The Grateful Dead and Synthetic DMT

[lyserge]

After reading about the history of the/an ultimate jam-band Grateful Dead (Gans' Conversations with the Dead and McNally's Long Strange Trip, both highly recommended), I was surprised to learn how closely connected the band/crew was not only with LSD, but with DMT. For about 30 years, the band was connected in one way or another with LSD distribution across the US, starting with its notorious and very eccentric soundman, Owsley "The Bear" Stanley, who produced significant quantities of very pure acid in addition to designing the Dead's earliest sound systems, known as "The Alembic" after the symbolic alchemical container used for purifying "lead" into "gold". The band's connection with LSD distribution continued for the remainder of Jerry Garcia's life, and whenever it passed through a town the surrounding areas were flooded with LSD for several weeks afterward (according to DEA reports). If you google Chinacat72 you can read some interesting history on this from an old cat posting at the shroomery...

Back to the subject. Apparently the very name Grateful Dead was discovered after Mr. Garcia had smoked an amount of DMT. The band was discussing a new name (since there were four bands going by The Warlocks at the time), so Garcia opened up a dictionary, and the first thing he saw was "GRATEFUL DEAD", which turned out to have a very deep history and meaning throughout a number of cultures. An example, apparently from the Egyptian Book of the Dead: "In the Land of the Night, the Ship of the Sun is drawn by the Grateful Dead".

Another connection I found came from an interview with Owsley "the Bear". He talked about having some DMT at a studio session, and when another person smoked it, instantly everyone in the room heard the pitch in the music increase, and - here's the striking part, if you believe him - the voltmeter on the equipment registered an increase. Myself and others have had plenty of experiences with the former part - contact buzzes with LSD and DMT and mescaline and 2c-x's and the like, as well as experiencing an increase in pitch recognition after smoking DMT - so I find that part easy to believe. The latter part suggests the machines are actually alive in a way; otherwise why would they respond to DMT use in such a way? I wonder what sort of models of the universe could account for such behavior, if it actually happened as "The Bear" claims.

Also, the reason I posted this is I'm curious if any folks on here have stories about times on tour with the Dead, or even experiences with synthetic DMT in the 60's and 70's. Please share...

 

[The_Shaman]

Wow, I'm a Long Time dead head and I never new they enjoyed the DMT, though I guess it doesent surprise me, after all they were some of the first to entertain at the acid parties, obviously they new ppl and used psychedelics as a tool for creativity and exploration over many years.

Not too mention their music was other~worldly sometimes...its cool to think of Jerry and the boys flying through hyperspace!

also Very cool about the change in audio pitch that was recorded after smoking DMT, we're all energy and vibration , and sound is just vibration, so ..why not? I play Gongs , specifically Gamalan bronze hand hammered gongs and I can tell you that heat, humidity and the amount of people in a room all have fairly noticeable effects on the gongs vibrations,volume and tone, so why not something as monumental as a DMT experience to change YOUR own vibration, and also affect the vibration of instruments, electronic or otherwise in your proximity.

I started wondering around with the Dead head circus in the mid/late 80's , so, a lil' late I guess, I can honestly say for all the parking lot partying I did, near 100 shows, I never saw or heard of DMT at a show. Everything else under the Sun was available, including some pretty exotic substances, but not Dmt that I ever saw.


Good post Lysergify - thanks brother

 

[dreamer042]

Sorry no first hand accounts but the dead were running with Kesey and the pranksters and stories about about Kesey taking visitors to the ranch to "go smoke" and them coming back looking wide-eyed and startled abound, seems he was dosing people on dmt the same way he was dosing out the LSD. Leary also was working with DMT through the 60's on the other end of the country. Why did LSD get all the hype from these guys and the much more interesting and stunning DMT was never talked about?

 

[lyserge]

I started wondering around with the Dead head circus in the mid/late 80's , so, a lil' late I guess, I can honestly say for all the parking lot partying I did, near 100 shows, I never saw or heard of DMT at a show. Everything else under the Sun was available, including some pretty exotic substances, but not Dmt that I ever saw.

