BOSTON
Music Festivals! High Hamlet! Fitness-slash-music clubs! Pickle Sneakers! Other Things!
Ryan Miller
Beloved bard of Boston-born Guster (who are playing their first Boston Calling this month) gets nostalgic over BBQ
{plus}
NECANN 2019 PHOTOS CAROLINE'S CANNABIS OPENS
THE NEW NORMAL
5.2019
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4 MAY 2019 Boston
sensimag.com MAY 2019 5
6 MAY 2019 Boston
ISSUE 5 // VOLUME 2 // 5.2019
FEATURES 28 Proper Puff Piece
Lizzie Post follows her great-greatgrandmother’s path and defines the rules for cannabis etiquette
22
36 People Power
Ryan Miller of Bostonborn band Guster reflects on a quarter century of rocking and Somerville BBQ.
Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein understand their film may be a bit misleading, but who cares as long as people watch?
WE WENT THERE Virginal noshing at the South End’s Whaling in Oklahoma.
28 GUIDES ARE FUN Here’s something on one.
40
every issue 9 Editor’s Note 10 The Buzz 16 NewsFeed
SWEET CAROLINE
22 HighProfile
IT’S MILLER TIME
40 TasteBuds
WE WENT THERE
44 LifeStyle
HISTORY, NOT MIS-STORY
50 The Scene
NECANN 2019
Sensi magazine is published monthly by Sensi Media Group LLC. © 2019 SENSI MEDIA GROUP LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
sensimag.com MAY 2019 7
sensi magazine ISSUE 5 / VOLUME 2 / 5.2019
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OUR DOOR
editor’s
NOTE
A Quartz report published in early April found that of all the colos-
sal mergers and acquisitions in commercial cannabis, the top three largest shareholders in the global space are….and you may have to brace yourself for the shock of it all…Big Alcohol, Big Tobacco, and Big Pharma. That’s not in the vague sense. That’s a rundown of the top three industries coming in at pole position among all other M+A and brand consolidation movements around the world. As of 2018, the report mentioned US venture capital investment in cannabis companies topped $900 million, and that could double in 2019. In other words, stop bitching about “big weed” coming in to kill “craft weed.” As of right now, there is no fight. The fight’s been lost, friends, both while we were watching and while we weren’t. Some could say as far back as the late 1960s, when the cigarette companies would meet in secret top-brass-only cloak-and-dagger meetings surrounded by blood goblets and howling beasts seated before oversized hearths and wearing actual cloaks and daggers. Okay, it was more like a board meetings and internal communications, but whatever, you get the idea (there’s archive of 14 million documents created by tobacco companies about their previously secret internal activities hosted by the UCSF Library and Center for Knowledge Management, if interested in a deep dive). Take for instance this observation by Dr. Alfred Burger, a professor at the University of Virginia, who supervised a chemistry fellowship that focused on organic chemistry related to nicotine (read: how to tinker with tobacco and make a better, more addictive, and profitable product). Dr. Burger wrote to Dr. Robert Ikeda, who managed chemical and biological research at the cigarette giant’s research labs, about a “novel research program” for the forward-looking division of the cigarette giant. “From all I can gather from the literature, from the press, and just living among young people, I can predict that marihuana [sic] smoking will have grown to immense proportions within a decade and will probably be legalized. The company that will bring out the first marihuana smoking devices, be it a cigarette or some other form, will capture the market and be in a better position than its competitors to satisfy the legal public demand for such products. I want to suggest, therefore, that you institute immediately a research program on all phases of marihuana.” That was decades ago, and Dr. Burger was working on behalf Philip Morris, the giant behind Marlboro cowboy killers. But you may know it by its current name, Altria, the corporation that paid $1.8 billion for a 45 percent stake in Cronos, one of Canada’s monolithic weed producers, at the end of 2018. Call it a reminder that the lodestar for avoiding large corporate takeover by former industry foes (and supervillains for that matter) was never really established (see: capitalism, free market), and if we’re not vigilant about the cash grab at the expense of small, independent entities working to get their piece of the pie, the nadir of the craft grass space will have been reached before the industry has even really gotten started.
Revolutionary Clinics // MEDICAL DISPENSARY Sira Naturals // CANNABIS PRODUCT INNOVATION Sprout //
CRM & MARKETING
Stalk & Beans // DELIVERY Tess Woods Public Relations // PUBLIC RELATIONS Vicente Sederberg, LLC // LEGAL SERVICES
Dan McCarthy
M ANAG I NG E D I TO R SENSI BOSTON
sensimag.com MAY 2019 9
S N E A K E R C R E AT U R E S D O U B L E F E AT U R E !
Dill Kicks
We have some good news and bad news.
Lite model (the first cross trainer developed for Patrick
First, the good news: Grillo’s Pickles still rule. If you’ve
Ewing in 1993). Think: uppers featuring upgraded pig
never had the company’s spicy Italian hot spears or sweet
suede materials, Grillo’s branding, and comfortable EVA
bread and butter slices, independently or smashed to-
midsoles for lighter and lower footwork. Call it coming
gether in an unholy dill alliance of goodness on a sand-
full circle—Travis Grillo, Grillo’s head dillmaster, famously
wich, then you aren’t living. Change, with the right impe-
didn’t get a job at Nike when out of college, which led
tus, is possible people.
him to launch his pickle company, which led him to hav-
Now, the bad news: Back in early April, the Cam-
ing his own sneaker. Which is pretty damn cool.
bridge-born pickle company quietly pulled the last batch
Final bit of good news: The team has pairs stockpiled
of the remaining special edition collaboration sneakers
for special fan and online giveaways (think: National
the company did in partnership with Ewing Athletics.
