Captain Gas, From Ken Kesey to Steven Spielberg

1970, There was a time I was known as Captain Gas. The gas was Nitrous Oxide, and Ken Kesey turned me on for the first time sitting in the Hog Farm bus I lived on, parked in Joyce Mitchell’s driveway in Malibu.

My card in those days, handmade by Howard Cohen. The tiny bus peeking out on the right is the one I was living on

Ken came aboard pulling the big blue tank up the stairs into our old Greyhound, settling it in the seating pit at the front. Someone found a length of garden hose, someone else attached it to the nozzle with gaffers tape, and Ken cracked the valve. I stuck the hose in my mouth, and the gas flowed into my belly “The lung is shaped like a pear” he said “fill up the bottom of the pear…” so I did. I was transported. I was modified. I was given a glimpse of magic and eternity, a universe I had never experienced, all brand new. And then I was back.

Another night for The Captain — photo, thanks to Lisa Law (copyright)

I took another hit and another.

I was gone.

I was back.

Another.

I was gone.

I was back.

I was sitting in the middle of the bus, in the cluster, breathing this god gas, I was floating in front of the goddess, I was part of the allness…I was back.