Cool as, thanks for the input/response. I thought for sure I wasn't the only GD pirate around these parts, though I myself was quite young once "The Grateful Dead" became "The Dead" so I didn't get to experience the "Parking Lots" and the "Veggie Burritos" and all those goodies. I'm surprised you never heard of DMT on the lots - I'm under the impression that extraction teks are really quite new, so any DMT available back then would've been synthesized, and the chemicals required for DMT synthesis include some of the closely watched solvents used for LSD synthesis, so they tend to be used for the much more potent and market-demanded LSD. That may be why you never saw DMT available. I think antrocles mentioned traveling with them as well, wonder if he has any insight into this.

Not too mention their music was other~worldly sometimes...its cool to think of Jerry and the boys flying through hyperspace!

Haha well their original name was The Warlocks so they apparently saw themselves as a group of wizards contocting some fiery musical potions...I bet they had some wacky sessions when DMT was in the mix. Anyone have the recordings, archive.org, lol?

Why did LSD get all the hype from these guys and the much more interesting and stunning DMT was never talked about?

Hmm I have a quickly-thought out theory for why this may be. LSD (or what I'm under the impression is LSD), at least for me, has tended to be very "here on the planet", except during the peaks of trips when I've found myself in the upper hemisphere, or completely dissolved in Electric Light - I've only had two potent LSD interfaces, not counting the weak blotters - but still it's more applicable to what's going on here-and-now; hence it left quite a mark in the post-50's politico-psycho-spiritual revolution. It was a key that fit the hole the evolutionary blueprint called for. On the other hand DMT Hyperspace is so strange and otherworldly that it required post-computer-revolution minds, fully familiar and experienced with Cyberspace, to fully connect with. I've been unable to find any references to DMT Hyperspace prior to 1983 - as far as I can tell the term first appeared in a talk by Ralph Abraham and Terence McKenna in that year. And they were on the forefront of the Hyperspace wave - it took most of us a little longer to learn to tap into and interact with. I don't think that's the whole story - I think Castaneda hinted at some similar spaces - but I think the Computer Revolution was a big part of it, together with the fact that it was never synthesized on a broad scale given the chemicals necessary, as mentioned above. Does this explanation sound plausible?

 

[clouds]

[YOUTUBE]

 

[dreamer042]

Hmm I have a quickly-thought out theory for why this may be. LSD (or what I'm under the impression is LSD), at least for me, has tended to be very "here on the planet", except during the peaks of trips when I've found myself in the upper hemisphere, or completely dissolved in Electric Light - I've only had two potent LSD interfaces, not counting the weak blotters - but still it's more applicable to what's going on here-and-now; hence it left quite a mark in the post-50's politico-psycho-spiritual revolution. It was a key that fit the hole the evolutionary blueprint called for. On the other hand DMT Hyperspace is so strange and otherworldly that it required post-computer-revolution minds, fully familiar and experienced with Cyberspace, to fully connect with. I've been unable to find any references to DMT Hyperspace prior to 1983 - as far as I can tell the term first appeared in a talk by Ralph Abraham and Terence McKenna in that year. And they were on the forefront of the Hyperspace wave - it took most of us a little longer to learn to tap into and interact with. I don't think that's the whole story - I think Castaneda hinted at some similar spaces - but I think the Computer Revolution was a big part of it, together with the fact that it was never synthesized on a broad scale given the chemicals necessary, as mentioned above. Does this explanation sound plausible?

That makes a lot of sense actually, thanks! On the subject of Castaneda the realms and entities he describes in "The Art of Dreaming" are so close to my experiences in hyperspace, there is no doubt in my mind that he was describing was the same spaces I was visiting

 

[lyserge]

[YOUTUBE]

"I don't know if any of you have ever sat down and crossed your legs and smoked DMT and watched what happens,
but what happens to me is this big thing goes RARARARAAAAAAAAAAAA out my spine and flashes in my brain, right?"

