Hunter and pioneer

As Bob Kerr noted in his Other Paper column on Tuesday, "If you came to journalism in the late ’60s or early ’70s, it was difficult not to be touched by the wonderful lack of discipline that [Hunter] Thompson brought to his work . . . Objectivity was just another word for hiding behind the rules."

Indeed, the spirit of Thompson was even stronger for the likes of those, like Phillipe & Jorge, who operate in the alternative press. It is a mixed legacy to be sure. Not unlike Bob Dylan’s influence on popular music, Thompson’s style would inspire both shoddy and great reporting, as well as brilliant and totally bombastic writing. P&J know. We, along with our attorney, Randy Newman, plead guilty.

Still, no one can take away the impact of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas on these simple and curious minds. If Hieronymus Bosch was a writer instead of a painter, and had access to ample supplies of LSD, cocaine, and Jack Daniel’s, he probably would have come up with some material along the lines of Thompson’s. Hanging out with and eventually getting stomped by the Hell’s Angels also served to put an edge in Thompson’s prose, albeit a hard lesson. The book named after the motorcycle gang nonetheless remains a classic of documentary journalism, appropriately skewering the invention by the establishment press of a motorcycle menace.

But we sure wish we’d written Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72. Regardless of accuracy, it still stands as the most perceptive, passionate and full-out entertaining book on a political race ever written. Hunter Thompson’s books occupy a full shelf at Casa Diablo, and a fair chunk of our brain cells — at least those that have survived through the years.

When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. Sleep tight, Raoul Duke.

SECRET TAPES

There’s nothing your superior correspondents like more than "secret presidential tapes." Post-Watergate, of course, most US presidents have decided that their ego-driven need to document every little thing is not exactly the smart thing to do (see: Lyndon Baines Johnson and Richard Milhous Nixon), but this doesn’t mean that other "historically minded" individuals don’t feel the need to capture his master’s voice.

We refer to Mr. Doug Wead, a former advisor to the first President Bush and former (and you can bet on that) "friend" of the current POTUS. In this case, "history" for Mr. Wead means any possible relationship he might have in the future with Swiss Family Bush.

Wead’s secretly taped discussions with Dubya began before Shrub was even a declared candidate in 2000, and while his apparent admission of marijuana use in his younger days might be a revelation to some, it shouldn’t be. Cocaine? Who knows and who cares? To P&J the whole story is a big "So what?"

On the other hand, the response in Sunday’s New York Times from White House spokesman Trent Duffy is far more hilarious and telling. Commenting on the drug use issue, Duffy said, "That has been asked and answered so many times there is nothing more to add."

Unless there was a truly egregious mistake in a front-page Times story (in other words, losing the word "never" before "answered" in the quote), we don’t know what Duffy was talking about. In fact, in the tapes, Dubya even admits that it is his strategy to not answer any questions about allegations of former drug use. And, he never has. So the record stands: Bush has never answered anything about allegations of former drug use, but he does insist that the question has been "answered." This means nothing. Whether or not Bush used drugs means almost nothing to P&J, and all the public can do is read between the lines. What is interesting, however, is how Bush claims to have answered questions that he never did. Thank you, President Straightforward and Honest.

A word for those on high alert for "media bias" as this story played as a big, top story on virtually all network and cable newscasts and front pages on most major dailies. Our own BeloJo (accent on the "Belo" in this case, it would seem), ran a very small excerpt of the New York Times page one story on page three. The Times headline was, "In Secretly Taped Conversations, Glimpses of the Future President." The BeloJo headline: "Recordings of Bush by old friend show confident man." Which headline do you think reflects most accurately the entire story and which contains the most spin? Oh, that conservatively biased press.

JOCKULAR (?)

Eccentricity easily come to many in the British Isles, but P&J believe it has gone over the line into plain old bad taste in the hands of the English Golf Union.

As the famed satirical rag Private Eye reports: "The English Golf Union is organising an ‘Asian Tsunami Day’ and the St. Mellion International golf and country club has urged all its members to participate. ‘Because of the nature of the appeal,’ it notes, ‘where so many have died and so many others have lost so much, in the spirit of deprivation which they are suffering, those taking part in the competition will be limited to four clubs and a putter." Wow. Bow-wow. That should certainly receive heartfelt appreciation in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and Thailand.

