The 50th Anniversary Of The Summer Of Love, 1967 It's The Spread, Stupid!-When Hunter Thompson Called The Shots

The 50th Anniversary Of The Summer Of Love, 1967 It's The Spread, Stupid!-When Hunter Thompson Called The Shots 

Zack James’ comment June, 2017:

Maybe it says something about the times we live in, or maybe in this instance happenstance or, hell maybe something in the water but certain things sort of dovetail every now and again. I initially started this commentary segment after having written a longest piece for my brother and his friends as part of a small tribute booklet they were putting together about my and their takes on the Summer of Love, 1967. That event that my brother, Alex, had been knee deep in had always interested me from afar since I was way too young to have appreciated what was happening in San Francisco in those Wild West days. What got him motivated to do the booklet had been an exhibit at the de Young Art Museum in Golden Gate Park where they were celebrating the 50^th anniversary of the events of that summer with a look at the music, fashion, photography and exquisite poster art which was created then just as vivid advertising for concerts and “happenings” but which now is legitimate artful expression.

That project subsequently got me started thinking about the late Hunter Thompson, Doctor Gonzo, the driving force behind a new way of looking at and presenting journalism which was really much closer to the nub of what real reporting was about. Initially I was interested in some of Thompson’s reportage on what was what in San Francisco as he touched the elbows of those times having spent a fair amount of time working on his seminal book on the Hell’s Angels while all hell was breaking out in Frisco town. Delved into with all hands and legs the high points and the low, the ebb which he located somewhere between the Chicago Democratic Convention fiasco of the summer of 1968 and the hellish Rollins Stones Altamont concert of 1969.     

Here is what is important today though, about how the dots get connected out of seemingly random occurrences. Hunter Thompson also made his mark as a searing no holds barred mano y mano reporter of the rise and fall, of the worthy demise of one Richard Milhous Nixon at one time President of the United States and a common low-life criminal of ill-repute. Needless to say today, the summer of 2107, in the age of one Donald Trump, another President of the United States and common low-life criminal begs the obvious question of what the sorely missed Doctor Gonzo would have made of the whole process of the self-destruction of another American presidency, or a damn good run at self-destruction. So today and maybe occasionally in the future there will be some intertwining of commentary about events fifty years ago and today. Below to catch readers up to speed is the most recent “homage” to Hunter Thompson. And you too I hope will ask the pertinent question. Hunter where are you when we need, desperately need, you.       

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Zack James comment, Summer of 2017 

You know it is in a way too bad that “Doctor Gonzo”-Hunter S Thompson, the late legendary journalist who broke the back, hell broke the neck, legs, arms of so-called objective journalism in a drug-blazed frenzy back in the 1970s when he “walked with the king”’ is not with us in these times. (Walking with the king not about walking with any king or Doctor King but being so high on drugs, your choice, that commin clay experiences fall by the way side. In the times of this 50^th anniversary commemoration of the Summer of Love, 1967 which he worked the edges of while he was doing research (live and in your face research by the way) on the notorious West Coast-based Hell’s Angels. His “hook” through Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters down in Kesey’s place in La Honda where many an “acid test” took place, where many walked with the king, if you prefer, and where for a time the Angels, Hunter in tow, were welcomed. He had been there in the high tide, when it looked like we had the night-takers on the run and later as well when he saw the ebb tide of the 1960s coming a year or so later although that did not stop him from developing the quintessential “gonzo” journalism fine-tuned with plenty of dope for which he would become famous before the end, before he took his aging life and left Johnny Depp and company to fling his ashes over this good green planet. He would have “dug” the exhibition, maybe smoked a joint for old times’ sake (oh no, no that is not done in proper society, in high art society these days) at the de Young Museum at the Golden Gate Park highlighting the events of the period showing until August 20^th of this year.   

Better yet he would have had this Trump thug bizarre weirdness wrapped up and bleeding from all pores just like he regaled us with the tales from the White House bunker back in the days when Trump’s kindred one Richard Milhous Nixon, President of the United States and common criminal was running the same low rent trip before he was run out of town by his own like some rabid rat. He would have gone crazy seeing all the crew deserting the sinking U.S.S. Trump with guys like fired FBI Director Comey going to Capitol Hill and saying out loud the emperor has no clothes and would not know the truth if it grabbed him by the throat. Every day would be a feast day. But perhaps the road to truth these days, in the days of “alternate facts” and assorted other bullshit would have been bumpier than in those more “civilized” times when simple burglaries and silly tape-recorders ruled the roost. Hunter did not make the Nixon “hit list” (to his everlasting regret for which he could hardly hold his head up in public) but these days he surely would find himself in the top echelon. Maybe too though with these thugs who like their forbears would stop at nothing he might have found himself in some back alley bleeding from all pores. Hunter Thompson wherever you are –help. Selah. Enough said-for now  

