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FEAR & LOATHING PODCASTING ON THE FEAR & LOATHING CAMPAIGN TRAIL '72: THE OCTOBER BLUES
Election news during October fifty years ago was such that Hunter S. Thompson more or less took a pass at writing about Nixon vs. McGovern, instead musing about a certain werewolf visiting the Watergate. With a look at how the looming midterm votes are likely (or not) to mirror those of a half-century ago, Curtis Robinson and Christopher Tidmore dive into a short chapter. Also: Some predictions about Trump candidates.
FEAR AND PODCASTING ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL
It's been 50 years since Hunter S. Thompson went on the road for the articles that became Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail, '72. Attentive readers may recall that the book is organized by months, and Curtis and Christopher begin a new occasional series that compares this election year to those days a half-century ago. The results are both frustrating and oddly comforting. If you haven’t read the book in a while, remind yourself of the wisdom of “The Doctor” and buy the book again.
A SAD DAY FOR GONZOLAND: SHERIFF BRAUDIS DIES AT 77
The lawman of more than 30 years proved that Hunter & Co. may not have won the “Battle of Aspen,'“ but they won the cultural war.
SUMMER OF '72: McGOVERN MAKES HIS MOVE
A half-century after Hunter covered the milestone Nixon re-election and later published Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail, '72, our C2 (Curtis and Christopher) address the HST affinity for the firebrand activist and organizer Saul Alinsky and also what Christopher learned from his several interviews with Sen. McGovern. It's the best story about blowing up a barn you're likely to hear today ... or ever.
NEW SEGMENT: MATT MOSELEY AND WATER KICK OFF DISTRICT-TO-DISTRICT
Our frequent guest Matt Moseley, author of the book Dear Dr. Thompson about Hunter's successful effort to free a Colorado woman from prison after her strange felony murder conviction, helps kick off the parallel podcast we're calling "District-to-District." Based in the District of Columbia and linked with the Garden District of New Orleans (where the HG studio is STILL under construction!), the podcast will look at how the Capital district connects with others.
In this installment, Matt joins Curtis and Christopher finally recording live at poolside, and it's all about water. Matt has recently returned from swimming the Sea of Galilee (yes, that one) and is visiting Washington to educate lawmakers about water issues. His efforts were part of an American Rivers lobbying day and Matt also offers insight into the gonzo world of distance swimming, not to be confused with his other passion: endurance lunching.
50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE WATERGATE BREAK-IN AND HUNTER WAS IN THE BAR WHEN IT HAPPENED
It was May 28, 1972, and Hunter Thompson was having drinks at the bar at the Watergate Hotel. Unbeknownst to him, nearby, the offices of the Democratic National Committee were being infiltrated by the “plumbers.”
It had already been a landmark month in politics, as we remember reading the May chapter of Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail, ‘72. From the shooting of George Wallace to the anticipation of the national conventions, this is when American politics would be a irreparably changed—50 years ago this month.
KENTUCKY DERBY: GONZO IS BORN
The first Saturday in May is galloping toward us, which means the Kentucky Derby looms. Hunter S. Thompson's created gonzo journalism with his 1970 coverage of the race. In this episode Christopher and Curtis offer insight into how that happened and just what it cost to send a page of your notes across the early fax machines, aka "mojo wire."
FEAR & PODCASTING ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL: MARCH GETS REAL
Looking back a half-century into the Hunter S. Thompson masterwork Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail, '72 offers odd perspectives. In this episode of our ongoing series, looking at March of 1972, we find the famous violence and disruption on front-runner Ed Muskie's campaign train that landed our hero in hot water. (Spoiler alert: the "Man From Maine" does not fare well in these pages.) Also, Curtis offers some later-day updates on the "wild man" who actually caused all the Muskie train trouble. We also take note that Hunter sees the rise of George McGovern's campaign. Perhaps surprisingly, HST is not that much of an early fan.
PART 1: FEAR AND LOATHING IN ASPEN AND MORE (TRASH TALK)
We resume our weekly content production with a West Coast road trip, complete with catching the opening of the new HST film Fear and Loathing in Aspen, which is available on Amazon Prime and other places. Our multipart recording binge begins with returning champion Dan Dunn, of What We're Drinking, with Dan Dunn fame, who you may recall is pretty much our West Coast cohost.
PART 2: FEAR AND LOATHING IN ASPEN AND MORE (THE UNDERSHERIFF WILL SEE YOU NOW)
One thing you notice in director Bobby Kennedy III's Fear and Loathing in Aspen, (available to rent/buy at many of the usual spots) is the supporting character known as Undersheriff Ricks. That's because Paul Morgan plays the officer with a sort of restrained energy familiar to those who understand – at a cellular level – the subtle malevolence inherent to roadside sobriety tests. It turns out he had other roles with the film, including logistics, which he confesses in conversation with Curtis and Danny during our H-G summertime West Coast pod-binge.
