Hunter Thompson ends his fear and loathing

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

Sad news. He had a great voice, had a lot to say, and he wrote some great books.

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

Sad news. He had a great voice, had a lot to say, and he wrote some great books.

This guy was a personal hero. Humor, guts, brains: the world is a darker place. I am very saddened by the way he went…that his final act would cause such pain and misery for his family. We'll miss you Hunter. Hope they had that convertible filled with gas (both kinds) waiting when you arrived, and your friend Warren Z. was waiting to ride with you.
:(

I just read about it this morning. I nearly threw up. After a bit of reflection, I shouldn't be surprised - he surely wasn't the type to whither away with old age. As his attorney, I would have advised him against it. As one of his longtime fans however, I sure wish he would have stuck around a bit longer. I stopped by the Woody Creek Tavern when I traversed the country to move to DC back in '96, but he wasn't there. I had always hoped to go back and have a whiskey with him.

So long, Gonzo. "Where the Buffalo Roam" and "Fear and Loathing" marathon at my place tonight.

Wow. This is sad news.
He had an in-store promotion at Olsson's a few years back. Johnny Depp was there to shadow him. (He even dressed the part.)

This sucks, in a major way. As Smackie says, not entirely a surprise, but still…. Of all the times he might have picked to check out, this was NOT one for which you could say voices like Dr. Thompson's weren't desperately needed.

As a one time resident of Aspen and a Colorado native, this is sad news. I often visited the Woody Creek tavern but never saw Thompson. I only saw Jim Gray of Pete Rose question fame trying to pick up women. If you want to read a great book looking at the inner workings of Aspen culture with some great Hunter Thompson bits, read Whiteout: Lost in Aspen by Ted Conover. Conover moved to Aspen and became a cab driver and he tells a story of how he would make special deliveries of both alcohol and drugs to the Woody Creek tavern for Thompson to pick up.

Am I the only one that doesn't think this is sad news?

Originally posted by Rob_Gee:
Am I the only one that doesn't think this is sad news?

you are slipping, I have been waiting for this comment all day :D

I know, and It's slow at work. Way disappointed in myself. :p

Originally posted by vansmack:
I just read about it this morning. I nearly threw up. After a bit of reflection, I shouldn't be surprised - he surely wasn't the type to whither away with old age. As his attorney, I would have advised him against it. As one of his longtime fans however, I sure wish he would have stuck around a bit longer. I stopped by the Woody Creek Tavern when I traversed the country to move to DC back in '96, but he wasn't there. I had always hoped to go back and have a whiskey with him.

"Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!"

–Hunter S. Thompson

an excerpt from a letter to George Stephanopolous, from HST's (excellent) book "Better Than Sex: Confessions of a Political Junkie"

————————–

In a campaign, you need help from your friends; in Washington you need it from your enemies.

The whisperings of treachery are like
serpents in my bed
– S. F. Bacon, Women's Voices

Ah, but you learned these things a long time ago, so why brood about them now? They are boring, like the wisdom of Washington is boring. It is not a town that teems with original thinkers (except maybe for ex-mayors and a handful of anarchist/hillbilly musicians)–and nobody you meet in D.C. was actually born there. Even the cab drivers are foreigners.

I was one of them for a while, George. I lived there. I had a 10-room, three-bath, two-fireplace, red-brick Colonial house with a two-car garage and a wood-paneled full studio-apartment above, on Juniper Street–which was a dead end street at the time, and the only thing between my front porch and the Kennedy Center was a three- or four-mile stretch of dense woods and horse trails and the lonely midnight roads of Rock Creek Park, which will always be one of my favorite places in the world….

Ah yes, the park. I knew it well, George. The park police came to love me. I was like the team physician to the night shift. I knew their wives and girlfriends, and they knew mine. They hated Nixon, and so did I. And we all smoked marijuana. Hell, we even inhaled it….

I think I'm going to cry now.

Originally posted by grotty:
"Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!"

–Hunter S. Thompson

Classic Rube. Thank you for that.

This person probably didn't:

"Guess being a creatively spent, paranoid, miserable drunk/addict wasn't as much fun as he tried to make it seem."

And yes, Lane Stayley is still dead.

Originally posted by Rob_Gee:
Am I the only one that doesn't think this is sad news?

i had a three day weekend and just found out when i read the headlines at work this morning. this is really sad for me as i've always been a great fan of HST and, strangely enough, i was actually watching "where the buffalo roam" again on sunday afternoon probably just around the time he died. i'm a little creeped out right now.

Wow, that is odd.

How could anyone not see this as sad news? The guy was one of the most brilliant and important writer/reporters of our time.

Having never met the guy and not having known him personally, his death is no more sad than any other death of any other human being, to me. Any death is sad, but hey, everybody does it.

He could have done his wife the decency of going out into the woods to do it, rather than leaving her with a bloody mess in the kitchen.

Originally posted by azaghal1981:
How could anyone not see this as sad news? The guy was one of the most brilliant and important writer/reporters of our time.

I like how everybody posting in this thread is trying to out-Thompson-cred each other:

"…I mean, he was more than just a mentor to me, he was my bro…"

He killed himself, that's obviously something he decided to do. So why be sad because of it? He's not sad so why should we be?