Friday Fives

1. What is your favorite kitchen appliance? If if broke, could you replace it?

The dishwasher, and you couldn't replace it. She's my wife, man! Just kidding, actually it is I who do the dishes and indeed I would replace the dishwasher if it broke.

2. Did your grandmother have a nickname for you? What was it? How did you earn it.

She did. She called me handsome. As for the last part, I guess she saw something in my no one else has (wipes crocodile tear from eye).

3. What was the last big thing you broke? How did you end up fixing it.

I am finally ready to answer. The last thing I broke was some shitty HTML that wasn't microsoft compatible. How did I fix it? I switched to Mozilla!

4. If you had your own spaceship, what would you name it and why? What would it be like?
I would name it Sigmund, because clearly what is a rocket spaceship but a monster phallic device? Right? Or is that just my own creepy interpretation? What would it be like... Comfy! Lot's of couches and rugs and nice carpet. It'd have a 'home' theatre too, because I love watching movies.

5. March is nearly here! (Thank you, Jesus.) We survived February. (Thank you, Cutty Sark.) Do you have any Spring seasonal change traditions that you observe?

I get excited for camping and fishing and four wheel driving season. Traditions? I clean and reorganize the garage pretty thoroughly every Spring.

Ed note: Sorry for the late posting of the fives. I normally have them up Thursday night, but Roy and I had major falling out. He thought we should run the fives in honor of Hunter, and I thought we should do a 'black history month' type format. You can see, we did neither. Take care and have a great weekend.

HST some final thoughts and details * updated 2/25

 
Hey all, this will probably be my last Hunter piece for a bit. The reason is because beginning any day now he will be on the cover of every magazine and a zillion writers and commentators will be telling you how influential he was. They will be telling you what his greatest works were, and how he shaped journalism as it is known today. As I mentioned in my last post, for me to do that would be to demean your personal experience and perception of him. So instead I'd like to share why he was so important to me, and some specifics about how things are going in Aspen right now.

I discovered Hunter in High School. I loved him for the same reasons I loved my other favorite authors; Jack Kerouac, Henry Miller, William s Burroughs, Frank Zappa, and Charles Bukowski. I loved them because at the time I was a long haired hippy freak who loved literature and music and was very influential. I was in that 'fuck corporate America' phase where I thought anarchy was cool. You know, you went through the same phase too. Those folks mentioned above thought the same way... but they were grown ups! They were grown ups and they were famous! It completely validated my stupid existence. I thought for the longest time I was doomed to be a weird loner thinker guy with contempt for status quo. These guys showed me there are alternatives.

Around the time I was discovering this art, I realized most of these folks were dead. Burroughs was still alive (barely), Bukowski, Zappa, and HST. Well, they all died off and left me no role models. All except for Hunter. I love his writing because it isn't just insightful, it's FUN. Just about every word that comes out of his pen is a damn lie if not an exaggeration. I think I lived vicariously through him for that. For me he kept hope alive, and as I mentioned below he was one of the big reasons I chose to move to Colorado.

Details of what exactly happened and stuff: At approx 5 pm Sunday evening Hunter called his wife Anita at the gym from home. She was working out and apparently the conversation was not out of the ordinary. He made no mention of any kind about suicide. At home with Hunter were his son, Juan, and Hunter's grandchild (Juan's child). Those two were in another room watching TV, and Hunter was in his kitchen. Shortly after his call with Anita ended he put a piston into his mouth and fired. He died immediately. Juan heard a thump of what he thought was 'a big book falling' and came to see what happened. There he discovered his father dead. There was never any question as to how Hunter died or who pulled the trigger. People who had seen or been with Hunter even that weekend said he did not appear out of sorts or unusually depressed. However, over the last few years he had discussed suicide on occasion as his body began to fail him. In the last year he had major surgeries to his hip, leg, and spine. These left him in constant pain and mostly immobile. Hunter knew end times were coming, and didn't want to die in a hospital without dignity and hooked up to machines... he had told people that over and over. Also interesting to note that one of Hunter's major influences was Hemingway... who took his own life with a shotgun when he was 60.
Hunter was cremated in Glenwood Springs on Tuesday. His ashes were returned to the family who plan to somehow launch them out of a cannon over his ranch in Woody Creek. This will most likely be done in a private ceremony with family and close friends only on March 5th.

The family is expecting to do some kind of public event 'in the spring'. I expect details to emerge on that in about a week or so.

I am going to suggest a couple of things you won't see in all the articles that are about to be published. first off, my favorite book of his is "Curse of Lono" which is about him covering the Honolulu Marathon for 'Running' magazine back in 1980. I find it to be his best work. I also recommend buying 'Breakfast with Hunter' on DVD. It was just released last year and is a documentary done over the last five years. The reason why I say 'buy' instead of rent is because this DVD is mail order only through Wayne Ewing's site www.breakfastwithhunter.com. Given present circumstances, it may be soon available for wide release now that everyone agrees how swell and important Hunter was. Of course, it is mail order only because before Hunter killed himself no one much cared how or what he was doing. I know the DVD wasn't a huge release online either because when I ordered it, I got an e mail back from Wayne Ewing himself thanking me and saying it was on it's way.

