Ken Babbs
Encyclopedia
Ken Babbs is a famous Merry Prankster
who became one of the psychedelic
leaders of the 1960s. He along with best friend and Prankster leader, Ken Kesey
wrote the book Last Go Round
. Babbs is best known for his participation in the Acid Tests
and on the bus Further.
. Soon after becoming second lieutenant, Babbs became a helicopter pilot when he was ordered to Vietnam
. Babbs had no understanding of the impact the war had on him until he received his orders to go to Vietnam. His insight soon began to take definition. According to an interview, Babbs’ opinion towards the Vietnam war was that he “had no perceptions of the right or wrong of the situation before I went to Vietnam, but it took about six weeks to realize we were wasting our time there.” .
However, Babbs stated on what he learned from war: “Being humble, respect local customs, learn the language and helping does more good than hurting”.
On the contrary, his college experiences were not merely about the war. In 1958, Babbs took a writing class where he soon met future Prankster leader, Ken Kesey. Babbs explains meeting Kesey as “a moment of mirth and sadness, highness and lowliness, interchanging of ideas and musical moments.” They soon became best friends and formed the Merry Pranksters.
emerged into a global frenzy and inspired people, still today. According to Babbs, a Happening is something that “can’t be planned ..It just happens! It takes place in public or private and involves everyone present. In Phoenix in 1964, we painted ‘A Vot for Barry is a Vot for Fun’ on the side of the bus and waved flags and played stars and stripes forever..this qualified as both a prank and a Happening.” .
The most famous happening of the Pranksters was the nationwide trip on the Furthur. While on a trip to New York
, the Pranksters needed an automobile that could hold fourteen people and all of their filming and taping equipment. One of the members saw a “revamped school bus” in San Francisco that was for sale. The Pranksters bought the bus and named it “Furthur”. Babbs was the engineer for the bus. Babbs is mostly credited for the sound systems he created for the Trips Festival. Prior to Babbs’ creation, it was discovered that particular music usually sounded distorted when cranked to high levels because of the cement floor on the San Francisco Longshoreman’s Union Hall (where the Trips Festival was taking place). Babbs being a sound engineer resolved the problem. He made sound amplifiers that, when turned up to high sound levels would not create distorted sounds.
The purpose for this Happening was to link the psychedelic tribes from the west and the east. Many people tend to remember the east tribe because of Timothy Leary and LSD. Many misjudgments have been made on the Pranksters and their promotion of LSD. However, Babbs makes it clear that “just because we used LSD does not mean we were promoting its use. (LSD) is a dangerous drug..[It’s] a way, I guess, of breaking down the conformist ideology.” .
During the legendary Prankster cross country bus trip to the New York World's fair in 1964, an epic movie was filmed and shown at several “Acid Tests”. The film is called "The Merry Pranksters Search for a Kool Place" and is available for purchase in two parts at http://www.key-z.com. Some have compared the Prankster’s trip to the Acid Tests. Babbs assures that the “Acid Tests came after the bus trip and came about because we were editing the movie of the bus trip and began renting places to show the movie and play our music.” What inspired the Acid Tests was when the Pranksters met the Grateful Dead
. Babbs relates to that time as “it was the power that propelled the rocket ship everyone rode to the stars and beyond the whole night the acid test took place.” [IBID]
Looking back at his experiences as a Merry Prankster, Babbs says he wants younger and future generations to carry on “love, peace, and happiness; extended in practicality to the simple act of helping one another out, being kind and generous.” [ibid]
Merry Pranksters
The Merry Pranksters were a group of people who formed around American author Ken Kesey in 1964 and sometimes lived communally at his homes in California and Oregon...
who became one of the psychedelic
Psychedelic
The term psychedelic is derived from the Greek words ψυχή and δηλοῦν , translating to "soul-manifesting". A psychedelic experience is characterized by the striking perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly...
leaders of the 1960s. He along with best friend and Prankster leader, Ken Kesey
Ken Kesey
Kenneth Elton "Ken" Kesey was an American author, best known for his novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest , and as a counter-cultural figure who considered himself a link between the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the hippies of the 1960s. "I was too young to be a beatnik, and too old to be a...
wrote the book Last Go Round
Last Go Round
Last Go Round is a novel written by Ken Kesey and Ken Babbs. It was Kesey's last novel and is about the famous "Last Go Round" that took place at the original Pendleton Round-Up in 1911. The book contains references to real historical figures, and was published with photographs from the early...
. Babbs is best known for his participation in the Acid Tests
Acid Tests
The Acid Tests were a series of parties held by Ken Kesey in the San Francisco Bay Area during the mid 1960s, centered entirely around the use of, experimentation with, and advocacy of, the psychedelic drug LSD, also known as "acid."...
and on the bus Further.
