THOUGHTS ABOUT THE KENTUCKY DERBY
Well, the šš²š»ššš°šøš šš²šæšÆš is over for another year, someone won, everyone else lost. That’s about the level of my interest. In my book there was only one Kentucky Derby that mattered, the 1970 installment, and then only after the fact.
That’s because it was the event in which ššš»šš²šæ š¦ š§šµš¼šŗš½šš¼š» and š„š®š¹š½šµ š¦šš²š®š±šŗš®š» (šµš©šŖš“ š£š¦šŖšÆšØ šµš©š¦ š§šŖš³š“šµ šµšŖš®š¦ šµš©š¦šŗ š¦š·š¦šÆ š®š¦šµ) finally put it all together, and šš¼š»šš¼ šš¼ššæš»š®š¹š¶ššŗ was born, in the form of āš§šµš² šš²š»ššš°šøš šš²šæšÆš šš šš²š°š®š±š²š»š š®š»š± šš²š½šæš®šš²š±’.
For those that might not be familiar, Gonzo is a very manic and even psychotic version of the New Journalism practiced by Wolfe and Capote and Plimpton, and it was in this article that it was finally given it’s full life. And it’s also where it was given a name as well, by šš¶š¹š¹ šš®šæš±š¼šš¼, the editor of the š½š¤šØš©š¤š£ šš”š¤šš ššŖš£ššš® šššššÆšš£š, who told Thompson āšš°š³šØš¦šµ š¢šš šµš©šŖš“ š“š©šŖšµ šŗš°š¶āš·š¦ š£š¦š¦šÆ šøš³šŖšµšŖšÆšØ, šµš©šŖš“ šŖš“ šŖšµ; šµš©šŖš“ šŖš“ š±š¶š³š¦ šš°šÆš»š°. šš§ šµš©šŖš“ šŖš“ š¢ š“šµš¢š³šµ, š¬š¦š¦š± š³š°šššŖšÆšØ.ā And roll he did.
šš§šš£š©š”šš£š did a fine “Director’s Cut” of the article (šššš£š”šš£’šØ, šµš©š¦ š®š¢šØš¢š»šŖšÆš¦ šŖšµ š°š³šŖšØšŖšÆš¢šššŗ š¢š±š±š¦š¢š³š¦š„ šŖšÆ, š„šŖš„šÆ’šµ š®š¢š¬š¦ šŖšµ š°š¶šµ š°š§ 1970 š£š¦š§š°š³š¦ š§š°šš„šŖšÆšØ) back in 2013, and I’d highly recommend giving it a read. You might find, as I did, that we’ve not really gone very far from 1970 after all.