On another less offensive front, the English Ladies Golf Union has announced that transsexual golfers will be allowed to play in the Women’s British Open. This open-minded decision follows on the Ladies European Tour, which last year which allowed Mianne Bagger, a transsexual, to join their competition.

Naturally, the American Ladies Professional Golf Association is against such freethinking. Perhaps it has forgotten the success of the Dinah Shore Open tournament, which was one of the biggest lesbian sports festivals in the US for years. Or were they just female jockettes with a bit too much enthusiasm?

ROYAL FLUSH

Turn up the volume on "In the Navy" by the Village People!

The British Royal Navy (no doubt influenced by the English Ladies Golf Union) has decided to boost its recruitment programs for gays in the military. (Insert torpedo and submarine jokes here, please.)

Phillipe & Jorge can only believe this would bring a smile to the face of Winston Churchill, who once replied to a mention of the Royal Navy with the riposte, "All I know of the Royal Navy is rum, sodomy, and the lash."

Oh, Winnie, you big tease!

MUSIC WORTH YOUR WHILE

This Sunday, February 27, Otis Read, Cathy Clasper-Torch, and Phil Edmonds will be playing in concert at Mathewson St. Church, 134 Mathewson St., in downtown Providence at 3 p.m. Donations will be accepted to help build a health clinic in South Africa. These three stalwarts are always inspiring and fun.

Also, the explosive Kim Trusty will be doing a solo performance for the Providence Public Library for Black History Month on Monday, February 28 at 6:30 p.m. at the Smith Hill Branch.

. . . to ace BeloJo reporter Mark Arsenault, on the publication of his second novel, Speak Ill of the Living (Poisoned Pen Press). Last year, Mark’s first book, Spiked, was a finalist for the "Shamus" award for best first private eye novel (there were only three books nominated), a literary prize given by the Private Eye Writers of America. P&J found Spiked to be a great read, beautifully paced and exciting from beginning to end. We anxiously await Speak Ill of the Living. Unfortunately, we picked up Spiked at the late, lamented College Hill Bookstore and have yet to locate a local bookstore, independent or otherwise, carrying the novel. Note to all local bookstores: GET MARK’S BOOK! There are people who want to read it and not just P&J. And while we’re at it, BeloJo sports scribe Bill "Bunky" Reynolds has a new one too, Cousy: His Life, Career, and the Birth of Big-Time Basketball (Simon & Schuster). We’ll be picking up this one, too.

KUDOS AND CONGRATS . . .

a lesser degree, Jennifer Levitz), for the Urinal’s brilliant but disturbing coverage on the DEPCO delinquents. Again in the Biggest Little, one can see how being well-wired politically can allow you to literally get away with robbery. P&J were fortunate not to have lost — as many did — our life savings in the credit union fiasco-cum-scandal. This new information probably makes those who gravely suffered at the hands of these greedy low lives to take a bullwhip and beat the financial criminals to within an inch of their lives in Kennedy Plaza. It would be a well-deserved fate. (And hey, Dick MacAdams, our beaver-coated buddy from college days. What are you doing hanging out with James Procaccianti?)

. . . the mighty Karl Rove. It’s getting so you can’t tell the Bush spokespeople without a scorecard. Of course, there are the "official" ones, on salary to the White House, but also those moonlighting newspaper columnists, media pundits, and the clown with the press credentials and fake name. This set up has got Karl’s paw prints all over it. Battling the actual semi-independent (or is it co-dependent) White House press corps with a phony propaganda operation of one’s own, which disguises itself as the real press, is true genius. Even Joe Goebbels never got this creative, but, of course, he didn’t really have to.

. . . to Mayor Steve "Laugh At Me" Laffey, who’s been down in Mexico (on his own dime, it’s true) studying the porous borders between Latin America and Cranston to nip that immigration problem in the bud. Perhaps it’s a goodwill gesture, considering all the Mexican-Americans living and working in Cranston. Anyway, they’re still doing a lousy job of clearing the side streets of the city after the snow falls.

Send plows to Edgewood and Pulitzer-grade tips to p&j[a]phx.com.