Box 37 Woody Creek, CO 81656

This will, for the moment, be the last of my If Dr. Gonzo Had Been A Blogger posts.

One of my nonblogging friends emailed to say he's enjoyed reading excerpts from The Good Doctor's letters so much that he'd like to read the book. Not enough, apparently, to want to buy it.

I don't lend books. I value libraries and promote their use. I've had so many Thompson books go from my hands to those of friends, never to be seen again, that I no longer expect to get them back.

It's always funny to me when I visit a friend, see one of my (former) books on their shelf and "borrow" it back. Speaking of which, I think I'm going to be keeping an eye out for Kingdom Of Fear. That's one I've bought a few times that I don't have in my collection.

Photograph by Kilroy_60

Enough of that. Here are 10 of my favorite excerpts from letters of Hunter S. Thompson drawn from Fear And Loathing In America - The Brutal Odyssey Of An Outlaw Journalist...

"The language of physics and the language of law have always fascinated me; they are not the same, because the ends and antecedents are different, but there is a sameness in the precision and the efficiency, although the language of law can be just as precise and efficient when used to create problems, or obscure them, or even to alter the nature of problems and create the appearance of a solution...But there is no room for an adversary relationship in physics, because that in itself is a problem and a barrier."
- Hunter S. Thompson {page 705}

"Maybe tilting at windmills really is the best & most honorable way to go, these days. I get a definite kick out of it, myself --- but I have a feeling that my time is getting a bit short, and I'm getting unnaturally curious about how much reality we're really dealing with."
- Hunter S. Thompson {pages 585-586}

"Sometime soon, by the way, I plan to force a readjustment in my long-time status (or role) --- from RH's House Freak & Subsidized Looney to the role of an actual, profit-churning Writer. It's been fun all around --- no argument about that --- but I get the feeling it's about time we tried to establish a serious relationship. (Which is not to say that I plan to start taking myself seriously; all I'm talking about here is my work, as it were....)"
- Hunter S. Thompson {page 522}

"Having given up the notion that even a 'famous' writer can make a decent living by means of journalism, I tend to view it now as a kind of morbid self-indulgence that --- with a lot of luck and constant skilled management --- should more or less pay for itself." - Hunter S. Thompson {page 678}

"As a writer, I don't see where I have any obligation to deal with the saleable-idea market. That's what editors are for...and besides that, I've never had a good article idea in my life. Journalism, to me, is just another drug --- a free ride to scenes I'd probably miss if I stayed straight. But I'm neither a chemist nor an editor; all I do is take the pill or the assignment and see what happens. Now and then I get a bad trip, but experience has made me more careful about what I buy...so if you have a good pill I'm open; I'll try almost anything that hasn't bitten me in the past." - Hunter S. Thompson {page 145}

"It's making me crazy. I shall, of course, prevail. But it's wearing me down. I dig the battles, but I don't have much stomach for The War. The shitheads keep on breeding, multiplying. You croak one & two more slither out to replace it --- like getting rid of Johnson and gaining Nixon/Agnew. Jesus, what's next? Where will it end? I think maybe Kesey is right." - Hunter S. Thompson {page 339}

"I've been arguing for the past few years that music is the New Literature, that Dylan is the 1960's answer to Hemingway, adn taht the main voice of the 70's will be on records & videotape instead of books." - Hunter S. Thompson {page 343}

"Hopefully I can get on a schedule of working six days a week and totally amok on mescaline every Sunday. For the past month or so that's been my act: Loading up on Sat. nite, locking the doors, building a huge fire & turning up the amplifier --- wiring headphones to the bed with strange lamps burning and humping myself to a frazzle. Try mescaline --- I recommend it highly. Or have I already said that?" - Hunter S. Thompson {page 274}

"Right now I have to get back to my project; I've developed a process for deriving a powerful hallucinogen from potatoes. The patent is pending, so I can't discuss it until at least next year. Selah."
- Hunter S. Thompson {page 240}

"Indeed, and so much for all that --- except to stress that I have lived so much longer than I or anyone else expected me to, that I made no plans or provisions for this kind of awkward longevity and the realities that keep coming with it."
- Hunter S. Thompson {page 726}

A Good Week In The Blogosphere

Photograph by Kilroy_60
It's been a good week in the blogosphere for me.

The best thing about Pay Per Post, aside from being paid to blog, is that it presents a creative challenge. It's easy to get into a comfortable groove; writing a certain thing in the ceratin way. When you post more frequently what was comfortable can get monotonous rather quickly.

Earlier this month I started a series of posts fearing the letters of Hunter S. Thompson from Fear And Loathing In America - The Brutal Odyssey Of An Outlaw Journalist 1968-1976.

