One of my heros was killed Sunday night. The reality of Thompson's death is sinking in more and more every minute. I've devoted a large chunk of my life to this man. I just now placed an order for Kingdom Of Fear and Hey Rube, the last 2 books of his I don't have. Although I've only read 4 of his actual books, that's still the most of any author I've read, not to mention the cash I doled out for that 70s Rolling Stone and that 80s Playboy with an article of his in them, and both his movies. I'd never heard of him when I rented Fear & Loathing for the first time. I was just looking for a movie with drugs but I found much more. I've read Las Vegas 3 times now and I still laugh every time. There's always something else to see. A huge thrill came to me as I wandered past a charity shop in Edinburgh and saw a copy of The Curse Of Lono for 3 pounds, a book that's been out of print since '83 with a street value of $300 US. I'm too scared to read it lest I spill something...not that I'd ever sell it, mind you. His writing always gave me the kind of insight into the 60s no one else could. Although "no explanation, no mix of words or music or memories can touch that sense of knowing that you were there and alive in that corner of time and the world," the experience of reading Thompson made me feel a kind of juvenille joy I've never read through anyone else, a sense of forbidden pleasure that you weren't supposed to be reading about what he wasn't supposed to be doing. He painted a world of power, rage, fear & loathing, but one that had the ability to create as many dreams as it destroyed. No matter how fucked things got or get, we can still and he always would find a way to, if not make it fun, make it interresting. My middle name on tinymixtapes is taken from a short story he wrote about his first mescaline trip, meaningful because no one else aside from Mr. Paul (english teacher) has affected my love of the language and what it can do quite as much. Every word I've written since 1997 has been affected by HST, another dead hero. All my heros are dying...
Keep your eyes peeled for The Rum Diary, a movie based on HST's only novel, directed by Del Toro and starring Johnny Depp. Currently in production.

I got "Breakfast With Hunter" in today, a documentary about him featuring Depp, del Toro, John Cusack, and Warren Zevon. So stoked.

Say what you will about Rolling Stone, but the latest issue has a very nice tribute to the late Hunter S. Thompson.

It includes pieces penned by RS Editor-in-Chief Jann Wenner, a detailed piece on Hunter's last days by Thompson biographer and editor Doug Brinkley, and shorter pieces by Johnny Depp, Mikal Gilmore, Jack Nicholson, Jimmy Carter (I didn't realize that Thompson and Carter were such good friends!), and Pat Buchanan. And, most touching of all, a nice farewell from Hunter's son, Juan, who was in the Owl Farm house when his dad pulled the trigger.

quote:

Originally posted by philosopherEric:
Say what you will about Rolling Stone, but the latest issue has a very nice tribute to the late Hunter S. Thompson.

If you read Fear & Loathing On The Campaign Trail '72, that explains how Carter and him became friends. He was truly the last good US president. Shame his hands were tied so tight. I've got that issue of Rolling Stone. I still buy it all the time but this is how it works. Thompson is on this month's cover, next issue Dashboard Confessional, Pink, or some other useless popstar/group. They do it all the time and it drives me nuts.

I love Hunter S. Thompsons work, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is probably one of the best books I have ever read. It's a real shame he's dead, but really it was only a matter of time.