Pickle Day) and has plans for other sneakerhead collab-
The super-limited release was designed on the Sport
orations down the road. Stay tuned.
Bird Land
–DAN McCARTHY
Allbirds: The Store.
Ever since we wore a spiffy new pair of Allbirds—the insanely comfortable slip-on
sneaker made of eco-friendly materials that feel like you’re stomping around on a pair of felt cushions—around the Boston Calling festival last year, we’ve been hooked. Making us more hooked is the fact an entire store of the San Francisco-based direct-to-consumer online shoe company has planted roots in town. In the Back Bay, if we’re being more specific. In the Back Bay with lots of classic brownstone charm, with sneaker-color options like Brownstone Brown, Charles River Blue, and Green Monster Green, to be even more specific. Sudden thought: each one of those colors would make fun local strain names for cannabis. Someone write that down. Visit WWW.ALLBIRDS.COM or 205 Newbury St. for the Boston shop. 10 MAY 2019 Boston
–SENSI STAFF
PHOTO COURTESY OF GRILLO
Beloved pickle barons Grillo’s are why these fire sneakers exist.
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sensimag.com MAY 2019 11
Like Buttah, Baby Longtime fans of Jason Santos, either from his early days at the helm of Gargoyles on the Square in Davis Square, his stint behind Blue, Inc in the Financial District, or his more recent efforts, Citrus and Salt and Buttermilk and Bourbon in the Back Bay, are often ready to cite two things they readily know about him. One, that his tuft of flaming-blue hair has been a welcome presence in the TV chef game between Hell’s Kitchen and Bar Rescue, and a spattering of early morning talk shows. And two, he’s got sexy biscuits. That last part probably pertains to those who have frequented Santos’ two-year-old Buttermilk and Bourbon, his grand tasting room and homage to the New Orleans vibe, with its subterranean voodoo aesthetic and killer shrimp and grits, fried chicken, and insanely addictive biscuits. “Five years ago, my wife took me to NOLA for my birthday,” says Santos. “I’d been everywhere but not there. I fell in love with the city, ate for days.” 12 MAY 2019 Boston
Days well spent. And now that his first book, Buttermilk & Bourbon: New Orleans Recipes with Flair, has dropped, you can eat for days as if you’re sitting within the darkened chambers of his Back Bay eatery noshing on insane fried chicken. Santos said he included items straight from the restaurant menu, standards and occasional fan favorites alike. As for the standout? “Hands down, the biscuits,” he says. “Every chef will do their own spin, and I started from scratch. Just a bowl of flower and butter and worked at it and tasted every day for year. I always said if I’m doing a Southern spot, the biscuits have to be off the charts, and honestly, when I eat these, a tear runs down my face.” You had us at biscuits. –DM Visit BUTTERMILKANDBOURBON.COM for more info and reservations.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF 451 MARKETING
Buttermilk & Bourbon: The Home Version.
Players High
Hamlet. Stoned. A performance to be seen (stoned). When Norm Laviolette, CEO of Improv Asylum and executive producer for the new “intoxication theater” run of High Hamlet, gave a trial run of the show at Laugh Boston some time back, it was something of a one-off. A let’s-see-how-this-will-land-with-crowds kind of lark. Would audiences want to see some of the central works of Shakespeare’s canon be reworked with boozy and baked bonhomie creating the foundation of a new take on an old classic? Turns out they would. “There have been several different, fun versions of Shakespeare’s plays produced, be it drunk versions or improvised versions or all the plays performed, abridged, at one time,” says Laviolette. “With the advent of the legalization of cannabis, we saw an opportunity to put our own stamp on it while also consciously wanting to be a part of the growing legalized cannabis industry.” As far as why Hamlet, Laviolette says: “I could give you a thoughtful answer or the truth, which is, I liked the alliteration of high and Hamlet.” Fair enough. Since last month, the 200-seat Improv Asylum on Hanover Street in the North End as been producing the new production of weed Hamlet, one that’s roughly 60/40 scripted to improv, which gives cause for plenty of unintended comedy (“Watch a high actor with a very loose grasp of the
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monologue try to get through ‘To be or not to be...,’” says Laviolette). Ultimately, it’s a scripted show that “intentionally goes off the rails, and that’s where the cast uses their improvisational skills to adapt to what is happening.” PHOTOS COURTESY OF IMPROV ASYLUM
As for the dosing levels of the cast for the performance, Laviolette says it’ll
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be just Hamlet in the haze. “That’s the obstacle both the actor playing Hamlet as well as the rest of the cast has to overcome,” says Laviolette. “It is a highwire act. We want there to be a very real possibility of the performer to fail and rejoice when they successfully [don’t] while trying to deliver a funny yet challenging performance.” Asked his thoughts on which other tomes Shakespeare, a rumored lover of the leaf, probably definitely wrote while stoned, Laviolette says: “Richard the III. That dude was whacked out of his mind.”
