home > features > Owsley "Bear" Stanley - 1935-2011

Features

  • https://www.dead.net/features/news/owsley-bear-stanley-1935-2011
    Owsley "Bear" Stanley - 1935-2011

    I met Owsley at the age of eighteen. I had just left home, having run off with a Rock&Roll band. Bear, as we knew him, was one of my all-time biggest influences. Always, when I think of him, I think of the endless stuff he taught me or somehow made me realize, all stuff that I've been able to use to the benefit of countless people who probably don't know much about him or how deeply he influenced me and the rest of the band. Most important was the approach he taught me and us: Always be open and engaging - always critical and questioning, but not negatively so much as playfully. He taught me to take myself and my interests out of the picture and work with the subject under consideration so that the best deductions or conclusions are made. I guess this means working from the point of view of the higher self, though that term never came up; it was always just assumed...

    -Bob Weir

    26699

Next Article:

  • newsdefaultimage
    Grateful Dead Hour no. 1544

    Week of April 23, 2018

    Last of four featuring the complete unreleased soundboard recording of 6/12/80 in Portland. According to Deadhead legend, My St Helens erupted during "Fire on the…

    read more
    >>
  • newsdefaultimage
    The Season of “What Now?” (Again!)

    Now... Where Were We?

    Well, we’ve been pretty much right here — that is, wherever “here” might happen to be at any given moment in this strange, still-pretty-new world…

    <<
74 comments
sort by
Recent
Recent Oldest A to Z Z to A
Reset
Items displayed
  • Strider 808808
    13 years 7 months ago
    Talkin Bear Mountain Blues
    Yesterday was my 57th birthday. I was thinking of what mountain to climb as can be my b.day custom and thought of the "Bear". So on the top of Bear Mountain on the continental divide outside Silver City,N.M. is a written memorial to Bear in the summit register. Why they say some of Bears Choice is up in these hills somewhere. Thank you Bear for your work.
  • Default Avatar
    gregoirep
    13 years 8 months ago
    Weir;s comments on Owsley
    Thanks Bob: your comments are deeply felt, and very well expressed.
  • Default Avatar
    dgans
    13 years 8 months ago
    1991 interview
    Last night on KPFA I broadcast two hours of my 1991 interview with Bear (published in Conversations with the Dead). The broadcast will be available on on the KPFA archive until April 13. Gans/GD Hour blog
    GD Hour station list
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

15 years 7 months
Submitted by lilgoldie on

I met Owsley at the age of eighteen. I had just left home, having run off with a Rock&Roll band. Bear, as we knew him, was one of my all-time biggest influences. Always, when I think of him, I think of the endless stuff he taught me or somehow made me realize, all stuff that I've been able to use to the benefit of countless people who probably don't know much about him or how deeply he influenced me and the rest of the band. Most important was the approach he taught me and us: Always be open and engaging - always critical and questioning, but not negatively so much as playfully. He taught me to take myself and my interests out of the picture and work with the subject under consideration so that the best deductions or conclusions are made. I guess this means working from the point of view of the higher self, though that term never came up; it was always just assumed...

-Bob Weir

Display on homepage featured list
Off
Custom Teaser

I met Owsley at the age of eighteen. I had just left home, having run off with a Rock&Roll band. Bear, as we knew him, was one of my all-time biggest influences.

Feature type
News
Tags
Owsley Stanley
Bear

dead comment

user picture

Member for

16 years 2 months

Submitted by 4fryng on Tue, 03/15/2011 - 13:56

Permalink

Thanks MP51 for the Jimi tripper!
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

17 years 5 months

Submitted by shawndog on Tue, 03/15/2011 - 14:31

Permalink

Shawndog Thank You....
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

13 years 8 months

Submitted by Phaedrus65 on Tue, 03/15/2011 - 15:21

Permalink

I had the pleasure of meeting Bear at a Dead show in the late 80s or early 90s. We discussed his art, which he was displaying, and a couple of general things- I was pretty intimidated, to be honest. His influence went out so much further than our community alone, obviously. His influence on world culture vis-a-vis The Dead, The Beatles, Jimi, etc is literally incalcuable and beautiful. The Rolling Stone article on him a couple of years ago was fascinating and recommended reading. He was one of a kind and I am very saddened by this news. Blessings to his family.
user picture

Member for

16 years 2 months

Submitted by 4fryng on Tue, 03/15/2011 - 18:35

Permalink

I would like to say Happy Birthday to Phil.Happy Birthday Phil! And many more!
user picture

Member for

14 years

Submitted by Mr.TheEleven on Tue, 03/15/2011 - 20:52

Permalink

Once in a while you get shown the lightIn the strangest of places if you look at it right.
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

17 years 5 months

Submitted by LIG71 on Wed, 03/16/2011 - 11:10

Permalink

Extremly grateful for Bear contribution. clearly the Grateful Dead would never have been the same and maybe not even the Grateful Dead.his passion for sound and his philosophy around it remain mindblowing to many even today. how many tapes do we owe him??? i cannot count. Merci Bear.
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

