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Bear: The Life and Times of Augustus Owsley Stanley III
The creator of the dancing bear logo and designer of the Wall of Sound for the Grateful Dead, Augustus Owsley Stanley III, better known by his nickname, Bear, was one of the most iconic figures in the cultural revolution that changed both America and the world during the 1960s.
Owsley's high octane rocket fuel enabled Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters to put on the Acid Tests. It also powered much of what happened on stage at Monterey Pop. Owsley turned on Pete Townshend of The Who and Jimi Hendrix. The shipment of LSD that Owsley sent John Lennon resulted in The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour album and film.
Convinced that the Grateful Dead were destined to become the world's greatest rock 'n' roll band, Owsley provided the money that kept them going during their early days. As their longtime soundman, he then faithfully recorded many of the Dead's greatest live performances and designed the massive space age system that came to be known as the Wall of Sound.
Award-winning author and biographer Robert Greenfield’s definitive biography of this Grateful Dead legend masterfully takes us through Owsley's incredible life and times to bring us a full picture of this fascinating man for the first time.
Owsley's high octane rocket fuel enabled Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters to put on the Acid Tests. It also powered much of what happened on stage at Monterey Pop. Owsley turned on Pete Townshend of The Who and Jimi Hendrix. The shipment of LSD that Owsley sent John Lennon resulted in The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour album and film.
Convinced that the Grateful Dead were destined to become the world's greatest rock 'n' roll band, Owsley provided the money that kept them going during their early days. As their longtime soundman, he then faithfully recorded many of the Dead's greatest live performances and designed the massive space age system that came to be known as the Wall of Sound.
Award-winning author and biographer Robert Greenfield’s definitive biography of this Grateful Dead legend masterfully takes us through Owsley's incredible life and times to bring us a full picture of this fascinating man for the first time.
288 pages, Paperback
First published November 15, 2016
119 people are currently reading
1066 people want to read
About the author
Robert Greenfield
29 books63 followersA former Associate Editor of the London bureau of Rolling Stone magazine, Robert Greenfield is the critically acclaimed author of several classic rock books, among them S.T.P.: A Journey Through America with the Rolling Stones, as well as the definitive biographies of Timothy Leary and Ahmet Ertegun. With Bill Graham, he is the co-author of Bill Graham Presents: My Life Inside Rock and Out, which won the ASCAP- Deems Taylor Award. An award winning novelist, playwright, and screenwriter, his short fiction has appeared in GQ, Esquire, and Playboy magazines. He lives in California.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 70 reviews
July 25, 2017
I was excited to read this book because I love biographies and I love books about psychedelia, drugs, outliers, and the counterculture of the 1960s. When I was in college, I read Robert Greenfield's biography of Timothy Leary, which is much larger than this book and a lot more dense.
It's an easy read, which is disappointing. At times I felt like I was reading a book targeted to young adults. The prose is simple, the chapters short, and the stories are brief throughout.
The MAJORITY of this book is taken from interviews Greenfield did with Owsley himself, Bob Weir, Dennis McNally (The Grateful Dead's official biographer), and a number of other people from the scene. Heavy quotations throughout of direct dialog from "Bear" are the bulk of each chapter. Compared to Leary's biography--which was rich, had a lot more details, and was much longer--this book almost felt like a cop out. I have no doubt that Greenfield did ample reporting. He cites all materials used. But I wasn't impressed by this whatsoever. It's more like a great love story to a phenomenal character of life.
The content is fascinating and Greenfield beautifully sums up Owsley's impact on culture right at the end: "While Bear's true final resting place would always be in the music that he had done all he could to help the Grateful Dead create, the trajectory of his utterly unconventional yet completely American life spoke volumes about the limits of personal freedom in this country. As an outlier from birth who became an outlaw in the eyes of a society that perceived him as a distinct threat to the status quo, Bear was someone to whom the ordinary rules of behavior never applied."
