RIP - Hunter S. Thompson

fish

We lost a great artist and truly unique individual today...he'll be missed.:cry



Hunter Thompson commits suicide

"Fear and Loathing" author dead at 67

By Troy Hooper
Special to The Denver Post


Hunter S. Thompson in his Woody Creek home, February 1997



Woody Creek - Hunter S. Thompson died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his home in Woody Creek on Sunday night. He was 67.

Regarded as one of the most legendary writers of the 20th century, Thompson is best known for the 1972 classic "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas." He is also credited with pioneering gonzo journalism - a style of writing that breaks tradition rules of news reporting and is purposefully slanted.

Pitkin County Sheriff Bob Braudis, who is a close personal friend of Thompson, confirmed the death. His son, Juan, found him Sunday evening.

"On Feb. 20, Dr. Hunter S. Thompson took his life with a gunshot to the head at his fortified compound in Woody Creek, Colorado. The family will shortly provide more information about memorial service and media contacts. Hunter prized his privacy and we ask that his friends and admirers respect that privacy as well as that of his family," Juan Thompson said in a statement released to the Aspen Daily News.

"Details and interviews may be forthcoming when the family has had the time to recover from the trauma of the tragedy," Braudis said in an interview from Owl Farm, the rural Woody Creek home he moved into in the 1960s.

Thompson grew up in Kentucky. He is married to Anita Thompson, who grew up in Fort Collins. His son Juan lives and works in Denver. His grandson is William Thompson.

Thompson's books include "Hell's Angels," "The Proud Highway" and his most recent effort, "Hey Rube: Blood Sport, the Bush Doctrine, and The Downward Spiral of Dumbness."

Shakey

I heard earlier:cry I was looking for confirmation hoping it was a cheap internet rumour.


Tim

fish

Shakey wrote:

I heard earlier:cry I was looking for confirmation hoping it was a cheap internet rumour.

no rumor. :


More...

'Gonzo' Journalist Thompson Kills Self

Mon Feb 21, 7:55 AM ET

By David Kelly Times Staff Writer

DENVER — Hunter S. Thompson, the counterculture literary figure who rode with the Hells Angels, famously chronicled the Nixon-McGovern presidential race and coined the term "gonzo journalism," committed suicide Sunday night at his secluded home outside Aspen, Colo., his son said. Thompson was 67.

"Hunter Thompson took his life with a gunshot to the head at his fortified compound in Woody Creek," Juan Thompson said in a statement. "Hunter prized his privacy and we ask his friends and admirers to respect that privacy as well as that of his family."

Pitkin County sheriff's officials confirmed Sunday that Thompson died of a gunshot wound, saying they received a call from his home about 6 p.m.

Friends and neighbors said late Sunday that they were shocked by Thompson's suicide, but knew he had his demons.

"We don't know anything about the circumstances surrounding his death, but he was a volatile person," said Troy Hooper, associate editor of the Aspen Daily News and a longtime friend of the writer. "I was at his house last week and there was nothing in his behavior that was different. He was no more distraught than usual; he was often either up or down."

Hooper said Thompson had been in pain from back surgery and an artificial hip. And he had broken his leg on a recent trip to Hawaii.

"He said he was executing a hairpin turn at the minibar when he broke it," said Hooper, who said he was acting as the family's spokesman. "Hunter was one of the literary giants of the 20th century. We are all just shocked."

Thompson, whose works included "Hell's Angels," "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" and "Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72," which chronicled the race between Richard Nixon and George McGovern, was a well-known firearms aficionado who took frequent target practice in his backyard. In 2000, he slightly wounded an assistant while trying to shoot a bear on his property.

Woody Creek, a small town about eight miles northwest of Aspen, is home to a number of celebrities including the TV actor Don Johnson and John Oates of the singing duo Hall and Oates. Thompson spent much of his time socializing at the Woody Creek Tavern.

"We're letting it rest for tonight," said a woman who answered the phone Sunday at the tavern, where Thompson ate lunch most days.

Buddy Ortega, 62, a real estate broker and ski instructor, met Thompson in the 1960s at a party. The pair socialized over the years, and Ortega supported Thompson's quixotic run for sheriff — though he figured it was a longshot when he saw campaign posters with pictures of hallucinogenic peyote buds.

In recent years, Ortega said, the hard-living journalist had become more reclusive, hanging out at the home he called his "compound" and taking advantage of open space to fire his automatic weapons.

But Ortega hadn't seen anything out of the ordinary recently. He said he last saw Thompson two days ago at Woody Creek's post office, and everything seemed fine.

