RIP HUNTER

"I have spent half my life trying to get away from journalism, but I am still mired in it - a low trade and a habit worse than heroin, a strange seedy world full of misfits and drunkards and failures." -Hunter S. Thompson

Extremely saddened. That was how I felt when I found out that Hunter S. Thompson had died. I really liked him, never met him, and barely read him. Well, I try to read him every chance I get. Anything in Rolling Stone I devour. In fact, I usually only buy Rolling Stone if there is an article by our man. I must be honest and say I never read his sports page stuff, but that’s a story for another time.

"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side. "
-HST

Without Hunter there would be no us. Anyone reading this blog has in some way been affected by the way Thompson effected journalism. Thompson made me realize that you could search out the surreal in every situation, which is what gets me out of bed some days.

"So much for Objective Journalism. Don’t bother to look for it here—not under any byline of mine; or anyone else I can think of. With the possible exception of things like box scores, race results, and stock market tabulations, there is no such thing as Objective Journalism. The phrase itself is a pompous contradiction in terms." -HST

Such as yesterday, when I awoke to find out that he had put an end to his life. I was disturbed. More than I thought I would be, it stuck with me all day. First in the amount of people I had to explain Hunter S. Thompson to. I would expect that in this day and age of information, most would be aware of some, but surprisingly (or not so) most are aware of nothing. So after a day of explaining who he was, I came home to do a little research, and make sure I had all my facts straight throughout the day. And what do I find,
but that Hunter and myself shared a birthday. July 18.

What Leary took down with him was the central illusion of a whole life-style that he helped to create ... a generation of permanent cripples, failed seekers, who never understood the essential old-mystic fallacy of the Acid Culture: the desperate assumption that somebody - or at least some force - is tending that Light at the end of the tunnel."
-HST

What any of it means, I hadn’t a clue. I felt something should be mentioned of the man behind “Gonzo Journalism” on our own little dimensional shift. I think Hunter would be proud.

I wouldn't recommend sex, drugs or insanity for everyone, but they've always worked for me. -HST

To his memory I say...I shall smoke or ingest you in some way.