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The Acid Tests were a series of parties held by author Ken Kesey primarily in the San Francisco Bay Area during the mid-1960s, centered on the use of and advocacy for the psychedelic drug LSD, commonly known as "acid". LSD was not made illegal in California until October 6, 1966, under Governor Ronald Reagan’s administration.
The "Acid Tests" — parties centered around LSD-laced Kool-Aid and carried out with lights and noise intended to enhance the psychedelic experience — started at Kesey's house in the woods of La Honda, California. The Pranksters eventually leave the confines of Kesey's estate and travel across the country in a bus called Furthur.
An acid test is a qualitative chemical or metallurgical assay utilizing acid. Historically, it often involved the use of a robust acid to distinguish gold from base metals . Figuratively, the term represents any definitive test for attributes, such as gauging a person's character or evaluating a product's performance.
The former chemistry student set up a private LSD lab in the mid-60s in San Francisco and supplied the LSD consumed at the famous Acid Test parties held by Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters, as well as the Human Be-In in San Francisco in January 1967 [41] and the Monterey International Pop Festival in June 1967. [42]
Ken Babbs was born January 14, 1936, and raised in Mentor, Ohio. [citation needed] He attended the Case Institute of Technology where he briefly studied engineering for two years on a basketball scholarship, before transferring to Miami University, from which he graduated magna cum laude with a degree in English literature in 1958.
The bus was created to coincide with the publication of Kesey's memoirs about the 1964 trip, entitled The Further Inquiry (ISBN 0670831743). [6] [7] [8] The original 1964 Furthur was eventually dragged out of the swamp with a tractor and now resides in a warehouse at Kesey's farm in Oregon, alongside the 1990 Further.
The bus was also featured in Tom Wolfe's 1968 book The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. [ 4 ] In Summer of 2014, [ 3 ] Zane Kesey, son of Ken, took a replica of Furthur on the first major trip since Ken took the bus to Europe in 1999, on a 15,000 mile tour [ 5 ] of the United States, stopping at music festivals and other events.
Ken Elton Kesey (/ ˈ k iː z iː /; September 17, 1935 – November 10, 2001) was an American novelist, essayist and countercultural figure. He considered himself a link between the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the hippies of the 1960s.