I love me some Hunter S. Thompson on a Sunday afternoon

While I think his writings are a pretty mixed bag (the more recent stuff not being that great), I always like Hunter S. Thompson. He always cheers me up. Here’s an interview he did with the Paris Review in 2000, so 5 years before he kicked the bucket.

INTERVIEWER

As you explored the acid scene did you ever develop a feel for Timothy Leary?

THOMPSON

I knew the bastard quite well. I ran into him a lot in those days. As a matter of fact I got a postcard invitation from something called the Futique Trust in Aptos, California, inviting me to attend the fourth annual Timothy Leary Memorial Celebration and Potluck Picnic. The invitation was printed in happy letters, with a peace symbol in the background, and I felt a burst of hate in my heart when I saw it. Every time I think about Tim Leary I get angry. He was a liar and a quack and a worse human being than Richard Nixon. For the last twenty-six years of his life he worked as an informant for the FBI and turned his friends into the police and betrayed the peace symbol he hid behind.

There are a ton of interesting interviews available on their website, so poke around.