In the 60s Bobby was good friends with Charlie Manson and was incarcerated for committing a drug related murder, which was inferred (but never proven) by authorities and the media alike to have been connected to the Manson family and the Tate-La Bianca blood orgies.
Before his incarceration in 1969, Bobby BeauSoleil was a musician who spent much of his late teens traveling the California coast between San Francisco and Los Angeles. During this period, he was on the cutting edge of emerging musical styles and played with several innovative musical ensembles. For all of the 37 years that he has been in prison, he has continued to explore new ways of expressing himself through music, as well as in the visual arts.
In the mid 70s, Bobby composed and recorded a soundtrack for a Kenneth Anger film. About this time, he began incorporating electronic instruments into his music, including instruments of his own design. Subsequently, he became a sound designer for the new breed of electronic instruments and began marketing the sounds that he developed to musical instrument manufacturers, including Kawai, Casio, Ensoniq and Kurzweil. Bobby's interest and expertise in the field of electronic music has grown and flourished, most of the time against tremendous odds and many seemingly overwhelming obstacles. But he is a man of passion, and in the restricted, confined atmosphere of a prison, his passion for music and artistic expression in general has continued to unfold.
From early on, Bobby was fascinated by the possibilities inherent in the blending of music and light. It was pursuing that fascination which brought to him the opportunity to record a film soundtrack in prison. An additional opportunity to further his aspirations in the cinematic arts came by way of a video production program offered at the prison at about the time that he completed work on the film soundtrack. Whenever possible, within the restrictive prison environment, Bobby continued to increase his knowledge, gather experience and develop his skills in sound design and the visual arts. Over the years, he developed working relationships and friendships with individuals in the music and video industries. These relationships enabled him to establish a network of sponsors and supporters for the creation of an audio recording studio and a video production facility at the prison. For more information see Electronic Musician magazine article.
In 1982, Bobby met and married his wife Barbara, an artist, dancer and graphic designer. Over the sixteen years of their marriage, Bobby has developed close and loving relationships with Barbara and her three children, Eben, John and Rachel.
In 1993, after encountering years of frustration in the California State Prison System, Bobby requested and was granted a transfer to a prison in the northwest. The past five years have been the most productive of his life.
In 1994 Bobby became a facilitator for the Los Hermanos Youth Intervention Program. Within a couple of years he had become the director for the Los Hermanos video project and has since completed a 9 session series of videos that is being shown to "at risk" youth in public schools. He is currently the director for a16- segment video series, each from 20 to 30 minutes long, called A Framework for Breaking Barriers. This series, presented by Gordon Graham and Company, and produced entirely by prisoners, is a cognitive skills development program designated to provide prisoners with tools that can help them break free of the cycle of recidivism.
From the chaos and tumult of the '60s, through almost thirty years in prison, Bobby's story is one of inspiration to people around the world.
A couple of months ago I got pretty much obsessed by some obscure recordings from The Manson Family jam sessions, that roughly I stumled upon the name of Bobby Beausoleil, it started with obtaining his psychedelic record "dreamways of the mystic" from which the story behind Bobby only got more interesting through his music, obscure bands, artwork and movies, Manson connection. Thought this was quite interesting and worth writing about. It just keeps getting more and more interesting.
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