Art Beat; Interview with Ken Kesey on Writing in Oregon; Ken Kesey

Any where there is good but boy gets good pictures. Jamie does it gets sweet pictures. Rocky Rocky Horror. OK good. Thank you. Now you were saying about Magic Magic and I was interested in that a long time before I thought of his writing. And yet that's what a writer does it takes the attention of his audience and turns it on something and tries to make that thing seem real it's not real which is words on paper. He creates this thing in the mind of a reader. Oh mercy me. Well I was you know that was a hard I was marking both full scale bark. And when you see it happen whether it's in writing or music whether it's Bob Dylan or Garcia

or whether it's its chorus or Fellini. When those things happen you think that was on your mind per minute go snap and it's through that little crack that it leaves that all magic flows through and. It's all a trick with some tricks are better than others. And again the great tricksters are people like Hemingway Carroll worked his trick is a whole lot more complicated. He's he's writing fast off the top of his head and trusting his soul to do the magic. Where Hemingway wrote very hard and very long and trusted his mind to the magic and father of a very drunken very fast and trusted the South to do his magic. And what about you. You Jentleson

that thing yesterday about Josh from CBS that had died recently he was head of the PBS for many years and one of his lessons was to keep the first sentences in something very short. And I've often thought that is one of the reasons for Cuckoo's Nest success is the first sentence is three words long and just that as a go fashion journalistic idea you don't start off with a long sentence you start with a short sentence and and work with that. And those are just 10 moves that you learn to do when you're writing and working with pictures. It's more complicated. They're still coming down the same stuff. Boy you're working with the mind of somebody there. You're leading him along and you have something you want to happen in their mind. And when it happens it's wonderful. That was what was always nice about going to see the dead up here in Oregon because an Oregon audience is a very special

audience that everybody talks about you know we all support a losing basketball team a losing football game for years waiting for them to make that one contact and a Grateful Dead audience in Oregon to listen to mediocre music you know two three hours to have that king hit and when it hits everybody in the audience and people on the stage all know it. That was it. We finally hit something where everything connects and it all blooms in everybody's mind the same time. And that's part of the psychedelic experience. And that wasn't available to people 50 years ago. Just electronically available and never getting to where they're using them. The video and projecting the video up there so that you not only see the small character on stage with you realize but you see the great big character above them like Mick Jagger. That will be a common thing in an opera. Before long you will see the people up there small that you also see them quite

large above and then pretty soon you know you'll see people accommodate that technique into the story like save that a pigeon here or a raven. We better saying up to this point where you throw the raven in the air and keyed in on the TV is a shot of the Raven at that moment. The fact that the shooter is away. As it is they just keep turning up the sound turning up until you can't hardly hear it anymore in Iraq or Osho and they've ignored the face you know think how many things you've seen of rock n roll people on stage or just anything that doesn't have the footlights the footlights are part of the magic it's the fire. The light comes up hits underneath your eyes and it hits you underneath your cheeks and give you these this strange melodramatic look. I can't pay the rent. Oh you must pay the rent I can't pay the rent that bright little thing that goes on in the face with foot lights. The people who are working the stage they can only think of it like other lights

like a stab stab around the outer circle. Color color the smoke machine. Things go off like this. But the simple thing of the face and how much is communicated with the face. I do these stories that I travel around and do with with kids. One is a little trigger the squirrel story and the other one's a C one story. I've memorized the trick or the squirrel story so I can do almost a half an hour from memory. And I've almost got the other one memorized that see lies Tory It's about a hour. Because when you take your eyes off somebody in the audience and you looked out of the book you break the magic. If you continually look up and deal with them like this you gotta hang on to what they have to look below the book you break the magic. We've started Babs and I started wearing the hearing things in our ears. Which is the story and then you talk right after it. And it's very hard to do but once you get it rolling you know that you've got to keep up with it because it goes on past you then you stammer and Stanley you can't question again. But it's to

perform to an audience that you're letting them know that you respect them enough to know that you're dealing with that audience all the time. It's like signing these boxes. Each one of these people gets with these boxes knows that we've all worked on it and that we haven't turned it over to the Viking back in New York. It hasn't been part of anything that they want to do. So we're able to reach this audience through this medium and let them know that we're. Responding to each and every one of us well as we can which is just courtesy. People often apologize for asking for my autograph and I always tell them a thing my dad says you never out grow your need for compliments. How can an autograph be anything but a compliment and the same way with these boxes the fact that these people are out there and they're our friends friends we haven't met but I've