"We all have demons," Ortega said. "Who knows, man? You sit down, have a few cocktails or maybe nothing — maybe you have a cup of green tea — and maybe nothing seems right. He was a little more complex than most of us, so maybe some of those demons surfaced and he didn't like what he saw."

Hunter Stockton Thompson was born July 18, 1937, in Louisville, Ky. His father, Jack, was an insurance agent.

In 1963, he married Sandra Dawn, the mother of his son Juan.

He served two years in the Air Force in Florida, where he was a newspaper sports editor. He was the Caribbean correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune in 1959, and worked as a South American correspondent for the New York-based National Observer from 1961 to 1963.

But he earned his outsized reputation for his work in Rolling Stone magazine.

Thompson was the flip side of American novelist Tom Wolfe. Both established themselves as brand names in the literary journalism movement that sought to capture the strife and youthful boldness of the 1960s. Thompson was the wild man who embraced the chaos, while Wolfe was often portrayed as the buttoned-down neutral observer.

Thompson called what he did "gonzo journalism," differentiating it from mainstream reporting by aggressively injecting himself into the story and giving up any pretense of objectivity.

Thompson's style of journalism — well-armed, well-drugged and wildly iconoclastic — made him a counterculture figure of rare longevity.

"I hate to advocate weird chemicals, alcohol, violence or insanity to anyone … but they've always worked for me," Thompson said.

His irascible and volatile persona seemed to outsize the books and essays he wrote. Twice his life was brought to the screen — once by Bill Murray in 1980's "Where the Buffalo Roam," and again in the 1998 Terry Gilliam film "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," in which Johnny Depp took his turn as Thompson. Both actors remained friends with Thompson.

Thompson also triumphed on the comics page — ensuring that the most maverick journalist of his generation could get a spot in the mainstream newspapers that would never dare print his profanity-laced essays. The character of "Uncle" Duke in the "Doonesbury" strip has for decades been a thinly disguised and always mercenary caricature of Thompson.

William McKeen, a University of Florida professor who wrote the 1991 critical biography "Hunter S. Thompson," kept in touch with the journalist.

"He had clearly been amid a great renaissance in recent years where the public had rediscovered his value and their interest in him," McKeen said Sunday night. "The news is stunning."

Times staff writers Samantha Bonar, Geoff Boucher, Megan Garvey, Ashley Powers and Richard Fausset contributed to this report.

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Source: www.ralphsteadman.com...

Fire In the Nuts at night

He came like a thief in the night. Hunter S. Thompson did not want to sign anything. 'People are always asking', he said. 'I'll think about it. I'll come by later', he added. We left it at that and we went back to our loaned cabin along the Woody Creek Road, a kind gesture compliments of Hunter's neighbor and friend, George Stranahan. There was no sign of Hunter by 3:30 am. We decided to go to bed. But I knew Hunter would show up, so I left the pages to be signed on the kitchen table, with a pen. There was commotion and horn honking at about 4am. I knew I was right. Later Hunter told "There was a bear in the road". I turned over and went back to sleep.

I rose at about 7.30am and walked sleepily through to the kitchen. On the table was Polo bag. Inside was half a bottle of Chivas Regal, four boxes of cigars, a Gonzo thong, a gold krugerand and a magnum of a precious red wine, a fine and dignified Cabernet Sauvignon, nothing cheap! which we later shared with Hunter's Lawyer, the Sheriff and friends that very next night. There were a couple of scribbled notes in his distinctive handwriting near by. On one note he had written, 'Dear Ralph- Sorry I got lost in the night- I got a flat tire. Please help me to evaluate this profoundly rare wine. Love H'. On a second sheet he had written a list. 'Ralph- lettered sheets. numbered sheets . What else do you need? Ah yes- books signed, etc. - thank you. Hunter S Thompson'. Bless him! he was going to do it!!

He had clipped a smaller yellow piece of paper to the others on which he had scrawled, 'You're welcome- the Fruit Fairy'..... because he had stolen our cantaloupe melon.

So the pages had been gathered up and spirited away into the night like a guilty secret. My ole buddy Hunter would deliver, perversely, but he always delivers. A far more interesting signing than your average run-of-the-mill. Thought you would like to know that; it's a double first for a limited edition.

Ralph Steadman,
November 2nd 2004

Michiel de Brieder

Rest in Piece Hunter...

The man was brilliant.... I loved Fear and Loathing... One of the only movies I've never seen sober
Hunter, may you find peace...