Literary Privateer

In which we hail a local celeb

---

So I went to go see a movie on the Lumiere's postage stamp-sized screen and, alighting from the 47, checked in at the 101 Bar on Van Ness avenue to see who was stabbing whom. First person I see is the man with the eye patch and the Basset hound, hunched over a big stack of papers, which he's marking up.

I said, "Always good to see you, Mr. Hinckle," and we shook hands, even though I'm sure he doesn't remember that we ever met before. (I've bought him several drinks at various bars around the city over the last 20-odd years, but then so have a lot of other people.) I asked after the dog and he said, "He's alright," and proceeded to feed the sad-sack-looking but happy pup bits of hot dog.

"He doesn't mind cold hot dogs," Hinckle growled, grinning.

"What are you working on?" I asked, pointing to the stack of papers. "Are those proofs?"

"Yeah... It's my book on Hunter S. Thompson," he replied. "They cut the hell out of it, of course... "

We will stay tuned for said tome.

The movie was "Harvard Beats Yale, 29-29," about the famed 1968 game. It's an excellent renter if you can stand to watch a football movie. (Actually, football documentaries are often better than the real games.) Several of the players were models for Gary Trudeau's "Doonesbury" cartoon characters, including B.D. The Hollywood actor, Tommy Lee Jones (No Country for Old Men, etc.), was on the team that year, and another one of the players dated Meryl Streep. (Must be kind of awkward now.)