Hunter Thompson's "The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved" (1970)

[Blue_Tires]

...I thanked him and fitted a Marlboro into my cigarette holder. "Say," he said, "you look like you might be in the horse business...am I right?"

"No," I said. "I'm a photographer."

"Oh yeah?" He eyed my ragged leather bag with new interest. "Is that what you got there--cameras? Who you work for?"

"Playboy," I said.

He laughed. "Well, goddam! What are you gonna take pictures of — nekkid horses? Haw! I guess you'll be workin' pretty hard when they run the Kentucky Oaks. That's a race just for fillies." He was laughing wildly. "Hell yes! And they'll all be nekkid too!"

I shook my head and said nothing; just stared at him for a moment, trying to look grim. "There's going to be trouble," I said. "My assignment is to take pictures of the riot."

"What riot?"

I hesitated, twirling the ice in my drink. "At the track. On Derby Day. The Black Panthers." I stared at him again. "Don't you read the newspapers?"

The grin on his face had collapsed. "What the hell are you talkin' about?"

"Well...maybe I shouldn't be telling you..." I shrugged. "But hell, everybody else seems to know. The cops and the National Guard have been getting ready for six weeks. They have 20,000 troops on alert at Fort Knox. They've warned us — all the press and photographers — to wear helmets and special vests like flak jackets. We were told to expect shooting..."

http://www.ralphsteadman.com/KYDerby.asp

TV broadcast of the derby:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDbLfLsTr3s

[cyberswede]

1. Classic - thanks!

I always think about this around this time of year, but rarely take the time to track it down. Thanks for posting!~

[Blue_Tires]

5. There is also some great artwork on the site as well...

[Chan790]

2. A perennial favorite...

this is the piece of journalism that made me want to become a writer. Mind you, not a journalist really, as long-form journalism was all but dead by the time I read it in college; no, I wanted to be just some sort of gonzo adventure writer: a cross between HST, Indiana Jones, Jack Kerouac and Cary Grant.

I still do, man...I still do.

[Blue_Tires]

4. Yeah...Very insightful

HST has this wonderfully subversive way of covering these types of events, and he could alway bring the reader right alongside in his adventures...

What I would give to have been able to follow HST around for just 48 hours in that era...

[david13]

3. Dust Commander. 1970. He was on steriods.

They didn't test for those things then.
dc