On this day, 10 years ago, we lost the incomparable Ken Kesey. Reading works by him and about him had a profound affect on myself and countless others who were looking to make sense of a whole world opened up to us in our formative years.
I'll leave the formal eulogizing and remembrances to those who knew him well, but I do want to share some remarkable footage of the one and only experience that I had with the man. It took fourteen years for video to emerge of this bizarro night at an amusement park near Buffalo. When Kesey and the Pranksters emerged on stage with Phish, for those of us who bridged the musical generation gap -- seeing the Dead's final years and subsequently being consumed with Phish at the top of their game -- this was magic happening and worlds colliding.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvqUqsqBqnE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhWbdkXJCl4
Jerry and Ken Kesey Interview: The Electric Kool Aid Talk Show
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4ilnADvT2s
