49. MAGIC TRIP

i always wished i was old enough to be a hippie.  packing into a bus, driving across the united states, living, and loving, maybe with the assist of some drugs--just being.  my thoughts about a hippie lifestyle, and probably those of most people, likely come from the magic trip that ken kesey and the merry pranksters took in the psychedelically painted "further" bus in 1964.  the film reconstructs over 30 hours of footage that was filmed over the several week trip, cut and interspersed with audio of each prankster remembering and commenting on the trip 10 years later.  kesey had intended to make his own documentary, but never finished.   deciding to go to the new york world's fair served as the impetus of the trip; but, of course, it all became so much more.  kesey had written "one flew over the cuckoo's nest" and "sometimes a great notion", but was burned out on writing.  he'd also had multiple experiences with the altered consciousness created by dropping acid following his first experience being a subject in a stanford university scientific experiment on the drug.  combined, the psychedelic experience was documented while it happened.  the pranksters get stuck in the desert; unknowingly swim in a segregated lake in new orleans; finally make it to new york only to be disappointed by the fair; party with alan ginsberg; hang at the home of timothy leary, play in yellowstone national park and return to san francisco where they revel in the music of the grateful dead--all the while smoking pot, dropping acid, having sex and filming everything.  i love this period in our history.  i really enjoyed learning more from the very beginnings of what is now perceived to be a hippie lifestyle.  very free; very cool; very magical.