We're all influenced along the way in life by people.  Barnaby Black has always been influenced, not only by nature (obvi), but by writers, poets, artist, musicians and creative minds.  Inspiration hasn't always been straight forward, but in the way words meander on a page or Bad Brains gets the blood flowing, gets your legs moving, gets your ATTITUDE awakened.

When I first discovered Hunter S. Thompson in college I noticed an axis shift for me.  Truth be told, it was the drugs and boozy adventures, the insanity that his life seemed to actually be, the vehement pursuit of truth through journalism and writing.  As I grew up and wisdom found me more and more, that changed.  I realized it wasn't the man himself that i was attracted to (in a way definitely but there was more).  I lacked confidence.  The way Hunter was himself, no compromising in that, the way he let the "freak flag" fly high and always, was what gave me some confidence.  I took that from his writing.  That was the influence I had at that tie in my life.  There were others like John Waters who showed me through his unflinching movie catalog that, no matter what, just be who you want to be.  Never not be weird.  Never not be creative in your own individual pursuit in this existence.  That gets lost sometimes in the whole mess.  When you lack confidence you sometimes veer off the rail of your own persona.  Now I see Hunter S. Thompson, not as a journalist or a writer or a personality unlike any other, but as a human who was flawed.  The drugs and alcohol weren't "cool" to me anymore.  What's cool is his legacy or creating something from nothing and the continued impact his work has on the world.  He changed something.  Invented something.  We use to call those "movements".  In the art world we had Renaissance, Impressionism,  Surrealism, Abstract.  In music we had Classical, Romantic, Modern, Post Modern and within that we smaller, jaunts like grunge and punk and hardcore.  The world needs more movements.  Creative ones.  Hunter was on top of the political movements.  His words resonated with to move.  Stand up for whats right, for who I was and for what i wanted to create in this world.

I don't hide the weight of his inspiration on myself.  Mescalito, a fragrance I created (one of the best sellers), was the title of a short, Gonzo story he wrote.  I thinks it's important to pay homage to the people who inspired you, but more so I think it's imperative to preserve the art and writing of guys like Hunter S. Thompson because there will never be another Hunter S. Thompson.  Those words are the world's now, and they deserve to live on, as do all writers words.  More and more, we are losing the humanities and the arts to a fast paced, out of control and on fire, roller coaster ride into the future.  People don't read let alone write anymore.  Knowledge has been replaced by doom scrolling, little, bits of fast information built to numb you and hypnotize you. 

Barnaby Black is my weapon against that very thing.  It is my creativity.  It is my way of making something more beautiful.  It is my confidence and in a small way I owe it to Hunter for his work.