Jimson Weed

Datura Stramonium - Jimson Weed

Today finds us diving into the "seedy" side of Hunter Thompson's writing references. And to start, we have to look to the Jimson Weed. Known in some circles as the Devil's Trumpet or the softer version...Angels Trumpet.

Either way, the slightest amount above medicinal dose and depending on your religion, you will be seeing one or the other.

Datura Stramonium is a member of the nightshade family and possesses belladonna alkaloids atropine and scopolamine. This has been used to treat asthma and as a pain killer in early surgery. However, it is also a hallucinogen and deliriant  that produces intense visions that may last for days.

This of course is what Hunter is relying on whenever he mentions using a "bit of the jimsonweed". He even referred to using it on his wedding night in 2003 at the age of 65. True or not it is hard to figure. But several of his papers reference the use. Curiously he almost never uses the word marijuana in his writing.

It is really unknown if he ever really smoked the jimmy weed or if he did, was there any productive writing?

But Jimson Weed is just the tip of the iceberg for the Gonzo journalist of our age. Saturday will enlighten you a wee bit more.

Until then, stay upright.

~Tempest Fugit~

Imagination

 

The other half of the Hunter Thompson recording duo was the deeply disturbed fantastically imaginative artist, Ralph Steadman. In usual Thompson fashion, fate played a part in the selection of the artist who would graphically document Hunter's twisted visions. It occurred on the Kentucky Derby assignment when the original artist who was to meet Thompson at the Derby to illustrate his writing, couldn't make it. Last minute replacement recommended by Hunter's editor, was Ralph Steadman. Who was an artist in England at the time, flew over and joined Hunter in what would become the hilariously satire-laden story, The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved. A biting retribution for the wrongs of HST's youth growing up in Kentucky and the Southern "code". The two together formed a life-long bond of boundless imagination when art imitated life...in a fun house! Some of Steadman's artwork can be found here.

With the theme today being imagination, I want to take this time to recognize four writers whose work I have enjoyed, admired, and most importantly...require more of! I believe many of you are familiar with them but for those who are not, please give them an opportunity to entertain you as they have me.

Alex J Cavanaugh

I met Alex online back when he was just about to explode with his site and also his publishing career. He has always been a faithful and constant commenter on my site and was extremely instrumental in doubling my followers during my first A-Z campaign.

 

 

When  CassaStar came out I had already committed to return the favor by buying, reading, and reviewing the book. It is in a genre I like a lot (Sci-Fi) and I was prepared to enjoy the story. But....

 

 

 

 

 

 

WOW! I loved this book. I read it over the period of about 4 days. Not   because I am a slow reader or the book was complicated but because I was not wanting it to end. The book showed what great imagination and storytelling ability Alex possessed. At the end I was sad for it to be over. Then I found out a second book (CassaFire) was coming out...same excitement thing for me except I actually WON a signed copy in one of his giveaways! Amazing, considering how many people must have entered for it.

 

Now we have the final book of the trilogy (CassaStorm) coming out this fall and I can not wait. I still say, some producer somewhere is missing a great movie series opportunity.

~~~~~~~

Nancy S Thompson

I met Nancy from last year's A-Z Challenge. We seemed to have bonded over our mutual appreciation for the band, Alice In Chains. And we have frequented each other's blogs ever since. And boy am I glad I did...

I read The Mistaken as soon as it was available. I immediately found myself immersed in, and actually felt a part of, this story. The premise showed great imagination on Nancy's part and the intricate and well-woven story was just captivating.  For her first novel I was blown away with how really GOOD it was. I could feel Tyler's pain, rage, sadness, humanity...all of it. The visuals that were always in my mind as I read, were exactly what I expect from a good book. And this one is tremendous! IF you have not already picked this one up, do it. I can't wait for her next work! Love your stuff, Nancy!!

~~~~~~~~

Milo James Fowler

I read Milo's work just because I like his cool name!! Just kidding, man. I read Milo's work because it is good, it is insanely original, and it makes me laugh from time to time. I do not know how his thought processes work but it is a little off center. And that's the good part. His Coyote Cal epics remind me of the movie Cowboys and Aliens, only this is more like Gunsmoke.

