FAREWELL TO THE CHIEF
By John Allen Cassady
"One flew East, one flew West, and one flew over the cuckoo's nest."
The long, strange trip came to an end for Ken Elton Kesey at 3:45 AM
Saturday, November 10th, 2001, after 66 years and a few hundred
lifetimes on this planet.
Ken was a great friend to my father, Neal Cassady, and almost a second
father to me after Neal died in 1968 when I was 16 years old. Kesey was
one of the kindest and wisest men I've ever known, and he was one of my
biggest heroes and mentors starting soon after he met Neal in the early
'60s, a feeling which continues in me to this day. The pearls of wisdom
that he shared with me and others around him are too numerous to count,
but thankfully he left a great legacy in his body of work that will last
forever.
Neal always wanted to be a provider to his family, and little did he
know that much of that provision would be accomplished posthumously
through doors that were opened to me because of his famous friends like
Kesey and the Grateful Dead, Jerry Garcia being another of my heroes
from about 1965 on. Much to the worry of my mother, Kesey and Neal would
come collect my sister and me at high school, giving the authorities
some song and dance about dentist appointments or whatever, and they'd
whisk us away to see the Dead play at some local high school prom dance,
just after they changed their name from the Warlocks. Some fond, early
memories there. I recall once being called to the school office, not
knowing what I had done to deserve what was surely going to be trouble
from the evil principle, only to open the door and see Neal and Ken
dressed in American flag jumpsuits complete with day-glo red Beatle
boots and silly hats. The principle looked confused and said to me "this
man claims to be your father!" He looked like he thought the circus was
in town.
My mother needn't have worried. When I'd try to sniff the smoke from the
refers being passed around the car, Dad would admonish the passengers
"no dope for the kid!" Kesey knew I was disappointed, but always honored
Neal's request in those early days.
After Neal's death Kesey would go out of his way to look us up when he
was in the Bay Area, and he showed up unannounced at my wedding in
November of 1975 on his way back from Egypt, while writing a piece for
Rolling Stone. That was one heck of a party. I still have pictures of
him holding my then-3-month-old son, Jamie, and beaming like a proud
godfather.
Another warm memory was back stage at a Dead show in Eugene when Kesey's
fellow prankster Zonker ceremoniously presented me with one of 2
railroad spikes that the Dead's roadie Ramrod, while on a sacred
pilgrimage, had extracted from the tracks where Neal died in Mexico. And
again when Kesey and Ken Babbs bequeathed Neal's black and white
stripped shirt to me that he had worn on the bus trip to New York in
1964, this time during a show we did at the Fillmore in 1997 before
bringing the bus to Cleveland, where it was inducted into the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame. Ken called and asked if I would drive "Further" into
Ohio "because Neal can't make it this trip." Although veteran Prankster
driver and mechanic George Walker did the actual driving, Kesey's heart
was in the right place. That road trip was surpassed only by the 4-week
tour of the UK in 1999, sponsored by London's Channel Four studios.
Traveling with Ken in close quarters for that long really made for a
lasting bond between us, and he was at his peak as a performer. It was
fun for me to play guitar behind his harmonica and the Thunder Machine.
I last saw him as we said our goodbyes at SFO after that incredible
journey, and I was sad to have not been able to do so again before last
Saturday.
Ken Kesey was a great teacher and a beautiful soul, and he will be
missed by all that his magic touched.
Back to Kesey Pages
Rainbow Puddle Home