Sensi Magazine Florida - March 2021 by Sensi Magazine

TUNES FOR THE TRIP

Curated playlists for psychedelics

S PA R K F LO R I DA MARCH 2021

ELEVATED UPDATES The latest industry news

HOT VOXING

The history of music and cannabis

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FEATURE

From Reefer Man to Method Man

For Sensi’s first ever music issue, we celebrate—what else?—the eternal relationship between ganja and the groove.

DEPARTMENTS

11 EDITOR’S NOTE 32 THE SCENE Hot happenings and hip hangouts around town 14 THE BUZZ FRESH TUNES Our picks News, tips, and tidbits to keep you in the loop OK THC Fully legal cannabis may coming sooner than expected to the Sooner State. JAVA TREAT A nondairy CBD creamer CBD GOODIES Enjoy your hemp. I LOVE HUE Download this color app. LISTEN UP These speakers and headphones will blow your mind. TRAIL MAGIC An outdoor brand hawks CBD.

for 2021’s best music so far.

34 THE END Support your local record shops.

ON THE COVER PHOTO ASSETS VIA ADOBE STOCK PHOTO EDITS BY JOSH CLARK

22 THE LIFE Contributing to your

health and happiness TRIP TRACK Be your own personal psychedelic DJ.

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ADVISORY BOARD

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Marijuana Business Daily Minority Cannabis Business Association National Cannabis Industry Association Students for Sensible Drug Policy

EXECUTIVE

Ron Kolb Founder, CEO ron@sensimag.com Stephanie Wilson Co-Founder, Editor in Chief stephanie@sensimag.com Mike Mansbridge President mike@sensimag.com Lou Ferris VP of Global Revenue lou@sensimag.com Chris Foltz Director of Global Reach chris@sensimag.com Richard Guerra Director of Global Reach richard.guerra@sensimag.com Amanda Patrizi Deputy Director of Global Reach amanda.patrizi@sensimag.com Jade Kolb Director of Project Management jade.kolb@sensimag.com Kristan Toth Head of People kristan.toth@sensimag.com EDITORIAL

Doug Schnitzspahn Executive Editor doug.schnitzspahn@sensimag.com Debbie Hall Managing Editor debbie.hall@sensimag.com Leland Rucker Senior Editor leland.rucker@sensimag.com Robyn Griggs Lawrence Editor at Large robyn.lawrence@sensimag.com Helen Olsson Copy Chief Amelia Arvesen, Eli Dupin, Dawn Garcia, Jedd Ferris, Jenny Willden Contributing Writers DESIGN/PRODUCTION

Jamie Ezra Mark Creative Director jamie@emagency.com Rheya Tanner Art Director Wendy Mak, Josh Clark Designers Neil Willis Production Director neil.willis@sensimag.com PUBLISHING

Abi Wright Market Director abi.wright@sensimag.com

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EDITOR’S NOTE

Magazine published monthly by Sensi Media Group LLC.

FIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIA

FAC E B O O K Like Sensi Media Group to infuse your newsfeed with more of our great cannabis lifestyle content.

TWITTER Follow @sensimag for need-to-know news and views from Sensi headquarters.

I N S TAG R A M Pretty things, pretty places, pretty awesome people: find it all on @sensimagazine.

