Who Was Marina Habe, and What Happened To Her?

Who Was Marina Habe?

Marina Elizabeth Habe was born on February 23^rd, 1951. She was the daughter of author Hans Habe, and actress Eloise Hardt. She had a half sibling from her father’s side named Antal Miklos Post De Bekessy. Not much is known about Habe’s early life, other than that at some point, her parents divorced. She was the only child from her mother. In 1966, Marina converted to Catholicism. Marina was known as a quiet girl who didn’t drink or smoke, was a student for the University of Hawaii, that planned to have a career as an artist.

Habe had missing for two days before her body was found.

According to the January 2, 1969, Los Angeles Times newspaper article, Marina was found on New Years’ Day by a couple from Playa del Rey that were walking to Mulholland. Her body was 30 feet down a slop in the 8800 block of Mulhulland, near Bowmont Drive. They found her purse on a ‘fire road’ at approximately 2 pm. She was listed as wearing a white turtle neck sweater, brown coat with fur tip ciffs, and brown capris. When the police arrived, the male owner with the dog claimed that he wanted to make sure his name got in the paper, a peculiar detail for someone to say.

Sheriff Lt. Norman Hamilton said they could not determine immediately if she had been thrown the roadway or carried down the slope and hidden.

Later on, Marina’s purse was shown to her mother, who confirmed that it was her daughter’s. The purse still had some money in it.

The last time Marina was seen alive was on December 29th/30th, when she went on a date with some friends. These people include John Hornburg 22 (who was her beau and a long time family friend), Dennie Bosses, 25, Wendy Lkeiner, 18, Norman Elder, 22, and Laurie Kramer, 18. They all went to the Troubador where a comedian Larry Hankin was playing.

At 11:30 pm, Marina and the others left the venue, with her and John driving to his house on 13326 Sunset blvd, Brentwood, where she had parked her car. She changed out of her date clothes into what became her final outfit. Her and John hung out together before she finally made her way back home at 3:15 am.

Allegedly, Marina’s mother Eloise, had heard a loud engine and woke up. Eloise looked out the window and saw a black sedan in her driveway next to Marina’s car. She saw a man that she did not recognize, and couldn’t see very well, standing next to Marina. Allegedly, Eloise heard Marina’s car pull into the driveway, when the much louder car came up also. The car left, but Marina didn’t come in, and her keys were still in the car. It is unsure if the keys were in the ignition or not. There seems to be different versions of the story, where the car that took Marina was a sports car, or an old old car, which is listed in the autopsy report.

The continuation sheet of the report brings out interesting points that don’t seem to have been brought up anywhere. First, is that Marina was kidnapped by ‘an old car with loud pipes’. The car was heard driving off, and it wasn’t until the car left, that Eloise had checked Marina’s car and found the keys inside. Which makes it seem like she heard the loud car, allegedly looked out the window to see a man next her daughter, and then did nothing? It wasn’t until the car was gone that she decided to go outside. Personally, this is a bit odd.

Anyway, on December 30^th, Eloise had filed a missing person’s report on Marina.

The report also gives a name to the person that had found Marina’s body. A Mrs. Klute of ‘7534 Trask (?) Ave from Playa Del Rey’ had went to the Venice Division Station of LAPD with Marina’s purse. Mrs. Klute stated that she had been looking at the view of the city when she saw the purse. The LA Times articles seems to corroborate this.

Marina’s body was found down the side of a hill, about 20 feet from the auxiliary road, in a supine position (essentially plank or straight). Marina was fully clothes with the exception of 1 show being off. Her throat had been cut and she’d been stabbed numerous times in the chest. What is most interesting to me, is that a motorcycle frame had been found by her feet, and was, or was to be, impounded by the sheriff’s department lab.

This version of the story the LA Times article seems to corroborate, which is helpful. It is a shame that there isn’t any way to read the rest of the article, as there had been a continuation later in the paper. I wonder what the rest of the article said.

It is important to me to point out this part of the autopsy, because there had been some misconceptions about Habe and the way she was found. For example, in Ed Sanders’ book, The Family, he states that Marina was burned, raped, had slashes to her throat, heart, and naked except for a shoe. Of course, this is not true, as the autopsy report itself stated that she was fully clothed, no evidence of rape, and stab wounds that are not in the areas as Sanders had described. What is most interesting, is that in Sanders’ book, an unnamed member of Charles Manson’s family had stated that the family knew Marina. It should also be noted though, that Sanders’ writing had gotten him into some trouble in the past, which resulted in a lawsuit.

Sanders and other pieces of media have gotten the details wrong about Marina in the past, though there may have been reason why they weren’t too far off. Almost a year later, Reet Jurvetson’s body was found in the same area as Marina’s, with 157 stab wounds. Reet was a Jane Doe for almost 50 years when she was miraculously identified by a family friend in 2015. Even still, if Sanders or the other people in the media were mistaking Reet for Marina, it doesn’t explain the idea that Marina’s body was burned in the book he wrote.

