Last year a newspaper clipping from E. Jean Carroll’s biography Hunter: The Strange and Savage Life of Hunter S. Thompson started blowing up on the Internet. I posted it here at BroBible at the time because (A. I am a rabid Hunter S. Thompson acolyte and scholar and B.) it’s hella amusing how much cocaine he did, even though it’s almost certainly a little bit exaggerated.
Anyway, it’s making the rounds again today following a post on Dangerous Minds and Film Drunk, et al. Since anything worth doing is worth doing right, I’ll post it again for all our new readers to bask in the legend of Hunter S. Thompson:
I have heard the biographers of Harry S. Truman, Catherine the Great, etc., etc., say they would give anything if their subjects were alive so they could ask them some questions. I, on the other hand, would give anything if my subject were dead.
He should be. Oh, yes. Look at his daily routine:
3:00 p.m. rise
3:05 Chivas Regal with the morning papers, Dunhills
3:45 cocaine
3:50 another glass of Chivas, Dunhill
4:05 first cup of coffee, Dunhill
4:15 cocaine
4:16 orange juice, Dunhill
4:30 cocaine
4:54 cocaine
5:05 cocaine
5:11 coffee, Dunhills
5:30 more ice in the Chivas
5:45 cocaine, etc., etc.
6:00 grass to take the edge off the day
7:05 Woody Creek Tavern for lunch-Heineken, two margaritas, coleslaw, a taco salad, a double order of fried onion rings, carrot cake, ice cream, a bean fritter, Dunhills, another Heineken, cocaine, and for the ride home, a snow cone (a glass of shredded ice over which is poured three or four jiggers of Chivas.)
9:00 starts snorting cocaine seriously
10:00 drops acid
11:00 Chartreuse, cocaine, grass
11:30 cocaine, etc, etc.
12:00 midnight, Hunter S. Thompson is ready to write
12:05-6:00 a.m. Chartreuse, cocaine, grass, Chivas, coffee, Heineken, clove cigarettes, grapefruit, Dunhills, orange juice, gin, continuous pornographic movies.
6:00 the hot tub-champagne, Dove Bars, fettuccine Alfredo
8:00 Halcyon
8:20 sleep
I’m going to repeat myself, but I think it’s important to note that there’s more to Hunter S. Thompson than his drug use. People who haven’t spent time reading Hunter’s work all-too-often forget that he was more than a stark-raving writer with drug-fueled thoughts. There’s meaning and madness to his methods.
But remember, kids: Hunter S. Thompson’s lessons were more than just gettin’ rowdy and staying up late. He was about fighting for what’s right against pigfucker greedheads and human jackals. He was about the death of the American Dream as we, once upon a time, know it. I encourage you to read his books — all of them — to try to understand the brilliant complexity of this great American writer. Then go toast a glass of Chivas and listen to Bob Dylan REALLY, REALLY loud.
Things like Hunter’s daily drug diet going viral contribute to the myth of Hunter S. Thompson. Hopefully it encourages people to understand whawt he was talking about beyond just the substance abuse.
“Myths and legends die hard in America. We love them for the extra dimension they provide, the illusion of near-infinite possibility to erase the narrow confines of most men’s reality. Weird heroes and mould-breaking champions exist as living proof to those who need it that the tyranny of ‘the rat race’ is not yet final.” ― Hunter S. Thompson, The Great Shark Hunt: Strange Tales from a Strange Time
Too weird to live, too rare to die. Buy the ticket, take the ride.