A short 218 pages, it fills in a lot of holes about the Grateful Dead's source of LSD and money in the beginning of their career. Good biography that could've been better based on what I've seen Greenfield do in the past as a biographer. I almost wish Bear would've written it himself. Although he's quoted so much that he practically did. To play devil's advocate, there is so much material on the culture of the Grateful Dead, the men themselves, and the music that "Bear" isn't taking liberties by repeating them. Greenfield *does* stick to the point but without the backdrop of the epic Grateful Dead, it nearly loses its context. Knowledge of the band and their scene seem necessary for a reader to get a lot out of this one.
It's an easy read, which is disappointing. At times I felt like I was reading a book targeted to young adults. The prose is simple, the chapters short, and the stories are brief throughout.
The MAJORITY of this book is taken from interviews Greenfield did with Owsley himself, Bob Weir, Dennis McNally (The Grateful Dead's official biographer), and a number of other people from the scene. Heavy quotations throughout of direct dialog from "Bear" are the bulk of each chapter. Compared to Leary's biography--which was rich, had a lot more details, and was much longer--this book almost felt like a cop out. I have no doubt that Greenfield did ample reporting. He cites all materials used. But I wasn't impressed by this whatsoever. It's more like a great love story to a phenomenal character of life.
The content is fascinating and Greenfield beautifully sums up Owsley's impact on culture right at the end: "While Bear's true final resting place would always be in the music that he had done all he could to help the Grateful Dead create, the trajectory of his utterly unconventional yet completely American life spoke volumes about the limits of personal freedom in this country. As an outlier from birth who became an outlaw in the eyes of a society that perceived him as a distinct threat to the status quo, Bear was someone to whom the ordinary rules of behavior never applied."
A short 218 pages, it fills in a lot of holes about the Grateful Dead's source of LSD and money in the beginning of their career. Good biography that could've been better based on what I've seen Greenfield do in the past as a biographer. I almost wish Bear would've written it himself. Although he's quoted so much that he practically did. To play devil's advocate, there is so much material on the culture of the Grateful Dead, the men themselves, and the music that "Bear" isn't taking liberties by repeating them. Greenfield *does* stick to the point but without the backdrop of the epic Grateful Dead, it nearly loses its context. Knowledge of the band and their scene seem necessary for a reader to get a lot out of this one.
November 12, 2016
In 1985, when I became initiated into my new life as a latter generation Deadhead—it’s called “getting on the bus,” referencing a lyric from the Dead’s psychedelic classic “That’s It for The Other One”—I had certainly heard of Augustus Owsley Stanley III. As an aficionado of the 1960s social revolution I had missed by virtue of being born in the midst of it, my knowledge of important figures of the day included the most famous purveyor of LSD, the “high octane rocket fuel” that helped usher in what many felt was the beginning of a new age.
Even back in 1967’s legendary Summer of Love, Owsley, a street chemist nicknamed “Bear,” had already acquired a reputation for brilliance and mystery. Credited with manufacturing millions of doses of a drug capable of transforming an individual’s worldview as well as that of society itself, Owsley cut a figure of enigmatic renown, in particular because so little seemed known about the man behind the legend. The new biography Bear by journalist and author Robert Greenfield (Dark Star: An Oral History of Jerry Garcia, Timothy Leary: A Biography) seeks to fill in many of those missing details.
From an interesting and somewhat unsettled childhood as grandson of a progressive (for the time) U. S. Senator from Kentucky, and son of a troubled father forever laboring in the shadow of his more accomplished patriarch, Owsley would become far more notable, and notorious, than either could have dreamed. An autodidact with a brilliant, computer-like mind—an epigraph from Garcia that opens the book reads “There’s nothing wrong with Bear that the loss of a few billion brain cells wouldn’t cure”—Owsley acquired a deserved, if overbearing, reputation for being the smartest person in any given room.
But Bear knew a great deal about more than chemistry: his contributions to live audio reinforcement would make the Grateful Dead famous not only for their lengthy musical improvisations, but for the clarity and power of their sound system. In an era when Beatles performances came piped through baseball stadium PA horns, Bear’s commitment to devising new and elaborate methods of amplifying the output of onstage instruments would alter the way music lovers enjoy live rock concerts.
