Who's Hunter Thompson

Subject: Who's Hunter Thompson?
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Jul 00 - 01:08 PM

Who's Hunter Thompson

Subject: RE: Who's Hunter Thompson
From: SeanM
Date: 28 Jul 00 - 01:16 PM

I'm assuming you mean Hunter S. Thompson, and that you're serious.

Short form answer is he's a writer, author of "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" and a horde of other books, articles for magazines (including several classic moments from Rolling Stone, and is the father of "Gonzo Journalism", which according to some people is the basis for the extremely watered down pap that is served in today's news media.

Try here for a collection of websites about him.

M

Subject: RE: Who's Hunter Thompson
From: Barbara
Date: 28 Jul 00 - 01:35 PM

He is also "Uncle Duke" in Doonesbury, and is rumored to be the author of the sections of the comic that feature him. Plot lines he is likely to have authored include the recent one about Pat Buchanan's neoNazis taking over Duke's campaign, and earlier ones about Duke living in Colorado and shooting at neighbor John Denver; the sacrifice of virgins to a volcano in Samoa, and Duke and Duke Jr.'s various criminal adventures at Duke's Home for wayward boys.
His "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" is an underground classic of sorts (as is his book about the Hells Angels). He walks a fine line between drug-crazed razor- edge journalism and drug-crazed dementia/incoherency.
Blessings,
Barbara

Subject: RE: Who's Hunter Thompson
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 28 Jul 00 - 01:37 PM

Sean, don't forget the wicked parody of Dr. T in Doonesbury. "Uncle Duke" may even be more disreputable than the original.

Hell of a writer.

Rick

Subject: RE: Who's Hunter Thompson
From: GUEST,Roger in Baltimore
Date: 28 Jul 00 - 03:36 PM

Hunter is an acquired taste. If you value your sanity, don't go there.

Big RiB

Subject: RE: Who's Hunter Thompson
From: Midchuck
Date: 28 Jul 00 - 04:04 PM

"If you value your sanity, don't go there."

Why not? He may be the closest to a fully sane person in the Country. He certainly sees a lot of things as they are, while the rest of us are seeing them as we like to believe they are...

Peter.

Subject: RE: Who's Hunter Thompson
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 28 Jul 00 - 04:20 PM

Hunter S hails from Louisville,KY. Iread some excerpts recently from a collection of very early writings that display the off-kilter attitude and substance abuse (liquor, in the early days) that later led to fame and fortune. I found it funny that his early companion in misadventure was Paul Semonin, who now owns a real estate empire in Kentucky and is a sought after society star.

I remember an interview with Hunter S in which the interviewer asked him what he wanted written on his tombstone. He responded that he didn't want a tombstone, that he preferred to be fired out of the 10 foot barrel of an oversized Luger replica into the cliff face across the creek from his house. Whatever pieces of him that stuck would be a fitting epitaph. Unique, to say the least.

Subject: RE: Who's Hunter Thompson
From: SDShad
Date: 28 Jul 00 - 04:43 PM

Bad craziness or no, Hunter Thompson is a master wordsmith; some favorites:

"Every now and then when life gets complicated the only solution is to load up on heinous chemicals and drive like a bastard from Hollywood to Las Vegas. "

and this one:

"[In the 60's] there was madness in any direction, at any hour ... You could strike sparks anywhere. There was a fantastic universal sense that whatever we were doing was `right', that we were winning ...

"And that, I think, was the handle -- the sense of inevitable victory over the forces of Old and Evil. Not in any mean or military sense; we didn't need that. Our energy would simply `prevail'. There was no point in fighting -- on our side or theirs. We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave ....

"So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look West, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark -- the place where the wave finally broke and rolled back."

Damn, but that boy can write.

Chris

Subject: RE: Who's Hunter Thompson
From: Harold W
Date: 28 Jul 00 - 04:46 PM

Hunter S. Thompson, a feature of the Woody Creek Tavern (near Aspen, Colorado), may be in trouble with the law. According to the Aspen Times (www.aspentimes.com), he shot at what he thought was a bear. It turns out to be a friend living on his property.

Subject: RE: Who's Hunter Thompson
From: GUEST,The guest who started this thread
Date: 28 Jul 00 - 05:35 PM

OK, here's what truly amazes me. I am a product of the sixties. I am an old hippie. I was a part of the revolution. How come I've never heard of Hunter Thompson? He sounds like someone I would have wanted to know about.

