Hunter S Thompson dies

February 20, 2005 8:34 PM

Hunter S Thompson commits suicide. Goodbye, the king of Gonzo Journalism. A timeline of his life is here. And some more here and of course here.
posted by bonaldi (530 comments total)

.
posted by jperkins at 8:35 PM on February 20, 2005

Jesus.
posted by goatdog at 8:36 PM on February 20, 2005

I am speechless.
posted by kuatto at 8:36 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by moonbird at 8:36 PM on February 20, 2005

Hunter Thompson was one of my biggest influences. My better half was just reading him for the first time.

Goodbye and thank you.
posted by jonmc at 8:37 PM on February 20, 2005

Fuck.

Thanks Hunter. You made America something special.

Should be noted that he always said he wanted to choose the time of his passing.
posted by Jimbob at 8:40 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by Hlewagast at 8:40 PM on February 20, 2005

.

He will truly be missed. He is now where the buffalo roam...
posted by rooftop secrets at 8:40 PM on February 20, 2005

Echoing jonmc. A "celebrity" death hasn't hurt this much since December 1980.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 8:41 PM on February 20, 2005

What a massive loss to writing. But, like jimbob says, I'm sure he wanted to go with his boots on. Just recently I read a great piece of his in Vanity Fair? that made me see the fires still burned.
posted by bonaldi at 8:41 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by maniactown at 8:45 PM on February 20, 2005

Suicide is so stark and unyielding.

Thoughout all the shit that he saw over the years, he decides now is the time...

Optimism just took a terrible blow.
posted by kuatto at 8:45 PM on February 20, 2005

:-(
posted by quonsar at 8:45 PM on February 20, 2005

Whoa... man... what a way to go. This almost doesn't make sense, and yet rings true?

You'll be missed, HT.
posted by ontic at 8:47 PM on February 20, 2005

These are not good days for America.
posted by AlexReynolds at 8:48 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by notsnot at 8:48 PM on February 20, 2005

I know it's magical thinking, the ol' deaths come in threes bullshit, but -- John Raitt and Sandra Dee have left us, too.
posted by ScaryShrink at 8:48 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by box at 8:49 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by photoslob at 8:51 PM on February 20, 2005

I wish I had a tracer round to fire into tonights sky
via con Dios
.
posted by hortense at 8:52 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by AlexReynolds at 8:54 PM on February 20, 2005

well, shit.
posted by trondant at 8:55 PM on February 20, 2005

This has scared me off from making any more FPPs for a while.

I am sad.
posted by PhatLobley at 8:55 PM on February 20, 2005

I remember reading a peice (20 years after the actual events) in Rolling Stone by Thompson on the Fall Of Saigon when I was 15 and being blown away by his kamikaze approach to journalism and life. He inspired many to imitate him, but only a selct few understood the substance behind the style.

I am going to get even drunker in your honor tonight, HST.
posted by jonmc at 8:55 PM on February 20, 2005

Empty-handed I entered the world

Barefoot I leave it.

My coming, my going --

Two simple happenings

That got entangled.

posted by kuatto at 8:55 PM on February 20, 2005

I just finished my scotch. And a little on the ground for Hunter S Thompson. Unforgettable fucking man.

.
posted by blacklite at 8:56 PM on February 20, 2005

A sad day for journalism.

Wow, really unexpected.
posted by AMWKE at 8:56 PM on February 20, 2005

You rotten old bastard. What the fuck, man?
posted by majcher at 8:56 PM on February 20, 2005

Dr. Thompson and Mr. Nixon, together again. Here's HST's brilliant obituary of The Quitter.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 8:56 PM on February 20, 2005

With Cash, and now Thompson, gone -- what's the fucking point of being an American?

The list of living people I admire is growing smaller and smaller.
posted by Kloryne at 8:57 PM on February 20, 2005

I don't usually say, out loud, "Oh my God!", but I did when I saw this. This is very, very sad.
posted by yhbc at 8:58 PM on February 20, 2005

Holy fucking fuck.
posted by adampsyche at 8:58 PM on February 20, 2005

"And that, I think, was the handle---that sense of inevitable victory over the forces of Old and Evil. Not in any mean or military sense; we didn't need that. Our energy would simply prevail. There was no point in fighting---on our side or theirs. We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave. So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look West, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark---the place where the wave finally broke and rolled back."

Farewell.
posted by muckster at 8:58 PM on February 20, 2005

I have always loved HST, and he will always hate me (or would have, if there is no afterlife) for this observation: lots of drugs and lots of guns are not a good combination.
posted by kozad at 9:00 PM on February 20, 2005

The list of living people I admire is growing smaller and smaller.

Ther are those (in all kinds of feilds, not just journalism) carring on HST's spirit: Jim Goad, Darius James, Adam Parfrey and countless others who's names escape me at the moment.
posted by jonmc at 9:00 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by jokeefe at 9:00 PM on February 20, 2005

RIP, you magnificent bastard.
posted by Succa at 9:01 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by mkhall at 9:02 PM on February 20, 2005

Shit.

He survived a thousand incidents that lesser men wouldn't have, and today he took control of his own destiny. I hope he had some peace towards the end. Salute.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 9:02 PM on February 20, 2005

The reason I am crying is that he was one of my main early influences as a writer. Not just his prose, but his life. I met him a couple times in the late 1980s, and I was already struck by what a wreck he'd become. (He tried to steal a bottle of Wild Turkey 101 I asked him to autograph.)

So he helped me become a writer, and he helped me shape my life. He helped me understand that the magic is not in the dope. It's in your head. If you get that crucial fact mixed up, then eventually the dope is running the show, can't work without it after all, and all you can do to pay the rum and cocaine bills is the work people offer you out of pity. If it wasn't for ESPN2, I don't know who'd put up with the non-writer he'd become.

God bless you, HST. I owe you. Whatever else happens, you were right: We'd be fools not to ride this strange torpedo out to the end.

As I was writing this, Neil Young came up on rotation and sang the Good Doctor goodbye:

Shelter me from the powder and the finger
Cover me with the thought that pulled the trigger
Just think of me as one you'd never figured
Would fade away so young
With so much left undone
Remember me to my love,
I know I'll miss her.
posted by sacre_bleu at 9:03 PM on February 20, 2005

Oh man. Just.....damn.
posted by TungstenChef at 9:03 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by evisceratordeath at 9:03 PM on February 20, 2005

Last year it was Spalding Gray, now this. Fuck. We're losing all our best lefties. Hunter, you gave it a good go; you stomped on the goddam terra. Thank you.
posted by squirrel at 9:04 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 9:04 PM on February 20, 2005

Of all the "celebrity" deaths, this one really hurt. knocked the wind out of me.

