Posted on 08/20/2005 5:16:46 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
WOODY CREEK, Colo. - Iconoclastic journalist Hunter S. Thompson would have loved the 153-foot tower built to blast his ashes into the sky, said one of his many friends and admirers gathered for an unsolemn farewell.
"It's a beautiful structure. Of course, he would not have been able to resist putting a few holes into it," said Michael Cleverly, referring to his former neighbor's love of shooting guns. "But it weighs several tons, so it could handle a few holes."
The counterculture author killed himself six months ago at his home near Aspen. His ashes, intermingled with fireworks, were to be fired out of the tower Saturday evening in front of a star-studded crowd at his Owl Farm compound.
"He loved explosions," his wife, Anita Thompson, explained during the planning of the fireworks sendoff.
The tower — intentionally built just taller than the Statue of Liberty — was erected in a field between Thompson's home and a tree-covered canyon wall. It was shrouded in tarpaulins for days, but his widow, Anita, said it was modeled after Thompson's Gonzo logo: a clenched fist, made symmetrical with two thumbs, rising from the hilt of a dagger.
The memorial was expected to be a party, with plenty of alcohol, reminiscences, readings from Thompson's works and performances by both Lyle Lovett and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.
About 250 people were invited, including Thompson's longtime illustrator, Ralph Steadman, and actors Sean Penn and Johnny Depp, close friends of the writer. Depp portrayed Thompson in the 1998 movie version of "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream," perhaps the writer's most well-known work.
Anita Thompson said Depp funded much of the celebration.
"We had talked a couple of times about his last wishes to be shot out of a cannon of his own design," Depp told The Associated Press last month. "All I'm doing is trying to make sure his last wish comes true. I just want to send my pal out the way he wants to go out."
Thompson was credited along with Tom Wolfe and Gay Talese with helping pioneer New Journalism — he dubbed his version "gonzo journalism" — in which the writer was an essential component of the story.
Thompson often portrayed himself as wildly intoxicated as he reported on figures such as Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. At the height of the Watergate era, he said Richard Nixon represented "that dark, venal, and incurably violent side of the American character."
Besides the 1972 classic about Thompson's visit to Las Vegas, he also wrote an expose on the Hell's Angels and "Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72," in which the central character was a snarling, drug- and alcohol-crazed observer and participant.
The Kentucky-born writer also was the model for Garry Trudeau's balding "Uncle Duke" in the comic strip "Doonesbury."
In this now-chic resort community, he proudly fired his guns whenever he wanted, let peacocks have the run of the land and ran for sheriff in 1970 under the Freak Power Party banner.
Thompson shot himself in his kitchen Feb. 20, apparently unable to handle his declining health. One close acquaintance suggested Thompson did not want old age to dictate the circumstances of his death. Anita Thompson said no suicide note was left.
Workers put the finishing touches on a memorial to 'gonzo' journalist Hunter S. Thompson near his home at the Owl Farm in Woody Creek, Colo., on Saturday, Aug. 20, 2005. Family and friends are to gather at the site Saturday night to pay tribute to Thompson. His ashes are to be spread by a fireworks projectile during the event. Thompson shot himself to death six months ago on Feb. 20 at age 67. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)
For those who visit Lucianne, Hunter was "Catalina" on Lucianne.
Funny how this turd made the headlines on yahoo all day.
A stack of inflatable dolls wait to be put in place in the party tent during gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson's memorial at his home in Woody Creek, Colorado August 20, 2005. Thompson's cremated ashes will be exploded in fireworks from a tower at sunset during a party. REUTERS/Rick Wilking
Good riddance....with the utmost respect.
Could not care less. This guy was the epitome of everything that is evil about the left. Self-centered Egostistical Chauvenist Lying Hippie Druggie Low self-esteem Scum
Should have done this while he was still alive. It would have meant more to me.
...to each his own, I suppose... *coughcreepcough*
I bet that there maybe might perhaps be about 2 1/2 people here that give a flying 'f about Hunter Thompson's ashes. I only hope they don't sift down on us here in Dallas.
A fitting memorial to Thompson - struggling for attention in death, just as he struggled for attention in life.
Moonbat country!!!!!!
This should have happened years ago.
"Two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half-full of cocaine and a whole galaxy of multicolored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers, also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of Budweiser, a pint of raw ether, and two dozen amyls... and I was still bored to tears after five minutes with this guy..."
yup , sorta funny attendees were refered to as pilgrims
Here's a point Moonbats seem to miss every time. They love everything pagan, especially Indian cultures, they are into all that stuff. In that neck of the woods, well, a little south of them at the Four Corners is the so-called Navajo "nation" (I thought we were one nation, but I was wrong). I was partially raised among those people.
Hunter Thompson will have someone blast his ashes all over the place, interesting, the Navajos ought to be really thrilled. That is corpse powder, that's a huge taboo, LOL!! Well, I understand they might be in Ute country, maybe someone ought to ask them what they think of this...
I told a hippie couple about that once; they were preparing to dust our local river with the ashes of one of their family ("this is so cool man"), but this is Texas, go ahead I said, but you guys seem to always be so super-sensitive about offending someone, just be forewarned. They didn't know what to do. I mean you could cause someone to knock out the back wall of their home and leave it deserted because of something like that. You folks from Indian country know what I'm alluding to here...
Flushing him down the toilet would have been more appropriate. Typical leftist LOSER!
Doesn't this violate environmental regulations?
Chortle!
What was remarkable about all that was that, then, Hunter admitted in his book that he was an "asshole."
Thank you - I keep seeing threads about this guy and who cared when he was alive? Just another old drunk.
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