PART 3: FEAR AND LOATHING IN ASPEN AND MORE (AUDIO-EROTICA)
Our multipart recording binge continues with Curtis Robinson, who visits with producers of a looming audio documentary about HST's run for sheriff, which is what the new HST film Fear & Loathing in Aspen covers, so he basically demands they defend both that creative decision and their career choices. In an upcoming episode, our hosts turn to some surprises from those who were actually in the Aspen film, including two of the youngest members of the tribe.
PART 4: FEAR AND LOATHING IN ASPEN AND MORE (I CAN CRY ON DEMAND)
In this segment, our hosts Dan Dunn and Curtis Robinson turn to some surprises from those who were actually in the new HST film by Bobby Kennedy III, Fear & Loathing in Aspen, including two of the youngest members of the tribe, Lincoln and Lulu. Also in this segment, insights from producer (and dad), Stephen Nemeth, of Rhino Films.
THAT TIME HUNTER EMBRACED (LITERALLY) TUCKER CARLSON
Our hosts Curtis Robinson and Christopher Tidmore discuss Tucker Carlson, the famed Fox News host and wannabe Maine fishing guide, who includes his own Hunter S. Thompson story in The Long Slide, his book about decades in media. It's a touching story of HST's influence, but also a reminder of how truly polarized we are these days. Also, there's a hug that left an impression.
AUDIENCE QUESTIONS: WHICH HST BOOK TO READ FIRST?
Hosts Curtis Robinson and Christopher Tidmore answer listener questions about Hunter S. Thompson. Which book to read first? Curtis makes the case for The Great Shark Hunt, but the movies are also a great start. What's the truth about Hunter's advice column? Listen to find out.
GONZO GOES TO COLLEGE AND HST IN THE TWO-N CANNON
Hosted by Curtis Robinson and Christopher Tidmore and recorded in New Orleans, we start with announcement of a documentary about Hunter S. Thompson's oft-discussed campus "speaking" tours; and Matt Moseley reads a chapter from his new book, Ignition, the one about running the media chaos for the Hunter memorial that shot his ashes out of a monster cannon.
NFL LEGEND GETS HIS GUN
How does one of the founders of the National Football League's player's association end up armed to the teeth and freezing his butt off outside a rural Colorado cabin, standing guard over the world's least-likely sheriff's candidate? How did you THINK Owl Farm earned its reputation as a fortified compound? Frequent H-G producer Katie Clancy gets to the heart of the story with guest Dave Meggyesy.
HST AND COLORADO V. KOBE BRYANT
That infamous Kobe Bryant sexual assault case found HST fully engaged in monitoring events. Our Curtis Robinson talks to Randy Wyrick, former editor of the Vail Daily newspaper, to connect more than a few dots. Was the Owl Farm Kitchen ground zero for the global Kobe Bryant information effort?
HST's POLITICAL LEGACY: FREAK POWER RULES
Dave Danforth, longtime Aspen journalist and owner of the Aspen Daily News, joins Curtis Robinson to discuss HST's political legacy in the Rockies. Of course, Hunter famously believed that politics is the art of controlling your environment and in the 1970s, he advanced the "freak power" politics in and around Aspen, Colorado – he mostly lost the battles but won the war. Dave recalls an academic paper for his Yale coursework and outlines how HST helped bring environmentally aware officials to public office.
ABOUT THAT MUSKIE ATTACK…
We take the time machine back to the 70s, to Florida and the Sen. Ed Muskie presidential campaign aboard his Sunshine Express. Curtis Robinson interviews famed BBC cameraman Ray Breslin, who was there and filmed “Hunter” attacking the candidate. It’s a famous incident HST noted often, but this shows just how sure the press was that it was him, not a prankster. More on that later in another story.
BETTER THAN SAX: LET’S TALK POLITICS
The story of HST is, of course, the ongoing story of American politics. So why not engage a bit of Democratic party royalty to talk about today's electoral environment? Dan Dunn (The Imbiber) and Curtis Robinson chat with John Conyers III, the son of the late John Conyers Jr., who was the longest-serving African American in the U.S. Congress (the congressman died in 2019 at the age of 90).
KNOWING THE FUTURE IS EASY, KNOWING THE TIMETABLE IS HARD
Hunter-Gatherer Stephen Nemeth of Rhino Films, along with Dan Dunn and Curtis Robinson, discuss how Hunter S. Thompson had an eery prescience of today's world politics. Nemeth also talks about his upcoming film, The Curse of Lono, based on Hunter S. Thompson's 1983 work, along with teasing Rhino's upcoming animated sequel to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. More to come ...
