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taorock
Trad climber
Okanogan, WA
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Topic Author's Original Post - Feb 11, 2010 - 01:38am PT
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I loved his work from his classics to the little known works and Garage Sale too. Post up if you ever meet him or have a good Kesey story.
My one story is this: I was with my step sister/friend, going on a long walk which included going by Autzen stadium in Eugene, Oregon. My first time there, she a long time resident. The Greatful Dead were playing in the stadium (late 80's) so the parking lot was devoid of people. We heard the music as we get closer to the stadium. Then she saw Kesey, alone, leaning against a wall. She said, "lets go talk, I sorta know him". As we got closer, feminine intuition kicked in, and she whispered "not now, he's chillin". As we passed by he looked at us both and broke loose with a very broad grin. Loved it. So appropriate, especially at a Dead concert. Our walk continued onto Skinner Butte where I had a fine day bouldering around on columnar basalt.
As to Kesey, in addition to his earlier novels, I enjoyed both Sailor Song and his book of short stories called 'Demon Box'.
In Demon Box, 'Now We Know How Many Holes It Takes to Fill the Albert Hall' and 'The Demon Box: An Essay' are my favorites.
TR
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Reilly
Mountain climber
Monrovia, CA
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Feb 11, 2010 - 02:08am PT
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That's very tao! I doubt I could have resisted bothering him.
I walked by Autzen a few months ago and noted how special it felt.
Now I know why, in addition to Pre having touched the earth there.
Still one of my favorite lines though probably not letter perfect:
"Let's let a little daylight into the swamp!"
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Watusi
Social climber
Newport, OR
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Feb 11, 2010 - 02:20am PT
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"Get on the Bus!!"...What a guy!
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Tom
Big Wall climber
San Luis Obispo CA
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Feb 11, 2010 - 02:44am PT
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I think the best Kesey story is the Neal Cassady story. That guy drove the Cadillac in On The Road, and then drove the Prankster bus. He was the real, living link between the Beat and Hippie generations. Jack Kerouac called him Dean Moriarty, and later Cody Pomeray. Allen Ginsberg called him "cocksman and Adonis of Denver" in Howl. Hunter Thompson called him "the real-life inspiration for the protagonist in several recent novels" in Hell's Angels. Ken called him Houlihan in the obituary piece he published in Demon Box.
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Wayno
Big Wall climber
Seattle, WA
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Feb 11, 2010 - 02:48am PT
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All this talk kinda makes me wanna drop again. One more, just for old times sake. I wouldn't even know where to get a hit of clean these days.
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taorock
Trad climber
Okanogan, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 11, 2010 - 02:49am PT
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"Entropy," she whispered behind her hand, like a resistance fighter passing a vital secret under the very nose of the enemy, "is only a problem in a closed system." "What's more, a singing fisherman from Florence sounds better to me than a singed pig from Canada. How about you, Slick?"
Along with "You can't unscrew the inscrutable"
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survival
Big Wall climber
A Token of My Extreme
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Feb 11, 2010 - 03:08am PT
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I can't think of Ken Kesey right now.
That will make my head hurt too much.
Maybe later.
He was awesome.
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taorock
Trad climber
Okanogan, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 11, 2010 - 03:20am PT
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Sure nuff
tao
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jack herer
climber
veneta, or
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Feb 11, 2010 - 03:26am PT
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did you really just tell him to change that?
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Tom
Big Wall climber
San Luis Obispo CA
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Feb 11, 2010 - 03:31am PT
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I wouldn't even know where to get a hit of clean these days.
Nowhere, unless you make it yourself.
Street acid these days has worse odds than the lottery. Even twenty years ago, the sordidians were putting strychnine, MDMA and low-rent speed into their "LSD".
It's no longer safe to drop.
I don't partake, but cowshit mushrooms (after the rains) often come up as psilocybin. They're quite distinct, and easy to identify. And good luck eating strange mushrooms.
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taorock
Trad climber
Okanogan, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 11, 2010 - 03:33am PT
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"It was into this smoldering scene, right between these two forces about to clash, that John Lennon came, in a red Santa Claus suit and a silly white beard."
"'Awright, then,' he said, not loud but very clear, and reasonable, and unsmiling,that thin bespectacled face pale yet intensely bright, polished by more time spent beneath the blast of that high-voltage beam than any face I have ever seen, the thin hands coming out of the white fur cuffs to hold back the two sides of the room, like Moses holding the waters -- 'That's enough.'"
tao
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BillO
Boulder climber
Whittier, CA
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Feb 11, 2010 - 08:57am PT
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Ken was a awesome guy. A lot of fun to be around.
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Norwegian
Trad climber
Placerville, California
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Feb 11, 2010 - 09:08am PT
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astronauts of inner space.
what a crew, those pranksters.
anyone spend time within the further inquiry?
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drljefe
climber
Old Pueblo, AZ
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Feb 11, 2010 - 09:41am PT
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The bus came by
and I got on
that's when it all began.
Road trips
and paper strips.
NEVER trust a prankster.
Worthy thread!
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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Feb 11, 2010 - 10:00am PT
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Bump for the merry prankster!!!!
not so much for Nurse Ratched.
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drljefe
climber
Old Pueblo, AZ
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Feb 11, 2010 - 10:58am PT
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The "Sunstroke Serenaders" played one of their best shows ever on his farm in Veneta in 72.
I brushed shoulders with Kesey a few times, and definitely benefitted from his exhaustive research.
I'm eating yogurt right now.
Thanks KK.
RIP
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Gary
climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
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Feb 11, 2010 - 11:06am PT
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The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test is a favorite of mine. I read One Flew Under the Cuckoo's Nest after dropping a blotter of Mr. Natural. Tripping and reading the beginning where Chief is off on his own trip was...well.. trippy!
I used the same technique on Mr. Sax. That book made absolutely no sense until you dropped a hit of Windowpane. Then it flowed beautifully. Same with Tim Buckley.
No wonder my head's scrambled.
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Norwegian
Trad climber
Placerville, California
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Feb 11, 2010 - 11:07am PT
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its a wonder when whimsical wanderings lead into the realm of angels.
hobblie you "lean your words against each other so they don't fall down."
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taorock
Trad climber
Okanogan, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 11, 2010 - 11:07am PT
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Like climbers, I certainly have the sense that he was "of the people", the real deal. No poser there - engaged as he created new routes in literature and in the minds of those around him. Certainly, he knew how to run it out.
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