–DM
Visit IMPROVASYLUM.COM for tickets and information
healingtreeedibles.com sensimag.com MAY 2019 13
Run Through The Jungle
It’s an age-old dilemma: Where to go in the Hub to satisfy both your jones for fitness and wellness as well as your wont to rock out to a thumping live music show in an intimate club launched by a Somerville resident? Consider said dilemma over this month. Because The Jungle Club (THEJUNGLEMUSICCLUB.COM ), a 21+ music venue holding 85 people and booking mostly local bands (all genres!), throws open its doors in early May in a former storage space on Sandborn Court in Union Square. Speaking to local music website-bible Vanyaland, owner Sam Epstein said the three-year journey to get this from idea to opening remained centered around music and community. “The concept was always to find a small and simple hole in the wall to build a community music club in the concrete jungle…It turns out that we got exactly that because this space was the Somerville police garage until the ‘80s when SPD moved to a new building, but nobody ever really changed this garage.” On top of shows and fitness, yoga, and open-mic nights, The Jungle Club will have group activities, and guests can even take cycling classes as cover bands rock out. But after 8 p.m., it’s all music in a place aiming to “offer a traditional rock club experience with local bands and musicians of all genres performing their original music.” We approve. –DM 14 MAY 2019 Boston
PHOTOS COURTESY OF JUNGLE CLUB
Witness the rise of the Hub’s first music club and fitness center, for good or ill.
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sensimag.com MAY 2019 15
{newsfeed } by J A M E S O N V I E N S
SWEET CAROLINE The first independent women-owned dispensary opens with high hopes.
In addition to the good work from organizations like
retail location. Serving over a thousand customers over the
Elevate New England, Women Grow Boston, Mass Medi-
course of three days during their opening celebration, Fran-
cal Marijuana Initiative, NORML, Moms for Pot, and other
kel and her husband Steven came to represent the coming
cannabis businesses and initiatives, there have been com-
wave of local small businesses standing in defiance against
mendable efforts in recent years towards leveling and di-
the tide of Big Weed entering the state’s legal landscape.
versifying the playing field of cannabis business owners in
Thus, the opening of Frankel’s shop was a notable event, one
the Mass Grass scene.
which was willed into existence through hard work and a lot
But a quick look around the emerging industry by even
of local uplift from the community and a legion of supporters.
an untrained or desensitized eye makes it clear that the
Frankel’s story began half a decade ago when she cre-
cultural tapestry of the weed biz has a way to go. Caro-
ated cannabis-inspired wood signs (think Pinterest meets
line Frankel, owner of recently opened Caroline’s Cannabis
marijuana) to sell at trade shows and the annual Boston
(CAROLINESCANNABIS.COM ) in Uxbridge, Massachusetts, is
Freedom Rally. The practice gave her a platform to “spread
here to change that.
the kind word of cannabis.” When western states came
In the years that have passed since the state legalized
online recreationally, Frankel spent hours studying out-of-
adult-use cannabis consumption, Frankel is the state’s first
state applications before Massachusetts had any forms to
100 percent independently owned and operated recreational
file as she formed her vision.
16 MAY 2019 Boston
sensimag.com MAY 2019 17
18 MAY 2019 Boston
Between the homework, attending weekly town hall meetings to press the issue of opening a dispensary in Uxbridge, and Caroline and her husband holding mock community hearings in their basement in front of friends, the experience was educational in the way that learning how to run for office while already on the campaign trail is educational. “You never know what to expect,” says Frankel. “You have to be prepared to answer some pretty tough questions when you’re going up against people in the community, you have to be able to handle them. It’s two steps forward, ten steps back, no matter what you do, so you have to be able to deal with it in a rational way.”
you’re walking into a store that has some product diversi-
As the first person to approach Uxbridge about opening
ty to it,” says Frankel. “I think it would be so cool to have it
a shop, Frankel often found herself having to educate town
grown and sold right here in Uxbridge, to create a farm-to-
legislators on everything from cannabis basics to discuss-
table vibe and know that it’s all made in Massachusetts.”
ing newly minted rules of the legal game and how towns
Despite Frankel’s infectious optimism and excitement, her
capitalizing on cannabis have an opportunity to be a wel-
journey to market hasn’t been easy. She’s made it on plenty
come addition to an area in need of economic stimulation.
of sweat equity and more than a little raw stick-to-it-ness.
“These communities need money. In these old mill
Early on, Boston-based law firms quoted her in excess of
towns, there’s not a lot of business, and Uxbridge needs
$100,000 to help her navigate the application process and
the income desperately, so the town just gets it, and that’s
municipal red tape. She eventually worked with an attorney
been a huge support,” Frankel says of dealing with the pro-
in her budget and maintains that keeping things simple and
cedural side of the pot pony show in the Commonwealth.
scalable has been a big asset to the launch.
Keeping things local remains a priority for Frankel. Her
“The secret to my success is that I picked a small store,”
shop exclusively sells smoking accessories from nearby
she says. “I picked a project that I could afford and was to
artists (sourced from Witch Dr. Glass studio in Salem), and
scale, rather than renting out a 7,000-square-foot space.”
with fingers crossed, she hopes dispensaries will source
Frankel’s shop opening was also a messaging win for the
flower and concentrates from local cultivators.
“let’s let the locals in first” tribes, as the arrival of multimil-
“You should be able to come here and go, ‘Oh, this is from
lion-dollar cannabis giants from out of state has been an
Northampton, this is from Fitchburg,’ and really feel like
obstacle for local entrepreneurs looking to get their share of the market. The first in an ongoing Boston Globe investigation series on the new cannabis industry in the state ran in March and highlighted the widening gap between corporately owned cannabis firms and mom-and-pop shops. “As a small business owner, it’s scary that this is happening so quickly,” Frankel says of the revelations and the sense that she’s in a David-versus-Goliath situation but in the end, when you back up your fight with hard work and the support of a passionate community, David has some power in the proverbial slingshot. Frankel says that’s a big part of how Caroline’s finally got off the ground. “I stood strong for what I believed in, and people really supported me in my efforts.” sensimag.com MAY 2019 19
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{highprofile } by DA N Mc C A R T H Y
IT’S MILLER TIME A stroll down memory (and BBQ) lane in Somerville with Guster’s Ryan Miller as the band celebrates a quarter century together.
