7-526: Psychedelic film The Acid Tests were a series of parties held by author Ken Kesey primarily in the San Francisco Bay Area during the mid-1960s, centered on the use of and advocacy for the psychedelic drug LSD , commonly known as "acid". LSD was not made illegal in California until October 6, 1966, under Governor Ronald Reagan’s administration. The name "Acid Test" was coined by Kesey, after
14-585: A thousand more turned away each night. On Saturday January 22, the Grateful Dead and Big Brother and the Holding Company came on stage, and 6,000 people arrived to drink punch spiked with LSD and to witness one of the first fully developed light shows of the era. Big Brother and the Holding Company was formed at the Trips Festival. In the audience was painter and jazz drummer David Getz, who soon joined
21-682: Is mostly credited for the sound systems he created for the Trips Festival. Prior to Babbs' creation, it was discovered that particular music usually sounded distorted when cranked to high levels because of the cement floor on the San Francisco Longshoreman's Union Hall (where the Trips Festival was taking place). Babbs being a sound engineer resolved the problem. He made sound amplifiers that would not create distorted sounds when turned up to high sound levels. Organized by Stewart Brand , Ken Kesey , Owsley Stanley , Zach Stewart and others, ten thousand people attended this sold-out event, with
28-768: The hippie movement. The Jefferson Airplane song "A Song for All Seasons" (from Volunteers ) mentions the Acid Tests. 1965 1966 1967 1968 Ramon Sender co-produced the Trips Festival with Ken Kesey and Stewart Brand . It was a three-day event that, in conjunction with The Merry Pranksters, brought together the nascent hippie movement. The Trips Festival was held at the Longshoreman's Hall in San Francisco in January 1966. Counterculture sound engineer Ken Babbs
35-568: The acid test?", and the name was later popularized in Tom Wolfe 's 1968 book The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test . Musical performances by the Grateful Dead were commonplace, along with black lights , strobe lights , and fluorescent paint . The Acid Tests are notable for their influence on the LSD-based counterculture of the San Francisco area and subsequent transition from the beat generation to
42-404: The band. Psychedelic film Psychedelic film Psychedelic film is a film genre characterized by the influence of psychedelia and the experiences of psychedelic drugs . Psychedelic films typically contain visual distortion and experimental narratives, often emphasizing psychedelic imagery . They might reference drugs directly, or merely present a distorted reality resembling
49-442: The term " acid test " used by gold miners in the 1850s. He began throwing parties at his farm at La Honda , California. The Merry Pranksters were central to organizing the Acid Tests, including Pranksters such as Lee Quarnstrom and Neal Cassady . Other people, such as LSD chemists Owsley Stanley and Tim Scully , were involved as well. Kesey took the parties to public places, and advertised with posters that read, "Can you pass
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