get ready for some Gonzo journalism. I got my copy.

Got my copy as well. Will start reading once I post comments on the Mirabel sisters.

I'm 70 pages in. Loving it. What a nut!

thought this was kinda cool..in 1958, HST applied for a job at the Vancouver Sun. Here's his brutally honest cover letter:

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Hunter+Thompson+brutally+honest+Canadian+re...

Len, that HST cover letter was awesome. I can appreciate it so much more having read him. On that note, I finished Hell's Angels this weekend. I loved it. I will hold off on comments until everyone is done. Let me know!

I have about a hundred pages left--should be done by the end of this weekend. Not sure about Juraj?

Ah, been awhile since I've read this one--or any HST, for that matter. Must say that the first half of the book brought back memories of this being a very dry, painful read. What do I care about all the "the press said, the angels said" that takes up a good portion of the first half of the book?

This was HST's first book, when he was still struggling to make it as a Gonzo journalist, so that explains the kind of formal, journalistic feel that's found here. It's almost as though he's trying to prove his worth as a journalist so he can continue to survive as a freelancer.

What I liked most was when he gets into the details of the Bass Lake run--this to me is where Thompson really shines and you can see the beginnings of pure Gonzo. I wasn't so appreciative of him carrying on with things like the riots in Laconia by a bunch of non-Hell's Angels. In the immortal words of Steve Langford, "who gives a shit, who gives a fuck". I liked the Ken Kesey parties as well--picturing a bunch of Angels with some LSD-loving author and his beatnik friends.

Did I like the book? Overall, yes. For me, this book isn't even close to some of his other stuff. I much prefer his political writings where he tears the politicians of the day a new one, or his novels (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and The Rum Diary) where it's him just out of control. This is Hunter's one book where he's defending people--and it's no surprise: you can imagine that while writing this book, he couldn't help but think that the Angels who he was writing about knew where he lived.

Okay, I'll end this now--thoughts?

I finished this book over the weekend and would have to agree with Jason that the second half was much better then the first. There was a definite feel of anger towards the press at large here and much of the beginning is kind of repetitive quoting of headlines that were really out to lunch. Interesting how the Hells Angels became a real phenomenon and I had no idea it could all be traced back to one event, so that much was historically intriguing. My favourite part of the book however is really right towards the end when it talks in detail about his partying with them at Bass lake and how they sort of became pseudo political. I was not surprised to have the book end with him getting stomped by the HA's... was sorta waiting on that the whole way through! One of my favourite quotes from the book:

"Like beauty and honesty, promiscuity is in the eyes of the beholder - at least among the Angels"

one thing I love about HST is his ability to capture the moment. The part of the book dealing with the Bass Lake run was great in how he just finds his way in the middle of this massive pack of bikers that are going to take on the whole town..good stuff. It reminded me of how he portrayed the decline of 60s idealism in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

That was my first taste of Gonzo journalism, so I wasn't as jaded as some of you HST vets. I really liked it. He is a bit of a maniac

He talks about the Hell's Angels 'retaliation ethic:' when you're asked to stay out of a bar you don't just punch the owner - you come backwith your army and tear the place down, destoy the whole edifice and everything it stands for. No compromise. If a man gets wise, mash his face. If a woman snubs you, rape her. This is the thinking, if not the reality behind the whole Hell's Angels act. It is also the aspect of the story that gets to the editors of news magazines. "

Well, of course that's the stuff that gets to the magazines. HST writes very sympathetically about the Angels (as you said Maur, maybe it's because he was scared of the Angels), but he doesn't exactly convince me to sympathize with them; especially that Angel Norbet who jumps on girls and starts pulling their teeth out with pliers. These guys are scum bags. I won't lie, when I hear the sounds of motorcycle engines, I think of this book and all the images I have of the Angels.

I loved the whole bike metaphor: the bike being the most important part of their image, their viral object, their whole being. It was a really cool spin on the importance of the bike for each Angel. As an LA cop puts it: “They sleep on grease-caked beds, but their bikes are spotless.”

I found some of HST’s build ups to the Angels gatherings to be anti-climactic; I found he built them up as if there was going to be some kind of massacre, and often there wasn’t.

Some of the Angel’s commentary is fucking hilarious. For example: “Shit man, the day they can call me queer is when I let one of these faggots suck on me for less than a tenner…Man, I’d go underwater and fuck fish for that kind of money, you just tell me who’s payin.”

