GonzoFest 2025

EVENING:

5:00 MUSIC: by the Zu Zu Ya Ya band, https://www.zuzuyaya.com/

5:30: Readings by Jef Weddle, State of Alabama Beat Poet Laureate (2024 – 2026) and the author of more than a dozen books of poetry and prose. His Bohemian New Orleans: The Story of the Outside and Loujon Press won the 2007 Eudora Welty prize.

5:45: Readings by Mark Lipmann, US Beat Poet Laureate 2024 – 2025, founder of the press Vagabond, winner of the 2015 Joe Hill Labor Poetry award

6:05: Christopher Tidmore welcomes the audience

6:15: Ron Whitehead, Lifetime US National Beat Poet Laureate: Keynote Address on The State of Gonzo

6:25: Romain Thomassin (French filmmaker) shows–exclusively at the GonzoFest (otherwise restricted to Europe)–his “Hunter’s Favorite Spots in San Francisco” documentary, created for the highly popular “Inspiration: Invitation to Travel” TV series on the Arte channel in France. In the film are Hunter’s historic spots, such as Hwy 1 and the Seal Rock Inn. And short appearances by Peter Richardson, Margaret Harrell, and David Streitfeld on location in 2023.

6:50: Bill McKeen gives a Power Point presentation on Rock ‘n Roll (embedded music)

7:20: Music/Rock ‘n Roll panel: Bill McKeen, TR Johnson, David Amram – moderated by John Brick

8:20: Peter Richardson presents “Gonzo as ‘The Problem with Gonzo'”

9:00: Deborah Fuller–“Life at Owl Farm”–by her daughter, Kristine Ross

AFTERNOON

12:00 to 2:00: Christopher Tidmore leads a Walking Tour of Hunter S. Thompson’s favorite New Orleans spots

2:30 – 4:00: Kurt Hemmer leads a visit to William S. Burroughs’ former house across the river from New Orleans in Algiers. This is the residence Jack Kerouac visited, that later became part of the novel On the Road. At the house, people are invited to read brief passages from On the Road and from Hunter’s praise of Burroughs, which Kurt will provide. Meet in front of the Garden District Book Shop at 2:30 p.m.

EVENING

5:00: Brendan Lorber

5:15: Maine Beat Poet Laureate Claire Conroy

5:30: Zu Zu Ya Ya – Live Music

5:45: Ron Whitehead–“Shooting Up Poetry in New Orleans” –backed by the band

6:15: Ron Whitehead: “Shooting Up Poetry in New Orleans,” backed by Zu Zu Ya Ya

6:30: Kurt Hemmer, “The Living Theater, 1959,” a passage from The Poem Human: A Gregory Corso Biography by Hemmer

6:45: Pia Hinckle, gives a Work in Progress reading from her book: Sorry for Fu#k You: A Father-Daughter Memoir of Drink, Ink & Catholicism

7:00: “Panel: Stories from the Daughters of Gonzo” –Pia and Hillary Hinckle (Warren’s daughters), Claire Clancy (daughter of John Clancy), Holly Krassner Dawson (Paul Krassner’s daughter), and Carlotta Acosta (Oscar Zeta Acosta’s niece) – moderated by Christopher Tidmore

8:00 : Round Table discussion led by Kent Fielding–on the “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” essays, drawing on the expertise of the contributors. Participating are Victoria Elmwood, T. R. Johnson, Kurt Hemmer, and Ron Whitehead.

9:30 to 10:00: Zu Zu Ya Ya. Book signing in the background

8:00 a.m. – 9:00: Wyatt VanZuuk, Chris Byrd, Callia Fielding, Paige Turner, Tyler Frederick, Kent Fielding

9:00 – 10:00: Anthea Snow, Anja Kidd, Panganga

10:00 – 11:00: Willow Senjamin, Tom Murphy, Jessica Bryant, Frogg Corpse

11:00 – 12:00: Jimmy Broccoli, Elizabeth Nelson, Dan Denton, Damian Rucci, Alex Ragsdale

Noon: MUSIC: Joe Kidd with Shiela Burke

12:30 – 1:00: Tommy Twilight, Noel Mitchell

2:30: Music by Dreamie Daze, book signings

2:45: Grant Goodwine creates live Gonzo art on stage. People gather round; he typically lays it on the ground.

3:45: Playwright Carlos Morton introduces a readers’ theater performance of Brown Buffalo, about Oscar Zeta Acosta, which follows.

5:15: Discussion about the play

5:30 – 6:30: Music and poetry: Tommie Bays, Dreamie Daze, Michael E. Duckwell, and Chris Dean

EVENING

6:30: “Hunter on Campus,” a media presentation and Q & A by Curtis Robinson

7:45: Claire Clancy, Hunter’s friend John Clancy’s daughter, reads the Medicine Journey story by her sister, Katie Clancy

8:00: Close friend, scientist Timothy Ferris video tribute to Hunter

8:10: Clips from a work in progress about Warren Hinckle: A Film by George Csicsery

8:30: New Orleans poets: Michelle Antoinette Nicholson, Andy Young, and Carolyn Hembree

9:00: David Amram & Co. perform, beginning with Frank Messina and “The Sound and Meaning of Words” with Ron Whitehead.

10:00: Closing words by Chris Tidmore