Now, of all times... I need hunter.

I'm at a loss.
posted by exlotuseater at 9:04 PM on February 20, 2005

Damn. I've been a Hunter fan for years even though I also curse him for thousands of crappy, unskilled writers that used his "gonzo journalism" tag as an excuse for bad writing.

Hunter could really write. And not just the rants and drug fueled prose he became infamous for. I was recently rereading the first book of his letters (when he was young) and it's amazing how developed his skill was at an early age. He meant a lot to me and I'm saddened to see him go. Especially in such a stupid way.
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 9:06 PM on February 20, 2005

RIP, Hunter. The world still needs you.
posted by Sticherbeast at 9:07 PM on February 20, 2005

I guess it was inevitable. I saw him on Charlie Rose a couple of years ago, he could hardly talk any more. I am surprised, however, he didn't find a more creative way to go - say, drop 50 hits of acid and crash a plane into the White House.
posted by fungible at 9:08 PM on February 20, 2005

We have become a Nazi monster in the eyes of the
whole world--a nation of bullies and bastards who
would rather kill than live peacefully. We are not
just Whores for power and oil, but killer whores with
hate and fear in our hearts. We are human scum, and
that is how history will judge us...No redeeming
social value. Just whores. Get out of our way, or
we'll kill you.

Who does vote for these dishonest shitheads? Who
among us can be happy and proud of having this
innocent blood on our hands? Who are these swine?
These flag-sucking half-wits who get fleeced and
fooled by stupid rich kids like George Bush?

They are the same ones who wanted to have Muhammad Ali
locked up for refusing to kill gooks. They speak for
all that is cruel and stupid and vicious in the
American character. They are the racists and hate
mongers among us--they are the Ku Klux Klan. I piss
down the throats of these Nazis.

And I am too old to worry about whether they like it
or not. Fuck them.

-Hunter S. Thompson

You will be missed....

/Sigh
posted by EmoChild at 9:08 PM on February 20, 2005

I'll sip a scotch while reading the last column
posted by trinarian at 9:09 PM on February 20, 2005

This news startled me. Lordy. This is so bad.
posted by raysmj at 9:09 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by ..ooOOoo....ooOOoo.. at 9:09 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by brevator at 9:12 PM on February 20, 2005

fuck!
posted by growabrain at 9:12 PM on February 20, 2005

goddamn it NO!
posted by melissa may at 9:12 PM on February 20, 2005

recent stuff
posted by Pretty_Generic at 9:13 PM on February 20, 2005

Source, Emo?
posted by squirrel at 9:14 PM on February 20, 2005

Goddammit. I always thought Hunter was a badass that wouldn't do something like this. On some level I've always thought of suicide as a giving up, or a shying away from your life and Thompson didn't seem like the kind of guy that would ever do that.

However, if you asked to describe him to a stranger, I'd call him the Hemingway of our generation, but then that's how Hemingway went too.

Fuck. I'm really saddened by this.
posted by mathowie at 9:14 PM on February 20, 2005

Oh. My. God.
posted by scody at 9:14 PM on February 20, 2005

Raise your glasses...

Here's to Hunter S. Thompson, none better, damn few as good.
posted by moonbird at 9:14 PM on February 20, 2005

Sad, sad day...I'm sorry for everything R~
posted by justgary at 9:14 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 9:15 PM on February 20, 2005

"What Leary took down with him was the central illusion of a whole life-style that he helped 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 the light at the end of the tunnel."

-Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
posted by sindark at 9:16 PM on February 20, 2005

Well, Stone Phillips might disagree, but one of the greats of journalism just left the room. Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 is one of the most brilliantly on-target dissections of the press/politician/voter relationship ever written. It should be crammed down the throat, page by ripped-out page, of every "journalist" in the crop of frightened ass-lickers that is the current White House Press Corps.

The gonzo.org page about Thompson's direct relationship to Timothy Crouse's classic revealing look at the 1972 press, The Boys on the Bus, is worth reading in full, too.
posted by mediareport at 9:16 PM on February 20, 2005

There is a star, somewhere, for us all. Shine on Hunter.
posted by Mean Mr. Bucket at 9:16 PM on February 20, 2005

Son of a fucking-- aw, fuck. This sucks.
posted by Scoo at 9:19 PM on February 20, 2005

He fuckin' shot himself. Motherfucker. . .Why'd you have to go and do a thing like that? Goddammit. . . Shit. That ruined my day. Motherfucker.
posted by Ndwright at 9:19 PM on February 20, 2005

I thought of Hemingway, too. It's an apt comparison, and now even more so.
posted by yhbc at 9:20 PM on February 20, 2005

Wow.

RIP, a great American.

And it's a very fitting way for the good doctor to go out. He will be sorely missed.
posted by xmutex at 9:20 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by madamjujujive at 9:21 PM on February 20, 2005

My favorite HST moment of recent years, in the immediate aftermath of Florida 2000:

"I knew better. Of course Bush would win Florida. Losing was out of the question. Here was the whole bloody Family laughing & hooting & sneering at the dumbness of the whole world on National TV.

The old man was the real tip-off. The leer on his face was almost frightening. It was like looking into the eyes of a tall hyena with a living sheep in its mouth. The sheep's fate was sealed, and so was Al Gore's. .."

bottoms up!
posted by dinsdale at 9:22 PM on February 20, 2005

At least he didn't fuck around in doing it. A straight shooter right to the end.
posted by mischief at 9:22 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by allaboutgeorge at 9:23 PM on February 20, 2005

"It was the death of fun, unreeling right in front of us, unraveling, withering, collapsing, draining away in the darkness life a handful of stolen mercury. Yep, the silver stuff goes suddenly, leaving only a glaze of poison on the skin."

HST, Kingdom of Fear
posted by jed at 9:23 PM on February 20, 2005

Suicide at 15 is tragic; at age 67, it seems somehow heroic. Surprised nobody's said this yet, but I suppose it's most likely out of respect. Which is nice, but something I'd imagine HST would have little patience for. So I'll just go ahead and say it, because it's as true for a bullet to the brain as it is for a blotter to the tounge...

