Monday, March 14, 2011

GONE in a blinding flash.

OK, admittedly, this article ain't for everybody. But there are a couple of old freaks who hang out here.
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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. (as did Bear, schteveo) 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.

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.

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I got a buzz just reading this one. Godspeed Bear.
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Schteveo

9 comments:

srk said...

I read that earlier, but I thought it might have been an hallucination.

Schteveo said...

Nope srk, if he'd SHOWN UP to tell you he was dead, THAT would clearly be a hallucination, or at least a flash back.

Purple Poots said...

My first trip was on Orange Sunshine, another Owsley recipe. Dropped half of a 3,600 mic 4-way barrel on the steps of the Museum of Science and Industry in ChiTown.

Also had a source to real Purple Haze and bought 4 or 5 hunnert of those.

"If I don't see you no more in this world I'll see you in the next one, and don't be late".

blue said...

ah that explains everything - Poots did 500 hits of Purple Haze in his youth!!

Schteveo said...

Poots,
you old rascal you.

Can't say I ever had anything that good. Had some, gotten in Auckland, New Zealand, that made for a long, nice day in Noumea, New Caledonia, that was the best, mellowest I ever had though.

1979, South Pacific, summer, sea breezes, warm waves lapping at the shore, beautiful little birds flying around, not too bad a day all in all.

Ah, yes, youthful stupidity.

BOW said...

Uhhhhhhhhhhhh.....

I forgot

Schteveo said...

Bill,
that's pot, not acid. And mixing them is a waste.

(Spider is sitting on the sidelines thinking we're all just stupid, old, law breaking nuts)

(we were young and foolish dude, plain and simple)

P o o t s can fly said...

I'd do it again in a second Steve.

stanley s n o r p h t said...

Not ALL, BLUE.But a couple hundred got sure