GonzoFest 2025

EVENING:

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

5:40: Readings by Mark Lipman, US National Beat Poet Laureate 2024 to 2025, founder of the press Vagabond, winner of the 2015 Joe Hill Labor Poetry Award

6:00: Bookstore owner Chris Tidmore welcomes the audience

6:10: Lifetime US National Beat Poet Laureate Ron Whitehead delivers a 15-minute Keynote Address on The State of Gonzo

6:25: Romain Thomassin (French filmmaker) brings his 15-minute documentary on Hunter’s Favorite Spots in San Francisco – from France for an exclusive showing in the U.S. It was filmed for the very popular Arte TV. To make it, he visited Hunter’s favorite San Francisco spots, such as Hwy 1 and the Seal Rock Inn, and interviewed at length Peter Richardson, Margaret Harrell, and David Streitfeld on location in 2023.

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

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

8:20: Peter Richardson: “The Problem with Gonzo”

8:45: discussion

8:50: TBA

9:25: what’s coming Saturday

9:30 to 10:00: Live. The Zu Zu Ya Ya band. Book signings in the background

AFTERNOON

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

2:30 Music by Noel Mitchell, Tommy Twilight, Joe Kidd, and Sheila Burkes; poetry by Damien Rucci, Alex Ragsdale, Brendan Lorber

EVENING

5:00: Zu Zu Ya Ya – Live Music

5:35 :Maine Beat Poet Laureate Claire Conway

5:55: Ron Whitehead performs “Shooting Up Poetry in New Orleans” – backed by the band

6:05: pause to set up stage

6:10 : “The Road to Hunter,” a film thought lost

6:45: Pia Hinckle, “Ramparts” editor Warren Hinckle’s daughter, gives a Work in Progress reading from her book: “Sorry for Fu#k You: A Father-Daughter Memoir of Drink, Ink & Catholicism”

7:00: “Stories from the Daughters of Gonzo” – a PANEL, with Pia and Hillary Hinckle (Warren’s daughters), Claire Clancy (daughter of one of Hunter’s oldest friends, his lawyer John Clancy), Holly Krassner Dawson (daughter of “The Realist” founder, Paul Krassner), and Carlotta Acosta (Oscar Zeta Acosta’s niece) – moderated by Christopher Tidmore

7:55: pause to get everyone off the stage

8:00 : Round Table discussion led by Kent Fielding – on his new book of essays on “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” drawing on the expertise of the 15 contributors. Panelists are Victoria Elmwood, T. R. Johnson, Kurt Hemmer, and Ron Whitehead.

8:55: Pause to get everyone off the stage

9:00: Dr. John Brick: “A Walking Tour of Lost Resonances in ‘Vegas’ “

9:30: Zu Zu Ya Ya. Book signing in the background

10:00: end of the events on Saturday

MORNING

AFTERNOON

2:30: Music, 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 Charles Morton introduces a readers’ theater performance of his play “Brown Buffalo,” about Oscar Zeta Acosta, which follows.

5:15: A 15-minute discussion of the play.

5:30: Music and poetry: Poets: Tommy Bays, Dreamie, Chris Dean, and Michael E. Duckwall

EVENING

6:30 p.m. to 10:00

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

7:30: Claire Clancy,, John Clancy’s daughter, reads a Medicine Journey story by her sister, Katie, who knew Hunter well.

7:40: A short video tribute of reminiscences by Timothy Ferris (scientist and longtime close friend of Hunter)

7:50: New Orleans poets Carolyn Hembree and Andy Young

8:20: TBA

8:50: David Amram and friends – “The four New Orleans musicians – give a rousing performance, beginning with Ron Whitehead performing “The Sound and Meaning of Words.” This closes out the finale

9:45: Tim Denevi reflects on the New Orleans festival and closes out the show