Certain institutions formerly thought to be essential to a democratic order — elections and traditional press — have been bought out, corrupted and redeployed as mechanisms of distraction and control.

National elections are inevitably between two well heeled functionaries of the corporate hegemony.  These purchased politicos may pander to their constituencies during campaigns, but will never bite the hand that feeds them.

The political campaigns themselves, which grow longer and longer with each season, are a Punch and Judy show designed to divide audiences into impotent groups of cheerleaders for this or that cult of personality.

The various industrial complexes — military, security, media, energy, food, pharmaceuticals, prisons, etc. — may vie amongst themselves for privileged positions under this or that administration, but they share a common inhumanity and as a result jealously and jointly guard against all challenges to the political system they have come to dominate.

One can watch debates, read polls, study policy differences and vote — but wars, bank bailouts, home foreclosures, prison construction, outsourcing of jobs, dirty energy and militarization of the police will continue no matter which puppet wins.

So, again, fuck politics…

…and get involved.

This is week two of the WTFIRGO Foundation’s consciousness and fundraising project.

50% of the proceeds from the WTFIRGO limited edition shirts goes to different injustice fighting organizations each month.

This month’s beneficiary is Skid Row’s own Los Angeles Community Action Network, who organize locally around issues of poverty, racism, gentrification and homelessness.   Check out their site, their blog, their facebook, their twitter, the latest edition of their newspaper and the excellent book they just produced.

T-shirt available exclusively at Reserve Online.

Although a vibrant haven for art and culture today, Los Angeles in the 1950s lacked the cultural diversity it is now known for. The threat of the Cold War created a particularly hostile climate in America for experimental expression, while the Los Angeles County Museum shunned contemporary art altogether. In Los Angeles, abstract expressionism was not only ignored, but rejected by conservatives who saw the expressive works as ugly and meaningless while embodying communist undertones. The Los Angeles Board of Supervisors derailed numerous art fairs under the banner of “communist infiltration,” effectively creating copious hurdles that impeded the promotion of modern art in Los Angeles.

Dissatisfied with the lack of artistic expression in the city, it would be local art aficionado Walter Hopps who helped alter the perception of contemporary art in Los Angeles. “There were very few who were responding to the art I was interested in,” remembers Hopps. Enamored with the emergence of abstract expressionism, Hopps took to the art form, seeing opportunity in the lack of representation throughout the city. Eager to develop a true art scene in Los Angeles, Hopps began to combine the elements necessary for such an environment to exist.

Images gathered from the book Ferus, edited by the Gagosian Gallery.

Walter Hopps, photography William Klaxton 1960

The Birth of Sydnell Studio & Now Gallery

In 1954 Hopps sold his collection of stamps and war bonds to fund the creation of his own avant garde art gallery, Syndell Studio. Around the same time, an artist by the name of Ed Kienholz relocated to Los Angeles and formed his own gallery known as the Now Gallery. Kienholz’s eagerness to promote West Coast art matched that of Hopps, whose Syndell space was equally experimental at the time. Focused on promoting both San Francisco and Los Angeles based artists, both galleries provided outlets for up and coming artists to showcase their work. When the two came together to form the Ferus Gallery in 1957, the collaboration marked a seminal shift in the artistic landscape of Los Angeles. Located on La Cienega Boulevard, the gallery was the first of its kind to showcase both assemblage art and abstract expressionism in Los Angeles.

The Rise of the Ferus Gallery

Compelled to pursue his art full-time, Ed Kienholz left Ferus in 1958; his absence providing an opportunity for a new direction for the gallery. Hopps partnered with Irving Blum, whose high-class sensibilities complimented the do it yourself ethos of Hopps. Moving the gallery across the street, the Ferus Gallery became known for its unique approach in presenting art. Spare exhibitions provided artists the ability to showcase their work in the manner they envisioned. “It gave art that was difficult and advanced a kind of cachet,” recalls Walter Hopps’ first wife, Shirley. “[Ferus] made it look like the art mattered even if you couldn’t understand why on earth anyone would think that.”

Passionate about the art and the gallery, Walter Hopps took it upon himself to create a clientele. Hopps educated numerous friends and acquaintances on art, offering classes on various topics at UCLA. In the process, he turned his friends into young collectors. “Walter educated young couples like us at that time so that we would become collectors,” recalls art collector Betty Factor. “They didn’t have any patrons so he went out and educated people so that they would become patrons.” Artists such as Ed Kienholz, Craig Kauffman and Wallace Berman found a creative haven at Ferus; giving the gallery a unique identity that centered on their art. Holding twenty shows between 1957 and 1958, the gallery emerged as one of the preeminent locations for contemporary art in Los Angeles.