Subject: RE: Who's Hunter Thompson
From: SeanM
Date: 28 Jul 00 - 05:44 PM

Possibly because he was rather an outsider of the "scene". There's a great biography (unauthorized of course) called "Fear and Loathing" that recounts his life during the '60s... his meeting with Timothy Leary (whom he soon detested), his meetings with Kesey, and other various elements of the counterculture - none of whom he apparently got on with.

I'd consider him more a product of the Death of the Sixties rather than a product of them. At worst, his writings are a drug-addled mysoginistic violent mess. At best, it is genuinely insightful social commentary taken from an outsider's point of view, and journalism from a journalist who refuses to divorce himself from the story.

One of my favorite books of his is "Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail", where Rolling Stone turned him loose on the 1972 election campaign - he rapidly became disillusioned with the job (some say he went unwillingly to begin with), and soon turned on the politicians he was covering. Sublimely subversive and disturbing at points...

M

Subject: RE: Who's Hunter Thompson
From: catspaw49
Date: 28 Jul 00 - 05:47 PM

Man I got no idea how you could have missed the King of Gonz............

Got here late, but I'm a fan too.......y'all probably figured that.........My suggestion is to just read him.

AND........I brought this up somewhere the other day, but one of the funniest interviews I ever saw was Hunter Thompson with Keith Richards. Neither of them had any idea what the fuck was going on........both were completely goofed up on god knows what combination of serious chemicals. It was a riot......kinda' like watching a car crash in slow motion.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Who's Hunter Thompson
From: GUEST,John Galt
Date: 28 Jul 00 - 06:51 PM

Didn't Hunter fisrt make a name for himself writing the book "Hells Angels" after riding with them for a couple years? Nearly beaten to death by them he left to find other friends.......

Subject: RE: Who's Hunter Thompson
From: catspaw49
Date: 28 Jul 00 - 06:54 PM

Its one helluva' book though.........He hung out with them for a few years, started as research of sorts and one thing led to another. He finally angered someone and they beat the crap outta' him as you say, although he still maintained a contact with several.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Who's Hunter Thompson
From: Bill D
Date: 28 Jul 00 - 08:07 PM

my dim memory tells me that Hunter actuall got himself elected sheriff somewhere (Aspen?) for a brief period...???do I remember correctly?

Subject: RE: Who's Hunter Thompson
From: BlueJay
Date: 29 Jul 00 - 03:12 AM

SDShad, thanks for the quotes. I actually remember them, though maybe I shouldn't admit it. Another of my favorites:
"I'd never recommend sex, drugs, alcohol and insanity to anyone, but it's always worked for me".
Or something like that. I don't have a copy of F&L in LV to refer to, so it's not really an exact quote.

I'd also like to put in a plug for Ralph Steadman, the artist who drew all those outrageous illustrations for Hunter S. Thompson's books. A very fine artist! I have a book of his work, including the Thompson works and some other stuff.

Guest, reading Thompson's works will be a literary and visual treat for you, should you decide to do so. The collaboration is most effective! Thanks, BlueJay

Subject: RE: Who's Hunter Thompson
From: Barbara
Date: 29 Jul 00 - 03:23 AM

I think that's right, Bill, and I seem to recall that both in real life and in Doonesbury he took a shot at the caretaker for his property.
SOMETIMES he can write amazing stuff, sometimes he's too f**ked up on some bad crazy combination of chemicals to make sense. It adds to the suspense of reading him: You wonder, is he going to pull this out or is it going to crash and burn?
His work is further enhanced by the drawings of Ralph Steadman.
Blessings,
Barbara

Subject: RE: Who's Hunter Thompson
From: Gervase
Date: 29 Jul 00 - 09:17 AM

HST was one of the things that got me into journalism - I hero-worshipped the guy, along with Michael Herr, Nick Tomalin, Tom Wolfe, Don McCullin, Tim Page and all that generation of writers and photographers who had the temerity to look the system in the face and describe brutally and beautifully the ugliness they saw.
Trouble is, the reality of my own vaulting ambition was to spend about six years sitting through local council meetings, agricultural shows and the nitty-gritty of regional journalism before I could start to behave badly.
The rest is possibly best left unsaid, but HST was a very welcome and very bad influence!

Subject: RE: Who's Hunter Thompson
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 29 Jul 00 - 11:15 AM

Hey "Guest who started this..." Don't worry about not clueing in to Dr. T. Did you read Rolling Stone? That's where I first discovered him.

Even though I've been a printaholic all my life, I still missed some VERRY well-known sixties folks. Never read:

Richard Brautigan

Steppenwolf

Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

The I Ching

"Steal this Book"

"Lord of the Rings"

I DID however read "Ball Four" by Jim Bouton, about a hundred times.