In an article from 1988, Marina’s step brother, Michael Bendrix took a look at her case. Bendrix grew up with Marina off and on, and eventually her mother married his father. Bendrix stated that it seemed unlikely Marina would have ever associated with the Manson family, especially since she was a devout Catholic. His article also stated that a detective who had been on the case stated that they thought she was kidnapped by a ‘dope-dealing biker’ named Spanky, who even at the time of 1988 article, was long gone dead. Interestingly, in another article I found, the case for Marina never had any formal details confirmed. It was considered an on-going investigation, though I do not have any time frame when the last time this detail was uttered, let alone what the current status of it is.

Most of what people go off of, just like me, seems to be the autopsy reports and newspaper articles.

 

The autopsy was performed by the famous Thomas Noguchi, who would later work on the Tate case autopsies also. 

In some random blog that I found online (I won’t lie to you), the author stated that they had read a comment where a person very obviously alludes to the Habe case. The author of the comment, The Past, said:

“I cite a kidnapping of a young woman in the late 60′s by an outlaw biker group from the Sunset Strip. She was home from the University of Hawaii for Christmas break and was abducted &’found dead off of Mulholland some days later. Evidence & investigation revealed that she was tethered, held for several days, gang raped,an ultimately killed by a well known outlaw biker group. The grotesqueness of her death will never be forgotten by me. I made a promise from that incident that I would not give any outlaw biker the slightest break.” 

 

The blog post that this comes from is here: https://witnessla.com/report-criticizes-fbi-delay-in-revealing-flawed-forensics-us-magistrate-calls-for-drug-case-dismissal-citing-misconduct-das-office-charges-lapd-officer-with-assault-and-more/

This would sound like an internet breakthrough if it weren’t for the fact that her autopsy proved that she had never been raped to begin with. Before her death, she is alluded to having consensual intercourse. Even still, I do not count out the possibility of a biker gang member potentially kidnapping her. With further reading about the Manson Family they had slight connections with the Straight Satans, though they weren’t in cahoots with each other. What I would like to know is what is the gang that potentially kidnapped her? Various articles state that Marina may have been kidnapped by Spanky, yet, not a single source seems to give credit as to who he affiliated with.

There was random article from the LA Times that mentioned Spanky. It had a small blurb about him having been caught passing through metal detectors with Buck knives in his rectum. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-nov-30-me-pam30-story.html

Even still, this reveals very little about Marina Habe’s case. Marina’s father, Hans, passed away in 1977 at the age of 66. Eloise, Marina’s mother, lived to be practically 100 years old, dying 3 months before her birthday, at the (technical) age of 99. Even though she was able to over come her grief, she never found the answer to her daughter’s death.

What is interesting to me is how after all this time, there really haven’t been any breakthroughs in the case. The details we have today are essentially the same as 30 years ago. In various articles and blogs I read, Marina’s mother would not talk about her daughter’s death or the case. While I respect that, I feel like in some ways that may have hindered anyone from trying to solve it. I am not a detective, but there are many people out there like me who at least dig deep into cases like this. It kind of reminds me of the Jim Sullivan case, where even though he was missing for over 40 years, no-one in the family ever bothered to report him missing. I think in some ways, it’s because of generational differences. Back in the day, there were somethings you just didn’t talk about.

I’m of the opinion that Marina’s mother knew more about the story, but the rest of the details are only things that the LA police know.

To this day, when you look up Marina Habe, she is linked to possibly having been a Manson murder. In Bugliosi and Jeff Guinn’s books about Manson, they both wrote that Manson and other family members boasted about having killed more people than they were caught for. There were even rumors that there were bodies buried in the desert, when they lived in Barker Ranch. In 2008, there was a dig/search for any bodies, but no evidence ever turned up. In an interview with Danny DeCarlo (ex Straight Satans member) and Sherry (ex Family member), they even seem to allude to more murders out there.

While many people discredit the Manson murder theory, there are other who believe it may have been them, and I can understand their reasoning why. Marina’s body was found on Mulholland, which is only 35 minutes from Gary Hinman’s house (Hinman was the first in the Manson murders). Eloise Hardt’s house is listed as having been 8962 Cynthia Avenue (of which there seems to be multiple ones), which the closest one was only 20 minutes or so from where Marina was found. Even further, 10050 Cielo Drive is very close to what was Eloise’s house, only a ten minute drive. On a map, the old Spahn Ranch in Chatsworth may seem too far away, but at the same time too, they would drive from the ranch to Hinman’s house in 1969. According to the cielo drive website, the Manson Family would move to Spahn Ranch in spring of 1968; though late in the year, the Family’s bus would be seen parked on Loyal Trail, which is in proximity of the general area of Mulholland and Eloise’s house. 

 

Loyal Trail, image credit to Cielo Drive website.