While the move across the street provided the gallery with a new space to exhibit art, it was Blum who would add an air of sophistication to the gallery, introducing it to a wealthy demographic of art patrons and collectors. “Irving gave it a bit of class,” remembers art collector Don Factor. “Wealthy people felt comfortable walking into that situation. Where as if it had been left up to Walter, it would’ve been full of students and beatniks. But somehow or another, between the two of them they got a cross-section of the most interesting people around L.A.”

Ferus, Warhol & The Rise of Pop Art

Starting in 1959, Walter Hopps and his partner Irving Blum began making regular trips to New York. Interested in the work of young New York artists, the duo frequented the city to observe the pulse of the art world on the East Coast. What they discovered there was pop art and a budding artist by the name of Andy Warhol.

Visiting the artist’s studio, it was Blum who was drawn to Warhol’s multiple paintings of an enlarged Campbell’s soup can. Eager to showcase the artist’s innovative work for his west coast patrons, Blum convinced Warhol to have his first exhibition at the Ferus Gallery. Although the exhibition received mixed reviews, Warhol’s presence at Ferus would change the complexion of the gallery forever. As the first East Coast artist to receive his own show at Ferus, Warhol’s exhibition opened the doors for more East Coast artists to showcase their work at the gallery.

Irving Blum for Ferus Gallery Advertisement 1963

Flourishing into the 1960’s, the Ferus Gallery continued to provide artists with a space to showcase their creative works, although the interests of both Walter and Blum began to diverge. In 1962, Hopps took on a role as Curator, and later Director of the Pasadena Art Museum. Giving away his part of the gallery’s shares, Hopps left the gallery in Irving’s hands.

Although the 1960s provided the Ferus Gallery with its greatest successes financially, in a sense, the magic of the galleries’ early years had past. In 1966 the Ferus Gallery closed its doors; however its role to the promotion of contemporary art in Los Angeles is indisputable to this day.

WTFIRGO

Our political and economic order is in crisis. Powerful corporate institutions have superseded democratic institutions in wealth and power, to the extent, for example, that nobody can reach high political office without corporate sponsorship. This puts private wealth and power in a position to dictate legislation to the legislators they sponsor, against the interests of the people they are supposed to represent.

The rich get richer, but the rest of us get buried in debt. Banks are bailed out, but families are threatened with foreclosure. Non-violent drug offenders are locked up for years, but financial and political elites are immune from prosecution for their crimes.

Merely recognizing these problems, however, does nothing to address them.

And since, despite cynical campaign rhetoric to the contrary, politicians in “both parties” are beholden to the same cluster of interests, voting for this or that corporate shill will never present any significant challenge to the system.

Establishment media’s portrayal of political campaigns as a years long horse race between fully housebroken elephants and jackasses is a distraction from the true arenas of struggle for social and economic justice.

Challenges to the status quo from within the system are safely defanged — third parties, for example, are blocked from power by way of ballot access rules, media blackouts and a winner take all system which promotes a timid “lesser of two evils” mentality.

Even the difference between these two relative evils are largely illusory — “conservative” administrations throw vast amounts of money into imperial wars while “liberal” administrations promote indefinite detention and the assassination of citizens without a hint of due process.

So fuck politics.

But to come to this conclusion is not necessarily to succumb to apathy. Recognizing the insanity of delegating one’s own political power to distant, compromised liars is at the same time to recognize one’s own responsibility.

That is why the World’s Got Problems blog is joining with Freshjive to create the WTFIRGO foundation, which will seek to bring attention to and raise money for organizations working to unfuck the world.

So starting February 8th, Freshjive will be releasing one new t-shirt graphic twice a month under the WTFIRGO label to correspond with a World’s Got Problems post. The tees will come in limited quantities and be available for purchase through the ReserveLA.net web store. 50% of the proceeds from these shirts will be donated to a different social or economic justice organization each month.

We decided to begin close to home, by raising money for an organization struggling for justice in some of the harshest conditions in the country.

Just blocks away from the Freshjive offices in downtown L.A. is the Central City East Community, better known “Skid Row”, home to one of the most heavily policed and dispossessed populations of the country.

