Kentucky Derby Day yesterday and what better way to start that morning than by rereading Hunter S. Thompson’s essay, The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved. It was the seed that sprounted Gonzo Journalism and where it all zoomed upwards (or down) for HST.

They can say what they want: that Hunter had become a caricature of himself when he died, that his writing had deteriorated significantly over the years, that he destroyed himself, blah blah blah.

Say what you will, critics and foes.

He was an original in a world full of copies and no on has replaced him. Or can.

I was a little melancholy when I finished reading. I sighed for the loss. And, then, I smiled that he even existed in this world of ours..

Ah, Hunter. We miss you.

Monster Ballads ~ Josh Ritter
Radio waves are coming miles and miles
Bringing only empty boats
Whatever feeling they had when they sailed
Somehow slipped out between the notes

Out on the desert now and feeling lost
The bonnet wears a wire albatross
Monster ballads and the stations of the cross
Sighing just a little bit
Sighing just a little bit

And I was thinking about what Katy done
Thinking about what Katy did
The fairest daughter of the Pharaoh’s son
Dressed in gold beneath pyramids

Out on the desert now and feeling lost
The bonnet wears a wire albatross
Monster ballads and the stations of the cross
Sighing just a little bit
Sighing just a little bit

Ones and zeroes bleeding mesa noise
And when you’re empty there’s so much space for them
You turn it off but then a still small voice
Comes in blazing from some vast horizon

And I was thinking about my river days
I was thinking about me and Jim
Passing Cairo on a getaway
With every steamboat like a hymn

Out on the desert now
I’m feeling lost
The bonnet wears a wire albatross
Monster ballads and the stations of the cross
Sighing just a little bit
Smiling just a little bit