The music we listen to can take us back, and

it can propel us forward. Take, for example, this anecdotal story about the very ﬁrst time I ever got high: It was a clear black night with a clear white moon, and I was a sophomore in high school in New Hampshire. My two BFFs (to this day!) and I were rolling to a haunted house with this girl named Liz Dube—pronounced, no lie, just like the doobie bestie #1 pulled out of her pocket, sparked up, and passed to me at the same time the human Dube put G Funk Era on the CD player. To this day, more than two decades later, when I hear the opening beat of Warren G’s “Regulate” ft. Nate Dogg, I feel a little lifted. Music is powerful. As the summer draws near and the vaccines roll out, I get evermore hopeful that concerts will return to our calendars. For me, concerts are therapeutic—getting lost in the music is almost essential for my mental well-being. Standing in the middle of a crowd in front of a band you love, singing along to songs that move you, shoulder-to-shoulder with people who love the band just as much and who are singing just as loud—that’s an immersive, all-engulﬁng experience that touches my senses and wells up my emotions. Seeing a video of a concert at Red Rocks Amphitheatre inspired me to pack up everything I owned into my Fiat 500 and move across the country to Denver back in 2016. When I saw the crowd bouncing between the towering rocks, singing and dancing in unison with the band, whose energy radiated from the stage, I wanted to be there. Needed to be there, to be in the middle of it, to be swallowed up by the experience. I yearned to add my energy to the currents rolling through the audience, transforming the crowd into a community. That communal energy is one of the things I have missed the most over the last year, and I can’t wait to welcome it back into my life. That’s the type of energy we tried to capture in this issue—an ode to the transformative power of music. To the soundtracks of our lives. I hope this issue inspires you to add some new tracks to yours. And I hope we’ll be singing together at Red Rocks in no time at all.

As the summer draws near and the vaccines roll out, I get evermore hopeful that concerts will return to our calendars. For me, concerts are therapeutic— getting lost in the music is almost essential for my mental well-being.

Until then,

Stephanie Wilson @stephwilll

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The State of Legalization Fun fact: Just three years after the legalization of medical marijuana in Oklahoma, the state boasts the most medical marijuana dispensaries in the country, over 2,000 of them. That’s a lot. For perspective, as of early 2020, Colorado—the ﬁrst state to legalize cannabis for recreational use—had issued a total of 1,010 dispensary licenses, medical and recreational, combined. Why so many? An enthusiastic consumer base, of course. Although cannabis is still federally illegal, sales follow the rules of supply and demand like any 14

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consumer good. Medical marijuana sales in Oklahoma topped $800,000 in 2020, bringing in more than $71 million in sales tax revenue for individual cities and communities. 2021 sales are projected to surpass the $1 billion mark. These numbers are driving a surge in acceptance of cannabis from Oklahomans who see the beneﬁts of the new marketplace. They also see the beneﬁts of consuming cannabis themselves, it seems. Approximately 370,000 patients in Oklahoma have embraced cannabis, nearly 10% of

the state’s population. No wonder places like Moore and Edmond rank in the top 10 cities with the most dispensaries per capita. Tulsa is ranked 17th. In fact, 17 may be Oklahoma’s magic number. If legislation to fully legalize cannabis for the adult market is approved shortly, the state will be 17th to make the jump into the lucrative recreational weed world. Whether or not Oklahoma opens its recreational market sooner than other states, the Sooner State is certainly winning the medical marijuana game.

PHOTO BY 1STUNNINGART, ADOBE STOCK

Elevating updates from the country’s emerging cannabis markets. Is fully legal cannabis coming sooner than expected to the Sooner State?

CONTRIBUTORS

Amelia Arvesen, Dawn Garcia, Doug Schnitzspahn, Jenny Willden, Stephanie Wilson

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“DON’T PLAY WHAT’S THERE; PLAY WHAT’S NOT THERE.” —Jazz legend Miles Davis

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THE BUZZ

BILITIES BY STEPHANIE WILSON, EDITOR IN CHIEF

Below is the playlist I had on repeat while making Sensi’s first-ever music edition.

