The PRANKTOWN BUSRIDERS are a
Cosmic Baseball Association team playing in
Cosmic Middleleague.
The team is comprised of members of the
Merry Pranksters, a
1960s guerilla troupe of anarcho-artists. They were, as social historian
Lauren Kessler writes, "a transgenerational bridge between the
Beats and the
hippies."
Ken Kesey and his friend
Ken Babbs were the progenitors of the Pranksters. Babbs actually conceived the idea of the "prank" and Kesey turned it into
performance art.
The team's roster consists of:
Cathy Adams aka "
Mountain Girl"
She joined the Pranksters at
La Honda after their east coast trip. She and
Jerry Garcia fell in love at the S.F. State Acid test (1966).
Catcher
John Babbs aka "
Sometimes Missing"
Ken Babbs' brother. He was a college English teacher who took the trip during his summer vacation.
Infield
Ron Bevirt aka "
Hassler"
The official Prankster
photographer. Bevirt got on the bus just after finishing a tour of duty in the
U.S. Army.
Leftfield
Page Browning aka "
Cadaverous Cowboy"
First met Kesey at
Perry Lane in
Palo Alto. Not initially part of that crowd but a true Prankster member with a tent in La Honda.
Firstbase
Jane Burton aka "
Generally Famished"
Friend from the Perry Lane period. She took the bus ride so she could see friends in
New York.
Pitcher
Kathy Casano aka "
Stark Naked"
She got on the bus hoping and dreaming of becoming a
movie star.
Pitcher
John Cooke
Pitcher
Paul Foster
Joined the Pranksters in La Honda after their trip to New York. He was a
computer programmer but as a Prankster he made signs like the one outside the La Honda camp that said, "
No Left Turn Unstoned."
Outfield
Norman Hartweg
A
playwright from
Michigan, living in
Los Angeles, Kesey invited Hartweg to La Honda to help edit the 50+ hours of 16mm film shot during the Pranksters' trip to New York.
Infield
Denise Kaufmann aka "
Mary Microgram"
A
San Francisco native she met the Pranksters shortly after their trip to New York.
LSD turned her on to music and she was deeply involved in the "
acid tests."
Pitcher
Charles Kesey aka "
Brother Charlie"
Ken Kesey's brother who climbed on the bus for the trip to New York. He went on to be a successful
acidophilus yogurt manufacturer.
Pitcher
Dale Kesey aka "
Highly Charged"
Ken Kesey's cousin who also climbed aboard the bus for the trip east.
Centerfield
Fay Kesey
Born in
Idaho she is Ken Kesey's wife. They were
high school sweethearts in
Springfield, Oregon and got married during their first year of college at the
University of Oregon.
Shortstop
Zane Kesey
Infield
Steve Lambrecht aka "
Zonker"
He was on the bus en route to see his
girlfriend in New York. He grew up in
San Jose and as a teenager he had watched
Neal Cassady changing truck tires at an auto shop. After his Prankster years he returned to San Jose where he owns a
hazardous waste disposal company.
Thirdbase
Sandy Lehman-Haupt aka "
Dis-mount"
He met Kesey in November 1963 in New York at the opening of the stage version of
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Sandy was the Pranksters'
sound system artist/technician.
Pitcher
Lee Quarnstrom
The Pranksters' "
Minister of Information." As a young reporter for the
San Mateo Times Quarnstrom went to La Honda to do a story. He became captivated and a Prankster much involved in the "acid tests."
Pitcher
Roy Sebern
A painter and Prankster, he is credited with naming the Pranksters' bus "
Furthur." Sebern was also an originator of the acid
light show.
Pitcher
Robert Stone
After getting out of the
U.S. Navy in 1958 he went to
Stanford on a
Wallace Stegner Writing Fellowship.
Secondbase
Paula Sundstern aka "
Gretchen Fetchin'"
She got on the bus for the east coast trip because she was on her way to a waitressing job at a restaurant owned by the boxer
Jack Dempsey. But she never took the job; she stayed
on the bus.
Rightfield
George Walker aka "
Hardly Visible"
A friend of Kesey's from
Oregon.
Tom Wolfe describes him as "a blond All-American-looking guy...son of a wealthy housing developer...has what is known as a sunny disposition..." After his Prankster years, Walker got into car racing.
Pitcher
Team Staff & Management
Ken Babbs aka "
Intrepid Traveller"
Essentially second-in-command of the Pranksters. He met Kesey at Stanford, then went to
Vietnam and flew helicopters for the
Marines. After his tour of duty Captain Babbs and Kesey formulated the Prankster concept.
Manager
Stewart Brand
Associated with the Pranksters in San Francisco but not an official Prankster. He went on to create and publish the very popular
Whole Earth Catalog.
Coach
Tom Wolfe
Author of The
Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, published in 1968. This book is Wolfe's chronicle of the Merry Pranksters.
G.M.
Ken Kesey aka "
Chief"
American author and prime mover behind the Merry Pranksters. Kesey's first published novel was One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. This novel was in part a result of Kesey having taken psychedelic drugs as part of a government research program. After his second novel,
Sometimes a Great Notion Kesey temporarily gave up writing for performance art as expressed in the "acid test" concept.
Captain
____________________________________________
Your 2001 Bustown Prankriders are ready to take the field!
PLAY BALL! (Cosmic Style!)