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I’m sure it will, Hunter was good friends with the sherrif(kind of funny being he was really big into drugs) and with Hollywood coming to his aide, it should be a reality
I’m thinking of scrapping my trip to New Orleans this summer, and going to the scattering of Hunter’s ash’s
[img]http://www.oldhippieart.freeservers.com/gonzo1framed.jpg[/img]
[img]http://amsaw.org/pic0704-thompson004.gif[/img]Private service set for Thompson
By nlofholm@denverpost.com
Nancy Lofholm
Denver Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 04, 2005 –Hunter S. Thompson will be mourned during a private gathering of his family and closest friends Saturday at a secret, heavily secured Aspen location.
But Thompson fans around the world are taking a very public approach to remembering the counterculture journalist, who put the word "gonzo" in the English vocabulary.
Web postings show that fans from Prague to Brisbane are planning gatherings to coincide with the private commemoration. The gatherings are planned to include readings of his works, screenings of movies about Thompson and drinking the whiskey Thompson favored.
"A lot of people want to reach out and show their admiration for Hunter," said one his attorneys, George Tobia of Boston. "There are a lot of ad hoc tributes going on."
Thompson’s high-profile friends have been paying their respects since the 67-year-old writer put a .45-caliber Smith & Wesson in his mouth at his home outside Aspen on Feb. 20 and ended his decidedly on-the-edge life.
Singer Jimmy Buffet has been unfurling a huge photograph of Thompson at concerts as he sings the song "A Pirate Looks at Forty."
Rolling Stone magazine will publish a special edition March 11 devoted to Thompson, who is still listed on the masthead under the National Affairs Desk.
Two Thompson friends, actors Johnny Depp and Sean Penn, honored Thompson by wearing gonzo pins on their lapels to the Academy Awards ceremonies last weekend. The gonzo symbol is a dagger topped by a raised fist circling a peyote button.
Depp and Penn are two of the rich and famous expected in Aspen this weekend for the private Thompson commemoration. Others include friend and Aspen resident Jack Nicholson; Thompson’s long-time collaborator, the artist Ralph Steadman; and Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner.
Thompson’s family is organizing a public commemoration of the author’s life for early this summer. Plans tentatively include holding it at the Benedict Music Tent in Aspen and having Buffet and other musician friends perform. The family is considering charging admission and putting the proceeds into the Hunter S. Thompson Foundation account.
The charitable account will be used to fund favorite Thompson causes, including environmental projects, Tobia said
…………………………………………………………………………………………..Looks like its gonna happen, in a wicked way…
Going on a road trip soon, downloaded a couple HST lectures & audio book for the trip…should get interesting
Friends, family of Hunter Thompson organizing cannon ceremony
By Troy Hooper
Special To The Denver PostAspen – Hunter S. Thompson’s ashes will be blasted from a cannon sculpted into a 53- foot-high fist in a public ceremony in August, his widow said Tuesday.
Anita Thompson said Bob Dylan may be invited to perform "Mr. Tambourine Man" at the send-off ceremony being organized by friends and family, including actor Johnny Depp.
Hunter S. Thompson, the noted "gonzo" journalist, shot and killed himself in the kitchen of his home near here on Feb. 20.
"Hunter came into a lot of people’s lives, and he’s left a lot of people feeling alone," Anita Thompson said. "They’ll always have Hunter’s books to read, but it will be nice to get together at least once to share the Hunter Thompson experience."
As far back as the 1970s, and leading up to his final days, the writer envisioned having his remains scattered across his rural Woody Creek estate in a thunderous explosion to symbolize how he lived: wild and furiously.
Family and friends have been referring to a 1978 British Broadcasting Corp. documentary titled "Fear and Loathing on the Road to Hollywood" to garner details of the late writer’s wishes. In the film, Thompson discussed his vision during a visit to a mortuary.
The exact date of the August ceremony and official approvals from Pitkin County are still pending, but Anita Thompson said her late husband’s friends are already beginning to construct the giant monument.
Depp, who played Thompson in 1998’s "Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas," has been a driving force behind the project and has been showing friends conceptions of the sculpture that he is carrying on his laptop.
"Johnny Depp has been very generous in funding the project so far," said Anita Thompson, noting she was not sure how much the last blast will cost, but that it would be "worth every penny."
The gonzo fist – a symbol that appears on many Thompson works – would be 53 feet high and mounted on a 100-foot pillar. Thompson’s ashes would explode out of a peyote button clenched by the fist.
At least one Thompson neighbor and friend is offering to donate some of his acreage to accommodate camping for visitors.
During a break at a Pitkin County commissioners’ meeting Tuesday, officials said the ceremony could require a permit.
Commissioner Michael Owsley is supportive of the plan.
"I think people should think of ways to remember Hunter. His death was a terrible loss to Woody Creek," said Owsley, who lives down the road from Thompson’s compound. "It’s just awful out there now. It’s so lonely."
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