I had an opportunity to see him speak in October 75 but the World Series Game # 7 was on and I watched that instead. from the account I read the next day that was exactly what HST was doing at the podium-watching the World Series and drinking .......
I saw him speak at NYU in May 94 at a symposium on the Beat generation. Naturally he was late and the moderator waited for him. When he showed up he was drunk (he said he'd been drinking at a bar a block away on 5th Ave). He immediately sat down and lit up a pipe and smoked. The moderator asked him to define "Gonzo Journalism" and he mumbled something about it being "a search for th truth." He then started talking about stopping in Kansas to see William Burroughs and bringing him a very powerful gun. Then he spoke about being in Greenwich Village in the late 50s and hanging with the Beats at the Cedar Tavern. Thiw was all done in his rambling, mumbling style. Unfortunately since I didn't have tix for this event I made an exit before the end of the symposium.
The Good Dr. didn't disappoint that day.
RIP>

I had the pleasure of being in the audience when Hunter debated Liddy at Brown...maybe it was in 90 or so. I had been to a debate between Liddy and Leary about 5 years before that, at Kean College, where my friend's father had arranged it as the head of the political science department. It had been a sparring match between the great philosopher and the embarrassing apologist. It was clear to me, that a "Sheriff John Brown" had been sent to kill a seed "before it grow." There was little doubt in my mind, entering Sayles Hall that day, that there could be nothing said by Liddy to make me waver in my agreement with everything I had read in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, in the interim. Hunter was clearly speaking to those of us who already loved him, because no one else would bother to strain their brain to understand either his words or his ideas. I turned out to be in the minority, but not alone. That day helped to galvanize those of us who realized we were fundamentally different than most. The intoxication made for a great show that did not detract from his ability to make a mental mouse out of Tim Leary's persecutor.