Title: OBAMA HIT A HOME RUN! Source:
[None] URL Source:[None] Published:Jan 25, 2011 Author:just sayin Post Date:2011-01-25 21:35:45 by no gnu taxes Keywords:None Views:168498 Comments:239
Ain't watching that crap.
Just reporting beforehand what the MSM reaction will be.
"Those must have been some interesting parties. Those guys REALLY "thought out of the box"."
They were pretty crazy. Though the Pranksters and people around them were/are experienced with the foible and down side of infamy and fame and anyone that tries/tried to exploit or use them or a situation of socializing with them quickly found these seemingly unorganized iconoclasts and individualists would act in well oiled concert to do you in or fix your wagon good for thinking they were an easy target.
I know that though there was always the best LSD on the planet at a large gathering like this, they left the frying to the guests and others who were like moths fluttering around them like they were groovy black light or psychedelically painted bulbs.
The generally sat back and watched the strap hangers entertain themselves and things often looked on the verge of going out of control but never did as they were savvy on keeping a lip on things to the point it needed to be.
I know that Ken himself could always afford to be laid back, merry or detached as he wished. As it wasn't him who would take you out if you crossed the line. It was his wife who at her best could scare a pack of raging pit bulls to death she could get so intense.
For example, Hagan is from a rich cowboy/rancher family from Pendleton, OR in Eastern, OR and a raging drunk
Most of the biggest assholes and leftists in this country came from rich families. Hell,it was American leftists that financed the Russian Revolution that ended with Marx and Stalin.
Must be some kind of guilt thing that comes from having too much after too little effort.
"I adore John McCain, support him 100 percent and will do everything I can to support his reelection. As everyone knows, I was honored and proud to run with him. And Todd and I were with him in D.C. just a week ago." (Sarah Palin,Dec 2009) ************************************ DID Palin say or write these things or not? (Me) I don't know or F ing care. (Mad Dog posted on 2009-12-26 16:36:33 ET,post # 105 http://libertysflame.com/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=5510&Disp=114#C114)
I know that Ken himself could always afford to be laid back, merry or detached as he wished. As it wasn't him who would take you out if you crossed the line. It was his wife who at her best could scare a pack of raging pit bulls to death she could get so intense.
Didn't she haul his bus out of a pigpen a couple of years ago and sell it to somebody that wanted to restore it?
"I adore John McCain, support him 100 percent and will do everything I can to support his reelection. As everyone knows, I was honored and proud to run with him. And Todd and I were with him in D.C. just a week ago." (Sarah Palin,Dec 2009) ************************************ DID Palin say or write these things or not? (Me) I don't know or F ing care. (Mad Dog posted on 2009-12-26 16:36:33 ET,post # 105 http://libertysflame.com/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=5510&Disp=114#C114)
Mike Hagan is the gray haired man with the blue shirt standing second from the end of the line of Pranksters and usual suspects standing next to the new Further.
Ken had always resisted this sort of nonsense, he always contended the bus should rust away in place.
Here she is after we all got muddy as hell tug of war style pulling her out of her grave.
Her when she was alive.
The New bus, still a very important Eugene, OR Icon always around during certain events.
It matters not if a bus is dead; pull her out of her swamp and sooner or later someone will clean out her inner self, and move into her. Here is much what the inside of the old bus looks like these daze.
Thanks for the clarification. The only thing I was left unsure of is whether or not you are a U.S. citizen or Canadian.
