Suddenly, his eyes redden and he is nearly reduced to tears. He was magnanimous about it, remembers former Grateful Dead lyricist John Perry Barlow. That got good and weird., By the time the Dead returned to San Francisco in April, Owsley had already made it plain to the band that as far as he was concerned, there was only one way to do everything: his way. By doing so, he compiled a historic collection of live performances. In April 1964, Owsley took LSD. Greenfield's book, which is full of anecdotes and insight, tracks Stanley's life from his early days in the South through his final years in Australia. We want to hear it. Stanley, known as Bear, earned the moniker "King of Acid . By then, most of the money Owsley had amassed during his days as the worlds reigning acid chemist was gone. I dont eat carbs. OWSLEY STANLEY OBITUARY. Had it not been for Sheilah, he says, I dont think I would have survived. All of the rest of their calories came from fat. Until now, he has never been willing to speak extensively about his life. Just to show you. 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. Stanley was the first known private individual to manufacture mass quantities of LSD. * [27], Although Stanley stopped touring with the band following their refusal of his demands, he continued to be employed by the Grateful Dead. United StatesCanadaUnited KingdomAfghanistanAlbaniaAlgeriaAmerican SamoaAndorraAngolaAnguillaAntarcticaAntigua and BarbudaArgentinaArmeniaArubaAustraliaAustriaAzerbaijanBahamasBahrainBangladeshBarbadosBelarusBelgiumBelizeBeninBermudaBhutanBoliviaBosnia and HerzegovinaBotswanaBouvet IslandBrazilBritish Indian Ocean TerritoryBrunei DarrussalamBulgariaBurkina FasoBurundiCambodiaCameroonCape VerdeCayman IslandsCentral African RepublicChadChileChinaChristmas IslandCocos IslandsColombiaComorosCongo, Democratic People's RepublicCongo, Republic ofCook IslandsCosta RicaCote d'IvoireCroatia/HrvatskaCubaCyprus IslandCzech RepublicDenmarkDjiboutiDominicaDominican RepublicEast TimorEcuadorEgyptEquatorial GuineaEl SalvadorEritreaEstoniaEthiopiaFalkland IslandsFaroe IslandsFijiFinlandFranceFrench GuianaFrench PolynesiaFrench Southern TerritoriesGabonGambiaGeorgiaGermanyGreeceGhanaGibraltarGreenlandGrenadaGuadeloupeGuamGuatemalaGuernseyGuineaGuinea-BissauGuyanaHaitiHeard and McDonald IslandsHoly See (City Vatican State)HondurasHong KongHungaryIcelandIndiaIndonesiaIranIraqIrelandIsle of ManIsraelItalyJamaicaJapanJerseyJordanKazakhstanKenyaKiribatiKuwaitKyrgyzstanLao People's Democratic RepublicLatviaLebanonLesothoLiberiaLibyan Arab JamahiriyaLiechtensteinLithuaniaLuxembourgMacauMacedoniaMadagascarMalawiMalaysiaMaldivesMaliMaltaMarshall IslandsMartiniqueMauritaniaMauritiusMayotteMexicoMicronesiaMoldova, Republic ofMonacoMongoliaMontenegroMontserratMoroccoMozambiqueMyanmarNamibiaNauruNepalNetherlandsNetherlands AntillesNew CaledoniaNew ZealandNicaraguaNigerNigeriaNiueNorfolk IslandNorth KoreaNorthern Mariana IslandsNorwayOmanPakistanPalauPalestinian TerritoriesPanamaPapua New GuineaParaguayPeruPhilippinesPitcairn IslandPolandPortugalPuerto RicoQatarReunion IslandRomaniaRussian FederationRwandaSaint HelenaSaint Kitts and NevisSaint LuciaSaint Pierre and MiquelonSaint Vincent and the GrenadinesSan MarinoSao Tome and PrincipeSaudi ArabiaSenegalSerbiaSeychellesSierra LeoneSingaporeSlovak RepublicSloveniaSolomon IslandsSomaliaSouth AfricaSouth GeorgiaSouth KoreaSpainSri LankaSudanSurinameSvalbard and Jan Mayen IslandsEswatiniSwedenSwitzerlandSyrian Arab RepublicTaiwanTajikistanTanzaniaTogoTokelauTongaThailandTrinidad and TobagoTunisiaTurkeyTurkmenistanTurks and Caicos IslandsTuvaluUgandaUkraineUnited Arab EmiratesUruguayUS Minor Outlying IslandsUzbekistanVanuatuVenezuelaVietnamVirgin Islands (British)Virgin Islands (USA)Wallis and Futuna IslandsWestern SaharaWestern SamoaYemenYugoslaviaZambiaZimbabwe, State Because Kesey had his own source (a Prankster known as John the Chemist) and was suspicious of newcomers, he did not seem all that interested in the gift. All the occult literature about ceremonial magic warns about being very careful when you start exploring these areas in the mind. And they laughed at me., Even as he was freaking out that night, Owsley experienced the single insight that would shape his life for years to come. AlabamaAlaskaArizonaArkansasCaliforniaColoradoConnecticutDelawareDistrict of