BOOK REVIEW- Originally written in December 2007

Hey Rube, Hunter S. Thompson, Simon and Schuster, New York, 2005

Make no mistake the late, lamented Hunter Thompson was always something of a muse for me going way back to the early 1970's when I first read his seminal work on California outlaw bikers, The Hell's Angels. Since then I have devoured, and re-devoured virtually everything that he has written. However the present book leaves me cold. This is a case where `greed' (on whose part I do not know, although the proliferating pile of remembrances of Thompson may give a hint) got the better of literary wisdom. This compilation of articles started life as commentary on the ESPN.com, part of the cable sports network. And perhaps that is where the project should have ended. Hey, this stuff has a half-life in cyberspace so not all would have been lost.

So what is the basis for my objection? Part of Hunter's attraction always has been a fine sense of the hypocrisy of American politics. Although we marched to different drummers politically I have always appreciated his ability to skewer the latest political heavyweight-in-chief, friend or foe. That is missing here although he does get a few whacks in on the current child-president George W. Bush. But this is not enough. What this screed is really about is the whys and wherefores of his life long addiction to sports betting and particularly professional football, the NLF.

A run through the ups and downs of Thompson's previous seasons' (2000-2003) gambling wins and loses, however, does not date well. Hell, I can barely remember last week's bets. But the real problem is that, as in politics, we listen to different drummers. I am a long time fan of `pristine and pure' big time college football and would not sully my hands to bet on the NFL so his whining about the San Francisco 49'ers or the Denver Broncos is so much hot air. However, I will take Ohio State and 3 points against LSU in the 2007 college championship game. That's the ticket. I miss Hunter and his wild and wacky writing that made me laugh many a time when I was down and needed a boost but not here. Enough said.

Postscript: May 15, 2008. Needless to say there is a strong difference between my uncanny powers of political prognosis and the rather mundane ability to pick college football champions. Obviously, only a fool would have bet on the Buckeyes of Ohio State against a real SEC team like those Cajun boys from LSU. Right?

*Hold The Presses-The Real Question Of The Day- Who Will Win The National College Football Championship?

Click on title to link to the Associated Press's pre-season Top 25 College Football team ratings.

Well, another season has come around. I usually have plenty to say about the college football scene but I am taking a page from the late gonzo "sportswriter' Hunter S. Thompson playbook. Thompson's premise was that once you have "run the board' on one football season (or any sporting event)you can basically live off the fat of the land thereafter. In the word processor/Internet blog age all you have to do is call up a previous year's work and slip it in. I do so here. Except to note that unless something strange happens (always entirely possible in college football, especially the very competitive SEC)Florida with ace quarterback Tebow should repeat. If they falter, then my real favorite Texas out of the Big 12 should prevail.

Below is the commentary from 2008. Thanks for the tip, Hunter.

"Commentary

This running commentary was started on August 29, 2008 and will continue until January 2009. Each week I am making my comments on the previous week and making my selections for the upcoming week in the comment section. Of course, using the power of the Marxist scientific method (or maybe dumb luck) to enlighten one and all on this earth shaking struggle.

Well, folks now is the lead-up to the first real weekend of college football and time once again for this unrepentant Marxist to use his materialist concept of history to predict the trends of the season. But let us back up for a moment to last year’s (yes, I know ancient history but with blog history available, such as it is in this case, it can be pulled up in an instant) zany season and this forecaster’s ill-advised choices. One knows things are not right when upstart Appalachian State takes Michigan in the first week. It went downhill from there. The next couple of paragraphs taken from a review of Hunter Thompson’s Hey, Rube and a postscript tell the tale when the deal went down.


A run through the ups and downs of Thompson's previous seasons' (2000-2003) gambling wins and loses, however, does not date well. Hell, I can barely remember last week's bets. But the real problem is that, as in politics, we listen to different drummers. I am a long time fan of `pristine and pure' big time college football and would not sully my hands to bet on the NFL so his whining about the San Francisco 49'ers or the Denver Broncos is so much hot air. However, I will take Ohio State and 3 points against LSU in the 2007 college championship game. That's the ticket. I miss Hunter and his wild and wacky writing that made me laugh many a time when I was down and needed a boost but not here. Enough said.