Canadian citizen,......worked 2 decades + fabrication oil/gas sector. so ya,...Parrot knows the riddle of steel : )
I try* to participate on US political forums,....usually finding them a minefield of control and intimidation. History affords some reprieve,....that opens doors to meet others who might share about their family's experiences in historical events,....and sometimes you meet people who were in the exact area of discussion or knew one of your family members. After history,....my interests converge in the arena of Space science....in this case,....Electric Universe/Plasma cosmology and Celestial catastrophism ...aka Immanuel Velikovsky etc. My first forums mid 90's were Graham Hancock - Ancient Civilization and Amarna Group [heavy Egyptology - Authors,proffessors and novices getting beat up for making mistakes. Amarna E Group broke up with some becoming the Hall of MAAT MAAT and Hancock's site scrap....one see's itself as pure,..with Hancock as pseudo science. Hancocks site's message board has the same problems as many forums do with posters and their absolutism agenda's. In my previous post to you,....mentioned Norman Dodd and his discovery of the US Foundations from Carnegie 1908 forward,...their design to bring America into continual war to create change,....their plans to control Education and the Judiciary. Dodds discovery that the Foundations plan to merge the United States with Russia. Most of the time ,...be it LP or just about anywhere's,...this topic gets no traction. and ya,....most never both to go study the links provided and see the broader scope of whats been going on. At this point,....I look at a nations situation and say, Your being vaccined by socialism,communism and fascism,.....and its going to change you In a redux form,...its easy to understand what is going on, and as opined,....Obama is just another cutout from the Foundations and Bankers as the Bush Crime family was. Obama is unique inthat he is out of left field [pun]....where as,...the system is kinda beholding to the Bush crime family for its historic reach going back to Prescott Bush,Walkers,Harriman and all the Nazi banker history. All the US presidents since WW-2 have been cutouts. Clinton is Rhodes,Jesuit Georgetown, etc. They can bring their workers out from so many avenues....and spin that person via the media to appear the answer to the peoples request. Bush played the so called compassionate conservative christian,....[what a joke] I have no idea why Americans line up for the koolaid,...but they do. They seem to believe the next one in will right the wrongs and make something good for the people. when in fact,...its usually just foreign intervention,weapons sales,...wars,micro conflict and corporate expansions. America is being used,...its middle class gutted,...and who knows what else they itend. I'm a realist,.....these Elites and Bankers burned Europe down several times over since Napoleon.....anythings possible with this malthusian crowd.
Thanks for the sceed. I learned French when I was a preteen living in Quebec. I never learned German when I lived over there in years earlier then that.
But francophone/ French speaking youths my age always seemed to know how intimi-motivate an appreciation of their culture and language into you when many were larger and they outnumbers you. ;-)
I like Canada. The Last time I was up there was when I rode a bike cross country one summer.
Ken Kesey's original bus rises from the swamp Four decades ago, the late Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters rolled across the country as psychedelic shock troops in a brightly painted bus called Furthur. Recently some remaining Pranksters -- plus kids, companions, young acolytes and dogs -- met at Kesey's farm to help his son Zane make Furthur roll again.
The Pranksters were lysergicized proselytizers, the transition from the Beats to the hippies, a rainbow-hued crew seeking to wake America from two decades of self-satisfied slumber. They were harbingers of a tectonic shift in American culture -- a shift that doubled back on them in the early 1970s, submerging the subculture once again.
Furthur is one of the enduring symbols of that time. But it was road-weary and 50 years old when Kesey towed it to oaky, bottomland at his farm near Eugene. He built a replica from a newer bus as the original languished in the swamp, and Kesey, who died four years ago following liver surgery, stoutly resisted all suggestions to move it.
That's why the most recent journey on a late October day was more significant -- heavier, even -- than its distance might imply: Zane Kesey and crew towed the bus just a couple hundred yards from the swamp to a flat spot up by the barn.
Short as it was, it was a journey that many of the Pranksters never thought they'd see. "It's sweet to see it back out of the swamp," said Prankster Mike Hagen, a quiet man who uses the word 'sweet' often and can even get away with the occasional 'far out.' "Who would've believed it?"
"I don't know what Kesey would think about it, but we can't worry about that now. I've been trying to e-mail him, but the server must be down," joked Ken Babbs, who knew Kesey for 43 years. "It's been a miraculous day because we had no idea what would happen. We didn't know if the brakes were seized and the wheels would even roll. We didn't know if it would break in half when we got a chain on it, but the vibe was right."
What happens next is the question. "Our goal is to restore the bus and tell its story," said David Houston, who owns Barney's Beanery, a famous Los Angeles restaurant. "This is a priceless piece of American history."
Lit by full sun for the first time in years, Furthur looked the part. Festoons of moss drooped from its flanks; ferns grew from its fenders; mice had colonized the interior, which was stripped bare except for the driver's seat where Neal Cassady often sat. Furthur's once flamboyant,fanciful hide is faded and rusted making it look like the relic of a lost civilization that it is.