Milo has sooo much work out there I doubt he sleeps. Or maybe he can write while he sleeps. Or there is a pod beside his bed...something!!! I have read a ton of his work since the stories are short and there is not a one I have not enjoyed. If you crave a little twisted bent to your reading, Milo is your guy. Thanks for the entertainment, man.

~~~~~~~~~

Clarissa Draper

I believe I ran into Clarissa an A-Z or so ago. Her informative blog and creative A-Z posts keeping me coming back for more. Her imaginative foray into writing was the Sholes Key. I must say I saw the book cover staring me in the face every time I visited her site. but it took me awhile to actually but buy the book. I downloaded it to my Kindle and took it to Belize on vacation.

 

I could not put this book down once I started it (obviously I did or my wife would have killed me, on vacation and all). I love a good mystery, growing up a voracious fan of Agatha Christie, and this was a great mystery. Imaginative storytelling and constant "what's going to happen next" anxiety. Again, I had very vivid images of what I was reading and got pulled right into the action. I am eagerly awaiting the next output from Clarissa.

~~~~~~~~

I am proud to know each of these authors by their works and their blogs. I consider them friends.

Please take time to visit each of these wonderful writer's blogs (click their Names to go straight there). None will disappoint and who knows, you may make a new friend.

Hunter S. Thompson - Legend And The Man

"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro"

Hunter S Thompson the man, the myth, the legend. His life was a strangely long and fulfilled one, given all his indulgences. He married twice and has one son from his first marriage. Five other pregnancies resulted in 3 miscarries and 2 who died soon after birth.

From the streets of Kentucky to the isolation of the Owl Farm in Woody Creek Colorado, the life and times of Dr. Thompson were varied, inspired, and inspirational. The well documented use of drugs and alcohol fueling some of the most creative writing to ever be put down on paper. The oft quoted phrase included in the photo above speaks volumes to that fact. He would tell people there were much better reporters then he because he almost never tried to "reconstruct a story". Inserting himself into the mix and flavoring it with metaphors and twisted facts and fiction...the final creation was, in the words of Tom Wolfe, "part journalism and part personal memoir admixed with powers of wild invention and wilder rhetoric."

Hunter ran for Sheriff in 1970 in Pitkin County, CO. The ticket was the Freak Power Party and several other offices were being contested by this hastily created "alternative" party. In the end, Thompson was such a threat to win that the Republican candidate withdrew to consolidate the voters on the Democratic side and the Dems withdrew their candidate for count commissioner.  The fix was in so to speak.

He was an avid member of the NRA and an early supporter of NORML, serving on the group's advisory board for over 30 years up until the time he died.

He kept numerous weapons on his Owl Farm "fortified compound" and fired them regularly on his property. A self-proclaimed weapons expert.

Thompson's books, as I have mentioned in previous posts, are a joy to read. The action and verbiage mixing fact and fiction just pull you right along like a magic carpet ride. The list of his works can be found by clicking the link on his name at the beginning of the post. Along with a better detailed chronology of his life than I could give time to here.

In the end, he went out as he wanted...on his own terms. The only spooky part is, he had called his wife who happened to be in town at the time, and asked her to come home and help him finish his ESPN2 column for the night. He actually cocked the shotgun while laying the phone down on the table. She mistook the cocking sound for keys being typed on his typewriter so she hung up...just as he pulled the trigger. His son and family were visiting and in the next room. At first his son thought some books had fallen off the shelves when he heard the shot, and didn't come in for a few minutes.

After calling the police, Juan (Hunter's son) went outside and fired 3 shotgun blasts into the air to "honor his father".

Johnny Depp funded the funeral that went exactly to Hunter's specification (see my E post). Many celebrities attended the blasting of Thompson's ashes into the sky. Among them, Jack Nicholson, Sen. John Kerry, George McGovern, Bill Murray, and of course, Depp himself.

