So long.
ESPN.com: Page 2 : Shotgun Golf with Bill Murray — This may be the last published piece by Hunter Thompson who apparently killed himself this last weekend. I can’t say I was pals with Thompson, but I knew him and chatted with him a lot when he was writing for the SF Examiner. Among other things I helped move him off the typewriter to computer assisted writing in the 1980’s. “OK, so computers are our friends then?” he once said to me. I think this was after he shot one.
Another comment I recall was that his primary literary influence was Faulkner. I don’t know who, if anyone, ever reported that. But once he told me I could see it in his writing.
He was an interesting fellow obviously tormented by all sorts of inner demons. Most remarkable, to me, was his attentiveness when you’d discuss your take on his writing. He seemed fascinated by anyone who didn’t seem to think his material was crummy. I get the suspician that this was because of editors. I used to hear them moan about his inability to meet deadlines and his style. Thus, over the years, he ended up at ESPN online instead of the New Yorker. Now he’ll be praised as a genius. But nobody will explain why, if he was such a genius, THEY never hired him.
Both Johnny Depp and Bill Murray played Thompson in movies and both were pretty near close to Thompson’s weird mumbling style of communication. Depp was probably closer. According to the local writers in San Francisco, Hunter was the great hope of the fiction community. The next stage after Hemingway kind of thing. Drugs and alcohol were blamed for this never happening. But that never stopped Hemingway or others before him. Thompson, along the way, just wasn’t interested enough to take his own importance seriously.
As an aside he used to hang out with all sorts of Washinton types and always claimed that G. Gordon Liddy was “Deepthroat.”
If you liked him I’m sure toasting with a tumbler of Chivas 12 would be appropriate.
related link:
The original HST Homepage. Hopefully it will remain intact for a while.
Excellent interview with HST in Salon.
This is one of my Hunter S. Thompson favorites from the last page of Proud Highway:
“The Edge…There is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over. The others–the living–are those who pushed their control as far as they felt they could handle it, and then pulled back, or slowed down, or did whatever they had to when it came time to choose between Now and Later.”
His words say enough on their own.
Degenerate Swine
It looked like nothing else could kill him. He’d been beat up by hells angels, targeted by nixon, consumed by booze and high grade amphetamines, on the campaign trail, strung out in 3rd world countries, arrested, a candidate for sheriff, a journalist, a gambler, a hunter and a rebel.
He LOVED Freedom and most of all LIBERTY.
Drink a bloody mary at lunch in his honor…or maybe a tall glass of Wild Turkey on the rocks.
Rest In Peace Dr. Gonzo
Mahalo and Selah
Dr..you represented the best in inspiration – you inspired one not to be more like yourself, or others…but to be more of the person you already are! Your guts, zeal, tenactiy, audaciousness, fearlessnes, and penchant for fun have not died today, but live on in the spirit you too upheld. We love you…thank you. God bless the Thompson family. You are in our hearts and our prayers. God bless…
To the greatest American writer of our time . . .
Thank You
So long Dr. My friend Jeff Karn introduced us in the summer of 87 with Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. It made that Dayton Ohio summer bearable with the immense heat. The reading and many cold beers went together like hand and glove. One toke over the line brother. Since then, I have read your works and enjoyed them. RIP
What a talent. what a mastero, what a symphony he composed – to many HST was a hero , the anti-establishment conduit to a peptic society. HST made an impression on me as a young journalist and later as a young man chasing a dream. Hailing from the Indian sub-continent, my literary heros were much of the British classics – and within that schema I found a joyous spot for HTS and his writings. He was a true writer – gonzo or bust! His letters reveal a not so gregarious side of him, but in his words he wins over the reader. HST will be sorely missed . His columns will lay bare. Someway, someday we will certainly make sense of all this. Cheers to a beautiful soul! My condolences to all his friends so near. Skol!
Just a few thoughts about HST, more than I can put here. If you don’t understand what the big deal’s about, go to the bookstore, get a book and read. If you do understand, same thing.
Brian
I just want to say that Thompson was a great inspiration to me. It is because of him that I choose journalism as a career! Thank you, Dr. Gonzo.
My blog, starting with the horrible passing of HST.
http://goamofo.blogspot.com/
The good doctors work changed alot of lives in a positive way . Forever Gonzo. Love ya Doc. THE greatest kentuckian ever!!!! and one Hell of an American.Mahalo.
