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The Great Gonzo: The Hunter S. Thompson Thread

Started by Serge, October 26, 2017, 01:19:31 PM

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Serge

As threatened in at least one other thread, here it is.

I've written about Thompson on here before, and my general opinion hasn't changed significantly - I think he had a golden era of roughly 1970-1979, and with anything either side, you should tread carefully, especially with anything written after those years. Pre-1970, he had a stab at being a novelist, with two (then) unpublished works, Prince Jellyfish and The Rum Diary under his belt, at the same time as he was finding his way in journalism. I find his early journalism quite dull, as he isn't writing in his own voice at that point, rather writing to some sort of conformed standard of the day. I even found the much-touted Hell's Angels a bit of a chore to get through, and I've never finished it to this day.

It was in 1970, when on an assignment to cover the Kentucky Derby in his hometown of Louisville, that he inadvertantly invented Gonzo journalism. Running up against a deadline, he didn't have time to form his notes into the kind of story that the magazine would have been expecting, so merely sent them his notes, under the heading, The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent And Depraved, and the legend of Hunter S. Thompson was born. Barely covering the Derby at all, he goes into vivid detail about his own adventures whilst on the assignment, in language that crackles with excitement and craziness. This piece also includes a description of his first meeting with Ralph Steadman, the artist who was to go on to become a key collaborator, illustrating his books with pictures that had the same air of barely-controlled frenzy.

His greatest and best-known work, is, as Thompson has said himself, a failed work of Gonzo journalism. His definition of Gonzo is basically merely to print the words you wrote on the spot, rather than to try and form them into a coherent story. Although it has elements of Gonzo (the chapter which is merely a transcript of a recording, the insertion of news stories), Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas has obviously been crafted to make every word count. Thompson also held up 'The Great Gatsby' as the ideal he was working towards, and F&LILV is almost exactly the same length as Fitzgerald's book. It contains some of his finest writing - the 'high-water mark' section for a start, and some of the funniest and best put-together language I've ever read.

QuoteJesus Creeping God! Is there a priest in this tavern? I want to confess! I'm a fucking sinner! Venal, mortal, carnal, major, minor - however you want to call it, Lord...I'm guilty.

QuoteI could almost hear the shrill voice of the Manager, Mr. Heem, saying the police were on their way up to my room and would I please not shoot through the door when they began kicking it down.

It's a book that defies categorisation. It's often catalogued as fiction - that's where it sits on the shelves in our shop - but the events described within are essentially true. Thompson was assigned to go and cover the Mint 400, a race for motorcycles and dune buggies, due to take place in Las Vegas, and went along with an attourney friend of his, Oscar Zeta Acosta (renamed Dr. Gonzo and recast as a Samoan in the book) and a car full of drugs. A few weeks later, he was given another job, to cover a conference being held by the National District Attorneys Association on Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, and went back with Acosta for a second time. Originally published in two parts in Rolling Stone in 1971, they were published in book form a year later.

Given the success of this book, Thompson's next assignment was to cover the Presidential campaign for Rolling Stone in 1972, collected as Fear And Loathing On The Campaign Trail. This is closer to true Gonzo, as it is made up of pieces that were written on the hoof, as he followed the battle between George McGovern (a man essentially too decent to ever become President) and Thompson's '70's bête noire, Richard Nixon. It also became infamous for derailing the career of Edmund Muskie, another potential Democratic candidate, when Thompson implied that he was addicted to ibogaine.

He carried on writing in this style for the rest of the '70s, and the best of his work from the rest of this decade (alongside the Kentucky Derby piece) is collected in the frustrating The Great Shark Hunt. Frustrating, because rather than being a decent collection of his '70s journalism, it also reprints sections of 'Las Vegas' and 'Campaign Trail' (a habit he would repeat), as well as some of his '60s journalism, which would have worked better as a standalone book, and the changes in tone can be jarring. But the best pieces in the book are fantastic - my favourite being an encounter with Muhammad Ali in which some hijinks with a monster mask almost end in Ali being shot by his own bodyguard. Not in the book is an account of Ali's 'Rumble In The Jungle' - Thompson flew to Zaire to see the fight, but missed it as he was sitting on a lilo in a hotel swimming pool stoned out of his head.

