GOOD OL’ GRATEFUL DEADCAST

Episode: “Hug the Heat, or the Story of the First Dead Tape”

Date: April 1, 2021

Host: Rich Mahan with Jesse Jarnow
Guests: Ken Babs and Denise Kaufman (Merry Pranksters, Ace of Cups)

Overview

This special April Fool’s Day bonus episode dives into one of the most pivotal and chaotic events in Grateful Dead history: the Fillmore Acid Test of January 8, 1966. The acid test, recorded by Merry Pranksters Ken Babs and Ken Kesey, captured a swirling maelstrom of music, improvisation, and psychedelic mayhem—and created what’s considered the first live Grateful Dead tape. Through new interviews and tape excerpts, hosts Rich Mahan and Jesse Jarnow, alongside Ken Babs and Denise Kaufman, reconstruct the scene, explore the making of the tape, and revel in the legendary interplay between the Pranksters, the Dead, and the crowd as San Francisco's "heat" brings the night to a wild close.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Scene: The Fillmore Acid Test

• Time & Place: Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco, Jan 8, 1966.
• The Band: Formerly known as the Warlocks, the Grateful Dead were playing their first big city Acid Test under their new name.
• Atmosphere: Chaos and creativity, open mics, swirling sounds, people dancing in strobe lights under giant speakers, “orderly chaos.”
• Ken Babs’ Role: Up in “Comm Central” recording, narrating, and participating in the psychedelic theatrics.

“The acid test is everywhere. In this spaceship. Everywhere you are, you're all acid testing and acid tasting.” – Ken Babs (04:22)

2. Technical & Cultural Innovations

• Open Microphone System:
  Microphones distributed throughout Fillmore allowed anyone to broadcast their thoughts, jokes, or rants; voices and sounds echoed and looped via multiple mixers and tape recorders.
• Closed-Circuit Video:
  Early Portapak video cameras and TVs let attendees see themselves, further charging the surreal environment.

“Somebody might say something down in the corner, it would go through a delay and you might hear it up in some other room. Completely unrelated, but there would be the credible timing thing that would be happening...” – Jerry Garcia, 1975 KSAN Interview (09:46)

3. The Acid Test Crowd & Prankster Theatrics

• Entry System:
  Attendees paid $1, had a Polaroid snapped for an “acid test card.” Rule: everyone must stay all night, to ensure safety.
• Performance Art:
  Dancing troupes, fire breathing, hula hoopers, mayhem in every corner; Pranksters provided ongoing comedic and philosophical narration.
• Legendary Tape Characters:
  “Lothar”/“Zofar” emerges as a mysterious, loud voice on the mic, inciting brief paranoia and absurdist humor (10:45).

4. Memorable Prankster & Dead Head Moments

• Denise Kaufman’s Cop Encounter (13:16):
  Recounts watching Jerry Garcia’s gentle “ninja” deflection of a police officer during an Acid Test break, inspiring the moniker “Captain Trips.”

“He just didn’t meet that energy and he just kind of... there was something that he did that was just so sweet and soft… Jerry just totally disarmed that energy… and then he said, okay, well, have a good night.” – Denise Kaufman (14:04)

• Surreal Family Visit (15:30):
  Denise’s parents arrive in black-tie attire while she’s peaking on LSD; she’s momentarily unable to recognize them—classic culture clash.

5. The Legendary End: “Hug the Heat”

• Curfew & Chaos (17:33–22:44): At 2:00 AM, the venue manager announces the dance is over. Mountain Girl insists, “I'm not leaving!” as the crowd resists attempts to shut things down.
  • Police arrive amid sound-sculpture chaos, try to unplug electronics. Mountain Girl re-plugs them.
  • Pranksters’ costumes and attitudes flummox the police; Babs and others handle the cops with a blend of charm and surreal logic.

“He could always really come on to the cops. Just great.” – Jerry Garcia (21:20)

• Iconic Protest:
  Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, and others mock-authority:
  • Bob riffs about “clean fudge” and urges not to hurt the equipment.
  • Weir and Lesh sing the “Star Spangled Banner” loudly in a cop’s ear as others create a cacophony. (24:14)

“Is this thing still on? Arrest everybody, but don’t hurt any of the equipment, you know—it’s our livelihood.” – Bob Weir (23:45)

6. Jerry Garcia’s Psychedelic Soliloquy & The Tape’s Legacy

• A Fitting End:
  The night—and the tape—closes as Garcia steps to the untouched microphone, summing up the night as “good old mindless chaos hassling Ever Hasling.” (29:26)

• Tape as Art:
  Ken Babs edited the Fillmore tape like a two-sided LP, assembling “an amazing and dramatic audio document” considered by some as a “lost Grateful Dead album.”