If you ask Ryan Miller, vocalist, songwriter and founding
thing. I google our band name multiple times a day to see
member of Guster, how the Hub-born band that nobody
what pops up. Although I have to take the TV show Psych out
could ever quite accurately peg in its up-and-coming days
of it,” he laughs, “as they have a character called Guster.”
has outlasted other musical children of the early/mid-‘90s
Standing before the former house that Guster built (or the
local New England band scene, and for that matter have
other way around, according to him) has got Miller catch-
been playing and writing music together longer than the ma-
ing feelings. Miller and the rest of the original lineup of the
jority of their core fanbase had been alive when the band be-
band–Adam Gardner, Brian Rosenworcel (the current line-
gan its first post-college blitzkrieg road tour, he doesn’t really
up also includes songwriter and guitarist Luke Reynolds)—
have an answer for you.
have come a long way from the days of heaving couches off
“I’m still trying to figure out how to tell the story of us,” he
the second-floor porch at Aberdeen. “One of the rooms we
chuckles as we stand outside 32 Aberdeen Road in Somer-
used for an office for the band, and two of the bedrooms
ville, the band’s former home. “Version 1.0 of us 100 percent
were normcore, like a 10-by-10 box,” he recalls fondly. “But
begins when we meet in college here and basically ends
the other bedroom was this massive attic room, and we’d
around 1999 when we got our label deal. Up until then, we
rock-paper-scissors for it, which right out of college was like
only had acoustic guitars and percussion to work with, so it
a luxury suite.”
was figuring out what kind of music we wanted to continue
As a band, the group has averaged a new studio or live
to play once we started to change things up. We’re probably
release once every four years. Miller offsets his downtime
in Version 3.0 at this point.” Beat, and a laugh. “Maybe 4.0.”
with passion projects, be it scoring films (one required he
Whatever the current version could be called, it’s in the
teach actress Naomi Watts how to play ukulele for a scene)
middle of a national tour in support of “Look Alive,” Guster’s
or shooting his PBS show Bardo, a sort of Comedians in Cars
eighth studio album. Besides the songwriting and band-on-
Getting Coffee meets “Austin City Limits,” spliced with su-
the-run hustle, Miller serves as the band’s Twitter overlord,
per-high-definition live music performances of artists pro-
where he’s built their social following from a couple hundred
filed by Miller, who interviews his subjects while engaging
to over a half a million organic followers today.
in their chosen pastimes, be it screen-printing with singer
“People talk shit on there about us all the time,” he says,
songwriters, bird-watching with EDM artists, or even rock
laughing, “But it gives me an unfiltered look at how our band
climbing with fellow Boston-born-turned-NYC-based band
is viewed in the current pantheon of pop culture. It’s an ego
Lake Street Dive.
22 MAY 2019 Boston
Ryan Miller is not afraid to gesticulate at the onset of spring, or destroy a batch of Redbones BBQ fried buffalo shrimp. sensimag.com MAY 2019 23
The BBQ Hero's Journey, a visual tale in three frames.
With over two decades behind Guster, Miller looks back
all very organic,” he says. “But we always felt completely ex-
fondly at the early days when the band went from writing
tricated from the scene here so when we left we didn’t feel
songs and busking in Harvard Square in the mid-’90s, to land-
like we were losing a part of our culture, considering we were
ing its first post-graduation gig touring a connected network
living in our van eight months a year.”
of colleges around the country. “We made this shitty demo
At different times, Miller says despite the band’s arrange-
tape in the basement where I lived [on Tufts campus], and then
ment and melody-focus, and culling influences from ev-
suddenly we were booked for 20 shows and could pay our rent
erything from Toad the Wet Sprocket and The Cure to New
for a year,” he says. “That’s when we officially went from a fun-
Order, The Smiths, James, Pavement, Unrest, and others, its
ny little college band to ‘now we don’t have to ask our parents
sound is regularly lumped together with jam bands or folk
for living money,’ right out of school. None of us even got real
acts. “We didn’t know how to solo or improvise like a jam
jobs after college. We say how lucky we were that college real-
band, and when we’d play folk rooms, they’d say we were
ly was like training wheels for what we wound up doing.”
too loud, so we didn’t really have a home anywhere,” he says.
