Farewell Sweet Prince :(
WOODY CREEK, Colo. - Iconoclastic journalist Hunter S. Thompson would have loved the 153-foot tower built to blast his ashes into the sky, said one of his many friends and admirers gathered for an unsolemn farewell.
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"It's a beautiful structure. Of course, he would not have been able to resist putting a few holes into it," said Michael Cleverly, referring to his former neighbor's love of shooting guns. "But it weighs several tons, so it could handle a few holes."
The counterculture author killed himself six months ago at his home near Aspen. His ashes, intermingled with fireworks, were to be fired out of the tower Saturday evening in front of a star-studded crowd at his Owl Farm compound.
"He loved explosions," his wife, Anita Thompson, explained during the planning of the fireworks sendoff.
The tower - intentionally built just taller than the Statue of Liberty - was erected in a field between Thompson's home and a tree-covered canyon wall. It was shrouded in tarpaulins for days, but his widow, Anita, said it was modeled after Thompson's Gonzo logo: a clenched fist, made symmetrical with two thumbs, rising from the hilt of a dagger.
The memorial was expected to be a party, with plenty of alcohol, reminiscences, readings from Thompson's works and performances by both
Lyle Lovett and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.
About 250 people were invited, including Thompson's longtime illustrator, Ralph Steadman, and actors
Sean Penn and
Johnny Depp, close friends of the writer. Depp portrayed Thompson in the 1998 movie version of "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream," perhaps the writer's most well-known work.
Anita Thompson said Depp funded much of the celebration.
"We had talked a couple of times about his last wishes to be shot out of a cannon of his own design," Depp told The Associated Press last month. "All I'm doing is trying to make sure his last wish comes true. I just want to send my pal out the way he wants to go out."
Thompson was credited along with Tom Wolfe and Gay Talese with helping pioneer New Journalism - he dubbed his version "gonzo journalism" - in which the writer was an essential component of the story.
Thompson often portrayed himself as wildly intoxicated as he reported on figures such as Jimmy Carter and
Bill Clinton. At the height of the Watergate era, he said
Richard Nixon represented "that dark, venal, and incurably violent side of the American character."
Besides the 1972 classic about Thompson's visit to Las Vegas, he also wrote an expose on the Hell's Angels and "Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72," in which the central character was a snarling, drug- and alcohol-crazed observer and participant.
The Kentucky-born writer also was the model for Garry Trudeau's balding "Uncle Duke" in the comic strip "Doonesbury."
In this now-chic resort community, he proudly fired his guns whenever he wanted, let peacocks have the run of the land and ran for sheriff in 1970 under the Freak Power Party banner.
Thompson shot himself in his kitchen Feb. 20, apparently unable to handle his declining health. One close acquaintance suggested Thompson did not want old age to dictate the circumstances of his death. Anita Thompson said no suicide note was left.
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"It's a beautiful structure. Of course, he would not have been able to resist putting a few holes into it," said Michael Cleverly, referring to his former neighbor's love of shooting guns. "But it weighs several tons, so it could handle a few holes."
The counterculture author killed himself six months ago at his home near Aspen. His ashes, intermingled with fireworks, were to be fired out of the tower Saturday evening in front of a star-studded crowd at his Owl Farm compound.
"He loved explosions," his wife, Anita Thompson, explained during the planning of the fireworks sendoff.
The tower - intentionally built just taller than the Statue of Liberty - was erected in a field between Thompson's home and a tree-covered canyon wall. It was shrouded in tarpaulins for days, but his widow, Anita, said it was modeled after Thompson's Gonzo logo: a clenched fist, made symmetrical with two thumbs, rising from the hilt of a dagger.
The memorial was expected to be a party, with plenty of alcohol, reminiscences, readings from Thompson's works and performances by both
Lyle Lovett and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.
About 250 people were invited, including Thompson's longtime illustrator, Ralph Steadman, and actors
Sean Penn and
Johnny Depp, close friends of the writer. Depp portrayed Thompson in the 1998 movie version of "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream," perhaps the writer's most well-known work.
Anita Thompson said Depp funded much of the celebration.
"We had talked a couple of times about his last wishes to be shot out of a cannon of his own design," Depp told The Associated Press last month. "All I'm doing is trying to make sure his last wish comes true. I just want to send my pal out the way he wants to go out."
Thompson was credited along with Tom Wolfe and Gay Talese with helping pioneer New Journalism - he dubbed his version "gonzo journalism" - in which the writer was an essential component of the story.
Thompson often portrayed himself as wildly intoxicated as he reported on figures such as Jimmy Carter and
Bill Clinton. At the height of the Watergate era, he said
Richard Nixon represented "that dark, venal, and incurably violent side of the American character."
Besides the 1972 classic about Thompson's visit to Las Vegas, he also wrote an expose on the Hell's Angels and "Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72," in which the central character was a snarling, drug- and alcohol-crazed observer and participant.
The Kentucky-born writer also was the model for Garry Trudeau's balding "Uncle Duke" in the comic strip "Doonesbury."
In this now-chic resort community, he proudly fired his guns whenever he wanted, let peacocks have the run of the land and ran for sheriff in 1970 under the Freak Power Party banner.
Thompson shot himself in his kitchen Feb. 20, apparently unable to handle his declining health. One close acquaintance suggested Thompson did not want old age to dictate the circumstances of his death. Anita Thompson said no suicide note was left.