Buy the ticket... Take the ride

Adios, amigo.
posted by idontlikewords at 9:23 PM on February 20, 2005

After re-reading the opening bit to The Great Shark Hunt, here's hoping this is a hoax.
posted by AlexReynolds at 9:24 PM on February 20, 2005

Welcome to the future of America. Welcome to Shotgun Golf.

So long and Mahalo.

Hunter.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 9:24 PM on February 20, 2005

Wow.

I actually got to peoplewatch HST once. In June 2003, I went to visit a friend in Vegas & she had a press pass for a CineVegas party at the Palm Casino pool in his honor. It was the first time he had been to Vegas since Fear & Loathing & he was appearing on behalf of the movie Breakfast with Hunter. He was supposed to speak on a panel at the film festival, but was nowhere to be found when the discussion occurred. Typical, he did show up at the party however (arriving in a wheelchair), allegedly stating that he didn't show up at the festival because he hurt his back having wild sex with his wife. (Mind you, rumor had it that he was in a wheelchair not due to any injury but because that pesky "need to walk" was getting in the way of his quality drinking time.)

The party for Hunter was one of the most surreal moments of my life (and that's saying a lot). Prior to Hunter's arrival at the party, I watched the crowd gathering, waiting for Hunter to show up... I saw Robin Leach interviewing Tony Curtis... Dennis Hopper and a newly face-lifted Darryl Hannah walking around the pool... and lots of other weirdly swiveling heads, all hoping to see HST. Then I heard whispers, saying that Hunter had wheeled in. I didn't see him at first. But about 15 minutes later I looked into the poolside tent next to me to find a grizzled Benecio Del Toro leaning on a walking stick while Hunter sat on top of a mini fridge or something, howling like a wolf. I just couldn't look away as he became more animated, spouting words I really couldn't understand a syllable of. Most interesting was watching the crowd of people around him, all desperately trying to soak up the moment even though they had no fucking clue what he was saying either. (There's a pretty good story about the HST CineVegas episode here, if you're interested.)

Yep, he was an unusual guy. And it seems to me that this was the way he would've most wanted to leave the world, by his own hand. RIP.
posted by miss lynnster at 9:26 PM on February 20, 2005

What the fuck...
posted by Quartermass at 9:26 PM on February 20, 2005

As a biker and writer, I cannot believe this shit. I am profoundly hurt by this news. You gave alot to me! I'll miss you.

Not period, ellipsis. ...
Your fucking craziness will live on. I'm sorry it hurt so bad.
posted by snsranch at 9:26 PM on February 20, 2005

PG, that comment made me smile for the first time since I heard this news. Cheers.
posted by Jimbob at 9:27 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by luriete at 9:27 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by salad spork at 9:29 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by stevis at 9:29 PM on February 20, 2005

Any idea why? He couldn't have been to happy about GWB, given his oppinion of nixon.
posted by delmoi at 9:29 PM on February 20, 2005

Now we'll find out that he was Deep Throat. That would be somehow perfect.
posted by goatdog at 9:32 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by solistrato at 9:32 PM on February 20, 2005

Well, shit.

This really hurts.
posted by Vidiot at 9:33 PM on February 20, 2005

"There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. Some kind of high powered mutant never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die."
posted by newton at 9:33 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by flabdablet at 9:34 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by mr.marx at 9:34 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by dhartung at 9:34 PM on February 20, 2005

ciao.
posted by foot at 9:36 PM on February 20, 2005

I remember his Nixon obit too, and how much a stir it caused. That was when I first heard of him.

When Fear and Loathing was released in the theaters, I bought a copy of the book during my lunch break the day I was going to go see the movie and read the first few pages. It was so good, I ended up keeping it in my lap the rest of the afternoon and read the whole thing before I left for the movie. Damn damn damn, this is sad news.
posted by beaverd at 9:37 PM on February 20, 2005

Perhaps he found what he came here for, but the odds are huge that he didn't. He was an old, sick and very troubled man, and the illusion of peace and contentment was not for him - not even when his friends came up from Cuba and played bullfight with him in the Tram. So finally, and for what he must have thought the best of reasons, he ended it with a shotgun.

TGSH P373.
posted by emf at 9:37 PM on February 20, 2005

Author's Note

But before we get to The Work, as it were, I want to make sure I know how to cope with this elegant typewriter — (and, yes, it appears that I do) — so why not make this quick list of my life's work and then get the hell out of town on the 11:05 to Denver? Indeed. Why not?

But for just a moment I'd like to say, for the permanent record, that is a very strange feeling to be a 40-year-old American writer in this century and sitting alone in this huge building on Fifth Avenue in New York at one o'clock in the morning on the night before Christmas Eve, 2000 miles from home, and compiling a table of contents for a book of my own Collected Works in an office with a tall glass door that leads out to a big terrrace looking down on The Plaza Fountain.

Very strange.

I feel like I might as well be sitting up here carving the words for my own tombstone... and when I finish, the only fitting exit will be right straight off this fucking terrace and into The Fountain, 28 stories below and at least 200 yards out in the air and across Fifth Avenue.

Nobody could follow that act.

Not even me... and in fact the only way I can deal with this eerie situation at all is to make a conscious decision that I have already lived and finished the life I planned to live — (13 years longer, in fact) — and everything from now on will be A New Life, a different thing, a gig that ends tonight and starts tomorrow morning.

So if I decide to leap for The Fountain when I finish this memo, I want to make one thing perfectly clear — I would genuinely love to make that leap, and if I don't I will always consider it a mistake and a failed opportunity, one of the very few serious mistakes of my First Life that is now ending.

But what the hell? I probably won't do it (for all the wrong reasons), and I'll probably finish this table of contents and go home for Christmas and then have to live for 100 more years with all this goddamn gibberish I'm lashing together.

But, Jesus, it would be a wonderful way to go out... and if I do it you bastards are going to owe me a king-hell 44-gun salutr (that word is "salute," goddamnit — and I guess I can't work this elegant typewriter as well as I thought I could)...

But you know I could, if I had just a little more time.

Right?

Yes.

HST #1, R.I.P.
12/23/77
The Great Shark Hunt
posted by AlexReynolds at 9:38 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by jeribus at 9:38 PM on February 20, 2005

I used to work with a guy who got to interview Hunter once. He said it was the strangest hour of his life- not only the way Hunter would digress, ramble, and come back on topic with a brilliant insight, but just being inside the guy's house to begin with.

