WE’VE HEARD before from writer ANTONIO PINEDA, of course, in the digital pages of Rock and the Beat Generation, a harlequin figure embedded in the countercultural frontline of mid-1960s San Francisco. Pineda is both Pied Piper and follower, sometimes leading the action at local theatres with new dance shows and disruptive drama on the bill, often stumbling into the poets and musicians in the street and in bars, in their homes or on the multiple stages of the hippest city.
In past articles this picaresque penman, with a novel called Bijou on the way, has mingled with Michael McClure, shared mescalin with Jim Morrison and trailed the emerging Grateful Dead around the Bay. Now in the third section of his vibrant, vibrating memories, he recalls encounters with Ken Kesey and Neal Cassady, another pulsating chapter with LSD the essential side order.
Here, in the hypnotic settings of middle decade Northern California, Pineda, a Zelig-like presence on an explosive scene, brings to vivid life some of the most famous occasions when a rising star of the new literature and a Beat legend, mind-bending narcotics and the newly-conceived strains of a music called acid rock, fizzed together in the same head-swirling cocktail shaker…
‘Passing the Acid Test: A psychedelic graduation ceremony’
By Antonio Pineda
THE FIRST TIME I encountered Neal Cassady was at the venue for the Bill Graham fundraiser to support the San Francisco Mime Troupe, located behind the San Francisco Mint, hard by the San Francisco Chronicle headquarters. O how dearly I remember the first Saturday in November of 65 when from dusk 'til dawn the benefit raged on. The stars were poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, avant-garde guitarist Sandy Bull, Jefferson Airplane, jazz artist John Handy and a supporting cast of San Francisco personalities.
Stepping forth from the heart of darkness stood a bare-chested, chiseled bloke swinging a sledge hammer in the air as he spouted strange, meth-influenced but wondrous, stream of consciousness verbiage. I exchanged what at the minute passed for pleasantries as I was high on an early acid trip. Neal Cassady waved the hammer about and replied in a torrent of unintelligible language, then moved on into the bowels of the swinging party.
The response by the underground was so positive, a sequel took place at the Fillmore on December 10th, 1965. It was Bill Graham’s first foray at the Fillmore, a venue frequented by the black community. The Jefferson Airplane, John Handy, the Gentleman’s Band, Mystery Trend and the Great Society, fronted by young Grace Slick and Darby Slick, were the stars.
Pictured above: A Fillmore concert, a second benefit for the SF Mime Troupe, occurred in December 1965 and showcased rising stars of the city’s nascent acid rock community
Grace would soon replace Signe Anderson in the Jefferson Airplane who would incorporate the Darby Slick-Grace songs ‘White Rabbit’ and ‘Somebody to Love’ in their repertoire. The usual Beat suspects and the stars of the emerging new underground that would become the counterculture romped and this would lead to the staging of the Acid Test at the Fillmore.
Flashback to a starry night in 65. Jim’s Volvo is swerving through country roads, destination 7490 LaHonda Road. We were on a mission to crash the party at Ken Kesey’s pad. We stroll the grounds innocently off the radar of the tripping initiates who have bigger fish to fry.
Allen Ginsberg and Neal Cassady are highly visible, as are the Hells Angels. Hippie chicks mill about and the stars in the heavens have fallen to earth. Kesey is lord of the manor. We mingle unnoticed by the stars, blended in like background players in a movie.
We knew of Kesey’s exploits by vox populi. The brickwork for his novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest published in 1962, had been laid via his paid government experimentation with LSD, MKULTRA and the Cold War propaganda encouraged this research.
Pulitzer award winning novelist, short story writer, the author of 60 books over a 30 year career, Wallace Stegner taught creative writing via Stanford to Kesey, Robert Stone, a future prominent Hollywood screenwriter, Larry McMurtry, who would emerge as an important Western novelist, Wendell Berry and others. By serendipity, the LSD leaked out by Kesey to his pals in the program. Kesey famously remarked, ‘I was too young to be a Beat, too old to be a hippie.’
Stegner was a serious gentleman, acknowledged to be the Dean of western writers. Perhaps there was a bit of the generation gap between him and Kesey, but Stegner considered Ken to be a bit unmanageable. There was considerable frustration between them. Kesey was wont to say in retrospect, ‘I sided with LSD. Wallace Stegner stayed with Jack Daniels.’
Pictured above: Further thoughts…Ken Kesey takes a ride
The camera cuts away to November 27th, 1965. A strange cartoonish drawing announces the first Acid Test to be celebrated in the Bay Area at the house of Kesey stalwart Ken Babbs. The gig features a performance by the Warlocks, a band I had seen gig at the Matrix and small venues like Sokol Hall. After this gig, the band would be known as the Grateful Dead.
Flash forward to January 8th, 1966, the venue is the Fillmore Auditorium, the curious title of the show: ‘CAN YOU PASS THE ACID TEST?’ Organized by Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters, starring Beat poets Allen Ginsberg and Neal Cassady, the Grateful Dead, the Fugs, black lights, strobe lights and the spiritual communion of a thousand souls on LSD, cultural historians have certified this night as the Big Bang of the counterculture universe, the night that launched a billion stars. Neal Cassady in a moment of lucidity, exchanged views with Stewart Brand on the upcoming Trips Festival. Acid was still legal, and was being dispensed like Chiclets.
I wandered through the din and roar, the psychedelic dream state unravelling before me, tripping on a golden shore, dancing til I could no more, as the Dead did play, and Mountain Girl did sway, whilst the poets spake in sacred tongues, and in a kaleidoscope of colors my mind did swim, to the realization that this night without end was merely a dream within a dream.