But it's beautiful and imposing for all that -- or because of it: it's a faded Renaissance fresco or an aging beauty still possessed of the most amazing cheekbones. It's imposing because history happened here. This was the locus of many lives and so much energy that you want to encapsulate it -- moss, rust and all -- in a block of Lucite and appreciate it as the cultural artifact it has become.
"This feels like a perfect time for a new subculture," said Stephen Greene, Houston's partner in the possible restoration of Furthur. "It feels like something was pulling it out of the swamp. Since Jerry Garcia died, another of the doorways to a different culture closed. We want to restore Furthur and take it on the road for kids to learn different ways to live and how to take care of each other. "
But which Furthur do you restore? Set aside the problems of restoring a machine ravaged by age and you face a philosophic question -- Furthur was the constantly evolving work of dozens of creative souls. As inspiration enshrined, its livery might change overnight and then again in a month or a year.
"Oh, I remember when it was that color, I think I painted that," said Mountain Girl, a longtime Prankster and mother of Kesey's daughter, Sunshine. "I remember every one of these flakes." She pored over multicolored paint chips that flaked off the bus when it was pulled out from between two trees that tightly flanked it.
(So tightly that the trunk of one had to be notched to allow the open bus door to pass without snagging. "Those trees didn't use to be that big," a bystander said.)
Mountain Girl (her driver's license may show a different name, but the world knows her as Mountain Girl and her friends call her MG) looked up as people pushed the bus around a corner to ready it for the tow up the hill.
"We used to do that a lot," she said. "We used to have to push it to get it started when the starter motor didn't work. Usually one of three things -- the starter, the brakes or the clutch -- was always either busted or just fixed and ready to go out again in about three days. We got to know every junkyard and parts store in the West."
Zane Kesey allowed two days to extricate Furthur, but it was out of the swamp shortly after noon of the first day. Which is not to say the operation went off with military precision -- that's just not the Prankster way.
No, the scene down in the swamp (a mercifully dry swamp, thanks to a lack of rain) was marinated in the same cheerful anarchy that Kesey and the Pranksters brought to those long ago Acid Tests. "No control freaks," Sunshine Kesey said. "Keep it loose. Dad encouraged randomness."
Dogs and kids romped, mostly ignoring the trampled blackberry vines. Characters milled about -- young neo-hippies, one of whom later unslung a mandolin to sing "All You Need Is Drugs"; a documentary film crew; silver-bearded Prankster Izzy Whetstine in Technicolor tie-dye: Zane Kesey in purple tie-dye of his own; and Phil Dietz, who calls himself the last Prankster and who tapped a hand drum as people took a strain on the ropes and chains.
Picture this: Zane Kesey on a small farm tractor hitched to a Chevy flatbed where seven people crouched to increase traction. A yellow tow strap hitched the truck to chains looped around Furthur's rear axle. But it wasn't enough to overcome years of immobility.
So they lashed a thick rope to the tow strap, and people grabbed the robe in a tug-of-war with Time itself. Black smoke snorted from the tractor's stack, the truck's engine revved and its rear wheels spun, then bit. The pullers put their backs into it and Furthur inched backward as David Tipton walked alongside and shouted steering commands to Prankster George Walker in the driver's seat.
"Is there a new plan?" Izzy Whetstine asked Hagen as the crew readied for the third and last attempt.
"It's a constantly moving plan," Hagen said.
"Was there an old plan?"
"It was old the moment it became a plan."
But Kesey's daughter was OK with the plan, whatever it may be. "My dad would've been thrilled that there's a new surge of energy behind the bus," Sunshine Kesey said. "It's not necessary to leave it as a story of the past because he wanted other people to take the craziness on the road.
"To him it wasn't just the bus, it was the action of people coming together to make something happen. His philosophy was live in the moment and call the dance."
John Foyston: 503-221-8368; johnfoyston@news.oregonian.com
NEXT COMES THE HARD PART....raising the $$ for the restoration?? if you are interested in helping donate to the furthur restoration project please email "Stephen Greene" stephen@rockcorps.org
Here is the old Key-Z.com verbiage from the excitement daze of the save the Bus project; tells it better than I could.