ColumbiaFloridaGeorgiaHawaiiIdahoIllinoisIndianaIowaKansasKentuckyLouisianaMaineMarylandMassachusettsMichiganMinnesotaMississippiMissouriMontanaNebraskaNevadaNew HampshireNew JerseyNew MexicoNew YorkNorth CarolinaNorth DakotaOhioOklahomaOregonPennsylvaniaRhode IslandSouth CarolinaSouth DakotaTennesseeTexasUtahVermontVirginiaWashingtonWest VirginiaWisconsinWyomingAmerican SamoaCanal ZoneCommonwealth of the Northern Mariana IslandsFederated States of MicronesiaGuamMarshall IslandsNorthern Mariana IslandsPalauPhilippine IslandsPuerto RicoTrust Territory of the Pacific IslandsVirgin IslandsArmed Forces - AmericasArmed Forces - Europe, Canada, Middle East, AfricaArmed Forces - Pacific. Thanks to Owsley, the Dead were soon playing through four immense Altec Voice of the Theatre A7 speakers powered by four McIntosh 240 stereo tube amplifiers as delicate as they were huge. To see Owsley in action now is to understand that forty years after the Summer of Love, the man has not really changed very much at all. Everything is connected, because its all being created by this one consciousness. Would the Summer of Love have ever happened without Stanley, the reclusive acid impresario who turned on the world? He married and divorced twice, fathered two children and got himself arrested on a variety of charges. His grandfather, also named Augustus Owsley Stanley, was a trust-busting Democratic congressman from Kentucky who spent twelve years in the House of Representatives. Tripping frequently if not constantly. Masterpieces Unearthed from Owsleys Famed Archive, Family Dog at the Great HighwayMay 29, 19702 CD set, The Family Dog at the Great HighwayMarch 28, 19702 CD set, 3 CD release with extended material 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. [7], Stanley and Scully built electronic equipment for the Grateful Dead until late spring 1966. [19] (Another reason for the first recordings was that Stanley had hearing damage in one ear from a swimming-pool diving accident when he was 19, and wanted a way to check himself. Or riding your own sound wave. He also noted that the music made during the forty-odd shows when the system was used is still regarded by Deadheads as the pinnacle of live performance.. Your body gets old but your mind can always accept that. They wanted to maintain the same old same old which under their limited abilities, they had memorized to the point where they could sleepwalk through shows. The thing about Owsley, Townshend said, is that when he gave you something, he would take it too. I am often asked about the origin of the so-called "dancing bears" which were commonly seen around GD shows. He lived in a picturesque Berkeley cottage filled with high-end stereo equipment where he kept an owl to which he fed live mice. Donations are much appreciated, and are in fact essential to our ability to preserve and release future recordings! That was his strength and his flaw. He participated in a low carb forum where he shared his experience with and knowledge about eating a diet comprised entirely of animal foods. It was brilliant and it worked, McNally says. The price I had to pay to get through the gate. Then Id sell them all back to the bookstore at full price as if Id changed classes, because I never needed to look at them again.. And if you believe, as I did, that the universe is a creation in the mind of a being that is creating time and space, then everything is mental. In the Oxford English dictionary, the word Owsley is listed as a noun describing a particularly pure form of LSD. 1 of 8 Veternarian Starfinder Stanley, son of the late Owsley Bear Stanley, lifts Sherman, his tortoise who moves like a tank, plowing through branches at his home on 06-03-17, Sebastopol . At the time, live sound at rock concerts was extremely primitive. By his own account, between 1965 and 1967, Stanley produced no less than 500 grams of LSD, amounting to a little more . . The bad news was that since Owsley was paying the rent, he expected them to adhere to his unconventional ideas and beliefs. The reason is that Im a total carnivore. A psychedelic known as STP was distributed in the summer of 1967 in 20mg tablets and quickly acquired a bad reputation (later research in normal volunteers showed that 20mg was over six times the dose required to produce hallucinogenic effects, and its slow onset of action may have caused street users to take even more than a single tablet). Throughout