My next contention is that, if someone from the Manson Family murdered Marina, then who? Marina was murdered in December of 1968. At this point in time, Tex Watson had left the family briefly to live with a woman named Luella. Watson did not return to the family until March of 1969. Bruce Davis lived in London, England from 1968 to April 1969. Various other members of the Family seem to not really have any tabs on where they went during this time period.

If Marina were a Manson Family victim, it opens up more questions than answers, the first being, ‘How would she have been affiliated with them, and why did they choose her?’. I do think that it’s interesting that she was University of Hawaii student, and then a couple years later, the family tried to poison Barbara Hoyt in Hawaii. But I suppose that is neither here or there.

Other people have stated that there is a possibility that Marina was victim of another murderer, Rodney Alcala. I haven’t read enough about him to create an opinion or theory though. But in my opinion, I think that whoever killed Marina Habe, also killed Reet Jurvetson too.

In my next post, I will go over Reet’s case.

Marina Habe was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery, in Los Angeles, California. She was 17. 

 video: https://youtu.be/pKBFFuCbUAM

[Sources]

https://youtu.be/uTFcKQsNk34

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/112311598/marina-elizabeth-habe

https://abuse.wikia.org/wiki/Marina_Elizabeth_Habe

https://soapboxie.com/government/manson-connection-marina-habe-and-reet-jurvetson-murders

https://macewen2013.wordpress.com/tag/marina-habe/

https://www.mansonblog.com/search/label/Marina%20Habe

http://www.lsb3.com/2015/02/marina-habe-murder.html

https://derangedlacrimes.com/?p=10587

https://www.lamag.com/longform/the-charlie-conspiracy/

www.cielodrive.com

LA Times Article

Marina’s Autopsy Report

Richard Finch Released From Prison

If you recall from a prior post that I made last year, Richard Finch from KC and The Sunshine Band had been incarcerated for sexual offenses with minors. A commenter on my youtube video pointed out that he has been released, as of January 4th of this year. I went to Finch's offender profile, and this of course holds true.

As of January 9th, there doesn't seem to be any news on the subject, and I honestly don't expect there to. If anything happens in the future I will update the blog again.

Original Post

Discrepancies in prior posts

I just wanted to acknowledge that as I have moved forward in making more posts, I realize that there have been some discrepancies in things that I have talked about in the past. One of the big things being stuff about the Manson family and associates. I apologize to anyone that may have seen these, my intent was not to confuse or sway anyone the wrong way, I have only been jotting down what I know, from the places that I've read it all from.

One thing in particular that bothers myself, is honestly the pronunciation of Beausoleil. I have never heard anyone say the last name, and so I took a guess and used a very French version of the pronunciation. After some more reading about The Family, it seems that the localization is more like 'Bow-so-lay'. From here on out, I will pronounce his last name that way.

The more I read about the Family, I see that there are too many articles online that talk about members but certain details wrong here and there. For example, I was reading about Susan Atkins the other night, and an article I read stated that her son's father was one of the men from the Family, while the book by Jeff Guinn stated that Susan believed the father was a man that she had met in Arizona while Manson and the first members were driving around in their first bus.

Of course, there is the height discrepancy with Manson himself. In Helter Skelter, Bugliosi stated that Manson was 5'2", though sometimes in different google searches, you'll find articles stating he was 5'4 to even 5'6".There is a post-family group that sometimes pops up on the internet stating that he wasn't. I haven't ever been able to find any pictures of Manson standing next to some of the infamous girls, who are/would have been generally around the same height. Granted, in pictures of him being taken to and from court, he is noticeably shorter than the officers, so perhaps the original height of 5'2" was correct after all. I am more apt to believe Bugliosi's statement, especially considering how 13 pages past 150 in Helter Skelter (the picture pages, of which are not numbered), there is a full-body shot of Manson in his leather attire, measuring at ~5'2" in the black and white photo. Later in the book, 2 pages past 300, there is another photo of Manson, arrested and standing next to him is Danny DeCarlo. DeCarlo has been stated at being about 5'4", and Manson looks shorter than him. This is more reason for me to believe that Manson was 5'2".

Another discrepancy I wanted to talk about was Beausoleil's reason for going to Hinman's. Initially when I read about the occurrence online, articles stated that there was no drug motive at all, and the Family had nothing to do with the Straight Satans. In a web archived parole hearing with Susan Atkins, she was asked if the occurrence had anything to do with drugs and she had said no. Initially I thought that there wasn't anything the Manson family had anything to do with the Straight Satans, but once I read Guinn's book and started going through Helter Skelter, I realize that I was wrong. I do apologize for this mess up. It sucks that the free material out there definitely doesn't get the right story.

Overall, the purpose of this blog is to get the facts. I don't actually want this to be a call out blog.  I am not into that type of thing. I like reading about True Crime, and for me, this is an exercise in the subject, and a 'I didn't know this' type of thing. To the people out here that read this blog, I thank you. I'm sorry for not getting my facts straight.