For years the Los Angeles Community Action Network (LA CAN) has been organizing Skid Row locals in the struggle for social and economic justice. If anybody can teach us a thing about taking responsibility in the struggle, it is them — and maybe we can raise a few bucks for the cause.

T-shirt available exclusively at Reserve Online.

“It was Mike Miller who got me into photography. I met Mike around 1989 when I started Freshjive. Rap music was making a progressive step on the West Coast and the relatively few people that were really into that music and that scene in Los Angeles tended to know one another or frequent the same spots.

Mike Miller is effortlessly and sincerely the real deal, and I don’t throw those words around lightly. Besides the immense amount of influential work, his ease, confidence and personal ethos has been a major inspiration to me, and this video is an effort to pass that inspiration around the world like a big fat community blunt.”

-Rick Klotz

See Michael Miller’s work this weekend at the KNOWN GALLERY in Los Angeles.
http://knowngallery.com/exhibitions/current/

Loud, fast, irreverent and fun. Those words and many more characterize the essence of Rockabilly music in the 1950s. An amalgamation of rhythm & blues, western swing, boogie woogie and country, it is one of the earliest styles of rock n’ roll music. The term Rockabilly was born from the words “rock n’ roll” and “hillbilly.” Popularized by icons such as Elvis Presley and Carl Perkins, Rockabilly music was native to the Southern United States, although the genre gained widespread popularity throughout the 1950s. Controversial for its time, Rockabilly music unified various forms of musical genres, and in the process helped to redefine popular music in America.

Humble Beginnings

It happened by chance; a series of circumstances that led to the birth of Rockabilly music in America. It was the summer of 1953. Still unknown to the world, it was a young Elvis Presley who would walk through the doors of record executive Sam Phillips’ recording studio and alter the course of popular music. Elvis came with cash in hand to record a song onto acetate as a gift for his mother. Phillips wasn’t impressed with his singing, but the boy did leave a memorable impression on him. He got him back to the studio a year later when he thought he had found a ballad that would suit him well, but nothing came of it. He then called upon local guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black to jam with Elvis in the Sun Studios to see what they could come up with. The session was flat. Deciding to take a break, it was Elvis who began to mess around on his guitar improvising the old blues tunes, “That’s All Right Mama,” an upbeat tune originally cut by Arthur Grudup in 1946. Scotty and Bill joined in and began cutting it up alongside Elvis.

Within earshot of the group’s jovial sound, Phillips was drawn to it. “Sam was in the control room, and the door was open,” remembers Scotty Moore. “He came out and said, ‘What are ya’ll doing? That sounds pretty good.’ We said, ‘We don’t know,’ Phillips said, “Well, see if you can do it again the same way. Let’s put it on tape, see what it sounds like.”

It was in this relaxed, spontaneous environment of Sun Studios that Rockabilly music was born. Cutting a demo that night, Phillips brought the music to popular Memphis DJ, Dewey “Daddy-O” Phillips three days later. Spinning the improvised records on his locally famous Red, Hot & Blue radio show, the DJ was surprised when listeners instantly began to call in raving about the unknown performer. Over the next two hours, Dewey played Elvis’ tracks repeatedly as listeners were galvanized by this unknown performers’ sound, whom many assumed was an African American.

The Elvis Effect

Elvis Presley performed live for the first time alongside his new band mates on July 17, 1954. Although he developed a nervous tick on stage when he first started, it was clear that Elvis was a natural performer. With his unconventional attire matching his unique dance moves that many deemed lewd, he quickly became a polarizing figure in the South as he was wholly shunned or warmly embraced.

“Between the radio broadcasts and the weekday shows, Elvis’s rockabilly spread across the South,” remembers author Greil Marcus. “Along the way, he was outraging moralists, stoking fires of passion in young women, angering jealous teenaged boys, giving concerned parents ulcers, upsetting the country-music old guard, inspiring other would-be rock ‘n’ rollers, and changing music forever.” A lightning rod of creativity but also controversy, it would be Elvis who would first introduce the Rockabilly sound to the rest of the world.

A New Sound

Rockabilly music soon spread throughout the country. Under Sam Phillips’ watchful eye, Sun Records emerged as the epicenter of Rockabilly royalty. Finding their home at the studio, artists from Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins to Roy Orbison and Johnny Cash recorded numerous hits at Sun, making it the destination for rock ‘n’ roll’s new rebellious sound. Songs such as “Blue Suede Shoes,” and “Baby Let’s Play House,” established Sun’s relevance to the genre, albeit its small stature.

