I was an avid reader as a child and several books fired my imagination but none really altered my way of thinking.
Then, in the early to mid-nineties I was given a copy of Tom Wolfe’s Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test and a switch was thrown in my brain. Yes, in hindsight I’m aware that Wolfe wasn’t actually around for most of the things he wrote about and there are some embellishments to events and happenings, but the book opened something in my mind and it never really got closed again.
While drugs are a major part of the story of The Merry Pranksters, I have no interest in them. I think what fascinated me was the freedom aspect, the ability and knowledge to be yourself and hang the rest of it, to let your freak flag fly!
It felt liberating, it led to a deeper appreciation of the psychedelic music I was beginning to listen to but oddly never let me fathom some of the literature. Go figure!
I still spend a fair amount of time hiding the weirder aspects of my personality due to my job and having to exist with anxiety in the wider, scarier, real world, but when I’m comfortable and in full flow the tangents I go off on often get me lost, let alone the company I am in.
I’m about to come to the end of Cronies by Ken Babbs, someone who was actually there. It’s still a woven narrative but aren’t we all just stories anyway? It feels truer, less “whacky” but still with the same message.
I was lucky enough to meet some of the Pranksters on there UK trip in 1999. It remains a remarkable day in my personal history. If you haven’t already you can read about it here.
You can get a copy of The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test here (Other book stores exist, this is an affiliate link, but honestly I’m cool with you shopping around, I do.)
But if you want a better insight, with an easier rhythm of writing, check out Cronies by Ken Babbs here. (Same thing as above re affiliate link applies)
