Sadly, Hunter S. Thompson, who carried the
beat romanticism of Jack Kerouac, the politi-
cal conviction of Allen Ginsberg and the acidic
skepticism of William S. Burroughs into the
world of popular journalism, died a Heming-
way-esque death in Colorado on Feb. 20, 2005.
While his death created shockwaves across
the literary world, his funeral created a big
laugh. It was Thompson’s dream, as shown in a
’78
documentary, to have his ashes shot from a
giant tower with a double-thumbed fist clench-
ing a peyote button. His friends, particularly
Johnny Depp, obliged. On August 20, 2005 –
before a crowd of nearly 300 invited guests in-
cluding Senator John Kerry and former Senator
McGovern; Ed Bradley and Charlie Rose from
60
Minutes; along with Depp, Jack Nicholson,
John Cusack, Benicio del Toro, Sean Penn and
Josh Harnett – Hunter S. Thompson’s ashes
were fired from a 153-foot tower to the tune of
Norman Greenbaum’s “Spirit in the Sky” and
Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man.”
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