I feel sad, the dull numbing kind that cannot be bent. Hunter was a saviour for me in my troubled youth, someone who spoke directly at me and yet remained surreal. He seemed unaware of how his ramblings affected the doomed youth. I wrote him a letter once but never posted it because I knew that he didn’t do it for the fan mail.
When I first heard he had committed suicide I was disappointed.
But as I digested his passing I began to realise that it was my sense of loss that was disappointing me and I began to feel at ease with his suicide (no disrespect to his family and friends). Like with his writing it imitates his life which for “normal people” was fraught with suicide attempts namely hells angels, substance combination, motorcycles, diving, big red shark convertibles (and a jeep if I recall), hurling abuse and insults at dangerous volatile Presidents.
He shook that freak power fist at death and nothing happened and anything that did was soon overcome. He has written the last page of his life in a macabre gonzo style. I think like in his stories he wanted to be influential in his end. His flirtation with weapons was a reminder that life hangs in a finite balance that can be rapidly tipped. It was definitely not for lack of subject having another 4 years of Bushism to look forward to or maybe subject matter was the one excess he could not live with?
So long Hunter, you are the man.
Hunter was the last great true American hero, closing the circle of all those who came before him….with him gone our country is different, we no longer have our self proclaimed champion of fun to make us smile when we need it most, or to make us think when it is of utmost importance. I am profoundly sadden by his death, unlike any other culture figure… ill smoke this marijuana and eat this lsd in your memory, my fallen hero.
The problem with thinking in two dimensions; the important stuff goes unseen. Something passed overhead and no one looked up.
I recall a cross country trip I took with my close advisor, a very large and untamed Russian (Georgian, formerly Soviet territory). We drove most of the night, daytime proved intolerable under a merciless sun. We camped in the desert.
“Don’t move. Don’t even breath or it’s over” he half wispered. “Jesus, they found us.” I thought. “All that dark road and they still found us.”
I opened my eyes, expecting to stare down the cold blue steel barrel of some high powered federal issue sidearm. “If you move he’ll be gone”. Christ, he’s still halucinating. I opened my eyes and found him peeking out the front of the tent. I sat up and looked. We had pitched in from of a prairie dog burrow. The little fellow was sitting on top of the den mound wondering if our tent was something to be feared. “Varmints. One of his many offspring are probably knawing on my tires right now. He’s a deversion for the real offensive. We’re surrounded”. “Don’t be fooled.” said my companion, “He’s wondering what we’re doing”.
Then, a blur of brown and grey. Dust, that fine particulate dust that makes up the desert floor, from all those wagon wheels and horse hoofs, struggle in a dust cloud. Screaming, knawing. The rodent lifted into the air, impaled on talons. A hawk had found the breakfast bar.
“You have to look up” I said. “What the fuck are you talking about?” he quizzed. “Hawks” I replied. “Hawks circle overhead tirelessly. Death from above. They come out of nowhere. They knaw at your flesh and prick your brain clean from your skull and there’s nothing you can do about it. You have to look up. You always have to look up”.
“We need shade” he mumbled, “It’s already getting hot”.
Tis a dark day in America. Needless to say I was shocked and saddened to learn of the passing of Hunter. And the manner of his passing is difficult to comprehend as are all suicides. This one is particularly hard to swallow as by all accounts he was the same ol’ Hunter to the end. Apparently he gave no indication that he was considering this. Whatever the reason(s), he WILL be missed. It’s been a decade since Jerry Garcia’s untimely passing. Hunter’s demise is as significant to me as Jerry’s. It definitely leaves a void. However, like with Jerry, we will survive and Hunter’s memory and art will live on.
The news hit me like a thunder-clap…a sharp punch to the back of the head. Not the Good Doctor! We need him now…more than ever. How can we cope in this insane, fascist, dumed down version of America without his guidance and editorial?
He is in a better place now. It is all of us left down here that are suffering.
RIP Hunter
– Will Lawson
Hey, Doc — Where ever you are…Thanks…
The Dr. has come and visiting hours are over. He must move on.
What ever took him…. let him rest…he’s done his work.
Ride on, and may it flow freely.
Many of you have said it better than I could, so suffice to say that I enjoyed Hunter’s work over the years and was devastated to learn of his passing. Like many have said, we needed a voice like his more than ever in this foul year of our lord 2005.
