About, read first, 11-24-08
Okay, welcome to Gonzorider.com. The history of Gonzo Journalism is kind of brief, Hunter Thompson pioneered the Gonzo style. Stream of conscious, rabid impulses, truth beyond fact, color instead of black and white. I read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas in the early 70s and it has affected my life ever since. So it is no surprise my style of writing has been compared to Thompson’s, only he was very smart, and my style is a lot more trailer park wisdom. I’m not copying Thompson, but he has been a huge influence, that I do not deny.
Okay, so emulating the great Thompson does not make it easy to get published in the motorcycle press, and I was getting no where except writing little race reports for Cycle News, but it was facts and figures, and very difficult for me to write.
Then, in 94 I rode the International Six Day Enduro in Tulsa Oklahoma. It was a grueling event and almost killed me, I got dead last and got the worst bruise any one has ever seen. So after the event, I was limping around the pits and happened to meet Paul Clipper, the Editor in Chief/Owner/Janitor for Trail Rider Magazine. I suggested I write something funny for his magazine. He said, “Yea, sure.” Like he gets dozens of requests from writers every week, “Yea, sure.”
So I did write a story and Paul printed it and I was on the map, I submitted a second story, then a third and I have called Trail Rider home for the past 13 years.
Trail Rider is a family magazine and I am not allowed to use certain words or the arrangement of other certain words. Well here at Gonzo, I’m going to pull out the stop and use some four letter words, so mothers be warned! I won’t go smut, but I will use words not available in the print version of Trail Rider. Don’t get your panty’s in a twist, your son hears lots worse words when he hangs around the camp fire when trail riding with his dad. Besides, I was just looking over the stall wall, and the web site next door has all the words and pictures to explain them, so don’t worry about us corrupting your children, they hear worse in school every day, but I must use some foul language to explain exactly what I’m trying to say.
The next order of business is: I know I had a hard time getting published and I am eternially grateful to Trail Rider for giving me a break. So I want to pass on the same kindness. If you are an inspiring writer and have a story to tell, send it to me. If it is funny and entertaining I will publish it here on Gonzo. No, I’m not going to pay you, but I have never written for money. I write for craft, I write to communicate, I write because it’s what I do. Send your articles to me at trailridercharlie@yahoo.com
In the beginning, some of the content at Gonzo will have already been published in Trail Rider and to those who have already seen it, I apologize, but I enjoy reading old articles and my memory is so bad any more, I can’t remember stories I wrote, let alone read a couple of years ago. As time goes along, I’ll be posting new stories. I’m still submitting articles to Trail Rider and will as long as they will have me, so be sure to check out that great magazine, www.trailrider.com
Okay, I’ll make changes to this ABOUT colum as time goes along, just check the date in the heading and I’ll make the updates in a different color so they are easy for you to find with out rereading the old stuff.
Thanks for visiting, I’d love to hear from you, so enjoy and I’ll talk to you soon.
Charlie