  • Side A: “More Power Rap,” “King B,” “Hog for your Baby”
  • Side B: “Caution (Do Not Stop on the Tracks),” “Death Don’t Have No Mercy,” “the Meltdown” ending with Garcia’s soliloquy (32:19–33:09)

7. Aftermath & Acid Test Traditions

• Tape’s Fate:
  The original tape was never formally released due to legal concerns and printers balking at its radical content.

• Pranksters’ Literary Legacy:
  Ken Babs describes self-published poetry, prose, and chapbooks related to the Pranksters’ adventures (33:57).

• Denise Kaufman’s Closing Ritual:
  At the close of Acid Tests, she’d mellow the space with gentle music—classic Acid Test landings included her song “Gemini,” which later appeared on Ace of Cups’ 2018 album (35:26).

“A lot of times, what fell to me... was as the Acid Test would wind down, I would just get on a mic... and play more kind of spacey or mellow, real calm music. So usually my own.” – Denise Kaufman (35:26)

Notable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• Ken Babs:
  “We have reached our first emergency and we haven’t even got by the boundary. Why don’t you rectify it pretty damn quick? Everybody put their worries and frets to mind to produce some electricity.” (05:16)

• Jerry Garcia:
  “Everything that happened would sort of fit right in perfectly, you know.” (09:46)

• Lothar/Zofar (tape):
  “You people out there, listen to me. This is Zofar speaking. This is a trap. A trap! You are all busted! Busted, you fools!” (10:45)

• Denise Kaufman:
  “And Jerry looked at him as he was walking away, and he took his cap and he went, ‘trips, Captain.’ And I was like... And we walked inside and Keezy was right there. And I said to Keezy, ‘I just saw Jerry do, like, magic.’” (14:04)

• Mountain Girl:
  “I’m not leaving. ... Nobody’s going to kick me out of here.” (18:11)

• Bob Weir:
  “On the road again. ... Get the people on the road.” (22:51)
  “Is this thing still on? Arrest everybody, but don’t hurt any of the equipment, you know, it’s our livelihood.” (23:45)

• Phil Lesh (suggestion):
  “Let’s sing the Star Spangled Banner.” (25:06)

• Ken Babs:
  “...You know as well as I do nobody's gonna be turned off. We're not machines after all. We're human beings. Can't turn us off. I know he can try to turn me off, but my switches have all...” (26:19)

• Jerry Garcia (Soliloquy):
  “Even as it started, even with that same old dude, good old mindless chaos hassling Ever Hasling.” (29:26)

• Ken Babs (tape legacy):
  “And really, I think it's really one of the best tapes we've ever made.... That Acid Test tape just kind of slid into obscurity.” (32:19)

Important Timestamps

• 02:11–07:18 — Introduction to the Fillmore Acid Test, technical chaos, and the Dead’s new identity.
• 09:41–11:33 — Open mic craziness; emergence of “Zofar.”
• 13:16–15:26 — Denise Kaufman’s cop/Jerry Garcia story and family encounter.
• 17:33–22:44 — Venue shutdown, resistance from Mountain Girl, arrival of police; peak of chaos.
• 24:14–26:19 — Weir and Lesh mock the authorities; the group’s irreverent protest via song and quip.
• 29:26 — Jerry’s psychedelic closing monologue.
• 32:19–34:54 — Tape’s creation, editing, and its near-publication saga.
• 35:26–37:26 — Denise Kaufman on transition music and the tradition of gentle “landings” to end Acid Tests.

Tone and Takeaways

The episode is humorous, irreverent, and rich in details about psychedelic experimentation, artistic chaos, and countercultural innovation. The interplay between Pranksters and the authorities, the creation of open musical spaces and tapes, and rituals like playing “Gemini” all contribute to the enduring mythology of the Grateful Dead and their world. For “the committed and the curious,” this is the primal soup from which the Dead’s improvisational legend emerged.

For further reading/listening and additional resources, visit dead.net/deadcast.