1 REBELS by Call Me Karizma 2 MOTOR MOUTH by Kai Straw 3 GRATEFUL by Spencer Sutherland 4 GUILLOTINE by Mansionair x NoMBe 5 MYSTERY LADY by Masego and Don Toliver 6 TOPDOWN by Channel Tres 7 PURPLE HAT by Sofi Tukker

Color Me Happy If you’re the type of person who likes colors or who likes order, here’s a recommendation. Bonus points if you like color and order. Download “I Love Hue,” available on the App Store and on Google Play. It’s a “gentle journey into color and perception” that involves putting blocks of varying hues into order, and it’s simultaneously calming and addicting. Don’t just take my word for it: Sensi’s creative director downloaded it and sent me this note the next morning: “I love it. I love the soft, quiet music that plays in the background when I’m building a perfect and beautiful screen, and I love the pure satisfaction and sense of joy I feel once I put together the perfect palette.” And she hadn’t even gotten to the level where the app rewards you with compliments, calling you a magnificent unicorn and iridescent moonbeam. i-love-hue.com

8 PUMP THE BREAK by morgxn 9 ALL THAT by Emotional Oranges 10 BROKEN PEOPLE by almost monday 11 WHO’S GOT THE WEED by G. Love & Special Sauce 12 CAN’T BE HAPPIER by SJ & Sugar Jesus feat. Goldford

“If music be the food of love, play on.” —William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night

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THE BUZZ

LISTEN UP

How much you enjoy your music depends on how you hear it. These are Sensi’s picks for the best speakers and headphones we’ve tested in 2021. HEADPHONES

Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 With so many options on the market, it’s tough to say that one single set of headphones rises above the rest—until you try these. Sleek and comfortable on your skull, they deliver sound that’s so full it’s almost tangible. Eleven settings (Nigel Tufnel be praised!) let you dial in the amount of noise canceling you want, from none at all (smart for when you’re walking on city streets) to full-on (perfect for tuning out all the drama of being stuck at home). $380 / bose.com IN-EAR HEADPHONES

NuraLoop These easy-to-wear in-ear headphones are truly in your head—they adapt to your hearing. Say what? That’s right. They actually send sound into your eardrum that then informs the system about the best way to play for your individual hearing. The result is bass that hits the back of your brain and sharp clarity on every note.

TURNTABLE

Crosley Switch II Entertainment System A throwback to the days when a record player was the center of the musical $199 / nuraphone.com experience, Crosley’s practical system oozes retro cool and still cranks out SPEAKER pleasant sound. A belt drive keeps those JBL Party Box 300 45s and LPs spinning, and this set will add This sturdy, portable Bluetooth speaker turns any space into a mini-rave thanks to a groovy feel to any room—even when it’s a light system that synchronizes colors to not playing. the beat—and three settings mean you can $170 / crosleyradio.com pick up or slow down the tempo. Beyond the optics, it pumps out clean sound and runs on a rechargeable battery that keeps the party going for up to 18 hours. $400 / jbl.com

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COMPUTER SPEAKERS

Logitech Z313 Speaker System with Subwoofer This compact speaker and subwoofer set delivers deep, crisp sound and hooks up to a wide range of devices—from your laptop to your smartphone to your TV—as long as they have a 3.5 mm headphone jack. It’s the ideal music system for a workstation if you want to share tunes with your office mates, or, as things go in the days of COVID-19, if you just want to have your own private dance party in between deadlines. $50 / logitech.com

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THE BUZZ

PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT

Trail Magic

PHOTOS (FROM TOP) COURTESY OF KELTY, DOUG SCHNITZSPAHN

An outdoor brand goes all in with CBD products meant to soothe hikers’ aches and pains. Outdoor activities cause sore muscles. CBD is said to relieve pain. Even though the outdoor industry has dabbled in the cannabidiol market for a few years, it wasn’t until this year that a dedicated outdoor brand contributed its own formulations to the billion-dollar category. In January, Kelty launched a collection of pain-relief salves, after-sun lotions, and antibacterial and itch-relief sprays for outdoorists. The longtime Colorado-based maker of tents, sleeping bags, and other outdoor gear sees the new CBD offerings as a natural brand progression. “At Kelty, we’re all about spontaneous adventures, getting outside, gooﬁng around, and having fun. But playing outside often comes with its own set of