But it was busy Harvard Square where Miller says Guster’s
And while Boston gave the band its start, including being
early pre-Soundcloud, pre-cell-phone era of success took
taken under the wing of The Paradise for early opening-act
root. “We were playing for thousands of people a day that
billing for John Wesley Harding, Bob Weir, Rusted Root,
would walk by, give us 10 bucks for a CD, but then go back
Thanks to Gravity, and other acts, Miller says, “each show
to their home state and share our music with friends. It was
we’d have elements that those acts’ crowds liked, so we’d peel off some new fans each time. But we weren’t friends with Letters to Cleo, weren’t cool like the Lemonheads or anything. I remember a big moment for us was when the Boston Phoenix interviewed us about our first album before a show we were playing at the Paradise, but it was for a hit piece about how much they hated our album and couldn’t understand how we sold so many records.” That near-unlikely success then, as now, depends on a rabid, devoted fanbase. Talk to a hardcore Guster fan born before the Regan administration, and you’ll be regaled with stories of days when they were part of the experimental class of a new thing called “college street teams” for fans looking for perks, from selling the band’s record on their college campuses to helping organize shows. Regardless of any formal declarations of regional identity, the Hub still has a meaty place in Miller’s heart, as evidenced
24 MAY 2019 Boston
by his glowing savaging of a spread of Redbones BBQ during our interview. He comments on the fact the bar area is the same as it was since he was a regular fixture downing fried buffalo shrimp. “That’s the shit I appreciate, the way some things around [Boston] are preserved” he says. While lamenting the loss of local color like staple Somerville music haunt Johnny D’s and beloved record shop Disc Diggers, Miller says the Hub hangs onto its old favorites as long as it can, more so than Manhattan, and the community keeping that love alive is still present. “I love that Toad is still doing shows and alive. And The Plough and Stars. Or just seeing the ‘Live Chickens Fresh Kill’ sign when I’m hanging out in Cambridge. And Mr. Bartley’s Burger Cottage, which is normally my first stop in town.” As for his most cherished Boston story, Miller, like many people, turns to Stevie Nicks. “It was right after Trump got elected, and I was at the Garden to see her show,” he says. “I had hung out with her in a recording studio recently, and she’s the coolest person I’ve ever met in my life. I went to see her that night, and she was casting her spell and really funny, relaxed, not a canned performance. Outside in
BAND PHOTO BY ALYSSE GAFKJEN, PHOTO WITH STEVIE NICKS BY RYAN MILLER
the world was very troubling, and inside there were probably thousands of people that voted for Trump, yet we were all just in Stevie’s living room, unified. She crushed it.” Could the shawl-draped enchantress-in-winter be an untapped avenue for healing a polarized and fractured American character? “I wouldn’t be surprised,” Miller says matter-of-factly. “Everyone loves Stevie Nicks.”
“WE MADE THIS SHITTY DEMO TAPE IN THE BASEMENT… AND THEN SUDDENLY WE WERE BOOKED FOR 20 SHOWS. WE SAY HOW LUCKY WE WERE THAT COLLEGE REALLY WAS LIKE TRAINING WHEELS FOR WHAT WE WOUND UP DOING.” —Ryan Miller
sensimag.com MAY 2019 25
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28 MAY 2019 Boston
P R O P E R
Puff Piece Lizzie Post follows her great-greatgrandmother’s path and defines the rules for cannabis etiquette. by S T E P H A N I E W I L S O N
In polite society, THERE ARE CERTAIN WAYS OF DOING THINGS. BEST PRACTICES, IF YOU WILL, FOR BASIC INTERACTIONS WITH OTHER HUMANS ONE FOLLOWS. TAKE, FOR EXAMPLE, DINING WITH OTHERS. WHEN YOU’RE ALONE IN YOUR APARTMENT, EATING SHREDDED CHEESE FROM THE BAG WHILE STANDING IN YOUR UNDERWEAR IN FRONT OF AN OPEN FRIDGE, WELL…YOU DO YOU. When you’re at a dinner party at your boss’s home, however, you don’t want to do that version of you. You want to do the polite version, the one who knows how and when to place a napkin on your lap, how to discern the salad fork from the other pronged utensils, which direction to pass the joint after you’ve puffed it. Or how to politely decline should you not wish to puff, which is totally fine because, you know: you do you. Basically, basic manners. “Basic manners according to whom?” you may be wondering. sensimag.com MAY 2019 29
30 MAY 2019 Boston
According to the rules of etiquette established by
etiquette!’ But at the same time, we knew it was going
the Emily Post Institute, that’s whom. The grandame of
to be some time before a publisher wants us to or the
manners and etiquette, Emily Post formally defined the
family is ready to do it.”
still-established cultural norms with the publishing of
Fast forward a few years and as cannabis legaliza-
her first book in 1922 titled, simply, Etiquette. Her advice
tion starts to spread across the nation like a weed, the
centered on the basic concept that “no one should do
opportunity to write such a tome presented itself when
anything that can either annoy or offend the sensibili-
an agent Lizzie was working with for a different project
ties of others.”
got wind that a particular publisher was interested in
According to the “About” company overview on
writing a book on cannabis etiquette. Did Lizzie know of
EMILYPOST.COM , those principles are more important that
anyone who would be interested?, the email read. Alone
knowing which fork to use. “Whether it’s a handshake or
in her office in Vermont, Lizzie’s hand shot into the sky.
a fist bump, it’s the underlying sincerity and good inten-
Dreams coming true, she says. When Ten Speed Press
tions of the action that matter most.”
found out the Emily Post Institute was willing to tie the
Simple. Basic.
Post name to it, they said to get them a proposal but con-
And basically awesome. As is the woman who’s head-
sider the project green lit from the start. (Pun intended.)
ing up the family’s Emily Post Institute today: Lizzie
“I was really grateful,” Lizzie recalls. “At first, the
Post. She’s the co-president of the New England-based
thought was that it would be more of a gifty-style book,
institution, which operates under the guiding motto
and I was really appreciative they went down the rabbit
that though times have changed, the principles of good
hole with me and really joined the Emily Post style of
“At first, the thought was that it would be more of a grifty-style book, and I was really appreciative they went down the rabbit hole with me and really joined the Emily Post style of ‘how-to’ with a deeper exploration of the topic.” —Lizzie Post, on the development of Higher Etiquette
manners remain constant. The Vermont-based author, podcast host, and speaker is highly aware of how much times have changed.
