Showing posts with label Hunter Thompson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hunter Thompson. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 3, 2019

Hunter Thompson What A Man




Some of you may have heard of Hunter Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Hell's Angels, and all the rest. He was famous as the King of Gonzo journalism, and though he shot himself in 2005 he lives on in myth and legend, "We can't stop here, this is bat country!" Uh huh, quite, and Hell's Angels is great too, but consider this, from American Digest:

Warren (Hinckle, Scanlan's) liked to drink and spend other people’s money on himself and writers. Naturally, such a honey pot was going to attract Hunter Thompson.
Thompson liked to drink, snort coke, and spend other people’s money on articles he might or might not write. Sometimes the small staff working with me and the larger staff working the con with Warren at Scanlan’s would decide to drink together. We liked to drink at our bar of choice up at the end of the alley, Andre’s.
And so one night, when Hunter was in town, we all went up to Andre’s for a non-stop night of drinking.
Andre was an elegant French-Canadian who ran an elegant bar and restaurant. He was old-school and could mix any drink anyone could name and it was always perfect. He was polished, polite, and a good listener. But he was a pro and usually knew when you’d had enough. Then he politely asked you to leave. If you ignored him, he had a very large mallet with a three-foot handle behind the bar and you didn’t ignore that.
So there we were, eight or ten of us I think, hanging around and drinking with “Hunter S. Thompson, man!” And, as they would, Warren and Hunter got into a drinking contest — sort of like watching a match between Ali and Frazier in their prime.
It went on and on long past the point where I could or would keep up. It was getting late and Andre announced to the assembled cross-eyed drunks, that he was giving us our last round. The regulars took him at his word, but Hunter had to push the envelope. Except with Andre there was no envelope. Just a polite, “Non.”
The next thing I know there’s a gun in Hunter’s hand and three rounds into the ceiling of the bar. (Did I mention that there were apartments where people were sleeping above the bar?)
Then I think there was a blur of Andre, in suit and tie, coming over the bar with the mallet. Then more blurs and everybody is out on the street dragging a semi-conscious Hunter back down the alley mumbling something about getting his gun back. After that I don’t remember much and, frankly, haven’t thought all that much about Thompson in the nearly 50 years that have intervened.
Later Hunter left this Earth  in the same way that he lived — gun-crazy, thoughtless, self-obsessed and selfish to the last second. A gunshot suicide at home, leaving his wife and son to discover and deal with his ruined corpse and clean up the room.
What a man.

Whoa, what a damning obit, and Vanderleun tells a good story, shooting right in the X-Ring of a crew of boozy hacks. But consider this. HST managed to fire off a few rounds and guess what, no one called the police, it was handled the right way, with a mallet, by old school Andre.

Such was, apparently, the '70s and we've clearly lost a lot, the flawed gonzo genius of Hunter Thompson and perhaps more to the point, the greatness of Andre. We're a smaller world for that.

Your Old Pal,

LSP

Tuesday, December 11, 2018

It's Gettin' Stormy!



Do you remember the bizarre contender for the Democrat 2020 throne, Michael Avenatti, popularly known as Creepy Porn Lawyer (CPL)? Sure you do, CPL's the hot shot lawyer representing Stormy Daniels, the famous dancing prostitute who went after Trump for an alleged affair in 2006. 


Stormy owes Trump money

But things haven't been easy for Stormy or CPL. Just today, a California judge ordered the stripper to pay Trump over $290,000 in legal fees, including  $1000 in sanctions for a frivolous lawsuit against the president. Stormy, under the aegis of the brilliant CPL, had sued the president for defamation following a Trumpian tweet and... lost the case.


CPL, defender of wimmyn's rights everywhere

How will Stormy pay the bill? Through her gofundme appeal of course, which as of August had raised $585,563. That'll cover the fine and some of CPL's fees, and we have to thank all the well meaning progressives who helped finance Trump's legal team. 

Whether Stormy and CPL will win their NDA lawsuit against the president remains to be seen. If they do, the proceeds might go some way towards covering Avenatti's mounting financial woes.


Just one of the fellas!

CPL's been ordered to pay his ex-wife $37,897 in child support and $124,398 in spousal support. A month. Far more than most people in the world earn in a year or several. 

And that's not all, the hapless Avenatti's been ordered to give his fortunate Ex his Farrari Spyder, ahem "art," his collection of super pricey watches and a share in a private jet, all by way of retroactive payments to his former wife.


One of the best things about cocaine is that it doesn't make you arrogant or weird.

What a lot of money! Amounting to rather over a $1 million a year, and that's before the unfortunate champion of womyns rights has even bought anything. Who knows, maybe CPL's going to recoup the loss with a staggeringly, not coke-fueled, win against Trump with his All Star client, Stormy.

She, by the way, ran for office as a Republican back in 2010. Here's Wikipedia:

In April 2010, Daniels finally declared herself a Republican candidate. Her decision was inspired by disclosures that the Republican National Committee (RNC) had paid expenses for fundraisers at a "lesbian bondage themed nightclub" in Los Angeles, stating that the revelations "finally tipped the scales".

I tell you, can't make this stuff up. Hunter Thompson's Generation of Swine was a couple of decades early and millions of dollars short. 

And who knows, maybe Stormy will make up the deficit by dancing in her declining years. Good luck to her.


I loved this place

CPL, on the other hand? Perhaps Satan's discarded its malfeasant toy.

Cheers,

LSP