From 1974 to 1981, he also grew and sold cannabis from his garden in Fairfax, California, but the profits from this endeavor proved to be far less remunerative than his earlier work in clandestine chemistry. At a time when the Dead were trying to keep ticket prices down, the wall cost about $350,000. He was the Grateful Deads original sound man and their initial financial benefactor. Reach out if you have questions, or to see how you can support the Owsley Stanley Foundation. The price I had to pay to get through the gate. Would the Summer of Love have ever happened without Stanley, the reclusive acid impresario who turned on the world? Bear: The Life and Times of Augustus Owsley Stanley III -Jorma Kaukonen, A wicked blend of rock, jazz and R&B that created a dynamic, groundbreaking sound. John Lynskey , Hittin The Note. When you get to 400, you just totally lose it. He lived in a picturesque Berkeley cottage filled with high-end stereo equipment where he kept an owl to which he fed live mice. On September 24, an previously unreleased 1968 live album by Johnny Cash that was recorded by Owsley "Bear" Stanley, the Grateful Dead's legendary concert documentarian (and . Living in Marin County, he supported himself doing sound for Jefferson Starship and Phil Lesh and selling his jewelry backstage, in arena parking lots and in hotel bars after shows whenever the Grateful Dead toured. The Owsley Stanley Foundation is dedicated to preserving and sharing the experience of the. He also grew weed in a garden outside his house. The headline in the New Orleans Times-Picayune the next day read Rock Musicians, King of Acid, Arrested. Although all charges were eventually dropped, a fucking judge who wanted to make sure I did time revoked Owsleys bail on the 1967 LSD bust after he was arrested again in Oakland. Former Rolling Stone editor Greenfield's pretty solid, if skimpily researched, book provides an . Last note: In 2005 Bear found out The Oxford English Dictionary had added a word: "owsley, N. An extremely potent, high-quality type of LSD; a tablet of this. His nickname, Bear, reputedly was inspired by the profuse . . Amongst his outrageous success from the sale of his acid, Stanley also worked for a time as the Grateful Dead's sound engineer. His paternal grandfather, Augustus Owsley Stanley, a member of the United States Senate after serving as Governor of Kentucky and in the U.S. House of Representatives, campaigned against Prohibition in the 1920s.[5]. Its something that goes from being absolutely inert to so powerful that twenty-five micrograms will cause a change in your consciousness, he says. OSF Doc & Merle Watson: Never the Same Way Once - Live at the Boarding House - May 1974 Double Vinyl Set. All of the rest of their calories came from fat. Five months later at Monterey Pop, Owsley passed out his Monterey Purple backstage to Jimi Hendrix, Pete Townshend and the Stones Brian Jones, not to mention much of the festivals staff and crew. [7], Stanley and Scully built electronic equipment for the Grateful Dead until late spring 1966. The world would be, like, over. I lost control of that cell as well, Owsley says. On January 30th, 1970, after a Dead show in New Orleans, police walked into the bands Bourbon Street hotel with search warrants and busted the Dead, along with Owsley. But now, fifty-three years later, a lost chapter has emerged to enrich and complement the story of that very good year. These are the most extensive files there are of our music from this time. He died in a car accident in Australia (where he had taken citizenship in 1996) on March 12, 2011. Around this time Owsley also began studying The Kybalion, a book of purported ancient wisdom that elucidates the seven basic principles of alchemy, which he describes as mental transformation, explaining,It was never about transforming substances. As their sound engineer, Stanley frequently recorded live tapes behind his mixing board and developed their Wall of Sound sound system, one of the largest mobile public address systems ever constructed. Owsley Stanley | Eat Meat. Drink Water. Owsley Stanley Shirt - Etsy Written by WL Woodward. See Tom Taylor's account of his life and times published late last year in Far Out magazine. Had it not been for Sheilah, he says, I dont think I would have survived. Just to show you. Owsley Stanley was known as the foremost underground LSD chemist of the 1960s. Augustus Owsley Stanley III (January 19, 1935 March 12, 2011) was an American-Australian audio engineer and clandestine chemist. Unable to swallow solid food since the cancer treatments, he laments that he can no longer enjoy dining out with friends. Long before global warming became an international hot-button issue, he