‘how-to’ with a deeper exploration of the topic.” The resulting guidebook is an elegant addition to any home library, its soft green linen cover embossed with
Cannabis is legal now, for starters, in a lot of places.
gold begging to be displayed on the coffee table. And
Which means that the basic rules of interaction with it
begging to be picked up. And filled with messages rang-
need to be defined. And who better to do that than the
ing from the basic principles to deep dives into the nitty
co-author of books such as Emily Post’s Etiquette 19th
gritty details that allowed Lizzie to “nerd out.”
edition and the co-host of the Awesome Etiquette podcast. So she did that.
But first things first, the book outlines the question on everyone’s mind: what would Emily Post think?
World, meet Lizzie Post’s Higher Etiquette: A Guide to
“I don’t think she’d be rolling over in her grave,” Lizzie
the World of Cannabis, from Dispensaries to Dinner Par-
says. “She was a modern woman, and she was someone
ties, published last month by Ten Speed Press ($18.99).
who changed with the times. I don’t think she would ap-
Speaking with Lizzie by phone in the weeks leading up
prove of smoking it. I think she would approve of other
to the book’s release, I asked how this project came to be.
forms of using it, and how to work with the interactions
Her enthusiasm is infectious. “This has been a sub-
surrounding it. If it’s a subject that’s going to be legal,
ject I’ve definitely wanted to engage with for a long
you have to know.”
time. … We had the idea to write the book in one of those
With that out of the way, the book dives into the basic
dream spaces. ‘Yeah, we should write a book on weed
principles, which are rooted in the institute’s long desensimag.com MAY 2019 31
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fined focus on being considerate, respectful, and honest in your interactions. When it comes to cannabis etiquette, a fourth theme emerges: sharing.
“I only knew cannabis through an illegal framework at the time. [In Vermont], we did not have legal cannabis, and we certainly still don’t have retail and regulation.” And, my goodness, she continues, when you get into
She writes: “It was so encouraging to hear people ex-
that world, “the scope of what cannabis looks like in a
citedly talk about etiquette in a positive way. Rather than
community is so different. I was literally coming from
hearing complaints about rudeness and being offended,
the land of the good and the bad, and maybe some peo-
conversations [during my research] focused on how to
ple who spoke about it liked sativa or indica and the
be aware and respectful of those around you.”
associated affects with them. And then you jump into
That research included a good stint of time in Boulder
the real legalized world, that’s not even the case: you’re
and Denver, exploring the ins and outs of the state’s le-
talking cannabinoids and terpenes and flavonoids. It’s a
gal cannabis industry. “I’m a big lover of Colorado,” she
whole different place.”
shares. “I spent my teen years coming out to hike and go
In 2018, she came out to Colorado for a two-week trip,
to this summer camp and the Rockies and do western
spending a week actually living at Dan’s house and go-
horseback riding. When I was 30, I came out to go stay
ing with him into the dispensary. “Every day, interview-
at a cattle ranch and do some actual cowboy ranching,
ing his budtenders and sometimes interviewing the pa-
which was really fun.”
tients if they were willing or the customers if they were,
Her trips out to research Higher Etiquette were really fun as well. “It was really my first destination when I had
spending time talking to people, asking, ‘What is your life with cannabis like?”
been working on the proposal.” She connected with Dan
The answers she received from that trip and subse-
Martin, the owner of Boulder-based dispensary Magno-
quent journeys to other legal markets shaped the book
lia Road Cannabis Co., who gave her hours of his time
all cannabis consumers should add to their collections
when she was first getting rolling on the project.
today. It covers the basics and the intricacies, from defining terms to establishing rules about who should empty the ashtrays and how often during a consumption-friendly dinner party. It’s old-school etiquette for a modern world. And there’s a whole lot to love about that.
sensimag.com MAY 2019 33
34 MAY 2019 Boston
sensimag.com MAY 2019 35
a galvanizing protagonist lead character. Thus, the film’s story starts to come into focus, as does the journeys of five children suffering from various forms of pediatric cancers and their parents navigating the byzantine US healthcare system and its failings for their children. The film catalogues each family with a delicate but honest portrayal of what the children and parents were going through while exploring potentially life-saving cannabis treatments for their kids and looks at the future of cannabis data collection and efficacy as a treatment. And as one could expect, there were a lot of moments caught that on their own could be emblematic of the pressing need to continue to push for full legalization and federal research into the medical efficacy of cannabis treatments for pediatric cancers. “I think the whole film was filled with moments,” says Epstein, noting the project is intended to help people understand there are kids dying and getting cannabis medicine made in garages and kitchens, and that the need for a regulated, tested product marketplace to get lifesaving medicine to those in need, especially children, has never been more real. In other words, just let the camera capture what it captures. Reality will present the rest. “The film is really an anecdotal spotlight on these families,” Lake says. “I look back and realize we were so ahead of the curve when we began the project, and I only stum-
PEOPLE
POWER Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein understand
bled on it by accident.” Speaking with Leafly last year, Lake and Epstein pointed to Lake’s late husband, Christian Evans, who started his own research into cannabis treatment for migraines, chronic pain, anxiety, and depression (along with bipolar disorder) that left him bedridden. Evans met a young girl with tumors growing in her nerve endings, who wound up living with them for weeks as they tried to source cannabis treatments and information to support her. From there, Lake’s exposure to the culture and the idea to document and present the matter in a film came to be. “I think a lot of people get thrown by the title and think
their film may be a bit misleading, but who
it’s just a pro-recreational weed film,” says Epstein. “But af-
cares as long as people watch?
