VL-IV (150 There Was A Weirdness Here, pages 340/343

[Robin Landseadel]

	There was a weirdness here that Hector recognized, like right
	before a big drug bust, yes, but even more like the weeks
	running up to the Bay of Pigs in '61. Was Reagan about to
	invade Nicaragua at last, getting the Home front all nailed
	down, ready to process folks by the tens of thousands into
	detention, arm local "Defense Forces," fire everybody in the
	Army and then deputize them in order to get around the Posse
	Comitatus Act? Copies of these contingency plans had been
	circulating all summer, it wasn't much of a secret. Hector knew
	the classic chill, the extra receptors up and humming, gathering
	in the signs, channels suddenly shutting down, traffic scrambled
	and jammed, phone trouble, faces in lobbies warning you that
	you don't know them. Could it be that some silly-ass national-
	emergency exercise was finally coming true? As if the Tube
	were suddenly to stop showing pictures and instead announce,
	"From now on, I'm watching you."

Echos of George Orwell & Hunter S. Thompson. Once again we get  
revelation instead of revelation withheld. Note that "Bay of Pigs is  
mentioned—a bit of pre-echo again. Hector & Frenesi are about to meet  
at Club La Habanera. And then, just as soon as we dodge martial law,  
we're back to Hector finagling with Sid & Ernie over the Movie "Deal."  
It's hard to imagine Pynchon having written this scene without having  
read Hunter S. Thompson first:

	Both men were nervous wrecks, covered with a sweat-like film
	of desperation to ingratiate themselves with the antidrug-
	hysteria leadership, suddenly perceived as the cutting edge of
	hip.

There's yet another joke  concerning getting 86'd:

	Ernie and Sid found themselves allowed back into places like
	the Polo Lounge, where right after Sid's bust he'd been if not
	86'd, then at least, say, 43 'd.

And this lovely little scene:

	Day after day skywriters billowed BLESS YOU ERNIE AND SID
	and DRUG FREE AMERICA in red, white, and blue over
	Sherman Oaks, though soon guerrilla elements were launching
	skyrockets charged to explode in the shape of a letter s and
	aimed at the space right after the word DRUG, changing the
	message some.

Drugs free America!

The upshot of the Sid & Ernie story  is that Hector somehow manages to  
get his insane plan to film Frenesi's story as an anti-drug film  
funded by these Hollywood hotshots. Only problem—Frenesi doesn't know  
anything about it.