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» C E L E B R A T IN G A D E C A D E 7 Street roots Education • Dialogue ♦ Independence Not like the others Hunter S. Thompson's eratic and brilliant life the subject o f a friend's new memoirs BY K E V IN GOPAL survived for long. That opened up the way for a discussion unter Thompson paid fastidious of his creative processes and craft in a way attention to cultivating his own that no one else had done, nor seemed legend. There were the books and likely to. Plus there were all those personal the hell raising, of course, but also the details of his life that I think really help thousands of letters, written on the define anyone, and had a lot to do with typewriter he carried everywhere with him shaping my outlook on some things, for and painstakingly carbon copied for the better or worse. We were also grounded in archive. similar experiences during the height of the The legend may well have become a curse “revolution years” in the late 1960s and ________________ by the time the early 1970s, even though I was almost a author of “Fear and generation younger than Hunter. That gave Hunter S Thompson: Loathing in Las me a chance to look back at an entire Vegas” shot himself An Insider's View Of history-making epoch in our times, using four years ago - Hunter as the lens, and that was a very rare Deranged, Depraved, while talking to his opportunity. It also allowed me to present, I Drugged Out wife on the phone hope, some insights about Hunter that no Brilliance is published and with his son in one else could. by Lyons Press. the house. But it continues. K.G.: Few people have subjected his prose to the analysis you do in the book. How does it Documentaries stand up? and books such as Alex Gibney’s film “Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr Hunter S J.C.: M uch of H u n te r’s w riting never Thompson” and “Gonzo: The Life of H u n ter ceases to grip m e, especially th e funny stuff S Thompson,” the oral history by Rolling and th e really poignant big issues th a t h e Stone founder Jann Wenner and Corey sum m arized so beautifully, so often. T h ere Seymour, are revealing but neither has the was also some very weak writing, and long insight of Jay Cowan’s new book, “An patches of it at times. I think that it looks Insider’s View of Deranged, Depraved, more repetitious and self-referencing the Drugged Out Brilliance." more you expose yourself to big chunks of it Cowan met Thompson in 1969 during the at any one time — which I unwisely did in audacious campaign to get a counter-culture preparing to write this book. But I wanted candidate elected as mayor of Aspen, and he to revisit everything, and I needed to find went on to be a friend, confidante and quotes I’d always admired. It was fun but caretaker of his ranch. No mean writer definitely took on the colors of an overdose. himself — nor a poor hellraiser — Cowan’s Read over time and less critically, account of their relationship is unusual in its Hunter’s writing is mostly still very good. close analysis of Thompson’s writing and its But held up to its own measure as combination of affection and unsparing established by the first three or four books, honesty. Thompson’s brilliance is laid bare it can come up lacking. There are many but so too is his poorest work and his stand-out moments, whole stories, and even cruelty and violence. most of some books that he wrote after the STREET NEW S SERVICE H Kevin Gopal: 7Vn? s no shortage of books and films about Hunter Thompson, especially since he died. Did you set out to explore an angle others had missed? J.C.: When I first pitched the book to a friend at Lyons Press, I only did it to get his attention. Hunter was always good for th at And I told him that there were already a bunch of books on Hunter out or planned. I also had other ideas I wanted him to read, but I thought this was a good opener. When they got back to me within half an hour, they wanted Hunter. They were especially interested in the fact that I had lived so close to him for so many years, during the height of his career. And that was the big difference. Except for a few of the women who lived with him or worked for him, no one had the kin d of on going firsthand experience around him that I did. Not and mid-1970s that anyone else would be thrilled to claim as their best works. But I don’t think he would have ever made that mistake. Obviously the two “Fears” books were seminal. Several of his stories for Rolling Stone and others after that were also superior. And “Lono,” “Better Than Sex” and some parts of “Hey Rube” were really good. The collections had brilliant stuff, and Rum Diary was remarkable, but largely unchanged from when he first wrote it, making it really his first book. K.G.: Being close to Thompson was worth it “up to a point,” you write. What did you gain? What did you lose? J.Cu In the end, Hunter was probably like any good friend, except, typically, more so. There were many things to admire and enjoy about him, and a few that made me crazy. I think he felt the same way about me, and I always figured if he could put up with me, I could certainly do it with him. In K.G.: Wzs tf just the alliteration overload that put you off the title the publisher gave your book? th e end, I lost som e of my free will and independence, m y ability to live outside his tem pers, relationships and schedules. He didn’t take it away, I gave it away. T h at w as my decision and nothing I ever blam ed him J. C.: I’ve always b e en dism ayed by people w ho w rite about H u n te r by trying to w rite like him and say s o in th e book. I felt this title was an attem p t to sound like som ething for. In return I gained a lot: a very good friend, vast insights into writing and politics, someone I could talk to about anything at any time, the chance to meet a lot of interesting people, a front row seat at some of the big moments in our shared history, and an insider’s look at all kinds of things. K.G.: Do you think the circumstances of his suicide were narcissistic, as some have said? J.C.: Maybe they all are, of course. Did he kill himself because he could no longer be the person he thought he was, or wanted to be? I suppose that plays a role in many suicides. I know he was very depressed at his ongoing physical ailments, and he never handled pain well, nor was he good at rehabilitating himself following injuries, and that’s key to any kind of full recovery, especially as you get older. Hunter was not a patient man, I think we can conclude, and fond of saying he’d already far outlived the age he thought he would reach. But I definitely believe, as I say in the book, that the prospect of one more divorce was the final straw for him. Though his last writing produced some good, tight pieces, the work seemed to be getting more difficult and less interesting to him. He wasn’t doing the stories he wanted to do, or the novel he hoped for to succeed “Rum Diary,” and not living up to the standards he’d set I think he feared he never would again. And the political situation had become a nightmare. STREAMING ONLINE! WWW. KBOO .FM AND ON THE AIR: FOR: N l 7 r n | C a n M l * 1007 M I Moo» M K n « N DOWNLOAD OUR LOCAL NEWS PODCASTS O f TM M FUKM DBM M Ci mior R M Hour Oil Y U M M _ n irw a a n r SHOW ON KJYIKTY ■ M B M R 2ND Hunter might have written. And I preferred my idea of calling it “I Am Not Like The Others,” one of his favorite sayings and one I mention throughout the book. K. G.: What do you think Thompson would have .made of Obama and U.S. politics after the Bush era? J.C.: I think he would been ecstatic and nervous about Obama’s ascent, as are many of us still. Can a good, honest and brilliant man survive in American politics? Can he dig us out of a hole that the last president and his party dug us into, with a purpose that seemed bent on destroying everything except a few large fortunes for a tiny clique of crooks? I think if Hunter could have held on until now, it might have changed everything for him. That’s probably naive on my part. But he was so devastated about what was happening in our government and the world that I think it colored all his other moods and made it hard just to get up each day. And the fact that we could finally, as a people, in the depths of the darkest eleventh hour, make a stab at turning the bus around, I believe would have been as tremendously heartening to him as it was, and is, to so many of us. I think it could have literally given him reason to live. Or killed him partying at the inauguration. Reprinted from Big Issue in the North © Street News Service: www.street-papers.org C o m in g in A ugust ... 7-8 am W J eekdays I I -N am oon during uly DEMOCRACY
