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SMOKESTACK EL ROPO'S BEDSIDE READER
Page added Jun-14-99
Last updated Spring 2003
Ah! I have so much to say about this 1972 anthology from RS's Straight Arrow Books. First of all, I bought this paperback version for $6 from Powell's Books. In mighty fine shape too. I decided to chase this book down after realizing that HST was in it (naturally). A fine little volume, it is split into six sections, each beginning with a fable by Smokestack El Ropo (argh, forget who he was - I think it was Ken Kesey, but not sure). Basically, you won't ever see RS putting out a book like this ever again. It's a collection of stories from the magazine that spans the whole topic of drugs - cultivation, busts, GI use, history. My favourite section is one about cheap thrills, such as playing "Bad Moon Rising" on a 12 button phone. I thought the idea of putting a glass pie plate full of water on top of a lamp and watching the reflection on the ceiing was pretty neat, but I doubt that I will be burning a toilet paper tube in the dark or setting a ping pong ball on fire anytime soon.
HST has two parts in this volume - sections from FLLV and "Chitty and the BooHoo" from Campaign Trail.
I hope to find another copy of this book, preferably in better shape. The previous owner left dirt from his/her thumbs down the middle of the pages, and the binding is a wee bit worn. A rare volume of writing from when RS was about the writers and not the stars they wrote about.
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