And this would be a sign of what was to come. His next book was The Curse Of Lono, which is ok, but is mainly of interest for Steadman's art rather than Thompson's writing. It also went out of print very quickly, which lead to it being thought of as a lost classic rather than just a lost very average book (it has been republished by Taschen.) The rest of his '80s work is barely worth mentioning - like Bowie, Thompson followed a stellar decade with one that found him languishing in the creative doldrums. Generation Of Swine is a candidate for his worst ever book - a collection of short columns from the early '80s that rumour has it weren't all written by Thompson anyway. Songs Of The Doomed is padded out by excerpts from his two unpublished novels and yet more sections of 'Las Vegas' and 'Campaign Trail'.

Things picked up slightly in the '90s. Better Than Sex, while in no way a return to form, was at least an improvement on the previous books, and displayed a healthy disdain for the (as he was then) Democratic candidate Bill Clinton, but it falls far short of the heights reached by 'Campaign Trail'. It is interesting because Thompson writes about his own short-lived political career, when he ran for sheriff in Pitkin County, Colorado, as the Freak Power candidate (during which time he shaved his head completely bald, so that he could refer to his more strait-laced opponent as 'long haired'.) It's also around this time that Thompson was accused of rape, a charge that was later dismissed.

This aside, the late '90s and early '00s saw Thompson's stock rising again. In the late '90s, a film version of Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas finally came to fruition after decades in development hell. Gilliam's movie split fans, though I think it's bloody fantastic (and I still regret the time I saw Gilliam walking through Soho and didn't go up and tell him that I thought so.) I saw it four times at the cinema, though this was at the height of my Thompson fandom, when I was even dressing like him (though still completely drug free.....!)

It also saw the publication of The Rum Diary, a move which I feel was misguided, as it wasn't suddenly any better now than it had been when it was rejected by several publishers back in the early sixties, but it went on to be a bestseller, and is now published as a 'Bloomsbury Classic', so what do I know? (I still think it's a terrible book.) More happily, this period also saw the publication of two volumes of Thompson's letters, under the titles The Proud Highway and Fear And Loathing In America, which are the best of his writing outside of his published '70s work. Having said that, it also underscored the fact that Thompson wasn't really producing anything new of worth, his years of drink and drug abuse having ruined him mentally and physically (it was rumoured that he couldn't eat anything more challenging than ice cream at one point.)

The early '00s saw two final collections, Kingdom Of Fear and Hey Rube. I haven't read the latter, but the former is definitely his best since the seventies, as in George W. Bush, he finally had someone he hated as much as Richard Nixon. But this was to be a last hurrah. On February 20, 2005, he mysteriously put a piece of paper in his typewriter, dated it 'Feb. 22 '05' and wrote one word - 'counselor' - and then shot himself, an act that Ralph Steadman at least had been told was a possibility (albeit this was 25 years earlier.)

Since then, there have been more books of older work and photos published (though not the third volume of letters that was meant to round off the trilogy started by 'Proud Highway'), and a fairly hagiographic documentary, which is at least of interest for the film of Thompson it contains, such as his confrontation with Sonny Barger on a mid-sixties chatshow (where he is visibly uncomfortable). He is now, for good or ill, a countercultural icon, and for his best works, that reputation is well deserved. The fact that it inspires assholes like Johnny Depp to act like, well, assholes is a sad side effect, but you can't put that all on his shoulders. If he'd never written anything but 'Las Vegas', he'd have had a right to be remembered, but he did at least a little more than that.

ieXush2i

Are there any details about the Gail Palmer case out there?