already that will be all there and there is usually about twenty two years or younger. Are about 50 years and older. We missed a big section right there in the middle and we try to go back and get a good poly eyeball Gallus with what wondered out the bus partnership idea. It will be outside of that. Do you have enough stuff from here. No need to get a few more shots of everything OK. And that room. You see how we transferred that stuff. We projected it with a five bladed fan through the projector so we didn't get the rollover and then shot the projection and run the image through the computer. So a lot of this footage is better than your original footage. It's amazing. I look up there and here it is saying we're projecting over here here's this picture. This about 10 times better. And we've only recently learned it off the wall

because it's a lot. Of the images. This is happy favorite salad. Which. Means I'm leaving. It's got a mission chappies theory there's something very un doggedly. About. Computers it's. Really good for us. Also. Also. We were followed around the Nailon by. A group from Channel 4 and we get it playing football. Carey in that deck they go thing in carrying the camera another to go think you know look at this. It's amazing stuff and this is I'm taking this to my son because he's got a little mini TV and the stuff that we had it with over there

is a lot of the little mini dv Dex and flip up you got cheaper and more powerful all the time. And you know for an artist not to use that art there's a lot I bet it's a way of doing. It's a way of doing something it's already old fashion by the time the book comes out. I tell you I'm a little ashamed sometimes of the profession of being a writer. Because. As I do it now I see how much I was bending it toward. This New York consciousness you know and or L.A. concert. Absolutely I have two words. It's like. Musical notes. I don't own a piece of paper. All of these machines will break if scratches on the wall that people always use.

Yes and very very hard lesson work. Said right away you have it. Oh no there in the back of the van. Forgot about the band the like they were the way the big band that is moving around the way the band of it. You made some JM Yeah your good one. It's. Like the. Only thing. We. Can think of take this notion very poison very is just when it looked like apricot. There I go. Yeah. I've got some of your cock eyes like they might be because we got all the berries you know and I think just put up a bunch of berries and yeah and. The.

Oh well I guess but you know what. Oh yeah. OK.

It's going to sunshine before we get the Cosco mini. OK. First thing with those disco.

That's pretty good. Turns more water in. We did this. Down the wow. For a benefit. And it was at night in this kind of bar place. And you're able to look it comes up in there. Take the camera right down into the stuff and project it on the wall. And one value obviously got up to take a look at his let me look at this spot. I don't believe you do in that look that he'd like me were doing that

and it's been projected that the wall would dip tiny Harding. Has an award she got either for kneecapping or hubcap and we were unsure what we had a little wind up baby doll that skated very very slowly. It's on our website. OK. We're still going to do is wait bad if you're here with the boxes. But you can see what a great places it is have bus back in terms of lights. Like. Ask question my times are how you learn about working with these

cameras is how. Vital lighting is to us. And it takes the kids along. I learned this here. The shooter with things like colors like. Swedish poor. With no shadows. How long has it been since DOS has been on the road. Oh it could have ended last year. And since then we've got up to a mushroom convention and. On Easter we climb to the top of the hill all the way over the hill. A bus waits on the other side so we could we could just be right now by five and right see it. Oh right right. It works good. It's dusty and needs to be. Reworked for the set so long in the shipping yards or because it has to set so many weeks before it clears customs and.

Nothing is harder than the sun. It really builds up to your things. Who did all the work on this one. Just everybody everybody. Oh yeah it's a continual job. People who start off with a. Ribbon and plan paint it they don't understand it. Boy you got to keep a rig looking sharp it looks like faded hippies. And it's it's a chore. But it was so nice in England. Everywhere this bus went. Everybody knew it would come out there to see it. They were all your friends. And the four year olds are the best. You see these little four year olds come up this bus they have no notion who Tom Wolfe is or the Grateful Dead and they look over and they're going to look at it and break into a smile because it's a school bus and everybody knows what a school bus school bus. Something comes by. Picture takes you somewhere. You learn something and it picks you up and brings you back and you're safe in your home and

mom's there. Yeah waiting for Babs. To end an existence I think Paul Revere and The Raiders were around before us but that's about it. The second oldest band. In existence except for Paul Revere and The Raiders we were around for the Rolling Stones. This is Adam Adam as you can see is reaching out to the power and the glory wears down below him who see all this on tumblr Old Glory coming through. That represents the fall and fall of man and you see it circulating up there through the great steak fish yoni and on up into the perfect equilibrium which is represented by Pogo the possum.

