When the going gets tough

"When the going gets tough, the weird turn pro." Hunter S. Thompson

A rite of passage for young males, post acknowledgement of the existence of girls and the first driver's license, most likely before the first nip of corn squeezin's comes one's first trip to the bookstore in search for non school assigned literature. For most, it's a dance with the forbidden, a taste of the provocative. With luck, understanding and good breeding that dance with the outlier never leaves.

Chosen wisely, your first pick may influence the rest of your life. Mine did. By the time the National Lampoon turned stale, Hunter Thompson's novel, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was serialized in Rolling Stone. He had me at hello, I never looked back and never regretted the ride.

In the era of Richard Nixon, Thompson's worldview and willingness to pop the ego balloons of the rich while pointing fingers at the criminals driving the bus of state and their lackey's provided incredibly solid education to the machinations of American government at its highest levels. Looking back at how politics has changed over the last 40 years Thompson appears a naif.


We didn't always agree, no one could always agree with Hunter. I do miss him though.

Happy Birthday Hunter, wherever you are.

Toad

Separated at Birth?

Hunter S. Thompson

Dalai Lama

thanks to Private Eye

Happy Mid Summer to each and all

Toad

Derby Day; an alternative view

"This man had an impressive head chiseled from one piece of bone, and the top part was covered down to his eyes by a floppy-brimmed sun hat. His top half was draped in a loose-fitting hunting jacket of multi-colored patchwork. He wore seersucker blue pants, and the whole torso was pivoted on a pair of huge white plimsolls with a fine red trim around the bulkheads. Damn near 6-foot-6 of solid bone and meat holding a beaten-up leather bag across his knee and a loaded cigarette holder between the arthritic fingers of his other hand."

-Ralph Steadman, on meeting Louisville boy Hunter S. Thompson at the 1970 Kentucky Derby

For those too young to know, or too old to remember, the Kentucky Derby was the setting for the birth of Gonzo journalism. Scanlon Magazine published The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved, by Hunter Thompson soon after the '70 Run for the Roses.

It picks up the local color as only a local boy can, and is still a pretty good read.

Should you happen to find yourself in the infield at Churchill Downs this afternoon be on the lookout for Mrs. T's favored #2 child please. He's likely to be the one over-served.

Also, tonight is a super-moon. Go outside, have a look see.

Toad