Wednesday 21 August 2013

When Hunter S Thompson Came Downunder

Recently I rediscovered a favourite book from my late teens and early 20s. JJ McRoach's " A Dozen Dopey Yarns- Tales from the Pot Prohibition" A collection of articles written with a great sense of fun and knowledge of what the author was getting into. This was  good journalism about counter culture topics.
He could also report on  the more serious side of the times with a clear and well researched view.  JJ McRoach was the pseudonym of Peter Olszewski who ran for the senate in the 1977 election as a candidate for the Marijuana Party. Though the party never had a candidate elected to office, it still managed ( thanks to McRoach) to draw a substantial amount of votes from its major political rivals. The one article I want to share here is the time McRoach acted as Hunter S Thompson's publicist for his Australian spoken word tour , who at the time was at his peak of craziness and popularity due to the release of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas several years earlier. This link and the larger one below will take you to an authorised copy of the story and below are some clippings relating to the visit and the story.
Enjoy

HUNTER S THOMPSON'S BOOKS

Because blogger is dumb, to read the clippings, right click and open in a new window to view better.
The Age October 1 1976




October 5 1976