Type of site | News, literature, music and opinion |
|---|---|
| Available in | English |
| Founded | 2015 |
| URL | gonzotoday |
| Commercial | No |
| Current status | Active |
Gonzo Today is an internet-based publication inspired by the writing and reporting style of gonzo journalism popularized by Hunter Thompson.
Among other pursuits, Gonzo Today interviews a wide range of subjects, as reported by the New York Times obituary of poet and artist Heathcote Williams [1] and includes other interview subjects such as artist Clayton Patterson, [2] Ambrosia band members Mary Harris and Burleigh Drummond [3] and former CIA agent and whistleblower, John Kiriakou. [4] Other interview subjects include Michale Graves, Ryan Leone and Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein. [5]
Gonzo Today features a banner created by Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas illustrator Ralph Steadman, [6] who has also been interviewed by Gonzo Today. [7] Several Gonzo Today articles have been reprinted and archived by the International Times. [8]
As of 2021 Gonzo Today lists noted poet and author Ron Whitehead [9] as its honorary poetry editor. Whitehead, a Hunter Thompson friend and associate, has worked for many years to honor Thompson's legacy, including an annual spring "Gonzofest" held in Louisville, Kentucky. [10] Gonzo Today has been acknowledged as a noted contributor to Gonzofest. [11]
Founded by Clayton Luce, his wife and co-founder Jaslyn, then-Editor-in-chief David Pratt and Art Director Joey Feldman played major roles in the formative years, along with a substantial group of writing contributors and artists. [12] Luce and Whitehead's travels to interview Thompson's son and author Juan Thompson have been documented in the Louisville paper LEO Weekly. [13]
Other current staff include Editor-in-chief Kidman J. Williams, Publisher and Contributing Editor Kyle K. Mann, Contributing Editor Karene Horst and Website Manager Maggie Rotts. [12]
Gonzo journalism is a style of journalism that is written without claims of objectivity, often including the reporter as part of the story using a first-person narrative. The word "gonzo" is believed to have been first used in 1970 to describe an article about the Kentucky Derby by Hunter S. Thompson, who popularized the style. It is an energetic first-person participatory writing style in which the author is a protagonist, and it draws its power from a combination of social critique and self-satire. It has since been applied to other subjective artistic endeavors.
Hunter Stockton Thompson was an American journalist and author who founded the gonzo journalism movement. He rose to prominence with the publication of Hell's Angels (1967), a book for which he spent a year living and riding with the Hells Angels motorcycle club to write a first-hand account of their lives and experiences.
Oscar "Zeta" Acosta Fierro was a Mexican-American attorney, politician, novelist and activist in the Chicano Movement. He was most well known for his novels Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo (1972) and The Revolt of the Cockroach People (1973), and for his friendship with American author Hunter S. Thompson. Thompson characterized him as a heavyweight Samoan attorney, Dr. Gonzo, in his 1971 novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Acosta disappeared in 1974 during a trip in Mexico and is presumed dead.
Uncle Duke is a fictional character in the comic strip Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau. He is nominally Zonker Harris's uncle, albeit an "uncle by courtesy" only. Duke appeared in the strip July 1974 and was originally a straightforward caricature of the gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson, but eventually took on a life of his own and a succession of ill-fated ventures in the areas of politics, business and crime.
Ralph Idris Steadman is a British illustrator best known for his collaboration and friendship with the American writer Hunter S. Thompson. Steadman is renowned for his political and social caricatures, cartoons and picture books.
Ambrosia is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1970. Ambrosia had five top 40 hit singles released between 1975 and 1980, including the top 5 hits "How Much I Feel" and "Biggest Part of Me", and top 20 hits "You're the Only Woman " and "Holdin' on to Yesterday". Most of the original band members have been active with the group continuously for over thirty years to the present day, with the notable exception of original lead vocalist and guitarist David Pack since 2000.
Raoul Duke is the partially fictionalized author surrogate character and sometimes pseudonym used by Hunter S. Thompson as the main character and antihero for many of his works. He is perhaps best known as the narrator for his 1971 autobiographical novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. The book was originally written under the name Raoul Duke. The character wears a bucket hat and yellow tinted aviator glasses.