I got it from the Internet archive known as 'the wayback machine.'
Last post on this, figured you would find it interesting Pete.
You mean if I promise to color between the lines and learn to admire and praise European socialism? No thanks.
No. There is no dominant ideology in peoplesforum - you just can't be a dick. Can you tone down your dickish tendencies? If so you will be able to post as many times there as you want since Robin is not the one holding you back - she wants to get you off probation.
"Keep Your Goddamn Government Hands Off My Medicare!" - Various Tea Party signs.
know that had people left sneakypete to his own devices and overlooked the initial fire for effect that you called LP behavior, he would of settled right in and would of just been guilty of being a darn good and valuable poster.
He was being dickish at PF.
"Keep Your Goddamn Government Hands Off My Medicare!" - Various Tea Party signs.
Yup,those GOP right-wingers that wrote the US Constitution.
You know full well I am making fun of social conservatives who claim there is no separation of church and state. Christian democracy has nothing to do with religion as in pushing religion. It is a secular system. Many atheists are members and advocates. I believe atheist Thomas Jefferson would be a Christian democrat if he lived in Europe or a social democrat.
In any case, there is more than one type of conservative is what I am getting at. I feel the current conservative ideology within America's 2 party oligarchy is bat shit crazy. They make no sense. They are not based on rationality, empirical evidence and their thinking is emotional rather than logical and appeals to regional/identity/tribal politics so I adopted a conservative ideology based on the traditional history of my ancestors.
"Keep Your Goddamn Government Hands Off My Medicare!" - Various Tea Party signs.
I know that had people left sneakypete to his own devices and overlooked the initial fire for effect that you called LP behavior, he would of settled right in and would of just been guilty of being a darn good and valuable poster.
BS
Robin would have kept spamming him with her leftard propaganda presented as fact, while others would have kept accusing him of being a Limbaugh shill until Robin finally would have banned him for refusing to be properly "re-educated."
Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains. Thomas Jefferson
Robin would have kept spamming him with her leftard propaganda presented as fact, while others would have kept accusing him of being a Limbaugh shill until Robin finally would have banned him for refusing to be properly "re-educated."
Robin is not Goldi.
Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains. Thomas Jefferson
Every single poster on that site parrots the same left wing kookery. No dissension is allowed.
Try discussing without the personal attacks and sexual insults and see what happens.
Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains. Thomas Jefferson
If you are a frequent poster who presents a point of view not in line with the Party propaganda, you will be banned.
Okie dokie artichokie
Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains. Thomas Jefferson
You weren't. You were flogging the dead horse of something already resolved. And doing it in a way that would bait Pete, so I just cut to the point of what you were being, which is insultingly condescending.
All you did was prove my point about the reception Pete got. You baited to get Pete to explode, and as I'm already established at TPF, I just did the unpleasant chore of a reality check to spare your target the grief.
Last post on this, figured you would find it interesting Pete
Thanks,I did.
I had no idea there was ever a new bus. The old one was the only one I knew about.
"I adore John McCain, support him 100 percent and will do everything I can to support his reelection. As everyone knows, I was honored and proud to run with him. And Todd and I were with him in D.C. just a week ago." (Sarah Palin,Dec 2009) ************************************ DID Palin say or write these things or not? (Me) I don't know or F ing care. (Mad Dog posted on 2009-12-26 16:36:33 ET,post # 105 http://libertysflame.com/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=5510&Disp=114#C114)
Indeed. And as the law of unintended consequences bit them in the butt by helping spread the influence of a drug very useful in the right context, they realize their error in experimenting to see if LSD was useful in controlling people.
I've used the drug when I was younger and found it very useful. I never over used it and have been careful in the context of use and who I've been with and when I've used it, so it was never a problem for me.
Of course, I've been blessed with an indifference to drug abuse and never got into alcohol, tobacco and have only used cannabis infrequently. In fact, I was 21 before I did anything that could be considered a drug.
LSD should be legal and controlled. Maybe not as freely legal as cannabis should be, but the government should not decide who uses it and why.