Yeah, that Ken Kesey party was hilarious. I can’t shake the image I have of him walking outside naked, high as shit, yelling at the cops. It’s so sickening imagining those two or three day parties, all of them popping pills and hammering back beers without sleep.

I finished reading the book, and once it gets full fledged into the Bass Lake party, it really picks up. I start to see the vivid descriptions that I am used to.

I don't agree that HST provides a sympethetic view the HA. I saw it as fairly balanced, as a portrayal of a savage group of men who nevertheless have some sort of moral code. Through all of it, i think it points out a lot of hypocrisy, and downright wretchedness. It is hard to say that he doesn't romanticize them, but I think that's what makes the book appealing. For example, when he tells the story of how he had his car full of beer and the guys were just grabbing them without asking. He says:

"despite their swastika fetish, the fiscal relationship between Angels is close to pure communism: "from each according to his abilities and to each according to his needs." The timing and the spirit of the exchange are just as important as the volume. Much as they claim to admire the free enterprise system, they can't afford it among themselves. Their working ethic is more on the order of "he who has, shares." there is nothing verbal or dogmatic about it; they just couldn't make it any other way."

And then there's the classic vivd depictions..I picture Johnny Depp narrating when HST describes the Angels amassed at Bass Lake, where unafraid tourists are waiting to catch a glimpse of the freak show:

"While I was reading the rape story I heard a little girl behind me ask, "where are they, Mommy? you said we were going to see them." I turned to look at the child, a bandy legged pixie just getting her permanent teeth, and felt thankful once again that my only issue is male. I glanced at the mother and wondered what strange grooves her mind had been fitted in these wonderfully prosperous times. She was a downbeat thirty-five, with short blond hair and a sleeveless blouse only half tucked into her tight bermuda shorts. It was a vivd Pepsi Generation tableau...on a hot California afternoon a sag-bellied woman wearing St. Tropez sunglasses is hanging around a resort-area market, trailing her grade-school daughter and waiting in the midst of an eager crowd for the arrival of The Hoodlum Circus, as advertised in Life."

This kind of commentary definitely picked up in the second half of the book, and it's what made it very good at least for me. The part about him stressing out over running out of beer because the Angels would steal it from him is classic:

"Once my two cases were gone i couldn't buy a single can all weekend without cashing a check, and that was out of the question. Beyond that, I was--and might still be--the only journalist the Angels had ever seen who didn't have an expense account, so I was a little worried at their reaction when I'd be forced to plead poverty and start drinking out of the kitty. My own taste for the hops is very powerful, and I had no intention of spending a beerless weekend in the withering sun. In retrospect this seems like a small point, but it didn't at the time. It was an ill chosen moemnt to cast my bread on the waters...the suck-tide was running. Somewhere in the cacophony of foaming and hissing that followed the discovery of my cache, I recall saying, to nobody in particular; "All right, goddamnit, this thing had better work both ways." But there was no reason to believe it would...only a few of them knew me, and the otthers were not going to be happy when I began lurking around the beer sulply, draining one can after another in a feverish effort to even the score."

I could keep quoting such gems. I think I enjoy the portrayal of himself as much as those around him. HST is an intriguing, maniacal character in his own book.

have you read Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail? I've been wanting to read it for a while now

Yes, years ago. His way of describing politics is priceless. Here's a tease from his ESPN column shortly after Bush won in 2000. No sports column comes close to him!

Here's the full article.

Edit: As for on the campaign trail '72, I can say this: the writing is just as entertaining, but I wasn't familiar with all the political players of that era (read: democrats running for the nomination in '72), so there was a bit of a learning curve there vs. reading something that deals with political figures that I'm familiar with.

The book is mainly about following McGouvern on his way to getting the democratic nomination for the 1972 election--not the presidential election itself. That being said, I read it and enjoyed it, apart from that I can't remember much.

Alright... Here is my rant...

