Foo - Hunter S. Thompson dead at 67

Sadness prevails.



http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&e=4&u=/ap/20050221/ap_on_re_us/obit_thompson

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~2723492,00.html

everyone should smoke a bowl in honor....or somethin like that

ah *****!
i'm gonna miss him.

How did I not hear about this? Probably my favorite author. RIP HST, you had a helluva run.
I'm amazed that it was self-inflicted. I was going to change the HST quote in my sig earlier today, but I'll leave it in homage.

I 'spect self inflicted to prevent further pain. This guy consumed more drugs than most cities. Incredibly inciteful writing, due to his permanent semi - comatose state. I first became aware of his writings through the mc comunity. He loved to live and that can wear you out.
"Survival of the Sausage Creature".

and a high speed drift to him.

:(

I would shoot myself, too, if I had to watch that movie version of his book.

I really didn't expect him to go out that way. I expected more debauchery, which would of course send him down in a spiraling ball of flame. Not suicide. Dumb ass.

them's fightin' words, skit :D

Now that sucks. Sounds as though he really did have some personal demons chasing him

ya. peace out HST. And. Terry Gilliam's as good a director as anyone could hope for, especially given the book. Just saying.

A great and sad lost. I guess it finally got too wierd for him.

I didn't think he'd go out like that either, pretty disappointing. A very sad day nonetheless.

With the slash and burn way he lived his life, is it really all that suprising? I haven't heard word one about this on the news. That's sad. Such an influential writer and his death seems to be barely a blip on the radar. Maybe I just missed it.

Damn, that sucks! Thought for sure it would be complications/side effects from all the drugs that would catch up to him. Guess I'm actually surprised he made it to 67....

Suicide... in a rats A$$ suicide. It was a Barger whack made to look self inflicted!

Betcha

just like that it came on the news as I was typing.

Well, we still have "Uncle Duke".

You are corrrect, alanbikehouston.

I'll be interested to see how "Doonesbury" handles this.

I dunno, I think a shotgun blast is more Hunter-esque than, say, Lupus.

Maybe Hunny will finally realize that her love with Duke is unrequited, and blow him away with a 12 gauge.

I read an interview from him once that he said, (paraphrase),"If I did 1/2 the drugs I said I did, I would've been dead long ago".

If it got too weird for him what craziness are we looking at now! I thought he would go out having someone throw a radio in his bathtub right in the peak of White Rabbit.

I will miss Gonzo - Suddenly the world is a little weirder, go figure.

buy the ticket, take the ride.

goodbye hunter.

and a high speed drift to him.

:(

Holy cow! Are you referring to the time Hunter went over the high side of his BMW on Hwy. 101? Hadn't thought about that in years, but I recall it as a very poetic description.

Ah, Hunter. One of the last great American patriots. I wouldn't have guessed suicide, either, but look at it this way - he died just as he lived - exactly the way he chose. I wonder if he was getting sick and didn't want to just waste away?

I'm bettin it was an accident - not suicide at all.

I liked his writing style and his way with words, too bad he never had anything good to say. That much cynicism can kill a man.....

Suicide... in a rats A$$ suicide. It was a Barger whack made to look self inflicted!

Betcha
Sonny Barger reaching out from the grave for Hunter. Interesting theory, but somehow I doubt it. Personally, I think he was ill and didn't want to die in a hospital bed. Using a gun would be the natural way for Hunter to go. His legend will live on. Goodbye, Hunter!

From the NYT:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/22/books/22appr.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/22/books/22thompson.html

although i used to be a fan i have to say: what a dip sh*t! blowing his head off only to leave his corpse behind for his son to find. so selfish.

so selfish.


So true, in life and death.

although i used to be a fan i have to say: what a dip sh*t! blowing his head off only to leave his corpse behind for his son to find. so selfish.

For those of you who are avid fans (like myself) Democracy Now! (http://www.democracynow.org) aired an 03 interview with HST this morning. In true HST style, in his will he asked to be cremated and have his ashes blown out of a cannon over his CO property. While it was an extremely selfish act which I don't condone in any fashion, he was extreme in life and in how that life ended. He will be sorely missed.

With an Icon's Death, Aspen Checks Its Inner Gonzo
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/23/national/23aspen.html?8hpib

Selected quotes:

Some said that Mr. Thompson's suicide on Sunday night marked the stilling of a voice that kept some of Aspen's old counterculture alive. Others said the roots that he helped establish here ran too deep and would live on without him. A few said he was a spent force in Aspen society long before his death, tolerated by those with the real power to shape the community but otherwise treated as a nostalgia act whose time would soon enough be gone.

"He was like the wild soul of the town, and the fact that he was still here, albeit with all the changes, meant a lot to a lot of people," said Mark Billingsley, a clerk at Explore Booksellers, a Main Street store that displayed Mr. Thompson's books by the front door on Tuesday. What Mr. Thompson's presence conveyed, Mr. Billingsley said, was affirmation and endorsement that Aspen - appearances, costs and demographics aside - was still Aspen after all...

Some people, despite the aura of loss and misty-eyed remembrance that has settled over Aspen since Mr. Thompson's death, said they never quite got it, never figured out the source of the legend, never fully understood why so many people so revered a man who mostly seemed to be simply out of control...

In the 1980's he raged about the pallid surrender of the counterculture spirit in his book "Generation of Swine," in which he condemned the baby boomers of the 1960's - the same boomers who in many cases now inhabit the $20 million mansions on Red Mountain overlooking Aspen. And he celebrated anarchy whenever he could, residents say, with games like Shotgun Golf, which combined traditional putting and chipping with the Thompsonesque filigree of shooting at the ball if it seemed appropriate.

Shotgun Golf


Supposedly his last wish is to have his ashes fired out of a cannon.

Supposedly his last wish is to have his ashes fired out of a cannon.

And to have drinks with friends: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/state/article/0,1299,DRMN_21_3575306,00.html