R.I.P. Bob Weir x Owsley's Back

Bob Weir and Owsley "Bear" Stanley

My last dance with Bob Weir was Dead & Co’s - Final Tour - at Folsom Field - Boulder, CO, July 2023.  If you made it to Bobby’s final performance – the 60th Celebration at Golden Gate Park last August you will absolutely have stories to share with the kids!  

While I could wax and wane about the ground breaking rhythm guitar, innovative wood shedding and ability to mesmerize the ladies I expect I would only get myself in trouble with the diehard Deadheads.  

So, I will wrap, saddened by the passing of a legend that helped change music as we know it; one who left behind a 60 year archive of jams that altered consciousness, encouraged dance and changed the world all while balancing a wife and daughters who loved him dearly. 

No small feat.

SxX, Drugs and Rock ‘n Roll

For those of you who take the time to read my YestoSex newsletter you know that pushing back on the shame and stigma that follows SxX, Drugs and Rock ‘n Roll is a hill I will die on. 

This leads me to the timely discussion of Owsley "Bear" Stanley, the Acid Tests and the journey of LSD as a prohibited and misunderstood Schedule I drug. 

The Early Daze

In 1963 LSD had not yet made its way to the “prohibited list” as a Schedule I Drug.  Ken Kesley and The Merry Pranksters found a welcoming home in American counter-culture as the “Acid Test” Events opened the door for humans to explore altered states and dial in consciousness. By 1966 Timothy Leary coined the phrase “Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out”. By 1968 the state level powers-that-be pushed back. By 1969 Nixon waged WAR on PEACE, LOVE and HIPPIES and by 1970 LSD fell under the Controlled Substance Act and found its place as a lethal Schedule I Drugs to be demonized globally. 

This quick trip into LSD history should remind us that D.A.R.E. and analogous images of one’s brain frying like eggs in a cast iron pan can still sneak into our cultural zeitgeist; that stigmatizing and fear mongering when it comes to mind altering drugs can dangerously disseminate fear and misunderstanding. 

The ACID Test and the BEAR 

New Year’s Eve, 1963 when 16 year old Bobby Weir met Gerry Garcia and his banjo at Dana Morgan’s Music Store in Palo Alto they jammed together – clicked – and became  what will forever be the Grateful Dead Band. 

By late 1965, having just graduated from the Warlocks to the Grateful Dead this house band would fortuitously meet Augustus Stanley Owsley - “BEAR” - at the Muir Beach Acid Test solidifying this jam band's place in history. 

A student at UC Berkeley, by 1963 Owsley was an Air Force Electronics Specialist. Despite zero sound engineering or chemistry training his attention to detail and unshakable desire to explore both consciousness and sound lead Owsley to follow the DEAD from The Fillmore to LA becoming the band’s sound man, apothecary and patron. 

Owsley’s Laboratory - THE PURSUIT of PERFECT SOUND 

Where would humanity be if in 1965 we prohibited Owsley’s single LSD trip? 

Using LSD to drop into an ‘altered state’ Owsley literally saw sound emanating from the speakers.  No shame. No Stigma. No Fear.  Just pure creativity and passion for exploration.

He did not take, covet or harm others.  

He did however understand that if you could see it you could improve it and improve it he did changing concert sound forever. 

                                      Owsley’s Wall of Sound 

The Grateful Dead, unmotivated by money and commercial pressures, were each ready to jam to their hearts content. This was the perfect backstop to improvise soundscapes to match the psychedelic experiences curated for an audience eager and happy to participate in the ‘experiment’. 

Owsley built his laboratory with the Grateful Dead as his centerpiece. This was a team effort – music, sound, lights, and altered states dancing together as one. High on life among other substances, the music ebbed and flowed inside the psychedelic experience. 

Owsley instantly understood that the Grateful Dead, unleashed from rules, greed, and financial constraints, were the ideal catalyst for this exploration.   

It was magical. 

Owsley’s Vision

Emboldened by LSD and an unrelenting passion to improve sound while experiencing others move and evolve through altered states Owsley taught himself to synthesize pure LSD and proceeded to give it away for free. 

Without Owsley and the help of Tim Scully distributing upwards of 1.25M free tabs of LSD what we learned from the ACID Test movement and for that matter The Grateful Dead as we know it would not exist. 

January 1966, at the height of the movement, 10,000 people would come together for The Trips Festival, a three-day San Francisco event co-produced by Ken Kesey, Stewart Brand, et al.  The experiment began as free LSD-infused punch was provided to ignite the music of Grateful Dead, Big Brother & the Holding Company while light shows and Owsley’s sound systems marked a pivotal moment in the emerging hippie counterculture and Acid Tests.  While there were no reports of serious physical injury, promoter Bill Graham was forced to be the adult in the room as the Hell's Angels provided security – a decision that would prove fatal 3 years later in 1969 at the free Altamont Concert produced by the Rolling Stones.  

Proving that all good things come to an end the Altamont Concert would be the nail in the coffin for hippie counterculture and this exploration of altered states. 

This Brave New World 

As we journey though what seems to be the next wave of psychedelic exploration and dare I say acceptance of altered states. As we join other humans open to share their indulgence in flow states, mindfulness, presence and consciousness we must acknowledge where we have come from and the fear and loathing that comes with roads less traveled especially when it comes to evolving human understanding and consciousness. 

While we can admire and even follow in Bobby Weir and Owsley’s footsteps we must also tread carefully. While my fellow psychonauts have been emboldened with relaxed regulatory hurdles that seem to be going our way; as research and the prospect of de-scheduling, decriminalizing and doors opened to research shed positive light on cannabis and classical psychedelics we must remember that moving through life in flow, without the overwhelming dependence on prescription drugs and coercive, vertically integrated substances like alcohol and processed foods, may not sit well with those heavily invested in a culture dependent on these substances.

🌈🧡 Tanya’s Tips: Tread carefully my friends and learn from history.  Change scares most humans. Opening the mind to new experiences, to altered states may require a carefully curated crawl, walk, slow run approach.  We will need to penetrate the cultural zeitgeist.  In a culture that adapts well to fear while distrusting science, helping the majority come to terms with this change in perception; with coming back from 100 years of WAR and fear mongering may need to be a slow, gradual movement considerate of risks and rewards.