Gonzo Journalism Defined by its Fans: Should it be Emulated?
This is part 2 of our HST For Beginners series. The definite contributers are as follows…
Marty Beckerman. Author of Dumbocracy: Adventures with the Loony Left, the Rabid Right, and Other American Idiots. Generation S.L.U.T. (sexually liberated urban teens): A Brutal Feel-up Session with Today’s Sex-Crazed Adolescent Populace, and Death to All Cheerleaders: One Adolescent Journalist’s Cheerful Diatribe Against Teenage Plasticity. HST called him “a morbid little bastard.” He has written for Playboy, Discover, Reason, and many more. Click on his name above and get the full whack. You can see my review of his book Dumbocracy here.
William McKeen is the man behind my favorite HST biography, Outlaw Journalist. You can see my review of McKeen’s book and an interview I did with him here. McKeen first met Hunter in the 70s and has written two books about him. He’s one of the folks we can learn something from.
David S. Wills. Scholar, editor, writer, and publisher is currently writing a book about Hunter S. Thompson the man and his relation to Duke the fiend (David’s words) to see one of his many sites just click on his name. I’m looking forward to his insights and thoughts.
Simone Corday. Spent time with Hunter during his time at The Mitchell Brothers O’Farrell Theater. She’ll give a unique perspective on the ins and outs of Gonzo Journalism. Always an interesting read from Simone.
Peter Richardson. Author of A Bomb in Every Issue: How the Short, Unruly Life of Ramparts Magazine Changed America. He teaches California Culture at San Francisco State University. He also wrote American Prophet: The Life and Work of Carey McWilliams. He is also editorial director at PoliPointPress, which publishes trade books on politics and current affairs.
Peter W. Knox. Gonzo Beat reporter at Washington College, Peter went to Woody Creek to cover Hunter’s “Blastoff service” for the premier issue of Five magazine . Peter also did his undergraduate thesis on the theme of The American Dream throughout the life and literature of Hunter S. Thompson.
I am waiting to hear from a few more possible contributers, as soon as I get the nod from them I’ll let you know.
Also I’m in the process of putting together a site dedicated to the HST for Beginners series. I figured there is so much content on this site that the series will get buried in a ton of posts. So, after posting the series here I’ll be putting it on the new site too and linking the sites up. More on that later.
I’m hoping to get this sewn up by the end of next week. Until then.
Dramatic reading of Hunter Thompson’s Derby ‘gonzo’ romp set for the Speed
A nice HST fix from Larry Muhammad here, with a great Ralph Steadman photo.
“Hunter S. Thompson & the Vengeance for Screwjack”
Here is a great piece from The Outsiders Almanac including HST and Wayne Ewing.
http://outsidersalmanac.com/blog/2010/02/03/hunter-s-thompson-the-vengeance-for-screwjack/
Dont forget Wayne’s great Vodcast here.
Banned in Texas prisons: books and magazines that many would consider classics
Yes, HST is included in the ban list.
Banned in Texas prisons: books and magazines that many would consider classics
Posted using ShareThis
John Cusack: Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail 72
I came across this on Oprah.com (who’d have thought.) It wont be news to most of you that John Cusack was a friend of Dr Thompson. Anyone who has seen Wayne Ewing’s Breakfast with Hunter will have seen Cusack on stage with Hunter at Johnny Depp’s Viper Room. Below are Cusack’s thoughts on Campaign Trail 72. You can see more of his book picks at Oprah.com.
They say Hunter walked the surface of the Earth looking for an honest man and came up wanting. I’d never seen politics approached with this kind of candor or insight or capacity for looking at the 
underbelly of it. During the 1972 presidential campaign, he did a series of articles for Rolling Stone that are collected here. His mixture of artistic sensibilities with journalistic excellence, all to find the core of truth—I thought that was pretty incredible. Mostly, I admired the ferocity of Hunter’s mind. I got to know him as a friend in the ’90s. He was still reading everything, processing all this information, and seeing the patterns underneath. People forget—because of his Dr. Gonzo persona, which was so much larger than life—what a wonderful writer, thinker, journalist, and advocate he was for the truth and for the American dream. I think he was mourning its passing. Hunter had reason to be disillusioned, but his insights into people, his savage deconstruction of things, the precision, the honesty, and the courage to admit difficult things about himself, his country, and human nature—talk about influential. He sort of blew your mind.
Beat Scene Magazine
After a few months of numerous computer problems Kevin Ring’s site is back in business. Even with the problems Kevin has been working behind the scenes churning out chap-books and of course Beat Scene Magazine. Head to his site here for updates on what is coming and back issues.
Beatdom Issue 5 Coming January 31st
Beatdom: From the Warped Mind of David Wills.
I remember the birth of Beatdom back in 2007, I was supposed to submit an article about the influence of jazz on the Beat
Generation but injured my back and was non compos mentis due to the pain killers. I was disappointed not to get the chance to be part of issue 1 but David gave me a cool mention anyway.
I have been following Beatdom’s progress since the beginning and as an outsider looking in I can see it morphing into a juggernaut of a brand. The difference with this brand though is the fact that it doesn’t seem to be one feeding from the money trough, but one that feeds on the enthusiasm of the founder David, and that of its subscribers.
The latest issue of Beatdom (#5) is due for release on January 31. You can get all the information here including back issues, where to get them, and all you need to know about Beatdom. Issue 6 looks to be a good one too, it will have a focus on travel in relation to the Beat Generation. Be sure to check the site too for regular updates and news.
Taiwan Pirate copy of 1st Edition Hell’s Angels.
This is an interesting one for any collector of Hunter’s work. I got an email last week from a visitor to the site saying he had a Hell’s Angels book and wanted some information. His description sounded different to any HST book. I had suspicions that it could be a pirate copy so I asked him for some pictures of the book and discovered that he had indeed a Taiwan pirate copy of Hunter’s Hell’s Angels, 1st edition hard cover. The dust jacket looks the same as the real deal , and the copyright page is the same; stating “First Printing” but the similarities end there. Firstly the book is a bit smaller than the original, the pages are very thin with bad quality paper you could almost see through the pages. On the rear leaf there is something written/typed in what I assume to be Taiwanese or Mandarin. There is no motorcycle on the front of the book.
This is a scarce book and not the only pirate copy of Hunter’s books. The other is “The Great Shark Hunt” of Asian origin with similar differences, such as size, quality and Asian text but on the glossary page on this one.
Here are some pictures of this Hell’s Angels gem.. Many thanks to the fellow for the pictures of this (he knows who he is.) He picked it up in a flea market by the way, so you never know what yer going to find. There is one for sale here if anyone is interested, not a bad price at $250.
