Saturday, June 10, 2017

VFP eNews:Convention Updates, Power to Peace Festival 6/9/2017 5:55 PM Veterans For Peace

Veterans For Peace
To  alfredjohnson34@comcast.net  
If you'd like to view this email in a Web browser, please click here.

1st Annual Power to Peace Festival

Friday, Aug 11,  2017
  • Doors at 6pm w/ revolutionary sounds from Chicago's own DJ Dapper
  • Performances begin at 7pm
  • 7 artists of diverse genres including the Jazz Songstress Maggie Brown
  • 1 Poetry circle
  • 1 Intermission w/ sounds from DJ Dapper
Pricing:

 Convention attendees - $25
 General Admission - $45
 VIP Admission - $125
 Unemployed Vets Admission: Free
*Just a reminder that the concert is NOT included in the price of registration.

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Veterans For Peace 2017 Resolutions

Every summer members of VFP are given the opportunity to shape organization policy by submitting resolutions that are reviewed and voted on by the membership. Resolutions approved in previous years can be viewed at our Master Index.

For the yearly resolution process, this starts approximately 90 days before the start of the annual VFP Convention when resolutions start to be accepted and close 30 days prior to the start of the pre-Convention Board of Directors meeting. For 2017 the first day resolutions could be submitted was May 1st and the deadline for submission is July 9th.

Check out this helpful note of tips from Bob Krzewinski – VFP Resolutions Committee Chair

¡Presente! Bill Distler

Long-time activist and peace vet Bill Distler passed away on Monday, June 5. Bill was a founding member of Chapter 111 in Bellingham, Wa.  Gene Marx wrote a tribute published locally in Washington.
Bill Distler was my friend, and it will never feel right to think of him in the past tense. He died much too soon this week, succumbing to glioblastoma in his sleep. It was the first time I had ever seen him at peace.

This 70-year-old peace vet entrapped me in his web of anti-war activism a dozen years ago. As alter egos, we shared the same guilt and moral injury, cringing when we were thanked for our service. After all, we didn’t serve, we were used. We were also two Vietnam vets that became great listeners. In one of our first conversations he relived the fear and confusion that shredded his point man Willie Earl Granger in the hedgerows near Cu Chi Base Camp, Vietnam. I didn’t deserve to hear that avowal but he needed a sounding board. It wouldn’t be the last time, for either of us.

Have You Uploaded Your Memorial Day Pictures?

So many of chapters around the country participated in amazing Memorial day actions and programs!
Please make sure to upload them to our shared google photo album!

Updates from the Golden Rule!'

The Golden Rule is about to leave Humboldt Bay on her third peace voyage in as many years.  We will be heading down the California coast to San Francisco Bay, up the river to Sacramento, and back down the coast, making 14 stops before arriving in San Diego on August 25.  The historic 34-foot ketch is sailing for a nuclear-free world.  This year, in particular, we are building support for the United Nations Treaty to Ban Nuclear Weapons.  The UN General Assembly is expected to overwhelmingly approve the treaty in early July, despite opposition from the U.S. and other nuclear powers.
THERE ARE STILL SPOTS AVAILABLE FOR CREW, if you’re interested – contact Project Manager Helen Jaccard at Helen.Jaccard@gmail.com, or call her at 206-992-6364.

VFP In the News!


In This Issue:

VFP Annual Convention in Chicago!

The VFP Annual Convention is titled "Education Not Militarization" and will be held in Chicago, Aug 9-13 at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago.

Workshops will be held on Thu/Fri (Aug 10-11th)
Wednesday:  President's Reception/Poetry Reading
Thursday:  Panel Discussion - Education Not Militarization
Friday: Power to Peace Festival at VIC Theatre - Doors open at 6pm
Saturday: Business meeting/banquet
Sunday: March thru Downtown Chicago
             Jackson Browne concert @ Copernicus Theatre

Registration is Now Open!  Please register for the conference

Visit the Award page to nominate an individual or chapter for a VFP award.  Awards will be presented at the Saturday banquet. 

Need help creating and/or editing your ad for the program book , email Becky @ becky.pdx@gmail.com

Thanks to all who submitted a workshop application.  Applications are in the review process.  All applicants will be notified by June 30, 2017.

Calling all poets!  Sign up here to read your poetry on Wednesday, Aug 9th.  Questions regarding submissions should be directed to John Spitzberg.

Need assistance getting to the convention?
Post Cold War Veterans -  Sign up here.
All others - Sign up here.

Please Check Out the New Details on the Website!  New information is added weekly!