The Eggnog Riot

The Eggnog Riot

To keep in the holiday spirit, here is something somewhat Christmassy.

Today’s post is about the Eggnog riot, something that happened on Christmas eve and day back in 1826.

At the West Point military academy’s barracks, cadets were told that their eggnog was to be alcohol free. Possession of alcohol was against the rules, with the consequence of being expelled. Of course, alcohol was smuggled in anyway, into the north barracks.

In the late hours of Christmas Eve into the early morning of Christmas, there were 9 cadets that were found partying after being rowdy and drunk. Captain Ethan Allen Hitchcock heard the voices, and went to the room where the cadets were, ordering them to leave. Two of the cadets, James Berrien and Billy Murdock, responded negatively, with Murdock wanting to organize a riot against Captain Hitchcock.

Cadets knocked on Hitchcock’s door when he went to bed, though the three times that he went to check, no-one was there. He saw Jefferson Davis, a cadet at the time, go to another room where 13 more cadets were partying.

With Hitchcock trying to stop the cadets from their rambunctious partying, they ended up becoming more rowdy, with several windows being broken. When reveille played in the morning, the cadets from the north barracks were hungover, point blank. Some were still drinking, and others appeared in formation while still drunk. Cadets from the south barracks were appalled at the condition of the place, since they were not drunk and well rested.

To keep a long story short, six cadets resigned, 19 court marshaled, and others were confined for a month.

Jefferson Davis would later get malaria.

The Sad Tale of Jim Gordon

James Beck Gordon was born on July 14^th, 1945, in California. He began playing the drums as a kid, and at the age of 17, he played drums for the Everly Brothers, as a session drummer, of which he passed up a scholarship to UCLA to do. Gordon gained a lot of traction, appearing on many recordings for multiple bands and musicians, having been recommended as a studio musician by Hal Blaine, a famous studio musician, who was busy with more work than he knew what to do with. Blaine stated, “When I didn’t have the time, I recommended Jim. He was one hell of a drummer. I thought he was one of the real comers.”. Soon enough, Gordon would be flooded with plenty of studio work, having 2-3 recording sessions a day, sometimes up to 7 days a week. At the height of his studio musician career, he would fly from Las Vegas to Los Angeles every day to do a session, then back to Nevada to play the nightly show at Caesars Palace. 

Near the end of the 60’s Jim Gordon ended up on multiple recordings for big acts such as ‘Pet Sounds’ by the Beach Boys, “Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers” (Gene Clark), “The Notorious Byrd Brothers” (the Byrds), and “Classical Gas” by Mason Williams.

Gordon later created a band, which broke up after one album. In 1969, the music duo Delaney and Bonnie were getting ready to tour in England when their drummer Jim Keltner either pulled out of the band, or made the agreement with Jim Gordon to switch Jim’s studio sessions with Keltner’s tour, since Jim wanted to go on the tour to be part of the backing band (I’ve seen different sources that say either happened). Either way, Jim Gordon got to go on tour with the band, and Keltner started doing more session drumming, later becoming an extremely renown session musician.

At the time, the backing band for Delaney and Bonnie included Eric Clapton, and George Harrison. The tour was a huge success, with the band being more popular in England that the U.S., even still, shows were sold out. While it seemed that the combination would have been everlasting, most left to join Leon Russel for Joe Cocker’s Mad Dogs and ENGLISHMEN tour. “When they left,“we were the last to know, and it broke out hearts.” one of the Bramletts said.

Delaney and Bonnie

The tour with Joe Crocker would include sex, drugs, forgetting lyrics, and sharing lots of different women. There was heroin, mescaline, MDA, cocaine, and acid. Jim Keltner, who appeared on the tour, said of it, “Sharing girls. Screwing every chick in sight. Most were there for that purpose. The drugs were just as easy to get. I wasn’t a stranger to them myself. Now I feel like I’m just lucky to have survived them.”

Jim Gordon participated in many of these drugs, even being able to power through many of the affects of them, including on stage. Before a show in Seattle one night, Gordon slipped some acid with Keltner, and later while playing “Bird on the Wire”, Keltner couldn’t continue. Gordon allegedly tried to coax Keltner on, but he couldn’t do it, and left in tears. Apparently, Jim did many drugs during the tour, virtually doing anything he could.

Gordon stated that, during this time he felt like he was being watched but it was all in the background.

It was around this time that Jim would hear murmurs, but he ignored them.

Instead of participating in groupies, Jim got into a relationship with fellow musician, Rita Coolidge. They spent their spare time together, would joke laugh, until one day he hit her. They were staying at the Warwick Hotel in New York when he called her into the hall, and left a black eye. She had a the bruise for the rest of the tour, and from then on, wanted nothing to do with him. While he would leave books of poetry and be apologetic, she wouldn’t budge.

