Video: Ken, Very Live at Tsunami Books, December 17, 2022: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMBfNFrT-p8

Video, Late Fall, 2022, “Cut It Off at the Waist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_I1tx_nNpI ____________________________________________

Video uploaded 6-6-22: Talking with Ken Babbs out at his place the other day while he was signing books. You have to listen very carefully, but at approx. 4:20 of this video a stunning moment occurs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbMQcFvE0y0

Thank you.

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A BULLET TRAIN OF A BOOK. FAST-PACED, HILARIOUS, RICH WITH ACTION. A HARBINGER OF GOOD THINGS TO COME IN MYSTERIOUS WAYS.

It all began at a cocktail party at Wallace Stegner’s for the Stanford writing class of 1958. Ken Kesey and Ken Babbs became cronies, embarking on a frolicking, rambunctious adventure that lasted over 40 years. Babbs calls the 70 stories of this book “burlesques” because, after 85 years of living, much of it in the wide friendly center of an evolving, at times psychedelic culture, memory no longer can, or even should include an exact retelling, but only a tasty sprinkling of the truth, mixed with an endless enigma, all topped with the best of humor and heart.

The troupe of characters include the Kens Kesey and Babbs, Neal Cassady, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, Gregory Corso, Timothy Leary, Jerry Garcia, Pigpen, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Mountain Girl, Sonny Barger, Larry McMurtry, Wavy Gravy, Hunter Thompson, Kirk Douglas, Paul Newman, Jan Kerouac, Bill Walton, Wendell Berry, a pick-up bed-sized sturgeon, and always the many free-spirited, creative, friendly men and women who made up the Merry Band of Pranksters.

Come along for the ride on the famous bus trip to Manhattan. Join the Hells Angels at their partying best. Drop in for the early acid tests. Experience the Berkeley Vietnam anti-war rally. Relish the stories of Kesey’s pot busts and “suicide.” Climb aboard—“Board”—for six months on the lam in Mexico. Take the Further tours with the Grateful Dead. Make the ultimate move to Oregon, where Babbs and Kesey grew a magical friendship and collaboration until Kesey passed in 2001.

Irreverent, unencumbered by social norms, literary and poetic, “Cronies” is a poignant view of the Sixties and beyond from someone who was there, and remembers it well. Kind of…

CRONIES inspires, dazzles, and leaves everlasting smiles and wonder, all the while expanding our horizons, and reminding us to laugh and think, as we continue to explore and experiment with Ken Babbs—one of the all-time masters. Look out. Hold on. —Bill Walton, former NBA All-Star Basketball Player

Review Quotes:

"Babbs's vivid storytelling ... invites us to connect to the Pranksters' moment and the spirit of restive questioning that powered it and so many other countercultural eruptions. ... Babbs's memories prove arresting, and his reconstructed conversations pulse with energy, wit, and a persuasive sense of truth, especially as Pranksters jape, improvise road poems, and build on each other's mad thoughts with thoughts madder still."

—Publishers Weekly

"...[A] wondrous record: a lengthy memoir by a man who witnessed a great deal and brings it tolife in vivid detail. But it's also a tremendous act of friendship, capturing the visionary Kesey in a way that gives him depth without demystifying his art. A freewheeling, candy-colored journey of comradeship, drugs, art, and 1960s hijinks."

—Kirkus Reviews

"...[A] must-read for aging hippies, admirers of Kesey and anyone who wondered whatever happened to that group calling itself the Merry Pranksters. ... [An] affectionate remembrance of years spent raising hell with his best friend and taking others along for the ride."

—Associated Press, John Rogers

"This book is for anyone who has read Kerouac's On the Road, dreamt of leaving it all behind, getting with close friends, and venturing forth into the unknown. It's an enlightening, adventure-filled book for the inner prankster in us all." 4.5/5 stars

—San Francisco Book Review, Eric Smith

"While previous writers have created caricatures of Kesey, Babbs presents Kesey in a much more personal way, as a friend and pal. The book is an excellent read for anyone interested in learning more about the overlapping circles of the Merry
Pranksters and the Grateful Dead."

4/5 stars

—City Book Review, Seattle, David Keenan

"...[A] rip-snorting tale tempered by the wisdom of time and informed by the psychedelic enthusiasm of a culture founded in youth but defined by eternity."

—CounterPunch, Ron Jacobs

"At its heart, Cronies is a buddy picture. ... Ken Babbs carries on the Prankster spirit into the 2020s, acting as an anthropologist and living historical record, still on the search for a Kool Place."

Tsunami Press is delighted to share with you the literary memoirs of Ken Babbs, co-founder of the Merry Pranksters and a 1960’s cultural icon. CRONIES, A Burlesque: Adventures with Ken Kesey, Neal Cassady, The Merry Pranksters, and the Grateful Dead (Tsunami Press, 1/11/2022) is a wild, colorful ride of high times, exploration, and friendships that have lasted a lifetime. In these 70 stories written in unique prose, Ken’s spirit of adventure comes alive with wondrous anecdotes about America’s counterculture and those who came to symbolize it, including the Grateful Dead, Ken Kesey, Wendell Berry, Allen Ginsberg, and a singular host of others—the cronies.