Died On This Date (March 13, 2011) Owsley Stanley / LSD Icon; Longtime Soundman for Grateful Dead
themusicsover Augustus Owsley Stanley
January 19, 1935 – March 13, 2011
Owsley “Bear” Stanley was a sound engineer and former notorious LSD cook who was reportedly the first to manufacture large quantities of the drug. His high-quality LSD, often given away for free, became plentiful in the San Francisco area during the mid ’60s so is credited for being an essential piece of the hippie movement. As a respected sound engineer, Stanley was employed by (and also helped finance) the Grateful Dead. He met members of the group during Ken Kesey’s famed acid tests of 1966 and became their first sound man. He also co-designed their iconic “Steal Your Face” skull logo with Bob Thomas. It was Stanley who developed the advanced high fidelity live sound system used by the Grateful Dead. He also helped launch Meyer Sound, the respected concert sound system manufacturer. During his years with the Grateful Dead, Stanley started the practice of taping the band’s rehearsals and live shows – this lead to the phenomenon of audience-generated tapes that spread well beyond the Dead. He also made countless live recordings during the ’60s and ’70s of such acts as Jefferson Airplane, Miles Davis, Janis Joplin, Santana, and Johnny Cash to name just a few. Owsley and his exploits have been documented in (or at least inspired) such songs as “Purple Haze” by Jimi Hendrix, “Kid Charlemagne” by Steely Dan, and numerous others. On March 13, 2011, Owsley Stanley was killed when the car he was driving swerved off a road near his home in Queensland, Australia. The car reportedly went down an embankment and crashed into some trees killing Owsley and injuring his wife. He was 76.
Born in Ontario, Canada, Skip Spence moved with his family to the San Francisco area when he was in his teens. Although his name might not be familiar to most, he was as much a part of the San Francisco scene as 
Bill Graham was a world famous concert promoter who played a key part in the growth of ’60s American rock ‘n roll. As a Jewish child born in Berlin, Graham barely escaped the Nazis by being placed in an orphanage by his mother. Fortunately, that orphanage relocated him to France before the Halocaust. Graham moved to New York City where he received his schooling after which he served in the Korean War and eventually ended up in San Francisco. In 1965, he landed his first show businees job, managing the San Francisco Mime Troupe which lead to him booking and promoting shows at the Fillmore Auditorium. Graham had a knack for finding acts that appealed to the city’s growing counter-culture scene and in doing so helped the scene itself grow. Some of the acts he featured in those early years were