My eldest son is also called Miles - although he is now 35 years :-) & he
has called his first son Davis (moan).
Nice to see you back on the list, or posting anyway - maybe you were there
all the time. Your Millenium collections have taught me a million things, so
thanks. (I picked them up at a uni text book sale - They were beyond my
budget otherwise. But you'll be pleased to hear one uni here uses them every
second year as a text. Or maybe you wouldn't be pleased ... a vibrant
American lady uses them to teach from, so they are in okay hands.)
Yes, I have just been quoting Hunter S in my novel-in-progress. Somedays to
evoke the right mood, for me if not the reader, I start with a quote from
somebody or something - the White Rabbit, Billie Holiday, Hunter S T, Robert
Johnson and so on. These quotes will probably hit the cutting room floor,
but they are a mood setter ... & I know how his mood once affected me.
I was catching a bus to work in the 70s - working as a copywriter at a big
agency in town. I got on the bus reading Fear and Loathing in LV, and by the
time I had got to town about twenty minutes away, I had to get on the next
bus home. Paranoia had been translated through paper and ink. It was like a
bad trip, and sent me shivering into the foetal position on the velvet
chaise lounge. I thought it was gunna be hard to explain to the Creative
Director, but he heard just half my story and related completely. Not a book
to read before a city office job :-) 'The decision to leave came suddenly
...'
Andrew
----- Original Message -----
From: "Pierre Joris" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2005 10:57 AM
Subject: Re: Hunter S. Thompson
> yes, indeed, alison. I too always grateful to read his books -- thouhg
> also remember tyhe absolute fervor with which I waited for the new
> issue of Rolling Stone during the months he was on the Nixon campaign
> trail.
>
> & now 12 year-old son Miles is bugging me to let him watch the F&L in
> LV movie -- Johnny Depp being his favorite actor -- & I guess now I
> must/will watch it with him.
>
> The good doctor's last piece can be read here:
>
> http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/print?id=1992213&type=story
>
> Pierre
>
>
> On Feb 21, 2005, at 4:48 PM, Alison Croggon wrote:
>
> > I remember listening to Ralph Steadman, the English cartoonist, on the
> > radio
> > once years ago, talking about his first meeting with Hunter S.
> > Thompson. (I
> > think it was for his piece on the Kentucky races). He said he had
> > never
> > been so sheerly terrified as he was in Hunter S. Thompson's company,
> > because
> > there was no guarantee at any point that everything might not explode
> > in
> > anarchy. Steadman, for reasons I can't remember, ended up getting
> > sprayed
> > with mace and being driven screaming to the airport.
> >
> > In a way, given his level of self destructiveness and paranoia, it's
> > surprising he made it as far as he did. On the other hand, having
> > survived
> > so much abuse, there seemed something indestructible about him. The
> > last
> > thing I read by him was a piece just before the US election, when he
> > said
> > Kerry was certain to win. I wonder how much his suicide had to do
> > with the
> > insane Nixonian darkness he talked about so many years ago running
> > rampant
> > again in Washington.
> >
> > I was always grateful to _read_ his books. Couldn't have stood the
> > actuality. But yes, he is miles beyond his imitators; inimitable, I
> > think.
> >
> > Best
> >
> > A
> >
> >
> > Alison Croggon
> >
> > Blog: http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
> > Editor, Masthead: http://masthead.net.au
> > Home page: http://alisoncroggon.com
> >
> >
> =================================================
> "Lyric poetry has to be exorbitant or not at all." -- Gottfried Benn
> =================================================
> For updates on readings, etc. check my current events page:
> http://albany.edu/~joris/CurrentEvents.html
> =================================================
> Pierre Joris
> 244 Elm Street
> Albany NY 12202
> h: 518 426 0433
> c: 518 225 7123
> o: 518 442 40 85
> email: [log in to unmask]
> http://www.albany.edu/~joris/
> =================================================
>
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