Rick

Subject: RE: Who's Hunter Thompson
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 29 Jul 00 - 09:42 PM

If you click on this you get to Hunter Thompson's home page, which is i terwssting indeed - but what I want is to get hold of his Aspen Creek National Anthem, "Saints and Sots" - and the link on that home page doesn't work for me.

So has anyone here on the Cat got it? And if not, why not?...

Subject: RE: Who's Hunter Thompson
From: Sorcha
Date: 29 Jul 00 - 10:19 PM

My first response to the question was "A very crazy man, but a hell of a writer", and all of the above are correct. By all means, check him out. I missed him in the '60's too.

Subject: RE: Who's Hunter Thompson
From: Jim the Bart
Date: 29 Jul 00 - 11:33 PM

Hunter Thompson was "all the news that fits" back in the 70's. But that was then. He's still a great read. But what I want to know is who is today's Hunter Thompson? That same shit is still going on. But reading Hunter Thompson is like going to one of those turn of the century farms, where everything looks just like it did back then, but. . .

Who is going to grab today's culture by the hair and shake it around like Hunter did back then? Stand UP!! I want to hear what you have to say about what's happening NOW!!

And if I can't find that, I'll drink my bourbon and watch "Where the Buffalo Roam" or "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" on my DVD player, with my 16 year old son, and I'll try to make sure people don't fall asleep again.

Subject: RE: Who's Hunter Thompson
From: GUEST,Luther
Date: 30 Jul 00 - 12:18 AM

why, Tom Wolfe, silly!

(that's a joke, although it takes all the strength of will I can muster to see the humor in it.)

Anyone see Tom Wolfe on, and in, last month's Harper's?

Subject: RE: Who's Hunter Thompson
From: GUEST,guest who started this thread
Date: 30 Jul 00 - 12:38 AM

I felt much better after reading Rick Fielding's list of authors. I've read several of them. But then I felt bad again after reading what Guest, Luther had to say. I'm not sure I know who Tom Wolf is. Is he the one who wrote the book about the girl with the huge thumbs who hitch-hikes all over the place? (I think that's Even Cowgirls Get the Blues.) I must be getting old-timer's disease. I'm forgetting too much. Bartholomew, maybe the answer to your question about who's going to carry the torch now is - your sixteen year old son.

Subject: RE: Who's Hunter Thompson
From: catspaw49
Date: 30 Jul 00 - 12:51 AM

Guest, around here your disease is common and known as CRS syndrome.......That means "Can't Remember Shit." Bert has it REAL bad and I seem to be getting worse every day.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Who's Hunter Thompson
From: GUEST,Luther
Date: 30 Jul 00 - 02:39 AM

no, the big thumb guy is Tom Robbins. Tom Wolfe you might remember from The Electric Koolaid Acid Test, or more recently Bonfire Of The Vanities.

These days, he's a cheerleader for corporate world dominion. Still, credit where credit is due: he's remarkably meticulous in his grooming for such a withered old tit.

He's the Anti-Thompson.

Subject: RE: Who's Hunter Thompson
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 30 Jul 00 - 06:34 AM

The singing equivalent of Hunter Thompson I always think of as being Loudon Wainwright the Third - even more than Neil Young. I always remember his concert at Sidmouth a couple of years ago, when half the Town Council sitting on deckchairs in the front row walked out scandalised. He hadn't even set out to shock them, I think. Some people are more fragile than others.

Anyone found "Saints and Sots" yet?

Subject: RE: Who's Hunter Thompson
From: GUEST,guest who started this thread
Date: 30 Jul 00 - 10:37 PM

Who's Bert?

Subject: RE: Who's Hunter Thompson
From: GUEST,Lyle
Date: 30 Jul 00 - 10:41 PM

Nice to see things about Hunter don't change. Two or three days ago he shot at a bear (???) on his property (his story) and accidently hit the woman who was living with him at the time.

Subject: RE: Who's Hunter Thompson
From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler
Date: 01 Aug 00 - 09:19 AM

This is :
'Gonzo' author shoots assistant

FROM IAN BRODIE IN WASHINGTON THE eccentric advocate of gonzo journalism, Hunter S. Thompson, slightly wounded his woman assistant when he fired a shotgun to drive a bear off his 60-acre ranch near Aspen, Colorado.

It is not the first time that Mr Thompson, 63, has been involved in incidents involving guns. He is renowned for having a small arsenal. Authorities shrugged off the episode.