17 years 5 months

Submitted by gcrueger on Wed, 03/16/2011 - 16:50

Permalink

A car accident is such a random, meaningless way to be absorbed into the next reality. All those thoughts, all those certifiably crazy ideas, all those sonic and psychic contributions, all those tentacles that affected me and you in such organically unorganized ways--they make one eternally grateful for Bear's contributions.
user picture

Member for

16 years 1 month

Submitted by Brick in Oz on Wed, 03/16/2011 - 18:34

Permalink

I'm reminded of the night Jerry passed. My wife and I were lucky enough to be inside at the Hampton Beach Casino for Bob's scheduled show. After "Knocking on Heaven's Door" we filed out in what I can only call a stunned silence, only to be greeted by what seemed 50,000 deadheads outside singing the NFA chant. I still get goosebumps. I know that in all our hearts is ringing the same chant in unison. Thanks, Bear, for everything. We love you more than words can tell...
user picture

Member for

16 years 3 months

Submitted by Spaceman555 on Fri, 03/18/2011 - 01:46

Permalink

I got a chance to meet Bear at one of the shows at the Boston Garden in the early 90's. I was kinda afraid to walk up to him. Being that my mind was melting in a very serious way. All I wanted to do was shake the man's, and thank him for all that he has done. We happened to make eye contact. Maybe because I was staring at him. He smiled, my fear went away, And I completed my mission. He was very nice. I asked if I could shake he hand. He said something funny, of which I can not remember now. We talked for a minute and that was that. He knew I was tripping, and just kept giving me this smile that just went through me. I'll never forget it. To this day I'm so glad I took that opportunity to meet him. Good luck on your new adventure Bear. And thank you for all the adventures that you gave us.
user picture

Member for

15 years 7 months

Submitted by fellow deadhead on Fri, 03/18/2011 - 10:13

Permalink

truly a loss that touches all our hearts! jerry was enough now bear,his influence changed a culture and generation and the world forever and i am so grateful to have been part of it! when i heard this my heart filled with sadness! R.I.P our brother! prayers and condolences go out,words cant say enough!....god bless ya brother and will see ya when i get there! you will be greatly missed as one more of us drops off out of this world into the next! peace!!!
user picture

Member for

17 years 5 months

Submitted by DeadFred on Fri, 03/18/2011 - 21:33

Permalink

Peace and Love on your next trip...
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

15 years 4 months

Submitted by DK-Deadhead on Sat, 03/19/2011 - 05:50

Permalink

I too had an email correspondence with Bear, it was back in the late 1990s, and was about his Wall of Sound recordings and the spatiality one can hear in them. I was amazed he answered my mail, and was intrigued by his comments. Those '73 concerts are really something special. 5 minutes on wikipedia and it is obvious that live rock concerts owes the Bear so much! My first Dead show was in 1981 (Rainbow, London), and I was hooked straight away because of this fantastic powerful, clear sound where one could hear the instruments and every note being played - awesome! 30 years later I have 30GB GD concerts on my iPhone which I listen to in strict chronological order... Thanx to Bear and Garcia...
user picture

Member for

17 years 1 month

Submitted by Ungnome on Sat, 03/19/2011 - 20:56

Permalink

The Octet is broken. It is up to all of us to renew it.
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

15 years 10 months

Submitted by Markusadoobie on Sun, 03/20/2011 - 10:41

Permalink

While the music played you worked by candlelightThose San Francisco nights You were the best in town Just by chance you crossed the diamond with the pearl You turned it on the world That's when you turned the world around..... So long Kid Charlamene! You tuned it in and you turned us on
user picture

Member for

17 years 3 months

Submitted by Gypsy Cowgirl on Sun, 03/20/2011 - 18:38

Permalink

Bear's funeral will be Tues about 2pm in Australia. So, if you can figure out the time change to where you are in the world, send him off with good vibes......
user picture

Member for

17 years 5 months

Submitted by Strider 808808 on Fri, 04/01/2011 - 14:32

Permalink

Yesterday was my 57th birthday. I was thinking of what mountain to climb as can be my b.day custom and thought of the "Bear". So on the top of Bear Mountain on the continental divide outside Silver City,N.M. is a written memorial to Bear in the summit register. Why they say some of Bears Choice is up in these hills somewhere. Thank you Bear for your work.
user picture

Member for

17 years 5 months

Submitted by Mike Edwards on Fri, 04/01/2011 - 14:55

Permalink

Thanks for posting audio of this interview, dgans. I've read it a number of times and it's pretty amazing listening to it now.
user picture
Default Avatar

Member for

15 years 6 months

Submitted by LockeSlate on Fri, 11/04/2011 - 17:16

Permalink

Just posted a poem, long thought about and now released on the poetry forum. I thought it might be appropriate to cross-post here. Wondering tonight if we'll get our mojo back, if we'll dream again, if we'll see the "rusty strings shine...". Bear …and was…but will not be again. No one saw the train leave the station Just heard about it over the radio Read about it over the internet The Kentucky bluegrass bent Bourbon not its best son But someone called Bear Master Illusionist Grand Experimenter A cowboy riding onward pushed by the dry desert winds to the Curious Dreamtime Say hello for me to the nut that drove the Bus To the one who ran FURTHUR To the one who made the rusty strings shine See ya down the Golden Road, Bear!