Dr. Gonzo: A Saipan favorite

I am sad to report that my Last Command Post redoubt will not be used to launch Gonzo author Hunter S. Thompson’s ashes for his posthumous grand finale. This task will be undertaken (really) by a canon in Colorado. Still, ol’ “Dr. Gonzo” had quite a following in Saipan, and my pals and I were saddened by his Feb. 21 suicide.

I asked several accomplished writers to offer their thoughts to Saipan Tribune readers about the death of Thompson. These are highlights of their quotes, which I’ve finally been able to lace together because my business travels have ebbed and I’m just now getting organized again.

* * * * *

Bruce Lloyd
Owner, Saipan Public Relations firm Bruce Lloyd Media Services

“It is 1973 in Milwaukee and I am working as a radio reporter…On the side, though, I was taking a couple of journalism courses at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

“Professor Sykes—maybe once upon a time a hep-cat—wanted to make is pretty clear to us that he wasn’t the kind of guy who would ever read Rolling Stone, yet he urged us to read this wild and crazy guy Hunter S. Thompson, who was saying and reporting all the stuff that the journalism ‘big foots’ would not. Later there was a total epidemic of Thompson quotes by these guys, who used him as an opening for self-expression…

“By the way, applying HST’s techniques to the CNMI political environment would drive everyone crazy. Trust me on this.”

* * * * *

Ken Phillips
Proprietor, Corner Pocket bar
Former Saipan bureau chief for the Pacific Daily News

“How could I not be charmed by a gun-nut, somewhat libertarian guy who had constant problems with deadlines. Anarchy is its own reward…At the top of his game, he seemed to hate everyone, and do it well…My favorite book is easily Hell’s Angels.

“Favorite saying (much overused), ‘When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.’”

* * * * *

James Paradise
Former correspondent for Dow Jones Newswires and UPI

“I feel a loss. I grew up with Hunter Thompson. I first read him in high school—Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail. I even heard him speak at my university. He showed up late, and was drunk, stoned or some combination of the two, or so it appeared. We were all waiting for a speech when the organizer said, at the beginning, ‘And now Hunter will take your questions.’ Some of us felt cheated, but then Hunter went on to give a fine performance. At one point, I remember him saying something to the effect, ‘Anybody who pays to hear me speak, there must be something wrong with them.’ I loved his writing, the sense of freedom and irreverence that it exuded. There was never restraint, only indulgence, probably a good metaphor for America. I remember that great car of his, and the road trips (of the mind or body) it was endlessly a part of. For me, Thompson was one in a group of writers I read that included Kerouac, Kesey, Castenda and Tom Wolfe. I learned much about America from these people—not all of it (or even any of it) positive. It’s a sad week. I am in mourning.”

* * * * *

Edward Stephens Sr.
Professor Emeritus, Syracuse University

“In a 1974 Playboy interview Hunter Thompson said, ‘One day you just don’t appear at the El Adobe bar anymore. You shut the door, paint the windows black, rent an electric typewriter and become the monster you always were—the writer.’

“I first came across Hunter S. Thompson a few years before that, when I read an article in Esquire that must have been an excerpt from his 1967 book, Hell’s Angels, the Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs.

“He painted an astonishingly real and moving, if not necessarily uplifting, portrait of this gang of outlaws which may have been the beginning of all the publicity they were to receive.

“I thought his style vigorous and memorable, and count myself among his early admirers. Over the years as I read of his heavy use of drugs and booze, however, which seemed to show in his output, I slipped off the band wagon, wondering if maybe he should spend more time in his blacked out room and less at the Adobe Bar. It finally caught up with him, sad to say, and now we all mourn the loss of a genuinely unique writer’s voice.”

* * * * *

I called Saipan’s Bestseller books and they don’t carry any of Thompson’s books, but if you’d like to see what all the fuss is about I highly recommend getting your hands on my favorite work, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Hey, it inspired me to become a writer…

…which only proves that when the going gets weird, the weird really do turn pro.