The victim, Debra Fuller, 58, was admitted to the local hospital with a gunshot wound and left two hours later. Ms Fuller, who lives in a cabin on Mr Thompson's property, has been his secretary and helper for many years.

A bear near the Thompson home was reported by the sheriff's department to the state wildlife office; a spokesman said that there had been many similar sightings in the mountains around Aspen this summer. "It's like a zoo up there," she said. The district attorney, Mac Myers, confirmed that there had been a shooting on the Thompson property, but said that he had not received any written reports about it.

The incident was a reminder that Mr Thompson, or Dr Thompson as he calls himself, is still the master of Owl Farm, a hunting lodge that has been described as part hippy commune, redneck firing range and unabashed shrine to his heyday. For years he has been portrayed as sitting on his porch, drinking bourbon and firing his .357 magnum into the bush.

In the Seventies, he wrote bestselling books, including Hell's Angels and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Mr Thompson, who has sold artworks he created by shooting holes in photos of Mickey Mouse and the late J. Edgar Hoover, said recently that he had every right to carry guns.

"I just bought another huge weapon. A lot of people should not own guns. I should. I have a safety record. Guns are a lot of fun out here."

Copyright 2000 Times Newspapers Ltd.
RtS

Subject: RE: Who's Hunter Thompson
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 05:35 PM

I thought it seemed a good time to resurrect this thread.

Subject: RE: Who's Hunter Thompson
From: Steve Latimer
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 09:33 PM

I think I'm paraphrasing the late Mr. Thompson (although I might have it right).

When the going gets weird, the weird turn Pro.

Subject: RE: Who's Hunter Thompson
From: CarolC
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 11:07 PM

I'm going to 'fess up about this thread. I was the guest who started it way back when I first encountered the Mudcat and, A.) didn't know if the locals were the biting sort, and B.) I was pretty embarassed that I didn't know who Hunter S. Thompson was.

I'm glad I started it though, because I've really enjoyed learning about Hunter S. Thompson. I'm glad he was here, and I'm sorry he left.

Subject: RE: Who's Hunter Thompson
From: John O'L
Date: 22 Feb 05 - 11:25 PM

Damned shame.
Along with Dylan, Thompson was probably the biggest influence on the way I think and the way I view the world.
I owe him a lot.

Subject: RE: Who's Hunter Thompson
From: LadyJean
Date: 23 Feb 05 - 12:39 AM

My last year at O.U. I shared a room with a 22 year old Freshman named Michelle.
Michelle would ingest anything that would alter her state of concsiousness, from cheap beer to LSD, she was NOT fussy. Once under the influence, she would do just about anything. She tried to take off somebody'd pants in the lounge on one of her quieter nights. A good deal of the time she didn't remember what she'd done. I used to sharpen my detective skills trying to help her remember what she'd done the morning after the night before.
As I did so, I began to wonder if I wasn't rooming with Hunter S. Thompson in drag.
But Michelle wasn't much for writing. I was a journalism major, so I had to do a lot of writing, and Michelle rather got in the way.

Subject: RE: Who's Hunter Thompson
From: Ebbie
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 02:20 AM

"DENVER - Hunter S. Thompson's ashes will be blasted from a cannon mounted inside a 53-foot-high sculpture of the journalist's "gonzo fist" emblem, his wife said Tuesday.
   
"The cannon shot, planned sometime in August on the grounds of his Aspen-area home, will fulfill the writer's long-cherished wish.

"It's expensive, but worth every penny," Anita Thompson said. "I'd like to have several explosions. He loved explosions."

"Thompson, 67, shot himself in the head on Feb. 20 after a long and flamboyant career that produced such new journalism classics as "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" and cast his image as a hard-charging, drug-crazed daredevil."

More

Subject: RE: Who's Hunter Thompson
From: dianavan
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 02:26 AM

Thanks for the tip, Ebbie.

Can't wait to read his guide to life.

It was amazing that he lived as long as he did!

Subject: RE: Who's Hunter Thompson
From: GUEST, Ebbie
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 12:46 PM

Isn't that a fact! It is also bemusing that so many people secretly - and not so secretly - admire the man. I can only say that I would not want a child of mine to emulate him...

Subject: RE: Who's Hunter Thompson
From: michaelr
Date: 07 Apr 05 - 01:18 AM

No child of yours is likely to have what it would take...

Subject: RE: Who's Hunter Thompson
From: Ebbie
Date: 07 Apr 05 - 01:36 AM

Humph