Not surprisingly considering all the drugs that were then being consumed by those who were part of the scene around the Grateful Dead, the exact chronology of certain events often varies wildly from one source to another. In writing this book, I have relied on Dennis McNally’s A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead as the absolutely most authoritative guide to when, where, and how these events occurred. For all those who want to know what that long, strange trip was truly like, his book remains essential reading.
I also owe a debt of gratitude to David Browne and I highly recommend his excellent book So Many Roads: The Life and Times of the Grateful Dead.
For doing his best to help me locate a photograph of Bear that in the end could not be found, I would like to thank my old friend Ken Turan. I should also like to express my gratitude to Rosie McGee, Amalie R. Rothschild, Ed Perlstein, and Richard Pechner for supplying the photographs that accompany the text. A special thank you to Jay Blakesberg, who came up with the photograph of Owsley, Ravi Shankar, and Ali Akbar Khan taken by Jim Marshall at Monterey Pop.
Closer to home, I would like to extend my continuing gratitude to Donna for putting up with me as I worked my way through Bear’s life. As always, big love to Sandy and Anna. While writing about Bear was not easy, I hope even he would recognize that I have done my best to get as much of this as right as I possibly could.
Notes
Epigraph
I’m not interested, Bear e-mail, 1/31/2007.
There’s nothing, Lesh, Searching for the Sound.
Prologue: The Muir Beach Acid Test
like the claws of a tiger, Gans, Conversations with the Dead.
bigger than the Beatles, Bear e-mail, 4/1/2007.
“alchemist, seer, magician,” Wolfe, Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.
geometrically increases his paranoia, McNally, A Long Strange Trip.
into a ditch, Bear interview, 1/31/2007.
angels and devils, ibid.
“No, no,” Cargill e-mail, 2/18/2007.
“the Johnny Appleseed,” Lesh, Searching for the Sound.
“The Pranksters,” Bear interview, 1/31/2007.
1. Bluegrass Roots
“an excellent excuse,” WPA Guide to Kentucky.
“the last of,” Bob Weir interview, 2/27/2007.
Nuddicut Owsley Stanley, www.historykygovenors.com/aostanley.htm.
“Gentlemen, I beg you,” ibid.
“We are at war,” “Augustus Owsley Stanley,” McKenzie Martin, http://explorekyhistory.ky.gov.
“I shall give,” www.historykygovenors.com/aostanley.htm.
“You cannot milk,” Dorson, America in Legend.
frequently mentioned, Klotter and Schillinger, Kentucky Profiles.
“He did not graduate,” Bear interview, 1/31/2007.
“Then the Depression,” ibid.
“He transferred into,” ibid.
“What happened was,” ibid.
“from this point on,” “U.S.S. Lexington—Action Report of the Battle of the Coral Sea,” www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ships/logs/CV/CV2-Coral.html.
“The picture of the,” ibid.
“My father must,” Bear interview, 1/31/2007.
“My name is not,” Bear e-mail, 3/27/2007.
2. Growing Up Absurd
“quite get the knack,” Bear interview, 1/31/2007.
“black nannies whom we,” ibid.
“I didn’t recognize letters,” Eisner, “Interview with an Alchemist.”
“I didn’t like,” Bear interview, 1/31/2007.
“like dog shit,” ibid.
“to provide for the,” en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.Charlotte_Hall_Military_Academy.
“The result was,” Eisner, “Interview with an Alchemist.”
“almost like a brainchild,” High Times, February 1979, as quoted by Stevens, Storming Heaven.
“I was tossed out,” Bear interview, 1/31/2007.
“All America is an,” Mitgang, “Researchers Dispute Ezra Pound’s ‘Insanity.’”
“I don’t know if,” Bear interview, 1/31/2007.
“it totally freaked out,” ibid.
“It was hard for me,” ibid.
“And then, the,” ibid.
“an incompetent very senior,” Bear e-mail, 3/27/2007.
“I picked engineering,” Bear interview, 1/31/2007.
“I was the kind of guy,” ibid.
“I was terrified of,” ibid.
“emotionally unbalanced,” Reasons, “‘Mr. LSD’ Makes Millions.”
“We haven’t had,” ibid.