of regulation of cannabidiol, but a new bipartisan bill introduced in the House of Representatives in February would allow hempderived CBD to be marketed and sold as a dietary supplement. If passed, it could also lead the US Food and Drug Administration to establish a regulatory framework. CBD made its debut on a large scale to the outdoor industry—a nearly $800 billion business— in 2018, when manufacturers exhibited at Outdoor Retailer, the industry’s largest trade show, and now numerous athletes, from ultrarunners to surfers, are sponsored by CBD brands. Specialty outdoor retailers stock topicals and capsules. And Kelty has set a direct-to-consumer precedent. Which outdoor brands will enter the market next?

challenges in the form of aches and pains,” says Russell Rowell, Kelty senior vice president and general manager. “Thanks to our new CBD products, we now offer another tool to help you go farther, higher, and faster—and to bounce back more quickly when you do.” To create research-based formulas, Kelty consulted Arizona-based pharmaceutical producer e2e Pharma to formulate the new line of THCfree products. The collection is available at kelty.com/CBD. Financially, it’s a strategic move. The CBD market is currently valued at approximately $4 billion. Market researchers like Grandview Research and BDS Analytics predict it will surpass $20 billion by 2025. Skeptics have been troubled by the lack M A R C H 2021

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Be Your Own Personal DJ Only you know the best soundtrack for your psychedelic journey.

PHOTO CREDIT

TEXT ROBYN GRIGGS LAWRENCE

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When you drink ayahuasca in the Peruvian Amazon, the shamans chant songs to orchestrate your experience, in every sense of the word. Known as icaros, the songs amplify your visions and drive the medicine deep into where you need it most. Humans have known for centuries that music is the wind beneath the psychonaut’s wings, a tool that both fuels and helps to navigate sacred plant and fungi journeys. From the music that accompanied ancient Aztec mushroom and cacao ceremonies to Dead shows at the Fillmore, a great playlist is essential to a great trip. Psychedelic therapists have been making playlists for therapy sessions since the earliest LSD experiments, and you can find a lot of them on Spotify and YouTube, along with current offerings from the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Conscious Research and many others (search “psychedelic therapy playlist,” “psilocybin playlist,” “LSD playlist,” or “MDMA playlist”). You can even find recordings of Maria Sabina, the first Mexican curandera to allow Westerners into psilocybin mushroom rituals in the 1950s. A little caution, however: Sabina was exploited by Americans and then persecuted

If you’re ready to take control of your own musical destiny in the cosmos, here are things to keep in mind as you make your playlist.

tions in depression. He found that the wrong music can be distracting and • Lean away from vocals and toward instrumake for a gobstopping mental music, chanting, or a collection of trip, amplifying feelings sounds. If you include songs with words, of resistance and negative look for lyrics in an unfamiliar language. emotions. His app, Wave• Stay away from jarring or discordant paths, allows therapists tunes or songs with unpredictable rhythm and patients to make their changes. own musical sequences, • Use calm music in the early stages to create leaving out anything that a sense of rest and safety. might bring up unwel• Alternate intense and calm tracks during come memories or resisthe peak stages. tance. Triggered by classi• Include emotionally evocative music only cal music? Brahms Sonata during peak stages. in B never has to be a part • Pay close attention to how songs transition of your journey. into each other. Curating your own • Provide continuous music with minimal soundtrack for tripping is interruption. the best way. If you need • Emphasize variety. inspiration or guidance, • Use a high-quality source of music Helen L. Bonny and Walproduction. ter N. Pahnke, researchers at the Maryland Psychiscientist who calls music atric Center in Baltimore, by the people in her vilpublished a template for lage for her generosity, so “the hidden therapist.” selecting and structuring I’m not sure I would bring In an article about the that into my sacred space. playlist, Kaelen explains: psychedelic playlists in 1972 that therapists still “The idea here is to creThe Johns Hopkins follow today. Their seate a sense of ebb and Center’s playlist follows the formula established in flow that the participant quencing flows like this: the 1960s, heavy on West- can feel as a series of ten- � Pre-onset (0 to 1½ hours): quiet, neutral ern classical music. If that sion-and-release expe� Onset (1½ to 2 hours): riences. A playlist with just doesn’t do it for you, melodic, rhythmic the Multidisciplinary As- multiple peaks can also � Building toward peak help to titrate the expesociation for Psychedelic intensity (2 to 3½ rience and keep it from Studies (MAPS) offers hours): long, flowing getting too intense; peritwo playlists for MDphrases and dynamic MA-assisted psychother- ods of relief are built in.” crescendos In his own practice, apy featuring ethnic and � Peak intensity (3½ to Kaelen’s patients didn’t New Age music, and the 4 hours): powerful, Chacruna Institute’s psi- respond well to Western strongly structured locybin playlist on Spotify classical music. He plays � Re-entry (4 to 7 features indie, new wave, music that is personally hours): lighter, familiar meaningful to each perand rock. son, which results in more � Return to normal conThe Chacruna playsciousness (7 to 12 hours): list was developed by Dr. positive experiences and your favorite tunes. Mendel Kaelen, a neuro- more significant reduc-