Serge

Actually, looking it up, it was sexual assault rather than rape he was accused of, which seemed to consist of grabbing her breast and twisting it after she refused to get into a hot tub with him. There's a news story here, and a more detailed one here though at least one of the biographies I've read went into it in more detail. He had spent part of the eighties hanging around with Jim and Artie Mitchell, at one point becoming the night manager of their strip club, Mitchell Brothers O'Farrell Theatre, allegedly whilst researching a book on pornography, which is possibly the same reason he met up with Gail Palmer in the first place as well.

It's an obvious thing to say, but he wasn't a very nice man. All of his friends talk about his angry bullying, and it's alleged that he used to beat his first wife. Although it's harder in this case, as the work is so intrinsically bound to the man, this is definitely a case of separating the man from his art.


ieXush2i

That's not the same incident where he bit a woman on the back is it?


Ignatius_S

Quote from: Serge on October 26, 2017, 01:19:31 PM....The early '00s saw two final collections, Kingdom Of Fear and Hey Rube. I haven't read the latter...

It's made up of his ESPN columns (which you most likely know), which is in turn made up of a lot of name dropping. If the idea of articles punctured by comments, such as 'I was watching the game with my very good friend, Warren Zevon' then I definitely recommend it.

That said, as per previous discusions, there are suggestions that prior to that period, Thompson wasn't writing unaided (his PA, then wife gets mentioned) – a view I'm sympathetic to. The Observer did a big interview around the time of the film of Fear & Loathing and the writer (Barbara Ellen, possibly, but can't remember) found it hard work as Thompson's short-term memory was so shot away, he wasn't able to keep focussed.

Quote from: Serge on October 26, 2017, 01:49:42 PM
Actually, looking it up, it was sexual assault rather than rape he was accused of, which seemed to consist of grabbing her breast and twisting it after she refused to get into a hot tub with him....

I received one biography as a gift as it mentioned that one university intern (which there were a stream of) pulled away as Thompson made a pass at her. She was worried what the consequences were going to be, such as a bad reference, but he never made another mention of it and gave her a glowing reference. IIRC, he would try it on with every intern and the biographer commented that although this was obviously not a good thing, there was no bad consequences if someone said no... my thought was 'right..... obviously every intern who didn't want to have sex with him, would have definitely said so. *rolls eyebrows* The book wasn't whitewash by any means, but some of the biographer's comments caused my eyebrows to rise.

Quote from: Serge on October 26, 2017, 01:49:42 PM... All of his friends talk about his angry bullying, and it's alleged that he used to beat his first wife....

I don't think that it's in dispute that although Thompson was on excellent money on the National Observer, his wife had to rely on relying on charity of friends and shoplifting to make sure their son was fed.

Shit Good Nose

Quote from: Ignatius_S on October 26, 2017, 03:06:53 PM
It's made up of his ESPN columns

I read that shortly after he topped himself, and noticed that there were regular, albeit flippant, allusions to his contemplating suicide.  A bit eerie reading that in hindsight.

Never liked The Rum Diary (would much sooner watch the film than sit down with the book again), but am a big fan of his "non-fiction"/gonzo stuff.

My favourite is probably Better Than Sex, and I would take that over the typically-considered-by-hardcore-fans-as-his-masterpiece Campaign Trail, which I find REALLY hard going.

I also love (LOVE) The Curse of Lono - possibly because I read it with no other frame of reference than already being a fan, so my own opinion wasn't coloured by anything or anyone else - and am very fond of his 80s stuff.

In fact, it really is only The Rum Diary I think is poor.

One thing I have noticed is that when Fear and Loathing (the film) came out, everyone fell over themselves to devour his books and talk about what an amazing and misunderstood writer he was.  In the last few years, those same people who talked of him so highly now regard him as...well, a bit shit.

I dunno, I still love him, even though he was a massive dangerous crazy cunt.

Also worth noting the under rated Where the Buffalo Roam has recently been released on blu ray.

Every time I see George Bush Sr, I think about the strange portrait of him in "The Other George Bush" in Generation of Swine. One of Bush's CIA mates rings HST up and tells him that everybody has got Bush wrong, that he's a sensitive, acoustic-guitar-playing Leonard Cohen fan who's not ashamed to cry and loves reciting poetry by the fireside. Thompson doesn't beleive him, mind.

