It was his favourite... One of mine too...

Let me forget about today until tomorrow... -Bob Dylan

Today is February 20, 2010... Five years down the line from February 20th 2005... Five years since the world lost its Gonzo... Hunter Stockton Thompson... That long huh? For most of us who ride for the Gonzo lifestyle, it often seems like one long drawn out sigh......

We lost one Hell of compadre... But he left us with enough...

Hunter had his own set of rules. Rules that most people couldn't handle... But to his faithful legion, he gave us a set of rules to grasp with both hands. Rules that we should hold tightly and swing as hard and wildly at life in each passing moment. He showed us that the rules by which we guide our lives are also the rules that set us apart... Not only from each other but from the normality of life. He left us with a set of Rules that set us apart from those who drive in the passing lane to those who are parked on the side of the road... stalled.

Hunter was a hero of mine. A father figure...

I was 14, broke and on the streets, trying to live a life bigger than I could ever walk when I read the first chapter of "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas." It made sense to me. The drugs, the experience, the risk, the craziness of it all... In my heart, that was me he was writing about. Hunter was my people. It was his words that gave my world some sense during that period. Twenty three years later... I still feel the same way. His stories taught me about the ugly side of life, people and the world. He taught me the fundamental ethos of what it means to be human.... Freewill.

Life in the Passing Lane...

Most of all he taught me that Freewill comes with great responsibility. The responsibility to live my life with torque and free of fear and comfort. Be it in love, in empathy, in sorrow or in joy, I have taken his wisdom and rolled the dice...Risk, that is where the true expereince of life exists. And with that kind of torque, there are at times head on crashes. But there is also is elation. Hunter taught me how to live. Period.

Hunter found a way to live out where the real winds blow—to sleep late, have fun, get wild, drink whisky, and drive fast on empty streets with nothing in mind except falling in love and not getting arrested. Regardless of the scar tissue and the lashes, Hunter showed me that it was okay to live the life I have lived, mistakes, weirdness and all... And to keep living the life I want to live.

My Bible...

There hasn't been a sunset gone by when Hunter's scripture hasn't filled my life. I could be coming, going or in the black.... And there it is... On the bedside table; sitting on the bathroom window sill or in my desk drawer. It is always within arms reach, the sacred words of Hunter.

I'm ready to go anywhere, I'm ready for to fade Into my own parade, cast your dancing spell my way...

Mr. Tambourine Man is his favourite song. It is also one of mine. As it gave rhyme and reason to his life, so it does to mine... I hold the bud tightly...

Res ipsa loquitur... Let the good times roll...

-TheStory

Mr. Tambourine Man

Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to.
Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
In the jingle jangle morning I'll come followin' you.

Though I know that evenin's empire has returned into sand,
Vanished from my hand,
Left me blindly here to stand but still not sleeping.
My weariness amazes me, I'm branded on my feet,
I have no one to meet
And the ancient empty street's too dead for dreaming.

Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to.
Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
In the jingle jangle morning I'll come followin' you.

Take me on a trip upon your magic swirlin' ship,
My senses have been stripped, my hands can't feel to grip,
My toes too numb to step, wait only for my boot heels
To be wanderin'.
I'm ready to go anywhere, I'm ready for to fade
Into my own parade, cast your dancing spell my way,
I promise to go under it.

Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to.
Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
In the jingle jangle morning I'll come followin' you.

Though you might hear laughin', spinnin', swingin' madly across the sun,
It's not aimed at anyone, it's just escapin' on the run
And but for the sky there are no fences facin'.
And if you hear vague traces of skippin' reels of rhyme
To your tambourine in time, it's just a ragged clown behind,
I wouldn't pay it any mind, it's just a shadow you're
Seein' that he's chasing.

Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to.
Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
In the jingle jangle morning I'll come followin' you.

Then take me disappearin' through the smoke rings of my mind,
Down the foggy ruins of time, far past the frozen leaves,
The haunted, frightened trees, out to the windy beach,
Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow.
Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free,
Silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands,
With all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves,
Let me forget about today until tomorrow.

Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to.
Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
In the jingle jangle morning I'll come followin' you.

--Bob Dylan

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