“He had insulted,” Bear e-mail, 4/13/2007.
“an old name,” Lexington (Ky.) Herald, March 28, 1968.
3. Shape-Shifting
“clown dive,” Bear interview, 1/31/2007.
“It was my right,” ibid.
“I wound up,” Jackson, Garcia: An American Life.
“I was twenty-three,” Bear interview, 1/31/2007.
“I was very,” ibid.
“just a little,” Reasons, “‘Mr. LSD’ Makes Millions.”
“I bounced some,” Eisner, “Interview with an Alchemist.”
4. Berkeley, 1964
“Forty-five minutes later,” Perry, “Owsley and Me.”
“boxes full of,” ibid.
“the most amazing,” ibid.
“a funky little,” Eisner, “Interview with an Alchemist.”
“a huge stash,” Perry, “Owsley and Me.”
“a quaint cottage,” Charles Perry e-mail, 6/4/2015.
“her away from,” ibid.
“a cute little,” ibid.
“I remember the,” Bear interview, 1/31/2007.
“And I found,” Eisner, “Interview with an Alchemist.”
“In the early,” Cargill e-mail, 2/28/2007.
“in a dream-like state,” Hofmann, LSD—My Problem Child.
“enjoy the unprecedented,” ibid.
“an unusually fragile,” Shulgin and Shulgin, TiHKAL.
“They took one,” Bear e-mail, 4/13/2007.
“showed up at one,” Perry, “Owsley and Me.”
“In the charges,” Bear e-mail, 4/13/2007.
“At the time,” Perry e-mail, 10/16/2015.
“He wanted,” Perry, “Owsley and Me.”
“who reflected,” ibid.
“at the property,” ibid.
“‘Where is your,’ “ibid.
“overlooked the residue,” ibid.
“To be honest,” Cargill e-mail, 3/17/2007.
5. Making Acid
“a nasty brown,” Bear e-mail, 4/1/2007.
“There’s no more,” Eisner, “Interview with an Alchemist.”
“a college kid thing,” Perry e-mail, 10/15/2015.
“If you were not,” Bear interview, 1/31/2007.
“I’d take a,” ibid.
“LSD is something,” ibid.
“I never, ever,” Bear e-mail, 4/1/2007.
“difficult to get,” Bear interview, 1/31/2007.
“dropping some off,” ibid.
“When you start,” ibid.
“I started doing,” ibid.
“I never fronted,” Bear e-mail, 4/1/2007.
“told people,” Bear interview, 1/31/2007.
“love to Melissa,” Stevens, Storming Heaven.
“become a,” Perry, “Owsley and Me.”
“little ostentatiously,” Perry e-mail, 11/18/2015.
“Bay Area,” ibid.
“their accomplishments,” ibid.
“two-dimensional,” Perry, “Owsley and Me.”
“Oh, that’s right,” ibid.
6. Pranksters and Angels
“Go back to,” http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/pacificaviet.html.
“to be the,” Gans, Conversations with the Dead.
“Before I got,” Bear e-mail, 4/1/2007.
“was sort of,” Eisner, “Interview with an Alchemist.”
“was the kind,”
Gans, Conversations with the Dead.
“a bunch of,” Bear interview, 1/31/2007.
“Two hundred,” ibid.
“a cross,” Thompson, Hell’s Angels.
“massive arms,” ibid.
“about that,” ibid.
“the worthless,” ibid.
“Terry the Tramp,” Bear interview, 1/31/2007.
“There I was,” ibid.
“wolves were,” ibid.
“a lot more,” ibid.
“to go to,” Bear e-mail, 4/1/2007.
7. Trips Festival
“There were,” McNally, A Long Strange Trip.
“It was,” Graham and Greenfield, Bill Graham Presents.
“We were,” ibid.
“It was,” Bear interview, 9/28/1989.
“down the,” McNally, A Long Strange Trip.
“first sort of,” Weir interview, 2/27/2007.
“like a,” Lesh, Searching for the Sound.
“an Aussie,” ibid.
“every inch,” ibid.
“So, you’re,” ibid.
“the result,” ibid.
“He said,” Bear e-mail, 4/1/2007.
“Other than,” Lesh, Searching for the Sound.