An inveterate womanizer and irascible, intractable egoist, in time Bear would not only wear out his welcome with the band for whom he provided early financial as well as lysergic support, but beginning in 1970 also served a two-year prison stretch. During this incarceration, he learned the fine arts of metallurgy and jewelry making, which would sustain him financially throughout the rest of his life in place of his former chemical endeavors. (Cultivating cannabis would also serve as a vocation, though Bear himself expressed disinterest about using this particular plant for its psychoactive properties.)
Ever the iconoclast, after suffering a series of recurring dreams about environmental disaster in the Northern hemisphere of the Earth, in the early 1980s Bear attempted to persuade the members of the extended Dead family to immigrate to Australia. While finding no takers, Owsley himself made the move, living out the rest of his years in converted shipping containers in a barren and secluded part of that vast continent. While he returned to America to attend Dead shows (I met and spoke with him at a couple), Australia would become his final home.
As health problems began to plague him, the once indomitable Bear began to show signs of frailty and fragility, particularly after a bout with radiation to treat an instance of cancer in his neck, a disease he attributed to breathing second-hand cigarette smoke during his years working in rock & roll sound reinforcement. This illness on top of open heart surgery a few years earlier left this iconic counterculture figure a skeletal version of his former hearty self, though to the end he hosted his own version of Down Under acid tests, as well as lived to see, and criticize, the release of over a dozen of his audio recordings.
While Greenfield includes a thorough bibliography, end notes, and discography, for such a towering, world-famous figure—his name, which became synonymous with LSD itself, enjoys a listing in various dictionaries—this biography ends up feeling somewhat thin and anecdotal. Intended more, perhaps, for the general public than scholars of the Grateful Dead experience for whom much of this material will read as duly familiar, Bear still provides a solid, humanizing overview of a cultural enigma who just may truly changed the world more than few other twentieth-century figures outside of politics or medicine. Augustus Owsley Stanley may have finally been brought to a prosaic end in a roadside traffic accident, but his spirit, intellect, and contributions to sound reinforcement will most assuredly live on.
Original review on my blog: http://jamesdmccallister.com/book-rev...
Bear: The Life and Times of Augustus Owsley Stanley III
Even back in 1967’s legendary Summer of Love, Owsley, a street chemist nicknamed “Bear,” had already acquired a reputation for brilliance and mystery. Credited with manufacturing millions of doses of a drug capable of transforming an individual’s worldview as well as that of society itself, Owsley cut a figure of enigmatic renown, in particular because so little seemed known about the man behind the legend. The new biography Bear by journalist and author Robert Greenfield (Dark Star: An Oral History of Jerry Garcia, Timothy Leary: A Biography) seeks to fill in many of those missing details.
From an interesting and somewhat unsettled childhood as grandson of a progressive (for the time) U. S. Senator from Kentucky, and son of a troubled father forever laboring in the shadow of his more accomplished patriarch, Owsley would become far more notable, and notorious, than either could have dreamed. An autodidact with a brilliant, computer-like mind—an epigraph from Garcia that opens the book reads “There’s nothing wrong with Bear that the loss of a few billion brain cells wouldn’t cure”—Owsley acquired a deserved, if overbearing, reputation for being the smartest person in any given room.
But Bear knew a great deal about more than chemistry: his contributions to live audio reinforcement would make the Grateful Dead famous not only for their lengthy musical improvisations, but for the clarity and power of their sound system. In an era when Beatles performances came piped through baseball stadium PA horns, Bear’s commitment to devising new and elaborate methods of amplifying the output of onstage instruments would alter the way music lovers enjoy live rock concerts.
An inveterate womanizer and irascible, intractable egoist, in time Bear would not only wear out his welcome with the band for whom he provided early financial as well as lysergic support, but beginning in 1970 also served a two-year prison stretch. During this incarceration, he learned the fine arts of metallurgy and jewelry making, which would sustain him financially throughout the rest of his life in place of his former chemical endeavors. (Cultivating cannabis would also serve as a vocation, though Bear himself expressed disinterest about using this particular plant for its psychoactive properties.)
Ever the iconoclast, after suffering a series of recurring dreams about environmental disaster in the Northern hemisphere of the Earth, in the early 1980s Bear attempted to persuade the members of the extended Dead family to immigrate to Australia. While finding no takers, Owsley himself made the move, living out the rest of his years in converted shipping containers in a barren and secluded part of that vast continent. While he returned to America to attend Dead shows (I met and spoke with him at a couple), Australia would become his final home.
