"Gonzo" Offers a Well-Rounded Portrait of Hunter S. Thompson

Oscar buzz ramping up around this fascinating documentary.

FlatSigned.com - August 23, 2008

(PRNewsChannel) / Nashville, Tenn. – One of the last relationships Hunter S. Thompson developed was with a publisher of autographed, limited edition books.   That relationship was with the founder and owner of FlatSigned Press, Tim Miller.  Miller and Thompson corresponded many times during the final year of Thompson's life and they became close.  Although he was reclusive, Thompson talked with Miller, autographed books for FlatSigned and had many discussions of politics, morals and life in general.

The late journalist Dr. Hunter S. Thompson left a public image of a madman, constantly engaged in drug-fueled odysseys through the American underbelly in the 1960s and 1970s, a side of him immortalized in the Hollywood films "Where the Buffalo Roam" starring Bill Murray and "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," in which Johnny Depp went over the top as a hallucinogen-crazed Thompson. That image was cast in stone when Gerry Trudeau transformed him into the character of "Raoul Duke" in his "Doonesbury" comic strip.

But the new documentary "Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson" shows a different portrait of Thompson – that of a brilliant, often frighteningly lucid mind at work, coolly and objectively dissecting the world around him even as that world drove him to use drugs and alcohol as an intermediary between himself and the awful reality he documented so well.  During his race for sheriff of Colorado's Pitken County (home to the resort town of Aspen) in 1970, he was written up in the media as the "freak power" candidate, and while there couldn't help but be a general circus air around any candidacy that featured as its logo a fist clenching a peyote button, Thompson was anything but the stereotypical hippie/yippy making vague declarations about peace and love and tuning in.  In one debate, he declared memorably that "I think that the marijuana laws are one of the reasons that has engendered the lack of respect that cops complain about all over the country.  When you've got a whole generation that grows up as felons, and they know that the law's ridiculous; they're told all this gibberish about it, that it drives you crazy and makes your brain soft, makes your feet fall off…even the police know it's a silly law." 

Days after 9/11, he wrote prophetically that what was to come "will be a Religious War, a sort of Christian Jihad, fueled by religious hatred and led by merciless fanatics on both sides. It will be guerilla warfare on a global scale, with no front lines and no identifiable enemy…We are going to punish somebody for this attack, but just who or what will be blown to smithereens for it is hard to say. Maybe Afghanistan, maybe Pakistan or Iraq, or possibly all three at once…This is going to be a very expensive war, and Victory is not guaranteed -- for anyone, and certainly not for anyone as baffled as George W. Bush."

Tim Miller, President and CEO of FlatSigned Press, first came into contact with Dr. Thompson near the end of his life.  "I'd worked with the late President Ford on several projects and he wintered in Aspen, and so I heard from people there about Thompson, who lived in Woody Creek, not far off."  A specialist in collectible books and signed editions, Miller knew that Thompson was one of the more reclusive authors around.  "I sent him a letter, asking him if he'd be willing to autograph some books, and he wrote back, giving me his phone number, and said yes, he would, if I sent him the biggest bottle they made of Chivas Regal 'Royal Salute' Scotch Whiskey."  Miller willingly complied and so began not only a business relationship but a friendship with Thompson.

Knowing Thompson had recently gotten married, Miller sent his nephew out for expensive, engraved shot glasses for Thompson and his new wife Anita.  "We had them personalized with his and his wife Anita's names, and I know he liked them, even though he called them the 'ugly jiggers' a number of times during our conversations and his letters to me."  Thompson autographed twelve books for Miller, but what made them special were the stories he wrote in them.  "They weren't 'flatsigned' in the traditional sense, which is when a book has the author's signature directly on a page of the book but without being personalized," Miller explained.  "He'd write stories in them, wild stuff.  In one case, he knew that my nephew had just gotten married, and he wrote in one book about how he had sex with my nephew's new wife in Houston, Texas."  Although largely unknown to the public, Thompson considered himself one of the original "Merry Pranksters" of Ken Kesey fame.  Thompson and Kesey were friends, along with others not so well known to be part of the group, including Larry McMurtry, with whom Miller also had contact.  Miller and Thompson shared stories about McMurtry and the other members of this truly legendary gang of peace lovers and drug proponents.

Miller could tell from their conversations that Thompson was "truly infatuated" with his new bride, who was young enough to be his daughter.  His typical waking hours were 2 pm on, and he would just be getting going around midnight.  "He'd always let his machine pick up calls, but when he heard my voice, he'd always pick up.  Whatever his reputation, in reality he was a sweet, kind, helpful guy."  The last time they spoke, Thompson and Anita were watching a movie in their home theater.  "He seemed relaxed and happy, but he was dead, a suicide, less than a month later."

