Johnny Depp arrives in Apsen for Hunter S. Thompson memorial service, March 5th

Johnny Depp arrived in Aspen Saturday, March 5th, to take part in the memorial gathering for his friend Dr. Hunter S. Thompson. Photographers snapped Johnny’s PHOTO as he and fellow actor John Cusack arrived at the Hotel Jerome. The Denver Post reports that the 150 invitees to the private evening ceremony in the ballroom of the historic hotel included only Hunter’s closest friends and family members, each of whom was asked to bring “a favorite photo or memento to help mark the occasion.” The ballroom was decorated with a giant American flag and an almost life-size black-and-white photo cutout of Thompson standing in front of it. In addition to Johnny and John Cusack, other friends of Hunter who made the trip to Aspen included Jack Nicholson; Sean Penn; Bill Murray; Benicio Del Toro; HST’s publisher at ROLLING STONE, Jann Wenner; and artist Ralph Steadman, whose distinctive cartoons illustrated many of Hunter’s works. Thanks to emma and DeepinDepp for posting the news; you can read the full story HERE. The Zone also thanks MadScntst and moo who posted photos of Johnny in Aspen on the Recent Pics forum.

As his part of the memorial to Hunter, Johnny read “the wave speech” from FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS–probably the single most famous piece of prose in all of Hunter’s works. Fans will remember that Johnny also read “the wave speech” at the Hunter S. Thompson tribute in Louisville, Kentucky in December 1996–the night Hunter arranged for Johnny to be proclaimed a Kentucky Colonel in the Kentucky Colonels Association. This passage, which Johnny calls “the most profound section” of FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS, describes and mourns the end of the 1960s, so it is a particularly fitting choice for Hunter’s memorial, which also marks the end of an era.

Only one reporter–Jeff Kass of the Rocky Mountain News–was permitted to attend the memorial gathering. You can read his account of the evening’s tributes HERE.

Comments are closed.