As health problems began to plague him, the once indomitable Bear began to show signs of frailty and fragility, particularly after a bout with radiation to treat an instance of cancer in his neck, a disease he attributed to breathing second-hand cigarette smoke during his years working in rock & roll sound reinforcement. This illness on top of open heart surgery a few years earlier left this iconic counterculture figure a skeletal version of his former hearty self, though to the end he hosted his own version of Down Under acid tests, as well as lived to see, and criticize, the release of over a dozen of his audio recordings.
While Greenfield includes a thorough bibliography, end notes, and discography, for such a towering, world-famous figure—his name, which became synonymous with LSD itself, enjoys a listing in various dictionaries—this biography ends up feeling somewhat thin and anecdotal. Intended more, perhaps, for the general public than scholars of the Grateful Dead experience for whom much of this material will read as duly familiar, Bear still provides a solid, humanizing overview of a cultural enigma who just may truly changed the world more than few other twentieth-century figures outside of politics or medicine. Augustus Owsley Stanley may have finally been brought to a prosaic end in a roadside traffic accident, but his spirit, intellect, and contributions to sound reinforcement will most assuredly live on.
Original review on my blog: http://jamesdmccallister.com/book-rev...
Bear: The Life and Times of Augustus Owsley Stanley III
February 5, 2017
Hi Bob - 24 hours after I started your book, interrupted only by dinner with friends, a bebop play at the Beyond Baroque poetry center and sleep, I closed it, fully mindful of another great trip thru our precipitous life. This chronicle is an important piece in the library of all hippies, heads, rockers, and anyone who hates the fact we’re referred to as boomers.
Truly entertaining with dates that harken back to my own life when I could say, I remember that; or they were in Egypt on the first day of the Rust Never Sleeps tour. I loved all the tech sound stuff and think Mulligan and Briggs & Johnson (if they were alive) would love to read it and weep. Have we lived in an age for the ages or is it our own ego that makes me think we lived in incredible times. If I’m right, LSD certainly was a huge part of the consciousness we gained, shared and expanded, and hopefully allows us to get thru the difficult times we all face, personally, spiritually, politically.
Bear certainly was a character and maybe even a throw-back. Not many of us were that stubbornly smart and confident. He seems to have been in the moment more than almost any one and in our zen times, that’s saying a lot. For all the acid he ingested, he sure looked good up until the cancer hit. Maybe it was the paleolithic diet, another 1st for him, or good genes, but also outlook matters. You were lucky to get him back in 2007 and it’s amazing that there have been so many books written about and around the Dead that helped fuel this trip. Thank you for the journey and keep on rockin’ in the free world.
Truly entertaining with dates that harken back to my own life when I could say, I remember that; or they were in Egypt on the first day of the Rust Never Sleeps tour. I loved all the tech sound stuff and think Mulligan and Briggs & Johnson (if they were alive) would love to read it and weep. Have we lived in an age for the ages or is it our own ego that makes me think we lived in incredible times. If I’m right, LSD certainly was a huge part of the consciousness we gained, shared and expanded, and hopefully allows us to get thru the difficult times we all face, personally, spiritually, politically.
Bear certainly was a character and maybe even a throw-back. Not many of us were that stubbornly smart and confident. He seems to have been in the moment more than almost any one and in our zen times, that’s saying a lot. For all the acid he ingested, he sure looked good up until the cancer hit. Maybe it was the paleolithic diet, another 1st for him, or good genes, but also outlook matters. You were lucky to get him back in 2007 and it’s amazing that there have been so many books written about and around the Dead that helped fuel this trip. Thank you for the journey and keep on rockin’ in the free world.
