All the heroes of my youth are passing.... Joe Strummer dies of heart failure - and now Hunter S. Thompson, inventor of 'Gonzo journalism', commits suicide. 'Heroes' is too strong a word - both were men I never met, but in their different ways, entertained me greatly while at the same time making me aware that we can, and should, question 'the way things are'. At its best, Thompson's writing could make me helpless with laughter. Whenever I am stuck in traffic on a hot day, I think of Thompson describing being caught in nightmare traffic, revving the engine of his hire car until it seizes, breaking the steering wheel in half, then walking away and leaving it.... True ? False ? Who cares - it's Thompson ( and no, I've never been able to do it ! ). In 'The Great Shark Hunt' , Thompson wrote of Hemingway and mused on his final days. Well, he walked the talk to the end - and took the same path. I shall raise a glass this evening.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200502/s1309011.htm US author Hunter S Thompson, who committed suicide last weekend, wanted to exit this world in a style befitting his extraordinary life by being fired from a cannon, a friend says. It is believed the larger-than-life writer of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas stated in his will that he wanted his ashes to be fired out of a cannon following his funeral, plans for which have yet to be announced. "I believe he wanted to be shot out of a cannon," friend Troy Hooper told AFP. "I understand it's in his Will," Mr Hooper said, associate editor of the Aspen Daily News, based near the Colorado home where 67-year-old Thompson apparently shot himself on Sunday. "That's Hunter's style - that's how he would want it," he said. "He was a big fan of bonfires and explosions and anything that went bang and I'm sure he'd like to go bang as well."