Postscript: May 15, 2008. Needless to say there is a strong difference between my uncanny powers of political prognosis and the rather mundane ability to pick college football champions. Obviously, only a fool would have bet on the Buckeyes of Ohio State against a real SEC team like those Cajun boys from LSU. Right?


...Obviously, at the end of this year’s football season I will have to make better use of the delete key. But all of that is so much hot air and ancient history. Today we start as fresh as new born babes. That, after all is the beauty of this kind of madness. Here goes.

A Democratic convention with a historic black candidate for a nominee. Ho hum. A Republican convention coming up with the same old same old. Yawn. Today, or at least the time it takes me to write up this commentary, all that ‘real’ news is so much hot air. Why? This weekend marks the first serious collegiate football Saturday and the time to make my predictions about who will win this year’s coveted national championship (Jesus, I better stick to politics, this line sounds like something out of the late legendary sportswriter Grantland Rice. Somebody please stop me if I start writing about the 'mythical' national championship). I admit that I got waylaid last year when LSU seemingly came out of nowhere at the end to deliver Ohio State its second consecutive national championship lost. But that was last year. This year is as fresh as the driven snow.

On the first weekend of September it would be pointless (and foolhardy, as well) to name the winner. One of the virtues of following the Top 25 in the college football ratings is that, more so than in professional sports, the most precise calculations can blow up in your face. Witness last year’s unlikely defeat of Michigan by Appalachian State. So with that precaution in mind here is my Top Four which reflects the strength of the top conferences in the scheme of things. Pac-10- Southern California (no-brainer out West). Big 10-Ohio State (here I finally like them so they probably will tank out on me). Big 12- Oklahoma (although I like that quarterback McCoy from Texas, if he ever stops throwing interceptions) and the home conference of last year’s national champion’s, the SEC- Georgia who came on like gang busters at the end of last season (no, no repeat for LSU. Yes, I like Florida's Heisman Trophy Tebow but is the team around him strong enough?). For all you Clemson(ACC) and/or West Virginia fans (Big East). Get real-again!

I promise to do better updating the weekly commentary. Hell, all there is as an alternative is this misbegotten presidential campaign so I should have plenty of time on my hands."

A Rage For Pigskin- College Division

Commentary

In post- World War II America, the time of this writer’s youth, television and its seemingly infinite possibilities settled on mass sport entertainment as one of its pillars, a wise decision from a revenue producing perspective, if not from a cultural one. Needless to say sports like football that had previously had small, stadium-bound audiences for the most part soaked up the American television airwaves. That all by way of introducing this writer’s life-long fascination with the trials and tribulations of college football and the quest of the 'mythical' national college football championship that has provided fodder for endless arguments over the fairness of the system to produce a real champion in face-to-face combat.

Who knows when a kid first becomes conscious of sports and the difference between them. Maybe in some elementary school physical education class. Maybe in front of the television on some misbegotten Saturday or Sunday afternoon watching a half understood game that is beyond the realm of recollection today. Maybe it was some late night viewing of "The Knute Rockne Story" with Pat O’Brian as Knute and the late, unlamented Ronald Reagan as the heroic George Gipp. One thing is clear it was not from a shared experience with my father. This hard-pressed, harried man was too busy trying to make ends meet (and failing) to have the luxury of watching some esoteric game like football. So we will have to leave the genesis of my football mania as undetermined. Not unlike a lot of life’s habits.

Another source that we can eliminate was an ability to master the game or to perform it at any level short of the ridiculous. There may have been earlier tag football experiences but the first clear recollection of my lack of athletic prowess in an organized team situation was in the seventh grade in those days in my part of the country the first year of junior high school (now, generally, called middle school). There were actually very few sports opportunities at that grade level and football was it in the fall. I thus dutifully and, if I am not mistaken in the fog of history here, somewhat passionately went out for the team. Not knowing much about any of the positions I tried out for center. I think the assumption there was that since I handled the ball that was the key position.

The only problem with my theory was that I was probably even then something like forty or fifty pounds too light for that position. But I remained intrepid and stuck it out as about the fourth-string center that season. Oh yes, in the spirit of good fellowship, sportsmanship or whatever the coach let me go and strut my stuff that season-for one play. The opposing defensive player lifted me about ten feet off the ground with his straight-armed tackle. Needless to say I went abjectly went back the bench full of feelings and foreboding that this was not my sport. Of course in the whirl of today’s sports frenzy I would not have been allowed on the team, even in middle school. Perhaps we can trace the demise of a sense of good sportsmanship and fair play not from the fields of Eton, as in the old days, but in the football fields of America’s middle schools. In any case that was my last team sport experience, my sense of social solidarity and collective work came from other sources.

