Thanks to your generous support we’ve surpassed our initial IndieGoGo goal by raising more than $12,500 since the start of the campaign, which is enough to save 50 reels!
We've met our first goal, but have a long journey ahead to rescue all the tapes. At $250 per reel, we need to raise:
$50,000 more to rescue 250 reels
$112,500 more to rescue 500 reels
$237,500 more to rescue 1000 reels
$312,500 more to rescue all 1300 reels
We hope to exceed even that goal by raising more than $500,000 to fulfill the foundation's mission to foster diverse charitable, artistic, musical, and scientific endeavors for the public benefit.
We’re grateful for your support, and hope you’ll spread the word to your friends!
Our Story
Owsley “Bear”
Stanley was a diversely talented, iconic figure of the 1960s. Although he is often best known for his
Grateful Dead patronage, for music lovers, his pioneering work on live concert
sound may prove to be his most enduring contribution.
Bear is
considered by many to be the father of the modern rock and roll concert sound
system—and he recorded virtually every artist who played through a sound system
that he built. The Grateful Dead makes up a big part of this collection, but he
also recorded shows by Johnny Cash, Miles Davis, Santana, Dr. John, Taj Mahal,
the Allman Brothers, Fleetwood Mac, the Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, and
dozens more. Many of these shows
haven’t been heard in public since the night they were performed – in fact,
some of the tapes have never been played since the night they were recorded.
Tragically,
these analog tapes are decaying and approaching the end of their known
shelflife. The lifespan of this media is fifty years if maintained in ideal
conditions, and if preservation and digitization of the earliest of these
recordings does not occur within the next five years, they will not be
salvageable. All of them are continuing to degrade, and they could be lost
forever. Time is of the essence.
The Sonic Journals
Bear tried
to capture exactly what the audience heard each night so that he could
continuously work to improve his sound system from show to show, and to assist the bands (initially the Grateful
Dead) to improve their live performances.
In the process, he created a trove of what he called “sonic
journals.” His unique approach
makes these tapes unlike other live concert recordings from the era. Unfiltered and unaltered, the tapes
capture a sound so vivid it can transport you back in time!
The Sonic Journals capture vital
and unique auditory snapshots of one of the most fertile, influential, and
explosively transformative eras in American musical and cultural history.
These high-quality soundboard recordings are the only source of many of
these historic live concert performances of now well-known and revered artists.
Documenting the evolution of an innovative approach to live sound recording, the Sonic Journals are an important
cultural and historical asset that need to be preserved and archived for the public benefit: for the past, present and future
generations of musicians, fans, historians, ethnomusicologists, sound
engineers, and many more.
What We Need & What You Get
Although our campaign opens with a goal of $10,000, that's just the start. The cost of
digitally preserving these recordings is estimated to be US $300,000 to US $400,000
to fund two to four years of professional sound engineers’ studio time. Much
of the work is a labor of love, but there is simply too much to do and not
enough time for just unpaid volunteers.
Bear
expected sonic excellence. The team is restricted to engineers who worked with
him in his lifetime and shared his exacting vision. In parallel, his family and
friends are cataloging the reels to identify their contents—some of the tapes
are unlabeled or mislabeled—and to triage the most brittle tapes.
Our ultimate goal is to get the
music out into the world, but we’re not there yet. The first step is to
preserve the tapes. Once the tapes
are preserved, we will begin the process of collaborating with the artists to hopefully make
this music come back to life.
What we have
sampled so far is breathtaking – these are time machines back to some of the
greatest shows on earth!
Saving the First Batch
The funds you contribute without
specific designation will rescue the most fragile reels first. A single reel
costs about $250 to save, and there are more than 1,300 reels.
Your contribution makes a direct
difference. The process has already begun, and even modest contributions will
go directly to saving the music. Each time $250 comes in, another reel is
saved. It’s as simple as that.
Risks & Challenges
We’ve worked hard to minimize risk
in this endeavor. OSF is an IRS-registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
The project is already underway—we’ve done the long work of recruiting our
world-class team of conservators. And best of all, the project can proceed in
small increments: each time we receive $250, we begin rescuing another reel.
That means we don’t need to cross a giant threshold for this to work. This is a
labor of love by Bear’s family and friends.
Other Ways You Can Help
Even if you can’t contribute money
to the cause, you can make a difference. Tell your friends! Tweet the word! Share this campaign! Come to our benefit shows! Check out our website and Facebook
page! Share them with
friends! The existence of this
treasure trove is still unknown to the world, so help us tell our story.
Beyond the Tapes
Although preserving and
distributing the recordings is our most urgent task, the mission of the Owsley Stanley
Foundation goes well beyond this project. In addition to saving the tapes, we are
further committed to perpetuating Bear’s legacy, vision, and generosity by providing
opportunities for creative experimentation and development through involvement in
community outreach such as sponsorships, workshops, seminars, performances, and
artistic collaborations that are consistent with the spirit and historical
patronage Bear demonstrated throughout his life.
