Posted on Feb 6, 2018
Hunter S. Thompson meets a Hell's Angel, 1967 | CBC
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In 1965, the editor of The Nation asked Hunter S. Thompson to write a story about the Hell's Angels Motorcycle Club, as they're officially known. The article quickly led to a book deal, and, the next year, the Gonzo journalist published Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs. Reviewing the book for The New York Times, Leo Litwak wrote:
Hunter Thompson entered this terra incognita [the world of the Hell's Angels] to become its cartographer. For almost a year, he accompanied the Hell's Angels on their rallies. He drank at their bars, exchanged home visits, recorded their brutalities, viewed their sexual caprices, became converted to their motorcycle mystique, and was so intrigued, as he puts it, that "I was no longer sure whether I was doing research on the Hell's Angels or being slowly absorbed by them." At the conclusion of his year's tenure the ambiguity of his position was ended when a group of Angels knocked him to the ground and stomped him...
Hunter Thompson has presented us with a close view of a world most of us would never dare encounter, yet one with which we should be familiar. He has brought on stage men who have lost all options and are not reconciled to the loss. They have great resources for violence which doesn't as yet have any effective focus. Thompson suggests that these few Angels are but the vanguard of a growing army of disappropriated, disaffiliated and desperate men. There's always the risk that somehow they may force the wrong options into being.
This clip, which aired on Canadian television in 1967, describes the circumstances that led up to the Angels giving HST a beat down. The misogyny that's on display will make you shudder.
http://www.openculture.com/2011/07/hunter_s_thompson_gets_confronted_by_the_hells_angels.html
Additional video footage :
https://youtu.be/0FOiHhR4GQc
https://youtu.be/mLaSSo18rzk
Hunter Thompson entered this terra incognita [the world of the Hell's Angels] to become its cartographer. For almost a year, he accompanied the Hell's Angels on their rallies. He drank at their bars, exchanged home visits, recorded their brutalities, viewed their sexual caprices, became converted to their motorcycle mystique, and was so intrigued, as he puts it, that "I was no longer sure whether I was doing research on the Hell's Angels or being slowly absorbed by them." At the conclusion of his year's tenure the ambiguity of his position was ended when a group of Angels knocked him to the ground and stomped him...
Hunter Thompson has presented us with a close view of a world most of us would never dare encounter, yet one with which we should be familiar. He has brought on stage men who have lost all options and are not reconciled to the loss. They have great resources for violence which doesn't as yet have any effective focus. Thompson suggests that these few Angels are but the vanguard of a growing army of disappropriated, disaffiliated and desperate men. There's always the risk that somehow they may force the wrong options into being.
This clip, which aired on Canadian television in 1967, describes the circumstances that led up to the Angels giving HST a beat down. The misogyny that's on display will make you shudder.
http://www.openculture.com/2011/07/hunter_s_thompson_gets_confronted_by_the_hells_angels.html
Additional video footage :
https://youtu.be/0FOiHhR4GQc
https://youtu.be/mLaSSo18rzk
Posted 6 y ago
Responses: 5
Posted 6 y ago
I'm a A.O.A. man myself. Not a member, but out of respect for my late wife's father who was head of the s.fl outlaws. Until he was murdered in his own club house by one of his own. They preach brotherhood and respect, and they wldnt know it if bit them in the ass.
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SPC Brett Curry
6 y
I don't claim anyone but me. Like I said, not a member, But out of all of the 1%er clubs I wld say that the aoa has adapted the best since the days of old. Its a long complicated story, and I'm sure my wife is on the long ride with her dad. And she was told he committed suicide. And they raised her. With respect. No pimpin out or passing around. Don't believe everything you read. And we road with um for a while. A lot of them were like a father to my wife. Until we found out that he was murdered. We did keep in touch with some of the old school father like figures.
I have hung around both. And I can say without a doubt that I wld rather hangout with a bunch of outlaws then Hells Angeles.
I have hung around both. And I can say without a doubt that I wld rather hangout with a bunch of outlaws then Hells Angeles.
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Posted 6 y ago
There's the 1%ers and the 99%ers difference is night and day thanks for sharing SGT John " Mac " McConnell
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Sgt Randy Wilber
6 y
When I say night and day I mean aa far as criminal organization and just guys getting together for fun and brotherhood but no criminal motives
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Posted 6 y ago
SGT John " Mac " McConnell Never Interested at All in the Biker Scene but like a lot of things. Parts of that Scene did seem to Find Me. I Hung Out in Hawaii with a Machinist Mate nicknamed Kansas and if I'm not seriously mistaken He was an "Associate" of the Hells Angels. Granny Sandy before she Married Papa Chip was the Inn Keeper at the Most Notorious Bikers Bar in Melbourne, FL. My Roomate at Sugar Grove, WV last time I checked was Head of Security for Harley Davidson. The Only thing with 2 Wheels and an Engine that I ever Drove was a Moped in Hawaii.
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