You're either on the bus, or off the bus.

May 20, 2001 11:12 AM

You're either on the bus, or off the bus. And some people never leave it. Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters marked the beginning of the psychodelic sixties, LSD, the Greatful Dead, San Francisco as the center of the hippie universe, and 'The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test'. Forty years have passed - here's the legendary bus, 'Further', and here are the hippies who never left the age of Aquarius.
posted by Perigee (11 comments total)

That's "Furthur."
posted by rodii at 12:51 PM on May 20, 2001

I visited Mr. Kesey's office a few months ago, as it's only a few minutes from where I live. While the video he sells is interesting for people interested in the period, the quality and graphic design are literally out of the 1960's. It's too bad Kesey didn't hire professionals to design his video.

An interesting side note: "Further" now has a CD player inside.
posted by Kevs at 1:08 PM on May 20, 2001

Kesey? let a "professional" dick around with a historical document? Suruly you jest.

The times were raw and improvisational. You can't hire that.

posted by Twang at 2:23 PM on May 20, 2001

Actually it's "Further", as documented in the first video.
posted by sudama at 6:59 PM on May 20, 2001

Then why does it say furthur?
posted by rodii at 7:59 PM on May 20, 2001

Heh, sorry, I knew that. Furthur.
posted by Kevs at 8:20 PM on May 20, 2001

The first video tape shows the bus being painted for the first time. They painted "Further" on it. I'm sure it was repainted many many times. The bus trip was in the early sixties, not in 1967 when that photo was purportedly snapped. That looks less like a photo than an illustration to me, though.

I don't want to fight about it.
posted by sudama at 10:18 AM on May 21, 2001

Me either! But "Furthur" has always been part of the legend, so I'm surprised to hear this.
posted by rodii at 10:39 AM on May 21, 2001

Saw a special on this guy on the learning channel a few years back. While his "literary" contrabutions have made the world a lil different, Im sorry to say that in the fast pace of todays life where every moment is topped by the next by the media, I find that the baby-boomer generation is long outstripped by all that has come after it.

We ate them up and sh@t them out, and looked around for the next thing. Their time is now no more relevant than whatever I had for breakfast today.

Fuel for the beast of the modern attention span.

So why do we still make cars for these old tripheads?
posted by Azaroth at 10:31 PM on May 21, 2001

relevance is a big ol' pile of shit.
posted by dagnyscott at 6:25 AM on May 22, 2001

My jaw dropped when I saw it. I suspect that it was painted over and read both ways at different times. If you're interested, you should order the video tape. It's really hard to watch but unbelievably rewarding if you're into this stuff.
posted by sudama at 9:34 AM on May 22, 2001