ter the first couple minutes, [it’s clear] this is something dif-
by DA N Mc C A R T H Y
are a lot of people who automatically assume they are not
ferent. There’s so much stigma around cannabis, and there interested in the topic for whatever reasons. So a lot of the
One could be forgiven if, UPON SEEING THE POSTER ART FOR WEED THE PEOPLE, WHICH
DEBUTED AT SXSW LAST MARCH, ONE SURMISES THE FILM IS GOING TO BE A CALL TO ARMS FOR WEED-LOVING PEOPLE EVERYWHERE. But the raised-clench-fist imagery, when looked at closer, shows the tiny cherubic arm of a child in place of 36 MAY 2019 Boston
hurdle has been getting people just be open to seeing this film and what cannabis is doing for children like this.” Catch Weed the People on Netflix starting May 1. WEEDTHEPEOPLEMOVIE.COM
sensimag.com MAY 2019 37
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sensimag.com MAY 2019 39
{tastebuds } by DA N Mc C A R T H Y
WE WENT THERE This is a series about us eating and telling you about it. This month’s installment: Whaling in Oklahoma. Breaking news report: There are no whales in landlocked south-central states. That goes for Colorado, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. Especially Oklahoma. Repeat: There are no whales to be found out there. Because there’s no ocean. Why the hell are we talking about this? Ah, right: Whaling in Oklahoma (WHALINGINOKLAHOMA.COM ), the oneyear-old(ish) newcomer to the South End.
true to form for each dish, all of which is Maslow’s and Hummel’s spin on traditional izakaya watering hole offerings. There is a lot of savory and simple, and fatty and unctuous, and plenty from the raw, fermented, and pickled department. There are also sake cups. Fun. There are already plenty of favorites, as well as surprises. Hummel: “The eggplant is probably the one that surprises
Sensi’s hottest of hot takes: Tim Maslow, famed and
most people. It’s simple, but I’ve had people saying, ‘I’m a
furious mind behind Watertown’s Strip-T’s diner (his fam-
carnivore, but how do you get eggplant to taste that good?’”
ily spot but reimagined under Tim’s hand) and Brookline’s
Turns out you end up putting more focused and pur-
sparkling but now-dead Ribelle, has something novel go-
poseful thought to a plate when there are only three or
ing on here. And you should go.
four ingredients working together.
Food reviewing made simple with Sensi. There you go.
Our favorite: the grilled white asparagus with pickled gar-
Because if we’re telling you about a spot, we liked it enough
lic and warm crab butter. Which made the asparagus taste
to tell you about it here. And here’s what you need to know:
like…crab. (Note: You should like crab if you order this.)
Maslow and executive chef Matt Hummel have inserted a
There’s also an all-you-can-eat option if you’re hungry
cheery little Japanese izakaya into the 600 block of Tremont.
and have an entire table of friends in tow. It runs $80 per
It’s a mix of small plates, big flavors, and minimal ingredients
person, and it’s basically a way to say, “everything you find
40 MAY 2019 Boston
special on the menu or what you’re tinkering with, please.”
ist nod to a nonsensical concept (there’s a law outlaw-
Bonus: Whaling in Oklahoma is part of a growing trend of
ing whaling in Oklahoma, because lobbyists, we guess?),
restaurants that includes a small percentage of all food and
which allows Maslow and the team freedom.
drink sales, which allows the small kitchen staff to “share
Hummel on the intent behind the name: “You don’t
in the success of the restaurant.” For anyone who has ever
know what to expect, and that can be a good thing when
served as a dishdog or worked a hot food line—or likes eat-
trying a new spot. We make the rules. If we wanted to turn
ing at places that make good food—this is a good thing.
this into a Spanish tapas bar tomorrow, we could. We don’t
Oh yeah…the name. Whaling in Oklahoma is an absurd-
plan on it, but we like having these wide parameters.” sensimag.com MAY 2019 41
42 MAY 2019 Boston
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{lifestyle } by GEORGE WASHINGTON HIGHTOWER
“We’ve made a great effort to get a decent relationship between the kids and the cops. Now, at least, we’ll get the police out of the marijuana business.” —Mayor Robert J. Harris,1972
HISTORY, NOT MIS-STORY
group, the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug
The wild times of sporadic cannabis decriminalization in the 1970s.
tried to demythologize it…some of these original fears were
Abuse, in 1971. Tasked with considering laws regarding marijuana and separating myth from fact, the Shafer Commission, as it was called, noted: “Recognizing the extensive degree of misinformation about marihuana as a drug, we have unfounded and that others were exaggerated has been clear for many years. Yet, many of these early beliefs continue to affect contemporary public attitudes and concerns.”