TUNING IN A recent study published in the Journal of Music Therapy found music integral for meaningful emotional and imagery experiences and self-exploration during psychedelic therapy. “Music could convey love, carry listeners to other realms, be something to ‘hold,’ inspire, and elicit a deep sense of embodied transformation,” the authors wrote. “Therapeutic influence was especially evident in music’s dichotomous elicitations: Music could simultaneously anchor and propel.”

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FROM REEFER MAN Where there’s music,

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N TO METHOD MAN TEXT LELAND RUCKER

PHOTO CREDIT

there’s often cannabis.

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Fighting for freedom is Join the revolution at norml.org

anja and song seem to cross all borders. Today more than ever. The octogenarian country icon Willie Nelson (“roll me up and smoke me when I die”) is peddling his branded Willie’s Reserve strains just as he does his albums. You can pick up a couple grams of Khalifa Kush to enjoy alongside the latest Wiz Khalifa record, and Snoop Dogg and the children of Bob Marley all have their own brands. Even country superstar Toby Keith, the Big Dog Daddy himself, released “Wacky Tobaccy,” a not-so-subtle weed endorsement, in 2017. It’s really no secret. Musicians love marijuana. Always have. I have spoken with many of them about it over the years. Some love to perform while under the inﬂuence, others only for composing, and many like to do both. As guitarist and oud master Neil Haverstick, who uses it for creativity, puts it: “I surprise myself. And that is the key word: surprise. I am often able to create new shapes, patterns, something that did not previously exist. And I assure you that, for many artists, that’s the greatest moment of all—the moment of discovery.” Or as Louis Armstrong, and we’ll get back to him in a bit, told his biographer, “We always looked at pot as a sort of medicine, a cheap drunk and with much better thoughts than one that’s full of liquor.” Not surprisingly, it’s not only musicians. Many people who listen to music like it even better after a little elevation. And if you don’t, you know somebody who does. Keith’s “Wacky Tobaccy” represents perhaps the complete mainstreamization of marijua-

na songs, and an example of how music about cannabis has always reﬂected the culture in which it is created. Here’s a guy who’s as all-American as they come, who’s known for his patriotic songs, and on the video for “Wacky,” Keith and his boys are grinnin’ and tokin’ on the tour bus just like Snoop or Dr. Dre or Uncle Willie Nelson (who appears in the video) might. You can bake it in some brownies, smoke it through a bong Roll up a great big fat one like ol’ Cheech and Chong Burn it through a hole in a can of Budweiser If you can’t take the heat, son, vaporizer.