Really liked it. I also didn't think that he was trying to make the Angels seem like potential assets to society that have been somewhat disillusioned or something like that. I think he tells it like it is. I had the chance to know an ex-Angel for a few years, and he was the coolest dude ever. He left the whole scene because he said it was too much commitment for him (i.e. all that riding back and forth and having to take time off work and stuff to be here and there, the "all on one, one on all" principle... etc. ), but he said he still rides every now and then with his old group. He also introduced me to some other ex-Angels... He was also one of the nicest guys I've ever met, albeit a bit low brown and the epitome of a blue collar worker. He also explained to me that they go out of their way to be nice to people. It made me remember him telling me this when HST was talking about this particular point in the book. It really seems to me like they are a bunch of s#!+ disturbers that want to challenge society in every way possible. One of those ways is act in the opposite manner to what their appearance dictates. There is something a bit unsettling about a filthy, fat, greasy, long-bearded biker opening doors for someone... no? Or, perhaps it is a bit of an attempt at trying to change their image... Their sense of hopelessness permeates even through their main motto: "When we do right, nobody remembers. When we do wrong, nobody forgets"

The second run I had into the Angles was when we ended up at Mt. Rushmore on the 4th of July weekend while taking a roadtrip to Vancouver and back with my parents during the summer of '94 or '95. At that time, I had no idea what was happening, but suddenly we were surrounded by hundreds of motorcycles and "trikes" with clantily clad women every now and then. Being the immigrant that I was, I had no idea WTF was happening, or who these people were. In retrospect, it must have been a "run" by some of the local clubs. Being the hormone-raging teenager at that point, I remember being titillated by the sight of some of the (what I now know are called) "mamas". I also remember specifically the logo and the "Hells Angels" insignia on the jackets, because it was the first time I ever saw it. Thinking back to that day as I read the book, I think I would fall into the Bass Lake civilian community. Suddenly, and without warning, we were in a free circus show and it was awesome! I didn't get a feeling of any animosity towards us, or any danger, or anything. The Angels looked like they were having 1000x more fun that day than I was during the long and arduous family roadtrip. My dad and I talked to a few of them about their bikes, and you would have to have a very low EQ to not be able to see how INSTANTLY, their chest swelled up and they got excited as little children when being asked about their hogs. It was Awesome and actually one of the best memories I had from that trip...

I have since then come across a few other motorcycle club members, although I am not sure if they were part of the Hells Angels, their allies (I think the ex-Angel guy I knew said "Iron Horsemen" or something like that are one club they rode with sometimes), or their rivals (I believe the same guy mentioned "Outlaws" if I remember correctly). The whole thing nowadays seems like it's not anywhere near the "let's tear the s#!+ up" attitude it seemed to have when HST wrote the book. All of the scummy bearded motorcycle guys seem to do it for the same reason as other guys getting tattoos on their necks and faces, or girls getting breast implants or whatever. It seems to be their outward display of their inner sense of dedication and belonging to a certain group or "calling" in life. As such, they "put their money where their mouth is" and go the whole nine yards. It's no different from any other minority club where the members feel like they don't belong into the Great Society. I'm sure you don't have any respect in the Nazi group until you get a few swasticas on your chest and some original Nazi Germany china plates or some crap like that...

Overall, I liked the book but was a little bit disappointed with the style. I guess I had a different expectation based on the movie FaLiLV, but based on your comments, it does seem like this is perhaps not his most representative piece. I will have to check out some of his other stuff.

In summation, I kind of sympathise with the Hells Angels and would have to reservations in talking to them if I met one again. They have a LOT of interesting and funny stories and seem to actually be really good guys on the inside (from what I hear and have experienced). I think with any group, there will always be a smaller sub-group that is officially part of the bigger group, but is actually operating contrary to the big group. I think Angels nowadays have some guys that are deliberately looking for trouble and/or to make a few bucks by selling drugs, but most of them are fairly nice guys with really f'n ugly beards. Yes, their humour is a bit like described in the book, and yes, when in doubt about what to do they WILL fight and beat the crap out of you, but other than that... the ones I met were more honest and sharing than most of the people on this planet.

There is something about the fraternity of bikes though... Even if I am riding just a shitty rental in different parts around the world, I still get nods from "the Harley guys" a lot more often than from the "crotch rocket" guys. Perhaps it's the whole appreciation of it. I love riding motorcycles and know that every guy that is riding on one "gets it". It's probably impossible to explain to someone that hasn't taken a bike down the highway at 100+ kms what it feels like, and I know the guy riding on his bike coming my way knows what I feel or that he is probably doing it for the same reason as I am... There is a sense of connection you have instantly! I think surfing is the same way. Or snowboarding on a "white-out" day when there is just a handful of you on the mountain.... etc. I have received random nods from passer-by motorcycle riders when I was on a bike in every country I have ridden in... even Mozambique... OK... asia was a bit of an exception because there is just too many of them. But I think that as a motorcycle rider, it's MUCH safer to ride in a group, and so it's in your best interest to put yourself in a "pack" of some sorts. The car drivers are a f'n menace!!!