December 11, 2018
I jumped at the chance to learn more about one the lesser known members of the family. At the end I did learn more than I knew, yet the story was patchy, lacking of detail at times and rushed over at others. I was left with a feeling at times that the author didn't have much, or any accurate information, and was just presented "what he had heard" to move the story along. I was left puzzled by the lack of insight from Bear himself, even more so when the author includes meeting him, interviewing him, but never includes what they actually talked about. Seeing he had already built the mood of Bear being nostalgic after Jerry died, and he himself was diagnosed with cancer, I would have expected an outpouring of stories, yet none were present. The book remained devoid of interesting tiny details and ancidotes that make a good biography, this short quick read felt more like a Wikipedia article than a book. Yes. Its an addition to the Grateful Dead library, but not a manditory one.
May 15, 2025
This biography of Augustus Owsley Stanley III is problematic as it's main source of information and quotes seems to be from Stanley himself or from people who admire him, so it's hardly a balanced view. No matter what the reader thinks of the so-called LSD king, the sound designer and mixer for many Grateful Dead concerts he comes across in this volume as self-absorbed, an extreme eccentric, a believer in outlandish conspiracy theories, and a person constantly late for everything from appointments to airplane flights. Certainly he had opinions but the reader doesn't get the idea that any were correct or were held for any logical or rational reasons. He certainly doesn't sound likeable. A slanted biography of a historically questionable figure. - BH.
January 15, 2019
,,,,,,hidden gem the chemist who funded the Wall of Sound with the Grateful Dead ,,,,,,,
July 12, 2024
A fascinating look at the life of one of the mad geniuses of our time. He comes across as a rather gruff jerk at times, but his life story is something to behold.
August 4, 2017
I stayed up until 2 AM to finish this book, Bear has always been a hero of mine, this book was given to me by a Kurt Vonnegut fan who visited the library and spent a solid hour discussing bluegrass music with me. He also gave me a book about Bean Blossom in southern Indiana, Bill Monroe's Bluegrass hangout where I once had the privilege of playing music.
What is there to say about Bear that hasn't been said? He grew up in Kentucky and discovered a love of bluegrass, was an LSD pioneer, recorded Janis and the Grateful Dead and Doc Watson, moved to Australia to escape an ice age heading for the northern hemisphere, lived on a meat only diet, died in a car crash at the age of 76. Pretty fucking full life if you ask me, this book moved me to tears.
What is there to say about Bear that hasn't been said? He grew up in Kentucky and discovered a love of bluegrass, was an LSD pioneer, recorded Janis and the Grateful Dead and Doc Watson, moved to Australia to escape an ice age heading for the northern hemisphere, lived on a meat only diet, died in a car crash at the age of 76. Pretty fucking full life if you ask me, this book moved me to tears.
November 27, 2020
I have no idea why, I was thinking recently about Owsley LSD. I had a dose in my youth, once, or so I was told. It was liquid and looked liked water when it was dripped onto my tongue. It was the strangest scariest trip I ever took. So now that I'm an old lady I figured I'd find out more about this guy. I knew about the connection with the Grateful Dead, but had no idea of the relationship's scope and details until this biography. It's well written by someone who obviously spent a lot of time with the important people in Owlsley's life. I think, after reading this, that Owlsley was pure energy in human form, running solely on his own clock...or lack of one. Probably on the Autism scale. Clearly genius and mostly uncredited for this. I think I would have loved him and hated him if I had known him.
June 17, 2021
I received this as an Elfster gift from a Deadhead friend. This is a pretty straightforward easy-reading biography, without the gonzo journalistic overtones of some Grateful Dead histories. I enjoyed reading it, for stories that don't appear in the other histories I've read, and the alternate perspective on a number of stories that are told in other accounts. For a reader not interested enough to read two books about Owsley, I'd recommend Rhoney Gissen Stanley's "Owsley and Me" for its first-person perspective, but this book is also worth the time of Dead inquirers. An enjoyable read, though without detailed depth, and it appears care was taken to get the stories right, or as right as stories out of those colorfully skewed times can be.
January 29, 2019
Wasn't digging the blocky quotative narrative and really couldn't get behind the he's so cool / boys will be boys biography of a kid from an elite and "lousy" family that's kicked out of school, kicked (?) out of the military, and then rapes a child:
"During this period, Owsley attended Los Angeles City College. He was also arrested after being caught with a fourteen-year-old girl in a motel room, but was released after being given a lecture by the judge." Pg 30
The more time I spend reading about the 60s counter culture the more pervasively misogynistic and underwhelming it becomes. There are better cultural heroes than this.
