this happened during early COVID when I was like, well, are we all going to die? And I remember riffing on my friends and I would riff on my title before the end, and it always had double meanings. But with COVID it took on a whole other meaning like holy shit before the end of the world, maybe before the end of life as we know it. I was like wouldn't it be just my luck to spend all these years working on this project and then we're all going to die of some fucking? invisible disease out there.

30:46 So that was a crazy time, as it was obviously for everyone, you know Right. Well, that was about the lowest of the low. Yeah, I imagine, yeah, cause, yeah, because I, you know I was going to say because you just spent so much time in that, covid must have impacted that heavily, and obviously you know it did so. My question to you now it's like you, you you're getting to the end of the end, of the actual end. Right, like it's coming out finally right and yeah, but uh, you know, before we reach that point, you know I, when it came to finalizing everything and getting everything where it needs to be, did you find yourself changing anything that you have worked on within that time? So, for example, did you think, uh, you know, when I recorded this, at that moment I was in this headspace, but now it doesn't feel like this makes sense anymore.

31:32 Did you do any changing of that? uh, I suppose. So, yeah, and it's. You know, that's probably inherent, uh, in every creative process. You know, you're always refining, refining, refining, like, yeah, yesterday I did an interview for a podcast and someone asked me when I finished uh, you know, technically finished the doc, the, the project, and I was, again, I've been fatigued but grateful, you know, I'm just, it's been a lot. And I said, you know, yeah, that I technically finished it a few months ago, but you know, that was kind of a ridiculous answer because the bulk of it was done a couple of years ago.

32:16 Uh, you know, and then I spent the last two years dealing with Hollywood sharks and charlatans and just, uh, you know, you name it like, uh, like a movie, you know, people wanting to sign me to some bullshit deal or some scam racket, and I had to kiss a lot of frogs, uh, and that was its own process of just absurdity. Um, but you know, during that time, uh, my editor and I would refine, you know, we took advantage of that time to just find detail, you know, go over everything, you know, a hundred times to make sure it was where we wanted it. And, uh, so we did, and there was a whole portion in there that I was going to add in the very late going.

32:59 That was about, you know my personal feelings about AI and how it's turning so many things. Even though it has positive uses, of course, it seems, by and large, to my perception, it's kind of turning everything into almost like a literal cartoon. And I realize that there's a whole generation you know Gen Z and Gen Alpha after them that are going to see these photos of Jim Morrison on these Facebook pages or Instagram where he's generated by AI and he's got like seven fingers on each hand, you know, and he doesn't even look like Jim. You know just shit like that. And then you know the notion of Jim as a hologram.

33:41 You know like Tupac and, and you know there's talk of that, and I just I started to realize that, like between AI and holograms, jim is literally in danger of turning into what one of his very close friends told me years ago, in danger of turning into what one of his very close friends told me years ago that his legacy was turning into a cartoon. And that was his words, that was his wording, not mine. And now I'm in fear that it is happening. So that's another reason I made this, to bring a deeper understanding to Jim, the person, not just the rock star persona. Yeah, I think that's good, I think I think the touch on the ai thing, I think you're right, like it is changing the way we see. We could see the past right, specifically, like you know, the legends, the ones who aren't with us anymore, you know, and they can now.

34:24 They can now exist now, right, but not with the same heart, the same soul, any of that, even if they can always get very close, right, but like that, what you said about the seven fingers, like I'm sure that'll go away one day, but you know that is the reality that we have. We're working out the kinks, yeah, the bugs, you know, in the system. Yesterday I was on Facebook responding to, you know, comments on my Facebook page for the project. I have a Facebook that goes way back and Instagram, and you know I saw on facebook that someone posted a photo of this woman and said, well, check it out from woodstock. And everyone said that's not a photo of woodstock. The drag race, uh, drag racing stadium in the early 70s.

35:08 So you know what I mean. And it was ai generated and I was like, oh man, we're in history just being turned into what you know, like complete misinformation, you know, and that's that's kind of frightening, you know, when you really uh break it down. So again, my own small way, with this project I'm hoping to at least bring a lot of clarity to who Jim was. You know who he really was, yeah, and who he still might be. Yeah, who? He still exactly. Yeah, you know we're going to get close to wrapping up here, but I want to ask you, throughout your journey and you're interviewing so many people as you have, you know, was there ever just, you know, especially with the world of COVID, right what was the challenges of connecting with so many people and getting their you know their words, if you will Like what is that challenge like?