Serge

Quote from: Ignatius_S on October 26, 2017, 03:06:53 PMI received one biography as a gift as it mentioned that one university intern (which there were a stream of) pulled away as Thompson made a pass at her. She was worried what the consequences were going to be, such as a bad reference, but he never made another mention of it and gave her a glowing reference. IIRC, he would try it on with every intern and the biographer commented that although this was obviously not a good thing, there was no bad consequences if someone said no... my thought was 'right..... obviously every intern who didn't want to have sex with him, would have definitely said so. *rolls eyebrows* The book wasn't whitewash by any means, but some of the biographer's comments caused my eyebrows to rise.

Interesting.....I have read a couple of biographies - one is Paul Perry's Fear And Loathing: The Strange And Terrible Saga Of Hunter S. Thompson, and the other is E. Jean Carroll's Hunter, which is an oral biography, and I don't remember that story from either of them - but looking it up, I see there are many more since those two (including one by his son!) One thing I remember from the Carroll book is that the only quote from Ralph Steadman is basically him refusing to be interviewed for the book because he can't deal with the fall-out that that would cause from Hunter.

In the 'Gilliam On Gilliam' book, he (Gilliam) mentions that there isn't really any sex in Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas, at least not from the perspective of Raoul Duke, other than a line where he's looking at the legs of female students while he's waiting in a car somewhere. Obviously, Dr. Gonzo has his appetites, though that all tends to happen offscreen (offpage?)

There is a graphic novel based on his life, and a more recent one based on F&LILV. I haven't read the former, but the latter isn't really very good. I see there is also going to be a TV series based on his life soon, too.

In related news, I did notice a new book about the history of Rolling Stone magazine and Jann Wenner arrive at the shop the other day, which looks interesting, and will presumably have some Thompson stories in, but I think I'll wait for the paperback, as even with staff discount, it's a bit pricey.

Quote from: Shit Good Nose on October 26, 2017, 03:31:01 PMAlso worth noting the under rated Where the Buffalo Roam has recently been released on blu ray.

I bought that as part of a double pack with 'Fear And Loathing...' on DVD a few years ago. I wasn't really that keen, and I speak as a huge Bill Murray fan. I got seriously annoyed with the opening scene, where the phone is ringing and he keeps shouting, "WHAAAT?" at it.

Something I loved about the 'Fear And Loathing' movie was the insertion of two lines that Thompson ultimately didn't use in the book - "You people voted for Hubert Humphrey! And you killed Jesus!"

Sin Agog

I remember quite digging Oscar Zeta Acosta's two books back in the day.  Even though the bloke at Borders laughed at me when I mistakenly asked if my copy of "Revenge of the Cockroach People" had come in (it's s'posed to be 'Revolt of...').  As if Revenge of the Cockroach People isn't a better title than most.

Shit Good Nose

Quote from: Serge on October 26, 2017, 07:50:49 PM
where the phone is ringing and he keeps shouting, "WHAAAT?" at it.

Apparently based on an actual moment that scriptwriter John Kaye witnessed.

What an odd thing to be annoyed by...

Steven

I think he's dreadful.

It was the introduction of his character that made it obvious The Flinstones had run its course as a show.

Serge

Quote from: Shit Good Nose on October 26, 2017, 11:31:57 PMWhat an odd thing to be annoyed by...

It's not that odd - he is being annoying! He could just pick the bloody phone up. I will have to give it a rewatch at some point, though, as that's literally all I remember from it.

Shit Good Nose

Quote from: Serge on October 27, 2017, 08:57:42 PM
It's not that odd - he is being annoying! He could just pick the bloody phone up.

I'm...assuming you haven't seen or heard many HST interviews, particularly from the 70s...

