Merry Pranksters - Merry Pranksters The Merry Pranksters were a circle of people who collected around American novelist Ken Kesey and writer Neal Cassady. They are remembered chiefly for travelling across the United States in a psychedelic painted school bus enigmatically labelled "Furthur." The original purpose of the bus trip was to visit the World's Fair in New York City which took place in 1964. The Pranksters were heavy users of marijuana and LSD, and in the process of their journey they are said to have "turned on" many people whom they encountered to these drugs. These festivals were called "Acid Tests", with the catchword "Can you pass the acid test?" As such the Merry Pranksters were evangelists of a sort for the drug-related psychedelic and hippie counterculture of.
Ken Kesey - accompanied Jack Kerouac on the trip described in Kerouac's On the Road. With the commercial success of his first novel in 1962, Kesey moved to La Honda, in the mountains outside of San Francisco. He frequently entertained friends with parties he called "Acid Tests" involving music (such as Kesey's favorite band, The Warlocks, later known as the Grateful Dead), black lights, fluorescent paint, strobes, and other "psychedelic" effects, and of course LSD (often slipped surreptitiously into a punch). When the publication of his second novel Sometimes a Great Notion in 1964 required his presence in New York, Kesey, Cassady, and others in a group of friends they called the "Merry Pranksters" took a cross-country trip in a school bus nicknamed Further. This trip, described in Tom Wolfe's book The Electric Kool-Aid.
Grateful Dead - in 1967 - the band's breakthrough year - another percussionist, Mickey Hart. Playing originally as The Warlocks, and later "The Grateful Dead" (a name inspired by the Egyptian Book of the Dead), they became the de facto resident band of Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters, with the early sound heavily influenced by Kesey's LSD-soaked Trips Festivals. This early period is covered in Tom Wolfe's "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test." Their musical influences varied widely with input from the psychedelic music of the era, combined with rhythm and blues, jazz, and country. These various influences were distilled into a unique new music that was a synthesis of all American folk music forms to-date; it paid homage to previous forms, and also reflected a sense of adventure and a continuous quest for the "musical.
Furthur - stripped down and remodeled inside and out for a psychedelic excursion across the country with Kesey and his Merry Pranksters on board. The destination sign on the bus was painted to read "Furthur", hence the name. Beat legend Neal Cassady was the driver of the famous bus on its original trip to New York for the opening of Kesey's new book, Sometimes A Great Notion. The trip was filmed by Kesey's friends and is now sold on intrepidtrips.com as "Intrepid Traveller and His Merry Pranksters Leave in Search of A Kool Place". The bus is mentioned in the Grateful Dead song "That's It for the Other One" in the verse "the bus came by and I got on, that's when it all began...yeah Cowboy Neal at the wheel a bus to.
Acid Test - and around the San Francisco area by a group of artists, misfits and musicians called the Merry Pranksters, who were "led" by author Ken Kesey. Money from Kesey's bestselling book One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was used to pay for these parties and the free LSD given out at them. The Grateful Dead, famed 60's counterculture musical group, was born at these Acid Tests. Author Tom Wolfe chronicled the adventures of Kesey and his Merry Pranksters in his seminal work of poetic, Day-Glo neojournalism, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. The Acid Test parties and Wolfe's book were catalysts for the Love Generation migration to San Francisco for the Summer of Love..
The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test - Acid Test, by Tom Wolfe follows Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters as they take the bus Furthur around the country. While all of the pranksters take LSD, Wolfe stays sober and records the whole adventure. This article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by fixing it..
Neal Cassady - Road; Ginsberg mentioned him as well, in his ground-breaking poem, Howl ("N.C., secret hero of these poems..."). In the late 1950's, Cassady settled down, married Carolyn Cassady, and went to work for the railroad. While he kept in touch with his Beat counterparts, they drifted apart philosophically. In 1964, Cassady met up with Ken Kesey and Tom Wolf, becoming part of the Merry Pranksters and serving as the crazed driver of the bus named Furthur which was immortalized in Wolf's novel, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. He later played a prominent role in the California psychedelic scene of the 1960s. After a party in Mexico in 1968 he went walking by a railroad track to reach the next town, but passed out in the cold and rainy night wearing nothing but.