One of the more interesting bits from the story was that my coworker finally asked Hunter to autograph a book he had on it, and Hunter said sure. He then took the book from my coworker outside, set it up on a table, and blew a hole in it with one of his many guns.

And that was his autograph.
posted by xmutex at 9:38 PM on February 20, 2005

This really feels to me like the death of an era. I don't feel like reading any more "news".
posted by thanatogenous at 9:38 PM on February 20, 2005

F
posted by shoepal at 9:38 PM on February 20, 2005

Dammit.

.
posted by 40 Watt at 9:39 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by mantid at 9:40 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by fillsthepews at 9:40 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 9:41 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by subgenius at 9:41 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by WillieD at 9:41 PM on February 20, 2005

Yes, this...
The old man was the real tip-off. The leer on his face was almost frightening. It was like looking into the eyes of a tall hyena with a living sheep in its mouth. The sheep's fate was sealed, and so was Al Gore's. .." was a laugh out loud line, I read it for my daughter. She saw Fear And Loathing Friday night. We were talking about him today, and I mentioned that she should read that book, that Thompson was too special to see a second hand version...The world just became much smaller.
posted by Oyéah at 9:43 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by squidlarkin at 9:44 PM on February 20, 2005

HST on Hemingway, after visiting Ketchum, Idaho:

Standing on a corner in the middle of Ketchum it is easy to see the connection Hemingway must have made between this place and those he had known in the good years. Aside from the brute beauty of the mountains, he must have recognized an atavistic distinctness in the people that piqued his sense of dramatic possibilities. It is a raw and peaceful little village, especially in the off season with neither winter skies not summer fisherman to dilute the image. Only the main street is paved; most of the others are no more than dirt and gravel tracks that seem at times to run right through front yards.

From such a vantage point a man tends to feel it is not so difficult, after all, to see the world clear and as a whole. Like many another writer, Hemingway did his best work when he felt he was standing on something solid-- like an Idaho mountainside, or a sense of conviction.

Perhaps he found what he came here for, but the odds are huge that he didn't. He was an old, sick, and very troubled man, and the illusion of peace and contentment was not enough for him-- not even when his friends came up from Cuba and played bullfight with him in the Tram. And finally, and for what he must have thought the best of reasons, he ended it with a shotgun.
posted by jokeefe at 9:46 PM on February 20, 2005

I sit here obsessively clicking Refresh to watch everyone's comments, and I think back to reading Angel Stomp Future by Warren Ellis earlier tonight, which was just a mutation of Transmetropolitan, which in and of itself was a strain of the HST virus, and I think back to the copy of Fear and Loathing on DVD that I almost randomly bought yesterday.

And then I look at this giant glass of whiskey that I wasn't planning on drinking about an hour or so ago.

.
posted by one.louder.ash! at 9:46 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by myopicman at 9:49 PM on February 20, 2005

emf, I see you and I both went to the same piece. Yes.
posted by jokeefe at 9:49 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by Rumple at 9:50 PM on February 20, 2005

I feel like my favorite teacher just killed himself.
posted by fenriq at 9:51 PM on February 20, 2005

Godspeed and rest in peace, big guy.
posted by Coherence Panda at 9:52 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by honeydew at 9:55 PM on February 20, 2005

Just like with Spalding, I know I'm going to cry about this at some point. If I lived where I could, I would go outside and shoot at... something. A drink will have to do for now.

If there is any justice, he is somewhere kicking the shit out of Nixon right now.
posted by -t at 9:55 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by sciatica at 9:56 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by drezdn at 9:56 PM on February 20, 2005

ah man. this sucks ... for us. i bet he's a happy happy man at one with the cosmos on the other hand.
posted by specialk420 at 9:57 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by mr_roboto at 9:58 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by Igor XA at 9:59 PM on February 20, 2005

My one and only hero.

The peak of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is one of the most beautiful things I've ever read.

Rest in peace.
You will be missed.
posted by Espoo2 at 9:59 PM on February 20, 2005

*sees bats*

.
posted by readymade at 9:59 PM on February 20, 2005

The wiki says he was in a fortified compound. Does anyone know why?
posted by Jim Jones at 10:00 PM on February 20, 2005

i could never imagine what could possibly kill him.
i guess by your own will is the only way a superhuman can go
posted by Espoo2 at 10:01 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by sp dinsmoor at 10:02 PM on February 20, 2005

The wiki says he was in a fortified compound. Does anyone know why?

The Fear. The Fear.
posted by AlexReynolds at 10:02 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by afroblanca at 10:02 PM on February 20, 2005

Crap.
posted by orthogonality at 10:02 PM on February 20, 2005

posted by Pretty_Generic at 10:03 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by arha at 10:05 PM on February 20, 2005

By this time the drink was beginning to cut the acid and my hallucinations were down to a tolerable level. The room service waiter had a vaguely reptilian cast to his features, but I was no longer seeing huge pterodactyls lumbering around the corridors in pools of fresh blood.

The only problem now was a gigantic neon sign outside the window, blocking our view of the mountains - millions of colored balls running around a very complicated track, strange symbols & filigree, giving off a loud hum.

"Look outside," I said.

"Why?"

"There's a big .. . machine in the sky, . . . some kind of electric snake . . . coming straight at us."

"Shoot it," said my attorney.

"Not yet," I said. "I want to study its habits."

----

The world makes a little less sense, now.
posted by bright cold day at 10:06 PM on February 20, 2005

RIP HST
posted by rxreed at 10:07 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by Darkman at 10:07 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by juv3nal at 10:08 PM on February 20, 2005

Fuck. Shit. Goddammit! Can't bring myself to eulogize him with a period.
posted by furiousthought at 10:09 PM on February 20, 2005

no
posted by punkbitch at 10:10 PM on February 20, 2005

Wow mefites, this was just some tough news. It's hard losing someone you care for, and so much harder losing them to suicide. Fare thee well Hunter, you cool mother fucker.
posted by snsranch at 10:13 PM on February 20, 2005

About 6 years ago I was working for a company that really pissed me off, especially the way it went about firing people (zero notice, escorted from the building (under guard if necessary)).

It was the only job I've ever quit (which explains a lot, if you think about it).