THAT TIME AUTHOR TIM CAHILL AND HST TESTED A NEW COCAINE THEORY AT DINNER
Many are the at-dinner-with-Hunter stories. But, few match the time in San Francisco when the Good Doctor was working with Rolling Stone (in those days, still headquartered in SF) and fellow RS writer Tim Cahill (future founding editor of Outside magazine and one of the U.S.'s best adventure/travel writers) ushered him into a fancy Mexican restaurant. Our own Curtis Robinson interviews Tim Cahill, who describes how Hunter had this odd idea about how better to consume cocaine ... Spoiler alert: every table is a lab if you use it right.
A FAN’S NOTE
The next time H-G host Curtis Robinson is asked how he met Hunter, he’ll finally be able to say, “Uh, it’s on the podcast site.” The story illustrates that nobody was ever safe from that HST memory. Plus, some program notes of interest for real-time listeners (1-12-20) and a shout out to a legendary sheriff.
THE HST LEGACY IN DC
A special treat this episode: joining Danny Dunn and Curtis Robinson is Carl Hulse, New York Times’s chief Washington correspondent and author of Confirmation Bias: Inside Washington's War Over the Supreme Court, from Scalia's Death to Justice Kavanaugh. Carl talks about how Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail, ‘72 set him on a path to journalism. While he didn't actually know the Doctor, he certainly is among those legacy folks who, like Curtis, can credit (or blame) Hunter for heading him into newspapers. At great personal risk and expense, we recorded Carl at the famous HST touchstone Hotel Jerome in Aspen, Colorado over President's Day weekend.
HOT RHINO FILM NEWS
Steve Nemeth is perhaps best known, at least in the years to come, as one of the founding producers of the H-G podcast, but for now he'll have to settle for his reputation as an iconic independent filmmaker. Of course, here in Gonzoland he's famously the producer of the Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas film. He is interviewed by frequent gatherer of stories Dan Dunn and our own Curtis Robinson ... It's all good, but those who listen very closely will also be rewarded with big news about a F&L Los Vegas remake ... you heard it here first!
CASTING DIRECTOR MARGERY SIMKIN
In this episode, the Hunter-Gatherers Curtis Robinson and Dan Dunn, speak with Margery Simkin, the legendary Hollywood casting director, about her work on Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, how Johnny Depp got that break-through role on 21 Jump Street, and how a future Spiderman came to be in the Vegas film. The conversation was part of our live recording binge at the Lono Hollywood Tiki Bar in Los Angeles in January 2020 BC (before corona).
SPENDING DETENTION WITH HUNTER
Katie Clancy interviews Chris Kelly, who grew up in Aspen and was a student in the school where George Stranahan was principal. When Kelly was given detention, he spent the day blowing up a car with Hunter S. Thompson.
IF THE WALLS COULD TALK
Curtis Robinson interviews Paul Levine, the former proprietor of The Howling Wolf Tavern, a political center and gathering place in Aspen where Hunter S. Thompson frequented.
TWO, TWO, TWO PODCASTS IN ONE!
Welcome to the "crossover event" of the season. Dan Dunn, who has become one of our original Gatherers, was kind enough to co-host with Curtis Robinson during a marathon podcasting session in Los Angeles last week. One of the interviews was a late-night visit with music legend Wayne Kramer, a founder of Detroit's MC5. Wayne talks about his life in rock and roll and scoring the most recent Hunter S. Thompson film, while Dan makes a case that the group should already be in the hall of fame. Program note: Later this week we'll be posting more details about the prequel to Fear and Loathing in Los Vegas from the film's producer, and a founder of this podcast, Stephen Nemeth. Dan has posted the interview over at his day-job site, "What We're Drinking, with Dan Dunn." Note that Mr. Kramer is the first known nondrinker to visit Dan's podcast – but he casts no judgment.
WHAT WAS HST LIKE AS A FIRST-TIME AUTHOR?
Margaret Harrell was Hunter S. Thompson's trusted copy editor for his first book, Hells Angels, published by Random House in 1967. During that time, she was the assistant editor to Jim Silverman (at Random House) and worked on books for several renowned authors, including John Irving, Richard Farina, Chet Huntley (of “The Huntley-Brinkley Report”) and Supreme Court First Amendment lawyer Cy Rembar (who wrote The End of Obscenity: The Trials of Lady Chatterley, Tropic of Cancer and Fanny Hill by the Lawyer Who Defended Them). A writer herself, Margaret has memorialized her relationship with Hunter and a couple of other male writers in the first two books of her four-volume memoir, entitled Keep This Quiet. You can currently preorder her new, blockbuster 298-page illustrated book, in collaboration with Ron Whitehead, entitled Hunter Thompson's Hells Angels: Writers and Editors, Romance and Trouble, which has scanned and contextualized the letters between Harrell and Thompson in color, 9 x 12 inches.