Gordon continued on with more incidents. It was seemingly the start of his paranoia. 

After the tour ended, Jim worked with George Harrison on the album “All Things Must Pass”, and later joined Eric Clapton to create Derek and The Dominoes. Gordon and Clapton would later create the hit song “Layla” with Gordon adding the piano melody. The band also used drugs, heroin being the one of choice.

After its only tour in 1972, the group broke up. Even though they stated it had to do with musical differences, drugs were a factor too. Allegedly, Gordon wasn’t paid for the song “Layla”, because the producers “said I would be dead in six months anyway.” Even still, Jim still did drugs, mainly heroin.

Jim still had plenty of work, from playing on Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain”, John Lennon’s “Imagine” album, to touring with the band Traffic for their album “The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys”.

Eventually, Jim tired of all the drugs and work, and wanted to go home. He had totaled his ferrari. Word had spread of his drug use, how he hit Rita Coolidge, and how he even crashed his car. But this didn’t stop him from finding work, and he was still in extreme demand. Jim still ended up choosing dates to work with musicians. During this time, he played on “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number” for Steely Dan, “Midnight At The Oasis” for Maria Maldaur, and “L.A.” Reggae” for Johnny Rivers.

During this time, Jim also worked with Frank Zappa, and was part of his “Petite Wazoo” and “Grand Wazoo” bands (10 piece and 20 piece). Jim played on the song “Apostrophe’” with Zappa and Jack Bruce, of which both latter musicians received writing credit. When Zappa would introduce Gordon on stage, he would call him ‘Skippy’, because of his youthful appearance. 

 

While there were rumors that he had lost his touch, these songs, among others the worked on proved the rumors weren’t true. 

 

In 1973, Jim’s father passed away, and he took a break from drugs. He bought a house, saw his daughter, and married Renée Armand. He went from drugs to alcohol, where he would end up drinking all day. He said of the time, “Before, I was drinking every night, but I wasn’t getting up in the morning for a drink; I would put a needle in my arm. When I stopped taking the heroin, I began to drink all day.”.

Eventually he went back to drugs, doing speedballs. Still, he had work, and even played with acts that had no participation in drugs. Gordon never stopped production or did drugs during his studio time.

Jim was noticeably changing during this time period, becoming more paranoid, less talkative, and even standing in the corner talking to himself in between sessions. Gordon told a friend not to give out his number, since he didn’t want to talk to anyone. He eventually retreated into isolation more, became self doubtful, and was full blown paranoid.

One day, Jim’s wife Renee came home from grocery shopping, having barely placed the groceries on the floor, when he came up to her with a menacing glare. He said, “I know what you’re doing.”, though she had no idea what he was talking about. Gordon then pointed at the groceries, saying, “The Magic Triangle”. He then accused her of being responsible for evil spirits in the house. To which she denied, and then he punched her, cracking several of her ribs. Renee stated that while she loved him so much, she couldn’t stay with him after that. She had no idea what had happened to him. Their marriage ended after 6 months.

When Jim was completely sober, he heard the voices. They came back, and were everywhere. There was a family of voices, with faces he could see in his mind but whose names he did not know. The leader was a man with a white beard, along with a young blonde woman. Some of the others were his brother aunt and mother.

Originally the voices started out friendly, telling him how to do things, and giving pointers in his life. “How to take care of myself and the house. How to shop. I was glad for the help. I was getting ready for the rest of my life. I thought it was pretty strange, but there was nothing I could do about it. I heard them all the time. They would tell me if I was doing right or wrong. And I took it in like a fool. They said I had some kind of responsibility to God and country. I was the king of the universe, they said. I had to make sacrifices, and I had to do what they said. That’s when my mother started making me eat half my food.”

When Jim would only eat half of his food, he would supplement the other half with alcohol. He would consume a fifth of scotch or vodka, and still work. 

 

Eventually he got into another relationship, this time with a woman named Stacey Bailey. Jim would tell Bailey about the voices, while also complaining about how his mother was trying to take over his life. He’d complain that he would try to please his mother, but it was never enough for her. One night, Stacey woke up unable to breath. Jim was choking her. She tried to say whatever she could to get him to stop, and when on the verge of passing out, he loosened his grip. He repeated it over and over, and eventually fell back laughing, saying that it was a joke. Bailey ran to the neighbors, hysterical, while Gordon begged her to come back. He told her, “I just wanted to see if you really cared about me”.

While people heard and knew of his abuse to women, most didn’t say anything.

Gordon tried to cut back on drugs and alcohol, but only stayed off of them for a short amount of time. The voices were getting worse, and he later went back to drinking to try and quiet the voices.

In 1977, Gordon was in session recording with Johnny Rivers, when he started to glare at the guitarist, Dean Parks. Jim apparently rose to his feet, and said, “You’re messing with my time. You’re moving my hands, I want you to stop it.” Parks told Jim that there was no way he could be messing with him from across the room, and eventually they went back to playing. Not long later, Jim tried to get at another person.