The last thing I did was email the following company wide:

"Indeed. And so much for wisdom. The business is full of smart fools who
won't learn, and on some days I am one of them. I have gone down with
more ships than Captain Ahab - and usually for honorable reasons - but I
am getting tired of it, and I am getting especially tired of getting out
on these seas with dumb bastards who punch holes in the bottom of the
boat and call it smart."

Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
"Songs of The Doomed"
posted by Relay at 10:13 PM on February 20, 2005

Belly full of cheap gin and right ear deaf from gunfire.

RIP Hunter. The saga off the doomed suckfish reaches its conclusion too soon.
posted by VanRoosta at 10:14 PM on February 20, 2005

When I die, I hope I go wherever the good doctor is now.
posted by jesourie at 10:15 PM on February 20, 2005

Here's to flipping the big off switch yourself. I'm sad that he's gone, and glad that he went the way he wanted to go. Nobody makes it out of here alive...

RIP, HST.
posted by foozleface at 10:16 PM on February 20, 2005

I feel kicked in the gut. Fuck. I haven't felt quite this hopeless and sad since election night. Another light in the dark, snuffed out. Why?
posted by apis mellifera at 10:16 PM on February 20, 2005

That's the way to go though: all at once and under your own control. None of that doubled-over-from-arthritis, tired-from-two- quadruple-bypasses, barely-able-to-change-your-own-diaper, ain't-recognized-your-kids-in-six-years shit. I had to salute the man with a stiff whiskey and then splatter some Woodford Reserve on the carpet.

Yes, an era is over. It had ended by 1989 when Abbie Hoffman killed himself. This is what was left in the back of the Crisper drawer.
posted by davy at 10:18 PM on February 20, 2005

Totally fucking unexpected. He was the only uber-celeb in unjustly convicted Lisl Auman's corner. More here.

He wrote a long piece in Vanity Fair last May or June entitled "Prisoner of Denver", which is of course, as per everything by Vanity Fair, not online.

But what a bummer bit of news this is period. I wonder if the doc just gave him word he only had so long to live. If there was one man who I couldn't imagine putting himself through any kind of long term treatment, it would be Thompson.
posted by crasspastor at 10:18 PM on February 20, 2005

I have to wonder if having a literal whore playing a fake-journalist in the White House sent old Hunter over the edge. Maybe things got too weird, even for him.
posted by AlexReynolds at 10:22 PM on February 20, 2005

Yes, nothing could ever bring Hunter down.

It is very sad news, but, I suppose, the only proper way.

He was always in control, and I can't see him letting something like cancer or old age ever beat him. It wasn't in him to lose.

I think he won.
posted by Espoo2 at 10:22 PM on February 20, 2005

I also just bought Breakfast with Hunter about 2 weeks ago. Pretty good documentary and a small peek at the real man behind the legend.
posted by Espoo2 at 10:24 PM on February 20, 2005

For some reason, I feel strangely affected by this. The only other celebrity death that upset me nearly as much was when I found out that Joe Strummer died. Hunter S. Thompson was a titan of words, a true journalist who saw things as they were (as anyone who's read the Great Shark Hunt can attest). To find out he's gone by his own hands in these times when we truly need a hero strangles the heart.
posted by drezdn at 10:26 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by goddam at 10:27 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by soi-disant at 10:30 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by RavinDave at 10:31 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by HSWilson at 10:34 PM on February 20, 2005

in these times when we truly need a hero

Be your own goddamn hero.

Hunter may have grown tired or despondent or whatever (and who can ever tell why a particular person decides to pull the plug prematurely?), but he's given us more than enough fuel to keep going ourselves.

So keep going, dammit.
posted by mediareport at 10:34 PM on February 20, 2005

I'm going to black out my blog for the week in memory of him. Maybe just post bits from his books. I didn't actually think that I was going to cry because of this but I did. I'm so profoundly saddened by this. One of our generation's greatest warriors and heroes has gone down.
posted by fenriq at 10:35 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by squeak at 10:36 PM on February 20, 2005

What a pathetic, cowardly end. Fuck you, Hunter.
posted by notmydesk at 10:37 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by frecklefaerie at 10:39 PM on February 20, 2005

What a complete fuck this is. What a ruin.

Drinking seems appropriate, but only because none of us are anywhere close to who he was. If we were, we'd all be dropping heroic doses of acid and firing off incredible automatic weapons. Also, drinking a lot more.
posted by Luther Blissett at 10:39 PM on February 20, 2005

notmydesk:

If there ever was someone who wasn't a coward, it was HST.

So fuck off.
posted by Espoo2 at 10:42 PM on February 20, 2005

Late to the wake but HST I salut you with a tip of my single malt. crap
posted by arse_hat at 10:43 PM on February 20, 2005

chivas on crushed ice, anyone?
posted by Espoo2 at 10:45 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by freedryk at 10:46 PM on February 20, 2005

old potrero and water. solid cubes. cheers, arse_hat and Espoo2.
posted by one.louder.ash! at 10:49 PM on February 20, 2005

What a pathetic, cowardly end.

Feel better now? There, there, we know it's tough to deal with suicide, so go ahead and let the anger out, screaming "Fuck you" in a room crowded with friends of the deceased. Sure, what the hell, it's fine, as long as *you* feel better.
posted by mediareport at 10:52 PM on February 20, 2005

When I found "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" in 1971 at an all night Peoples Drug store book rack in Roanoke Virginia; I knew I was not alone. He was always at the head of the class but never graduated to sobriety. I am really gonna miss him.
posted by Rancid Badger at 10:53 PM on February 20, 2005

Goddamnit. If only Bill Murray had taken him up on the shotgun golf. If only his friend John Kerry, who brought five copies of Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail to him to sign had kicked a little more electorate ass. If only they changed the name of Boulder, CO to Fat Head City as he suggested. If only "when the going gets weird, the weird turn pro" was true...

I have no words for the things that the writing, the existence of HST means to me. I think whisky, ether and Curse of Lono are the only way out of these blues.

When your hero dies, what are you left with?

And how the hell will Doonsbury react to this one? Uncle Duke can't outlive HST.

Between the suicides and the upcoming RUM DIARIES, will HST suddenly be whitewashed, cannonized and resold as saint?

I feel like taking up drinking. Or ether. Or adrenachrome.
posted by Gucky at 10:54 PM on February 20, 2005

Espoo2:
Hey, I'm pissed off, here.
posted by notmydesk at 10:55 PM on February 20, 2005

Aw, man.