Preorder at https://norfolkpress.com/?s=margaret+harrell – not available on Amazon. See also: https://margaretharrell.com.
THAT TIME PAUL BUDNITZ WON TICKETS TO THE HUNTER & OSCAR SHOW!
Can we credit (or blame) a mid-80s HST Q&A in San Fransisco for our current rise in animated celebs? Oh yes, that's a thing and our guest Paul Budnitz of Superplastic studio is perhaps the world's top culprit. In an interview with hosts Curtis Robinson and Christopher Tidmore, Paul also admits to having once used autodial to win radio-station tickets. Plus, he sets Curtis straight on that whole kind-bud bicycle naming situation.
Photo credit: By Paul Budnitz - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18227727
EN GARDE
Katie Clancy interviews Roger Hawk, who, along with Katie's father John, roomed with Hunter while they attended Columbia Law School in 1958. Roger recalls one night on the town in New York City when somebody challenged Hunter to a sword fight.
YO, TIM LEARY, HUNTER HERE YET?
If you could overdose on proximity to 60s-era counterculture icons, then our man James Teiser would not have survived that time he met up with HST at a college speaking gig. James's father was one of the original high school buddies of HST and this is a great story although to be CLEAR we DO NOT in any way endorse the HINT of under-age drinking, even with Tim Leary.
A LONO FIT FOR LONO
For those of us who think Curse of Lono is perhaps HST's most under-appreciated book, walking into LONO in Los Angeles is total vindication. The tiki bar has tons of Easter eggs and insider nods to the book, and besides that it's just a flat-out great bar. It's interesting to find eateries and bars around the country that feed off the Gonzo vibe, and in this interview with Dan Dunn and Curtis Robinson, one of the LONO owners, Austin Melrose, stops by to explain how this happens .
MURDER, HE WROTE ... NOT
In this episode, author and communications strategy guru Matt Moseley talks to Curtis Robinson about that time Hunter shamed the Colorado justice system into releasing a woman from a life-without-parole murder sentence. And Moseley should know, his Dear Dr. Thompson book was about that effort, and of course the beloved Wayne Ewing film Free Lisl is a great telling of the story. The case, and one of the several laws Hunter truly hated, are still making headlines, as with this January story in the Colorado Sun newspaper: Colorado poised to revisit murder law that can send people to prison for life – even when they didn’t kill anyone.
CONNECTING THE DOTS
If contemporary politics leaves you brooding over the wisdom that Dr. Strangelove brought to the silver screen, then rest assured you are not alone. Who knew it flirted with documentary? In this episode, we get a guided tour inside the likely thoughts of Terry Southern, who wrote that "no fighting in the war room!" film along with the landmarks Easy Rider and Barbarella and ... well, he was prolific, profane, and paved the way for many who came later. Terry Southern was also a pioneer of what would be called New Journalism and even Gonzo journalism. Curtis Robinson catches Nile Southern, Terry's son, in the lobby of the Beverly Hills Hotel and they discuss President Trump and the nature of men (not women so much). Nile Southern is also making a documentary about his dad you’ll want to check out: Dad Strangelove.
CONNECTING THE DOTS PART TWO: READINGS
This is the second in a two-part series of interviews by Curtis Robinson with Nile Southern, son of Terry Southern. In this segment, Nile reads from his father's works, including the opening paragraph of Twirling at Ole Miss – widely considered the first New Journalism article.
HST IGNITES POLITICAL CAREER?
Curtis Robinson interviews Torre, Aspen's newly elected Mayor, who shares Hunter S. Thompson stories, and how Hunter helped influenced his political activism.
CALM DOWN, IT’S STILL FOOTBALL SEASON
It's NFL playoff time, and given that HST's short suicide note found time to lament the end of football season, our attention turns to “Fear & Loathing at the Super Bowl,” Hunter's screed about SB8, played in Houston. Producer Curtis Robinson recalls reading the piece with the Doctor at Owl Farm, calling it a link to later "Hey Rube" efforts. CR says this is Hunter at his best, especially when it came to his knowledge of the Bible – and we even explain the cultural reverence to "Mr. Natural" and a shout-out to a friendly NFL owner. And remember folks, there's always next season ... until, you know, there's not.
HST FOR SHERIFF: TREY TERPELUK TALKS ASPEN-BASED MOVIE
The Bobby Kennedy III-directed Fear and Loathing in Aspen, which is about Hunter's run for sheriff of Pitkin County, is apparently tearing it up on STARZ and recently hit Amazon Prime. We have one of the producers, Trey Terpeluk of Yo Productions, who joins Christopher and Curtis to discuss the film, his political childhood, discovering HST through a twisted vision of Washington D.C., and, oh yes (because we have no filters), his membership in the Dead Daddy Club.