"During this period, Owsley attended Los Angeles City College. He was also arrested after being caught with a fourteen-year-old girl in a motel room, but was released after being given a lecture by the judge." Pg 30
The more time I spend reading about the 60s counter culture the more pervasively misogynistic and underwhelming it becomes. There are better cultural heroes than this.
February 26, 2018
Kind of an interesting read, although Owsley was unbelievably full of himself, which is unfortunately familiar to me from having known someone like that. All of the gigantic egos abounding in this book didn't appeal to me terribly much, since they're usually just full of shit anyway. Who turns out to be a dependable figure in this narrative? Ah that's right - none of them.
Still, it's good to know about Bear's life. He did more acid than I can possibly imagine doing in a hundred lifetimes, and somehow lived out his life in a relatively functional way.
Still, it's good to know about Bear's life. He did more acid than I can possibly imagine doing in a hundred lifetimes, and somehow lived out his life in a relatively functional way.
June 2, 2018
Part of who I am today is directly attributable to Owsley’s talent in the lab. Interesting to read about the man and his journey. As many times as our paths undoubtedly crossed (at the Fillmore, the Avalon, and the Carousel Ballrooms), I never met the man himself. But I will always be grateful for his clean, pure product back in the day. Used regularly as a sacrament, it truly opened my mind.
Blessings, Bear, wherever you are.
Blessings, Bear, wherever you are.
February 2, 2017
Pretty disappointing, if I'm being honest. Greenfield may have had some good personal insight from Bear himself, but this never feels like it goes beneath the surface. Having read a lot of books about the Grateful Dead and their orbit, I don't feel I really read anything new or revealing - which feels like a shame.
February 14, 2021
Fascinating and recommended read for anyone with a passion for the Grateful Dead, the 60s counter culture, or psychedelics. I feel Greenfield captures the magnitude of Bear's larger than life character in both a relatable and digestible way. His life is effectively scoped in the events of the time and history of the band and one walks away with a clearer understanding of his impact on them. Readers enjoy the subject's input throughout the book with hundreds of quotes, unlike other biographies done up until that point (according to the man himself). It is a straightforward, simple read and one that leaves you both inspired by Bear's unbelievable gifts and pining to have met the man during his journey on this earth.
I wish it were true that I was innocent with no evil intent and not ego driven because that’s mastery, which has always been my goal. I admire the master because if you master something, you don’t even think about it anymore. It becomes as simple and natural as breathing or riding a bicycle. Thats the way it is with me. Whether it's sculpture or sound mixing or anything else, I don’t think about it. I just turn a few knobs and everything automatically does what its supposed to do.
-Bear, 1/13/2007
December 1, 2018
Definitely enjoyed this one. As a fan of all bios pertaining to Grateful Dead lore, this one was a no brainer for me. The book was concise and the research diligent. Aside from the large chunk of content that was shared via email from Bear, himself directly to Greenfield, the remainder was filled in from the likes of Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, and various other sources documenting the life and times of the Grateful Dead.
A genius, but oh-so-difficult! Owsley comes across as an extremely exasperating character, and you can feel this in the recanting of tales and throughout the book.
Great mysteries about Bear remain, leaving much to the imagination. It was painfully frustrating at times throughout this book to learn of some of Bear’s cringeworthy behavior. A shooting star, no doubt. One of a kind, and miraculously unique, his impact on the counter culture of the 1960s and soon mankind cannot be measured. The planet is a better place because of him. RIP alchemist wizard.
A genius, but oh-so-difficult! Owsley comes across as an extremely exasperating character, and you can feel this in the recanting of tales and throughout the book.
Great mysteries about Bear remain, leaving much to the imagination. It was painfully frustrating at times throughout this book to learn of some of Bear’s cringeworthy behavior. A shooting star, no doubt. One of a kind, and miraculously unique, his impact on the counter culture of the 1960s and soon mankind cannot be measured. The planet is a better place because of him. RIP alchemist wizard.
