Spring Break
Cine an apt spot for 'Gonzo'
Zack Taylor
Issue date: 9/15/08 Section: Entertainment
A former tire-recapping building seems like a strange place to celebrate the life and works of anyone, let alone a journalist. Those familiar with Hunter S. Thompson know that he would have agreed that the stranger the place, the better.
On Aug. 28, Athens' independent film venue Ciné held a midnight showing of the documentary "Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson," and in celebration of the documentary, Ciné hosted a reading of Thompson's works, featuring readers from various areas of Athens art and culture scene. It was an event I knew I could not bear to miss.
Arriving at Ciné I was directed to a room filled with black tables and chairs. The room was lit by only the candles sitting on the tables and by a lamp standing next to a wide leather chair placed neatly atop a fancy rug. The room gave off such a calm and serene vibe that it hardly seemed like the place to celebrate the works of Dr. Thompson, a man who was known for his wild antics and frantic behavior in both his writings and his own life.
My attitude towards the aesthetics of the venue quickly changed once the first reader began to speak. Ed Tant, a columnist for the Athens Banner-Herald, described meeting Dr. Thompson in 1982. "He was like an overgrown boy," said Tant, further describing him as "a peacenik with automatic weapons." Tant was followed by musicians Eric Carter, dressed in "Fear and Loathing" attire, Craig Lieske, Jim Hicks, Luke Fields, and "Big Andy" Hollingsworth, as well as writer/poet Jeff Fallis and Athens-Clarke County Commissioner Kelly Girtz.
While many of the speakers read passages I had fully expected to hear, such as excerpts from "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," "The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved", and "Hell's Angels", there were many readers who brought relatively unknown, or at least not as popularly cited, works of Thompson's to the table.
One example was Luke Fields' encore reading, a letter that a boy around the age of 14 had written Thompson regarding his excitement over the book "Hell's Angels," and Thompson's response, which warned his fan of the dangerous and unfortunate lifestyle the Hell's Angels led. "Even though he was an agent of excess he could still give someone advice to reign it in … before they took a step over the edge," said Fields about the piece.
Craig Lieske performed an encore reading of an article Dr. Thompson wrote about a meeting he had with Bill Clinton during his campaign in 1992, and Jeff Fallis brought Thompson closer to home by reading an excerpt from Thompson's coverage of a speech given by Jimmy Carter at the UGA law school.
When the readers where finished, and the verbal smoke cleared the air, my mind was dazed and I was spinning from everything that had been hurled into my ears. It was an amazingly proper way both to pump up an audience for the debut of a film and to celebrate the life and work of the film's subject matter. I felt like I was on a Hunter S. Thompson verbal high, and I mean that in the best possible way.
On Aug. 28, Athens' independent film venue Ciné held a midnight showing of the documentary "Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson," and in celebration of the documentary, Ciné hosted a reading of Thompson's works, featuring readers from various areas of Athens art and culture scene. It was an event I knew I could not bear to miss.
Arriving at Ciné I was directed to a room filled with black tables and chairs. The room was lit by only the candles sitting on the tables and by a lamp standing next to a wide leather chair placed neatly atop a fancy rug. The room gave off such a calm and serene vibe that it hardly seemed like the place to celebrate the works of Dr. Thompson, a man who was known for his wild antics and frantic behavior in both his writings and his own life.
My attitude towards the aesthetics of the venue quickly changed once the first reader began to speak. Ed Tant, a columnist for the Athens Banner-Herald, described meeting Dr. Thompson in 1982. "He was like an overgrown boy," said Tant, further describing him as "a peacenik with automatic weapons." Tant was followed by musicians Eric Carter, dressed in "Fear and Loathing" attire, Craig Lieske, Jim Hicks, Luke Fields, and "Big Andy" Hollingsworth, as well as writer/poet Jeff Fallis and Athens-Clarke County Commissioner Kelly Girtz.
While many of the speakers read passages I had fully expected to hear, such as excerpts from "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," "The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved", and "Hell's Angels", there were many readers who brought relatively unknown, or at least not as popularly cited, works of Thompson's to the table.
One example was Luke Fields' encore reading, a letter that a boy around the age of 14 had written Thompson regarding his excitement over the book "Hell's Angels," and Thompson's response, which warned his fan of the dangerous and unfortunate lifestyle the Hell's Angels led. "Even though he was an agent of excess he could still give someone advice to reign it in … before they took a step over the edge," said Fields about the piece.
Craig Lieske performed an encore reading of an article Dr. Thompson wrote about a meeting he had with Bill Clinton during his campaign in 1992, and Jeff Fallis brought Thompson closer to home by reading an excerpt from Thompson's coverage of a speech given by Jimmy Carter at the UGA law school.
When the readers where finished, and the verbal smoke cleared the air, my mind was dazed and I was spinning from everything that had been hurled into my ears. It was an amazingly proper way both to pump up an audience for the debut of a film and to celebrate the life and work of the film's subject matter. I felt like I was on a Hunter S. Thompson verbal high, and I mean that in the best possible way.
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