I guess my perception of the Acid Test has been distorted by time. As far as Fear and Loathing...like I said, it was HIS reality. Which has very little to do with "normal" reality. I have not read Demon Box. Or any Kesey books other than Sometimes a Great Notion, and Cuckoos Nest. Wolf: I have read Bonfires and give it a "B". His more recent novel, "A Man in Full" I give an A+. He is developing as a novelist. This was only his second effort (Bonfires was his first). Peace, Rs7
Cuckoos is one of my fav novels and I don't think it will be too long before it is known as one of the top-5 of the 20th century, up there with Marqueze, Orwell, etc...Demon Box is more of a collection of fictionalized short stories based on his friends and there experiences... I will checkout 'A man in full', I knew I should have just ordered both Hey ever read 'Naked Lunch'? Burroughs reminds me alot of Hunter in Fear and Loathing... same type of chopped-up, in your face, drug induced, rants PEACE my friend
I read the Hell's Angels book. It was a bit of a disappointment, although I'd never read Fear and Loathing or any other of his books. Essentially the crux was that the Hell's Angels were more of a thuggish fraternity than anything else. Still some interesting adventures, tho...
This thread should be called old geezers fondly remembering their youth, at least the parts of it they can remember. Acid Test was pretty good, if a bit tedious at times. Kind of fit in with the movie Easy Rider. I just saw Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago, laughed my butt off. The book was pretty damn funny. Thompson has been an influential figure. He invented the form of journalism where the author is a participant and reports his subjective impressions rather than the objective facts of what actually happened. At the time it was called gonzo journalism, now is called the NY Times.
Old Geezers....That about sums it up! Yeah, I thought Fear and Loathing was a riot too. Acid Test was indeed a bit tedious at times, but it was not a novel, and I guess Wolfe felt he needed to include a lot of what wasn't exciting reading to hold it all together. Easy Rider was no coincidence. Terry Southern was one of the Merry Pranksters if I remember correctly. He wrote Easy Rider for the most part. He also was the main collaborator on the screenplay for the (IMHO) BEST MOVIE OF ALL TIME, Dr. Strangelove. Peace, rs7
rs7, I remember that Terry Southern was on the bus. forgot he was involved with Easy Rider. Has there ever been better movie score than Born to be Wild? Just perfect for that flick.
his latest book is called "kingdom of fear", and i just recently bought it in hard cover, there may be paperbacks available soon. For those not familiar with him: Hunter writes a blend of editorial, comedy, commentary on the human condition, autobiography, american history, and yes definitely some plain old fashioned tall tales that are very entertaining. He aligns himself with the radical left but many of his views totally clash with the left as it exists today ( totally against gun control for example ). He also did a stint in the military and he never says anything negative about the military and he got his first pro writing job on a base newspaper in florida. He hates the republican party which he sees as essentially fascist, but he doesn't like the democrats much either. I consider him to be a twisted sort of libertarian.
yup, great score for that movie....some real gems. Obscure stuff (don't bogart that joint) (so you wanna be a bird) to the mainstream...Hendix's immortal "If 6 was 9" and of course Steppenwolf. And the Byrds, and the Ballad of Easy Rider. I can't remember all the songs, but it was an amazing soundtrack. oh yeah, "Damn the Pusher Man" was another. Guess I could find 'em on the web...too lazy. Depressing ending to the movie, but I guess it was the only ending that would make sense. About 2 years later, I worked in distribution for Columbia Pictures. (shitty job). I got my friend an original theatre poster for Easy Rider. Anyone remember it was originally rated X? I bet that poster would be worth a ton of dough now. I also know the dude I gave it to has no chance of still having it. Probably cut it up into cigarette paper size little squares Got him Clockwork Orange poster too....also originally X rated. Now these movies can be shown uncensored on network tv. NY TIMES...Gonzo Journalism.... Classic!!!!!! Peace, Rs7