"The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved" is a seminal sports article written by Hunter S. Thompson on the 1970 Kentucky Derby, which first appeared in an issue of Scanlan's Monthly in June of that year. The article marked the first appearance of what became known as "gonzo journalism", the style that Thompson came to epitomize through the 1970s.
The Great Shark Hunt is a book by Hunter S. Thompson. Originally published in 1979 as Gonzo Papers, Vol. 1: The Great Shark Hunt: Strange Tales from a Strange Time, the book is a roughly 600-page collection of Thompson's essays from 1956 to the end of the 1970s, including the rise of the author's own gonzo journalism style as he moved from Air Force and sports beat-writing to straight-ahead political commentary. It is the first of what would become four volumes in The Gonzo Papers series.
Where the Buffalo Roam is a 1980 American semi-biographical comedy film which loosely depicts author Hunter S. Thompson's rise to fame in the 1970s and his relationship with Chicano attorney and activist Oscar "Zeta" Acosta. The film was produced and directed by Art Linson. Bill Murray portrayed the author and Peter Boyle portrayed Acosta, who is referred to in the film as Carl Lazlo, Esq. A number of other names, places, and details of Thompson's life are also changed.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a 1998 American black comedy adventure film adapted from Hunter S. Thompson's 1971 novel of the same name. It was co-written and directed by Terry Gilliam, and stars Johnny Depp and Benicio del Toro as Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo, respectively. The film details the duo's journey through Las Vegas as their initial journalistic intentions devolve into an exploration of the city under the influence of psychoactive substances.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream is a 1971 novel in the gonzo journalism style by Hunter S. Thompson. The book is a roman à clef, rooted in autobiographical incidents. The story follows its protagonist, Raoul Duke, and his attorney, Doctor Gonzo, as they descend on Las Vegas to chase the American Dream through a drug-induced haze, all the while ruminating on the failure of the 1960s countercultural movement. The work is Thompson's most famous book, and is noted for its lurid descriptions of illicit drug use and its early retrospective on the culture of the 1960s. Thompson's highly subjective blend of fact and fiction, which it popularized, became known as gonzo journalism. Illustrated by Ralph Steadman, the novel first appeared as a two-part series in Rolling Stone magazine in 1971 before being published in book form in 1972. It was later adapted into a film of the same title in 1998 by director Terry Gilliam, starring Johnny Depp and Benicio del Toro, who portrayed Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo, respectively.
Bibliography of works by American author and journalist Hunter S. Thompson.
John Chris Kiriakou is an American author, journalist and former intelligence officer. Kiriakou is a columnist with Reader Supported News and co-host of Political Misfits on Sputnik Radio.
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson is a 2008 documentary film directed by Alex Gibney. It details Hunter S. Thompson's landmark writings on music and politics. Friends and family provide interviews to help describe the mythos of Hunter and his life.
Warren James Hinckle III was an American political journalist based in San Francisco. Hinckle is remembered for his tenure as editor of Ramparts magazine, turning a sleepy publication aimed at a liberal Roman Catholic audience into a major galvanizing force of American radicalism during the Vietnam War era. He also helped create Gonzo journalism by first pairing Hunter S. Thompson with illustrator Ralph Steadman.
The term "journalism genres" refers to various journalism styles, fields or separate genres, in writing accounts of events.
Ron Whitehead is an American poet, author and activist. Whitehead was born on a farm in Kentucky, but traveled to the University of Louisville and Oxford University to pursue his academic interests.
Burleigh Drummond is an American drummer, percussionist, producer, songwriter, and singer. He is a founding member and the only drummer/percussionist for the five-time Grammy Award nominated band Ambrosia. He currently performs onstage in the band with his fellow member and wife Mary Harris, and the couple are also both active members of Bill Champlin’s Wunderground and their own band ‘Tin Drum’.
Mary Harris is an American keyboardist, singer, songwriter, arranger, and producer. She is currently appearing on stage as a member of the five-time Grammy Award nominated band Ambrosia. Harris, as a member of Jimmy Buffett's Coral Reefer Band arranged vocals and sang on recordings and live performances, and has worked with Stewart Copeland and Stanley Clarke, and recorded for Pink Floyd. She is also a founding member of the group Tin Drum along with her husband and musical partner Burleigh Drummond who also performs with her in Ambrosia.