'Kid Charlemagne': A Close Reading Of Steely Dan's Ode To Haight Street's LSD King

[slimvictor]

"Oh Owsley, can you hear me now" Jimi Hendrix says on a BBC sessions recording of "Day Tripper just before he starts his solo. It's an appropriate reference, and one of very many in popular American music from the '60s and '70s, to Owsley Stanley. Rolling Stone called him "The King of Acid", as he reportedly referred to himself when he was arrested with the Grateful Dead.

Dennis McNally, a biographer of the band, wrote that “Without [Stanley], there simply wouldn’t have been enough acid for the psychedelic scene of the Bay Area in the Sixties to have ignited." By his account, between the years of 1965 and 1967 Stanley produced over a million doses of acid as his formula became the industry standard.

Stanley, born Augustus Owsley Stanley III in 1935, was known to nearly all his many friends and customers as "Bear." But in a single released by Steely Dan from the 1976 album The Royal Scam, Stanley has another name: "Kid Charlemagne."

A reference to the first Holy Roman Emperor and "Father of Europe," the song looks at the rise and fall of the local legend who literally influenced San Francisco and american music.

cont at
http://sfist.com/2015/07/20/san_francisco_show_and_tell_steely.php

 

[bunnyhentman]

Cool article. "Owsley and Me, My LSD Family" is an interesting peek into his life at the height of his influence. People getting so dosed they were crawling naked in the streets. Apparently he got a kick out of spiking the punch at the Fillmore. There was one interesting anecdote where Janis Joplin got really pissed at him because he dosed her band and they couldn't play.

 

[szuko000]

Dennis McNally, a biographer of the band, wrote that “Without [Stanley], there simply wouldn’t have been enough acid for the psychedelic scene of the Bay Area in the Sixties to have ignited." By his account, between the years of 1965 and 1967 Stanley produced over a million doses of acid as his formula became the industry standard.

I understand why people say things like this however supply and demand states he was simply there wtih the skills to supply the market, if not him it would have been someone else. Just like the scene gets along fine without him. I am not saying that he wasnt important and didnt do something great but dont make it sound like he alone made it what it was, thats like removing LSDs history and putting it on his. LSD discovered him, as it was already there waiting, not the other way around.

All it does in my eyes is make someone seem greater then they are after all he didnt discover LSD thus anyone could have done it especially when the precursors were available. Again I want to say I get that he did it but that could have been anyone, thats my only point.

 

[PriestTheyCalledHim]

I understand why people say things like this however supply and demand states he was simply there wtih the skills to supply the market, if not him it would have been someone else. Just like the scene gets along fine without him. I am not saying that he wasnt important and didnt do something great but dont make it sound like he alone made it what it was, thats like removing LSDs history and putting it on his. LSD discovered him, as it was already there waiting, not the other way around.

All it does in my eyes is make someone seem greater then they are after all he didnt discover LSD thus anyone could have done it especially when the precursors were available. Again I want to say I get that he did it but that could have been anyone, thats my only point.

Exactly. Also the article mentions the different "brands" of LSD he, and the people who worked for him sold; but it was all just the same drug/chemical. But I thought it was cool that they did put his ashes on the sound board for the dead 50 shows. I just hope they were really him.

White Lightning. Monterey Purple. Blue Cheer. Those were a few of the varieties of acid Stanley produced — though not, as rumored, Purple Haze — once he encountered the stuff for the first time in Berkeley.

 

[szuko000]

Exactly. Also the article mentions the different "brands" of LSD he, and the people who worked for him sold; but it was all just the same drug/chemical. But I thought it was cool that they did put his ashes on the sound board for the dead 50 shows. I just hope they were really him.

I agree with you on both accounts, had I written the article even if I were told to say "he made different brands of LSD" I dont think i could bare to spread misinformation about chemicals like that. Sure LSD comes in different "forms" if you will but I couldnt use the language "different brands of LSD" just because people dont understand analog or isomers its not my fault the reader is uninformed and tailoring everything to dummies and morons is why science is struggling to dispel even the most stupid of myths and to make that sentence real is to spread the misinformation.

And I also thought that was really cool. I am glad it seemed to be as big of a deal as it truly was, the end of GD. I am only 28 but I remember my path to this point and I remember taking my younger brother to see furthur and telling him how important it was to see them and how this is our only chance to be a part of the scene our parents helped create and breathing new life into the ideals and passion that the hippies once had. How it was our responsibility to care for the music and the idea more then the fun and drugs because so many dont and thats why it gets the rep it does.

I still hold the belief for most things "if not them someone else" almost as if a lot of human history is predestined based on what pieces for the puzzle we have and when the pieces are there its only a matter of time before someone can not help but put them in order, someone always has the drive that cant be stopped. GD broke many boundaries and united a collective of people across generations and across the globe. And even though it was going to happen either way those who made it happen still should be honored and I am glad he could be honored in such a way.