Let’s go back to that "Knute Rockne" movie for a moment. Although it is probably not the source for my love of college football it does play into the why of my love of college football rather than professional football. I have written elsewhere that as a youth I was somewhat agnostic about my Irish heritage (on my mother’s side) due to the overwhelming problems of existence that confronted our poor bedraggled nuclear family. However, and take this for what it is worth, I very early on attached myself to Notre Dame as a team that I followed. Why? It could have been as small a reason that their team nickname was “The Fighting Irish”. Whatever the reason from middle school to this day, during football season, I scan the newspaper scoreboard to see how the lads have done. In my youth, until 1964 (and for about 20 years now as well) they were not a very good team, certainly not the stuff of the Rockne/Gipp legend. But that is how allegiances get formed.


Like many another red-blooded American high school student in the early 1960’s (or now, for that matter, but you can speak for yourselves), aside for a passion for politics, I was as devoted as anyone to my high school football team. I believe that I went to virtually every game, home or away. That was a sign, among others, of being cool. It also cleared the path a little for my odd-ball political positions. Like being very strongly for the civil rights struggle in the South in a high school that was purposefully all white (even though black neighborhoods, although not in the town itself, were only a few miles away). Or being one of the few people in the town square on Saturday morning with a placard calling for unilateral nuclear disarmament. If that protest had been on Saturday afternoon during football season what would I have done? I will leave that to the imagination of the reader.

By a quirk of fate the publicly-funded college that I attended did not have its own football team. Thus, that Notre Dame allegiance got full play. Of course, although I had not been aware of it earlier this allegiance was not some personal aberration but a significant factor in the popularity of that team. There was, and perhaps there still is, a term for it called “subway” fans meaning that urban Irish types were devoted to the team from South Bend. There were certain bars in the Boston area that one did not go into on Saturday afternoon unless one was a Notre Dame fan, passionate or lukewarm. A highlight was the famous Michigan State/ Notre Dame game that the Irish won 10-10 (oops, tied- these disputes die hard).

After college my devotion continued although not for the "Fighting Irish" (except as they, occasionally, entered the national championship mix). I have spent many a misbegotten hour putting parlays together based on that Top 10 (in the old, old days), Top 20 (more recently) and Top 25 (now). There are infinite combinations that one can place bets on. My favorite (after picking the national champion straight up in pre-season which I have not been particularly successful at) is the top four combinations based on the Coaches and AP Polls. Also top eight and the top 25 (that last is more of an interesting bet than anything else and I got creamed last year with my ill-conceived selections). Enough said.

*The Real Question Of The Day- Who Will Win The National College Football Championship?

Click on title to link to the "USA Today" pre-season college football ratings for 2008

*The Real Question Of The Day- Who Will Win The National College Football Championship?

Commentary

This running commentary was started on August 29, 2008 and will continue until January 2009. Each week I am making my comments on the previous week and making my selections for the upcoming week in the comment section. Of course, using the power of the Marxist scientific method (or maybe dumb luck) to enlighten one and all on this earth shaking struggle.

Well, folks now is the lead-up to the first real weekend of college football and time once again for this unrepentant Marxist to use his materialist concept of history to predict the trends of the season. But let us back up for a moment to last year’s (yes, I know ancient history but with blog history available, such as it is in this case, it can be pulled up in an instant) zany season and this forecaster’s ill-advised choices. One knows things are not right when upstart Appalachian State takes Michigan in the first week. It went downhill from there. The next couple of paragraphs taken from a review of Hunter Thompson’s Hey, Rube and a postscript tell the tale when the deal went down.


A run through the ups and downs of Thompson's previous seasons' (2000-2003) gambling wins and loses, however, does not date well. Hell, I can barely remember last week's bets. But the real problem is that, as in politics, we listen to different drummers. I am a long time fan of `pristine and pure' big time college football and would not sully my hands to bet on the NFL so his whining about the San Francisco 49'ers or the Denver Broncos is so much hot air. However, I will take Ohio State and 3 points against LSU in the 2007 college championship game. That's the ticket. I miss Hunter and his wild and wacky writing that made me laugh many a time when I was down and needed a boost but not here. Enough said.

