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The Further Adventures of Ken Kesey →
A beautiful interview connducted by Rak Razam to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the passing of the legendary Ken Kesey on Nov 10, 2001,
Rak interviews Ken Babbs, one of the last Merry Pranksters, to chat about the life and impact of Kesey and his coterie on the counterculture of the 1960s–and the world.
Discover the origin of the Pranksters’ name and the first-hand account of their infamous 1964 journey across America in the day-glo bus ‘Further’, blazing the first wave of psychedelia behind them. Learn the only thing that ever slowed Neal Cassady down–and it’s not what you think!
From the Acid Tests to Goa and Global Trance Culture, the Pranksters’ legacy expands beyond the party to a deeper understanding of reality itself, to the idea of Group Mind–and how to play the Game.
Absorbed by history into the tapestry of American folk-lore, the story of these psychedelic pioneers has been recounted in the recent documentary Magic Trip by Magnolia Films. But here join master storyteller Ken Babbs as we learn why the psychedelic outlaws of yesteryear deserve to be remembered as the heroes of today.
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A wonderful interview with Ken Kesey and Jerry Garcia, around the time of release of The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test. Covers psychedelics, sex, culture. And the host actually has a sense of humour! Well worth a watch! :)
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“The Pranksters had what looked like about a million doses of the Angels’ favorite drug—beer—and LSD for all who wanted to try it. The beer made the Angels very happy and the LSD made them strangely peaceful and sometimes catatonic, in contrast to the Pranksters and other intellectuals around, who soared on the stuff …
The Angels were adding LSD to the already elaborate list of highs and lows they liked, beer, wine, marijuana, Benzedrine, Seconal, Amytal, Nembutal, Tuinal. Some of them had terrible bummers—bummer was the Angels’ term for a bad trip on a motorcycle and very quickly it became the hip world’s term for a bad trip on LSD. The only bad moment at Kesey’s came one day when an Angel went berserk during the first rush of the drug and tried to strangle his old lady on Kesey’s front steps. But he was too wasted at that point to really do much.”
—The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, 1968
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First Party At Ken Kesey’s With Hell’s Angels
“Cool black night thru redwoods
cars parked outside in shade
behind the gate, stars dim above
the ravine, a fire burning by the side
porch and a few tired souls hunched over
in black leather jackets. In the huge
wooden house, a yellow chandelier
at 3 A.M. the blast of loudspeakers
hi-fi Rolling Stones Ray Charles Beatles
Jumping Joe Jackson and twenty youths
dancing to the vibration thru the floor,
a little weed in the bathroom, girls in scarlet
tights, one muscular smooth skinned man
sweating dancing for hours, beer cans
bent littering the yard, a hanged man
sculpture dangling from a high creek branch,
children sleeping softly in their bedroom bunks.
And 4 police cars parked outside the painted
gate, red lights revolving in the leaves.”
Allan Ginsberg
