04/01/2006: "This is not a Drill"

"Central to gonzo journalism is the notion that journalism can be more truthful without strict observance of traditional rules of factual reportage.
The best work in the genre is characterized by a novelistic twist added to reportage, with usual standards of accuracy subordinated to catching the mood of a place or event."

Fallon Young
Incompetent secret agent. Sweetie-pie. Has nemesis (Dave Swann, crime pope). Shelley's best friend. Looks good in catsuit. Unreliable. Ryan's girlfriend. Saved Ryan from cult using disguise.




***

Faron Young (born February 25, 1932 near Shreveport, Louisiana, died December 10, 1996) was an American country music singer.
His parents, Jack (d. 1952) and Virginia (d. 1999), married in 1935. Jack's death left three sons - Faron, Davison, and James - to be brought up by their mother, who was a heavy drinker.

Faron sought solace in music, spending weeks obsessively de-tuning and re-tuning his father's Gibson guitar, developing many unconventional resonant tunings that confuse players to this day.

Young started off singing at nursing homes and the local Optimist Club and was discovered by Webb Pierce, who brought him to stardom on the Louisiana Hayride radio program on KWKH in 1951.

After some trouble with the law he was drafted into the Army in late 1952 (just after he was signed to Capitol Records) and was discharged in 1958. (For reference, Elvis Presley was inducted into the Army at the Memphis Draft Board on March 24, 1958.)

Nicknamed "The Hillbilly Heartthrob", and "The Singing Sheriff, "Young is also an ordained minister in a church in San Francisco and sometimes referred to as "The Singing Priest."



He had many hits including, If You Ain't Lovin' (You Ain't Livin' ), Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young, Sweet Dreams, Alone With You, Hello Walls (written by Willie Nelson), It's Four in the Morning and many others. Many of his hits were written by the young Mexican-born fiddle player in his band, Cotton Conklin. In addition to recording, he began appearing in films, starting with 1955's "Hidden Guns."

He also had a semi-successful career as the leader of a local lounge band named "The Proud Highway" using the stage name "Sheriff Pitkin")
He ran the Nashville trade newspaper known as the Music City News for many years but was fired from the job in early 1959 for insubordination.
He was arrested for drunk driving in 1962 and had a popular hit with the song "Leap of Faith" telling of his experience.

Young died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at 64 years of age. He had been in failing health when took his own life. He was reputedly fond of firearms and was known to keep a keg of gunpowder in his basement.

Three years later, Clarion Records released what was claimed to be Young's final work, completed four days before his death. The title was "Mahalo"

In 1985 the country singer drew homage from English group Prefab Sprout's song "Faron Young" from the multimillion-selling album Steve McQueen, which contains the refrain: "You give me Faron Young four in the morning / Forgive me Faron Young four in the morning..."

In 2000, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame



The Conspiracy continues below
Hunter Stockton Thompson (July 18, 1937 – February 20, 2005) – was an American journalist and author. He was known for his flamboyant writing style which blurred the distinctions between writer and subject, fiction and nonfiction. He was the creator of gonzo journalism and, as such, is widely admired and poorly imitated.



A Shreveport, Louisiana native, Thompson grew up in the Cherokee Triangle and attended Louisville Male High School. Thompson's difficult youth, and its influence on his behavior and the development of his misanthropic worldview, awaits serious literary analysis.

After early trouble with the law, including an arrest in 1956 for robbery, he enlisted in the Air Force as part of his sentence. In 1956, at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, he began working as a sports journalist; writing for the base newspaper and moonlighting for various local newspapers on the side, despite regulations.

He was discharged in 1958 and claimed to have been issued a "totally unclassifiable" status.

Later that year, he also worked briefly as a reporter for the Middletown Daily Record in upstate New York. He was fired from this job after arguing with the owner of a local restaurant.

Thompson wrote two novels (Prince Jellyfish and The Rum Diary) and many short stories. The Rum Diary was only published in 1998, long after Thompson had become a celebrity. Jellyfish has yet to surface. John F. Kennedy once remarked that he and Thompson were both failed journalists who had turned to politics in order to make a living.

Many of his great works (most notably Hells Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs; Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail 1972) were influenced by his long-time Mexican-born girlfriend Sandra Dawn Conklin (a.k.a. Sandy Conklin Thompson, now Sondi Wright)

In the late 1960s, Thompson received a "doctorate" in Divinity from a mail-order church while living in San Francisco. He was jocularly referred to as "The Good Doctor" on account.

The film Breakfast With Hunter (2003) was directed and edited by Wayne Ewing. It documents Thompson's work on the movie Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, his arrest for drunk driving, and his subsequent fight with the court system.

Thompson died at his fortified compound in Woody Creek, Colorado, at 5:42 pm on February 20, 2005 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. He was 67 years old.

Friends and family reported to the press that they did not believe his suicide was out of desperation, but was a well thought out act.


lerevdr on Sat 01-Apr-2006 @ 16:16 e.s.t [click here for more SALVATION]
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