The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test Part 21

"WE BLEW IT!".

". . . but there's more in store .. ."

"WE BLEW IT!".

"... if we can get rid of these trading stamps that get in the way of the merchandise ..."

"WE BLEW IT!".

"... Ten million times or more! ..."

"WE BLEW IT!".

"... it was perfect, so what do you do? ..."

"WE BLEW IT!".

". . . perfect! . . ."

"WE BLEW IT!".

Epilogue.

THREE WEEKS LATER, NOVEMBER 30, KESEY WENT ON TRIAL IN San Francisco for possession of marijuana-the bust on the rooftop. It ended with a hung jury, split 8 to 4 against him. Kesey's retrial, in April, ended with another hung jury, 11 to 1 against him this time. Rather than try him again, however, the state let him plead nolo contendere to a lesser charge, "knowingly being in a place where marijuana was kept." He got 90 days. In May he lost in his appeal of the original San Mateo County conviction for possession of marijuana-the La Honda bust. The sentence was six months on a county work farm, a $1,500 fine and three years' probation. He was allowed to serve the other sentence, the 90 days, concurrently.

Before he started serving time, Kesey took the bus and headed for his home town, Springfield, Oregon, with just Faye and the kids and Ram Rod on board. The Pranksters pretty much scattered. George Walker and Ca.s.sady were off in Mexico. Mountain Girl, with her baby, Suns.h.i.+ne, had already joined the Grateful Dead's group. Black Maria and Paul Foster went to the Hog Farm, Hugh Romney's commune near Los Angeles. Babbs and Gretch went to San Francisco. So did the Hermit...

In June, Kesey began his stretch on the work farm, which was just a few miles from his old place in La Honda. He worked in the tailor shop. He was let out last November, after serving five months. He went back to Oregon, and he and Faye set up house in a shed on his brother Chuck's farm, up a gravel road south of Springfield. The shed was called the s.p.a.ce Heater House, after a gas heater inside that gave off a jet flame when it lit up.

In February, Neal Ca.s.sady's body was found beside a railroad tract outside the town of San Miguel de Allende, in Mexico. Some local Americans said he had been going at top speed for two weeks and had headed off down the railroad track one night and his heart just gave out. Others said he had been despondent, and felt that he was growing old, and had been on a long downer and had made the mistake of drinking alcohol on top of barbiturates. His body was cremated.

In the spring, various Pranksters. . . Babbs and Gretch, George Walker, Mike Hagen, Ha.s.sler, Black Maria ... began finding their way to Oregon from time to time. Kesey was writing again, working on a novel. The bus was there, parked beside the s.p.a.ce Heater House.

Author's Note

A NOTE ON THE WRITING OF THIS BOOK ... I HAVE TRIED NOT ONLY TO tell what the Pranksters did but to re-create the mental atmosphere or subjective reality of it. I don't think their adventure can be understood without that. All the events, details and dialogue I have recorded are either what I saw and heard myself or were told to me by people who were there themselves or were recorded on tapes or film or in writing. I was fortunate to get the help of many unusually talented and articulate people; most notably, Ken Kesey himself. The Pranksters recorded much of their own history in the Prankster Archives in the form of tapes, diaries, letters, photographs and the 40-hour movie of the bus trip. Kesey was also generous enough to allow me to draw from his letters to Larry McMurtry in the chapters on his flight to Mexico. Much of the dialogue and italicized material in Chapters XXI and XXIII is quoted from these letters.

For all the Pranksters, as I have tried to show, the events described in this book were both a group adventure and a personal exploration. Many achieved great insight on both levels. I can think back especially to my talks with Mountain Girl, Ha.s.sler, Black Maria, Stewart Brand, Ken Babbs, Page Browning, Mike Hagen, Doris Delay, Hugh Romney, Zonker, George Walker, and Neal Ca.s.sady. Sandy Lehmann-Haupt told me about his Prankster days in especially full and penetrating detail.

There were several excellent writers, in addition to Kesey, who were involved in the Prankster saga. Playwright Norman Hartweg recounted his experiences for me in a series of tapes. Ed McClanahan provided me with information about several phases of the Prankster adventure, and Robert Stone told me a great deal about Kesey's fugitive days in Mexico.

Hunter Thompson made available to me several tapes he had made while working on his book. h.e.l.l's Angels, and parts of the book it self dealing with the Pranksters and the Angels were also helpful.

I was also fortunate to find people like Clair Brush, who wrote for me a 3,000-word description of her experience at the Watts Acid Test, much of which I quote in describing the Test. Of the many other people I talked to or corresponded with, I particularly want to mention Vic Lovell, Paul Sawyer, Paul Kra.s.sner, Pat Hallinan, Brian Rohan, Paul Robertson, Jerry Garcia, Gary Goldhill, Michael Bowen, Anne Severson, Paul Hawken, Bill Tara, Michael Laton, Jack the Fluke, Bill Graham, John Bartholomew Tucker, Roger Grimsby, Marshall Efron, Robin White, Larry McMurtry, Larry Schiller, Donovan Bess, Carl Lehmann-Haupt, and Mr. and Mrs. Fred Kesey.

About the Author

TOM WOLFE is the author of a dozen books, among them such contemporary cla.s.sics as The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, The Right Stuff, The Bonfire of the Vanities, and A Man in Full. A native of Richmond, Virginia, he earned his B.A. at Was.h.i.+ngton and Lee University and a Ph.D. in American studies at Yale. He lives in New York City.