delivered what writer David Gans described as a ninety-minute lecture on a thermal cataclysm that he said would begin with a six-week rainstorm and leave the entire Northern Hemisphere uninhabitable. Passing around Australian visa applications, Owsley then urged all those present to join him in the Southern Hemisphere. The pot vessel was made by LSD pioneer Owsley Stanley for the Grateful Dead frontman. Technician for Grateful Dead and an LSD cook. By accounts, in early 1967 Owsley "Bear" Stanley (click on the links for Part One and Part Two of this series) had stashed away $225,000 in a safe deposit box at Manufacturers Hanover Trust, $320,000 in various accounts around San Francisco, and an unspecified amount at a bank in London. 5 out of 5 stars (955) $ 29.95. [22], In Denver, the trio was augmented by fellow Berkeley student Rhoney Gissen, who joined the manufacturing effort and began a relationship with Stanley (concurrent with Stanley's relationship with Cargill and Cargill's separate relationship with Jefferson Airplane bassist Jack Casady) that endured through the early 1970s; although they never married, Gissen would eventually take Stanley's surname. Grateful Dead Archivist Discusses Dicks Picks Series. Theyre extremely glucose-avid. There were no onstage monitors, so musicians couldnt hear one another. And we were just musicians in this house, and we were guinea-pigging more or less continually. You can donate via our secure form, or send checks made out to the Owsley Stanley Foundation to: Owsley Stanley Foundation PO Box 625 Occidental, Ca 95465. Together, they dwell in a complex of sheds, caravans, large canvas tents, modified shipping containers and corrugated-iron structures designed and built by Owsley. Once a year by invitation only, he throws a party attended by friends, family and musicians from all over Australia who play all night long. Owsley "Bear" Stanleyinterview by David GansJanuary 13, 1991KPFA (94.1 FM) Radio ArchivesAugustus Owsley Stanley III (January 19, 1935 - March 12, 2011) was . Because the materials needed to synthesize LSD were still only available to serious researchers, he formed the Bear Research Group and paid $4,000 every three or four weeks to the Cyclo Chemical Corporation for bottles of lysergic monohydrate, the basis for LSD. Despite maintaining a 3.4 grade point average with minimal effort, he dropped out because of his disinclination for slide rules and mechanical drawing. Counterculture legend Owsley "Bear" Stanley is most closely associated with the Grateful Dead. Reach out if you have questions, or to see how you can support the Owsley Stanley Foundation. Owsley was sent to Terminal Island Federal Prison, a medium-security lockup in San Pedro where Charles Manson had also done time. We had enough acid to blow the world apart. There are three septic systems on the property, a hot tub, three kitchens and a large gym where he works out regularly. Under the professional name Bear, he was the sound engineer for the Grateful Dead, recording many of the band's live performances. In highly abridged form, what Owsley believes is that the phenomenon is real but that it comes from the steadily increasing movement of large amounts of heat from the tropics across the temperate zones to the poles. They were all gone. He's also related to William Owsley, the 16th governor of Kentucky, for . Concerning Owsleys legacy to the Dead from this period, Dennis McNally, the bands biographer, says, Bear gave them a vision of quality that quite frankly influenced them for the next thirty years. Stanley lived with his wife Sheilah (a former clerk in the Grateful Dead's ticket office) in the bush of Tropical North Queensland, where he worked to create sculpture and wearable art. You can donate via our secure form, or send checks made out to the Owsley Stanley Foundation to: Owsley Stanley Foundation PO Box 625 Occidental, Ca 95465. Incredibly, no one called the cops. Even though Owsley had already put about $50,000 into the band and would no longer be working for them, he told the Dead to pick out new equipment and send him the bill. [18] Along with his close friend Bob Thomas, Stanley designed the band's iconic 'Steal Your Face' lightning bolt-skull logo. He says his method was simple. At the time, Owsley was living with a Berkeley undergraduate chemistry major named Melissa Cargill. I couldn't read the name of the firm, and so was just looking at the shape. Thomas, who died in 1993, sold it to the band as a letterhead for $250, meaning that neither he nor Owsley ever saw a dime from all those Deadhead stickers on the rear bumpers of Volkswagen buses. Grateful Dead Sources: December 21, 1967: Owsley Bust This guy made the best LSD of the '60s - New York Post On December 20th, 1967, the agents seized nearly 100 grams of crystalline LSD as well as a quantity of STP, a very powerful long-acting hallucinogen that caused many bad trips in the Haight. The lead and the gold is the lead of the primitive nature into the gold of the enlightened man. Former Grateful Dead sound engineer Owsley Stanley (left) is seen with Jerry Garcia at the San Diego International Airport in 1968. (He has also never willingly allowed his photograph to be taken.) Owsley Stanley Interview - YouTube The original idea was to put recording studio technology into an electric guitar. After sampling it, he changed his mind. And Then There Was David Lindley, See the Beths Deliver Refreshing 'Expert in a Dying Field' Mini-Set on 'CBS Mornings', The YSL Case Is Stretching Fulton County's Justice System to Its Breaking Point, NBA 'Investigating,' Team Suspends Ja Morant After Allegedly Flashing Gun on Social Media. It is a 36 point lead type-slug of a . Stanley, known as Bear, earned the moniker "King of Acid . The Grateful Dead's "Wall of Sound" was a massive sound system designed by LSD chemist, Owsley Stanley. [17] He both financed them and worked with them as their first sound engineer. In every way, the briefcase reflects his mind. We want to hear it. Please reorganize this content to explain the subject's impact on popular culture, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen, Owsley Stanley, icon of 1960s counterculture, dies at 76, Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of the Grateful Dead, Bear's Sonic Journals: Fillmore East, February 1970, Bear's Sonic Journals: Dawn of the New Riders of the Purple Sage, Bear's Sonic Journals: Found in the Ozone, "For the unrepentant patriarch of LSD, long, strange trip winds back to Bay Area", "Owsley Stanley, Artisan of Acid, Is Dead at 76", "Owsley 'Bear' Stanley Dies in Car Accident", Owsley Stanley, counterculture producer of LSD, dies at 76 KansasCity.com, "Owsley 'Bear' Stanley dies in North Queensland car crash", "The dark, one-dog night of Chuck Negron", "Jerry Garcia of Grateful Dead, Icon of 60's Spirit, Dies at 53", https://escholarship.mcgill.ca/downloads/p5547t98n.pdf, "Bear: The Life and Times of Augustus Owsley Stanley III B&N Readouts", "Internet Archive Forums: Re: Owsley question", "2,5-Dimethoxy-4-methyl-amphetamine (STP): A New Hallucinogenic Drug", "45 Years Ago: The Grateful Dead's Infamous 'Truckin' Drug Bust", "Remembering the Grateful Dead's Wall of Sound: an absurd feat of technological engineering", "Remembering Owsley "Bear" Stanley | Grateful Dead", "Psychedelic icon Owsley Stanley dies in Australia", "Owsley Stanley's Acid Trips Helped Define the Sound of the 1960s, but His Recordings Are Just as Important", "Owsley Stanley's 'Sonic Journals': Inside the Tape Vault of a Psychedelic Legend", "Doc & Merle Watson: Play 'Never the Same Way Once' on New Box Set", "First Doc & Merle Watson Box Set Released", "Owsley Stanley Foundation Announces Doc & Merle Watson Live Box Set", "Previously Unreleased Allman Brothers Band Recordings from February 1970 Fillmore East Run Coming", "Bear's Sonic Journals: Dawn of the New Riders of the Purple Sage", "Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen Bear's Sonic Journals: Found in the Ozone", "Owsley Stanley Foundation to Release Rare Performance by Ali Akbar Khan from 1970", "Smoke in a Bottle: That Which Colors the Mind", "Bear's Sonic Journals: That Which Colors the Mind Ali Akbar Khan / Indranil Bhattacharya / Zakir Hussain", "Global Beat: Zakir Hussain Revisits a Historic Family Dog Summit", "When the Giants of Indian Classical Music Collided with Psychedelic San Francisco", "Owsley Stanley Foundation to Release Landmark Tim Buckley Live Recording", "Tim Buckley Lets His Freak Flag Fly on Live LP 'Merry-Go-Round at the Carousel', "Review: Tim Buckley "Merry-Go-Round at the Carousel Live", "Tim Buckley Displays Adventurous Spirit Via 'Bear's Sonic Journals: Merry-Go-Round at the Carousel June 1968' (Album Review)", "New Johnny Cash Live Album, 'At the Carousel Ballroom' Captures Country Star in the Counterculture", "A Johnny Cash Live Album from 1968 Is Finally Set to Be Released", "Previously Unreleased Johnny Cash Live Album Recorded by Owsley Stanley Due in September", "Johnny Cash 1968 Carousel Ballroom Live Bootleg Recorded by Owsley Headed for Release", "Johnny Cash's Previously Unreleased Live Album from 1968 to Be Unearthed", "When the Man in Black Met the Guys in Tie-Dye", "Owsley Stanley Foundation to Release Early Chieftains Live Recordings", "Bear's Sonic Journals: The Foxhunt, The Chieftains Live in San Francisco 1973 & 1976 to Be Released", "Ireland's The Chieftains Land on U.S.