Hunter Thompson postulated, 'Being in San Francisco in the 60s, was like being in Paris in the 20s.’ The Lost Generation reveled in the Paris of the Roaring Twenties. Cubism-Surrealism and a new culture nurtured by poets, painters, philosophers and the greatest minds of that generation.
Now an enchanted moment in time was being created by writers, Beat poets, rock musicians, psychonauts and the dedicated followers of fashion who were to shape the destiny of a new generation.
Flash forward to the final Acid Test. The so-called Graduation event was scheduled for Halloween 66 at Winterland. Promoter Bill Graham heard a rumor that LSD would be spiked in huge quantities. Fearing political reprisals, as LSD had recently become illegal, he canceled the event. A rare and valuable poster by Hells Angel artist Gut, who would become a Merry Prankster, exists proclaiming the Dead, Kesey and Cassady as the headliners. The Dead actually played California Hall that night.
Pictured above: A very rare poster for the Acid Test Graduation, October 1966. The Winterland event, promoted by the legendary Bill Graham, never happened after LSD was declared an illegal drug shortly before
The event was rescheduled for a warehouse located on Harriet Street, a low key event, music by Anonymous Artists of America, Ken Kesey in the house. Neal Cassady handed out diplomas to the Merry Pranksters. The poster and diplomas are rare and sought after. The Dead would refer to those acid tests as formative of their culture, and remained friends with Kesey for the rest of their lives.
The kick-off for the revolution was nigh; the Merry Pranksters sparked the flames of a seminal event. On January 21st, 22nd and 23rd, 1967, the Trips Festival organized by Ken Kesey, Stewart Brand, Ramon Sender and Bill Graham was celebrated at the Longshoremen’s Hall. Over 10,000 people attended this happening hosted by the Merry Pranksters. Avant-garde artists were represented by the San Francisco Mime Troupe, the Dancers Workshop, the Open Theater and the San Francisco Tape Music Center. Underground acid chemist Owsley Stanley funded the event, and bought the Dead a functional amplifier system for the gig.
Under a magick spell, I pranced to the Grateful Dead’s gig and dug Big Brother and the Holding Company starring Janis Joplin. The Merry Pranksters and Neal Cassady initiated me into the mysteries, as Neal served as the ace face for the revolution. His reputation as Beat muse preceded him. He swashbuckled in the night. Neal was an important influence on the Dead. As the thundering hordes smashed on LSD surged, the Jefferson Airplane gigged and were the breakout stars of the event. New journalist Tom Wolfe proclaimed in his book The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test, ‘the Haight-Ashbury era began that weekend.’
Beat legend Neal Cassady was the designated driver on the bus named Further, purchased by Ken Kesey to drive the Merry Pranksters cross country. In 1964 they set off from La Honda to New York. Author Robert Stone relates how Chloe Scott hosted a party at her Manhattan apartment attended by both Kerouac and Ginsberg. The gang also visited the Millbrook estate in upstate New York and met Tim Leary and Richard Alpert who viewed psychedelics in a more academic fashion.
Pictured above: On the Kesey bus, with Neal Cassady captured in the wing mirror of Further up
Back in San Francisco, the Pranksters parked the bus in the Panhandle of Golden Gate Park. Neal and Kesey were occasionally at the Straight Theater, where they were graciously received by founder Reg Williams. We exchanged pleasantries. Neal swung his small sledge hammer in the air, as he spake in stream of consciousness tongues. The charm was waning, the body seemingly construed of Grecian Marble was chipping and fraying. Kesey maintained his wrestler’s muscularity, but the seemingly indestructible Cassady was slipping.
The Straight Theater had a reputation for avant garde artists performing there. Michael McClure performed poetry readings as well as theater. Richard Brautigan was a much beloved poet and champion of the band Mad River. Brautigan’s poetry reading was produced extempore by Reg Williams and myself.
Brautigan was strolling down Haight street. We were producing a series entitled Straight Theater Presents, known by its acronym STP, a powerful hallucinogen. McClure had introduced me to Richard in the Panhandle. We struck it up and Richard offered to perform an extemporaneous poetry reading. The Living Theater, Carlos Santana, the Dead, Big Brother & The Holding Company, Janis Joplin, all these elements attracted Kesey and Cassady. They enjoyed Reg’s hospitality, and shared cultural values. It was to be the last interaction we would have with Neal.
Neal Cassady gave up the ghost on February 3rd, 1968, in Mexico. After leaving a party he was found dead that night along a stretch of railroad tracks outside San Miguel de Allende. Neal had consumed a large amount of Seconal at the party, and misadventures contributed to his demise, although the coroner’s report accredited overexposure to the elements. His autobiographical book of prose The First Third was published posthumously in 1971. The Desolation Angel’s demise was a terrible shock to the Beat Generation and counterculture, over which he unquestionably wielded an extraordinary influence.
Editor’s note: You can find other writing by Antonio Pineda at R&BG. Check out ‘McClure reads but Dead go missing’, November 24th, 2023, and ‘Meeting McClure & Morrison: Beat dreams & a mescaline memory’, August 20th, 2023
My father, Neal, pulled into our driveway one day in Los Gatos, California, with stacks of thousands of this iconic poster in the back seat of his car. "You want some posters, Johnny?" I took only 2. Big mistake. If I could see the future, I would have taken 500 of them, sold them on eBay in 2024, and paid off my mortgage! Not really (maybe?). I had one framed and it's still on my wall. All my Beatnik friends love it. It's signed and it should be in the Smithsonian, right under the Spirit of St. Louis! Well, maybe not...Well, "Keep The Beat." John Allen Cassady
Wonderful inside visions, Antonio.