Preserving Owsley "Bear" Stanley's Legacy*

I don't think this article was posted here:

http://www.marinij.com/arts-and-ent...e-grateful-deads-bear-priceless-music-archive

 

Thank you

 

Drooling thinking about some of those tapes-- miles, monk, etc

 

Thanks for this!

 

Thanks for posting that link, very interesting.

After all he went through with his throat cancer, sad to read that he got through it but later died in a car wreck.

Surely 200-300k doesn't sound like a whole lot in the scheme of things to preserve all these valuable recordings? You'd think the Grateful Dead organisation would be interested in ensuring these aren't lost.

 

I wonder if this is the kind of thing a Kickstarter project would be good for. It's a large amount for that, but projects wanting this amount of money have succeeded before. It would need a larger organization than just Sheila Stanley.

 

I've often wondered if there were recordings made of the original Pink Floyd when they played the Fillmore.

 

With Syd? Not that I am aware of.

 

Um yeah, no doubt that would work; heck this place alone would be good for a nice chunk of the change needed. He had such a great touch for recording; he was this forum before this forum.

You tell me what it takes to get as much of that stuff as possible cleared, then put some extra into the budget so that it is transferred by @jamiehowarth and Plangented to perfection in hi res; flat is probably a-ok with me, but if mastering is needed ask Jeffrey Norman or anyone he says will do it well to get on the job, then send all of it to me in hi res on a drive, and I will pay that amount and some. This stuff has to be saved. A window into the halcyon days of live music.

Face it, this is pretty much our vision of the perfect Smithsonian Recordings Collections, so please spread the word people, so that the people who know how to do this right are talking to the right people.

PS Thanks for posting this @hbbfam, you win SHF today.

 

I traded a few emails with him back in the day. I can't seem to locate them but I remember they were dead related (duh) and he was very forthcoming. After a while he stopped replying but it was cool to interact with the Bear.

 

Poking around a bit there was a 2012 Deadessay blog post about the same effort including some info on possible non Dead shows http://deadessays.blogspot.com/2012/03/owsley-stanley-foundation.html?m=1

This year they had a indiego campaign to get started https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/rescue-the-legendary-owsley-stanley-sonic-journals

 

Interesting read.

 

The liner notes to Dick's Picks 36 gives one a very good insight into his recording philosophy:
https://m.reddit.com/r/livesound/comments/1a5b70/owsley_stanley_notes_on_sound_my_theories_and_my/

 

Does anybody know what mics Bear used?
I'm particularly interested in what 2 mics he used on the drums.

 

Great article sounds like a wonderful cache of recordings. I hope it is properly preserved and made accessible to the public.

 

Early on, in the two mics on drums days as you say, I think it was mostly Electro-Voice RE15s

Grateful Dead Gear »

This first post gathers his thoughts on mic'ing drums, likely early on, which you may have read already.

r/WeAreTheMusicMakers »

 

I just read a post on another thread about the Owsley Foundation.

It looks like their intention is to turn any donations/proceeds from releases back to the foundation to continue to preserve and release the archive.

'The family has dedicated their rights to the production value of the recordings to the Foundation; all profits returned from the development of the recordings will go to the Foundation to further its continuing charitable purpose of perpetuating Owsley's legacy.'

Home

 

I have been checking in on their facebook page and in late November they said they were finishing up preparing a release planned for the Spring, so hopefully something out soon.

 

That's great news. I hope it comes to fruition

 

the big brother Janis Joplin carousel 68 release was very good. hopefully more like that as long as they can get clearance.

 

Your wait is over.... Bear's Sonic Journals presents: "Never the Same Way Once" Doc and Merle Watson Live at the Boarding House May 1-4 1974, a 7 disc box set, Plangent processed and Jeffrey Norman mastered. If you remember Old and In the Way, it's from the same venue, 8 months later. Exquisite stuff. Release is slated for June 23 but it can be purchased now at the OSF website: owsleystanleyfoundation.org
Half speed analog to analog mastered, 45 RPM 180g vinyl and 3rd gen reel to reel selections will follow.
Enjoy!

 

I don't buy CDs very often anymore but I want more Owsley recordings out there so I'm going to support this.
I'm sure the music is great too, who doesn't like the Doc!.

 

Oh,man! I wonder when the LP's will be coming out? I'd much prefer that but I'm not sure I can wait til then

 

Depends on Stubblebine's schedule. We're aiming for later this summer. But it won't be the entire set -we will select one show.

 

F

Fantastic!