“'Tis I, the intrepid traveller, come to lead his merry band of pranksters across the nation, in the reverse order of the pioneers! And our motto will be 'the obliteration of the entire nation' ... not taken literally of course, we won’t blow up their buildings, we’ll blow their minds!"
Zane Kesey, son of noted author and psychedelic revolutionary, Ken Kesey continues to honor his father’s legacy. With the Merry Pranksters around him, He has travelled the United States celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the legendary Acid Tests. The Merry Pranksters today provide a visual and auditory psychedelic experience rather than the psychotropic drugs legal in the 60’s, but the spirit of adventure and a visual feast for the eyes remain.
The Merry Pranksters will be in full regalia at every show on the upcoming Mardi Gras Tour on the west coast with Terrapin Flyer with Melvin Seals & Mark Karan. This tour is a follow up to the successful November Tour where the bus, pranksters and Zane Kesey teamed up with them in Eugene. The event was such a smashing success that it was quickly high time for another chance to join forces in a bigger and better way.
Terrapin Flyer is a Grateful Dead inspired band based out of Chicago that often features two legends of the Grateful Dead extended family Melvin Seals and Mark Karan. Melvin Seals was for 15 years Jerry Garcia’s right hand man. In the JGB he provided a pivotal component of what the band was. Growing up in the Baptist church, Melvin learned the Southern Baptist style of playing the Hammond B3. This style merged perfectly with the Garcia material and Melvin quickly became the go to guy in the JGB to hire incoming musicians to the band. Melvin was the only person to play at both Jerry’s wedding and Jerry’s funeral. Today, he is one of the chief torch bearers of Jerry’s legacy. Melvin has been performing with Terrapin Flyer for 12 years.
Mark Karan was chosen as one of the guitarists slated to fill Jerry’s shoes when the Grateful Dead members decided first to tour together as The Other Ones in 1998. He and Steve Kimock held down the duties of trying to fill very big shoes. The 1998 Other Ones tour is considered by many to be the peak of the post-Garcia output of the remaining band members. After a second Other Ones tour, he became the guitarist of Bob Weir’s Ratdog where he remained in the band for 13 years. Mark was chosen as the guitarist for these bands because of his ability to capture the spirit of Grateful Dead music without sounding derivative of Garcia’s style. Mark has been performing in Terrapin Flyer for 4 years.
The Mardi Gras Tour, presented by the Grateful Web, with Terrapin Flyer featuring Melvin Seals and Mark Karan with The Merry Pranksters was described by Zane Kesey as a “bus load of pranksters and a barrel of monkeys at every stop.” The bus is coming around. Are you getting on?
Tour Dates:
February 5th at Lost On Main in Chico CA
February 6th at Auburn Event Center in Auburn, CA
February 9th at Wild Buffalo in Bellingham, WA
February 10th at Nectar in Seattle, WA
February 11th at The Star Theater in Portland, OR
February 12th at WOW Hall in Eugene, OR
February 13th at The Volcanic Theater in Bend, OR