LOL thanks for pointing this out clouds!

 

[pau]

Ha ha ha well memory lane tonight....moved to Bay Area in '69 and shortly afterwards found myself at first of many Dead concerts in SF accentuated by 500 mics of Owsley White Lightemnimg. College roommates - all from CA - knew about DMT and occasionally had "lunch club" for quick getaways before 2pm classesd
Sadly I never participated...guess I was too studious!!! Well thanksa in part to Nexus of 2010 I am catching up....
...w

 

[stevowitz]

that clip was the first time I ever heard about DMT...ahh, good memories :]

 

[deadlight]

im afraid im just another Deadhead born at the wrong time my friend but although i dont have experiences to share, i do have a recomendation, check out the merry pranksters acid test albums, they've got the dead playing freeform in the background with the pranksters rapping overtop of it. pure gold mate.

 

[MySmelf]

Sorry no first hand accounts but the dead were running with Kesey and the pranksters and stories about about Kesey taking visitors to the ranch to "go smoke" and them coming back looking wide-eyed and startled abound, seems he was dosing people on dmt the same way he was dosing out the LSD. Leary also was working with DMT through the 60's on the other end of the country. Why did LSD get all the hype from these guys and the much more interesting and stunning DMT was never talked about?

DMT is talked about in "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test". Kesey and the pranksters would give select people DMT which they called the true psychedelic initiation. Reading that book as a teenager was the first time I heard of DMT.
I remember a story in that book where they gave a Hell's Angel DMT in their tree house!

I've been unable to find any references to DMT Hyperspace prior to 1983 - as far as I can tell the term first appeared in a talk by Ralph Abraham and Terence McKenna in that year. And they were on the forefront of the Hyperspace wave - it took most of us a little longer to learn to tap into and interact with. I don't think that's the whole story - I think Castaneda hinted at some similar spaces - but I think the Computer Revolution was a big part of it, together with the fact that it was never synthesized on a broad scale given the chemicals necessary, as mentioned above. Does this explanation sound plausible?

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test was published in 1968

page 161:
"The Pranksters got pretty close to several of the Angels as individuals. Particularly Gut and Freewheeling Frank and Terry the Tramp. Every now and then somebody would take one or another of the Angels up into the tree house and give them a real initiation into psychedelics. They had a huge supply of DMT. As somebody once put it, LSD is a long strange journey; DMT is like being shot out of a cannon. There in the tree house, amid the winking googaws, they would give the Angels DMT, and Mountain Girl saw some of them, like Freewheeling Frank, after they came down. They would walk around in no particular direction, listing slightly, the eyes bugged wide open, glazed.
'They were as naked as an Angel is ever gonna git,' she told Kesey."

 

[nen888]

..hey groovy clouds, i was going to post that Woodstock footage

lysergify, there's a few mentions of the Dead in Anyone here try DMT back in the '60s? if you didn't see it..dig the thread, thanks..
.

 

[lyserge]

im afraid im just another Deadhead born at the wrong time my friend but although i dont have experiences to share, i do have a recomendation, check out the merry pranksters acid test albums, they've got the dead playing freeform in the background with the pranksters rapping overtop of it. pure gold mate.

Thanks for the bump and the information...

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test was published in 1968

Ah, thanks for pointing this out. However, Wolfe doesn't describe what actually went on inside the Pranksters'/Angels'/Kesey's DMT tryps. Did they encounter DMT entities? Hyperspace? Meet God/Satan/Jesus/Buddha's mother? Or were they simply too shocked to describe it? It's disappointing he leaves this out.

lysergify, there's a few mentions of the Dead in Anyone here try DMT back in the '60s? if you didn't see it..dig the thread, thanks..

Aye that's another good thread, thanks for the pointer. Glad to see good things are still going on here at the Nexus.

