“And don’t think that my arrogance is unintentional: it’s just that I’d rather offend you now than after I started working for you. I didn’t make myself clear to the last man I worked for until after I took the job. It was as if the Marquis de Sade had suddenly found himself working for Billy Graham. The man despised me, of course, and I had nothing but contempt for him and everything he stood for. If you asked him, he’d tell you …

The team over at Coudal.com are back at it with the launch of the 2008 edition of Field Tested Books, a collection of book reviews by a variety writers, each with an interesting twist. As Jim explains:
“We had this notion that somehow through experimentation we could identify how our perception of a book is affected by the place where we read it. Or maybe the other way around. Maybe it’s possible to determine how a book colors the way we feel about the place where we experience it.”
This year, the …

Trailer for Alex Gibney’s (The Smartest Guys in the Room, Who Killed the Electric Car) Gonzo.

Those of you who visit this site on a semi-regular basis will be aware of a series that I have been posting to since this past November titled Great Counterculture Logos (the irony of this moniker has never been lost on me btw) and, more recently, of the email that I received from artist/designer Paul Pascarella in which he descibes a little of the process that went into the creation of the Gonzo Dagger (Part 5 in said series). There was also mention in that correspondence of a portrait that …

The warped and uncalibrated state of the first 20 seconds of this video seems a fitting start to the contents that follow as though serving to open a portal into an entirely different reality, one hosting the clash of two titans of the sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll ethic.
It really does not get much more legendary than this. Amusingly, as one of the comments points out, it is Keith Richards that comes out seeming the most sober. But despite a good few moments of drug addled babble on …

The Gonzo Fist by Paul Pascarella .
Paul Pascarella writes:
I would just like to be clear on the logo that you are refering to, the Gonzo fist, or the actual Gonzo logo with fist, name and dagger blade. The two thumbed fist with peyote button was originally designed by Hunter and a local Aspen artist named Tom Benton. It was first used I believe as a Freak Power symbol when Hunter was running for Sheriff in Aspen in 69′ when Benton designed the poster.
The actual Gonzo logo that you …

Above are the two best photos I could find of the weekend’s festivities at Owl Farm. Michael Swindle of the Village Voice provides the most fitting commentary.

Final preparations are being made for tomorrow’s private memorial service for writer Hunter S. Thompson. A 153 foot tall cannon, shaped like the gonzo fist (currently covered in blue tarp to conceal it from curious onlookers) is scheduled to fire the good doctor’s ashes into the air above his Owl Farm property.
My original reaction at the time of HST’s suicide was posted on the IBC blog site:
The self proclaimed creator of gonzo journalism and long time hero of mine, Hunter S. Thompson shot himself yesterday afternoon at his home …