Shit, man.
posted by S.C. at 11:02 PM on February 20, 2005

Out of Makers Mark. Into the Evan Williams. There is not enough whiskey in the world to blunt the hurt.
posted by sacre_bleu at 11:05 PM on February 20, 2005

 
!

posted by gsb at 11:05 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by jabo at 11:05 PM on February 20, 2005

*sigh*


.
posted by immer geradeaus at 11:06 PM on February 20, 2005

This isn't a time to be stupid, saying stupid things. Plant your period, pay your repects or shut the fuck up!

Thompson was like a Dad to me for a long time.

The fact that this is one of the longest threads I've ever seen here on the blue eases my pain just a little bit. Thank God for him and thank God that so many care.
posted by snsranch at 11:08 PM on February 20, 2005 [1 favorite]

.
posted by mwhybark at 11:09 PM on February 20, 2005

FUCK!
posted by teferi at 11:09 PM on February 20, 2005

Plant your period, pay your repects or shut the fuck up!

Indeed. Flaming obituary threads is Fark schtick.
posted by S.C. at 11:11 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by zinc saucier at 11:14 PM on February 20, 2005

What is the secret code to know when certan 'someone died' theads are 'obituary threads' and others aren't?
posted by HTuttle at 11:16 PM on February 20, 2005

Jesus. Jesus christ.

The world is suddenly a lot less cool.
posted by ZaphodB at 11:16 PM on February 20, 2005

I am not all that well-acquainted with Mr. Thompson's work, but I'd like to share a couple of memories:
- "Fear and loathing in Las Vegas". I read this on vacation in Vegas (where else?) I've seen the movie several times before picking up the book, and still it blew me away. What an amazing, surreal, truthful exploration of the amazing, surreal, falseful place that is Vegas. The day after I finished it, I rented a car, drove it into desert and walked for miles and miles in valley of fire. I was living the American Dream.
- "Fear and loathing on campaign trail". For reasons that are no longer clear to me (if, indeed, there ever were any), I packed this book along on my trekking trip through Turkey. I still recall the cheap paperback print pages jumping in eyes on the overnight buses, the bulge it made in the back pocket of my backpack, the raw press photographs in the days before staged teleconferences. It was sheer brilliance.

My hat is off to you, HST. Thank you for everything I've read, and everything I will read.
posted by blindcarboncopy at 11:20 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by wolftrouble at 11:21 PM on February 20, 2005

"What is the secret code to know when certan 'someone died' theads are 'obituary threads' and others aren't?"

Passphrase: "[P]ay your respects or shut the fuck up!"
posted by AlexReynolds at 11:23 PM on February 20, 2005

Fuck, this a sad day for journalism. Hunter Thompson, you will be missed.

He must have felt the weasels were closing in.

Godspeed to the Good Doctor; he went out with his boots on.

Buy the ticket, take the ride. Mahalo.
posted by [expletive deleted] at 11:23 PM on February 20, 2005

HTuttle: by the 150+ threads universally expressing utter dismay.
posted by bright cold day at 11:24 PM on February 20, 2005

Thompson, you giant pussy.

Since my health went into the crapper about ten years ago, I've had a rough time reading whole books; I've probably been averaging around two a year. The Great Shark Hunt was one of the last serious books I read before things went south. This was before I'd even heard of Noam Chomsky; I guess you could say Thompson introduced me to left wing political prose. And made me feel pretty good about being a malcontent at a time when I didn't feel very good about much of anything.

Fucking pussy.
posted by Clay201 at 11:26 PM on February 20, 2005

In response to the beefwits: it should be apparent that this man commanded massive respect among a great number of Mefites. This is a thread to honor a legend, not hunger for attention.
posted by [expletive deleted] at 11:27 PM on February 20, 2005

I'm sure that the Doctor must have been seriously physically sick, and looking at the end of his life in a nursing home, intensive care or ending it without that pain and loss of dignity. I don't think anything else except the breakdown of his body would have caused him to do this. He will be sorely missed. When Burroughs died he said that he was the only one left. Now there are none.
posted by singingfish at 11:27 PM on February 20, 2005

Of course, raging at him for deliberately leaving this void in the heart of American journalism, completely acceptable. I must say I feel angry at this moment.
posted by [expletive deleted] at 11:29 PM on February 20, 2005

.

(Digs up anything alcoholic and mindbending...)
posted by Samizdata at 11:29 PM on February 20, 2005

Fuck

Im glad that im not alone in my utter shock at this news. At first, the idea of an accomplished man killing himself at 67 disgusted me, and i still want to learn more of the circumstances surrounding this, but fuck, i guess he went out like he was supposed to. Tonight was the first night of my brief hiatus from marijuana, and man-oh-man did this news have a sobering effect. I had some tequila and spilled a bit in honor of the great gonzo doctor. I read that shotgun golf article the other day, and I have to say, the man probably got a little too trigger-happy at the end. Fuck im sad.
posted by Kifer85 at 11:30 PM on February 20, 2005

"Old elephants limp off to the hills to die; old Americans go out to the highway and drive themselves to death with huge cars." -- HST, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Like a lot of other people, I paid for lessons in order to get my car license, but it was reading HST that taught me how to drive.
posted by Ritchie at 11:30 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by First Post at 11:31 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by sninky-chan at 11:32 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by Skygazer at 11:34 PM on February 20, 2005

Plant your period, pay your repects or shut the fuck up!

it should be apparent that this man commanded massive respect among a great number of Mefites. This is a thread to honor a legend, not hunger for attention.


He commanded massive respect from me, too. I greatly admired his life and work. Why do you think I'm so pissed off at him for his blowing his brains out?

Anyway, sorry for expressing my actual feelings. I fully retract them. Here's a period instead:

.
posted by notmydesk at 11:35 PM on February 20, 2005

My teacher recommended that I read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas just this week. I will. The impressive length of this thread is encouraging. I'm sad I can't say goodbye to someone I never knew. Now he's dead, sure. But gone, never. I'm going to discover him tomorrow.
posted by jessicool at 11:37 PM on February 20, 2005

I'm drinking Lagavulin tonight. I wanted something that tastes like tears.

