I’ve heard people say he was busted because his car ran out of gas, but when I do more research on it I can’t find anything about him running out of gas🤔
Now, it’s been a while since I was in school, but I’m pretty sure $5 x 200 is $1,000 not $10 million
Probably meant 20 or 200 grams of crystal and just didn't know any better at the time...
200 crystals!
Normally if you get caught with 2 million doses of a drug you actually go to jail. Pretty sure big brother just told him to chill and focus on sound design. He was too close to the hub. Eventually they would have been forced to arrest the whole band in that arrangement.
war on drugs and mandatory minimums hadnt started yet. prison sentences have greatly increased over the last 40-50 years
https://oaktreereview.com/struck-by-white-lightning-a-correspondence-with-owsley-stanley/
Details are covered in this article…. Seems pretty interesting in general too. “The lab turned out more than 300 000 tablets containing 270 micrograms each. “
They call that wook math. 😂
Wook Math ...hilarious
I thought that seemed off! 😹
Well they said $5 a copy. So he'd have to copy a lot of them but eventually he'd get there. Not sure how that would work science-wise but that won't stop the judge!
A PC acid 3D printer where you can just scan/copy pages/sheets
😂
Hey are you arguing with the blotter?
Author was high when he wrote that.
Common core math...😆
$13 Billion worth by the fed's calculations
😂😂😂
I’ve driven up to the house in Orinda where the lab was. You take the St Stephens road exit and you take St Stephens rd all the way from town up a hill for a few miles and you stay on St. Stephens rd the whole way until you finally turn left on this other road and the house is right there.
There’s also a church up there called St Stephen’s Episcopal church. Out front of the church is what looks much like a wishing well with a golden bell right out of the front door. the house and church are on a hillside that is a part of Mt. Diablo (“wishing well with a golden bell, bucket hanging clear to hell”). The song St Stephen was written right after the bust. I’m almost certain St Stephen is about Owsley and the bust.
100%
I know exactly the place though it is not Mt. Diablo, that is the San Pablo Ridge. Mt. Diablo is just slightly south east from Walnut Creek. St. Stephen is definitely about Owsley and the lab.
Right on, well.. scratch the mt diablo part lol
I’ve wondered about that when passing the exit. Makes sense. I’ll cruise by and check out the wishing well with the golden bell and the bucket hanging clear to hell the next time I’m out that way.
Would make for a really interesting perspective for a movie. The DEA’s year long investigation into Owsely and The Grateful Dead. Going undercover, tailing them, wiretapping etc.
YES!
That's a different group. Very cool and all but I don't think they were involved...
Or maybe acid squirt guns. All the agents they send out, Owsley and band keep converting to the other side.
I’ve heard of this and the story of where owsleys friend sold like 6k worth of tabs to an undercover agent. But I haven’t heard the story of him running out of gas besides the song Kid Charlemagne
Is there gas in the car? Yes there's gas in the car.
Now that's going to be stuck in my head.
I think the people down the hall know who you are.
'Cause the man is wise, you are still an outlaw in their eyes
Every A-Frame had his number on the wall.
He'd go to L.A. on a dare
And he’d go it alone.
Careful what you carry.
One of my all time favorite lines in a rock song.
He thought he meant nitrous.
the song doesn't mention him running out of gas. "is there gas in the car?" "yes there's gas in the car."
there is no running out because they double checked & were prepared.
https://medium.com/the-riff/the-psychedelic-origins-of-steely-dans-kid-charlemagne-6280dd7396af “The final verse of “Kid Charlemagne” describes Owsley’s eventual 1967 bust when he was arrested after his car reportedly ran out of gas.”
The reporter took liberties. The lyrics about gas are clear unless it's a joke about what they should have done but didn't.
Ah okay appreciate it, just confused me cause I’ve seen a few people say he was busted after running out of gas but maybe it’s just false info
That's always been the legend I heard.
They found a scale in the car and prompted the raid
The people down the hall knew who he was.
Just get it all out of here.
Careful what you carry.
tht song is a fictionalized telling of a cultural myth. steely Dan did no personally know Bear. they were writing a song to tell a story so they made all kinds of additions & changes for the story to work & for the lyrics to work. the song is based on the guy, it is not a factual biography.
are you telling me that everyone did not, in fact, stop to stare at his technicolor motorhome?
And that, in actuality, not every A-frame had his number on the wall?
Are you going to sit there and tell me he didn’t cross a diamond with a pearl?