However, with a stable of superstar performers, Phillips was never able to financially manage their multiple careers. Eventually, each singer would find greener pastures amongst larger records labels, although many of their classics were created at Sun.

Although the popularity of Rockabilly music subsided into the 1960s, it was the major influence across the Atlantic in England’s emerging rock n’ rollers, making an impression on 4 young men who would soon be known as the Beatles. In America, the genre saw a revival in the late 1970s to early 1980s, where the style, music and culture of this early form of rock n’ roll was embraced by a new generation.

It’s been 4 years since Zachary “Kid Yamaka” Wohlman was brought to the Wildcard gym where his trainer Freddie Roach took him under his tutelage. Now he’s 2 and 0 and on the path to a promising career. Freddie waxes on about Zac’s talents in this debut video promotion.

New advances in technology and in financial services, including credit cards, spurred the rise of materialism throughout America. Mass-produced clothing became a popular choice. In many instances, conformity prevailed as conservative attire was embraced by both men and women. However, individuality was adopted by popular artists of the time who developed their own manner of style that deviated from the norms of the day. Icons of popular culture such as Elvis Presley and James Dean emerged as ambassadors of cool, embracing fresh styles that helped redefine fashion.

With the economy on the upswing, corporate America was rejuvenated in the 1950s. Corporate life ushered in new styles of dress and presentation that reflected the country’s conventional nature. In corporate America, clean cut and conservative business suits prevailed with the “gray flannel suit” emerging as a staple for businessmen across the country. As conformity was the order of the day, there was a uniform that went with it: a three-button, single-breasted, charcoal gray flannel suit with narrow shoulders, small notched lapels, flaps on the pockets and pleat less, tapering trousers. Each suit was accessorized by a white or pale blue cotton broadcloth shirt, with a button-down collar and button cuffs. Finally, the suit was complemented by a narrow tie with regimental stripes and small knots, with trim, black leather shoes that rose at the ankle and tapered at the toe. When stepping out on the town, narrow-brimmed hats were the standard, worn either with the brim up or down and sometimes with a pinched crown. The gray flannel suit was so influential that it inspired Sloan Wilson’s 1955 novel, Man in a Gray Flannel Suit, a story that captured America’s infatuation with business and materialism at the time.

According to journalist Richard Horn, the popularity of the gray flannel suit grew in correlation to corporate America’s need for anonymity and uniformity in the business place. Horn said: “The ideal gray flannel suiter was tall and trim. Dressed in his uniform, he stood out neither in a crowd nor at work. Nor was he meant to. In the 1950s, big corporations got even bigger employing more and more people and becoming more complex. These vast, impersonal enterprises had no need for individualistic men who would stick out of the crowd, sartorially or otherwise. They needed pawns they could move easily from one part of the country to another without having to think too hard about who that pawn was. The gray flannel suit provided just the right touch of anonymity.”

Style and The Birth of Youth Culture

While conformity dominated much of American life in the 1950’s, an unpredictable yet highly influential form of youth culture also emerged. Those born in the early 1940’s, at the beginning of World War II, were able to maintain their identity as “children” until the age of 18. Once 18, they were considered young adults, and were then expected to adopt the values and morals of society at large. However, for the first time, in the 1950s companies began to market music, movies and clothing to teenagers, acknowledging their identity and buying power as a growing segment of society. While many teenagers of the “Silent Generation” embraced the manufactured looks that mass-consumerism provided, it was a smaller population of teenagers who created a style of their own that mirrored their peers rather than their elders.

With the help of radio and television, the emergence of Rock & Roll culture created its own form of social dissonance. The music, with provocative lyrics and subject matter, galvanized conservatives who often saw the art form as lewd and distasteful. Rock & Roll singers and their music gave rise to a fashion all their own. Influenced by the fashion of black or “race” musicians of the time, the style of Elvis and other popular musicians strayed away from what was then considered appropriate. Slim fit jeans or pegged pants, tight fitting T-shirts and black leather motorcycle jackets typified the rocker look with standard oxfords or white buck shoes completing the outfit.

While singers such as Elvis, Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis introduced their own brand of rebellious fashion in the 1950s, it was the Hollywood production machine that would promote the standard attire for the youthful renegade. James Dean’s performance in Rebel Without a Cause catapulted the actor to a status of idolatry and icon hood while creating the archetype figure of the rebellious youth.

