Three years (yesterday) since Hunter S Thompson blew his head off
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Hunter S Thompson blew himself away three years ago, yesterday. I take a lot of my own binge writing from Hunter and would certainly call him an "influence". There aren't many influences out there who are renowned for writing when completely hammered and stoned. I am republishing the article I wrote the day after his death, three years ago. Do yourself a favour and download the article at the end which finds Hunter S Thompson writing about George W Bush. In it, he refers to Tony Blair as "that simpering little whore". Classic stuff.

Here it is - 21 February, 2005.

I was pretty shocked when I heard the news of 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas' writer, Hunter S Thompson's death today (Monday). It's one of those names that you don't expect to die. Some names come up in the news and the announcement doesn't sound all to crazy. The WAY in which Thompson ended it all (with a gun to the head) made sense though. Thompson was too smart for his own good, a non-norm. He thought WAY too much. We're all familiar with thinking thoughts that we know we shouldn't think. Thoughts to do with why we are here and 'what's it all about' and 'what's the point'. We're all clever enough not to let those thoughts turn into discussions within ourselves. That's when it gets dark. We know we can't handle it. That's when you start freaking out. That's what Thompson did. He would always go that way.

Hunter S Thompson & Taki. 2oceansvibe kind of people. We've still got Taki though. If you don't know who Taki is, check out the two last months in the archives. I mentioned something about him somewhere there.

During the haze of the Cape Town season, I stumbled upon an article in one of the Cape Town papers. It was ahead of the US election and Thompson was called upon to comment on the situation. A 'state of the nation' from a totally different is basically what it was. It was an interview really. A 4,500 word interview. Cocktails etc. on the beach dragged the article out for me. I read it over a period of three weeks - only on the beach. I had to read it carefully. Hunter S Thompson is too funny. He has seen so much. He knows so much. He backs up his statements and ridicules others without blinking.

The interview began with a request for Thompson's comments on George W Bush. I knew it would be a roller coaster when it began like this:

The first time I noticed George W Bush," Hunter Thompson tells me, "was when he passed out in my bathtub at the Hyatt Regency in Houston. He was with a guy who had come to sell..." Thompson, sitting at his desk in a faded-green dressing-gown, stares down at a plate of untouched food: Danish pastries which were warm half an hour ago, smothered in red jam and melted ice-cream.
"Look, I'm not going to put this next sentence on the record. Let's just say that 'a friend of mine' was buying cocaine. I have friends in Houston from all walks of life. Lawyers. Professional men. Bush was hanging around with this crowd of what you might call gilded coke dilettantes."

Another killer line was :

"I never thought," Thompson says, "that I would ever see a president worse than Richard Nixon. But he is the worst president in American history, this one. Because he is the dumbest. And because he has destroyed, in four years, what it took two centuries to build up. He has taken this country from a prosperous nation at peace to a dead-broke nation at war. We are losing this stupid, fraudulent war in Iraq and every nation in the world despises us, except for a handful of corrupt Brits, like that simpering little whore, Tony Blair."

"Simpering little whore, Tony Blair"

Whaaaaaaaaaahhhh!!!! Can you cope with that? The interview was printed in major newspapers across the World. He really didn't care about what he said about anyone. Read the book or see the movie, "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas", written by Thomson in the days when he used to be commissioned to write stories. He was sent to Las Vegas and absolutely drowned himself in drink and drugs. His story was hilarious. If you haven't seen or read it, you should.

So that's it, just a toast to Hunter S Thompson. Cheers.

Click here for the full interview mentioned above.
(It's a Word Document)

Seth Rotherham
Editor
2oceansvibe.com
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