Have a watch of this - it gives that moment a bit of character context (I'm just gonna ask you to cut so I can snort some cocaine):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laamYjSwcHI


Serge

I haven't actually seen that Omnibus  documentary - I'll have to watch it sometime this week! Hunter can get away with it, though, as he's Hunter. Bill Murray couldn't quite pull it off - he's much better at being Bill Murray.

Shit Good Nose

I'll give you that Depp (in, arguably, his last great role) inhabited HST much more successfully, but in his defence, and to his credit, it's the furthest Murray has stretched from his own persona - even in The Razor's Edge he was still Bill Murray.

Give it another chance - you might be surprised.  In a good way.  If nothing else, the Zoo plane sequence is worth the ticket price alone.

Wet Blanket

That documentary has an interesting moment where Thompson admits that he's exhausted Gonzo journalism and he has become too well known/ notorious to properly cover a story from the outside. That's in 1978, yet he never managed to find a new style.


Serge

Well, exactly - which is why he never managed to write anything that was up to his previous standard from that point onwards. Well, along with the drugs fucking his brain up, obviously.

Wet Blanket

It's a really interesting documentary, captures him at his high watermark. Sent me back to dipping into Jann Wenner's oral biography Gonzo, the second half of which makes for pretty bleak reading. Thompson, like Bukowski and other 'bad-boy' writers, could turn his antics into good copy but I bet to actually witness them would be no different from seeing any drunk show-off making an arse of themselves.

Shit Good Nose

Quote from: Wet Blanket on October 30, 2017, 10:16:24 AM
I bet to actually witness them would be no different from seeing any drunk show-off making an arse of themselves.

Exactly why the scene in Where the Buffalo Roam that annoys Serge so much is the way it is.

Most of the "straights" who were friendly and/or hung around with HST have always been very quick to say what a massive cunt he was when he was drunk and/or on something else.  I can't remember exactly who it was (might've been Bob Braudis), but they often said HST was both the best and worst person they knew.

Repeater


Ignatius_S

Quote from: Serge on October 26, 2017, 07:50:49 PM
Interesting.....I have read a couple of biographies - one is Paul Perry's Fear And Loathing: The Strange And Terrible Saga Of Hunter S. Thompson, and the other is E. Jean Carroll's Hunter, which is an oral biography, and I don't remember that story from either of them...

The one I have is Outlaw Journalist – the writer knew Thompson for quite a while (think it was 20 years or so). As I say, it isn't a whitewash – and he doesn't shy away from discussing Thompson's negative aspects. However, there are a few comments (like the one I mentioned) that raise the eyebrows and made my question their judgement/reporting.

With the F&L film, when talking about the producers who optioned the book (she met HST when working on Saturday Night Live), there's a comment along the lines of 'She and Hunter never slept together." I couldn't see any reason why this was being stated in the context of the rest of the text and it seemed wholly incongruous. He's very complimentary, IIRC, about her role in the film's production (something that I feel is *very* questionable) and the whole Cox debacle is presented in a way that didn't inspire trust.

On the other hand, he makes a very interesting claim about when Thompson was on the National Observer – and would be interested in hearing if this was in any of the ones you read. HST was the golden boy and the higher-ups thought the sun shone out of his earholes. Other hacks were less impressed with him and thought his copy was a little *too* good and they suspect that the direct quotes, HST made up himself. As the writer mentions, this might have been sour, jealous grapes but he points out that certain direct quotes in his Observer reporting bear a striking resemblance to direct quotes from his later journalism and pretty sure gave examples of this. It's been a long while since I read it, so need to re-read to refresh my memory.

Wet Blanket

Quote from: Ignatius_S on October 30, 2017, 01:37:03 PM
With the F&L film, when talking about the producers who optioned the book (she met HST when working on Saturday Night Live), there's a comment along the lines of 'She and Hunter never slept together." I couldn't see any reason why this was being stated in the context of the rest of the text and it seemed wholly incongruous.

Presumably that's Laila Nabulsi. She was one of HST's longer-term co-conspirators. I thought she has been his lover, so maybe he mentioned it because it's a common misconception.