November 20, 2021
I read /Bear: The Life and Times of Augustus Owsley Stanley III/, by Robert Greenfield:
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-re...
Bear didn't talk about his life much, but rather about sound/music, and about acid, so I'm glad I got to learn more about his life.
Best quote of the book, by Bob Weir, about getting in to a conversation with Bear: "You kind of have to pack a lunch."
I had forgotten some songs about Owsley.
Obviously, there's "Alice D. Millionaire" (the Dead, sung by Pigpen, inspired by a Chronicle headline after his bust: "LSD Millionaire Arrested."
Many people know about Steely Dan's "Kid Charlemagne", which is about Owsley and his exploits, including in Los Angeles with the Dead. I saw a cool article about this a while back.
But Owsley is named in the songs "Who Needs the Peace Corps?" by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, and "Mexico" by the Jefferson Airplane.
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-re...
Bear didn't talk about his life much, but rather about sound/music, and about acid, so I'm glad I got to learn more about his life.
Best quote of the book, by Bob Weir, about getting in to a conversation with Bear: "You kind of have to pack a lunch."
I had forgotten some songs about Owsley.
Obviously, there's "Alice D. Millionaire" (the Dead, sung by Pigpen, inspired by a Chronicle headline after his bust: "LSD Millionaire Arrested."
Many people know about Steely Dan's "Kid Charlemagne", which is about Owsley and his exploits, including in Los Angeles with the Dead. I saw a cool article about this a while back.
But Owsley is named in the songs "Who Needs the Peace Corps?" by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, and "Mexico" by the Jefferson Airplane.
August 17, 2023
I was never a Deadhead, though a lot of my friends were, and I was born about 15 years too late to take part in the Acid Tests, though I did meet Ken Kesey in the early 1990s. The name "Owsley" and his more common moniker "Bear" were pretty familiar to me though, growing up in California as I did, and by the time I was in college he and his antics were the stuff of legend. This book does a good job of journeyman journalism, presenting Bear in a sympathetic light, warts and all, without degenerating into some kind of hippie hagiography, and without overblowing his reputation as the "Acid King" or psychedelic chemist par excellence at the expense of his other claims to fame as a sound engineer and jewelry artist. A light and enjoyable read about a true American original.
April 9, 2019
This was a pretty exquisite read. The Bear was definitely quite the unique character in life and it's really sad looking back at all the accomplishments that he made in the field of music and audio recording. I just don't feel as though he truly gets the credit that he deserves.
The author did a great job of chronicaling many of the highlights of this extraordinary life in a simple, straightforward way. The material came across both in depth, but easy to follow. If you are interested in the Dead and want to learn a lot more about their early years, but also want to see how their circle of a Venn diagram ties into the greater world of rock, I would definitely check this book out.
The author did a great job of chronicaling many of the highlights of this extraordinary life in a simple, straightforward way. The material came across both in depth, but easy to follow. If you are interested in the Dead and want to learn a lot more about their early years, but also want to see how their circle of a Venn diagram ties into the greater world of rock, I would definitely check this book out.
January 25, 2021
Didn't really know anything about the man before reading this book - just bits of here and there - but after reading it he immediately became one of my favourite counterculture figures. No such Messiah complex as with T. Leary. Also was impressed with his technical abilities such as working with amps and other stuff. Like LSD, of which Albert Hoffman himself said that the structure was better than any other street variety he had seen. Obviously there is some truth in old hippies saying that the acid was way stronger in them good ol' Sixties. Not to mention that the doses sometimes were just catastrophic.
Well interesting read. Maybe try Rock Scully's Living with the Dead next.
Well interesting read. Maybe try Rock Scully's Living with the Dead next.
August 4, 2021
I was guided to this book by Rick Turner, a luthier who was there, knew Bear and worked with him, co-designing and building musical tools and sound systems for The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane and many other left coast musicians. Turner continues to build instruments and share recollections that of his late friend's forays. Augustus Owsley Stanley III was a complex and mercurial figure. A brilliant, untameable thinker he applied himself with vision and determination to whatever caught his far-reaching fancy. His life was full of intriguing but usually on his own terms. I, like many of my Rochedale College peers, first heard Owsley's name because of his legendary LSD.