It seems to me in America the benefits to the oligarchs who rule America of jailing millions of Americans means you take them off the voting roles.
I guess you are unaware of the Rev-Rund Sharpton going to prisons in Florida to register voters in the last two elections?
Gee,I wonder who his target audience was,and who he wants them to vote for?
"I adore John McCain, support him 100 percent and will do everything I can to support his reelection. As everyone knows, I was honored and proud to run with him. And Todd and I were with him in D.C. just a week ago." (Sarah Palin,Dec 2009) ************************************ DID Palin say or write these things or not? (Me) I don't know or F ing care. (Mad Dog posted on 2009-12-26 16:36:33 ET,post # 105 http://libertysflame.com/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=5510&Disp=114#C114)
In other words, shut the fuck up, you condescending idiot.
Yup. No matter how much he tries to sugar coat it,that's what he and some of the others were and are demanding.
"I adore John McCain, support him 100 percent and will do everything I can to support his reelection. As everyone knows, I was honored and proud to run with him. And Todd and I were with him in D.C. just a week ago." (Sarah Palin,Dec 2009) ************************************ DID Palin say or write these things or not? (Me) I don't know or F ing care. (Mad Dog posted on 2009-12-26 16:36:33 ET,post # 105 http://libertysflame.com/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=5510&Disp=114#C114)
Yup,those GOP right-wingers that wrote the US Constitution.
You know full well I am making fun of social conservatives who claim there is no separation of church and state.
No,I didn't.
I believe atheist Thomas Jefferson would be a Christian democrat if he lived in Europe or a social democrat.
I believe he would move to America. We have a Bill of Rights here,and he was a man that knew a little something about that sort of thing.
I feel the current conservative ideology within America's 2 party oligarchy is bat shit crazy.
I don't believe they are even conservatives. They are neo-cons,which means fascists dressed in designer suits instead of leather.
I do agree the smartest of them are batshit crazy,though. IMHO,the typical neo-con foot soldier is so freaking stupid they barely comprehend complex thoughts like "water....wet".
Of course,they share this trait with their socialist neo-commie brothers.
They make no sense. They are not based on rationality, empirical evidence and their thinking is emotional rather than logical and appeals to regional/identity/tribal politics
Once again,like their neo-commie socialist brothers,their whole philosophy is based on "Me,me,ME,DAMMIT!". In other words,selfish self-interest and greed. They think if they follow the party line somebody is going to give them something.
so I adopted a conservative ideology based on the traditional history of my ancestors.
Uhhhhhh,ok.
"I adore John McCain, support him 100 percent and will do everything I can to support his reelection. As everyone knows, I was honored and proud to run with him. And Todd and I were with him in D.C. just a week ago." (Sarah Palin,Dec 2009) ************************************ DID Palin say or write these things or not? (Me) I don't know or F ing care. (Mad Dog posted on 2009-12-26 16:36:33 ET,post # 105 http://libertysflame.com/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=5510&Disp=114#C114)
Every single poster on that site parrots the same left wing kookery. No dissension is allowed.
That's the way I saw it,too.
Some may argue over French socialism being better than German socialism,and they think that is open-minded debate and they are visionaries emitting profound thoughts.
It's a collective.
"I adore John McCain, support him 100 percent and will do everything I can to support his reelection. As everyone knows, I was honored and proud to run with him. And Todd and I were with him in D.C. just a week ago." (Sarah Palin,Dec 2009) ************************************ DID Palin say or write these things or not? (Me) I don't know or F ing care. (Mad Dog posted on 2009-12-26 16:36:33 ET,post # 105 http://libertysflame.com/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=5510&Disp=114#C114)
The new bus was really Ken's pride and joy. Unlike the old one that was kept running on a shoestring budget, and created commotion, excitement, and was the vehicle of discovery and adventure, the new one is very immaculate and has a car show attention to detail for beauty, function, and is as close to new condition running as you can get a bus like that.
The Keseys own a preforming arts venue in downtown Eugene a block from Ken's statue. The wake was there, and the new Further was the vehicle his body rode in when he laid in state.
I went to the wake, and it brought tears to everyone's eyes to see that coffin on the back deck of Further as she drove slowly into and out of town to go back to Ken's farm.