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
posted by Vidiot at 11:42 PM on February 20, 2005

.
posted by Matching Mole at 12:23 AM on February 21, 2005

Goddamn. What a bummer.
posted by nearlife at 12:25 AM on February 21, 2005

I wonder if he did it listening to White Rabbit, "at that fantastic note when the white rabbit bites it's own head off"?
posted by Espoo2 at 12:34 AM on February 21, 2005

Plant your period, pay your repects or shut the fuck up!

snsranch, it's exactly that kind of emotional fascism that Thompson fought so hard against his entire life, be it in politics, entertainment, sports, or the personal lives of the people he cared about.

No MeFi obit thread worth its pulpy ashes hasn't had some back-and-forth about the legacy of the deceased. So if you're still reading: say your piece, read other people's opinions, respect them for what they are, and if you can't handle that, then maybe this isn't the place for you.
posted by chicobangs at 12:34 AM on February 21, 2005 [1 favorite]

Reaction to a suicide on a message board falls under pretty predictable lines, and sub-lines:

- Discussion about the person who has died
- - Positive memories, rememberances
- - Negative memories, rememberances
- Discussion about the act of suicide
- - Distaste, negative reaction to suicide
- - Grudging, positive reaction to suicide

There's little interrelational stuff that happens, as well, for example, people who fall under "act - negative" going after "positive memories", and everyone jumping on "act - positive", so on.

I wish I knew a good solution to calm down these meta-discussions that end up mucking up a very emotional thread. The only way I can think of is to start two separate threads: one on the person, one on the act, and then hope people "get it".

I won't pollute this discussion farther with my opinions, other than to say they have been stated very well in a number of messages in this thread.
posted by jscott at 12:36 AM on February 21, 2005

On the eve of President's Day -- sure to be the top story when the sun does finally rise.

Regardless of the reasons (there's probably a mote of truth in each of our speculations), I find the timing ... noteworthy.

RIP, good doctor.
posted by damn yankee at 12:39 AM on February 21, 2005

well, fuck. that's the end of something sprawling and incoherent and altogether grand.

.
posted by ubersturm at 12:41 AM on February 21, 2005

I can directly attribute a good chunk of my desire to learn to write to Hunter Thompson. Looking at a lot of my early stuff, I can see his influence. Fuck, I don't even know what to say.

I find myself hoping there's a suicide note that hasn't been found yet.
posted by Yelling At Nothing at 12:44 AM on February 21, 2005

By pure coincidence, I spent an hour or so this afternoon looking online for information about the third volume of his letters, if and when it was due to be published. My hunch is that Hunter, who never expected to make it to 30, much less 65 years old, knew something that we yet don't. His obsessive curating of his own epistolary legacy is evidence enough of a deep need to control his own footprints, and I'll wager that the bullet he administered was a corrective to a fate that the Lords of Karma, whom he faithfully served, had otherwise apportioned for him.

And somewhere, in that fortified Colorado compound, I bet that third volume of letters sits waiting for publication. If we're lucky, the last one will be addressed to us, the faithful.

RIP, HST
posted by uhnyuftz at 1:02 AM on February 21, 2005

.
posted by AloneOssifer at 1:03 AM on February 21, 2005

Damn.
posted by ken_devon at 1:03 AM on February 21, 2005

.
posted by philosophistry at 1:23 AM on February 21, 2005

Where Were You When The Fun Stopped?
HST's favorite songs. I'll be listening to most of these tomorrow, as I drink Tequila and rage against The Dying of The American Dream.
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 1:25 AM on February 21, 2005

.
posted by hampton at 1:26 AM on February 21, 2005

The canary just keeled over.
posted by telstar at 1:30 AM on February 21, 2005

.
posted by jlbartosa at 1:34 AM on February 21, 2005

.
posted by Down10 at 1:45 AM on February 21, 2005

Not sure where I stand on this one. The man was in pretty much constant physical pain for the last several years (bad back, general systems failure). Seems like he went on his own terms.

Spalding Gray's suicide left me much sadder. Gray was mentally ill. He finally succumbed to the darkness that he had battled all of his life. He was hopeless. I would like to think that Hunter made a clear-eyed (relatively, anyway) choice.

R.I.P.
posted by Optamystic at 1:46 AM on February 21, 2005

.
posted by cindileper at 1:47 AM on February 21, 2005

What Optamystic said. RIP HST.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 1:48 AM on February 21, 2005

God damn, I'm going to miss you, Hunter. This one hit damned hard.

Some of my favorite quotes. Absolutely nobody could combine utter degradation with sheer beauty the way the good Doctor could. RIP.
posted by smeger at 1:53 AM on February 21, 2005

.
posted by entropy at 1:59 AM on February 21, 2005

On Richard Nixon:

MEMO FROM THE NATIONAL AFFAIRS DESK

DATE: MAY 1, 1994

FROM: DR. HUNTER S. THOMPSON

SUBJECT: THE DEATH OF RICHARD NIXON:

NOTES ON THE PASSING OF AN AMERICAN MONSTER....HE WAS A LIAR ND A QUITTER, AND HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN BURIED AT SEA. ...BUT HE WAS, AFTER ALL, THE PRESIDENT.

"And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is becoming the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit and a cage of
every unclean and hateful bird."--REVELATION 18:2

Richard Nixon is gone now and I am poorer for it. He was the real thing--a political monster straight out of Grendel and a very dangerous enemy. He could shake your hand and stab you in the back at the same time. He lied to his friends and betrayed the trust of his family. Not even Gerald Ford, the unhappy ex-president who pardoned Nixon and kept him out of prison, was immune to the evil fallout. Ford, who believes strongly in Heaven and Hell, has told more than one of his celebrity golf partners that I know Iwill go to hell, because I pardoned Richard Nixon."

I have had my own bloody relationship with Nixon for many years, but I am not worried about it landing me in hell with him. I have already been there with that bastard, andI am a better person for it. Nixon had the unique ability to make his enemies seem honorable, and we developed a keen sense of fraternity. Some of my best friends have hatedNixon all their lives. My mother hates Nixon, my son hates Nixon, I hate Nixon, and this hatred has brought us together.

Nixon laughed when I told him this. "Don't worry," he said. "I, too, am a family man, and we feel the same way about you."

What a phenomenon HST was.
posted by crasspastor at 2:15 AM on February 21, 2005

.
posted by mek at 2:35 AM on February 21, 2005

.
posted by afu at 2:43 AM on February 21, 2005 [1 favorite]

.
posted by Jawn at 2:44 AM on February 21, 2005

What did he say, something like "If you stood on a hill and looked through the right pair of eyes you could almost see the spot where the wave (i.e. the sixties) broke..."

