Brief Updates
Following Up on Three Recent Reports
Recently, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation announced that they were reopening the investigation into the somewhat mysterious death of Hunter S. Thompson at his home in Woody Creek on February 20, 2005. On January 23, the Bureau announced that Thompson’s death was unquestionably a suicide. Thompson’s widow requested the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Department’s original investigation be reopened. The Bureau found no evidence of foul play. My original post on this case can be read here. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, and the death was somewhat suspicious as Thompson died by a gunshot wound while a phone call with his wife was in progress. But Thompson was eccentric, and many writers die by suicide. If there really is no evidence to indicate homicide, this case should be considered closed (unlike countless others that are generally considered closed).
Bret Michaels has responded to reports that his monetary demands derailed a Poison tour proposed for this year. According to Michaels, the band decided to postpone the tour to 2027 in the summer of 2025 before the contract negotiation stage of discussions. He added that the band members had each others’ phone numbers for forty-five years and asked them to call him. Drummer Rikki Rockett stood by his initial statement that Michaels asked for what amounted to six dollars for every dollar he, C.C. DeVille, and Bobby Dall would be paid. He added that he sent text messages to Michaels, DeVille, and Dall and the response was “tumbleweeds”. Michaels says he hopes to tour with Poison next year, even suggesting a name: “40 Plus One”. Michaels asserts that all band members are friends. People has more details here. Blabbermouth has more details of Rockett’s response, including his confidence that Poison will tour next year, here. Compared to the puerile public bickering of so many successful cultural figures (especially in their genre), Michaels and Rockett are relative paragons of dignity and maturity. Perhaps it is their Pennsylvania heritage.
While no one has mentioned an obvious possible response to my post yesterday about California’s cost of living, mass exodus, etc., I will mention it. My current state of New Jersey has similar (if less extreme) policies that have considerably increased the cost of living there as well. It is also generally dominated by the Democratic Party, especially at the state level. Democratic governor Mikie Sherill was recently inaugurated. It is not far behind California in rankings of states with the most recent population loss, especially in the northern and urban parts of the states where the municipal and county governments are also dominated by more statist politicians. I reside in an urban, Democratic enclave of a mostly Republican county, Monmouth. In fact, the entire shore area (Monmouth, Ocean, Atlantic, and Cape May Counties) is majority Republican. There are issues in which I tend to agree more with Democrats, especially in the age of Trump, but Republicans, at least in New Jersey, are generally better on taxes, cost of living, etc. Ocean County, directly south of Monmouth, is significantly more Republican than Monmouth, and it is not a coincidence that it is significantly more affordable. New Jersey is at a significantly earlier stage of decline, it is still more of a two-party state (perhaps more than in recent years), and there is significantly more opposition to the entrenched status quo. These are reasons why the hemorrhage of people from the state is less severe. This will presumably be a long Sherill administration, and I will likely have more commentary on these issues in the weeks, months, and years to come.