Go give Babs a call naturals come in he's got all the boxes I didn't bring the boxes. Oh. I.

Designed it. The feet. I don't mind it. Oh. I keep getting a busy signal out there. The office were bad as it is. You guys want to walk down and look at the old bus Well yeah yeah let's do that. You know I'd like to do. It's it's down to toward the pond right yeah. OK well I can do is just like to get. Greg and Jean down by the pond ahead you know. And since it's long I think you'll need to fix.

The lights a lot like this. It's flying they have such good players. I think angled down there will catch up to you. OK. I'll make another try on the phone. And in fact i'll as well leave it. I'll be right there on the phone. This is where I'm going to ask him about the influence of being in Oregon where I'm going to ask him about the influence of being in Oregon. So stay tuned right here. Now in a minute. If I was talking to you in your right.

Blue and it's black Mary's they're mad they're green and they turned black and would turn to look I'm black. You're you you're from Oregon. You moved back here a long time ago. You've been here a long time. How does how does being it in Oregon figure in your work. My dad has property and then my brother. In the ME. And. We know we know those people n. Tell a lot about it. How low the pond is. It should be about another three feet. But we have nutrients you know nutria all men are the baddest animal in the world. We trap these nutrient back in the river and there's. We took 17 down there last year and

they make holes in the bank of the pond siphons out too fast. And when it's like this my stomping grounds. Up there is where Jett is buried. And. The kids spend a lot of time down here. And there. Their kids spend a lot of time down here. And we have some. Gargantuan frogs. Waiting to see him. And that's of mediocre from you got one prog called no legs. Each other frogs and that's why he's an Alabama frog. Most of our bull frogs are important. Like he's notorious like the era when the starling. Big bass and their.

Happy I'll show you where the path is just follow him down thought of us. John on the bus happy go ahead. OK GOOD JOB us go ahead OK. Kids call it the ghost bus. Grandkids do. You. Know about here. OK. Go ahead. See we still got a little bit of water but not usually what we do. A few years ago. We had a field trip. We do one every ten years. We do have 70 to 80 to

90 to and at 92 Garcia got real sick so he couldn't make the trip. So we took all the poor people that come on vacations and they never knew. We told them we'd do a concert down here. And we set up a concert. Great concert on the back of the truck. No charges. Everybody got to get on that stage and do their number had one girl had a ferret. It was hooked up to a little cart and another ferret in the cart. And her act was that one parent poll the other parent across stage you know it's like a 30 second show. But it was good for 30 seconds. And the kids used to come down here and camp. This was camp he's e right in there amongst these big old cottonwoods. They stay down here. They show up at the house for milk

and the essentials. Maybe back down here. It's been a lot of time here in this one. Great heavens from you you can see how things live and prosper and so on. But when you blackberries watch it. The Smithsonian. Psy thought they were getting the bus. There was a lot of stuff in the paper about it. They had a budget. Hero Story. I knew better. They never called me or said anything to me so I just said let's fix up another bus. So we put it put ourselves together a bus and then drugless from down here to hide it. And. With our other boss everybody's went for it completely

even though they if I thought about it couldn't possibly have been the same bus in 1947 that one incident isn't 39 but that one is older to us now than this what it was to us then one because there was that many span of years you know it was we did it 64 was 39. We did this one. Eighty nine or something and after 700 more distance. But I love it down here. People keep coming down and one picks it up. Smithsonian when you're sure so sure it was going to go back there that we staged an uprising when the young pranksters and the old pranksters. While we were giving a talk on the young installment we came out and there were the outline my kind of crime scene was used in that and all the people all the press that were in there just completely went for it hook line and sinker. And

they've stolen the bus to put out an APB on the bus that they took the bus. They painted it this is the one up there and they painted it all over with a water base blew up on top of it they painted Stockton school for the dumb and drove it back up and hid it in my brother's yard for a long time and we were able to suck the Smithsonian in a lot of the other people into believing the bus had disappeared for quite a number of months. Finally the AP wire service got begin to get an inkling that we were tricking him. Named Jeff Bernard lives and actually he was the first one that kind of pulled the covers on it. And at that point everybody said all we all knew they did. They just went for it. Yeah. It didn't ever run much afterward.