#castaliafoundation

[ginzyblog]

Neal Cassady & I went upstairs to attic at Millbrook estate near Poughkeepsie, big house where Tim Leary's Castalia Foundation was then experimenting with psychedelic DMT, a half hour trip. Here Neal … watched over by Susan Metzner in charge of holding the vial of clear liquid, [to be] injected. I'd driven up from N.Y. with Kesey's Merry Pranksters in their bus, Fall 1964.

[ginzyblog]

KRon Bevirt (in rocker back to camera), Ken Babbs (with stick), and to his right: Ken Kesey, George Walker, Sandy Lehmann-Haupt during the famous Merry Prankster’s visit to Millbrook, New York, Summer 1964, snapped by Allen. The woman and the man on the far left are not with the pranksters, and so far haven’t been identified. Anyone wanna take a crack at who they are?

Timothy Leary & Richard Alpert (Ram Dass) had been conducting psychedelic session for the past year in the sprawling  64 room mansion east of town, trying their best not to attract attention to themselves, so the glaring wildness of the Pranksters bus was not entirely welcome. This would be the first time Tim Leary met both Kesey and Neal Cassady.  In fact, it’s likely that Leary and Cassady were on the bus meeting when Allen snapped this photo.

Described by Allen:  Merry Prankster’s day-glo painted bus Neal’’d driven cross-country and upstate to Leary’’s retreat at Millbrook N.Y., he’’d come honking up the estate driveway to park by the big house, Kesey & friends like a many-headed loudspeaker’d monster psychedelic rhinoceros in quiet woodlands recently raided by G. Gordon Liddy & local constabulary without search warrants looking for drug busts, L.S.D. still legal those years. Tim’d come downstairs to visit bus. Summer 1964 (caption and photo: Allen Ginsberg, courtesy Stanford University Libraries / Allen Ginsberg Estate)

[ginzyblog]

Korean War Vet Ken Babbs, captain of Ken Kesey’s “Trips Festival” bus, co piloting Neal Cassady on amphetamine at wheel rolling up highway to Millbrook estate near Poughkeepsie [sic] N.Y. where Dr. Tim Leary’s Castalia Foundation was then experimenting with D.M.T. on half-hour psychedelic trip useful for psychiatric sessions. Burglar Gordon Liddy, then assistant D.A. in Poughkeepsie raided the Foundation a number of times illegally lacking search warrants during that season, so Castalia folk were jittery on arrival of honking Day-glo graffiti’d “Merry Prankster” Further bus which’d been driven crosscountry S.F. to N.Y. via Texas before Fall 1964 Presidentiad, “A Vote For Goldwater is a vote for fun” logo painted above bus side windows, L.S.D. Kool-aid in pitcher in icebox. Kesey & Pranksters’d met with Jack Kerouac a day before, & set out to visit hero Leary first time, I went along, late summer 1964.

(photo & caption: Allen Ginsberg, courtesy Stanford University Libraries / Allen Ginsberg Estate)

#nealcassady #kenbabbs #kenkesey #dmt #psychonauts #ggordonliddy #poughkeepsie #millbrook #allenginsberg #timothyleary #drtimothyleary #merryprankster #gratefuldead #jackkerouac #beatgeneration #ontheroad #barrygoldwater #1964presidential #lsd #castaliafoundation #drtimothyleary (at Millbrook, New York) https://www.instagram.com/p/CFUVbHcBThl/?igshid=nck15akej3ik