Watching tv last night, hitting CNN during commercial breaks, and reading about HST on the scrawl… a cruel and impersonal way to learn about the death of someone so important to me personally, and to the soul of a nation.
While I don’t aspire to Hunter’s lifestyle, as a writer (though I dare not call myself that) I was, am, and will continue to be driven by his magic- it is good juju. His talents, his ability to jam with the English language in such bizarre, unconventional and beautiful ways, shall continue to inspire me as I’m sure it will others.
I do not yet have the information as to why he chose to leave now, and in this way, and hopefully the days ahead will provide some understanding and, hopefully, comfort for us all. The only feeling I can adequately express at this time is that the world is amuch emptier and less colorful place without him.
My thoughts and prayers to Hunter’s family and friends. As for the man himself, don’t rest in peace, you bastard… that would be too boring for the likes of you.
John
“Oscar was one of God’s own prototypes – a high-powered mutant of some kind who was never even considered for mass production. He was too weird to live and too rare to die…” Well, same to you doc. R.I.P HST & OZA.
I’m 17 years old and its a misfortune that i only discovered Hunter S. Thompson at the age of 16. Hunter S. Thompson profoundly impacted my life as a student and as a person. Because of Hunter I have changed my whole life plan to become a journalist, and hopefully at least atempted to try and even come close to the style of gonzo journalism, even knowing that it is impossible to be as good as the Great One himself. His death has only pushed my dreams to become a journalist even high and to prersue those with the up most strenght.
To the one person that saw socitiy the way i do and the way it really is, Thank You.
i really never imagined this was at all possible. the doctor was my hero, and i adopted his words – phrasing, timing, wit, et al – as my own. if he had written my local phone book, i would have read it cover to cover. evrything he published seemed like the funniest, smartest, sharpest thing i had ever seen. everyone i have spoken with over the last 16 hours or so agrees that this seems out of charcter for such a man. was he ill? he must have been, right? we could discern no other explanation. suicide is chickenshit, isnt it? i certainly dont know. i am personally deeply saddened and i wish all his friends, supporters, and, especially his family the very best as they cope with this tragedy.
thanks, doc.
mahalo
Dr H.S. Thompson….GONZO in life….GONZO in death….
We that read his ramblings and saw his truths believed in his chaios.
It had an appropriate perception of the trials that us unnormal
travellers delt with each day among the sheep…
long live HST….he brought to light the dark in all of us…
May he mumble through heaven cursing the Gods that brought him to us …
Goldmental of Wierd goes to Hunter
Feelings best put by the man himself:
“He stomped on the terra, and he left his elegant hoof prints on all our lives.” –Hunter S. Thompson (on the passing of Timothy Leary)
Two of my childhood heroes gone in a week… first, Dick Weber and now HST. From Weber I learned the value of a smooth stroke on the lanes. From HST I learned the value of intellectual honesty (even when HST was bs’ing himself and everybody else). Much as I tried to pattern my life and work after him in the 70’s and 80’s, there was only one HST (and I wasn’t his clone). Despite all the booze and “extracurriculars,” Hunter remains as one of the fine political minds of the last 30 years. I don’t know if he left any notes or articles on the last campaign, but I can’t see him liking it any more than I did (can you do the limbo rock AND “kill ’em where they live”). Rest well. The dream isn’t dead – it’s just been disenfranchised.
The man worked hard to do the things that he did- Everyone will have their unique vision of the man but one that is rare true and hard to find is that he was a painstaking listener and soft spoken at times … crazy outlandish subjective — an amazing personality–A REAL journalist that puts many to shame- his experience in this world was vast and his portrayal of America and the political scene was right on. I appreciate his words, his books and the appeal of his language and vision… “he died with his boots on…”
Deeply shocked and numb. First John Peel (Englands top DJ) and now this… Gratified by the UK press coverage, but what next? Hunter was a major influence on my life and my whole way of thinking. The man was simply Right! Miss ya doc.. Let the Good Times roll
its 4:2o….this buds for you….
HST…..rest in peace
OUR VOICE HAS GONE
WERE WILL WE FIND THE TRUTH????
Your wonderful words, and natural honest way of telling it will be long missed.I have read all of your work over and over for many years, and will continue to do the so for the years ahead.God Bless, and R.I.P. Many prayers for your family! Goodbye Dr. Gonzo!!!!