This entry contains legacy content from the earler Phish.net's FAQ file and/or from earlier editions of The Phish Companion. It may be incomplete and/or out-of-date, but we hope to update it soon.

    If you haven't had the pleasure and privilege of reading The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe, do yourself a favor and check it out. It chronicles the adventures of The Merry Pranksters and their most famous of vehicles, Furthur. No short description can do this crew sufficient justice; if you don't know about them, find out!
    Ken Kesey, Ken Babbs, The Merry Pranksters and their infamous bus, Furthur, appeared at the Phish gig on 8/14/97 in Darien Center, NY. This pit stop was part of the Prankster's “GrandFurthur” tour that was en route to the Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. During Phish's performance of “Colonel Forbin’s Ascent,” instead of finding the great and knowledgeable Icculus, Colonel Forbin instead found Ken “Uncle Sam Bozo” Kesey. Kesey, dressed as Uncle Sam, appeared on the stage and proclaimed that the Bozos have been missing for two years, but are on Phish tour now. Kesey called on his fellow Pranksters to join the stage – the “Tin Man,” “Scarecrow,” and Ken Babbs as “Frankenstein” – to help him find the Bozos, who soon appeared in white costumes. Near the end of this most unusual “Forbin's,” Trey commented: “this is what happens after you do too much acid 30 years later...” Indeed!
    While the spirit of The Merry Pranksters lives on, Ken Kesey died of complications arising from liver cancer in November 2001. After his death fellow Prankster Ken Babbs noted: “Ken Kesey, a great husband, father, granddad and friend. Done in by a bum liver. As always, he gave it a great fight, but his body pulled its last dirty trick and done him in. If he has one legacy it is for us the living to carry on with courage, compassion, generosity and love.”