Tonight’s String Cheese Incident performance at the McDonald Theater in Eugene will raise money for the Ken Kesey Memorial sculpture designed by Peter Helzer. All of tonight’s proceeds will go towards the cost of creating the life-size bronze Kesey reading to three children while seated on a curved granite bench covered with quotes from Sometimes a Great Notion and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Brian Lanker supplied the image). Other benefactors for the project include Bob Weir, Paul Newman (who starred in the film adaptation of Sometimes A Great Notion) and Michael Douglas (who produced the film version of Cuckoo’s Nest). Two new Kesey works, his Jail Journal and _Spit in the Ocean #7: All About Kesey _ recently were released.

Oh yes, and if you’re not familiar with the aforementioned books, why not set aside some time over the holidays: Great Notion is a sweeping, challenging epic, Cuckoo’s Nest is a classic account of perspective and social convention and while you’re at it, Tom Wolfe’s Electric Kool Aid Acid Test just may inspire you to Get On The Bus. Bonus reminder: Merry Prankster Mountain Girl adds spoken word to the track named in her honor on the new SCI release Untying The Not.