August 17, 2022
(2 1/2). I thought this would be a mesmerizing read. I was wrong. Owsley was such an important figure in the San Francisco music scene in the 60's, with his drug manufacturing, his innovative sound engineering ideas and his rather insane outlook on life, I expected more than the rehash we get here. His family history is cool, and the final chapters describing how he reacted to his kids at the end was well done, but overall I found this to be a fairly boring read. if you pick this up, however, you absolutely have to read the eulogy that was written for Owsley by Robert Hunter, the main lyricist for the Grateful Dead. It is amazing. Medium stuff.
February 4, 2024
Owsley Stanley was a key individual for the hippie movement, especially in Cali. Owsley had so many talents; chemist, lsd pioneer, audio engineering, artist, coffee bean grower, and many more. I did not know LSD was legal in California during his lifetime. Making LSD is expensive and apparently not that difficult. He sold lsd to the rock and roll stars, for example John Lennon would only accept Owsley’s lsd after experiencing how pure it was. Owsley, or The Bear, was the sound engineer for the Grateful Dead but also did live recordings for so many other bands, Jefferson Airplanes, Fleetwood Mac, Allman Brothers Band, The Rolling Stones, and Janis Joplin!
March 17, 2017
Interesting read about LSD pioneer and Grateful Dead sound guru Owsley "Bear" Stanley. I was familiar with much of the history of the Acid Tests and the Dead's long strange trip from other books and other sources but I enjoyed the focal point being on this mysterious character. It really filled in a lot of the blanks about his personality and the role with the band as a brilliant sound engineer and designer of the infamous " Wall of Sound" PA system not to mention some iconic graphic design elements associated with the group.
December 26, 2020
If you want to get a glimpse into the psychedelic 1960's just read any of the books written by members of the Grateful Dead. You will learn more than this book offers. Don't bother with this terribly under-researched book. This lightweight book is a brief summary of Bear's life. There is so much more there, to the man and the era that he helped to create. I would say that it is not worth your time but is a very quick read since there little to it. It seems like the author got a bunch of old articles about Bear together and wrote a synopsis. Great cover art!
July 21, 2018
Owsley Owsley Owsley! Where for art though, now that we really need you? I knew about Owlsley (mainly through his product) , but that not that much. He was a pure genius: chemist, artist, culture creator, techie. It could go on. Sometimes he was an asshole, but mostly he was honest. The world is too rotten for him today. Where are the public figures who stood for something? Now all we have are rooks, rapists, and killers.
April 3, 2024
Having recently immersed myself in the history of the drug-laced counterculture of the Sixties, I inevitably encountered references to Owsley over and over again. I felt I needed to read up on the man who supplied most of the very best LSD to a whole generation and played such an important part in the development of The Grateful Dead. Owsley was a fascinating if aggravating character and I learned a lot. He lived a fascinating life.
August 19, 2024
An interesting, fair-minded account of an unusual person. "Acid King," soundman, carnivore, survivalist, and much more. Through interviews with Bear and his family and associates, the author paints a vivid picture of someone who (sort of) tried to stay out of sight. Fills in some unexplored corners of his life, the story of the Grateful Dead and the whole '60s counterculture, and occasionally shines a spotlight on modern culture.
A few photos; he avoided them. Full biography and index.
A few photos; he avoided them. Full biography and index.
February 27, 2018
Wild but interesting life
Owsley was both a wild reckless demon and evil genius, but at the same time was a crucial figure to the events of the 60's (and both the good and bad that followed); a man who could pretty much master any endeavor that took his fancy. This book provides a good overview of his life and a glimpse into the inner workings of his mind.
Owsley was both a wild reckless demon and evil genius, but at the same time was a crucial figure to the events of the 60's (and both the good and bad that followed); a man who could pretty much master any endeavor that took his fancy. This book provides a good overview of his life and a glimpse into the inner workings of his mind.
September 30, 2018
Definitely worth reading. Both the subject and the main character “Bear” are really interesting. One thought that the author would internalize in psychedelic drugs a little bit more. If you want to read about the “Summer of Love” and a lot more of this amazing episode of cultural and musical movement, you should read this book.
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