Cleveland
Preparation day... tune up the Bus!!!
August 12th
Today started as a beauuuuuuuuutiful day in the neighborhood!
The sun was shining, it was obvious the weather would not be humid and we
were all excited to get this Trip started!!! You have to understand that
the Pranksters' collective energy is what drives this scene. Kesey makes
the final decision on all aspects righteously so because he is the Chief...
his creativity is the ultimate glue that binds us together and provides
the essence, but there is much that occurs outside of his vision and awareness
that is... THE MERRY PRANKSTERS!!!
Take or leave Babbs for example... here is a guy who is
smart-as-a-whip, takes no lip, runs a loose ship, couldn't give a... and
is as honest and forthright as any human being on the planet, except perhaps
Mountain Girl! Babbs is so much fun to be around that you have to be somewhat
careful because he allows you to have perhaps too much fun. "Do your
thing"... "go ahead if you can sing"... "sure I knew
Bing"... Babbs has been there and done that! It is impossible to pull
the wool over his eyes because they are way toooooo perceptive! Hey look
over there...
So here we found ourselves
back at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, a psychedelic diamond
master work of architecture. The Bus weathered a little over the hot Lake
Erie summer... what or who wouldn't? It sure was nice to be back at the
Bus which has its own magnetism, its own gravitational pull... toward the
cosmic giggle!!! The Pranksters love to take it Further.
Today, the goal was to get the Bus put back together and ready for the road trip tommorrow... it needs to sing so the sound and video systems must be reconnected, the art on the outside of the Bus needs to be retouched and re-glued. The windows need to be cleaned, the sound system needs to be "check", "check", "test", "tested".
"TEST TEST"... "CHECK CHECK".... "TEST CHECK"... "FURTHER TEST"... HELLLOOOOOO ANYONE OUUUUUUTTT THERE????? "TEST CHECK". Pranksters John Swan, Zane Kesey, Eli Babbs and soundmeister extraordinnaire Duke of Pippet got the electrical systems up and running in no time. The audio and video were functional and finely tuned. Swan tested the Bus by serenading the onlookers using a wireless microphone and guitar as he walked along the dock next to the harbor. Everybody must get Swan.
Roy Sebern sent Mother Merry
Furthur on an errand for acrylic paints for the retouch, Hagen futzed with
the furniture, Anonymous was anonymous which means way more than you can
imagine. Her presence is a testament to the fact that the Merry Pranksters
have no master ego. She embodies all that is simultaneously loose and right-on.
She knows her position among the crew and goes about it with great zeal.
We would feel lacking without her among us, as if someone took the stabelizer
off the bow of the ship... a very loose ship in fact!
So the Bus is slowly put back together... she appears and feels almost ready for the next leg, Part Two. The Pranksters feel good to be back working on it, preparing, pranking, ready to go F u r t h e r ! ! ! Even Caleb Kesey is enjoying himself. He is a pro by now... and a very good little kid. We are lucky to have him with us because we were all once like him, young and inexperienced, but perhaps not as wise because genetically, Caleb has the cosmic giggle... and folks he is rapidly learning how to use it.
How lucky a kid he is to
have a Grandfather who can tell him stories in a way that only his grandfather
can. Caleb's grandpa is a master storyteller! Whether it is a Tricker, or
Big Double, or the Woozle, or R.P. MMMMcMurphy, or the Pendleton Rodeo...
grandpa can spin a great yarn. When you experience grandpa live, it is one
you will never forget! A sold out theater of people did just that this evening
on the fourth floor of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. Kesey
read Tricker, Cumbersome and now we know how many holes it takes to fill
the Albert Hall from Demon Box. The appreciative audience listened intently
as Kesey, perched on a stool sipping gin and tonic from a bottle, read and
amazed everyone with his presence, presentation, his Kesey-ness!
Tonite, the Pranksters toasted and got toasted in Babbs' room at the hotel knowing full well that we need our rest because tommorrow... we hit the road Jack, and don't you come back no more no more, hit the roaaaaad Jack! Take it Further Back... way Back... push em' Back!
Come on back tommorrow Jack
waaaaay baaaackkkk
and see what we're about to do next!
