A Conversation for Hunter S Thompson

Kesey or Leary?

Post 1

Prez HS (All seems relatively quiet here)

Never read the book, will do, saw the film.
A better filmed re-enactment of what it's like during a trip has not been made if u ask me.

Anyway, I wondered, did Thompson ever have anything to do with Timothy Leary at all? There's talk of Kesey doing acid tests, but no mention of Leary, whom I thought was regarded as THE father of acid...
please explain?


Kesey or Leary?

Post 2

Linus...42, i guess that makes me the answer...

I could be wrong here but bear with me.

Leary was based in NY and was into a totally different scene, very much into the intellectual possibilities, as opposed to Kesey who was i guess into the more spiritual/naturalist and just plain out there side of things. Read the 'Electric Kool Aide Acid Test" by Tom Woolfe which has a very interesting chapter on when Kessey and Leary met.

To get to the point, (yes there is one) although Thompson may have met Leary at some stage, Kessey would have been much more fun and more his kinda guy.

By the way, forget the movie. Once you have read Fear and Loathing.... you will realise how much better it should have been done. Personally i've always thought it should be done as animation, but thats another story......... smiley - smiley


Kesey or Leary?

Post 3

Steve K.

Animation? Hmmm, good idea, but it would have to be some good folks. And they are all out there doing "Toy Story" knockoffs (great movies, BTW, 1 & 2). For the voice of Thompson, I nominate Don Rickles - maybe. For the soundtrack music, Randy Newman - definitely.


Kesey or Leary?

Post 4

Linus...42, i guess that makes me the answer...

Gee, thats a tough one. How about Nicolas Cage - i'm thinking the raving lunatic in vampires kiss here, and maybe Samuel L Jackson for the attorney.........oh, or ice cube

Soundtrack wise.......i'm sure they mention some stuff in the book but i haven't read it for a while. Help me out here.......of course we could do the usual hollywood various artist job here and make money on the soundtrack as well smiley - sadface


Kesey or Leary?

Post 5

GNP Aaron

If it's animation, get Thompson himself to voice it. You can't tell me the man'd turn it down. And I think the soundtrack should contain, of course, White Rabbit and maybe some Grateful Dead.

Lance.


Kesey or Leary?

Post 6

Steve K.

Authors reading their own work on cassette books almost never works. Maybe Thompson is better than most. I dunno ...

Yeah, Jefferson Airplane and Grateful Dead for the background music, no question. It doesn't get any better.

But we're gonna need some new stuff .. Randy Newman is the man. Hopefully you'vbe heard "Short People" or maybe "Mama Told Me Not to Come" (best known by Three Dog Night)? "I Love L.A." is what puts him into Thompson's league. More recently he's done music for "Toy Story" ... as he said, a whole new audience of the "under ten" crowd - great music, BTW.


Kesey or Leary?

Post 7

Linus...42, i guess that makes me the answer...

Actually, i remember reading an article where he raved about The Doors so we would have to use at least a few Doors songs, Break on through for starters


Kesey or Leary?

Post 8

Steve K.

OK, Doors "Break on Thru", great song.

But look, we need some up front songs where the lyrics are ... uhhh .. "Dukish". How 'bout Dr. Hook "Cover of the Rolling Stone"? Now, THERE is a match ... and a great song. Best guitar solo I've ever heard.


Kesey or Leary?

Post 9

Linus...42, i guess that makes me the answer...

Thats a big call, if you want guitar how about Purple haze which would certainly be appropriate.

For that modern touch how about the Chemical brothers, they certainly have the right name for it smiley - smiley


Kesey or Leary?

Post 10

Prez HS (All seems relatively quiet here)

Aphex Twin!!! The don of the underground acid&techno (best known right now for Windowlicker... you see what I mean), speshully for the more warped and unpleasant parts. Just hearing the searing sneers in AT's compositions can flip my trip.


Kesey or Leary?

Post 11

Twophlag Gargleblap - NWO NOW

Three words for you; Velvet Acid Christ

Maybe I should seek out an industrial music forum, but since it came up here, let me also recommend
the following labels:

Xorcist
Delerium
Snog
Haujobb

And of course, the ultimate drug-haze-60's-era-why-is-my-brain-doing-this-to-me band, Thrill Kill Kult

'Nuff said.


Kesey or Leary?

Post 12

Steve K.

... umm, "Cover of the Rolling Stone" by Dr. Hook is apparently outside your experience. The guitar lead is a great parody of rock. It is really awful, but the band seems to love it.

No problem here with Hendrix, have you heard his acoustic blues ... as you might expect, he can play without an amp. Yeah, pretty good choice for the movie we're producing.


Kesey or Leary?

Post 13

Linus...42, i guess that makes me the answer...

Can't say i'm very familiar with doctor hook at all, and i must say thats the way i like it.

I wonder if Ralph Steedman is still alive, as he used to do all the Thompson drawings. He would have to at least be a consultant on the animation side of things


Kesey or Leary?

Post 14

Steve K.

Hmmm ... just curious, you don't care for Dr. Hook the person, or his music, or that genre, or ...

Right, Ralph Steadman, somewhere I have one of the books with his drawings, seemd to fit the bill, alright. Crumb comes to mind also, as on the cover of Janis Joplin's "Cheap Thrills", but I'm pretty sure he's dead.


Kesey or Leary?

Post 15

Linus...42, i guess that makes me the answer...

or........all of the above, i remember one of the band had an eye patch and they used to flog their greatest hits album every second xmas for years in the late 80s/early 90s. Although i have pretty wide taste musically it doesn't usually include MOR .

I think you are right about Crumb being dead. Looks like we are back to the drawing board re animators


Kesey or Leary?

Post 16

GNP Aaron

Mr Steadman was alive and working as of 1995, and he has a website
( http://www.ralphsteadman.com ) so I'm thinking he's still alive.


Kesey or Leary?

Post 17

Steve K.

Thanks for the tip on the R. Steadman Website, it works, looks interesting.


Kesey or Leary?

Post 18

Linus...42, i guess that makes me the answer...

Hardly suprising, given that he used to share Thompsons drugs whenever they visited each other


Kesey or Leary?

Post 19

Steve K.

An aging hippie is talking to a group, "I've have stopped using drugs, and have found the LORD! And I want to share him with you!"

A voice came back, "You never shared the drugs with us ..."

smiley - smiley


Kesey or Leary?

Post 20

Linus...42, i guess that makes me the answer...

Indeed smiley - smiley and fair enough too !!!!

So where are we up to with this movie?


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