"He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man," mumbles Hunter S. Thompson, teeing off a new dramatic audio CD adaptation of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, his infamous tale of fast cars, drugs, consumer excess, and good old-fashioned dope paranoia. Thompson has been making a beast of himself in public for longer than some of us have been on the planet, and in the process he has changed the face of journalism.
The so-called gonzo school of feature writing, pioneered by Thompson's semi-house-trained rants, makes the journalist as important as the story. Fear and Loathing (for those of you who have been sheltered from this particular slice of the psychotic '70s) tells the story of a road trip to Vegas to cover the Mint 400 off-road race. Duke (Thompson's alter ego) and his 210-pound, mescaline-guzzling Samoan attorney manage to miss the event entirely, and spend an indeterminate period of time tripping and screaming their way around the desert. This is journalism, people, but not as we know it.
Hard to believe it's been a quarter of a century since Fear and Loathing first appeared as a two-part Rolling Stone article. Impossible to believe that a dramatic adaptation could be anything other than a lame cash-in on the anniversary. Amazingly, it works.
This is mainly due to the superb cast. It's laconically narrated by Harry Dean Stanton, who somehow is the only person you could imagine doing the job. Übercool director Jim Jarmusch and character actor Maury Chaykin play journalist and attorney, locked in a constant shouting match made more bizarre by their tendency to wave knives at each other and see giant lizards in hotel lobbies.
An atmosphere of true madness is maintained throughout, leavened with nice touches like Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner playing, er, the Rolling Stone editor who gives Duke "total credit" for expenses - and a white Caddy - when he hires the writer to cover the District Attorney's Drugs and Narcotics Conference.
It's a helluva road trip, and far more fun than any other audiobook I've ever heard (especially in the car). Just put your foot to the floor, and if the cops stop you, make sure the guns are hidden under the seat.
##### Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas audiobook, by Hunter S. Thompson: US$16.99. Island Records: +1 (212) 333 8000.
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