National office contact is Shelly Rockett

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Tell Congress: Block Arms Sales to Countries with Records of Human Rights Abuses

Human rights groups and activists have long criticized U.S. arms sales to countries with known human rights abuses, including outcry that helped block a sale of precision missiles to Saudi Arabia.8 Saudi Arabia remains one of the highest volume customers of American weaponry.
It is up to Congress to rein in this administration and make sure that we stop giving human rights abusers the tools they need to kill.
Sign the Petition Now!

Veterans For Peace United Nations Representative

We are currently considering adding another Veterans For Peace UN Representative.  This year though, we have the possibility of including an excellent new Rep slotted in now, which has always been possible. Quite properly though, he does not want to just be handed the position. He wants others to have a chance too. 

Serving as a representative for VFP to the Department of Public
Information (DPI) includes
  • informal apprenticeship with Ellen Barfield who has served as the Head VFP Rep to the UN for over a decade
  • learn what relating to the UN includes and how to navigate the UN
  • attending the NGO briefings the DPI holds about once a month at UN HQ in New York City September through June (usually occur on Thursday mornings)
  • attend UN events as able
  • writing short reports about what you attend.
  • Potentially too, the UN Reps can create a VFP-sponsored Thursday
  • morning briefing, and run for a position on the DPI Executive Committee.

Right now the position also includes working to help organize an international veterans conference, probably in NYC with one plenary at the UN, which is tentatively scheduled for around Armistice Day 2018, the 100th anniversary of the end of "The War to End All Wars".

Please send an e-mail to Ellen Barfield expressing your interest and how you feel you would best represent VFP in the UN, and your residence, by Monday 19 June.

She will send the applications on to the other current VFP UN Reps, Executive Director Michael McPhearson, President Barry Ladendorf, and Colonel Ann Wright.

This group will make a choice by the end of June or early July.

This term will run through the end of the year, but many VFP UN Reps serve for several years as interested. Thank you for your interest. 

Save the Dates: Upcoming Events

June 5-10 - 50th Anniversary of the Occupation Of the West Bank and Gaza.  US Campaign for Palestinian Rights Week of Actions
June 13 - Paths to Building Peace with N. Korea in Washington D.C.
June 17 - Women's March to Ban the Bomb - NYC (Check for Sister City Marches in Your City!)
Aug 9-13 - VFP Annual Convention-"Education Not Militarization", Chicago, IL.  There will be a concert the evening of the 13th, so plan to stay the evening of the 13th!  More details to follow soon!
Veterans For Peace, 1404 N. Broadway, St. Louis, MO 63102

Veterans For Peace appreciates your tax-exempt donations.
We also encourage you to join our ranks.


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*In Honor Of Our Class-War Prisoners- Free All The Class-War Prisoners!- Veronza Bowers


  • *In Honor Of Our Class-War Prisoners- Free All The Class-War Prisoners!- Veronza Bowers
     
    http://www.thejerichomovement.com/prisoners.html
     
    A link above to more information about the class-war prisoner honored in this entry.

    Make June Class-War Prisoners Freedom Month

    Markin comment (reposted from 2010)
    In “surfing” the National Jericho Movement Website recently in order to find out more, if possible, about class- war prisoner and 1960s radical, Marilyn Buck, whom I had read about in a The Rag Blog post I linked to the Jericho list of class war prisoners. I found Marilyn Buck listed there but also others, some of whose cases, like that of the “voice of the voiceless” Pennsylvania death row prisoner, Mumia Abu-Jamal, are well-known and others who seemingly have languished in obscurity. All of the cases, at least from the information that I could glean from the site, seemed compelling. And all seemed worthy of far more publicity and of a more public fight for their freedom.
    That last notion set me to the task at hand. Readers of this space know that I am a longtime supporter of the Partisan Defense Committee, a class struggle, non-sectarian legal and social defense organization which supports class war prisoners as part of the process of advancing the international working class’ struggle for socialism. In that spirit I am honoring the class war prisoners on the National Jericho Movement list this June as the start of what I hope will be an on-going attempt by all serious leftist militants to do their duty- fighting for freedom for these brothers and sisters. We will fight out our political differences and disagreements as a separate matter. What matters here and now is the old Wobblie (IWW) slogan - An injury to one is an injury to all.
    Note: This list, right now, is composed of class-war prisoners held in American detention. If others are likewise incarcerated that are not listed here feel free to leave information on their cases in the comment section. Likewise any cases, internationally, that come to your attention. I am sure there are many, many such cases out there. Make this June, and every June, a Class-War Prisoners Freedom Month- Free All Class-War Prisoners Now!
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    Those Oldies But Goodies…Out In The Be-Bop ‘50s Song Night- Warren Smith’s “Rock And Roll Ruby”

