The Hell's Angels from Hell

Alright well here I am again, this time in jewelry, but I already managed to get cut so I'm done with metallurgy for now.

Looks like I ought to blog about my latest nonfiction read...  Admittedly I didn't actually read it.  I mean I read most of it.  There's only so much reading you can do about an awful motorcycle gang that terrorizes most of California on the 4th of July.  I mean, really.

So if for some reason you don't know who Dr. Hunter S Thompson is, you can leave.
Because he's only the greatest journalist of all time.

Maybe instead you're familiar with gonzo journalism, which is basically getting baked/shitfaced and writing articles for the paper.

Or maybe, maybe, you've seen The Rum Diary, which is based on Dr. T's time spent in Puerto Rico working for the San Jose Star (or some newspaper).

In which case, I guess you can stay.

The book was basically about Dr. T's excursions spending time with the Hell's Angels (who are, in case you were unaware, a motorcycle gang).  Around the time the book was written, in the '60's, the gang was getting a lot of attention from various reporters, even filmmakers, about their ideas and lifestyle.
Here's a day in the life of a Hell's Angel for you:

• Get up.  (Or don't if you've been out all night.)
• Put on the 'colors.' The colors is the vest the gang wears with the enigma on it.
• Don't bother putting on other clothes because you're probably already in them.
• Don't shower.
• You can brush your teeth with a bottle of vodka or something.
• Optional: Clean or polish your motorcycle. But probably not, because it's already spotless.
• Go on a ride someplace with the other guys.
• Go to a bar.
• Get drunk.
• Go to another bar.
• Get more drunk.
• Maybe pick up some chicks (although a lot of the Hell's Angels had wives and kids).
  And if it's a holiday or a special renunion for the gang,
• Start out riding in the morning (so you can get there in time).
• Scare every single tourist/person on the highways.
• Get to the place you wanted to go.
• Get really drunk or baked, generally f*cked up, and rape people and terrorize the surroundings.
• The next day, go home.  Take no notice of anyone.

The Hell's Angels were fairly violent to the public eye, but throughout the book I couldn't help but notice how there were various elements of yellow journalism going on in the San Francisco Chronicle or the other papers that reported on them.  Thompson kind of became one of them and I think I'd rather take his word for their nature than some asswipe local journalist who knew nothing about them.

I feel a little guilty about saying this (well, not thaaaat guilty), but the Hell's Angels are not that bad.  Yes, they destroy towns and what not, and scare people, but honestly they're just a bunch of mixed up guys who love being Angels and love their motorcycles just about more than anything else.
And they're good people.

Alright, I'm going to hell for that one.

But really, they just really REALLY care about each other.  They're as loyal as you could imagine, and the only real reason why they would beat people up or get in fights is if someone picked a fight with them.
And they defend each other.  If one Angel's got a grudge, all of the Angels have a grudge.  If a person messes with one Angel, he messes with all the Angels.

(There's one of the rare pictures of Dr. T without a cigarette in his mouth.)

The way this book is written it seems like an appeal to the oblivious citizen that the Hell's Angels are not awful hellhounds that just want to kill everyone.  And it was fairly hard to get through, considering it feels like I'm reading a 200-page newspaper article.

BUHHH.  (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
But there were times when it went quickly.  But not usually.



The book certainly changed my views.  Maybe someday I'll come across the Hell's Angels when I live in San Francisco as a famous writer and I won't be afraid.

This book gets 13 out of 17 dangerous looking motorcyclists.