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Small Large Xtra large 2X large

Sizes

Med. Large Xtra large

Regular shipping charges:
Order Amount Shipping Fee
T-shirts are FREE
Hoodie and Jacket are $7.00 ea

RETURNS/EXCHANGES
Contact Eli Babbs for assistance
info @ pranksterapparel.com
call 1-503-477-4838

All prices are in U.S. dollars.

We only hope to break even, as all proceeds from the sale of these items will be invested back into the construction of a more equitable exposure of artists who are all too often blessed less with money than talent. You can find a list of Pranksters who participate in this exchange at the bottom of the page.

All my life I’ve heard stories of the Sixties and they always centered around the Merry Pranksters. But, who exactly are the Merry Pranksters? As we say in one of our songs, “Forty years of history since 1969, still the paragraph continues, time for our next line.” After absorbing a lifetime of verbal accounts and history lessons, I've decided to tell you my version of the Pranksters’ story and how the term was invented...

In 1964 my dad, Ken Babbs (and what a Prankster he is, joking his way through life!) returned to the world after a two year stint in Vietnam. He re-united with a graduate writing class buddy, Ken Kesey, who had gained literary acclaim when he’d published One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and its follow-up, the brilliant, sprawling Sometimes a Great Notion.

Together, Kesey and my father hatched a plan to drive a refurbished, Technicolor old school bus—the famous Further, named by Prankster Roy Seburn while painting her—to the New York World’s Fair. But who would pilot this craft? None other than the fastest man alive, one of the world’s great drivers, Neal Cassady, immortalized as the hyper-sexual conman/ avatar Dean Moriarty in Jack Kerouac's On The Road.(2) The plan was document the whole thing on 16mm film from which they’d make a movie about their epic voyage.

It was on this trip that the fantasy player names were born. One key point to the story—particularly important to me!— is when my dad met my mother on the bus. She was christened Gretchen Fetchen the Slime Queen while swimming in a pond. Eventually everyone had a new player name, a new costume, a new alter ego… This dance of names, these new identities which bent and blurred societal roles and expectations was the essential bridge between the Beats and the Hippies that came just a few years later. It was also my dad’s genius way of dealing with his PTSD from the war, and allowed him to keep up with the troops. He called himself the "Intrepid Traveler" (see www.intrepidtrips.com), and everybody on the bus was called the Merry Band of Pranksters, their sacred quest to play instruments, sing songs, and rap with people, all while “looking for a cool place.”

After the Pranksters were born they begin designing events they first called "happenings," which then morphed into the infamous (and for those very in-the-know, still continuing) Acid Tests, the first of which was held at my dad’s place in Santa Cruz, CA. They begin to tune in rather than out, driving the west coast nightlife into new psychedelic territory, inventing and performing new expressions against conformity.

At the Acid Tests the house band was a super-talented group of young bohemian rockers, first called The Warlocks. After their first test they took their permanent name, the Grateful Dead. Many of these people involved in these amazing events became a family of artists, living, playing and creating together, and unwittingly causing a lightning storm of inspiration and emulation throughout the world. This holy goof continues to this day, and many of the original participants continue to perform even now.

As the next generation Pranksters, we’re more than a little pleased and proud to carry on in this silly, beautiful, healing tradition, and this latest idea of mine to produce and distribute Prankster Apparel is just one more link in the chain. I really hope you like what we do- we sure have fun doing it!

Some memorable moments in History:

Big party at La Honda with Ginsberg, Hunter Thompson, and the Hells Angels introduction; the test after the Stones concert; the Trips Fest...
Feb. 1966 last acid tests in Watts
1967 Human Be-in in San Francisco
Feb. 1968 Neal Cassady mysteriously dies in Mexico
Oct. 1969 Kerouac’s dies
1969 Woodstock in New York
Also, Page Browning built the Thunder machine used at many Grateful Dead shows.

Pranksters web media and useful links:
www.skypilotclub.com
www.key-z.com
www.intrepidtrips.com
www.fetchen.com
www.purplesunflowerproductions.com
http://rexfoundation.org

Videos:
Lost Creek Gang take it "Further" on YouTube!
Captain Foolish video

TESTIMONIALS:

"Thanks for the music and jacket - rock on !!!!"
Eric Albronda Sky Pilot # 1000, and longtime music producer

"I received the Prankster jacket and T-shirt yesterday. I didn't realize that the joker on the jacket was embroidered. That's a nice touch; and it's warm too. I'll be wearing it starting this weekend. Thanks again,"
Aaron Ferguson www.aaronferguson.com

"You did great! The band was super good and the event was so much fun. So glad I said yes. The best part was hanging out with you guys on the stage. I loved that. I think boots is a cultural hero. Thanks for putting this together. Happy Thanksgiving! Love, MG"

Prankster (Donation) Members to Date:
Eli Babbs, Jude Broderson, Rick Stewart, Ken Babbs, Simon Babbs, Eric Albronda, Lea Jones, Boots Hughston, Vincent Royce, Christopher King, Geoff Sullivan, Aaron Ferguson, Eric Albronda, Arthur Jenkins, Jeremiah Smith, Gary Peterson, Joel Greene, Colin Coogan, Sandra Trionfini, April Butler, Jon Sebree, Erin Schuelke, THOMAS LENNOX, CAT, Captain Foolish, Steve Helper...YOU

AN ACTIVE PRANKSTER MEMBER!

Sizes

Small Large Xtra large 2X large

Prankster Gear: Managers Jacket $120.00
ORDER NOW!

Sizes

Med. Large Xtra large

Prankster Gear: Managers Jacket $120.00
ORDER NOW

Prankster Apparel was onsite at West Fest 2009 in San Francinsco!
The Merry Pranksters and Lost Creek Gang were invited to participate in the 40th anniversary of Woodstock Festival in S.F. Oct. 25th, at Golden Gate Park! What a treat.

Ken Babbs, Carolyn Garcia, aka Mountain Girl, and George Walker. These Original Pranksters were at the first Woodstock in 1969 and recapped history with style and grace, or at least they had fun!

Become a MEMBER TODAY!

Prankster Gear: Managers Jacket $120.00
ORDER NOW!

Sizes

Med. Large Xtra large