June 5th, 2008 → 10:09 am @ Seth Mnookin
The University of Mississippi Press has just released Conversations with Hunter S. Thompson, which is not, as it might seem, a series of interviews but a collection of 30 articles about HST written over the last forty some odd years. The table of contents is impressively eclectic: there’s a Doug Brinkley piece from The Paris Review, a Craig Vetter article from Playboy, and — no joke — a old Ron Rosenbaum story that first ran in High Times. (If you’re wondering: yes, that’s the same Ron Rosenbaum who wrote Explaining Hitler and The Shakespeare Wars.) (There are also, predictably a pair of articles titled “Still Gonzo After All These Years.”) (Triple parens alert. The book is also co-edited by someone with one of the all-time great handles: Beef Torrey. I’ve spoken with him, and that’s his honest-to-goodness, god-given name. His parents, I assume, were not vegetarians.)
All of that should more than enough to recommend the book. There is also an essay I wrote back in 2000, when I first met Hunter during a couple of all-night editing sessions at his ranch in Owl Creek. I hadn’t read the piece, titled “Fear and Writing,” in a good five or so years, and it made me both sad and proud: I miss that old fuck, and the piece is actually pretty good. And since it ran in the now-defunct Brill’s Content, this the only place you’ll ever get to read it.
Post Categories: homophobia & Red Sox Nation & Ron Gant & Ugueth Urbina
June 20th, 2006 → 9:08 pm @ Seth Mnookin
SCENE: The bottom of the fourth inning of the July 20 Red Sox-Nationals game with Boston leading, 8-0.
SETTING: NESN broadcast booth, Fenway park.
CAST:
* Red Sox color analyst Jerry Remy
* Red Sox play-by-play announcer Don Orsillo
* A three-inch plushy of Red Sox mascot Wally the Green Monster.
Remy: We all have parties–birthday parties, crews go out and have parties. Wally likes to attend those parties and he has a heck of a time, but the next day I’ve got to put up with that. He’s miserable, not feeling well, cause it’s hard if, you know, when he goes out people take care of him.
Orsillo: See, I thought he was all done with that. I thought that was another life for Wally. I thought the whole rehab thing took care of that.
Remy: The thing about it is, he’ll look the same tomorrow, but he won’t feel good.
Orsillo: He’s always gonna be green.
PAUSE
Remy: The women love Wally.
Orsillo: I can see why. They’re only human.
It makes you wonder what Ron Gant would have come up with…
Post Categories: Broadcasting & Don Orsillo & Jerry Remy & Red Sox & Ron Gant & Wally the Green Monster
June 16th, 2006 → 9:28 pm @ Seth Mnookin
“One right now is just as valuable as putting two or three on the board.”
— Ron Gant after Chipper Jones hit a sac fly with the bases loaded in the fifth…to bring the Braves to within three runs.
(I have a feeling Gant’s gonna keep me busy all weekend. And…my man delivers. After calling the 6th inning “the middle of the game,” he says if Tim Hudson can keep the Red Sox from scoring there, “You have a good chance to come back and win.” Don’t ask; just embrace it. It’s a zen thing.)
Post Categories: Baseball & Broadcasting & Red Sox & Ron Gant
June 16th, 2006 → 8:42 pm @ Seth Mnookin
“Boy, I tell ya, you got a team like the Red Sox coming to town and you have all those fans chanting for them and you really want to beat that other ballclub. That’s what I was talking about earlier – these guys should be inspired tonight.”
— Atlanta Braves broadcaster Ron Gant in the top of the third inning as Atlanta’s Turner Field was filled with “Let’s Go Red Sox!” chants. Braves pitcher Tim Hudson was so inspired he served up a three-run triple to Jason Varitek after walking the bases loaded.
Post Categories: Baseball & Broadcasting & Jason Varitek & Red Sox & Ron Gant