Before Recording: The Smoking of Dagga It hasn’t always been out in the open like that. Before sound could be recorded, there are, of course, no concrete examples of pot songs. But to imagine that marijuana was ﬁrst used by musicians after they started recording in the last 100 years sounds pretty unrealistic, right? We know there was music for the Parisian elite that included Charles Baudelaire and Alexandre Dumas, who came to Club des Hashischins for séances and hashish experiments. Cannabis historian Chris Bennett has found written records of dervish sects and African tribes with music dedicated to hashish. A 1913 report, “The smoking of dagga (Indian hemp) among the

HIGH-MINDED MEDLEYS

JAZZ “Have You Ever Seen the Funny Reefer Man,” Cab Calloway and his Orchestra “You’se a Viper,” Fats Waller “When I Get Low I Get High,” Chick Webb & His Orchestra “Here Comes The Man with the Jive,” Stuff Smith & his Onyx Club Boys “Wacky Dust,” Ella Fitzgerald & the Chick Webb Orchestra

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REGGAE & CANNABIS Even more than jazz or rock or hiphop, reggae music has always been associated with marijuana, mostly because of its association with Rastafari, a loosely defined religion and social movement developed in Jamaica in the 1930s that celebrates a god named Jah who lives

native races of South Africa and the resultant evils,” included a cannabis smoking song of the Besotho people who settled there: We smoke it and it reminds us of different things. We remember the miracles of the world. We remember those far and near. We remember. The Jazz Age: Vipers and Reefer Men Perhaps the first popular song to be upfront about cannabis in the United States was “Have You Ever Met That Funny Reefer Man?” The tune, a.k.a. “The Reefer Man,” ostensibly about a guy, obviously stoned, who “trades dimes for nickels and calls watermelons pickles,” was performed by Cab Calloway in the 1933 film Inter28

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inside humans. Many Rastas believe that Haile Selassie, the Ethiopian emperor from 1930-1974, was the reincarnation of God on earth. More importantly in this context, Rastas consider cannabis as a sacrament. Its most famous musical disciple was Bob Marley,

national House and is still popular. Likewise, jazz violinist Stuff Smith, playing off the Harlem term for a pot user, had a regional hit with his “You’se a Viper,” in 1936, and it became perhaps the best known cannabis song after pianist Fats Waller became the ﬁrst of many to record it in 1943. What we know of the connection of jazz and cannabis in that period comes at least in part from the autobiography of Milton “Mezz” Mezzrow, a white clarinetist better known for his pot dealing during the 1930s than for his own musical prowess. Mezzrow was an odd fellow who considered himself a Black man, even getting himself placed in the Black prison ward after being arrested in 1937. But his writing about how cannabis was

an ardent Rasta who became an international musical star and celebrity. He talked openly about his marijuana use and was often pictured with a large spliff between his fingers. Americans caught onto the music in the 1970s, and there were plenty of ready/steady musicians on the island to accommodate the growing taste for the music. Reggae today is considered world music and still almost perfect for enjoying with cannabis. HIGH-MINDED MEDLEYS

“Easy Skanking,” Bob Marley “Smoke Two Joints,” Sublime “Come Around,” Collie Buddz “Police in Helicopter,” John Holt “Unda Mi Sensi,” Barrington Levy

intertwined with jazz reached far beyond his own generation. Mezzrow’s book included passages like this one, recounting a dancing woman at a party: “The rhythm really had this queen; her eyes almost jumped out of their sockets and the cords in her neck stood out stiff and hard like ropes.” Lyrics like “The Reefer Man” and comments like that also drew the attention of Harry Anslinger, who, upon being appointed director of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics in 1930, began waging a campaign of arrests and disinformation against cannabis that lasted several decades. By all accounts a nasty piece of work, Anslinger peddled the cockamamie story that jazz musicians on marijuana were creating extra beats in the