Ignatius_S

Quote from: Wet Blanket on October 30, 2017, 01:41:33 PM
Presumably that's Laila Nabulsi. She was one of HST's longer-term co-conspirators. I thought she has been his lover, so maybe he mentioned it because it's a common misconception.

Thanks - I should have looked it up. I can't remember the comment having any context at all – it's was something said in passing and seemed a really odd thing to just come out to say and in the way it was said. When I read it, my reaction was "err... who was suggesting they had?'


Sin Agog

Aside from making hair-raising "eeeEEEeeEEEeeeEEEeeeeeEEEeeeeeeEeeeeeEEEEEEE!" sounds at random intervals, HST's commentary track on the Criterion edition of Fear and Loathing with Laila* and another woman gave me the definite impression that he was nothing but enamoured of the women in his life, at least in his later years.  Seemed like a gentle old lovey to them.  I don't know the stories of wife-beating in his angry young manhood, but I get the vibe with cats like Hunter, who flaunt their errant natures right out in the open, that they're much more socially responsible than many who talk so loudly about other people's failings whilst secretly retreating to their cum dungeons every night to partake in the most unsavoury of sexmares.


*who played Grace Slick in the movie

Gamma Ray

Quote from: Wet Blanket on October 29, 2017, 11:38:14 AMThat documentary has an interesting moment where Thompson admits that he's exhausted Gonzo journalism and he has become too well known/ notorious to properly cover a story from the outside. That's in 1978, yet he never managed to find a new style.

Indeed, by that point he was clearly aware that it was difficult for him to cover a story without becoming the story himself.  People were more interested in hearing about the inhuman exploits of Raoul Duke than anything as tedious as something like politics.  Sure, you can argue that Thompson should shoulder some blame for distracting people by promoting his own legend but his conjecture that the notion of 'objective' journalism was duplicitous or that the best fact and best fiction writing have the same objective were, at least for me, enough to mark his as a voice worth listening to. It's not so much that he needed a new style as our society needed, and still needs, a different way of communicating.

Dr Syntax Head

He is my favourite famous person I've never met. For a while I became obsessed with him and subconsciously used that obsession to excuse my worst days of being a drunk fuck up. It's just hedonism isn't it? I'd ask myself. What a twat.

Fear and Loathing is perfect in ever single way for me. The writing matches what I imagine was the pace of those adventures. Just fucking nuts. I particularly love the two volumes of letters. He's just knocking out his thoughts and they are glorious. He really is a true genuine hero of mine. There will never be anyone of the like again.

On a side note it's interesting to see the crossover between Hell's Angels and Wolfe's Electric Kool Aid Acid Test in the parts about the party Kesey held and invited the Hell's Angels over. (Wolfe used the recordings of the party that Hunter made at the time). Very interesting times.

Serge

I never really got on with Wolfe. I read one of his early collections - possibly The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, but I can't remember for certain - and thought it was ok, but no more than that. I didn't feel the need to go out and read everything else he'd ever written that same way I did with Thompson. And then, of course, Wolfe came out as a Dubya supporter and scuppered any chance of a reappraisal in my eyes, the white-suited fool.

Dr Syntax Head

Kool aid is the only book of his I've read. I was obsessed with that whole beats to the acid scene thing and it's a good book as a document of what was going on then but it's simply a document put together from a lot of other sources. I still go back to it. Particularly sad is the part where Kerouac is at a party to see Cassidy and when Cassidy turns up with his new found crazy mates Kerouac knew his time was over. He really was a sad mani in the end was Kerouac. To be fair Cassidy's ending was not too bright either.

Wet Blanket

I've never read any of Tom Wolfe's journalism but Bonfire of the Vanities is a very good novel.

Quote from: Gamma Ray on November 04, 2017, 01:02:23 AM
It's not so much that he needed a new style as our society needed, and still needs, a different way of communicating.

I was thinking more in terms of lifestyle than literary style, or rather persona. He says he finds it increasingly difficult to tell whether he should be Duke or Thompson, and ultimately he became Duke.