Playing the role of Jim Stark in the film, Dean donned slicked back hair, faded jeans and a tight white t-shirt. The look was complimented not by a standard black leather jacket, but a red windbreaker with a cigarette dangling from his mouth, the final accessory to complete his look.

Equally influential was the style of Johnny Strabler played by Marlon Brando in the 1953 film The Wild One. Brando’s biker look offered youth an alternative style that also split from traditional teenage garb.

Although popular clothing styles made the loudest statement during this time, hair styles in the 1950s gave men an alternative way to express their rebelliousness. Presley’s D.A. (duck’s ass) hairstyle became synonymous with the rocker style as well, with the hair combed back around the sides of the head and then parted. Similar in style to a pompadour, it was worn high on the top, and greased on the sides, with pronounced curls, fringes and rolls.

Throughout the 1950s, the image of the youthful rebel in America took on various appearances, although each style was unified by an innate rejection of the ideals of mainstream society. While conformity and consumerism characterized much of American culture in the 1950s, the emerging youth fashion of the era accentuated the countercultural movements of the time, creating new avenues of style and self-expression.

In a 4 round unanimous decision, All Class Wohlman wins his second professional fight. An exclusive photo essay of the fight can be seen on our Tumblr.

Notorious, controversial, irreverent and brilliant. These words along with many others describe the extraordinary character of Hunter S. Thompson. Considered one of the best writers of 20^th century America, he was respected for uniting his life and career in a way few have ever done before. Credited with creating a new form of documentation known as “Gonzo Journalism,” for many, Thompson’s most celebrated work came in 1971, when he published the drug induced autobiographical novel, Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas. An author, a storyteller and an icon, Hunter S. Thompson lives on as a hero of counter-culture America.

Early Adolescence

“In a nation of frightened dullards, there’s always a sorry shortage of outlaws, and those few who make the grade are always welcome.” – Hunter S. Thompson

Hunter was born the eldest son of Jack Robert Thompson and Virginia Ray Davidson. His father died when he was fourteen years old, leaving his mother, Virginia to raise her three sons. Embracing alcohol to find solace from her husband’s death, she supported the family albeit on a librarian’s salary.

A native of Louisville, Kentucky, Thompson excelled in sports and literature from a young age. Taking to baseball specifically, Hunter attended the Louisville Castlewood Athletic Club, although he never was on a sports team in high school. Naturally intelligent, it was the Athenaeum Literary Association that would introduce Thompson to the art of literature. The school-sponsored social club was mainly comprised of Louisville’s wealthy upper-class. Although Thompson’s family hardly fit the standard, he was accepted as a member in 1952.

Often finding fun in situations that placed him on the other side of the law, it was a typical night of mischief that served as a seminal experience of Hunter’s adolescence. Caught smoking cigarettes and drinking beer with his buddies, the young writer was arrested one night with his friends. However, for the wealthy kids whose families knew the judges, the consequences were slight, while Thompson was left to shoulder the full wrath of the court. Forced to remain in jail following his arrest, Hunter missed his own graduation, unable to walk because he was behind bars. In many ways the experience would mark a shift in the way Thompson viewed his place in society, his stint in jail serving as an unfortunate reminder that America was not always the land of the free.

A Writer is Born

“Essentially, inside Hunter was an agonized human being,” remembers his first wife Sondi Wright. “But he also felt like he had the potential to be a really great writer.” Using F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, to hone his skills, Thompson typed the entire book out repeatedly to learn the music and rhythm of Fitzgerald’s writing style. Identifying with Fitzgerald’s cynical depiction of the American Dream, Thompson’s own worldview was heavily influenced by his predecessor.

Writing everyday and getting paid close to one hundred dollars an article, Hunter was struggling to make ends meet when he was approached by Carey McWilliams, the editor of The Nation magazine. McWilliams offered Hunter the opportunity to write a story on the emerging outlaw biker phenomenon known as the Hell’s Angels. The writer jumped at the opportunity. Published in the May 1965 issue of The Nation, Hunter’s account of his experiences with the Angels jumpstarted his career, earning him numerous book offers while his unique approach to journalism naturally evolved.