Eventually, it became known that Gordon was turning into a liability, and producers didn’t want to hire him anymore. In turn, Jim started taking lower paying work, such as TV and commercials.

The voices got worse, to the point that they would only allow him to eat one bite of his food. His mother’s voice was the worst in his head, never relenting. He called his mother, who didn’t know what was even going on. His mother told him that he needed help, and so he checked into the Van Nuys Psychiatric Hospital. This would be the beginning of over 14 times he’d check himself into hospitals, over the next 6 years.

When with the doctors, he told them that he heard his mother’s voice, among others. His mother, Osa, would visit, and he’d tell doctors that she was the only friend that he had. He was able to get permission to go home with her on weekends, but the voices would still torment him. Eventually, Jim checked himself out of the hospital after two months, against his doctor’s recommendations. Jim agreed to see a doctor outpatient, but on his September 3^rd appointment, he didn’t show up.

Gordon’s mother found him at home, unconscious, having attempted suicide. He stated that the voices didn’t care if he killed himself. He refused to continue therapy, and reluctantly went back to work. Gordon went on tour with Jackson Browne in 1978, but ultimately, it didn’t change things. When he came back from the tour, the industry was slow, and he found it hard to get work. When he was out of work, he would drink to drown out the voices, but it didn’t help. 

 

Gordon got a call to go on tour with Bob Dylan, but the voices made him say no, which saddened him to have missed the opportunity. Later, he got a call to do a job in Las Vegas, to which he initially agreed, but the voices told him to leave, so he did. This was another blow, since Gordon really wanted to perform.

When he came back, he was severely depressed, and checked himself into Valley Presbyterian Hospital. While there, he threatened to kill a nurse, who he claimed, “Wouldn’t leave me alone.”. Once again he checked out of the hospital, against the doctor’s orders.

By the time the 80’s started, Jim Gordon was barely considered a professional musician anymore. He stopped playing his drums, stopped bathing at times, and would go days without shaving or changing his clothes. He checked into a hospital on June 5^th of 1980, but left the next day. When he came to hospital, he had already consumed two thirds of a bottle of cognac and half a gallon of wine.

When he would leave the hospital, he would always go back to Osa, his mom, despite having the voice in his head of her. At times, he thought that his mother wanted him to die. He felt that this purpose was over. 

Jim on the far left

 

On October 22^nd, 1982, Jim checked himself into another hospital. He said that he felt he was dying of “hate” and that his “world was falling apart.” Having not seen her son in two years, Osa wrote Jim a letter. He never opened it. The voices in his head told him not to. Her letter stated that she thought of him, loved him, and was moving in with his brother in Seattle in a month.

On June 1^st of that year, at 9:30 pm, Gordon called his mother. He told her, “You’re bugging me again. I’m going to kill you.” Osa denied the accusations, and he hung up. She then called the Medical Center of North Hollywood and asked if her son had been there. The nurse told her that Jim was admitted that day, had been drinking, and when he asked for the antipsychotic drug Thorazine, become agitated that the doctor wasn’t in; so he left. His mother then called the police, but they told her that there nothing they could do, and suggested that she leave the lights on in her house, while also wishing her luck. His mother called her other son, John, but no-one was home. 

 

Gordon called her again, at 11:40 pm, with an essential repeat of the previous conversation. Afterwards, she decided against calling John, because it was too late in the night. The next day, she called the city attorney’s office about a restraining her, but the process was unsuccessful.

The next day, Gordon appeared at her apartment.

Jim hadn’t ever raised a hand to her before, and none of the doctors ever warned her that he would either.

 Neighbors heard screaming, and called the police.

Law enforcement went to Jim’s apartment the next morning to inform him of his mother’s death, to find him face down on the living room floor sobbing. He wasn't on any drugs when he killed his mother, then afterwards went to a bar and consumed a large amount of different types of alcohol after.

Gordon stated that he had no interest in killing her, but her voice wanted him to do so. “Good riddance to her” he stated. He attacked her with a hammer, hitting her in the head. Then he stabbed her with a butcher knife in the chest three times. Jim’s mother, Osa Marie Gordon, was 72 years old at the time of her murder.

Recent Picture of him

In 1984, he was sentenced to 16 years to life, and is still incarcerated. As of 2016, he is serving his sentence at the California Medical Facility, in Vacaville, CA. He has been denied parole every time, most recently in 2018, for 3 years. In March of 2019, there was an administrative review to advance the his parole hearing date. On April 16^th, and July 16^th, the parole suitabilities were postponed until November 14^th, 2019. On November 14^th, 2019, Gordon was to have his latest parole hearing, but waived the right to a hearing for 3 years. His next hearing was postponed, won’t be until November of 2022.

Osa Marie Gordon is buried in Los Angeles National Cemetery, in California.