    Those Oldies But Goodies…Out In The Be-Bop ‘50s Song Night- Warren Smith’s “Rock And Roll Ruby”



    WARREN SMITH ROCK´N´ ROLL RUBY LYRICS


     Well I took my Ruby jukin'
    On the out-skirts of town
    She took her high heels off
    And rolled her stockings down
    She put a quarter in the jukebox
    To get a little beat
    Everybody started watchin'
    All the rhythm in her feet

    She's my rock'n'roll Ruby, rock'n'roll
    Rock'n'roll Ruby, rock'n'roll
    When Ruby starts a-rockin'
    Boy it satisfies my soul

    Now Ruby started rockin' 'bout one o'clock
    And when she started rockin'
    She just couldn't stop
    She rocked on the tables
    And rolled on the floor
    And Everybody yelled: "Ruby rock some more!"

    She's my rock'n'roll Ruby, rock'n'roll
    Rock'n'roll Ruby, rock'n'roll
    When Ruby starts a-rockin'
    Boy it satisfies my soul

    It was 'round about four
    I thought she would stop
    She looked at me and then
    She looked at the clock
    She said: "Wait a minute Daddy
    Now don't get sour
    All I want to do
    Is rock a little bit more"

    She's my rock'n'roll Ruby, rock'n'roll
    Rock'n'roll Ruby, rock'n'roll
    When Ruby starts a-rockin'
    Boy it satisfies my soul

    One night my Ruby left me all alone
    I tried to contact her on the telephone
    I finally found her about twelve o'clock
    She said: "Leave me alone Daddy
    'cause your Ruby wants to rock"

    She's my rock'n'roll Ruby, rock'n'roll
    Rock'n'roll Ruby, rock'n'roll
    When Ruby starts a-rockin'
    Boy it satisfies my soul

    Rock, rock, rock'n'roll
    Rock, rock, rock'n'roll
    Rock, rock, rock'n'roll
    Rock, rock, rock'n'roll
    When Ruby starts a-rockin'
    Boy it satisfies my soul
    *****
    Nobody had seen Billie (William James Bradley for those who are sticklers for detail) for a while, a few months anyway. I had drifted away from his circle, his corner boy circle, when my family moved across town to the other side of Adamsville, North Adamsville a couple of years before. And when Billie got into some stuff, some larceny stuff, mainly clipping things and stealing cars if you must know, and when I decided, decided almost at the last minute, that I wanted no part of that scene that pretty much ended it. I still kept in touch with him for about a year or so after and then when he got into his new “jag”, robbing stores and the like, through keeping in touch others. Rumor had it, and it was always rumor with Billie whether he was right in the room or got his fate reported by one of his boys, one of his legend-producing boys definitely including me at one time, that he was shacked up with some “broad”. I admit I did my fair share to built up the Billie legend but that’s all, he just naturally filled in the empty spaces, empty spaces that he hated, and that characteristic goes a long way in telling why we hadn’t heard from him for a while except through that rumor mill.

    The rumor mill also had it, to fill in the particulars, that he had stolen some car, a classic hopped-up 1949 Nash owned by a tough guy, real tough guy, named “Blindside” Buckley (that moniker tells you all you need to know just keep clear of him, alright) or something like that, or maybe it was that he had stolen one car, abandoned it, and stole another. Either way sounds about right. Stole the cars and was holed up somewhere with a honey, Lucy (description to follow), that he had met down at the Sea and Surf teen nightclub across from the Paragon Park Amusement Park in Nantasket, a few miles outside of the town limits of Adamsville. Now this honey, this Lucy honey, was a little older than Billie but, and like I say this is rumor, she jumped on him from minute one when he walked in the door, leaving the guy she was with looking kind of stupid. And in the scheme of things probably prepared to commit mayhem.

    Billie, no question was a good-looking guy, was a real good dancer and, best of all, he had a great voice, a great rock and roll voice, that fit nicely, very nicely into the music that we were all listening to, listening to like crazy, on our little transistor radios. So maybe, for all I know, she had heard Billie sing, sing at one of the two billion talents shows that he was always entering in order, as he constantly said, to win his fame and fortune. Like I said he was good, good at covering Top Forty stuff, but just short, just short, I guess, of making that projects jail break-out move that he was always confident would occur once the talent guys heard him, really heard.

    And this honey, this red-headed, luscious red-lipped honey was, reportedly, just the exact kind of honey that Billie dreamed of grabbing for his own. Great shape (great shape then meaning all fill-out curves and leggy legs, or something like that), great boffo hair (dark red, an obviously Irish girl), kittenly sexy, and most importantly ready to go all night whether dancing, doing this and that (figure it out), or helping plan some caper. Just the kind of girl the priests and parents were always warning us against but we still secretly dreamed of, dreamed of hard. Ya, just Billie’s action, just his catnip. And so when I first heard that rumor, that Billie holed up rumor, I said ya, that seems about right.

