Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
Writer's name is Jason Vest.
  

    
One last thing to be brought into the discussion as I was reading
_Cronies_ while I waited for my copy of _Savage Journey_
On page 210 of _Cronies_, Ken Babbs describes the first visit to La
Honda by the Hell's Angels, thusly:
"The Angels brought Hunter S. Thompson to the party. We didn’t know
who he was. He was so messed up he couldn’t talk. He was barefoot
and skinny, dressed in a trench coat and a pair of underwear. We
didn’t know why he was there or what he was doing or why they were
mistreating him so badly. They dragged him around, literally yanking
his chain, for Hunter was chained to a Hell's Angel, a dog was
chained to Hunter, and a cat was chained to the dog. A chain of
fools."

This passage by Babbs maybe apocryphal or not. It certainly is
illustrative and quite the visual image. 

Anywhoo, as we leave this topic, I want express my gratitude to
Peter for writing this book. It is an important subject and one that
needed a deep dive into a writer, his formative years, the zeitgeist
of the times and how those influences shaped him.

Again, thanking you Peter for writing this book and thanks be to the
hosts and contributors for hosting this topic. I have enjoyed
reading this topic.
  

    
Very interesting, Alex. I haven't read "Cronies" yet. As you know
from my book, Thompson's account of this party is very different. We
also have his wife's account of the party in Alex Gibney's "Gonzo." 


Thompson introduced Kesey to the SF Angels and attended the party
with his family, not the Hell's Angels. He was horrified when Kesey
started giving acid to them. He decided to take Sandy and Juan to
the beach. Upon their return to the party, he was amazed that
everyone was calmly watching footage of the Pranksters'
cross-country trek in 1964. 

Things got crazy later. Thompson witnessed a gang bang that Tom
Wolfe described in "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test." (The
description is based on a tape recording Thompson made the next
morning.) I won't recount the details except to say it involved one
of Neal Cassady's girlfriends. Cassady, who was naked, drunk, and
yelling at the police that night, also participated in the gang
bang. After that, Thompson took LSD for the first time. 

I'm not sure what Ken Babbs is up to here, but it's not a reliable
description of Thompson or the party. 

I'm glad you enjoyed the book and the chat.   
  

    
Babbs was a combat helicopter pilot, wasn't he? If so, that tells me
everything. I've known a bunch of army and marine helicopter pilots
and crews, and they tell the tallest tales.
  

    
Yes, he was..wrote _Who Shot The Water Buffalo_ which I found,
purchased and read..a very good read about his embellished
experiences being a combat helicopter pilot in Viet Nam..
So can he be a teller of tall tales here, as well?

Probably but his motives for describing HST's visit, as such are
suspect since we have other accounts of that day..Quien sabe?

Was he looking for a way to reference Aretha's song?
Again, Quien sabe?
  

    
C-SPAN's "Book TV" aired a Zoom conversation between David Talbot
and me, hosted by City Lights and focused on the Hunter Thompson
book.

https://www.c-span.org/video/?517101-1/savage-journey

I gather the WaPo article by Jason Vest will run on May 15. He also
interviewed Tim Crouse, author of "The Boys on the Bus." Crouse was
Thompson's assistant during the 1972 presidential campaign. Thompson
suggested that he make the press corps the subject of his reporting.
  

    
Oh, cool to see that! 
  

    
I love C-SPAN. I think I watch it more hours per week than any other
channel, but I missed that, thanks for the link.

Thompson called my home phone once about 2:30 a.m. and yelled "I'm
going to kill your friend Mike!" I replied, "I haven't slept for the
past two nights, I finally turned in for a good night's sleep, and
you woke me up just to tell me that?" And he changed gears, started
mumbling an apology, and said, "Ah, sorry, you're very gracious to
indulge me, very gracious."
  

    
A little more background on the call would be appreciated, at least
by me..who was Mike and what did he do to make HST so angry?
I know HST had a hair trigger and anything could set him off..
  

    
>who was Mike and what did he do

I just assumed he meant Godwin.
  

    
HA!

No, Mike was a writer & editor for a humor magazine in NYC at the
time. Thompson was in the city for something or another -- who
knows? -- I asked him but he said it was "top secret." Apparently
the two had been drinking together for some time, hours or days
(nights). Again, who knows?

I suspect ol' Doc shouted that for Mike's benefit. The funny thing
is, I was ready to kill both of them for waking me up. But Thompson
suddenly turned into a gentleman and I was hundreds of miles away,
so we had a short chat, everybody forgave everybody, and that was
that.

It's not really a story about anything except how Thompson could
shift gears in a flash. I imagine he also could turn on you just as
quickly.
  

    
Got it and thanking you for the background to the 2:30 AM call
  

    
That's everything. I never even found out why they called.
  

    
Here's Jason Vest's article on Thompson's campaign reporting in
1972. I gather it will run in The Washington Post Magazine on
Sunday. Jason also found Timothy Crouse, author of "The Boys on the
Bus," which holds up very well.  

https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2022/05/10/hunter-thompson-campaign-co
verage/
  

    
Thanking you for that article link..
  

    

Just butting in here 2 years after the last post to mention I have
recently read someone's opinion that Thompson's most important
legacy is his early warning of the danger of money, endorsements and
betting to the sports world, which I guess is exemplified in the
Killy piece.  

Obviously those things dominate sports now.  I generally agree and I
don't follow or bet on sporting events.  

But I'll also mention that odds from Las Vegas are the most reliable
predictor of future events that we have.

I'm sorry I don't have cites for any of this but I think it's true.  
  

    
And let's not skip over the topical: the Ohtani gambling mess.
  

    

ooh, I hadn't heard about that till now.  Thanks!
  

    
Yah, I just looked it up and saw the “scandal” about his interpreter
and Ohtani’s apparent ignorance of what his interpreter was up to..
  

    
I'd write "alleged" in place of "apparent".
  

    
Thanks, I hadn't linked my own misgivings about the new arrangement
re: sports betting with Thompson and his work. I think it will make
the spate of college recruiting scandals look like childs play. Just
a matter of time. 
  

    

Well, Thompson wrote about his own enthusiastic betting on sporting
events, in the 70s, as I recall.  The dude had some inconsistencies
:-)
  

    
Point taken, <karish>..I was attempting to give Ohtani the benefit
of doubt about his knowledge of what his interpreter was up to since
I did not know anything about the issue until I looked it up and
read one article on the scandal..so rather than use lalleged I thot
I would use “apparent” as opposed to alleged
As an aside, mrs icenine and I (indirectly) are involved with with a
lawsuit over her Dad’s Trust and Will with the other family members
who are contesting the validity of both so I am sick of
"allegations” when it comes using lawsuits since that is all they
got as a basis for contesting both..the facts are on our side since
we can prove with documentation our contentions in response to their
non-fact based allegations..so that got away from me..sorry about
that

Anywhoo, now back to your regularly scheduled programming 
  

    
I didn't mean to criticise, <icenine>.
  

    
Yes, Thompson was an avid sports bettor. He liked to invite friends
over to watch games on TV and encouraged them to lay a lot of bets.
He also used betting on presidential primaries to connect with other
members of the press when he was on the campaign trail in 1972.
Drinking with other journalists and campaign staffers served the
same purpose. He was the outsider in that setting, occupying the
lowest rung of an established press hierarchy. But he turned that
liability into an asset over the course of the campaign.