 

[Hyperspace Fool]

As some others have pointed out, The Dead's association with LSD didn't start with Owsley... they were the house band of Ken Kesey's Acid Tests after all. They lived communally a pebble toss from the Haight at the epicenter of the acid culture.

The information about their experiences with DMT is interesting. I had heard some rumors to that effect before.

Of course, DMT was known to the cognoscenti from the outset of the hippy movement. It is only mentioned prominently in the lyrics to a classic drug song from the musical HAIR. "Hashish" (it comes right after LSD... and cough syrup is also given props)

To those who posted here that DMT was not to be found on Dead Tour... or on Shakedown Street... I guess it depended on how connected you were to the heavies. It was never, and still can not, be considered a drug for the masses. SWIM's experience was that spice was reserved for the really intimate circles and for heads who were deemed ready for it.

By the time operation "Dead End" began to poison the well and turn the lovely deadheads against each other in narc driven paranoia... peaceful hippies being sentenced to hard time for minor LSD offenses... it only got worse. The circles tended to lock down and those you couldn't trust with your life were not allowed in. It was simply too risky to share anything more than a few tokes off a spliff anymore.

For those that never experienced the Dead pre "Touch Of Grey," you really missed out on something amazing.

 

[Seeingisbelieving]

[YOUTUBE]

 

[null24]

My first experience with DMT was at an after-show party at my house when the GD played Euegene on my 21st B-day, of all days. It was a crazy experience, for sure.I recall that the spice was in the form of big, cylindrical and dark red xtals. My understanding was that some kids at Reed College in Portland had made it but I do not know more. But it was there, on lot, just like others said, you had to know folks...

Back then we had no internet and we had no knowledge of the ease of which it can be obtained, and I lost interest. In fact, I lost interest in psychs in general for a good 20 some years before coming back around to DMT in an attempt to discover some meaning to this existence, which had become frankly an onorous weight and something I was very tired of bearing. I was trying to come up with an alternative to suicide and I dont know about n,n DMT, but that is something 5meo certainly disavailed me of as being a viable option to suffering. That's life and there isnt an easy exit.

Being in my 50's now (and clinging to life, wondering how I couldve wanted to toss it away at one point), I was only old enough to experience the band in their post Garcia coma decline of the mid 80's to early 90's, when I just quit because the "scene" had degraded to a point that I no longer wanted much to do with it. Or maybe I just lost my rose-colored shades and simply grew out of it, and became aware of things I wasn't seeing prior due to my fascination with the band and it's culture. Things like racism, intolerance, drug addiction, violence, etc which I now see as almost intrinsic to the lot culture that surrounds the Grateful Dead, or whatever the hell they are now. It ain't the dead, that's all I know... Still love the music, but you won't catch me at a $300 "Dead Company" show, unless I'm being paid to be there.

 

[Bill Cipher]

I've never actually been into the Dead. I've tried. And while I appreciate greatly their contribution to 60's counterculture and beyond, their actual music just bores the pants right off of me and always has.

Just keepin' it honest. I can almost hear a collective gasp of horror as Nexian Deadheads rise out of their individual stupors to clutch their love beads.

 

[Seeingisbelieving]

I'm honestly just a fan of LSD and the culture that surrounds it. The only song by the grateful dead I could ever get behind is "friend of the devil". Still jam that song time to time.

Null, I understand what you say about the suicidal thoughts. I get them occasionally when I'm not seeing my life from a higher perspective. I hope you are hanging on and not suffering too much. My 5 year old nephew beat lymphoma (he was on the edge of death) and I've seen other people beat the hell out of cancer too. I truly hope that you make it through this.

 

[Ramma]

Mod, no one wouldve thought you were a deadhead, theres no need to clarify.

 

[kajex]

I remember reading in another dead bio (by rock scully I think) that the band would smoke dmt to 'try to come down off the acid' that they were constantly ingesting while living with owsley in LA in the early days. At that time, at least, I don't think they really realized how powerful dmt was. Perhaps their method of ingestion was not very efficient!