Final Years
Kesey mainly kept to his home life in Pleasant Hill, preferring to make artistic contributions on the Internet, or holding ritualistic revivals in the spirit of the Acid Test. He occasionally made appearances at rock concerts and festivals, bringing the second bus and various Pranksters with him. In the official Grateful Dead DVD release The Closing of Winterland (2003), which documents the monumental New Year's 1978 concert, Kesey is featured in a between-set interview. More notably, he appeared at the Hog Farm Family Pig-Nic Festival (organized by Woodstock MC Wavy Gravy, in Laytonville, California), where they mock-canonized a very ill but still quite aware Dr. Timothy Leary atop "Furthur". He also performed on stage with Jambay at the Pig-Nic, playing a few songs from Twister with members of the original cast.
On August 14, 1997, Kesey and his Pranksters attended a Phish concert in Darien Lake, New York. After making a somewhat mystical appearance in the parking lot before the show, Kesey and the Pranksters appeared onstage with the band and performed a dance-trance-jam session involving several characters from The Wizard of Oz and Frankenstein. Kesey kept asking, "Where have all the Bozos gone? To the Phish concert, and the Furthur Festival." Trey Anastasio was quoted as the Pranksters exited, "See what happens when you eat too much acid, 30 years later." The band then performed the song "Camel Walk", with a groove that has become known as the "Pranksters Jam".
In June 2001, Kesey was invited and accepted as the keynote speaker at the annual commencement of The Evergreen State College. His last major work was an essay for Rolling Stone magazine calling for peace in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.
Kesey was diagnosed with diabetes in 1992. In 1997, health problems began to take their toll, starting with a stroke that year. On October 25, 2001 Kesey had surgery on his liver to remove a tumor. He never recovered from the operation and died of complications on November 10, 2001, age 66.
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