Love Pageant Rally - street protests and rioting, followed by neighborhood curfews. A better form of protest, more suited to hippy culture was needed. "Without confrontation," said Allen Cohen, "we wanted to create a celebration of innocence. We were not guilty of using illegal substances. We were celebrating transcendental consciousness. The beauty of the universe. The beauty of being." Thousands showed up for the event, read a “declaration of independence” after which many placed a tab of acid on their tongues and swallowed in unison. Music was provided by the Grateful Dead and Janis Joplin, with a flatbed truck for a stage. Ken Kesey was on hand with the Merry Pranksters in the legendary bus. The 'Love Pageant Rally' drew several thousand people. It was a warm-up for the Human Be-In the following January, which.
The Merry Wives of Windsor - The Merry Wives of Windsor The Merry Wives of Windsor is a comedy by William Shakespeare. Its date of composition is unknown: it registered for publication in 1602, but was probably several years old by that date. According to legend, the play was the written in response to Elizabeth I's request to have a play about "Jack Falstaff in love". The central character, Falstaff, originally appeared in one of Shakespeare's earlier plays, Henry IV, part 1, and it is often claimed that he was persuaded to revive the character by the Queen herself, who had so much enjoyed the comedic episodes in the earlier work. Critics have universally declared that this is not one of the Bard's best plays, and the Falstaff of Merry Wives is.
Maid Marian and her Merry Men - Maid Marian and her Merry Men Maid Marian and her Merry Men was a UK children's television series created and written by Tony Robinson. It began in 1989, with the last episode shown in 1994. The show was a comic re-telling of the legend of Robin Hood, placing Maid Marian in the role of leader of the Merry Men, and reducing Robin to an incompetent ex-tailor. The programme was much appreciated by children and adults alike, and has been likened to Blackadder, not only for its historical setting and the presence of Tony Robinson, but also for its comic style. It is far more surreal than Blackadder, however, and drops even more anachronisms. Like many British children's programmes, there is a lot of social commentary snuck in, which would.
Merry England - Merry England The term Merry England, Deep England or (more jocularly) Merrie England refers to a semi-mythological, idyllic, and pastoral way of life that the lucky inhabitants of England allegedly enjoyed at some poorly-defined point between the Middle Ages and the completion of the Industrial Revolution. It's a utopian vision of a revisited England, "the thatched cottage, the country inn, the cup of tea, and Sunday roast", which is both a product of the imagination and an ideological construct. The term Deep England is often used by those who dislike this vision, or the use to which it is put. In doing so, they identify themselves as political opponents of the Deep England viewpoint and its supporters. The use of this term has been attributed to.
Karl Guthe Jansky - was assigned the job of investigating the sources of static that might interfere with radio voice transmissions. He built an antenna designed to receive radio waves at a frequency of 20.5 MHz (wavelength about 14.5 meters). It was mounted on a turntable that allowed it to rotate in any direction, earning it the name "Jansky's merry-go-round". By rotating the antenna, one could find what the direction was to any radio signal. After recording signals from all directions for several months, Jansky identified three types of static: nearby thunderstorms, distant thunderstorms, and a faint steady hiss of unknown origin. Jansky spent over a year investigating the third type of static. It rose and fell once a day, leading Jansky to think at first that he was seeing radiation from the Sun. But.
Kitano Takeshi - stage name Beat Takeshi; together they referred to themselves as Two-Beat. This sort of duo stand-up comedy, known as manzai in Japan, usually features a great deal of high-speed back-and-forth patter between the two performers. Two-Beat dissolved when Kitano decided to go solo, but they were one of the most successful acts of their kind during the late Seventies and Eighties. Many of Kitano's routines involved him as a gangster or other "heavy," and his first major film role, Nagisa Oshima's Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (where he starred opposite Tom Conti, Ryuichi Sakamoto and David Bowie) featured him as a sadistic POW camp seargeant during WWII. Films After several other roles, mostly comedic, in 1989 he was cast in the lead for Sono otoko, kyobo ni tsuki (その男、凶暴につき) ("Warning, This Man.
Knott's Berry Farm - the Sky Cabin Tower, which was formerly the Parachute Jump attraction and was, at one time, the tallest structure in Orange County. Camp Snoopy Camp Snoopy is targeted towards younger visitors, with many of the rides and attractions being built specifically for children. It is themed around the Charles Schultz "Peanuts" comic strip characters. Wild Water Wilderness Wild Water Wilderness is a small area that features one major ride: the Big Foot Rapids river raft ride. It is also home to Mystery Lodge, a multimedia show based on an Expo 86 pavilion featuring a Native American storyteller. Indian Trails The most recent addition to the park, Indian Trails is a small area sandwiched in between Camp Snoopy, Ghost Town, and Fiesta Village. It features no real "rides", but instead is a.