Thank you.
with one of the raddest guitar solos ever laid down by an LA session man
Why was he called Kid Charlemagne?
I’m guessing because he changed the ideas and world of many people with his lsd, just like Charlemagne did with his renaissance
No way they were charging $5 a dose in the 60s. We were paying $2 a dose in the late 80s. $5 in 1969 would be over $40 today. I know drug cops always exaggerate the value of busts, but that's way off.
yup you can easily get a gram for under 10k nowadays.
Acid was super expensive before Bear started giving it away. Sure he sold some, but he drove the street price way down. Then the Brotherhood of Eternal Love finished the job. Acid is still cheaper than it ought to be considering how powerful it is.
1 for $3, 2 for $5 in the 90’s
200? Wow, he lucked out, didn’t the story go he brought like 5000 to Monterey Pop.
I just don’t get the modern math.
Another with a bit more detail. https://deadsources.blogspot.com/2018/02/december-21-1967-owsley-bust.html?m=1
“December 21, 1967, 69 La Espinal* Street, Orinda, California”
Fun fact: After police had ransacked the house and wrapped it in yellow police tape, Hell’s Angel brother Little George broke in and recovered Bear’s cache of cash and his stash.
*Espiral
Cach-ey of cash-ay
Touchè.
lol
La Espiral (not Espinal).
Thank you.
That’s crazy interesting, I’m still new here so is the Little George you’re talking about the son of George Christie?
No. George Christie joined the HA in ‘75. His son was born in ‘76.
This was an earlier Little George as reported by Rhoney Stanley in her memoir “Owsley and Me.”
Ah okay yea that is true😂 That’s very cool though I’m gonna read up on that.
Yeah do - interesting book by the student he recruited away from Berkeley to help him produce acid. Here’s a recent piece about her: https://doubleblindmag.com/meet-rhoney-stanley-underground-lsd-chemist-behind-the-60s-psychedelic-revolution/
That is a fun fact
If you get a chance, "Bear: The life and times of Augustus Owsley Stanley III" by Robert Greefield is a great read and well worth your time.
I was actually just thinking of buying that book and The Electric Kool Aid book!
Tom Wolfe's Electric Kool Aid Acid test is well worth a read, but it is definitely written from the perspective of someone outside observing the scene. It will definitely make the cast around the Merry Pranksters and the early Grateful Dead make a little bit more sense, as to who is who.
If I could suggest another book that I suspect you'll really like, it is "Heads: A biography of psychedelic America" by Jesse Jarnow.
Thanks for the recommendation I’m gonna look into that i appreciate it!
Read Heads by Jesse Jarnow
Then orange sunshine
Read on the road for another perspective on the bus.
Read it, highly agree
Man I somehow have never thought to look into a biography about Owsley, thank you kind folk
well, there was gas in the car (they checked twice), but the people down the hall knew who he was
Is there gas in the car? Yes there’s gas in the car
Not sure exactly but there was a reporter for an LA paper that was doing research trying to find the person responsible for all the LSD. This was around the time they moved to LA and the reporter had his suspicion it was Owsley. Word got back to Owsley and he decided it was time to leave. This was awhile before he got busted but could've led to him being identified
I never heard this part of the story. The part I heard was that the band couldn’t stand him being their manager and broke it off within 6 weeks and then got out of LA. The house they were all living in LA was the house where Owsley got the nickname Bear, because the sounds of sex from his loft was bear-like
I thought he was called Bear because he was extremely hairy. In fact, a quick Google search reveals multiple sources indicating this sane thing. Pigpen (+ Janis Joplin) was the one known for his notoriously loud sexual behavior.
Pigpen (+ Janis Joplin) was the one known for his notoriously loud sexual behavior.
Street cats making love
I read it in his recent biography The Life and Times of Augustus Owsley Stanley III by Robert Greenfield.
Yes I have also heard that Janice and Pigpen were loud as well… not surprised 😆
I figure the name Bear can be attributed to multiple things, like his preference for rare/raw meat, his hairy body, and the bear-like sex that was heard in the top floor of the house they all lived in for the very short time he “managed” the band.
He had the nickname Bear before the Dead. We was a hairy man
Is there gas in the car?
Yes, there's gas in the car.
I think the people down the hall know who you are
There's a book written by his wife where she says they stayed too long at that house on Owsleys call when they were spooked but had a batch in process
Alice D. Millionaire: great song
Going Down the Road Breaking Bad
Set-up, like a bowling pin...
My grade school math teacher has some explaining to do!
