As a preface, back around 2000, I wrote a play called "Altered States of America," which was both a comic and serious look at America's love/hate relationship with drugs, and, I suppose, with my own inclination for getting out this crowded, cluttered head once in awhile (a passion in my younger years that caused me a little trouble and provided a ton of pleassure).
I dedicated the play to Hunter S. Thompson, Warren Zevon, and Ken Kesey, and, within two years of its 2003 production, they were all dead. I sent a copy to Warren when he was literally on his deathbed. I sent copies to Thompson and to Kesey's widow. I never expected replies, never sought them. I just did what I thought was right, to pay a debt for inspiration and for bad advice that often turned out well. It was a damned good show, great cast, some moments of beauty, others of (I think) sharp satire--at least some laughs. The production got decent reviews, but it was scheduled at the wrong time of year, the ticket prices were too high, and audiences were low. I'd go home each night after every show, sit on the back porch, and play "Wild Horses" over and over until I could go to sleep.
There's been a lot of talk about Hunter lately. A couple books have come out, and factions are lining up between them, literary battles breaking out. In other words: he's still riling people up. But I had these unsettled, deeply personal, and unresolved feelings regarding the guy; so, as I think a kind of exorcism, I made a movie.
It's very simple, just some photos of Hunter off the net that warp and change in time to Pearl Jam's "Man of the Hour." It ends with "In Memoriam" then fades to black. It's clunky and crudely done. I can't do anything with it: I don't own any of the rights to the photographs or the music. I wouldn't want to do anything with it. It's something for me. I made it, and I watched it, and I let loose a little bit of what had been floating in my head.
It was, in short, a personal endeavor, and this is as public as it will ever be.S
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1 comment:
Thank you for writing this. I am still grappling with my unresolved grief over Hunter's death. I keep thinking that I'll finally write that tribute and put an end to the false starts. There was something very comforting about knowing he was up there at Woody Creek. The final lesson, I guess, is about completely letting go - no more security.
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