She was at the Further shows last summer, Further being the name of the latest Grateful Dead band incarnation. It is a venerated and respected vehicle here in Eugene and much of Oregon and is well loved and very well taken care of.
All of these posters I believe started out at Libertypost and then moved on to other "Neil McIver" sites. The common theme among them at Libertypost was pretty much just "Bush sucks" which they shared with a lot of so called "paleo" conservatives, so it was hard to tell what anyone really believed at that time.
Absent Bush, it's a lot clearer what these loons believe and they have pretty much filtered into their element, and they want to keep their .
Saturday, November 10th, 2001 marks a day of mourning and reflection here in Eugene, as we deal with the passing of our friend Ken Kesey, author, storyteller, cultural pioneer, innerspace astronaut, family man and salt of the Oregon earth. A day as typically Oregon-beautiful as I've seen; warm, hazy sun, not the slightest stir of a breeze, upper 60s, a myriad of stunning cloud patterns floating ever so slowly across the sky... but the quiet stillness, the pastel colors against the glittering greens of the tree covered rolling foothills; an unmistakable omni-presence of magic, of energy release, of peace, of joy.
Kesey lived just a few ridges to the East of us, about 20 miles away. I saw him countless times about town and at events over the past 20-plus years I've been here. When I would bump into him on the way to the bank or store when we lived just a few miles apart, he was never in too much of a hurry to stop and exchange a few words. His mastery of word crafting was always at the ready. The first time we crossed paths was backstage after a Dead show outdoors in rural Oregon in '82. Mingling in the afterglow of a great day, my simple greeting led to Kesey spinning a 10 minute thought provoking tale about a frog and a muskrat. I wish like hell I could remember it now.
Ken's family here in Eugene has a vast presence as well as past. They moved here to live on his grandparents' farm in 1943, when he was eight years old. While attending the University of Oregon, where he became a star wrestler, he married his high school sweetheart, Faye Haxby, in 1956. Receiving a literary fellowship to Stanford, Kesey would then embark on a four year whirlwind that would produce the cornerstone of his most affective contributions to the changing and expanding face of America.
After volunteering for LSD experimentation at Stanford in '61 and '62, he completed his first novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Published in '62, the novel struck a nerve at the core of our society by serving as a wake up call on a nation stirring out of a long slumber, challenging the predisposed norms and the terms of sanity.
In '64, Kesey's second novel, Sometimes a Great Notion, was published. A sprawling, ambitious work immediately heralded as a great American classic, Kesey had brought to life with his vividly captivating descriptions a unique, mystical land called Oregon, whose harsh and unrelenting nature shapes the tough and original members of the Stamper's, a rural logging family in the 30s.
That same year he had banded together some fellow LSD experimenters, called them the Merry Pranksters, and set out on the road as a traveling psychedelic show in a rainbow day-glo 1939 International bus called "Further," which he bought with earnings from Cuckoo's Nest. A notorious adventure of LSD-induced fun and chaos ensued as they pranked their way through America, forever immortalized in Tom Wolfe's book, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. At that time, the relatively unknown Grateful Dead became the house band for the Pranksters, and they maintained friendships throughout the years.
In 1968 Ken moved back to Oregon and a rural farm south of Eugene, where he turned a huge barn into a large rambling house, raised a family, worked the land, raised cattle and immersed himself in the community. Ken Babbs, fellow Prankster and lifelong friend, lived nearby, and together they collaborated on Prankster adventures over the years. Ken's brother, Chuck, and his family founded and still run the successful Springfield Creamery, as well as operating a retail natural food store in Springfield until the mid 80s.
Kit Kesey, Ken's nephew, has been a concert and video producer over the years, and in recent months took over the McDonald Theater in downtown Eugene and refurbished it as a live music venue. Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters recently performed there at a benefit in October. The last time I saw Ken was in early September, the night he introduced Taj Mahal at the grand opening of the theater, while I was shooting the event.
