#sonnybarger

Also, before the march there was another grand meeting with the Hell's Angels. It was at Sonny Barger's house. Now, the Angels'd threatened to come out and beat up the marchers if they marched. Kesey made a date to have a party at Barger's house and also discuss political social community developments with the Berkeley student movement. And so Cassady, myself, Kesey and several of Kesey's Prankster friends gathered together with about twenty Hell's Angels at Barger's house with his wife, in Oakland, and all dropped acid -- except me. I was having bad trips and I didn't want to lay my bad trip on myself or anyone, not under those circumstances. I was scared, but they were all gung-ho for it. I brought along my harmonium and everybody was in a relatively excited state. The house interior was like some strange giant puppet theater, the Pranksters in the strange Prankster costumes and Angels in their Angel costumes. We did finally get into a discussion of what to do about the march and I was trying to discourage Barger from attacking; so was Kesey, very manfully, trying to talk sense to Barger. He told Barger that it wasn't really a communist plot, the main thing that he kept telling him was that it wasn't just communists. The Angels' argument was we gotta fight 'em here or there. Our argument was we don't have to fight them anywhere; why fight at all? We went over there -- Americans invaded there, they hadn't invaded us. There's no point in picking a fight on their territory or turf.