Below is the story of my FIRST attempt to get this audio done.
Eventually, I had to try in North Carolina.
That didn’t work out either.
Finally, I reached all the way over to Portland, OR, and we were gold. The audio will be out this November for the 2024 Christmas sales!!!
Here’s a warning. If your book is complex, perhaps with multiple voices, go to an experienced professional. And even that might not work. Audio is tricky and demanding.
Ultimately, it was all for naught. Both of the first two attempts. Then I fumed in bed, and it came to me to surrender. Instantly I found the next morning an audio company that asked: Do you have a project that needs out-of-the-box thinking? And the rest is history. For my project, I had to go right to the top. But to go back and trace my initial misadventure, which was no fault of anyone – it was just a complex project – here goes.
I went down to Louisville, KY, one of my favorite places, for six days to haunt the sound studio of Bill Hardesty, who took the above photo of me at the Brown Hotel. Staying there is always a memorable experience. Ron Whitehead sat at my side almost the whole time as I read practically every word of the massive book myself. He read a small number of pages, always a treat A huge thanks to Ron, who set everything up. And to Bill for being fearless and generous.
A trailer, based on images taken at the Brown that weekend by a young whiz named Yunier Ramirez and images in the book is just finalized except for the credits at the end. Click the link for a sneak preview.
DESCRIPTION:
The Hell’s Angels Letters is a must-have text for any Hunter S. Thompson fan. Lavishly documented and illustrated with the actual correspondence that led to the publication of his breakthrough literary effort, Hell’s Angels, this coffee-table book literally shows how HST boot-strapped his way from an impoverished nobody journalist to growing legend.
Kyle K. Mann, Gonzo Today. Print available only at norfolkpress.com.
At last, with print book and the soon-to-be-released audio of the Norfolk Press print book The Hell’s Angels Letters: Hunter S. Thompson, Margaret Harrell and the Making of an American Classic, the public can go inside the experience of Hunter Thompson at Random House. This book, which focuses on his letters to his copy editor, Margaret Harrell (available nowhere else), is an important revelation in the legacy of Thompson. “If Hell’s Angels hadn’t happened I never would have been able to write Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas or anything else . . . I felt like I got through a door just as it was closing,” Hunter told Paris Review. Check out the $9.95 Amazon E-book and (soon to be released) full-295-page audio book (Amazon).
TRAILER credits:
PUBLISHER (print BOOK): Norfolk Press of San Francisco
E-book: Amazon.com
ART ILLUSTRATIONS & FRONT COVER: Grant Goodwine, https://grantgoodwine.bigcartel.com
LICENSE RIGHTS: Excerpts from Hunter S. Thompson Letters used by permission of The Wylie Agency LLC
and The Hunter S. Thompson Estate, with thanks to Juan Thompson, Hunter’s son, and George Tobia
at Burns & Levinson law firm.
HUNTER’S FACE in trailer: Alanbeckerphotographer.com
FUN FACT: see Outlaw Poet documentary on Ron Whitehead