Courtesy of Find a Grave

video: https://youtu.be/ZF34gLu7ntQ

[SOURCES]

https://inmatelocator.cdcr.ca.gov/Details.aspx?ID=C89262

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/when-the-voices-took-over-52761/

https://www.drummerworld.com/drummers/Jim_Gordon.html

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandpopfeatures/8386038/The-curse-of-the-Dominos.html

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/3712034/osa-marie-gordon 

My Review of: Manson: The Life and Times of Charles Manson

If I could, I would give this book 3.5 stars, but what can you do? I feel like 3 is more fitting than 4.

First off, I would say that my biggest gripe with the book is just the way that it's written. Sometimes the writing is really good, and then it can be flat out confusing at times. I liked how in the earlier and mid sections of the book, that the author would segue into other pieces of information, that overall help the reader understand more on the background of the time period, family members, or general atmosphere they were trying to portray. But I've noticed odd gramatical spacing, wrong tenses of words used, or just general odd ways of saying things in their book. Especially near the end, the book feels rushed, and it seems like they were really just trying to get to final pages of the book. Granted, I understand trying to finish the book sooner than later...the entire thing is over 500 pages if you include the bibliography and post script notes. In reality, the main story is only 400 pages.

What I really wish the author focused more on was the psychology of Manson, more on his childhood and info from when he was in the reform school, and the trials. While I realize that the book is to be more of a Manson biography plus insight on the family, there were some people that they just kind of fell off talking about. While it stated that Beausoleil went to trial, it kind of just ends his parts of the story there with him. The trials in general was a section that was talked about pretty fast, in comparison to parts of the book that focus over a 100 pages on the Family's way of life. To me, it would be just as interesting to go over what the girls and Charley felt during the trial phases, as it was to know that people ate out of the garbage (I guess freegans are a 50+ year old concept). I've watched interviews where Krenwinkel and Van Houten said they acted like the way they did during the trials because they figured that they would die anyway. It would have been nice to see that in the book. It always gets me how arrogant everyone seemed in the trials. I guess the author's main focus was to talk about the daily Family life, as opposed to the post murder going-ons.

On the other hand, I do enjoy the book as a piece of knowledge. It was really interesting at times to read how f'd up the whole Family was. Incredibly sad how so many were fooled, and even more were staunch in their beliefs. I can't gloss over the fact that Charlie, and others engaged in pedophilia. But considering the Epstein stuff lately, I guess I can't be surprised that the music biz breeds that stuff. The insight of Manson's childhood was good, though as stated before, I wish it was delved into more. The more I read about his mentality as a whole, it really appeared that Charles has psychological problems. I couldn't help but wonder if he was born in this time period, if he would have been formally diagnosed with a behavior problem.

At the end of the book, the author stated that people mostly remember Manson because he lived past the murders. They said that no-one remembers the names of Columbine teens because they killed themselves. Not only is that a weird comparison, that is completely untrue. Everyone remembers the names of Klebold and Harrison, more than anything just because the tragic event happened 20 some years ago, as opposed to the Tate murder's 50. Comparisons and general writing like this made the story a bit of a drag to read. Others have stated it in their reviews also, and the book has bad pacing at times. I completely agree, just like my comments about the ending about. The ending is quick...but the middle can take forever. And sometimes, the ending had paragraphs that kind of didn't need to be there. It almost felt like a rookie's first book or something.

In conclusion, I'd say that if you have a deep interest in the Manson rabbit hole, this'd be a good book to read. If you have a ton of prior knowledge about the Family before, I'd say that it wouldn't hurt to skip parts. I'd imagine that any seasoned Family interestees would be more curious about the childhood part than anything else. If you only have a passing interest in this subject, this may not be the book for you. It'd be way too long for anyone with a passing glance.







I wouldn't re-read it again in entirety, but it's a good resource for making blog posts or something.

Also, I forgot to say that there seems to be conflicting evidence at times. Everywhere on the internet, it says that Terry Melcher wanted to make a documentary about the Manson Family, but in this book, it makes it seem like it was Gregg Jakobson's idea only. There are other times too, but conflicting ideas like this one makes the book a bit confusing at times.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3003653805?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

Who Was Ricky Lancelotti?

Ricky Lancelotti was a musician that was featured on many songs in Frank Zappa’s band. He is most notably known (in my opinion) as the voice of the Zomby Woof on the song of the same name.

Ricky was born in New Jersey, on August 25^th, 1944 (though some records state that he was born on August 23^rd) as Anthony Richard Lancelotti. Not much seem to be known of his early life. Between 1965-66, he went by the name ‘Ricky Lancelot’, and released several singles for RCA Records, unsuccessfully. During this time, he also appeared on the show ‘Shindig’, a music series on ABC-TV; he was the in-house singer. Ricky also sang on the show ‘The Banana Splits’ (a late 60’s early 70’s kid’s show), as one of the unaccredited lead vocalists, he also appeared on the album released in 1968 for the show.

