So then, we're driving up to Cleveland, about 20 miles south, and the Governor of Ohio, or the Mayor of Cleveland, or somebody, I forget, wants to get on board with his two teenage daughters. Well, they take one look at the painted ceiling, and we're by now all playing kazoos and tambourines, getting ready for the show. The girls looked around in awe. They didn't know what to think.
Then six Ohio State Trooper cars drive up and surround the bus, one in front, one in back, and two on each side. The politician gets on his cell phone and demands an explanation. The cops say that they're escorting us into town, because there's 10,000 people around the on-ramp, and we would never get to the venue without the police escort. Kesey stood up and said what I thought was perfect. ‘That's funny. In the old days, we would be escorted OUT of town!’
We pulled into the courtyard in front of the Rock Hall, and they had a section roped off for the bus. A gazillion people around the ropes. There was a huge stage, and Country Joe and the Fish broke into their song ‘I Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die Rag’, you know the one: ‘Well It's 1,2,3, what are we fighting for?’ Then they got us all onstage, and gave me a guitar to play! It was one of the highlights of the occasion for me. After that I talked to Joe for a while. He had met my Dad in Berkeley in the '60s, so we had something in common.
The museum was amazing. They had John Lennon's Rolls Royce (though I didn't care for the paint job – trying to look ‘Prankster?’) Jerry Garcia's Fender Twin Reverb amp with the tie-dye speaker cloth, etc. They even featured a whole Prankster panel, with lots of Neal photos. It was a great ‘trip’ which I'll never forget.
More to follow in Part IV!
John Allen Cassady
Coming soon: ‘On the bus #4’, Kesey calls and the UK beckons
These are great, this one especially.