36:02 Oh damn, I mean, it was, it was. It felt like a Herculean task, you know, for because, again, I'm largely one person, you know we're doing this, because, again, I'm largely one person, we're doing this, and there are a lot of moving parts, just the logistic component, the logistical aspects of trying to interview 130 people on camera. It doesn't just happen overnight like that. Obviously it took years just for that aspect alone. And there was the funding, you know, which was a glacial process, uh, unto itself, you know, but um, but yeah, just just trying to um, uh, research and connect with and earn the trust of uh 130 different people, you know, was uh like slowly pushing a boulder up a mountain, you know felt anyway, and I was grateful for the whole thing.

37:01 You know I'm not I'm not complaining in the sense of like, who did this to me? You know I did this to me. I appreciate it every moment of it ultimately, but yeah, it was, it was a lot of literal lifting, you know, uh to to bring it to the finish line. Yeah, and you know um, with this project that has so much behind it. Now there is also something that continues with it too. Right, there's a tie-in book, correct? Yes, uh yeah. So I've been researching Jim Morrison since I was 18 years old. October 2024 marked 39 years of my DIY research and I spent 12 years making the documentary before the end, searching for Jim Morrison.

37:46 And then, about five years ago, it was right before COVID and then into COVID when I sort of came full circle on a book that I began in 1996, which was a book meant to do very similarly to before the end, to show who Morrison was as a person versus the persona. And in those early internet days of 1996, I didn't get very far because I didn't even have a computer. So I've come full circle in that sense too, and the book is called 127 Fascination Jim Morrison Decoded. And it's essentially complete and I'm now looking into indie publishers, true indie publishers, not just indie as a corporate marketing genre, but real, independent, fearless publishers.

38:36 So I'm going to see, I'm going to give it a number of months to see how that plays out and uh, you know, if it doesn't uh work to my satisfaction, uh, then I'll self-publish it, uh, the way jim self-published his own poetry back in the day. I I love that man. I see, you know I don't want to make this late. I hope this doesn't sound too big of a compliment, but but I see a lot of the tenaciousness of Jim Morrison in you and maybe you kind of gotten a lot of that because of diving into that Right. But you know, it's great for you to be that rebel of art, because I think we need more people like that Right. We need to be not afraid to make art and make art the way we want to make it. It doesn't matter what story. It is right like let's make the art that we want. You know, right, that's how I always feel, you know, um by the way, that's a great compliment.

39:20 It reminds me how I used to joke with my mother uh, because I never met my biological father. And and then at one point that joke was made uh, oh, maybe jim's your biological. And my mom would tease me and say you never know, oh man, you never. That's. That's a documentary in itself, man, oh man, uh. Well, before we actually wrap up here, uh, I gotta know what is the? What do you want the audience to take away from watching this film? I mean honestly, my boiler plate, my stock answer is always the same. You know, if nothing else, just a broader, deeper understanding.

40:00 You know to look beyond the confines, the restrictions of the controlled narrative that's been in place since 1971. You know, bill Siddons, the Doors original manager, again he said, came back from Paris. He said a sealed coffin, jim is dead, end of story. And everyone took that at face value the media, the masses and by and large, that narrative is still in place 53 years later. And I'm just asking people to look deeper. You know, to drill down beyond that controlled narrative. You know, and the controlled narrative was painted in black and white.

40:44 You know these big brush strokes. I want you to get out your fine, detailed paintbrush and start going into the gray scale. You know, know the gray scale of nuances and details, fine, fine point details. So yeah, I love that. And where can our audience, uh, learn more about you, this project, all that good stuff oh, uh, well, uh, the headquarters, uh, if you will, is, uh, my production company. Again, I'm a one-man band, as it were. That's Z machine, the initial Z, like Z for zoo, and then the word machine, so all one word Z machinenet. That's my home base site and that'll take them to all the pertinent, you know, links for social media the Facebook page, the Instagram page, that kind of stuff.

41:36 So yeah, that's, that's. That's amazing If you want to tell the audience when does the film come out again for on-demand stuff. Yeah, it comes out in holy shit, is that right? January 3rd. It comes out in 10 days, january 13th. It will premiere in streaming in the US, the UK, canada and Australia, to begin, and then we're looking into other territories as we go. You know France, germany, japan, mexico, you name it and it will be available on the major platforms Amazon prime video, apple TV, google play and YouTube TV.

42:19 Everybody go check it out. Support, I said I always say it's an either episode, support the art that we're making, because all of this can't be for nothing. It has to be for something, and we can only do that if we support each other. So, jeff, thank you so much for your time, thank you so much for everything you've done. This was an support each other. So, jeff, thank you so much for your time, thank you so much for everything you've done. This is an absolute pleasure and I'm excited to see what the next chapter of your life goes into. Do you do another 38 years? I'll see you down the rabbit hole. Yes, awesome, I see you down the rabbit hole indeed. Thank you for having me on absolutely, thank you.