When I read that Gus Van Sant was rumored to direct a film adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s The Elektrik Kool-Aid Acid Test (and produce an adaptation of Ginnsberg’s Howl) I immediately reached for this bootleg. Thankfully, for all the questionable air brush t-shirts and inappropriately timed hackey-sack sessions, the Dead-heads were indeed righteous in their quest to record all of the band’s performances.
On January 8th, 1965, shortly after dropping their title as The Warlocks, Jerry Garcia and his newly christened Grateful Dead set up at the San Francisco’s Fillmore Auditorium for the biggest Prankster-conducted Acid Test yet. This night of surreal antics and telekinetic grooves curated by novelist/fugative/hell-raiser Ken Kesey, who referred to the Dead as his “pit orchestra,” along with his band of Merry Pranksters.
The Dead’s set takes turns being center of attention and narrating the madness around them, but even with this drifting focus, the quality is exceptional, and what makes this bootleg so exciting is the historic context that it’s given through its background noises. It’s almost more like a field recording than a concert bootleg. Throughout the songs, including what to me is the most pulsating, uncompromising take of the Anthem of the Sun classic “Caution, Do Not Step On Tracks,” ever recorded, are cameos from larger than life characters. Chesire cat mumblings from Kesey, lucid rapping from Babbs and other Prankster mainstays, even Kerouac regular Neal Cassady was present, but was probably off somewhere juggling his sledgehammer. You even get to hear when the cops bust in to try and dissuade the fiendish masses, unplugging cables as the Pranksters scurry about to plug them back in, toying with the feedback and bouncing inspired nonsense amongst the 2,400 person audience. You’re either on the bus or off the bus.
The full recording is available in streaming audio format through the Grateful Dead’s archives.
MP3 :::
Grateful Dead and the Merry Pranksters – Caution, Do Not Step on Tracks
Grateful Dead and the Merry Pranksters – Stage Chaos and More Power Rap