The Banana Splits Theme:

The Banana Splits-Doin’ The Banana Split:

I’m Gonna Find a Cave: 

 

With Zappa, Lancelotti is featured on the albums, ‘Over-nite Sensation’, ‘The Lost Episodes’, and ‘Lather’. As stated before, Lancelotti was on the song ‘Zomby Woof’. He also features on ‘Fifty-Fifty’, ‘Wonderful Wino’ on the lost tapes (the original version of the song? The final version is on Zoot Allures. I prefer Lancelotti’s vocals better honestly.)

Zomby Woof:

 

Fifty-Fifty: 

 

Wonderful Wino:

 

On April 7^th, 1980, Lancelotti passed away at the age of 35. Wikipedia doesn’t list a cause of death. It barely touches on the time that he spent with Zappa. Wiki Jawaka almost doesn’t talk about him all.

[Anecdotal]

 When I first got into Zappa in my teens, ‘Zomby Woof’ was one of the songs that I played constantly, especially on trips to other high schools on my debate trips. Lancelotti had a voice that was very distinct, and I noticed that it was missing in the later albums by Zappa. Since I knew that Zappa had a plethora of musicians that worked with him, I figured that this unique voice had perhaps went on to do other things. It wasn’t until many years later, that I read he had passed away.

The saddest part to me, is that with such a unique and strong voice, Lancelotti has relatively little known about him. Yes, 1980 is almost 40 years ago now, but he was also on one of Zappa’s most famous albums. It always interested me how there was relatively nothing said about him, even in 2019 internet.

Thankfully, through the power of the internet, I found some information earlier this year that talks a bit more about what happened to him.

[/Anecdotal]

On this google group link ( https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.fan.frank-zappa/Ix71sn_dEEo ), a person asked about Lancelotti, curious about him much like I was. Interestingly, this question was first post in 1995… I didn’t realize that google groups were that old. The initial question was posted in 1995, 15 years after Ricky’s death. A person responded, saying that Lancelotti “auditioned, passed, was in the band for a couple weeks, and flunked out.” under what is presumed to have been drug or alcohol use. Unfortunately, the user said that Lancelotti OD’s sometime later in the 70’s or 80’s (I’m assuming they didn’t know his exact date of death). 

Way over a decade later, really, almost 20 years later, a person replied to the google group message, and stated that they were Lancelotti’s only son, having been born in 1965. They claimed that their mother was his girlfriend, and Lancelotti crashed his car in 1980 after having overdosing on drugs, on Mulhulland Road. They also posted that Ricky was a great artist, had eating disorders and substance abuse problems, and was sidelined instead of getting an intervention that he needed, and that Zappa actually cared for Ricky.

 Three years after that a person replied to the alleged son of Lancelotti, stating the poster was a poser-not really Lancelotti’s son. The final person stated that Ricky was their cousin, and he passed away way too soon. The final poster goes on to say that Ricky was in their parents’ wedding, and while he does have a son, the previous person was not them.

On the United Mutations website, it talks a bit more about Lancelotti. He recorded with Zappa in 1973, on the albums mentioned above. It also talks a little about the liner notes of The Lost Episode’s version of ‘Wonderful Wino’, which said, “The version of this song is especially notable for the presence of one of the most powerful and disctinctive singers to perform with any Zappa band, the late Ricky Lancelotti.”

Frank himself had said, “"He auditioned for the band, passed, went home and got ripped, and broke his arm. I said 'Rick, you're not going to make the tour.' He used to carry a .45. He had a cassette in which he imitated 100 cartoon voices in 60 seconds. I thought he was really talented. He wanted to get work as a cartoon voice guy, but never did. O.D.'d. An old New Jersey tough guy."

In the final paragraph, it talked about a time in 1972 at the Hollywood Palladium MOI concert, where Ricky and Frank did a bit where Frank would move his hand like a mouth, and Lancelotti would magically appear on stage and begin “bellowing”.

At the bottom of the page, there are recollections of Ricky, where people who either played with him, lived with him, or were related to him, talked about his life. 

In the end, Ricky Lancelotti seemed to be a happy and fun person, who may have overindulged himself a bit. It is extremely unfortunate that he passed away that he did, and that it is still so hard to find much more about him. He had many friends and family that seemed to love him, and enjoy being around him . It honestly saddens me that he passed away the way he did. I respect his music greatly, and am now finding myself listening to The Banana Splits music, just to hear him. While I know no-one will read this, I just personally want to thank the people out there who took the time to talk about him in the past. It keeps his memory alive. 

Photo Courtesy of Find of Grave

Ricky Lancelotti is buried in San Fernando Mission Cemetery, in Mission Hills, California.

video: https://youtu.be/ejWD5-Dszkg

[SOURCES]

united mutations

wikipedia

wiki jawaka