the summer of 1965, in a big house down in La Honda, about forty miles south of San Francisco, Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters hosted wild parties with guests that included Hunter S. Thompson, Neal Cassady, Allen Ginsberg and various Hells Angels. Augustus Owsley Stanley III (January 19, 1935 March 12, 2011) was an American-Australian audio engineer and clandestine chemist. He kept the LSD in an inexpensive footlocker that traveled constantly on Greyhound buses between Oakland, San Jose and San Francisco. [3], Stanley's level of access to the group's inner echelon (including complimentary food from the band's caterers) was somewhat controversial among the band's employees, with one staffer opining that "he had the sales tactics of a Mumbai street peddler"; on one occasion, Garcia and Weir were forced to intervene when Stanley provoked Chelsea Clinton's Secret Service detail as he attempted to conduct business with the then-First Daughter. Owsley Stanley was known as the foremost underground LSD chemist of the 1960s. These performances have not been heard since the nights they were played more than 40 years ago ! His nickname, Bear, reputedly was inspired by the profuse . By this time, Sandoz LSD sold under the trade-name Delysid was hard to come by, as Sandoz halted LSD production in August 1965 after growing governmental protests at its proliferation among the general populace, which meant that "Owsley Acid" had become the new standard. According to Rolling Stone,[25] everyone in the band except Ron "Pigpen" McKernan and Tom Constanten - neither of whom used psychedelic drugs - was included in the arrest, along with several members of their retinue, including Stanley and some locals. There are titles here never heard before [on a release] and seldom played. 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. Immediately following his release, Stanley resumed working for the Grateful Dead as a roadie and sound engineer in the summer of 1972. As Dead rhythm guitarist Bob Weir says, Back then, if you got involved in a discussion with him, you kind of had to pack a lunch. Years later, Jerry Garcia would recall, Wed met Owsley at the Acid Test and he got fixated on us. Under the professional name Bear, he was the soundman for the rock band the Grateful Dead, whom he met when Ken Kesey invited them to an Acid Test party. [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. Believing there is no past and no future because everything exists only in present time, it never occurs to him to drive five minutes out of his way to the Monterey Fairgrounds where, forty years ago, his high-powered rocket fuel helped launch the Summer of Love. "[1], During his time as the sound engineer for the Grateful Dead, Stanley started what became the long-term practice of recording the Dead while they rehearsed and performed. Owsley adored his grandfather, but his relationship with his parents was difficult. How did the court musician of the Maharaja, a man called the "Bach of India," and "perhaps the greatest musician in the world" find himself playing to a psychedelic crowd at the Family Dog, a countercultural beacon on the edge of Western civilization, with Owsley mixing the sound? Ifeel as if Ive known you through many lifetimes., You have, Owsley replied, and you will through many more to come.. Kesey was playing with something he did not understand, Owsley says. I have owsley silver buckle for sell also terrapin signed by whole band with jerry and brent and more fuktruk@hotmail.com. In his classic account of the Grateful Dead on the road in May 1969, Michael Lydon noted the ongoing tension between Hart and Owsley by writing that they were like two selves of the Dead at war, with the Dead themselves sitting as judges. And he was not surprised you would choose to be an idiot. Stanley was the Dead's audio engineer, longtime friend, and perhaps the most notable LSD chemist in the 1960s. At a time when the Dead were trying to keep ticket prices down, the wall cost about $350,000. Stanley also developed the Grateful Dead's Wall of Sound, one of the largest mobile sound reinforcement systems ever constructed. Augustus Owsley Stanley III, better known as "Bear," was the Grateful Dead's first live sound engineer, the group's benefactor in their early years, and arguably the most famous manufacturer and distributor of LSD the world