Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Iwasjokingaround,“Doyouthinktherehab'sgoingtoworkthistime?”But
inrealityIknewtheyweren'tgoingtolethiminthislate,andIdidn'tknowwhat
we were going to do.
So when we got to the door, Huncke asked me for five dollars, for tips. Even
when Huncke was in the hospital, he tipped everybody!
So Huncke walked through the clinic's door like royalty. He went up to some
African-American guy, knowing that this was the guy in charge. When Huncke
came inside, the guy smiled and said, “What's up, Pops!”
“I wanna go upstairs,” Huncke said, slapping a bill into the guy's hand.
“Here's a fiver.”
The black guy's looking at Huncke like, “No one tips to get into rehab!”
Butthedoorleadingupstairsopenedup,andHuncketurnedaroundandgave
me a wink, a smile, a thumb's up, and sure enough, they let him in! Huncke star-
ted walking up the stairs!
That was the last time I ever saw Herbert Huncke.
Around the end of his life, Herbert had really been questioning his talents.
There was a nurse who attended him, and she said one of the last things he asked
her was, “What do you think a writer is?” He said this to a nurse!
Gregory Corso actually came around, and he and Huncke would argue bit-
terly because they had ripped each other off sometime in the 1950s! Every time
they'd get together, they would bitch about that! But Corso finally figured out
that Huncke was a writer. And Corso was a total egomaniac, so for him to admit
that Huncke was a real writer was exceptional.
DAVID LAWTON
There's the great story about when Huncke was in the hospital, and he got some-
body to bring him some coke. He was very frail, but he climbed out of bed and
went off into the bathroom by himself. “Let
me
do it!” He was snorting away in
the bathroom, and all a sudden, you hear this loud crash coming from the bath-
room. And then you hear a gigantic fart, and hear him shout out,
“Yeah!!!”
The
coke had opened him right up. There's no doubt about it—Herbert Huncke died
in the saddle!
JAMES RASIN
Hunckewasveryhappythat,whenhewasdying,hewasaresidentattheChelsea
Hotel.
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