The first was Fear And Loathing At Owl Farm aka If Dr. Gonzo Had Been A Blogger

Next came, If Dr. Gonzo Had Been A Blogger...

That was followed by If Dr. Gonzo Was Blogging Instead Of Writing Letters...?

Then came one of my all time favorite posts, on what for me is a dark day, On The Anniversary Of Hunter S. Thompson's Suicide - An Interview With Dr. Gonzo

Finally, there was That's How I Roll

"On other fronts, life at the Owl Farm remains much the same as always --- a never-ending chain of crisis-peaks and occasional peaceful valleys. If I'd had any sense I'd have been a goddamn lawyer , but I'm a bit too old for that now, so I guess I'm stuck with whatever I am." - Hunter S. Thompson
{page 703}

What I thought were the best posts this week, oldest to newest, that didn't feature Dr. Thompson's letters...

• Kilroy_60's Online MAKE AMERICA PURPLE Store
• Both Romance And Lust Have Their Place; Don't Forget Either
• When Opportunity Knocks...
• Wisdom Of The Ages

If you haven't checked out my profile recently you may want to have a look. I've updated it.

That's How I Roll

"Dear Mr. Hefner:
We all love our legends, and far be it from The National Observer to try to rob Hunter S. Thompson of his (The Playboy Interview, November, 1974). As a fascinating figure flitting about on the periphery of journalism, Hunter has a certain value as long a he is not taken too seriously."

- Roscoe B. Born, Vice Editor
The National Observer {page 596-597}

Photograph by Kilroy_60

This month's full moon is a special one for me. One reason, it comes about a week before my birthday, 29 February.

I wish I could say this is last nights eclipse. {Check out the great shot I got of the eclipse last night! Couldn't help myself.}

Truthfully, I didn't even see it. TheSpecialOne and I were easing into my birthday bash; drinking mimosas and eating chocolate covered strawberries. That was a good warm up for the gram of Columbian flake I had before bed. {It was after that I had TheSpecialOne.}

What was I talking about?

Oh yes, the moon. I got this shot of the moon two nights ago when there was a thin layer of low clouds.

The English name of the February full moon is the Wolf Moon. In Native American culture it's known as the Snow, or Hunger, moon.

Another interesting thing, based on the Farmer's Almanac definition {the third full moon in a season of four full moons}, it's a blue moon.

On The Anniversary Of Hunter S. Thompson's Suicide - An Interview With Dr. Gonzo

Photograph by Kilroy_60

It's not unusual in the blogosphere to be interviewed through an exchange of emails. I did an interview last week.

Just as common, splicing together pieces of film, think Stephen Colbert, to create an interview with someone who wouldn't talk to you otherwise. {Or, in this case can't}

If Dr. Gonzo were a blogger, I wonder, what might our interview look like?

Three Quick Questions...

Dr. Gonzo, now that you're a known author, how has your life changed?

"I haven't quite come to grips yet with the odd realities that seem to have overtaken me in the past few years, and the notion of being both a journalist and a public figure (sic) still confuses me, particularly when I have to grapple with it in public and with no warning about what to expect."
- Hunter S. Thompson {page 664}

For those who don't know, what is a writer's life like?

"One of the few really fine things about being a writer is that you put your product in a fucking envelope & send it off and maybe the check comes back & some time later you may or may not read the swill. But by then it hardly matters. Fuck them. We're a nation of pigs & we get what we deserve --- Hee Haw, Salems & Wide Track Pontiacs."
- Hunter S. Thompson {page 307}

How well do you think journalists understand their audience?

"The weird truth that few editors and writers can even imagine is that the 'literate public' is far stranger and freakier that the very square world of editors and journalists...all of which makes journalists a sort of echo , rather than the Force it seems to be in the context of Time and Newsweek."
- Hunter S. Thompson {page 139}

Thanks for your time, Dr. Gonzo. I enjoyed it.

"I assume you understand that I'd never consider paying you a compliment in anything but the most oblique and devious manner. We all have our styles, and that's mine."
- Hunter S. Thompson {pages 174-175}

If Dr. Gonzo Was Blogging Instead Of Writing Letters...?

Tomorrow is the two-year anniversary of Hunter S. Thompson's suicide. I wasn't surprised, honestly, to hear The Good Doctor has blown his brains out. It was nonetheless hard to hear.

I couldn't have picked up a better book to be reading now than Fear And Loathing In America - The Brutal Odyssey Of An Outlaw Journalist.

Thompson was a prolific letter writer. While the book provides only a small sampling, at 700+ pages you get an opportunity to peek behind the curtain and see what his life was really like.

It would have been interesting, I think from reading the letters, to pull up a Dr. Gonzo blog and see what he had written while most people were sleeping.

I loved this letter, written to his dentist 8 February, 1968...

