Owsley Stanley has died in a car accident.

[The_Casual_Observer]

Source: NY daily News

Owsley "Bear" Stanley's long, strange trip has ended.

The counterculture icon who was a major LSD producer in the 1960s and was celebrated in song by The Grateful Dead and Jimi Hendrix, has died in a car crash in Australia.

He was 76.



Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2011/03/14/2011-03-14_lsd_icon_owsley_bear_stanley_dead_at_76_killed_in_car_accident_in_australia.html

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RIP Dancing Bear

[Kolesar]

1. Are you on the bus?

Heavily featured in The Electric Koolaid Acid Trip

[calimary]

22. Are you on the bus, or off the bus?

I LOVED that book and that quote! I still use it, all the time.

[Bluenorthwest]

2. Sound designer extrodinaire...

Thanks for all the good times, Mr. Bear.

[hifiguy]

3. He was also instrumental in founding Alembic

with Ron Wickersham as sound/tech support for the Dead and other SF bands. Alembic continues today as the manufacturer of (IMO) the finest guitars and bass guitars on the planet. I've owned an Alembic for 12 years and there's nothing like them.

Sad to hear, but what a life he led!

[louis-t]

18. Alembic was ahead of its time.

Are they still making instruments?

[hifiguy]

19. You bet your boots they are!

Still going strong as ever after 40 years, as can be seen at www.alembic.com . I've owned an Alembic bass for 12 years. There is nothing else remotely like an Alembic instrument.

[southpaw]

20. Yummmm. Hippy Sandwich!

Yep, Alembic basses (and guitars, to be fair) are still some of the most well-crafted instruments in the world. I'm not a fan of the shape of the Series 1 instruments, but they make lots of custom shapes that are really cool.

I particularly loved John Entwistle's 'Spyder' basses.

[Lochloosa]

4. ....

[Champion Jack]

5. damn....

[xxqqqzme]

6. bummer

Remembering the early LSD days - all blotter pieces came w/ the insider whisper 'it's Owsley'.

[meegbear]

7. Think I'll just drop out ...

I'll go to Frisco, buy a wig and sleep on Owsley's floor

RIP

[LaPera]

8. I dropped many hits of Owsley's wonderful acid - Wouldn't go to the Fillmore or Avalon without it!

Very clean and kick-ass----remember, acid was LEGAL until almost 1967 (Oct. 1966). When asshole Guv Ronald Reagan wanted to stop all the enlightenment (protest) and awareness of all the capitalist lies and go die in Vietnam bullshit (for corporate profits) - They ALL used the word "communist" for anything they didn't like or accept. - They thought by making acid illegal (weed of course was already illegal) that it would do the trick and make us all go back into being nice little corporate consuming robots again, for all the greedy fuckers to use and profit off us.....I was too young growing up in San Francisco in 1966 but caught up by the time I was 14 years old in 1968 and beyond...still would enjoy a nice hit of Owsley TODAY haven't had any really good acid since about 1973. (Although today, there's nothing even remotely like the great old Fillmore and Avalon Ballroom to go to)!

RIP - AOS!

[mahatmakanejeeves]

9. Aoxomoxoa

By coincidence, I picked up that cassette tape to listen to in an AM-FM cassette Walkman today. Owsley Stanley was the consulting engineer.

Aoxomoxoa

The artwork on the cassette liner is different from that of the album.

[southpaw]

10. Don't forget Steely Day

"...celebrated in song by The Grateful Dead and Jimi Hendrix"

Not sure if you'd call it 'celebrated' or not, but Steely Dan's song "Kid Charlemagne" is based on Owsley Stanley. I've heard it interpreted as building a composite character (Kid Charlemagne) who bears resemblance to Owsley, Ken Kesey and Timothy Leary.

This live video bears watching... Who knew Stephen Colbert played such a mean guitar?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylr2D4Pwn58

[Kolesar]

23. Hide the test tubes and the scales

I can still remember my coworker singing along at the cash register at Montgomery Ward. She was sweet.

[On the Road]

11. I Didn't Know He Was Still With Us

Good thing he managed to stay out of prison again.

He will always be memorialized by Grace Slick:

Mexico
Jefferson Airplane

Owsley and Charlie, twins of the trade,
Come to the Poet's Room
Talking about the problems of the leaf,
And yes, it'll be back soon

There used to be tons of gold and green
Comin' up here from Mexico
A donde esta la planta, mi amigo, del sol?
(The translation is: Where is the plant, my friend, of the sun.)

But Mexico is under the thumb
Of a man we call Richard
And he's come to call himself king
But he's a small-headed man
And he doesn't know a thing
About how to deal for you

How to deal for you
There are millions of you now
I mean it's not as if you were alone
There are brothers everywhere
Just waiting for a toke on that gold
And God knows how far it can go

But thanks Uncle Charlie
For your Mexican smoke
You're a legend Owsley
For your righteous dope

There were a half a million people on the lawn
And we sang to the faces in the dark
How long must that damn race
Wait for the jailer's time to end?
How long must the Panther race
Wait for the iron bars to bend?
And no no no no no nobody waits.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T4pBysFk84

[sofa king]

24. I was wondering if he was going to live forever.

He claimed to have been on an all-carnivorous diet since 1959, and that diet was the key to his beating throat cancer in the early 00s.

[RevStPatrick]

12. Now I guess we'll never know if an all meat diet is good for you.

R.I.P Bear.

[hamerfan]

13. And a pretty good

jewelry designer/maker.
R.I.P. Bear

http://thebear.org/

[The_Casual_Observer]

14. I contacted him about his jewelry several years ago, it's really

good/strange & was very expensive.
Looks like it's too late now.

[nolabear]

15. The man made a lot of changes in this world. RIP.

[wilt the stilt]

16. Went to thge fillmore myself many times

with Mr.Owsley Stanley. Also went to over 50 GD concerts(15th anniversary-Boulder- 20th Greek and 25th). We liked the same music. RIP

[catatebird]

17. On Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owsley_Stanley

[DBoon]

21. Orange Sunshine???

from the early 1970s?

[Viking12]

25. Say hi to Jerry for us!

Fare thee well, Bear.

[_ed_]

26. Sad

I have a few first- and second-generation tapes (now CDs or digital) of some of the Dead shows that he personally started into circulation. I'm gonna "zone out" tonight and relive one of them in style in his honor. Rest Well, buddy.