That is all for now. Remember, for all your Hunter Stockton Thompson online needs... I again refer you back to Christine's bitchin' and thorough site 'The Great Thompson Hunt'. Even after this post is gone, her link will be on the left with all the others... just as it always has been. Thanks for your kind words and wonderful remembrances. I hope you can stop in now and again here for a read.

*** Update 2/25 - Hunter's widow, Anita, spoke today for the first time. She said that she was on the phone with Hunter when he did it. What kind of fucked up shit is that? And left himself dead to be found by his own son? He used to be my hero, now I think maybe he was just a narcissistic jerk. Mahalo, Bubba

Well gee, ya think?

Guess what, huge news flash - it looks like there has been a drop in applications to attend Colorado University at Boulder, by 19%. That is a sizeable figure, no question. Officials are 'alarmed' and wonder if the recent scandals have hurt the school's credibility. Sorry for swearing, but no fucking duh! It isn't the Ward Churchill scandal either. I am so tired of that guy and that story. If college campuses aren't generating some liberal dust ups then we are done for. Besides, Churchill is a total narcissist who is milking this. Churchill isn't their real concern and is more a scapegoat. His comments were inflammatory, but that is what free speach is about. I was not offended by his comments. Plus, I am sick of him. Go back to teaching.

So what could possibly be damaging to CU's good name? Let's start with the fact that it is rated every year as one of the best party schools in the nation. Now we all like to get drunk with babes, but I don't want to be in debt for the next 15 years to do so... thanks. I can do that at Community College for way cheaper.

Perhaps it was the alcohol and sex parties for the high school kids scouting the school for football. Seems great, unless you aren't on the football team. Or maybe it was when the coach came forward and said he had NO idea his football team was having sex and beer parties for new recruits.

Or, maybe the decline is because shortly after that it was revealed there was a big rape scandal and subsequent cover up by the same football team and same coach. Hmmm, I think we are getting closer. Wait... maybe it is because when the coach held a conference about the rape scandal he said "She was a terrible kicker anyway". I am totally serious, that is true. Read about it here. Nah, maybe that wasn't it either.

Perhaps instead it was when portions of the rape allegations involved football players and staff calling the young kicker (and rape victim) the 'C' word*... to her face. Well, boys will be boys huh?

Stop the press, I think I know why the school has zero credibility as an educational institution. First off, the coach who covered up the rapes and illegal sex parties and keggers did NOT get fired. it gets better, you won't believe this... when they asked the President of the University (the loathsome and incompetent Betsy Hoffman) what she thought about the rape story and the 'C' word comments, she said this

the word 'cunt' can be used as a term of endearment

Yup! True story, every last word... and not a single one of them has lost their jobs. Nice leadership, huh. Now, don't you want to mortgage your house to send your child there? * sorry, I won't utter the c word. It is vile and only gets anyone in trouble. Never, no matter how angry, should you use the 'see you next Tuesday' word.

HST pt 3 > details begin to emerge

According to local NBC affiliate 9news.com, we already have Hunter's crazy ass plans and requests for his funeral. His longtime lawyer said today that there was NO suicide note, and that no one knew this was planned. However, he noted this was planned by Hunter "This was definately not spur of the moment". Some specific details can be found straight from Aspen’s daily paper,here

It was also clarified that Hunter did not do this for political of financial reasons. Even though the good doctor once wisely referred to the President at a 'Butt boy for the super rich', the election had nothing to do with this. It is assumed by all close to him that he was in too much physical pain for too long from recent operations that left him basically immobile. What is quite strange is that he was not alone during all of this. His family (son and grandson) were home at the time. Though they did not witness it (thank god), his son Juan was the one to find his dad. Man, that will give you some fucked up dreams for a bit.

The funeral, as you might imagine, is set to involve explosives. Here, I'll let his lawyer (George Tobia jr) explain it: The late Hunter S. Thompson apparently wanted to have his ashes blasted from a cannon across his ranch in Woody Creek. It should also be noted there will not be a tox screen run on the doctor. I know we are all imagining a barrage of most excellent drugs assisting the Doctor at this time... the coroner wisely ruled that whatever the doctor had in him at the time is moot.

HST pt 2

"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. " H.S.T.

Wow. We really had a moment here at I am Correct. Somehow people came from everywhere to read the Hunter piece. There was an insane response which I did not expect. In the year I have been writing for this site, I have received about 1500 visitors all together. Generally, I get about 15 hits a day. Between last night and right now (7 pm Denver time) I have received 16,000 additional unique visitors. As you can see below, hundreds left comments on the first piece. Though one did indicate I should "get a life", the rest were kind words and memories of Hunter.