    See Billie one night, one twelve year old summer night, down in back of old Adamsville South Elementary School where we used to hang out because that was the only real hang-out place around, and talk, talk of futures, talk of dreams just like everybody else, every twelve year old everybody else Billie kind of laid the whole thing out for us. He was going to parlay his singing voice, his rock and roll singing voice, into fame and fortune and when his ship came in he was going to search for his rock and roll soul-mate. He didn’t put it just this way but the idea was to get the hottest, sexiest, dancingest girl around and sail off into the sunset leaving that dust of the projects behind, way behind.

    So it looks like Billie has one part of his dream coming true, although being on the lam, being big time on the lam, from the cops, the owner of that hopped-up classic 1949 Nash, or maybe even that guy left looking stupid, take your choice, wasn’t part of the description back in those twelve year old summer nights. But being sixteen, being in some dough, and being with the rock and roll queen of the seaside night still seems like a bargain worth having made with whatever devil Billie needed to consult to pull the caper off. Hell, it makes me think that maybe I made a mistake moving away from Billie’s orbit. But just call that a rumor in case any cops are around, alright. Anyway, now that Billie is holed up, any girls who want to dance the night away just call out my name. Hey, I can dream too.
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    Friday, June 09, 2017

    From The Hills And Hollows Of Appalachia- The Banjo Of Roscoe Holcomb

    From The Hills And Hollows Of Appalachia- The Banjo Of Roscoe Holcomb


    CD Review

    An untamed sense of control, Roscoe Holcomb, Smithsonian/Folkways Recordings, 2003


     I mentioned in an earlier review of the music of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash that what really rekindled my, admittedly, marginal youthful interest in that pair and in the mountain music that drove my father’s youth, was viewing their performances (via DVD series) on an old black and white Pete Seeger television folk show, “Rainbow Quest” from the mid-1960s when Johnny and June showed their stuff. As fate would have it one majestic mountain banjo player, Roscoe Holcomb, was featured on that same DVD.
    In a review of that Holcomb performance I said, in part, the following:

    “…Also included on this DVD is a performance by the legendary Kentucky mountain music man Roscoe Holcomb that John Cohen, a previously reviewed performer on this series with the New Lost City Ramblers, did great service to the folk revival by bringing out of the Kentucky hills in the early 1960s to the wilds of ….. Greenwich Village…”

    And that only told part of the story. Although I, usually, can only take tinny-voiced mountain musicians in small doses I found that here, as sometimes happens when I listen to jazz, the thing builds up and you don’t want to stop it after just a few selections (there are 24 here). Highlights here are the classic “Single Girl (Carter Family),” “Man Of Constant Sorrow,” “Sitting On Top Of This World,” and ‘Darling Cory.”. Yes, this is all classic stuff. Can’t you just feel that Appalachian mountain breeze coming down the line?

    I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow Lyrics

    (In constant sorrow through his days)

    I am a man of constant sorrow
    I've seen trouble all my day.
    I bid farewell to old Kentucky
    The place where I was born and raised.
    (The place where he was born and raised)

    For six long years I've been in trouble
    No pleasures here on earth I found
    For in this world I'm bound to ramble
    I have no friends to help me now.

    [chorus] He has no friends to help him now

    It's fare thee well my old lover
    I never expect to see you again
    For I'm bound to ride that northern railroad
    Perhaps I'll die upon this train.

    [chorus] Perhaps he'll die upon this train.

    You can bury me in some deep valley
    For many years where I may lay
    Then you may learn to love another
    While I am sleeping in my grave.

    [chorus] While he is sleeping in his grave.

    Maybe your friends think I'm just a stranger
    My face you'll never see no more.
    But there is one promise that is given
    I'll meet you on God's golden shore.