I have included 3 brief videos below. The first is a long clip from the 4 part session Buy The Ticket, Take The Ride videography of Hunter's life told by the people who knew him (very good, save it- listen later. The 10:50 mark starts great stuff on Where The Buffalo Roam), the second is a stirring reading of Hunter's suicide note by Nick Nolte, and lastly is the trailer from Where The Buffalo Roam. I am still struck by how EXACT Murray's voice and inflections are to Thompsons.
 













~Res Ipsa Loquitor~



FIn

Global Street Art

Time for the G-spot.

This post maybe somewhat off-track, but I wanted to share something I have found and been engrossed with for a couple years now. I resisted the urge to continue my HST saga and venturing into "Gonzo" for my G-post, but due to circumstances I decided to give you a break today.

Street Art, specifically Global Street Art.

It is a phenomenon that has arisen out of a combination of gang tagging and graffiti. These talents have evolved into an art form and the trend has spread around the world. There are some amazing and talented people out there with spray cans of paint.

These creations range from 3-D effects on flat walls and streets, to utilizing the building or wall features, to interacting with the surroundings (like the first one below). The reference of the man in the picture on the last shot shows how large some of these wall paintings are.

Some of this artwork is still in search of its artist. The website Global Street Art has posted numerous pictures of this work, in trying to find the artists. The art work is from all over the world - UK to China, Spain to Russia, Australia to Brazil. The guy that started this site had another blog I followed but when his passion for chasing this art form spread beyond our borders, he took the plunge and took on a new mission in life. Hence the Global Street Art site was born. I have their Facebook page followed so I get updates on all the new postings.

I want to share a few examples and if you are interested in more you can visit the page I have put up with more examples or you can click on the link above and go to the site for a large viewing and more about where these are found. I thought this was very cool stuff, and I enjoy sharing cool stuff with you...my friends.

 

 

This one is incredible. Chalk drawing on the street. Yes this is a flat drawing on the pavement!!

 

All pictures belong to their respective photographers and are found on the Global Street Art Facebook site with locations where the artwork was done

The Weekend Graphs - Bonus Post!!

Couldn't let a Sunday go by without a little side entertainment. Even though I am hugely behind on the A-Z and the rest of my day will be writing posts, I am serenely calm.

Enjoy...



Swing and a Miss!




Don't be hatin' pretzels




This sounds like an awful time...




Who are you...Elaine from Seinfeld?




All in favor of working from home?

Factotum and The Fear

"To begin, this post has no real structure. That is not to say many of my posts do, but to know that up front relieves me a little."

~Exordium~

Factotum ~ Latin for "do everything"

Fear ~ 1) a distressing emotion aroused by an impending threat; 2) something that causes a feeling of dread or apprehension


Gonzo journalism made Hunter Thompson a factotum. This is a strange word to describe a person (in my mind) as it sounds more likely to be describing an object or a legal paper. However in its rawest meaning it describes Thompson to a tee.

Consider his many writing assignments at different publications. Low rent rags and high end tabloids. Newspaper columns and books. How many journalists write as burning a wit at the politics of a presidential election and also dive to incredible detail on football playoffs and the Super Bowl. Having breakfast with Teddy Kennedy and Jimmy Carter before Carter's run to the White House and having attended the last days of Saigon during the War.

His book on being a newspaper man in Puerto Rico in the 50's and attending a law enforcement officer's (LEO's) convention in Las Vegas...after navigating the treacherous bat country in the White Whale. Soon to be the Red Shark. And Hunter's epic novel on a year spent living, partying, and generally "telling it right" among the Hell's Angels.

He not only did everything but he did it with a passion. Whether it was raising peacocks at 8000 feet of altitude ("everyone knows peacocks can't live at that altitude") on his Owl Farm in Woody Creek, Colorado. His do everything (and sometimes all altogether) attitude towards drugs, alcohol, and guns.  Hunter betting $70,000 with an Arab prince who lived down the road from him and when he won, the Prince skipped but left his sister with Hunter for a year as sort of flesh collateral. He regularly had the Sheriff, the Coroner, and Ed Bradley over for sporting events.