Kesey contributed immensely to raising the bar in challenging the status quo to re-examine, renew, and embrace such fundamental American terms as "freedom," and "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," and to live them. He was full of stories, bigger than life, yet casually present, a ruggedly independent individual, who contributed endlessly to family and community, and the celebration of life. As one of Americas most affecting and colorful modern pioneers, he was truly a great American hero. Always ready to take a playful poke or a chastising swipe when he smelled bullshit, regardless of where it came from, he was never mean spirited. His approach to life was not from an adversarial or confrontational stance, but an offering of goodwill.
Ken's creativity wasn't limited to his immense depth as a writer. He continually sought new theatrical vehicles and happenings to relay his message, whatever it may be. You might be listening to him read a new children's book and tell stories, in full shaman's garb on the steps of the library, or hearing him recite his heart-felt tribute to Jerry Garcia, or watching him belt out "Gloria," with Kool-Aid jug in hand, wearing a U.S. flag suit and top hat, backed by Bob Weir, Jack and Jorma.
For a production of his childrens story, Little Tricker the Squirrel Meets Big Double the Bear, Kesey collaborated with the Eugene Ballet, with music by Art Maddox and sound effects provided by Keseys whimsical invention, The Thunder Machine.
Kens generosity and compassion came across in many ways. He often teamed up with musician and friend Mason Williams for Masons annual Christmas show with the Eugene and Portland Symphonies. A few years back in Portland, Kesey showed up on stage in the role of a street Santa. A down and out alcoholic with a pint in his pocket. Directing members of a choir into the audience to collect money for the poor, he and Mason were able to hand out over $6,000 to homeless street people. The shocked symphony was reluctant to have Kesey return the next night, but rather than more antics, he delivered a wonderful reading of St. Matthew's Christmas Story.
Sharing this valley and this community with Kesey has always been somehow comforting, being part in some sense of the continuing adventure, swept along just a little "further". His absence will leave a gaping hole around here, way bigger than you could drive a bus through. The world, as it is, will be a scarier place without him and his sometimes flamboyant but always thought provoking escapades.
His life was honored in a solemn and celebratory memorial service at the McDonald Theatre, drawing a full house that filled the lobby and spilled out onto the street, where admirers milled about the psychedelic bus waiting to take him on a last ride home to his resting place.
With Keseys rainbow marbled casket center stage, speakers included his career-long literary agent, Sterling Lord, University of Oregon President Dave Frohnmeyer, musician Mason Williams (who spoke and performed) and close friend and fellow Prankster Ken Babbs. Zane, his son provided various video clips of Ken at home and performing that brought smiles, laughter and tears.
As the bus carrying Ken Kesey pulled out of sight, the clouds parted and a brief glimpse of a rainbow lit the sky. Farewell, my friend.
" The answer is never the answer. What's really interesting is the mystery. If you seek the mystery instead of the answer, you'll always be seeking. I've never seen anybody really find the answer -- they think they have, so they stop thinking. But the job is to seek mystery, evoke mystery, plant a garden in which strange plants grow and mysteries bloom. The need for mystery is greater than the need for an answer."
--Ken Kesey
(C) Article and Photos by Tim Owen
The Article was hard to read, at least on my laptop so as cutting and pasting pulled the hidden text from behind the black framing blocking it, here is a reposting of it.
America is a police state with more people in prison than Russia or China combined - both on a per gross and per capita basis. "Land of the free"? More like "land of the jailed".
So you can act like Europeans are less free because of some law against racial hate crimes they have but you can't over look the fact that they have less people in prison than the supposedly free bill of rights loving USA.
"Keep Your Goddamn Government Hands Off My Medicare!" - Various Tea Party signs.
#182. To: no gnu taxes, Ferret Mike, sneakypete, lucysmom (#164)
Robin would have kept spamming him with her leftard propaganda presented as fact, while others would have kept accusing him of being a Limbaugh shill until Robin finally would have banned him for refusing to be properly "re-educated."
Just because you guys are used to the LP echo chamber you assume dissent is spam.
If that is how smart you are and you can't defend your positions - then you are nothings and are posting where you belong, on this overtly racists, paranoid delusional forum of kooks.
Stay here in the filth with the rest of the swine.
"Keep Your Goddamn Government Hands Off My Medicare!" - Various Tea Party signs.