tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post300259860222060959..comments2024-03-16T06:44:23.745-07:00Comments on Grateful Dead Sources: October 1966: Owsley Stanley, LSD MillionaireLight Into Asheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-11321350562591922432018-11-30T12:16:40.460-08:002018-11-30T12:16:40.460-08:00Check out the documentary The Sunshine Makers, whi...Check out the documentary The Sunshine Makers, which features Scully.<br />He also has some interesting interviews, including: <br />https://www.insidetherift.net/mind-at-large/2017/2/8/kejminnccpv4005eah7as5iko0o62i <br />https://www.theverge.com/2017/1/26/14398934/tim-scully-lsd-chemistry-drugs-counterculture-psychedelics Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-55493132064348750302018-11-30T00:44:26.714-08:002018-11-30T00:44:26.714-08:00Hi, and thanks for your post. I have been reading ...Hi, and thanks for your post. I have been reading up on the cast of characters involved in the underground manufacture of LSD in the 1960s. In particular, I have been reading a lot about Tim Scully, and he is quite a fascinating read. I am sure you know that Tim Scully was trained by Bear Owsley. From what I have been able to read, Tim Scully did not indulge himself in his earnings from his LSD manufacturing; rather he spent his money on legal fees and on bail for his arrested associates and he believed that he was going to bring about world peace by providing LSD to the masses. I haven't read much of your blog yet, but if you haven't read up on Tim Scully, I am sure you will find him fascinating and brilliant.Buzz Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17107231223426686073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-5624774974583899302018-02-20T17:05:10.078-08:002018-02-20T17:05:10.078-08:00I added an article from 1/15/68, "Millionaire...I added an article from 1/15/68, "Millionaire Held For LSD," reporting on Owsley's life up to his December '67 bust. <br />The reason for adding it here, despite being 15 months later, is that it uses the 1966 Chronicle article as its main source, often word for word, with a few little changes & updates. <br /><br />I won't comment on the various errors, except to note that the Dead did not play the music on the "LSD" record - that was a group called Fire and Ice.<br />The article was accompanied by a picture, not of Owsley, but of the arrested Dead & associates lined up in jail after the 10/3/67 bust. <br /><br />I haven't been looking for Owsley reports in the press, but I'm sure much of his legal history was reported as it happened, so I'll post more Owsley articles if I come across them.Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-62776306625695304882013-03-22T13:01:11.086-07:002013-03-22T13:01:11.086-07:00By the way, this may be the first time the SF Chro...By the way, this may be the first time the SF Chronicle called Owsley the "LSD Millionaire." The Dead must have been amused by this, since within the next month or two, they'd named one of their new songs "Alice D. Millionaire."Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-37575831774408165022013-03-22T12:51:07.339-07:002013-03-22T12:51:07.339-07:00Much of the second half of this article was more o...Much of the second half of this article was more or less unreadable in my scan, so there are a few words & gaps that couldn't be made out, but this is the best transcription I could make.<br /><br />LSD became illegal in California on October 6, 1966, which no doubt prompted this timely article. <br />The same issue also had another front-page article: <br />"BERKELEY SEEKS LSD INDICTMENTS <br />Berkeley police disclosed yesterday that they will take their growing campaign against University of California fringe drug peddlers to a Federal grand jury this week... <br />The department will seek indictments against four persons described as responsible for 'a major portion of LSD sales' along 'hippy' Telegraph avenue just south of the campus..."<br /><br />It's funny that in spring & summer 1966, Owsley was running the sound system for a successful SF rock band, but apparently the police (or this reporter's contacts) never suspected this. <br /><br />The Grateful Dead are only briefly mentioned as "a way-out rock 'n' roll group." Curiously, though he knows Owsley's their sponsor, the reporter doesn't connect them with the band rehearsing at Owsley's house at the end of the article. (Or he just doesn't care about that side of Owsley's career...)<br />Apparently the reporter couldn't even find anyone currently in contact with Owsley! It's notable that he talked to police & relatives but didn't bother speaking to the Dead, if he even knew who they were.<br /><br />The documentary record "LSD" was released in August 1966. Some music on the record is from "Speed Limit," a recording by the Pranksters & Neal Cassady which is said to include the Warlocks, but the band is just playing a straightforward, generic surf instrumental so it's hard to tell.<br />More info on the album here: <br />http://www.lysergia.com/LamaReviews/lamaLSDCapitolLP.htm<br />http://www.allmusic.com/album/lsd-a-documentary-report-mw0001227467 <br />For the curious, the whole LP is up on youtube, just look up the LSD Capitol Documentary. <br />"Speed Limit" can be heard here: <br />http://archive.org/details/gd1965-11-01.sbd.bershaw.5417.sbeok.shnf <br />You can hear the band without the Prankster overdubs in the last couple minutes, and they go into a second instrumental right at the end. It's not too dissimilar from other things the early Dead did, like Heads Up on 3/19/66 or the instrumental on 3/25/66.<br /><br />The officer at the end would no doubt have been delighted to know that Owsley's run-ins with the law had only just begun.<br />If anyone has them, more articles on Owsley's legal travails would be welcome! Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.com