“It was the beginning of Hunter developing his style,” remembers Thompson biographer Douglas Brinkley. “It is not gonzo, it’s not surreal, it is straight journalism, but it’s participatory.” Bursting on to the literary scene with his 1966 book, Hell’s Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gang, the work further established Thompson’s non-objective form of reporting, although his relationship with the Angel’s turned volatile after one unfortunate night at an Angel’s party. A choice remark to an Angel member who was beating his wife put Thompson at odds with members of the gang. Receiving an vicious “stomping” as a result, the incident would mark the end of Hunter’s year long relationship with the crew.

A Political Awakening

Gravitating to the cultural utopia of San Francisco, Hunter was drawn to the Bay Area following his time with the Angels. Amidst anti-war protests and copious drug use the writer found a temporary haven, publishing articles in a variety of popular magazines including Esquire and The New York Times. Equally passionate about politics, Thompson championed Robert Kennedy, supporting the politician until his untimely death. With press credentials from the Democratic National Committee, the writer used an advance check from Random House Publishing to take a trip to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago to write about the death of the American Dream.

Thrusting himself into the chaos that characterized 1968, Hunter traveled to Chicago at a time when the masses and the establishment were at odds. Following the assassinations of both Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, the nation was in turmoil as Chicago emerged as a hotbed of civil unrest. In attendance at the Convention, Thompson witnessed the city break into madness when civilians clashed with Chicago police, during what started as a legal rally. What transpired was a riot of epic proportions, leaving hundreds of police and civilians injured and wounded. Witnessing the events from his hotel room, the experience left a profound effect on Hunter that he would never forget.

“Years later, I still have trouble when I think about Chicago,” wrote Thompson. “That week at the Convention changed everything I’d ever taken for granted about this country and my place in it. I went from a state of Cold Shock on Monday, to Fear on Tuesday, then Rage, and finally Hysteria which lasted for nearly a month. Every time I tried to tell somebody what happened in Chicago I began crying, and it took me years to understand why.”

Angered and disheartened, Hunter’s experience in Chicago all but confirmed the death of the American Dream in his mind.  Although what transpired left him disillusioned, it also compelled him to pursue politics even further. Attracted to the politically conscious nature of Aspen Colorado, Thompson chose to run for Sheriff of Pitkin County on the “Freak Power” ticket. His platform called for an array of reforms that included the decriminalization of drugs and the banning of any building that obstructed the view of the mountains. Championed for his passionate yet irreverent approach to politics, the pseudo politician nearly won the election, losing to his opponent while earning 44% of the county’s votes.

Kentucky, Horses and The Birth of Gonzo

Sent on assignment to cover the Kentucky Derby for a short-lived magazine called Scanlan’s Monthly, Hunter, alongside friend and illustrator Ralph Steadman observed the Derby through Hunter’s drug focused lens. The resulting article, entitled The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved was the first of its kind, as Hunter utilized new techniques of reporting that would later be known as “Gonzo Journalism.” Characterized by a non-objective style of commentary, the piece provided Hunter a distinct style of journalism that also functioned as a personal narrative.

Utilizing the same form of journalism on assignment to cover the Mint 400 motorcycle race for Sports Illustrated, a by-chance trip to Las Vegas resulted in Hunter’s most acclaimed work to date. What started as a simple 250 word photo caption, quickly evolved into a 2,500-word manuscript that would later become Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. A harrowing tale of drugs and debauchery, the book dealt with the lure of the American Dream, becoming a cult classic, while providing an accurate yet sometimes surreal depiction of American counter-culture in the early 1970’s.

Writing extensively for the Rolling Stone Magazine, following the success of Fear and Loathing, Thompson used the same title to label his coverage of the 1972  Presidential campaigns. Backing the underdog, Senator George McGovern, Thompson utilized his same style of Gonzo journalism, combining his articles together for what would later be published as Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72.

Continuing to publish various books and articles later into his career, Thompson took on assignments that saw him publish engaging works on sex, drugs, media and politics, all the while maintaining his matter of fact prose that he became famous for. Celebrated to this day for his contributions to the art of journalism, Thompson took his own life in 2005 by a gunshot to the head. Unapologetic in his approach to writing and life, Hunter S. Thompson will be remembered for his relentless desire to live on his own terms. “If you’re going to be crazy,” Thompson once said,  “you have to get paid for it or else you’re going to be locked up.”

The Abuse It T, currently out in stores, was inspired by independent thinkers and drinkers like Hunter S. Thompson. Available at select retailers or online here.