has ever known. Ive watched wonderful people get destroyed by it., From the time he was a child, what made Owsley unique was his extraordinary family background and the power of his mind. In September 1965, Stanley became the primary LSD supplier to Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters. Incredibly, no one called the cops. After he was released from prison, Stanley resumed working for the Grateful Dead as their live sound engineer. In prison, Owsley got himself assigned to the kitchen. Augustus Owsley Stanley III was born on Jan. 19, 1935, to a patrician Kentucky family. The world would be, like, over. I lost control of that cell as well, Owsley says. After a year-long investigations, agents raided a two-story home in suburban Orinda, picked up Stanley, his girl friend, and three others. Quickly regaining control, he says, But, hey, Im alive, right? Without waiting for an answer, he stalks out the motel-room door. 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. 9 were here. And we are tiny reflections of the mind that is creating the universe. 1st ever box set of live concert recordings from Doc & Merle Watson, 1st release of Bears Sonic Journals from the Owsley Stanley Foundation, Several rare songs Doc Watson never recorded live, The only known contemporaneous photographs of Doc & Merle Watson, Photos of Old Hoss, the Gallagher guitar Doc played from 1968 until the end of this tour in 1974, In depth interview with bassist T. Michael Coleman, An original essay by David Holt, 4-time Grammy winner and longtime Doc collaborator, Original cover art by Mike DuBois based on a drawing by Owsleys son, Starfinder. Stanley also helped Robert Thomas design the band's trademark skull logo. Check out our owsley stanley belt buckles selection for the very best in unique or custom, handmade pieces from our shops. Adopt-A-Reel Program:For donations of $400 or more, we will work with you to select one of Bears Sonic Journals for priority preservation. Owsley Stanley. The Wall of Sound fulfilled Owsley's desire for a distortion-free sound system that could also serve as its own monitoring system. We had enough acid to blow the world apart. He's also related to William Owsley, the 16th governor of Kentucky, for . Under the professional name Bear, he was the sound engineer for the Grateful Dead, recording many of the band's live performances. [5][7][8], Stanley was the scion of a political family from Kentucky. In a later interview with Dennis McNally, he opined that he received "just a taste" of his previous position; according to Stanley, "I found on my release from jail that the crew, most of whom had been hired in my absence, did not want anything changed. Night after night during the summer months, Owsley can be found stalking Bufo marinus, the species of poisonous toads (whose venom, Owsley insists, wont get you high) first introduced into Australia in 1935 in the mistaken belief that they would help control the cane beetle. Owsley Stanley. He must have had the most extraordinary liver., During this period, the Dead wrote Alice D. Millionaire, a play on words from a headline about Owsley in The San Francisco Chronicle that read, LSD Millionaire Arrested. In concert, the band regularly dedicated The Other One to him from the stage. In April, Owsley visited Timothy Leary, the east coast figurehead of LSD, at the Hitchcock Estate in Millbrook, NY.Stanley and Leary had met in LA in the spring of 1966, but . Augustus Bear Owsley Stanley 1967 Gathering of the Tribes. .. A Pegasus. He also grew weed in a garden outside his house. Roughage is the worst thing you can put through your body, he says. I dont want my life exposed publicly. Spirited. - Commander Cody, "Sociologically, you know, this all represents a big switch in the whole rock 'n' roll trip" - Jerry Garcia, A legend recording a legend T. Michael Coleman, Bass, Its not just the energy of youth that shakes me when I listen to these tracks its the musical dialogue that Jack and I shared in these amazing moments. While doing two years in federal prison in the early Seventies for manufacturing acid, Owsley taught himself how to make jewelry. He retained backstage access during this period, and his clientele included such notable figures as Keith Richards. It was amazing, he told Jerry Garcia biographer Blair Jackson. Owsley also sent a photographer back to England with a telephoto