Merry Pranksters - Later Events

Later Events

In 1969, Further and the Pranksters (minus Kesey) made it to the Woodstock rock festival. The same year, they were also present at the Texas Pop Festival at Lewisville, Texas.

A collection by Kesey of short pieces, several about the Merry Pranksters, called Demon Box and released in 1986, was a critical success, although a subsequent novel, Sailor Song, was not, with critics complaining it was too spacey for comprehension. In 1994 Kesey toured with the Pranksters, performing a play he wrote about the millennium called Twister.

The Merry Pranksters filmed and audiotaped much of what they did during their bus trips. Some of this material has surfaced in documentaries, including the BBC's Dancing In the Street (1996). Some of the Pranksters have released some of the footage on their own, and a version of the film edited by Kesey himself is available through his son Zane's website. On August 14, 1997, Kesey appeared with the Merry Pranksters at a Phish concert during a performance of the song "Colonel Forbin's Ascent" from the album The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday. Kesey and the Pranksters also helped stage The Enit Festival held on November 22, 1997 with Jane's Addiction, Funky Tekno Tribe, Goldie, and Res Fest to round out the bill held at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium.

The original Prankster bus now rests at Kesey's farm in Oregon. The Smithsonian Institution sought to acquire the bus, which is no longer operable, but Kesey refused. True to form, Kesey attempted, unsuccessfully, to prank the venerable Smithsonian by passing off a phony bus.

Kesey died of complications due to liver cancer in November 2001. Ken Babbs attempts to keep the Prankster spirit alive through his Skypilot Club website, which is a spoof of 1950s comic book clubs and which encourages psychedelic ideals and "mind-expanding" experiences, particularly through immersion in the emotion of love.

On December 10, 2003 there was a memorial to Kesey with String Cheese Incident and with host Ken Babbs and various other old and new Pranksters. It was held at the McDonald Theatre in Eugene Oregon. The proceeds helped to raise money for the Ken Kesey Memorial sculpture designed by Peter Helzer. The bronze sculpture depicted a life-size Kesey reading to three children while seated on a curved granite bench covered with quotes from Kesey's novels Sometimes a Great Notion and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. (Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Brian Lanker supplied the image.) Other benefactors for the project include Bob Weir, Paul Newman (who starred in the film adaptation of Sometimes a Great Notion) and Michael Douglas (who produced the film version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest).

In 2005, Kesey's son Zane asked a friend, Matthew Rick, also known as Shady Backflash, to put on a 40th anniversary of his father's Acid Tests. Matthew got together a small group of promoters, including Rob Robinson from New York, to help him produce the event, which was held in Las Vegas on October 31, 2005. It was known as AT40. Rick and Kesey, along with Ken Babbs's son Simon, Jon Sebree, Dead On Randy, TK Bi-Polar Bear, Torrey, Mushroom, Lance and Nathan rode to Las Vegas on Furthur. Original Prankster George Walker was also on hand.

Another acid test, the Portland Pranksters' Ball, was held by Nick Haas, Christopher A. Buckbee, also known as Cosmic Chris(The Hippipimp), Zane Kesey and the Pranksters on September 27th to 29th, 2012 at the Bobwhite Theatre in Portland, Oregon as an after party for the band Furthur's shows at McMenamins Edgefield in Troutdale. with Cody's Wheel, The Real, Blue Lotus, Cats Under The Stars, Doc Ocular, Woodknot, Lost Creek Gang, Kokobola, Spongecake & The Fluff Ramblers, RevelleveR,The Normal Bean Band, Fireflyz, Quick & Easy Boys, Fire in the Rootz, Box Set Duo(w/Jeff Pehrson of Furthur), and Cast of Clowns(feat. Damian Erskine, Greg Anton of Zero, Jeff Pevar of Phil & Friends)