music that were making listeners, like the Mezzrow woman depicted above, go crazy. As silly as this seems today, Anslinger was able to use it to harass Black musicians, especially those who flouted him. Then there was Louis Armstrong, who began using it in the 1920s and whose affinity for the plant became legendary. Though busted a couple of times, he somehow escaped Anslinger’s wrath—I even found a clip of him joking about getting high while a contestant on the 1960s TV quiz show What’s My Line? “That’s one reason why we appreciated pot, as y’all calls it now. The warmth it always brought forth from the other person—especially the ones that lit up a good stick of that shuzzit or gage, nice names,” Armstrong once said. Anyone who has shared a joint at a concert with the stranger next to you surely can appreciate exactly what Armstrong was talking about. But relatively speaking, during World War II and beyond there were few references to cannabis in popular song. General public acceptance for cannabis was at a low. But jazz culture, and Mezzrow’s book, caught the attention of others, like influential poet Allen Ginsberg, writer Jack Kerouac, and others of the so-called Beat Generation, who picked up on his language and style, which they found wasn’t that different from their fledging, marijuana-influenced writings. The 1960s and Beyond: Everybody Must Get Stoned Perhaps the most important beneficiary of the Beats was Robert Zimmerman, who changed his name to Bob Dylan after moving to New York in 1961 and became close

“THAT’S ONE REASON WHY WE APPRECIATED POT, AS Y’ALL CALLS IT NOW. THE WARMTH IT ALWAYS BROUGHT FORTH FROM THE OTHER PERSON— ESPECIALLY THE ONES THAT LIT UP A GOOD STICK OF THAT SHUZZIT OR GAGE, NICE NAMES.” —Louis Armstrong

friends with Allen Ginsberg soon afterwards. (That’s Ginsberg hanging in the alleyway behind Dylan in his iconic video for “Subterranean Homesick Blues.”) One early song, “Mr. Tambourine Man,” seemed to many listeners to be about someone under the inﬂuence (“Take me on a trip upon your magic swirlin’ ship/My senses have been stripped, my hands can’t feel to grip/My toes too numb to step”), especially after it became a massive hit for the Byrds in the summer of 1965. Less than a year later, his own single, “Rainy Day Women #12 and 35,” with its leering, wheezing horn chorus screaming “everybody must get stoned,” reached No. 2 on the US charts, which, not surprisingly, most listeners took as an appeal to indulge. Interestingly enough, neither song mentions cannabis, but both were immediately and have been forever associated with it. The ﬂoodgates opened, and as the youth counterculture embraced rock and roll as its music of choice, those musicians began writing and recording songs about cannabis. For anyone growing up then, there seemed to be a tune for every situation. Anyone growing up back then knew exactly what Commander Cody was talking about when he sang about being down to “Seeds and Stems Again,” or what an “Illegal Smile,” as described by folkie John Prine, looked like in the mirror. High-end strains like Panama Red and Acapulco Gold were celebrated in song, and titles like “Don’t Bogart That Joint” became buzzwords. Country star Merle Haggard even penned a reaction to the hippies’ cultural dominance, and “Okie From Muskogee” (“a place where even squares can have a

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ROCK AND ROLL “Planet of Weed,” Fountains of Wayne “One Toke Over the Line,” Brewer & Shipley “Seeds and Stems (Again),” Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen “Illegal Smile,” John Prine “Rainy Day Women #12 and 35,” Bob Dylan

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ball”) became a monster hit in 1969. Most listeners never realized that the song’s point of view was written tongue-in-cheek by Haggard, a user himself, who in 2015 wrote and sang, with Willie Nelson, “It’s All Going to Pot.” Nelson is his own story, and except for perhaps Bob Marley, the most iconic marijuana character of all time. He worked the outside fringes of the country music industry for a couple of decades, living off a couple of standards he wrote while his career went nowhere, before ﬁnally chucking Nashville for Austin, where he hooked up with a nascent batch of other similarly minded, former Nashville has-beens and wannabes like Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson who became known as leaders of the Outlaw movement. Today, at 87, Nelson is arguably the best-known musician espousing the new normal, a common-sense voice for cannabis, seniors, and sensible drug laws. As he puts it, marijuana won’t kill you “unless you let a bale of it fall on you.”