Postscript: May 15, 2008. Needless to say there is a strong difference between my uncanny powers of political prognosis and the rather mundane ability to pick college football champions. Obviously, only a fool would have bet on the Buckeyes of Ohio State against a real SEC team like those Cajun boys from LSU. Right?


...Obviously, at the end of this year’s football season I will have to make better use of the delete key. But all of that is so much hot air and ancient history. Today we start as fresh as new born babes. That, after all is the beauty of this kind of madness. Here goes.

A Democratic convention with a historic black candidate for a nominee. Ho hum. A Republican convention coming up with the same old same old. Yawn. Today, or at least the time it takes me to write up this commentary, all that ‘real’ news is so much hot air. Why? This weekend marks the first serious collegiate football Saturday and the time to make my predictions about who will win this year’s coveted national championship (Jesus, I better stick to politics, this line sounds like something out of the late legendary sportswriter Grantland Rice. Somebody please stop me if I start writing about the 'mythical' national championship). I admit that I got waylaid last year when LSU seemingly came out of nowhere at the end to deliver Ohio State its second consecutive national championship lost. But that was last year. This year is as fresh as the driven snow.

On the first weekend of September it would be pointless (and foolhardy, as well) to name the winner. One of the virtues of following the Top 25 in the college football ratings is that, more so than in professional sports, the most precise calculations can blow up in your face. Witness last year’s unlikely defeat of Michigan by Appalachian State. So with that precaution in mind here is my Top Four which reflects the strength of the top conferences in the scheme of things. Pac-10- Southern California (no-brainer out West). Big 10-Ohio State (here I finally like them so they probably will tank out on me). Big 12- Oklahoma (although I like that quarterback McCoy from Texas, if he ever stops throwing interceptions) and the home conference of last year’s national champion’s, the SEC- Georgia who came on like gang busters at the end of last season (no, no repeat for LSU. Yes, I like Florida's Heisman Trophy Tebow but is the team around him strong enough?). For all you Clemson(ACC) and/or West Virginia fans (Big East). Get real-again!

I promise to do better updating the weekly commentary. Hell, all there is as an alternative is this misbegotten presidential campaign so I should have plenty of time on my hands.

THE REAL QUESTION OF THE DAY-WHO WILL WIN THE COVETED NATIONAL COLLEGIATE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP?

COMMENTARY

The Attorney-General resigns. Ho Hum. An Idaho Senator resigns for making a fool of himself in public. Yawn. George Bush is still clueless on Iraq. Oh, well. Today, or at least the time it takes me to write up this commentary, all that ‘real’ news is so much hot air. Why? Today is the first serious collegiate football Saturday and the time to make my predictions about who will win this year’s coveted national championship (Jesus, I better stick to politics, this line sounds like something out of the late lengendary sportswriter Grantland Rice. Somebody please stop me if I start writing about the 'mythical' national championship). I admit that I got waylaid last year when Florida seemingly came out of nowhere to bonk hapless Ohio State. But that was last year. This year is as fresh as the driven snow.

On the first day of September it would be pointless (and foolhardy, as well) to name the winner. One of the virtues of following the Top 25 in the college football ratings is that, more so than in professional sports, the most precise calculations can blow up in your face. Witness last year’s unlikely defeat of Southern California by UCLA just when it looked like they were a cinch for a national championship berth. So with that precaution in mind here is my Top Four which reflects the strength of the top conferences in the scheme of things. Pac-10- Southern California. Big 10-Michigan. Big 12- Texas and the home conference of last year’s national champion’s, the SEC- Louisiana State University (no, no repeat for Florida). For all you Virginia Tech (ACC) and/or West Virginia fans (Big East). Get real!

Update- September 3, 2007. Obviously it is cruel and unjust world when one really comes down to it. The first week is barely over and Michigan has already bitten the dust. To borrow a phrase from the above-mentioned Grantland Rice to help understand the Appalahian State victory- on any given Saturday any one team can ...... Well, you know the rest.

Update-September 10, 2007 Jesus I know how to pick them. Michigan goes down again this time to Oregon. What I want to know is who put that drug in that drink while I was stewing over my selections. We are all political people remember and there ARE conspiracies in history. This bears further investigation. Well, at least my feel for the ACC is right. Nice Go LSU.

Update October 1-My point about the vagaries of the Top 25 can hit home this week. Texas is gone so I now only have USC and LSU (two good choices in hand, in any case). Big East fans- I told you so. Nice Go LSU. Are we know going to have to contend with four Florida teams now with South Florida on the road to the national championship?