Last night, at the end of the evening, Patty Walsh, my host at the Tattered Cover in Denver, asked me to sign the guest book all the visiting authors sign. I wrote, “When I die, I’m coming back here — because this is heaven.”
It’s truly one of the great bookstores of America with a loyal and intelligent clientele. I haven’t done enormous numbers of these events, but with the last three books I have been all over the place and there are some special venues — Octavia Books in New Orleans, the Book Mark in Atlantic Beach and good old Goerings back in Gainesville.
But Tattered Cover was magnificent. After the talk and signing we retreated to Encore, the restaurant attached to the bookstore. We dined with our pal from the weekend’s Mile High Music Festival, Wilson, and his friend David, both of whom work for a Colorado music magazine. Along with our wonderful waiter, we had a long and searing discussion of modern music and rock’n'roll history. Then Nicole pulled out pictures of my older daughters. She thinks Wilson would be perfect for Mary and David is suitable for Sarah. She’s always working that.
But back to work. I did a drive-time phoner yesterday with “The Gary Stone Program” out of Palm Springs, Calif. Since he calls himself the Dr. Gregory House of talk radio, I figured he might be an asshole. Instead, he was the anti-asshole — a wonderful, generous and extremely well informed host. I know how this works and I know that radio hosts and TV interviewers haven’t always had the chance to read the book. I’m OK with that. But this dude had read the book cover-to-cover, and it showed in the quality of his questions. Interviews like that energize me. Even the brief television interview yesterday was fun and the questions were spot-on. I think it’s because the journalists asking the questions generally are Hunter fans.
And, coincidence of coincidences, Gary Stone was a former roommate of Bill Cardoso, the man who wrote Hunter after “The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depravd,” and said, “Man, that was pure Gonzo.” Small world.
I always tell people that the hardest part of writing is trying to figure out what to say when signing books. Nicole helped me come up with a standard inscription for Rock and Roll is Here to Stay: “This takes care of rock’n'roll — the sex and drugs are entirely up to you.” I never came up with a good one for Highway 61, except “I hope you enjoy the ride.” But the funny thing about Outlaw Journalist is that because it’s about Hunter S. Thompson, people seem to want abuse in the signatures. A kid in Aspen the other night bought it for his brother and asked me to write, “Happy fucking birthday,” and so of course I did. Last night at the Tattered Cover, lots of people seemed to want you-shit-eating-freak references. I aim to please.
Going back to Aspen: I did a radio show there called “The Con Game” with Michael Conniff. He asked about whether alcohol abuse was responsible for a decline in Hunter’s writing. Before I could answer, a call came in from Jimmie Ibbotson, formerly of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and one of Hunter’s neighbors in Woody Creek. How could it be, Jimmie said. He drank all along … he drank in his greatest, most-productive days.
I purposely downplay the drug and alcohol references in Outlaw Journalist. I wanted to pay more attention to the art than the antics. But the point Michael was pursuing was serious. Alcoholism has left a lot of wreckage alongside the road — and not just the drinkers. I’ve known — and dated — several women wounded for life by alcoholic parents. So I’m sensitive to the scars that are left.
I do think Hunter’s legions of fans who can be divided into groups: those that know his work and really get it, and those who are more enamored of the lifestyle. I hope the latter group doesn’t just assume the way to literary acclaim is merely through injudicious use of drink and drugs. The point I tried to make in Outlaw Journalist is that Hunter S. Thompson was an enormously talented and hard-working man. He may have also been a genetic freak because I don’t think the drink and drugs incapacitated him. I want people to appreciate his writing. I therefore downplayed — and, I think, deglamorized — the substance abuse.
When I said that in a post-show note to Michael, he asked me whether that stuff was ever glamorized. Speaking as someone who works on a college campus, I’d have to say yes. It’s a badge of honor to say, “I got so wasted last night, dude.” I overhear conversations like that all the time.
A lot of people have commented on how little time I spend on Hunter’s drink-and-drug use. I just felt that that part of his life was overdone. To say that Hunter added mescaline to his diet in 1969 is like saying, “When he turned 13, little Billy decided asparagus wasn’t so bad after all.”
But anyway, I understood Michael’s very-serious point and hope that readers don’t come away from the book thinking that they need to emulate Hunter’s lifestyle. I would not recommend it, and neither did he.
That episode of “The Con Game” is archived at Michael’s Web site www.theaspenpost.com. Listen and see what you think.
I had another terrific Aspen radio interview. Not sure if it’s archived online, but it was with Don Cheney of the fabulous station KSNO-FM. We didn’t realize until the end of the Aspen stay that it was that station’s music we were enjoying so much in our hotel room. Don is another one of those people who probably is who he is and does what he does because of Hunter Thompson. Hunter’s work played a huge role in his life and Don was on Hunter’s nocturnal call list when he pulled the overnight shift at the station.
Today we’re having an easy morning and preparing for a three-hour taped interview coming up this afternoon with Duncan Campbell of KGNU in Boulder. After that, we have a signing at the Boulder Bookstore.
