The Red Dog Saloon is a bar and live music venue located in

Virginia City, Nevada Virginia City is a census-designated place (CDP) that is the county seat of Storey County, Nevada, United States, and the largest community in the county. The city is a part of the Reno, Nevada, Reno–Sparks, Nevada, Sparks Reno, NV Metropolitan ...

. The bar played an important role in the history of the

psychedelic Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary mental states (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips") and a perceived "expansion of consciousness". Also referred to as classic halluci ...

music scene.

Folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

enthusiast Mark Unobsky bought the

Henry Comstock Henry Tompkins (or Thomas) Paige Comstock (c. 1820–September 27, 1870) was a Canadian miner after whom the Comstock Lode in Virginia City, Nevada, was named. The Comstock Lode was the richest silver mine in American history. Personal life Co ...

’s house in Virginia City. Then used the building to open a folk club with Chandler A. Laughlin III (1937—2012), a folk club owner, and Don Works in the early 1960s. In April 1963, Chandler established a family identity among approximately fifty people who attended the traditional, all-night Native American peyote ceremony. This ceremony combined a psychedelic experience with traditional Native American spiritual values; these people went on to sponsor a new genre of musical expression at the venue. During the summer of 1965, Laughlin recruited much of the original talent of the traditional folk music and psychedelic rock. He and his friends created what became known as "The Red Dog Experience," featuring previously unknown musical acts, such as

Big Brother and the Holding Company Big Brother and the Holding Company are an American rock band that was formed in San Francisco in 1965 as part of the same psychedelic music scene that produced the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and Jefferson Airplane. After ...

, The Charlatans, The Wildflower and others — who played in the refurbished saloon during 1965-1966. There was no clear delineation between "performers" and "audience" in the bar. During, which music psychedelic experimentation and

Bill Ham Billy Mack Ham (February 4, 1937 – June 20, 2016) was an American music impresario, best known as the manager, producer, and image-maker for the blues-rock band ZZ Top. Ham also gained prominence in the country music world by discovering and m ...

's first primitive light shows came.

LSD Lysergic acid diethylamide, commonly known as LSD (from German ; often referred to as acid or lucy), is a semisynthetic, hallucinogenic compound derived from ergot, known for its powerful psychological effects and serotonergic activity. I ...

manufacturer

Owsley Stanley Augustus Owsley Stanley III (January 19, 1935 – March 12, 2011) was an American-Australian audio engineer and clandestine chemist. He was a key figure in the San Francisco Bay Area hippie movement during the 1960s and played a pivotal role ...

lived in

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California *George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer to ...

during 1965 and provided LSD that became a part of the experience. At the saloon, The Charlatans were the first psychedelic rock band to play live whilst on LSD.

References

External links

Official website
{{Hippies Drinking establishments in Nevada Buildings and structures in Virginia City, Nevada Hippie movement Music festivals in Nevada Counterculture festivals History of subcultures 1960s in Nevada 1970s in Nevada 1960s in the United States 1970s in the United States