lens packed with tabs of purple acid on the condition that he share them with the Beatles. Augustus Owsley Stanley III, 32, whose grandfather was a Kentucky governor, congressman and U.S. senator, was arrested by agents of the Federal Bureau of Drug Abuse Thursday in a raid on a fashionable two-story home in this residential community 40 miles east of San Francisco. The Owsley Stanley Foundation is pleased to present an audiophile release of incendiary performances by the incomparable Doc and Merle Watson, from Bears Sonic Journals -Owsleys storied trove of live concert recordings. It all seemed to fit together. During his service, he secured an amateur radio license and a general radiotelephone operator license. The cottage commonly known as the Troll House and located at 2321 Valley St., is for sale and . That was the initiation. He beat the charges and successfully sued for the return of his equipment. The lead and the gold is the lead of the primitive nature into the gold of the enlightened man. The alchemist Owsley "Bear" Stanley, who transformed not only the Dead's sound, but American consciousness. Ego death. As above, so below. We called it the microcosm and the macrocosm. Wall Street Journal. At the end of Hendrixs live version of the Beatles Day Tripper, recorded at the BBC studios in 1967, he can be heard calling out, Oh, Owsley, can you hear me now? In 1976, Steely Dan burnished Owsleys myth by recording Kid Charlemagne: While the music played/You worked by candlelight/ Those San Francisco nights/You were the best in town. One of my friends who was a folkie brought it in and said, Man, you gotta listen to this! And I was off and running. AlabamaAlaskaArizonaArkansasCaliforniaColoradoConnecticutDelawareDistrict of ColumbiaFloridaGeorgiaHawaiiIdahoIllinoisIndianaIowaKansasKentuckyLouisianaMaineMarylandMassachusettsMichiganMinnesotaMississippiMissouriMontanaNebraskaNevadaNew HampshireNew JerseyNew MexicoNew YorkNorth CarolinaNorth DakotaOhioOklahomaOregonPennsylvaniaRhode IslandSouth CarolinaSouth DakotaTennesseeTexasUtahVermontVirginiaWashingtonWest VirginiaWisconsinWyomingAmerican SamoaCanal ZoneCommonwealth of the Northern Mariana IslandsFederated States of MicronesiaGuamMarshall IslandsNorthern Mariana IslandsPalauPhilippine IslandsPuerto RicoTrust Territory of the Pacific IslandsVirgin IslandsArmed Forces - AmericasArmed Forces - Europe, Canada, Middle East, AfricaArmed Forces - Pacific. I was riding a magic stallion. Needless to say, the party is electric. I just wanted to know the dose and purity of what I took into my own body. Three years ago, he underwent extensive radiation for throat cancer, losing thirty pounds in the process. He also came up with the concept for what eventually became the bands logo. Tom Sizemore, Heat and Saving Private Ryan Actor, Dead at 61 $30.00. In The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, Tom Wolfe described how Owsley completely lost control of himself, dissolving into gaseous nothingness until he became nothing more than a single cell. Jr. . Thats what alchemy says., To generate enough cash to purchase the raw materials to make LSD, Owsley and Cargill began making and selling methedrine in a makeshift bathroom lab in Berkeley. Born in 1935, Owsley was "authentic Bluegrass political royalty." His father was a prominent government attorney and his grandfather, Augustus Owsley Stanley, was elected governor of Kentucky in 1919 and served in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. We were officially granted 501 (c) (3) nonprofit status by the IRS in December 2012. His father was a government attorney. This article appeared in the July 12-27, 2007 issue of Rolling Stone. . The money flow was very embarrassing, he recalls. 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. He puts on a pair of old bluejeans that are now several sizes too big and places a brown Thinsulate stocking cap on his head. Because the Dead controlled everything from onstage, no one had to mix from the house. Augustus Owsley Stanley III (January 19, 1935 - March 12, 2011) was an American-Australian audio engineer and clandestine chemist.He was a key figure in the San Francisco Bay Area hippie movement during the 1960s and played a pivotal role in the decade's counterculture.Under the professional name Bear, he was the sound engineer for the Grateful Dead, recording many of the band's live .