Early life
Ken Babbs attended Stanford University and was in NROTC, where he became a second lieutenant in the Marine CorpsUnited States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
. Soon after becoming second lieutenant, Babbs became a helicopter pilot when he was ordered to Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
. Babbs had no understanding of the impact the war had on him until he received his orders to go to Vietnam. His insight soon began to take definition. According to an interview, Babbs’ opinion towards the Vietnam war was that he “had no perceptions of the right or wrong of the situation before I went to Vietnam, but it took about six weeks to realize we were wasting our time there.” .
However, Babbs stated on what he learned from war: “Being humble, respect local customs, learn the language and helping does more good than hurting”.
On the contrary, his college experiences were not merely about the war. In 1958, Babbs took a writing class where he soon met future Prankster leader, Ken Kesey. Babbs explains meeting Kesey as “a moment of mirth and sadness, highness and lowliness, interchanging of ideas and musical moments.” They soon became best friends and formed the Merry Pranksters.
Acid Tests and Furthur
What started as a HappeningHappening
A happening is a performance, event or situation meant to be considered art, usually as performance art. Happenings take place anywhere , are often multi-disciplinary, with a nonlinear narrative and the active participation of the audience...
emerged into a global frenzy and inspired people, still today. According to Babbs, a Happening is something that “can’t be planned ..It just happens! It takes place in public or private and involves everyone present. In Phoenix in 1964, we painted ‘A Vot for Barry is a Vot for Fun’ on the side of the bus and waved flags and played stars and stripes forever..this qualified as both a prank and a Happening.” .
The most famous happening of the Pranksters was the nationwide trip on the Furthur. While on a trip to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, the Pranksters needed an automobile that could hold fourteen people and all of their filming and taping equipment. One of the members saw a “revamped school bus” in San Francisco that was for sale. The Pranksters bought the bus and named it “Furthur”. Babbs was the engineer for the bus. Babbs is mostly credited for the sound systems he created for the Trips Festival. Prior to Babbs’ creation, it was discovered that particular music usually sounded distorted when cranked to high levels because of the cement floor on the San Francisco Longshoreman’s Union Hall (where the Trips Festival was taking place). Babbs being a sound engineer resolved the problem. He made sound amplifiers that, when turned up to high sound levels would not create distorted sounds.
The purpose for this Happening was to link the psychedelic tribes from the west and the east. Many people tend to remember the east tribe because of Timothy Leary and LSD. Many misjudgments have been made on the Pranksters and their promotion of LSD. However, Babbs makes it clear that “just because we used LSD does not mean we were promoting its use. (LSD) is a dangerous drug..[It’s] a way, I guess, of breaking down the conformist ideology.” .
During the legendary Prankster cross country bus trip to the New York World's fair in 1964, an epic movie was filmed and shown at several “Acid Tests”. The film is called "The Merry Pranksters Search for a Kool Place" and is available for purchase in two parts at http://www.key-z.com. Some have compared the Prankster’s trip to the Acid Tests. Babbs assures that the “Acid Tests came after the bus trip and came about because we were editing the movie of the bus trip and began renting places to show the movie and play our music.” What inspired the Acid Tests was when the Pranksters met the Grateful Dead
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...
. Babbs relates to that time as “it was the power that propelled the rocket ship everyone rode to the stars and beyond the whole night the acid test took place.” [IBID]
Looking back at his experiences as a Merry Prankster, Babbs says he wants younger and future generations to carry on “love, peace, and happiness; extended in practicality to the simple act of helping one another out, being kind and generous.” [ibid]
Keeping Kesey's legacy alive
Babbs' current project is promoting Ken Kesey's book Kesey’s Jail Journal. Babbs recently had a showing at an art gallery in Oregon to display Kesey’s artwork. Babbs said that the art gallery’s main attraction is “the artwork from Kesey’s Jail Journal”. Because of Kesey’s popularity and inspiration, Viking Press brought his jail journal last November. The exhibit consists of all Kesey’s artwork during his lifetime. Babbs hopes that “this exhibit will tour the country and the rest of the world.”[Iibid]Later years
Babbs currently lives on his farm in Dexter, Oregon (near Kesey’s house) with his wife Eileen, an English teacher at South Eugene High School. In 1994, he helped Kesey co-write The Last Go Round, about the oldest and largest rodeos in America. Babbs is also founder and leader of the Sky Pilot Club. Many of Babbs's trips are now available to watch on YouTube. Babbs recently published a novel based on his life in the armed forces during the first years of the Vietnam War, 'Who Shot the Water Buffalo?'Quotes
"At first, a bunch of us were going to go in a station wagon. Then it was getting too big for that."
"For me and Kesey, too, we were trying to move into a new creative expression which was movie making, and being part of the movie. This was all a tremendous experiment in the arts. We always figured we would be totally successful and make a lot of money out of it."
"People always were saying, ‘Is this the real bus?’ and he would say, ‘Yes, there’s only one bus, like there’s only one Starship Enterprise."
"Yeah! Yeah! Right! Right! Right!"