I am not going to do an appreciation of Hunter's work here, not very soon anyway. You all know and loved his writing and discovered it in your own way... so I certainly won't be the guy to tell you how to remember him. What I will work to do is become a clearing house of information on the situation, along with my ever present assesment of things.

First things first, the local NBC news team was in Woody Creek today doing their evening broadcast interviewing folks from Woody Creek. They said that the family is expected to hold a press conference tomorrow in Aspen. They also said it is not known what kind of service their will be, of if the public is invited. Here is the story from the Denver Post, where it was the front page story, and another piece here.

What seems to be emerging is that Hunter has been in tremendous physical pain because of broken bones and surgery in the last year. He had been rendered pretty much immobile and it was bothering him. Obviously details are few right now, but I will hazard to say this. Whatever the motivation, it was not an accident. Hunter was brilliant with both guns and drugs... and safe too. For whatever reason he opted out, I fully believe he understood the ramifications and made a conscious decisions.

I will work to keep this page updated with any and all HST info as it comes out. I am hoping for (and expecting) some formal news about all this tomorrow. I am also hoping for a public memorial at a park in Woody Creek or something this weekend. I will be making the drive from Denver if there is something I can attend.

Thank you all for stopping by, and your kind words about Hunter. As a community, it has made this easier.

Hunter S Thompson

Gonzo

Well, I just found out minutes ago that Hunter S Thompson is dead. This is terrible news for me because he was a god to me. I am sad and torn and will deal with this the way I deal with everything - writing to you about it.

Really, no one can be surprised by news of Hunter's death. Hunter lived a long a very crazy life... you know that. What is a freakish surprise to me is the news is it was a suicide. What the fuck is that about, Hunter? It seems a cowardly way to go for such a brave and fearless man. For the last month I have been reading his last tome 'Kingdom of Fear'. I was on the web writing about Hunter on Blogcritics this afternoon (before I knew about his death). It was just today... about 6 hours ago I typed his very line "Hunter Thompson is the greatest living American writer".

Lemme tell you about my attachment and love of HST. If you have a working browser (like Mozilla) you have seen a black fist that says 'Gonzo' on the left under the links. That was an homage to Hunter for my site. In college, I had vanity plates on my Honda that said 'Lono'. This is a Hunter Thompson reference as well. Hunter is one of the reasons I moved to Colorado, seriously. I wanted to meet him, and knew eventually I would make my way to Woody Creek Tavern for an unpleasent drunken exchange with the man. In fact, if you could see that Atlas we used to drive to Colorado about 9 years ago... there is only one pen mark on the Colorado page. I circled Woody Creek to show my wife where Hunter lived, and where we would subsequently be stalking.

I am pleased to say I did get to finally see him in person. A year or two after we moved here he did a speaking engagement at the Fox Theatre in Boulder. It was a classic Hunter experience, and I was able to ask him a question personally. I'd have to say I am somewhere in the 'denial' stage still about this news. I keep refreshing my google news search engine every few minutes hoping to see the word 'hoax' somewhere. It hasn't happened yet. There will be a million pages and writings dedicated to Hunter over the coming weeks and months. However, there is only one good internet site dedicated to Hunter for years, it is Christine's 'Great Thompson Hunt' and that is where you should go for pictures and articles and news.

You see my sig file and e mail address? They are the name 'Lono'. I own that name in almost every domain over the years (ATT, Us West, MSN, Hotmail, & Mindspring). This is all a reference to one of Hunter's greatest books 'The Curse of Lono'. I am sure I will have more to say about this, much much more. For now, at 11 pm Colorado time, the news has only been public for about an hour. The details are chillingly few: Hunter Thompson found dead of apparent self inflicted gunshot wounds, found by his son Juan.

You all know about Roy if you are here often enough. This is what Roy wrote to the group this evening about this news: This is sad and a loss I put equal to the death of John Lennon. So perhaps you can see why Roy and I are so close. In fact, I just remember Hunter is the REASON I met Roy. Roy had one of the good doctor's books at his desk at work and it caught my eye. Knowing anyone who reads Hunter is good people, we struck up a conversation. If it weren't for that book, I probably wouldn't know or subsequently care about my very good friend Roy.



PT 2, written about an hour (and three drinks) later

The last piece I wrote about Hunter was ironically titled 'Hunter S Thompson, still alive' That was back in August. I knew one day Hunter would be gone and we'd all sit and talk about how great he was. I didn't want to wait until he was dead for people to appreciate him... so I reached out. Hunter was like Jerry Garcia, you just know neither was ever going to live out a full life to old age. I miss them both so much.

I also want to say this. We all knew Hunter could go any day. What I expected was a headline like this "Gonzo journalist shot by police after consuming hundreds of hits of LSD and attempting to paint murals on Aspen police cars" or something cool and strange like that. I guess I wanted an Easy Rider type ending... a martyr who fought to the end.