    [chorus] He'll meet you on God's golden shore.
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    The 100th Anniversary Of The Russian Revolution-Lenin’s Struggle for a Revolutionary Government

    The 100th Anniversary Of The Russian Revolution-Lenin’s Struggle for a Revolutionary Government 
    Workers Vanguard No. 1112
    19 May 2017
    TROTSKY
    LENIN
    Lenin’s Struggle for a Revolutionary Government
    (Quote of the Week)
    The 1917 February Revolution in Russia overthrew the autocratic rule of Tsar Nicholas II amid the interimperialist First World War. However, the Provisional Government that emerged afterward was capitalist and continued to prosecute the war. Against the petty-bourgeois Socialist-Revolutionaries and the Mensheviks, whose representatives (such as Victor Chernov and Irakli Tsereteli) joined the Provisional Government, the Bolshevik Party led by V. I. Lenin fought for proletarian revolution to sweep away capitalist rule.
    When people speak about “revolution,” “the revolutionary people,” “revolutionary democracy,” and so on, nine times out of ten this is a lie or self-deception. The question is—what class is making this revolution? A revolution against whom?
    Against tsarism? In that sense most of Russia’s landowners and capitalists today are revolutionaries. When the revolution is an accomplished fact, even reactionaries come into line with it. There is no deception of the masses at present more frequent, more detestable, and more harmful than that which lauds the revolution against tsarism.
    Against the landowners? In this sense most of the peasants, even most of the well-to-do peasants, that is, probably nine-tenths of the population in Russia, are revolutionaries. Very likely, some of the capitalists, too, are prepared to become revolutionaries on the grounds that the landowners cannot be saved anyway, so let us better side with the revolution and try to make things safe for capitalism.
    Against the capitalists? Now that is the real issue. That is the crux of the matter, because without a revolution against the capitalists, all that prattle about “peace without annexations” and the speedy termination of the war by such a peace is either naïveté and ignorance, or stupidity and deception....
    The conclusion is obvious: only assumption of power by the proletariat, backed by the semi-proletarians, can give the country a really strong and really revolutionary government. It will be really strong because it will be supported by a solid and class-conscious majority of the people. It will be strong because it will not, of necessity, have to be based on a precarious “agreement” between capitalists and small proprietors, between millionaires and petty bourgeoisie, between the Konovalovs-Shingaryovs and the Chernovs-Tseretelis.
    It will be a truly revolutionary government, the only one capable of showing the people that at a time when untold suffering is inflicted upon the masses it will not be awed and deterred by capitalist profits. It will be a truly revolutionary government because it alone will be capable of evoking and sustaining the revolutionary enthusiasm of the masses and increasing it tenfold.
    —V. I. Lenin, “A Strong Revolutionary Government” (May 1917)

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    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 50th 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.       
    *******
    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 50th 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 20th 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?
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    The 50th Anniversary Of The Summer Of Love,1967- Hunter S.Thompson-The "Gonzo" King Near The End

    The 50th Anniversary Of The Summer Of Love,1967- Hunter S.Thompson-The "Gonzo" King Near The End

    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 50th 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.       
    *******
    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 50th 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 20th 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

    Kingdom of Fear, Hunter S. Thompson, Penguin, New York, 2004

    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 outlaw bikers, The Hell's Angels. Since then I have devoured, and re-devoured virtually everything that he has written. I have reviewed many of those efforts elsewhere in this space. As I noted recently in reviewing his 2004 work Hey, Rube, a screed on the misadventures of a gambling freak (himself), not all his efforts have been equally compelling. That was the case in my panning of Hey, Rube but here we are back on much more solid `gonzo' style from the old days. Maybe it is because this work is in the form of a memoir and thus intentionally places the good Doc's actions in the center of the writing that puts this effort in the mold of his better compilations like the Great Shark Hunt and Songs of the Doomed.

    Thompson uses his patented stream of consciousness trope to create amusing stories starting from the then present (early 2000's) and his then current doings and splices them together, in some segments randomly, to events as far back as his childhood in Louisville, Kentucky. Along the way we find him at age nine in trouble with the FBI, and none the worst for the confrontation. Later, it is down and dirty in Rio with the crazies. Throughout, we find him incessantly testing his beloved guns and various ‘hot’ motorcycles at various and sundry appropriate and inappropriate times.

    Additionally, we have some compelling and insightful stories as this radical journalist tours the news breaking global spots, taking trips to places like Vietnam just before the fall, Cuba, Grenada just after the invasion and elsewhere wherever the journalistic action might be and a story, in the Thompson style, might develop. Needless to say there is plenty of ink about sex, drugs and rock and rock including his deeply affecting and traumatic tangle with the law in Aspen the early 1990's. That, my friends, was a close call.

    And throughout, as usual, there are pithy political comments about the various idiots-in-chiefs, their henchmen and hangers-on that he spent his life hammering. Maybe not hammering your way, definitely not my way, but his way. His fateful run for Sheriff of Aspen on the Freak Power ticket in 1970 probably accurately set the tone as a lifelong description of his politics. For those who have read other works by Thompson some of the signature language may be old hat as he meanders along in this volume. For others it is a chance to learn the lingo. Damn, especially this election year, I miss him. Read on.
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