Another good article…
https://www.rollingstone.com/feature/owsley-stanley-the-king-of-lsd-82181/
If you want I can try to look up the passage for you but I have no idea where in the book it is so it might take me some time
I read this about a year and a half ago and I was actually pretty sick at the time so I'm pretty sure what I'm telling you is correct, but I'm also not 100% sure but I'll look it up again if you want to read it
Also, only 2 years of prison time is mind-blowing😂 Nowadays an lsd lab will get you a life sentence
not necessarily. it all depends on situation & lawyers & a bunch of other things tht make each situation different.
I have friends that did 10 years for a LSD lab. I have a friend that got probation for a LSD lab. there way more than just the existence of a lab that goes into charges & sentences.
for the most part, the people I know that were caught with huge quantities(thousands of sheets) did more time than people caught with a lab, but it's all situational.
Owsley's 2year bust was still early in the days of LsD illegality. they hadnt quite worked up the anti-LSD fervor that the justice system eventually embraced. he also had lots of family money & connections that may have helped. he had lots of letters from people testifying about his great character & amazing intelligence & all that. also, at the time a 2 year sentence wasn't that crazy low or didn't seem that low because there really wasn't any other similar busts to compare it to.
Yea you’re right a life sentence is an exaggeration, but with the amount of lsd owsley put out, and the amount of people it had an effect on, you’d think he wouldn’t be let off so easy but it’s definitely true it was different time back than and I think lsd is looked at way different today than it used to be.
I find that crazy. Life sentences is what they usually give if convicted of Murder 1. It seems extremely excessive for manufacturing a drug that doesn't kill people. I will never understand that.
I’m definitely over exaggerating but there have been some insane sentences over just selling the stuff.
Not really, He's out now but Pickard received 2 consecutive life sentences. I'm sorry but you should have to murder at least 2 people for that kind of sentence.
Well to be fair, didn’t pickard torture somebody while drugging him with lad?
Nevermind, I’m thinking of Gordon Skinner who worked with Pickard.
The snitch
I know a guy who did 13 months in Virginia in 1985 for 50 tabs of acid.
I knew a guy who got busted selling 2 tabs to an undercover cop in RI, same times, and got a year.
I did six months for a ten strip in 1999.
Most probably none on this subreddit can begin to understand what it was actually like to be Bear. Me included.
Here's the video:
But like, imagine funding and designing the wall of sound while almost being the self appointed sound man for the Grateful Dead.
Absolutely amazing.
He also got two years in prison and said personally that the term cost him his relationship with the Grateful Dead
He could have kept on if he had just skedaddled
This is easier said than done by an extreme margin
Yeah man the high he must’ve felt becoming a millionaire from scratch in less than a year would’ve made it hard to stop there, also do you know if there is a reason Tim scully got 20 years while owsley only got 2?
Mandatory Minimums are a fucking joke, I'm appalled they are still there. It should have been reformed LONG time ago but it wont happen as it feeds the present day slavery in prisons.. Check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/13th_(film))
Kid charlamegne by steely Dan is based on this..but
Loosely based...
Is there gas in the car ? Yes there’s gas in the caaar.
It was a classic CIA catch and release program
Up on Bourbon Street.
it was a Federal sting.. Very straightforward. Lots of plants and informants to build a case. There was no on precipitating event other than prolonged muanufacture.
Were there or were there not white men in the street?
I remember reading in his book he managed to flee from his charges and hide out in another country, but eventually he decided to come back here and serve his time he didnt elaborate on it to much in the book but i thought it was odd he surrendered himself and came back to the country to do his time
Its weird how you are able to type a post into reddit but unable to type "Owsley arrest" into google.
I was more asking about if the claims that he got arrested because he ran out of gas was correct… because I’ve heard multiple different stories by now…. Grow up🤦
Learn to use search engines homes.
http://deadsources.blogspot.com/2018/02/december-21-1967-owsley-bust.html?m=1
Why ask any questions on Reddit if everything’s on google already?
Again, the question was rather asking whether owsley actually was busted because he ran out of gas. I read the articles and I was wondering why some people were saying that he was busted another way, Homes.
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF. - Millionare Augustus Owsley Stanley III, revered among hippies as the "King of Acid," finally has run into big, big trouble with the federal narcotics boys. After a year-long investigations, agents raided a two-story home in suburban Orinda, picked up Stanley, his girl friend, and three others. They said they found a sophisticated chemical laboratory and enough LSD to make more than 200 pills - which at $5 a copy would mean an easy $10 million.