Thompson became a recluse partly out of fear, Miller said.  "He always feared being murdered by someone he knew; from his past or his present.  That fear began with his book on the Hell's Angels which Thompson had written and was published in 1966.  "He hated public signings and interviews, and drank a lot out of fear. He even came up to one signing, which was required by his contract with his publisher, in a limo, threw signed bookplates out the window of the car, and sped off.  That, in his mind, fulfilled his contractual obligation to his publisher."  "Gonzo" substantiates this in a memorable scene where, not long after publication of the book "Hell's Angels," a young Thompson appears on a talk show where host and guest are seated in the center of the studio, and a member of the Angels roars in and circles them on his motorcycle.  As the Angel and Thompson dispute how Thompson was bounced out of the gang (he interfered when one of the members was beating a woman), the fear on Thompson's face is palpable.

"It's a real loss for the country," Miller said of Thompson's death.  "As his wife Anita says in the movie, with what's going on in the country now, well, now more than ever we could use a voice like his.  Thompson was an intellectual politically and otherwise.  He knew and felt strongly about how our country was on the wrong path and had ideas as to how to change things for the better.  He was never elected to political office but he would have served proudly and would have been an improvement over so many of our elected, political leaders."

About FlatSigned Press
Founded in 1998, FlatSigned Press, Inc. is a rare book seller and publishing company specializing in the sale and publishing of rare and collectible books, signed first-editions, manuscripts, historical documents, art, and autographs.  FlatSigned has worked with many of the world's most famous authors and notable figures including the late President Gerald R. Ford, astronaut and moonwalker Buzz Aldrin, and General Hal Moore, best known for his leadership during the battle of La Drang during the Vietnam War, well-detailed in the 1992 book "We Were Soldiers Once… And Young," which became the 2002 film "We Were Soldiers" starring Mel Gibson.  The firm's catalog features autographed books from a diverse group of authors, including:

Supreme Court Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Anthony Kennedy, Sandra Day O'Connor, William Rehnquist, Antonin Scalia, and Clarence Thomas;

Mercury and Apollo astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Alan Bean, Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, Edgar Mitchell, and Wally Schirra;

Former United States Presidents (and presidential candidates) George H. W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Hillary Rodham Clinton;

As well as authors H. G. "Buzz" Bissinger, Ray Bradbury, Dan Brown, Vincent Bugliosi, James Lee Burke, Arthur C. Clarke, Joe Galloway, William Goldman, Richard Gordon, Sue Grafton, John Grisham, John Irving, Stephen King, Harper Lee, Cormac McCarthy,  Larry McMurtry, Arthur Miller, Lt. General Hal Moore, Tim O'Brien, E. Annie Proulx, Anne Rice, Wilbur Smith, Nicholas Sparks, Hunter S. Thompson, Kurt Vonnegut, and Joseph Wambaugh.

Coined by legendary horror writer Stephen King, the term FlatSigned refers to the most desirable type of collectible book: One that is signed by the author directly on the title page without an inscription. FlatSigned has consistently earned annual sales in excess of $2 million  and an EBITA profit of 30%. Additional information can be obtained from www.flatsigned.comorby calling 1-866-FLATSIGNED.

About Owner and Publisher of FlatSigned Press Inc., Tim Miller: Born to an impoverished southern family that had no running water until he was 13, Tim Miller has worked hard his entire life, becoming one of the most notable publishers and book collectors in the world. Throughout his illustrious career, the Lyndon Baines Johnson Scholar has served as White House Press Correspondent and worked directly for the U.S. Congress. He held Certified Press Credentials for both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. He has been honored with distinctions including Memphis, TN newspaper "The Commercial Appeal's" version of President George W. Bush's 1,000 Points of Light Award, named to Who's Who in America for seven consecutive years, and named to Who's Who in American Colleges four consecutive years.  Always civic-minded, Miller has held distinctive positions including National Staff Officer for the United States Junior Chamber of Commerce, President of the Memphis Junior Chamber of Commerce, State Officer of the Tennessee Jaycees, and Executive Director of the Wisconsin Junior Chamber. A graduate of Austin Peay State University, he attended the Memphis State University School of Law and Western Washington State University.  Miller has also held the post of Personnel Officer for St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital.  His civic contributions have earned him the nationally-recognized Steve Little Memorial Award from the United States Jaycees. 

As President and CEO of the multi-million dollar autographed book company and publisher FlatSigned Press, Inc., Miller consistently lends his expertise to television, radio and newspaper personalities and journalists researching the historical accounts and contemporary values of rare autographed books. He is a contributor to "The Sanders Price Guide to Autographs," the definitive price guide for autograph collectors, and many other trade and consumer autograph publications. He maintains memberships in the Better Business Bureau, The International Society of Appraisers, The Manuscript Society and the Universal Autograph Collectors Club, and has been featured in various programs and publications including cable television channel QVC, the Gordon Liddy Show, and national network news. Additional information can be obtained from  www.flatsigned.com.

To request an interview contact:
Tim Miller, President and CEO FlatSigned Press, Inc.
Phone: 615-268-5245
Email: 
Web site:  www.flatsigned.com

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