Acid Tests

ACID TESTS
 
 
The Acid Tests  were a series of parties held by author Ken Kesey in the San Francisco Bay Area during the mid-1960s, centered entirely on the use of, and advocacy of, the psychedelic drug LSD, also known as “acid”.  LSD-25 had not been made illegal in California until October 6th,1966.  The name “Acid Test” was coined by Kesey, after 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 Tim Scully were involved as well.  Kesey took the parties to public places, and advertised with posters that read, “CAN YOU PASS THE ACID TEST?”, and the name was later popularized in Tom Wolfe’s 1968 book, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.  (More from Wikipedia)
 
 
Stanton Swihart writes of Haymarket Square for Allmusic:  “As the music featured on it was initially utilized as live accompaniment and created expressly with that purpose in mind, the album plays much like the records of the [Jefferson] Airplane’s middle, most psychedelic period, as much visceral experiences to fill San Francisco ballrooms as they are objects for home listening, or like early Grateful Dead recordings, intended as soundtracks for Acid Tests and experimental light shows.  But as with the work of those bands, Magic Lantern transcends its intended purpose; in fact, it is one of the stronger – not to mention one of the earliest – slices of acid rock from the era, outstanding in every way, from [John] Kowalski’s expert drumming, to [Gloria] Lambert’s impressive, insistent singing, to the intensely mood-filled, darkly textured original songs.” 
 
(June 2015)