“like being,” McNally, A Long Strange Trip.
“Phil was,” Bear interview, 1/31/2007.
“That was,” Scully interview, 3/2/2007.
“extraordinarily ugly,” McNally, A Long Strange Trip.
“never heard,” ibid.
“the Dead,” Bear interview, 12/4/1995.
“Owsley saw,” Scully interview, 3/2/2007.
“So I,” ibid.
“something that,” Gans, Conversations with the Dead.
“about four,” ibid.
“a little,” ibid.
“two channels,” ibid.
“Owsley brought,” Scully interview, 3/2/2007.
“It was,” Lesh, Searching for the Sound.
8. LA Fadeaway
“We were,” Bear interview, 1/31/2007.
“It wasn’t,” ibid.
“The Voice,” Scully interview, 3/2/2007.
“This is,” McNally, A Long Strange Trip.
“a hippie,” ibid.
“obviously a,” ibid.
“was both,” Weir interview, 2/27/2007.
“We’d met,” Graham and Greenfield, Bill Graham Presents.
“The band,” ibid.
“was as,” Kreutzmann with Eisen, Deal.
“had Phil’s,” McNally, A Long Strange Trip.
“a combination,” ibid.
“I’ll tell,” Bear interview, 1/31/2007.
“something else,” ibid.
“saw sound,” ibid.
“He came,” Scully interview, 3/2/2007.
“We all had,” Bear interview, 1/31/2007.
“Look what,” Tendler and May, Brotherhood of Eternal Love.
“the bit,” Bear e-mail, 4/1/2007.
“I remember,” Weir interview, 2/27/2007.
“We were,” Perry e-mail, 11/6/2015.
9. Olompali
“only out,” Bear interview, 12/4/1995.
“The Bear,” Weir interview, 2/27/2007.
“Owsley liked,” Scully interview, 3/2/2007.
“some bigger,” Bear e-mail, 4/1/2007.
“It never,” Reich and Wenner, Garcia.
“They decided,” Bear interview, 12/4/1995.
“He gave,” McNally interview, 2/28/2007.
10. Print the Legend
“flying on LSD,” Stevens, Storming Heaven.
“heaping pile,” Reasons, “‘Mr. LSD’ Makes Millions.”
“running,” ibid.
“he had,” ibid.
“even Owsley’s,” ibid.
“What kind,” ibid.
“dropped from,” ibid.
“with all,” ibid.
“Home Made Drugs,” San Francisco Chronicle, October 5, 1966.
“I vaguely,” Weir interview, 2/27/2007.
“We were,” Bear interview, 3/18/1997.
“revered because,” Scully interview, 3/2/2007.
“the high,” Greenfield, Timothy Leary.
“Somebody played,” ibid.
“flick on,” ibid.
“the rest,” ibid.
“Are you,” ibid.
“Everything Tim,” ibid.
“Unless you,” Greenfield, Timothy Leary.
“Leary may,” Perry, “Owsley and Me.”
“The clear,” Wolfe, Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.
“they made,” Gissen Stanley with Davis, Owsley and Me.
“We spent,” Bear interview, 3/18/1997.
“I stopped,” ibid.
“the most,” Bear e-mail, 4/6/2007.
“Robin Goodfellow,” Stevens, Storming Heaven.
“I literally,” Bear e-mail, 4/6/2007.
“Owsley habitually,” Perry e-mail, 12/16/2015.
“Mr. LSD,” Dorson, America in Legend.
“Anecdotal legends,” ibid.
“groove,” ibid.
“Owsley represents,” ibid.
“All myths,” Rogers, “Haight-Ashbury Era’s Owsley Stanley.”
“I’ve been,” Bear interview, 1/31/2007.
“lived with,” Barlow interview, 3/3/2007.
“thinking exactly,” ibid.
“Owsley said,” ibid.
“various people,” ibid.
“You become,” ibid.
11. Monterey Pop, and Beyond
“drice,” ibid.
“working around,” ibid.
“Bobby Dylan,” Perry, “Owsley and Me.”
“Hi, Bob,” Perry e-mail, 10/27/2015.
“Now, at,” Graham and Greenfield, Bill Graham Presents.
