“No sympathy for the devil; keep that in mind. Buy the ticket, take the ride…and if it occasionally gets a little heavier than what you had in mind, well…maybe chalk it off to forced conscious expansion: Tune in, freak out, get beaten.”
― Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

October, 1996. Having recently been interviewed for Rolling Stone, an angry Hunter S. Thompson writes a heated letter to his good friend and long-time collaborator, illustrator Ralph Steadman, and threatens to sever their relationship. Steadman’s sturdy response, in which he essentially refuses to roll over, is golden.

Above: Hunter’s letter; the offending illustration; Steadman’s reply; and, finally, transcripts…

Read more here.

Hunter S. Thompson’s 1970 letter to his publicist…

“To SELMA SHAPIRO, RANDOM HOUSE:
Going through her files at Random House, Hell’s Angels publicist Selma Shapiro came across a photograph  [HS]Thompson had sent of himself—naked—taken in Haight-Ashbury. She one -upped the joke by sending it back.

January 1, 1970, Woody Creek, CO

Dear Selma….
Words fail me at this time. What can a man say to a person who returns a stark-naked photo of himself? Probably next week the publicity manager for Today will send back my Phi Delt pin…and I’ll find that special locket I gave Jay Allen on sale in some dingy East LA pawnshop.

Well….life is ugly. We do what we can, but the scales tell the story of every time. Fear and loathing is everywhere. The swine have come home to roost.

In the meantime, I trust you are still selling well. And that life in NY still rattles around on those peaks that those of us in the outback will never know. OK for now. I’ll send word when I  finish wrapping my new product.

Ciao….
HST.

(from FEAR AND LOATHING IN AMERICA by Hunter S. Thompson)

Fear and Self-Loathing in Las Vegas

Retracing Hunter S. Thompson’s famous steps, 40 years later

By Zach Baron, The Daily, Tuesday, October 4, 2011

In 1971, Hunter Thompson first published ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’ in Rolling Stone. Forty years later, The Daily’s Zach Baron revisits the piece and the town in which it was born, chasing Thompson¹s ghost through crazy desert car races, a dying local economy and a massive and menacing hacker convention known as DEFCON. Here are parts one and two of a four-part series.

Read more: http://www.thedaily.com/page/2011/10/04/100411-arts-vegas-first-half/

A Rolling Stone rejection letter penned by Hunter S. Thompson.

From the “Get Yer Tickets Now” file…

Symphony Space’s Selected Shorts: Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas 40th Anniversary Celebration!

Michael Imperioli (The Sopranos, Life on Mars), Anthony Rapp (Rent, Dazed and Confused), Scott Shepherd (Elevator Repair Service’s Gatz at The Public) and others read selections from the comic gonzo classic. With special guest speakers Chuck Klosterman (Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs) and Matt Taibbi (Rolling Stone).

That Scott Shepherd fella knows how to read a book. Event is Wednesday, March 16th, info/tickets here.