Hunter S. Thompson: Champion of Breakfast (two orders of excess and a side of Hot Damn!)

 

I got an email from a guy high atop my honor roll today. He chimed in with a quote from a natural born spark striker and main influence, the Good Doctor himself, Hunter S. Thompson. My cracked cohort and I have shared many a near Hunter experiences in the past. We've bought tickets and taken rides. 

Fortunately we never went over that vaunted edge that HST used to speak of (hence we are still living)...but we came close a few times. Somedays you need a little edge to jumpstart the engines. Today the old pipes got a bit of a rattlin' when I received this in an email:

"Breakfast is the only meal of the day that I tend to view with the same kind of traditionalized reverence that most people associate with Lunch and Dinner. I like to eat breakfast alone, and almost never before noon; anybody with a terminally jangled lifestyle needs at least one psychic anchor every twenty-four hours, and mine is breakfast.

In Hong Kong, Dallas or at home — and regardless of whether or not I have been to bed — breakfast is a personal ritual that can only be properly observed alone, and in a spirit of genuine excess. The food factor should always be massive: four Bloody Marys, two grapefruits, a pot of coffee, Rangoon crepes, a half-pound of either sausage, bacon, or corned beef hash with diced chiles, a Spanish omelette or eggs Benedict, a quart of milk, a chopped lemon for random seasoning, and something like a slice of Key lime pie, two margaritas, and six lines of the best cocaine for dessert.

Right, and there should also be two or three newspapers, all mail and messages, a telephone, a notebook for planning the next twenty-four hours and at least one source of good music…. All of which should be dealt with outside, in the warmth of a hot sun, and preferably stone naked."

- Hunter S. Thompson

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Give this bit of audio a listen. It is a reading from the 25th anniversary of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. While listening to this, my advice to you is to start drinking...heavily. 

Tagged Audio Breakfast Gonzo Hunter S. Thompson The Edge Tune Tags

"It Might Get LOUD" (it damn well better be)

I just scored tix to see the UK premier of "It Might Get Loud".  It is going to be at the, star-studded, mind you, Hammersmith Apollo on the 15th December. 

Do you know of it?  It is a documentary about three guitar players from three generation and three very different backgrounds. Maybe you heard of these guys: Jimmy Page, The Edge & Jack White. The scene is set for these three gun slingers to meet on an empty sound stage, start talking about their own story about how got into the guitar and then, [cue the spontaneity] hopefully a three-pronged jam will breakout.

Here is the trailer:

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I like rock documentaries much better than I like straight-up rock concert films. I want to learn something when I watch music. I love the stories behind songs and albums and artists. I sued to love the Behind the Music series on VH1. Even when they had an artist on I didn't particularly like, I still watched for the story.  Too bad it got drunk on hubris. I kept watching until I could no longer stand to see its show formula dry hump the legs of the performers until it turned into a parody of its former self.

Rock-Docco best done by someone who is passionate about the subject. Taylor Hackford is a great rock-docco/film director. He did Hail! Hail! Rock and Roll, the biting look the life and (fucked up) times of Chuck Berry.  He did his best to make a glory film about Chuck even thought Chuck gave him a shit fight of a time. The deluxe version has loads of great interviews with rock and blues legends.  

There is a GREAT interview with a very, very drunk...absolutely shitfaced...Jerry Lee Lewis on the deluxe version that is worth the extra bread (couldn't find it anywhere on the web).

Scorsese is another one. While I didn't really like all that he did with his latest on the Stones ("Shine a Light"), he has done some damn good work, a la The Last Waltz" and  the Bob Dylan docco, "No Direction Home".

If you want to see a PHENOMENAL music documentary, watch "Respect Yourself: The Story of Stax Records" RIGHT NOW! If you don't fall in love with this, you have no soul. Here is a promo clip for it.  When I saw Steve Cropper & Duck Dunn (remaining MGs) in Sydney two years ago, they played this clip from the movie before the show. The MGs were opening for this young Aussie wanker-pop-star. He went to Memphis to blood suck the soul music legacy to supplement his lack of creative song-writing talent. Cropper produced his album and was supporting it on this punk's Aussie tour. 

I guess you know who I was there to see.

They showed this to make sure the Aussie audience knew that they knew just who the hell was up there...MUSIC LEGENDS. My old buddy Nev, owner of Mojo Music in Sydney, used to say about Cropper (one of his heroes): "Steve Cropper...never played a bumb note in his life. Agreed, Nev.

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Here is a list of all of my music DVDs. You'll see that the majority of them are rock-doccos:

(download)
Tagged Chuck Berry Hammersmith Apollo It Might Get Loud Jack White Jerry Lee Lewis Jimmy Page Judds Juke Joint mojo Music Rock Docco Stax Steve Cropper Sydney Taylor Hackford The Edge
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