Many of HST's books and even articles contained the recurring theme of Fear and Loathing. His take on Fear was a little hazy at times, when he referenced it. The word was almost always capitalized and appeared to be given the respect you would give a grizzly bear standing ten or eleven feet way. It felt like something was just out of reach of him describing the details like an incomplete painting or thought.

The Fear was there.

Whether talking about the Bush years (Part 1, 2 and 3). Al Davis and the Raiders. Or his most fear-inducing antagonist...Richard Milhous Nixon. The periodic Fear of what was coming next, I think gripped him occasionally and caused some of his best writing.

Hunter says it best in this quote:

"I understand that fear is my friend, but not always. Never turn your back on Fear. It should always be in front of you, like a thing that might have to be killed. My father taught me that, along with a few other things that have kept my life interesting."

-Hunter S. Thompson ( Quotes from Kingdom of Fear : Loathsome Secrets of a Star-Crossed Child in the Final Days of the American Century )

In the end it was said that (true or not) part of his despair and eventual suicide was due to the fact he could not stand the idea that Dubya had won another term and the country was going to be stuck with the "child-president" for four more years.

~Res Ipsa Loquitor!~

The Edge

Sorry, not the guitar player from U2.

This is the Edge.

Hunter Thompson's Edge.

Through the books I have read so far, one of Hunter's themes, either in your face or subtly, is his pursuit of the Edge. His description of the Edge is pretty much as you might imagine, an extreme pushing of the limits. Of many things.

This manifested itself in the one very intensely descriptive flat out motorcycle ride down the coast highway of California. The 3AM, helmetless, 110 mph flash down the twisted curve infested roadway. Maybe at times with no headlight and only available moon or starlight to guide him. Pushing the speed in the turns to the limits of the tires grip on the road. No goggles and tears peeling back from his eyes and drying instantly...making the road a literal blur. Believing no other vehicle was on the road that night, in either direction. Surviving this night to only do it again when the notion struck.

Another angle on the Edge was his love of Wild Turkey and/or Rum. There was never enough drink or enough people to drink with. Everything went better with a drink or several in the bag. Whether it was covering the Super Bowl or the Kentucky Derby. Or a crazy presidential race as only can be described in Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail, 1972.

Hunter's obsession with gambling. On everything. Whether it was handicapping political races, horse races (not his favorites), basketball, football. He even once took all the white players on the left half of the TV screen against the black players on the right half. I don't even remember the sport. Being a sports writer for much if not all of his life, there was not much of a limit to how far he would go to place a bet, or a friendly wager as it were.

And then the drugs. His stories of acid, hash and other mind-altering substances are rampant throughout his writings. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas has the whole gamut from ether to cocaine. I mean how else do you identify Bat Country? Whether he truly did all these things, seems left to the reader's imagination. You suspect after a while that no human could have lived that long doing what he claims to have done, well, except Keith Richards and Steven Tyler.

The most "out there" Edge that Thompson pushed was the year he spent living with the Hell's Angels. The rides, parties, interaction with the law and local communities, Sonny Barger, an Angel leaders funeral, and of course in the end his own beat-down by the Angels before he departed. This book is the first book of his I read and I recommend it highly. It defies and defines his brilliance.

Finally he left this life as he lived it...on his terms and going over the Edge. He is certainly missed to this day.

His suicide note titled Football Season Is Over was left for his wife and printed in Rolling Stone. This is it:

"No More Games. No More Bombs. No More Walking. No More Fun. No More Swimming. 67. That is 17 years past 50. 17 more than I needed or wanted. Boring. I am always bitchy. No Fun – for anybody. 67. You are getting Greedy. Act your old age. Relax – This won’t hurt."

And then he shot himself. As a true gun lover and self proclaimed "weapons expert", nothing could have been more fitting.

The funeral was the final over the top act of this man's existence.



And that was his funeral. RIP, HST.


Last line from Where The Buffalo Roam:

"But I don't think I'll believe he's dead, until I can gnaw on his skull with my very own teeth...because it still hasn't gotten weird enough for me"