Each day the world over hearses roll into airports and pull
up to the terminal mortuary. Every
airline and every airport has such a place.
Usually it is a quiet and unassuming practice. Funeral homes are simply picking up the
dead.
In September of 1973 this practice of picking up the dead
got really weird. On a routine evening in late summer a hearse
drove into the Los Angeles International Airport and parked just out front of
LAX’s mortuary services department. This
hearse was not like most. This one had a
bad yellow paint job, broken windows, and no license plate. The
usual funeral home men arrived not wearing the requisite suit and tie. The two guys operating the hearse were disheveled
long-hairs. And they were drunk.
The men arrived just as the casket they had come for was
delivered to the LAX mortuary. Inside
the coffin was the body of the late Gram Parsons. Parsons made his mark in the music world in
the late 1960s and into the 70s. He was
a pioneer in the country-rock genre and had a legion of devoted followers including
Elvis and Keith Richards. Like most
geniuses Parsons was a troubled soul, never comfortable with his brilliance or
the fame it brought. Days before the
strange scene began to play out at LAX, Parsons died of an overdose of alcohol
and morphine at the age of 26. The body was taken to the
airport so it could be flown to Louisiana.
Parson’s step-father wanted to bury to the musician in New Orleans.
Parsons, in a conversation with his manager Phil Kaufmann
stated that if something ever happened to him he would prefer to be cremated
with his ashes left in Joshua Tree National Park. It was a place Parson’s frequented often to
look at the stars and the landscape. The
area was his muse and his inspiration.
It was Phil Kaufmann behind the wheel of the hearse at LAX. He had come to the claim the body of his late
friend.
Kaufmann was greeted by LAX mortuary personnel and exchanged
idle chit-chat. He was presented with a
simple form to sign. In a matter a few
scant minutes Kaufmann and his friend were driving out of LAX with the body of
Gram Parsons. The two men drove for
hours, finally reaching a remote section of Joshua Tree National Park. There, the men toasted their late friend,
doused the casket with five gallons of gasoline and set it ablaze. Kaufmann was keeping his promise to
Parsons.
Days later Kaufmann strode into a police station and told
the authorities what he had done. In
November, Kaufmann and his accomplice appeared in a Los Angeles courtroom to
hear their fate. They were charged with
a misdemeanor (stealing a body is not a crime) and had to pay $700--the value
of the casket. They each paid an additional fine of $300 for
duping LAX. Parsons’ remains were claimed by the authorities
from Joshua Tree and the body was interred in the Garden of Memories, Metarie,
Louisiana.
If you find yourself near Joshua Tree take a ride with the
spirit of Gram Parsons. A number of ride
and route options exist thanks to MapMyRide.com. Do a search and pick one you like, the
scenery is unique as are the elevation changes.
If you would like make a toast to Parsons visit his simple memorial "Safe at Home" at Cap
Rock inside Joshua Tree.
Visit our website www.stickybottleteam.net.
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| The Park lies mostly in the Mojave Desert of Southern California |
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| Joshua Trees are a type of Yucca plant |
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