A giant talent. I think I'll go re-read Hell's Angels as it is my favorite.
posted by fixedgear at 2:55 AM on February 21, 2005

Fuck.
posted by davebushe at 3:22 AM on February 21, 2005

.


While it may have been shocking in its timing, and perhaps in the lack of poetic insanity in the method, is HST's suicide all that surprising? Would any of us ever have thought that he'd die quietly in bed?

Whatever his reasons, he went as he chose. RIP, HST.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 3:26 AM on February 21, 2005

.

ching ching
posted by lacus at 3:30 AM on February 21, 2005

.
posted by effwerd at 3:41 AM on February 21, 2005

.
posted by TedW at 3:42 AM on February 21, 2005

When I heard this news as I was driving into work last night I was dumbfounded. After thinking about it, I'm not that sad any more. He choose his time to exit stage left after he had an insane life that few could even hope of having. I do think he could have picked a better method, like say standing on top of his gunpowder keg and shooting flares at it.
posted by pemdasi at 3:43 AM on February 21, 2005

.
posted by erisfree at 3:53 AM on February 21, 2005

.
posted by n o i s e s at 3:54 AM on February 21, 2005

Saw him speak in Eugene, Oregon about 15 years ago. He was a disheveled, incoherent mess, but it was still a thrill. Leaving the hotel I passed Ken Kesey's magic bus parked out front (on the first stage of its drive across country to the Smithsonian) and got a peak of the 60's counterculture perched around a table playing cards. RIP you drunk fool.
posted by jalexei at 3:57 AM on February 21, 2005

Hunter has been my hero since I was thirteen or so, when I first read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. He taught me that you could be a drugged up agressive freak and still have something worthwhile to say.

Wish I had some guns, and some stronger drugs, but I'll smoke a couple fat ones for you tonight HST.
posted by Meatbomb at 3:58 AM on February 21, 2005

.
posted by chmmr at 4:03 AM on February 21, 2005

.
posted by makonan at 4:07 AM on February 21, 2005

He knew he was going to die. What would you do?

I can see his books on my shelf from where I sit, but didn't we all know this was a matter of time.
posted by theatrical matriarch at 4:11 AM on February 21, 2005

this sucks

.
posted by pyramid termite at 4:27 AM on February 21, 2005

.
posted by purephase at 4:32 AM on February 21, 2005

.
posted by matteo at 4:38 AM on February 21, 2005

My Hunter-influenced story:
First read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas at age 17 or so, proceeded to read it many times over the next few years (as well as everything else he wrote). In college a friend of mine and I were driving across country to California and stopped off in Las Vegas to experience the city like Hunter had. (Knowing full well that it would be a pale imitation- which was sorta the point).

We stayed at the Circus Circus hotel and stumbled into the casino floor looking for the tightrope walkers and flying wolverines. To our amazement (this was twenty years after the book was published) the carousel bar so evocatively described in the book was still there. We took a seat as our senses began to expand. As the carousel slowly revolved over the casino floor, it was just as he described, below us the gamblers were staring vacantly into the slots as they threw away quarter after quarter. Above them the trapeze artists performed in their entertainment vacuum.

I'm not sure which one of us started it, but we began to drop our own quarters onto the casino floor from above and then watch to see who picked them up. It became this bizarre game as we soaked in the strange behavior of our fellow humans. The rest of the night involved paranoid clowns and jackalopes, we got up as early as we could the next day and got the hell out of dodge.

RIP.
posted by jeremias at 4:42 AM on February 21, 2005

.
posted by gleuschk at 4:48 AM on February 21, 2005

Oh no. :(
posted by dabitch at 4:51 AM on February 21, 2005

Indulge yourself in fear and loathing a bit more today and see what the freepers are saying about this.

Buy the ticket, take the ride.
posted by Espoo2 at 4:52 AM on February 21, 2005

I loved the movie Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

I wish I knew Thompson's works better. Luckily for all of us, they will long outlive his oft-tested body.

I just ordered 5 of his books on powells.com and had a swig of gin.

RIP, HST.
posted by gohlkus at 4:55 AM on February 21, 2005

Why all the sadness. He did it his way. Good on him for going out on his own terms.
posted by twistedonion at 4:58 AM on February 21, 2005

No point in mentioning these bats, I thought. Poor bastard will see them soon enough.
posted by tizzie at 5:04 AM on February 21, 2005

Fun story: A guy I know was acquainted with the good doctor, and visited him at his compound on occasion. He grew increasingly used to Hunter's abject madness, and eventually figured he knew how to handle the old man.

On the afternoon of one particular visit, he parked his car and began walking toward the house as usual, but was puzzled to find that his approach wasn't greeted by the usual slew of Dobermans. He was put off enough that, for most of his walk, he didn't notice the whiffs of dust coming up in small plumes around his feet. I'm not sure if it was the weapon's report or the sound of a ricochet or something entirely else that clued him in, but at some point he became suddenly aware that Hunter was standing on the roof. Firing at him, with a rifle.

So of course he started running, and of course Hunter started laughing like a demon and firing all that much more. My friend leapt into his car, got the motor running, and peeled away in sheer terror. As he floored it, and the compound receded, and he began to feel slightly safer, a smallish tree off to the left of the road exploded(!) and sprayed his car with wood and ash.

He panicked, sped up, and drove harder, nearly too scared even to look behind him. In retrospect, maybe it would have been better not to look at all. In his rearview mirror stood Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, triumphant atop his roof. A bottle of god-knows-what in one hand, and a goddamn bazooka slung across his shoulder.
posted by Luther Blissett at 5:09 AM on February 21, 2005 [3 favorites]

This is a great thread.
And what optamystic said.
posted by mdn at 5:15 AM on February 21, 2005

.

(jonmc, when my wife told me the news you were the first person I thought of. Damn, jonmc's going to be even more pissed than I am, I thought. Then I cursed.)
posted by languagehat at 5:24 AM on February 21, 2005

His was the first work that really spoke to my 13-14 year old anger and clear-eyed disappointment with the world. Reading Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was an enormous eye-opener-- reading Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail showed me the way. For good or for ill, I do still believe that American political life is all circus-freak bullshit and our country is drowning in loonies and unknowing nazis.

Thanks, Hunter, and goodbye. Good for you for making your choice and leaving on your terms.
posted by miss tea at