strangebrew Posted March 13, 2011 LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Owsley "Bear" Stanley, a 1960s counterculture figure who flooded the flower power scene with LSD and was an early benefactor of the Grateful Dead, died in a car crash in his adopted home country of Australia on Sunday, his family said. He was 76. The renegade grandson of a former governor of Kentucky, Stanley helped lay the foundation for the psychedelic era by producing more than a million doses of LSD at his labs in San Francisco's Bay Area. "He made acid so pure and wonderful that people like Jimi Hendrix wrote hit songs about it and others named their band in its honor," former rock 'n' roll tour manager Sam Cutler wrote in his 2008 memoirs "You Can't Always Get What You Want." Hendrix's song "Purple Haze" was reputedly inspired by a batch of Stanley's product, though the guitarist denied any drug link. The ear-splitting psychedelic-blues combo Blue Cheer took its named from another batch. Stanley briefly managed the Grateful Dead, and oversaw every aspect of their live sound at a time when little thought was given to amplification in public venues. His tape recordings of Dead concerts were turned into live albums, providing him with a healthy income in later life. "When it came to technology, the Bear was one of the most far-out and interesting guys on the planet," Cutler wrote. "The first FM live simulcast could be, in part, attributed to his vision, as could the first quadraphonic simulcast on radio." The Dead, a fabled rock band formed in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1965 known for its improvisational live concerts, wrote about him in their song "Alice D. Millionaire" after a 1967 arrest prompted a newspaper to describe Stanley as an "LSD millionaire." Steely Dan's 1976 single "Kid Charlemagne" was loosely inspired by Stanley's exploits. 'COMMUNITY SERVICE' According to a 2007 profile in the San Francisco Chronicle, Stanley started cooking LSD after discovering the recipe in a chemistry journal at the University of California, Berkeley. The police raided his first lab in 1966, but Stanley successfully sued for the return of his equipment. After a marijuana bust in 1970, he went to prison for two years. "I wound up doing time for something I should have been rewarded for," he told the Chronicle's Joel Selvin. "What I did was a community service, the way I look at it. I was punished for political reasons. Absolutely meaningless. Was I a criminal? No. I was a good member of society. Only my society and the one making the laws are different." He emigrated to the tropical Australian state of Queensland in the early 1980s, apparently fearful of a new ice age, and sold enamel sculptures on the Internet. He lost one of his vocal cords to cancer. Stanley was born Augustus Owsley Stanley III in Kentucky, a state governed by his namesake grandfather from 1915 to 1919. He served in the U.S. Air Force for 18 months, studied ballet in Los Angeles and then enrolled at UC Berkeley. In addition to producing and advocating LSD, he adhered to an all-meat diet. Cutler, speaking on behalf of the family, said in an interview that Stanley and his wife, Sheila, were driving to their home near the city of Cairns along a dangerous stretch of highway when he evidently lost control during a storm. He died instantly; his wife broke her collar bone. Stanley is also survived by four children, eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. (Reporting by Dean Goodman, editing by Peter Bohan and Todd Eastham) © Copyright 2011, Reuters http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/ksfr/news.newsmain/article/0/0/1774857/US/Psychedelic.icon.Owsley.Stanley.dies.in.Australia Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
watertrade Posted March 14, 2011 (edited) shit, poor guy. RIP to a pretty special guy. Thoughts are with his family. Edited March 14, 2011 by watertrade Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tripsis Posted March 14, 2011 (edited) Wow, that's a bit of a shock. Edited March 14, 2011 by tripsis Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rahli Posted March 14, 2011 Sad to see your gone old mate. Though I am grateful that you came to an end before the world did. Forever in our minds. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
botanika Posted March 14, 2011 Wow, tragedy... Poor guy, a legend of the 60's. As well as manufacturing quality LSD he was an early pioneer in PA systems for the Dead. RIP Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
obtuse Posted March 14, 2011 (edited) RIP Bear. it was great to see him at ega, even if he was a little cantankerous. all the best to his family Cheers, Ob. Edited March 14, 2011 by obtuse Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
strangebrew Posted March 14, 2011 Might have been on Saturday. "the Queensland Police Service issued a media release referring to "a man in his 70s" who died when his car went off the Kennedy Highway and crashed into trees between Davies Creek and Koah, inland from Kuranda" http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/owsley-bear-stanley-dies-in-north-queensland-car-crash/story-e6frg6nf-1226021149610 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The Dude Posted March 14, 2011 RIP Bear. It was great to have you here! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
etherealdrifter Posted March 14, 2011 'weeps a little" r.i.p Bear Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
synchromesh Posted March 16, 2011 I regret not being able to meet you. Rest in peace dude. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ethnodude Posted March 16, 2011 RIP. Inspiration to the mass. May your spirit live on through eternity. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
strangebrew Posted March 16, 2011 I think his body should be donated to science if there were no other plans. He'd probably be about the only westerner to ever be obsessed enough to follow an all protein/fat diet for just about their whole lifetime. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RonnySimulacrum Posted March 17, 2011 I had the good fortune of really getting to know the bear, he was a unique unit that will be very missed, true geniuses Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
