Out With A Bang

hunter_thompson_for_sheriff_poster
Originally uploaded by scribecalledsteff.

Hunter Thompson loved weapons, fireworks, and big bangs.

The lit giant died on February 20th, when he used one of his beloved guns (I'm betting the Magnum .44) to blow his head off. Early last week, his surviving wife Anita announced they'd come up with a ceremony celebrating Hunter's life and dispensing of his ashes that would be fitting to the departed Doctor Gonzo.

The writer's memorial is scheduled for August. They're looking for a clear blue sky with a wind to be decided upon later.

NASA ground control won't need to be involved, but Thompson's doing lift-off--nothing new to that old drug fiend.

They're acquiring weaponry--canons, to be exact, one at least, maybe more--and fashioning a massive 153-foot tall Gonzo-esque pillar and fist, into which the canon will be set. It'll look something like HST's 1970 campaign poster you see as an inset to this posting. HST's ashes are to be set inside some ordinance, and then have the shit blown out of 'em as they're sent out into the atmosphere around his beloved Woody Creek Owl Farm compound via hopefully more than one canon blast.

The monument will remain on the compound grounds as a tribute to the writer long after the explosions fade away.

Anita, the writer's companion in his later years, wistfully wishes there could be several large explosions to bid the good doctor farewell. "He loved explosions," she lamented.

I'm still angry he took himself out, but old age never would've suited the man. I couldn't imagine a long, slow Pope John Paul kind of demise on a man of that calibre. I think most true fans couldn't imagine Raoul Duke biting it any other way. He was never going to let the bastards get him alive.

Here's hoping for a good wind.

(PS: I don't miss the humourous irony in HST's post-humous tribute being a giant fist raised angrily at the heavens. If only the middle finger could be raised, then it'd be perfect. Even better, leave the canon inside, intact.)