With the Mass Grass scene emboldening the burgeoning
According to Oval Office recordings, Nixon believed and
national legal cannabis landscape (as well as demonstrating
propagated many of the myths about marijuana, aligning his
a lot of learning-on-the-job-ness), it’s worth some ink to talk
now infamous racist views against the African Americans,
about the 1970s, when many of the earliest weed maneu-
Jews, and the counterculture of the day. He wasn’t interested
vers, mavericks, and maddening events went down.
in the facts, especially when it came to educating the pub-
Novelist Tom Wolfe famously canonized the epoch as both the Me Decade and the Third Great Awakening. The latter ti-
lic about marijuana. “To enforce the law, you’ve got to scare them,” he said. Indeed.
tle is apropos in the context of cannabis, given that the first
Still presumably riding high on the events of the 1968
organized attempts to legalize took place largely in response
Democratic National Convention in Chicago, where city cops
to President Richard Nixon’s maneuver to federally prohibit
openly assaulted and brandished batons across the brain of
cannabis as part of the Controlled Substances Act of 1970.
any hippie or counterculture member in sight, while reacting
At the direction of Congress, Nixon created a bipartisan 44 MAY 2019 Boston
to the Shafer Commission’s recommendations on enforcing
the new anti-weed law of the land, Nixon said, “We need, and
nabis to be consumed at home. After the ruling in May 1975,
I use the word ‘all-out war,’ on all fronts…”
the state’s Supreme Court legalized the use, possession, and
In 1972, Ann Arbor, Michigan city council members
cultivation of cannabis in small amounts for personal use.
passed a bill to reduce penalties for possession of less than
A movement of anti-drug parent activists started in At-
two ounces to a $5 civil-infraction ticket. Democratic May-
lanta in 1976 as a reaction to adolescent drug use and sales
or Robert J. Harris told The Washington Post: “In this town, it
of paraphernalia, and eventually turned its attention to
was the only way to go...We’ve made a great effort to get a
legislative affairs. But there is always a light to be found in
decent relationship between the kids and the cops. Now, at
dark times. One of the more promising ones came in 1978,
least, we’ll get the police out of the marijuana business.”
when New Mexico–touting the first state-sponsored mari-
About a year earlier, the Michigan Supreme Court over-
juana research program–worked with hundreds of subjects
turned a cannabis conviction after a series of appeals and
between then and 1986, allowing physicians to prescribe
lengthy protests in support of the defendant, and the state
marijuana to chemotherapy patients not responding to tra-
Supreme Court claimed the entire state’s drug laws were
ditional controlled substances or suffering from severe side
unconstitutional. Because the state didn’t have any concrete
effects of the treatment.
drug laws in place, for about 22 days until they worked them out, Michigan, in effect, legalized marijuana possession.
That prohibitionist momentum continued slowly and ramped up toward the end of the decade, and by then Ronald
Yet in the January 1974 issue of the Bulletin of the New York
Reagan was being assembled in a Republican bunker some-
Academy of Medicine, prohibitionists Gabriel G. Nahas and
where, and by the time he took office in 1981 and the first
Albert Greenwood responded directly to the Shafer Com-
lady famously unleashed her failed “Just Say No” campaign,
mission findings, flatly stating, “We believe, on the contrary,
the movement to decriminalize or legalize had largely been
that the untoward social and medical effects of marihuana
stamped out. There were small victories, to be sure, but by
reported by the marihuana commission and in the past and
the end of the ’70s, most efforts to decriminalize cannabis
present medical literature do not justify the legalization of
were stalled at both the state and federal level and nearly
cannabis anywhere in the world.”
one-third of Americans lived in areas where possession of
A few months later, in early summer of 1974, James O.
cannabis yielded a fine or penalty of some kind.
Eastland led Senate hearings and released a report, “Mar-
But the fact is, from 1971 to 1978, more than a dozen
ihuana-Hashish Epidemic and its Impact on United States
states either legalized or decriminalized cannabis possession
Security,” concluding, “Five years of research has provided
(which did little to stem the new tide of prohibitionist men-
strong evidence that, if corroborated, would suggest that
tality in the US), demonstrating a vocal minority objecting to
marihuana in various forms is far more hazardous than orig-
the newish weed laws and foreshadow the battles to come:
inally suspected.”
1971: Michigan legalizes all drugs for 22 days 1972: Ann Arbor, Michigan decriminalizes 1973: Oregon decriminalizes 1975: Alaska legalizes, Colorado decriminalizes 1976: California, Maine, Minnesota, Ohio decriminalize 1977: Madison, Wisconsin decriminalize 1977: Mississippi, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina decriminalize 1978: San Francisco, California decriminalizes 1978: New Mexico launches medical marijuana program for cancer patients
Add to that the New York Times reporting the same year that the American Bar Association, American Public Health Association, and National Education Association all recommended lighter laws on marijuana possession, and you start to get a sense that there’s some credence to the old Joseph Heller adage: “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you.” In 1975 the Supreme Court of Alaska effectively legalized cannabis in the state. The ruling came about because an Alaskan resident, Irwin Ravin, allowed himself to be caught
Legalization supporters and activists still fight those bat-
possessing cannabis as a means of challenging state law, and
tles in various ways, and they will continue to until federal
Ravin’s defense was that the state Constitution’s “guaran-
prohibition ends once and for all.
teed rights to privacy” should be interpreted as allowing can-
Call it being on the right side of history. sensimag.com MAY 2019 45
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NECANN 2019
At this point if the very mention of the yearly New England Cannabis Convention (NECANN) rolling through town doesn’t conjure up images of a massive, multi-day industry and community hoedown featuring some of the best cutting edge cannabis products, tech, manufacturing solutions, ancillary services, news and media, not to mention ample educational lectures, presentations, and thought leadership from the PHOTOS BY SENSI STAFF
best of the local and national industry....well it’s pretty clear you missed the most recent one. So let these pictures get you ready for the next.
50 MAY 2019 Boston
Where: Hynes Convention Center, Back Bay When: March 22–24, 2019
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