Jai alai - Jai alai Jai-Alai means "Merry Festival" in the Basque language. The term is used to denote a fronton (or open-walled arena) used to play a variety of Pelota called Cesta Punta, and, more broadly, to the game itself. The game is characterized by the fast pace of play, in which a 125g. ball (or pelota) covered with parchment skin can travel faster than 180 mph. The ball is placed into play and volleyed by players wearing a wicker basket glove approximately 63 to 70 cm long. The game of jai-alai is popular in countries such as France, Spain and Mexico where, in some regions, the game is played in almost every town and city. In the United States, jai-alai enjoyed a brief period of popularity as a gambling alternative to horse.
Jeremy Brett - a classic edge (he appeared in several Noel Coward plays). He joked that he was rarely allowed into the 20th century and never into the present day. Brett's film career was never as distinguished as his stage and small-screen careers. He played Freddie Eynsford-Hill in the 1964 film My Fair Lady, but his singing voice was dubbed. Brett could sing, however, as he proved when he played Danilo in The Merry Widow on television in 1968. Although he appeared in so many films and was such a familiar face on television, Brett is now best remembered for portraying Sherlock Holmes in a long series of television films (from 1984 to 1994), based on the original stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. After taking on the role, he made few appearances out of.
Joan Crawford - her death, a book titled Mommie Dearest, which was written by the eldest of her four adopted children, Christina Crawford, was published. Friends of Joan were shocked by the tales of outrageous cruelty and called it fictitious. It was made into a film starring Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford, which was seen to be camp by most viewers. Audiences howled with laughter at the overacted, melodramatic portrayal of Crawford. And the child abuse, control issues, et cetera, were acted out as outlandishly as they were written. Joan Crawford died in New York City of a heart attack while apparently ill with cancer. In her will, she gave the two youngest of her adopted children, Cindy and Cathy, $77,500.00 each. But she explicitly disinherited the eldest two, Christina and Christopher, with the.
Jose Feliciano - result was two smashing hits with the singles Poquita Fe (Little Faith) and Uste ( You, uste(d) being a more respectful way to say you in Spanish). After two more, successful albums, Feliciano had become a household name all over Latin America. Then, he moved to Los Angeles, to pursue his dream of becoming a house hold name in the United States too. Feliciano then came up with hits such as Feliz Navidad (I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas!!), and his own version of The Doors' song Light My Fire. He immediately became a sensation all across North America and he sold millions of albums there with those two songs. In 1968, at the height of protests against the Vietnam War, Feliciano was given the opportunity to sing the Star-Spangled.
Joan Cusack - remained for one season. Her other television work includes a short-lived series What About Joan (2001) and It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie (2002). She received Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress nominations for Working Girl (1988) and In & Out (1997). Filmography Where the Heart Is (2000) High Fidelity (2000) Toy Story 2 (1999) (voice) Runaway Bride (1999) Cradle Will Rock (1999) Arlington Road (1999) In & Out (1997) A Smile Like Yours (1997) Grosse Pointe Blank (1997) Two Much (1996) Mr. Wrong (1996) Nine Months (1995) Corrina, Corrina (1994) Addams Family Values (1993) Toys (1992) Hero (1992) The Cabinet of Dr. Ramirez (1991) My Blue Heaven (1990) Men Don't Leave (1990) Working Girl (1988) Married to the Mob (1988) Stars and Bars (1988) Broadcast News (1987) Allnighter, The.
John Lothrop Motley - legation in Russia, but resigned his post within three months. Returning to America, he soon entered definitely upon a literary career. Besides contributing various historical and critical essays to the North American Review, including a remarkable essay on the Polity of the Puritans, he published in 1849, again anonymously, a second novel, entitled Merry Mount, a Romance of the Massachusetts Colony. About 1846 the project of writing a history of the Netherlands, in particular the period of the United Provinces, had begun to take shape in his mind, and he had already done a large amount of work on this subject when, finding the materials at his disposal in the United States inadequate, he went to Europe in 1851. The next five years were spent at Dresden, Brussels and the Hague.