“But it,” ibid.
“I sent,” Bear e-mail, 4/1/2007.
12. Getting Busted
“It was,” Graham and Greenfield, Bill Graham Presents.
“collapsed into,” Perry, “Owsley and Me.”
“the acid,” von Hoffman, We Are the People.
“The change,” Bear e-mail, 4/1/2007.
“My regular,” Bear interview, 1/31/2007.
“the money,” Bear e-mail, 4/6/2007.
“feel it,” ibid.
“did not,” ibid.
“border policemen,” Perry, “Owsley and Me.”
“cops don’t,” ibid.
“a regular,” ibid.
“Persian rugs,” ibid.
“a regular,” ibid.
“an ordinary,” Bear e-mail, 4/1/2007.
“All that,” ibid.
“panic in,” “LSD ‘Tycoon’ Held.”
“to a,” ibid.
“How did,” “Owsley Guilty.”
“made the,” ibid.
“actually a,” “LSD ‘Tycoon’ Held.”
“gives the,” ibid.
13. Two Festivals
“a clubhouse,” McNally, A Long Strange Trip.
“I worked,” Bear interview, 12/4/1995.
“the definitive,” Live at the Carousel Ballroom 1968.
“would never,” Graham and Greenfield, Bill Graham Presents.
“decided to,” ibid.
“nobody injected,” ibid.
“He was,” ibid.
“I always,” Bear e-mail, 4/1/2007.
“We used,” Browne, So Many Roads.
“As soon,” Bear interview, 9/28/1989.
“We’re doing,” McNally, A Long Strange Trip.
“I never,” Bear interview, 1/31/2007.
“sightless as,” Lydon, “Good Old Grateful Dead.”
“we can,” ibid.
“righteous,” ibid.
“still lost,” ibid.
“Listen, are,” ibid.
“A good night,” ibid.
“What’s so,” ibid.
“sleepy but,” ibid.
“like two,” ibid.
“You sonofabitch!,” Scully with Dal
ton, Living with the Dead.
“I will,” Gissen Stanley with Davis, Owsley and Me.
“really did,” Jackson, Goin’ down the Road.
“He was,” Browne, So Many Roads.
“I talked,” Bear interview, 9/28/1989.
“a lot of,” http://www.thebear.org/GDLogo.html.
“spend a,” ibid.
“was a,” ibid.
“perhaps the,” ibid.
“Oh, that’s,” Bear interview, 1/31/2007.
“a few,” http://www.thebear.org/GDLogo.html.
“I didn’t,” Bear interview, 1/31/2007.
“would rank,” McNally, Long Strange Trip.
“We arrived,” Bear interview, 12/4/1995.
“hooked ropes,” ibid.
“out came,” ibid.
“and there,” ibid.
“It’s nice,” McNally, A Long Strange Trip.
“The wrong,” Bear e-mail, 1/31/2007.
“the brown acid,” www.hark.com/clips/ygmhswwswk-brown-acid-warning.
“seemed to,” “Owsley Guilty.”
“They found,” Scully interview, 3/2/2007.
“I knew,” Bear interview, 9/28/1989.
“We looked,” ibid.
“took just,” ibid.
“the Pearl,” Graham and Greenfield, Bill Graham Presents.
“the most,” ibid.
“wore more,” ibid.
“loaded to,” ibid.
“Gettin’ smaller,” ibid.
14. Set Up Like a Bowling Pin
“Look, you,” “Police in the Big Easy.”
“a pound,” McNally, A Long Strange Trip.
“Rock Musicians,” New Orleans Times-Picayune.
“The promoter,” Bear interview, 1/31/2007.
“a tiny,” “Owsley Stanley Serves Time.”
“a threat,” ibid.
“accepted that,” Gissen Stanley with Davis, Owsley and Me.
“refused to,” ibid.
“Notes on,” ibid.
“At Terminal,” Bear interview, 1/31/2007.
“I had,” Gans, Conversations with the Dead.
“just great,” Reich and Wenner, Garcia.
“When I,” Bear interview, 1/31/2007.
“of my,” Perry, “Owsley and Me.”
“a lion’s,” ibid.
“all sorts,” ibid.
Bear Page 19