I'm here, but not for long --- leaving for New Hampshire and Nixon tomorrow, just got back from NY to find your bill and desperate search note. The idea of me sending anyone $277 in one shot is sheer madness --- unless the supplicant can prove great and urgent need --- but here's $100 to maintain good faith, etc. Don't worry about the rest; I'll get it to you, but don't forget to send periodic reminders. I doubt, quite frankly, that I'll be needing any further dental assistance; I just read today in the Underground Press that frequent inhalation of marijuana smoke prevents rot and heals cavities, in addition to making the teeth sparkle and the soul smile. I may have to try the stuff, but only under strict supervision. Keep this to yourself...

Hunter

Check #286
$100---sent 2/8/68
1/3 payment

If Dr. Gonzo Had Been A Blogger...

The real point is that I can't sit back & ignore this kind of nit-picking bullshit about my creditability as a journalist much longer, without making a public example of somebody & getting into some public show & tell about "truth percentages." There are a lot of levels of truth, as we both know, in almost any story, and my argument with the so-called "straight" journalists is that I tend to deal on levels (or areas) that "straight" journalism can't handle because you can't always find to "reliable sources" to verify what you know is true --- and that's the fork in the journalist road where I parted company with those bastards a long time ago." - Hunter S. Thompson

{Pages 643-644 - Fear And Loathing In America}

Overnight, while I ravaged TheRedhead, Site Meter rang up visit number 13,000. Not a bad number, over about 11 months, for a site like this.

Yes, I'd like to think {not really} that people would flock here in droves to read my insightful commentary and witty dialogue .

In truth, to blog in the spirit Hunter S. Thompson, to bask in the pleasures of wine, women and song and to refuse suppressing my viewpoint means I cast aside any possibility of being a high traffic site from the outset.

When all is said and done, I value the curious people who have an open mind, a good sense of humor and a sense of what's right that purposefully find their way here.

Needless to say, the letter was vaguely embarrassing. Anything decent or human makes me nervous; I am much more at home with people I can abuse or play games with. - Hunter S. Thompson {Page 183}

It was especially rewarding to find that visit number 13,000 had come from a search related to The Good Doctor...

The job of a writer, it seems to me, is to focus very finely on a thing, a place, a person, act, phenomenon...and then, when the focus is right, to understand, and then render the subject of that focus in such a way that it suddenly appears in context --- the reader's context, regardless of who the reader happens to be, or where." - Hunter S. Thompson {Page 264}

The thing I like most about occasions like this is it gives me a reason to explore the locations from where my visitors come...

"That exposure problem goes far beyond mere sales figures. A writer wants to think he's being read --- and people who talk to writers want to think they'll see themselves in print." - Hunter S. Thompson
{Page 456}

Yes, given the estimated 20,000 letters in the Hunter S. Thompson archive, there's no doubt his blog would have been something to see.

Fear And Loathing At Owl Farm aka If Dr. Gonzo Had Been A Blogger

I've been reading Fear and Loathing in America - The Brutal Odyssey Of An Outlaw Journalist.

This collection of Hunter S. Thompson letters, most which he wrote, is extraordinary. In these pages you see the spark of genius that evolved to become what is known as Gonzo Journalism.

It's irrelevant whether you are a fan of Thompson or dismiss his work as irrelevant. To take a position shows the significance of the man.

This collection of letters begins after the publication of Hell's Angels and runs through the period of Thompson's life that resulted in the publication of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 and The Great Shark Hunt.

"I figure my basic education is just about complete now...& I'm ready for The Main Crank. Kilroy died a long time ago. When the graffiti freaks start getting it on 10 years from now (or even 5) I'd like to think they'll be writing 'Thompson was here.'."
- Hunter S. Thompson {page 500}

At the time the blogosphere was evolving, The Good Doctor was cranking out a weekly column for ESPN.com. How different things could have been if Thompson was blogging as the sun rose over Owl Farm.

Reading Thompson's letters you can imagine what his blog could have been like. That said, one thing Dr. Gonzo's site would never have been is boring.

I draw this conclusion from a letter of 4 August, 1969 {page 202}. A portion of that letter reads...

"I use letters, now and then, as drafts for later things --- test runs, of a sort --- and I suspect that's what I'm doing now. "
- Hunter S. Thompson

In another letter, from January 8, 1970 {page 251}...

"And that's about it for now --- seeing 3 pages in the till --- I have to wonder at another night gone down the tube. What makes a man write letters, night after night, instead of profitable manuscript pages?"
- Hunter S. Thompson

About a dozen pages into the book I knew I would have to post on this. When I found the Kilroy comment it was clearly a message to get started.

In 509 pages I've selected about 60 passages to post. Another 230 pages to go, stay tuned.