Hunter S. Thompson & The Lizards

I’ll admit that I’m hardly the first person to notice this, but I don’t generally keep up with the latest movie news unless it’s a project particularly close to my heart. But I couldn’t help raise an eyebrow at the trailer for Johnny Depp’s latest effort: as the voice of a lizard in Rango (2011).

Watch the following video and pay particular attention around 1:47 mins.

Hunter S. Thompson’s Ten Best Albums of the 1960s

I’ve been busy working on an essay for Beatdom #7, titled, “Hunter S. Thompson and the Music of the 1960s.”

Anyway that knows anything about HST knows that’s a pretty broad topic, with plenty of material to study. HST was a music fiend. He once said, “I’ve been arguing for years now that music is the New Literature, that Dylan is the 1960s’ answer to Hemingway.”

My research brought me across a 1970 letter that he wrote to Rolling Stone editor John Lombardi, that contains “Raoul Duke’s” ten best albums of the 1960s…

1)     Herbie Mann’s 1969 Memphis Underground

2)     Bob Dylan’s 1965 Bringing It All Back Home (especially noted as “Mr. Tambourine Man” in his letter)

3)     Dylan’s 1965 Highway 61 Revisited

4)     The Grateful Dead’s 1970 Workingman’s Dead

5)     The Rolling Stones’ 1969 Let it Bleed

6)     Buffalo Springfield’s 1967 Buffalo Springfield

7)     Jefferson Airplane’s 1967 Surrealistic Pillow

8)     Roland Kirk’s “various albums”

9)     Miles Davis’s 1959 Sketches of Spain

10)  Sandy Bull’s 1965 Inventions

HST for Beginners

Marty, over at the fantastic HSTbooks has a new website.

You may well remember the HST for Beginners series that he started last year. Some of the world’s best and brightest Hunter S. Thompson scholars were invited to give their views on the man and his legendary work.

The contributors included Wayne Ewing, William McKeen, Simone Corday, Peter Knox, Peter Richardson, Noel Davila, Marty Beckerman and myself.

We first discussed the separation of Hunter and Duke. That is to say, we each wrote about how the real Hunter differed from the persona that we all know through his work.

Secondly, we talked about Gonzo and what it meant. Most importantly, we all touched upon whether it should or shouldn’t be emulated.

The series now has its own website, which is in the early stages of development. Please take a look at http://www.hstforbeginners.com/