CANNABIS AND MUSIC HAVE FINALLY COME FULL CIRCLE, AND PERHAPS WE HAVE REACHED A TIME WHERE THEY ARE JUST INDICATIVE OF THE NEW NORMAL.

all in front of the camera. Rappers and reefer became synonymous. Wiz Khalifa, Snoop Dogg, Method Man and bands like Cypress Hill built their songs, recordings, and live shows around cannabis use. That hasn’t stopped, and today rappers who deny cannabis use are in the minority. The smell of cannabis can be detected at nearly every live music event—trance and EDM to country—especially in states where cannabis is legal. “Wacky Tobaccy” rules. The reefer man has become the method man. Cannabis and music have ﬁnally come full circle, and perhaps we have reached a time when they are just indicative of the new normal. “It has a lot to do with calming the nerves,” good old Louis Armstrong once said, “which makes the creative juices ﬂow a little easier.” Snoop Dogg adds, “It makes me feel the way I need to feel.” May it ever be so.

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HIP-HOP “I Got 5 On It,” Luniz “The Weed Song,” Bone Thugs ‘N’ Harmony “The Recipe,” Kendrick Lamar “Mary Jane,” Rick James “Blueberry Yum Yum,” Ludacris

Hip-Hop: Snoop, Wiz, and Cypress Hill With the ascendance of hip-hop as the dominant music form in the US, marijuana made the complete transition to the mainstream. Before hip-hop, there was always the wink and the clever turn of phrase to alert those in the know to what was going on. That went totally out the door with hip-hop. Using the relatively new medium of video—which debuted on MTV in 1981—hip-hop musicians ran with it. By the early 1990s, everybody was hitting the blunts and the bongs and celebrating the wicked weed in song and rhyme, M A R C H 2021

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Fresh Tunes

Check out the best new albums of 2021 so far.

TEXT JEDD FERRIS

Although brighter days are on the horizon, the timeline for when musicians can safely resume touring is still hazy. The situation has forced many artists to stay productive by focusing

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on studio projects, with many being released in the early part of the year. From indie upstarts to established legends, here’s a look at 10 new albums coming by spring.

debuted Bonny Light Horseman, a new side project with fellow folk innovators Anaïs Mitchell and Josh Kaufman that earned two Grammy nominations. Not slowing his pace, JohnFruit Bats son is celebrating the The Pet Parade (Merge 20th anniversary of the Records) Fruit Bats by releasing Fruit Bats leader Eric D. the band’s eighth overall Johnson has been on a studio album, The Pet hot streak lately. In 2019, Parade, in March. Johnhe hit a creative peak son brought Kaufman with his main band’s onboard to produce the soulful album Gold Past album, and although it Life, and last year, he was made during quar-

antine with supporting players adding their parts remotely, it doesn’t sound like an isolated effort. Lead single “Holy Rose” is a powerful poprock song with orchestral sonic textures. Same Spark: In February, Brooklyn upstart trio Wild Pink will release its anticipated next album, A Billion Little Lights. The effort blends earthy roots songcraft with indie inventiveness that will please fans of The War on Drugs. The Hold Steady Open Door Policy (Positive Jams) The Hold Steady is back with more heavy riffs and vivid tales on its eighth studio al-

PHOTOS (FROM TOP) COURTESY OF SUBPOP; BY ANNIE BEEDY

Julien Baker

PHOTOS (FROM TOP) COURTESY OF WILLIE NELSON; BY RENATA RAKSHA

bum, Open Door Policy. Frontman Craig Finn’s narrative lyrics still dig into the dark side of the party, but with keyboardist Franz Nicolay permanently back in the mix, the band’s tight rock arrangements provide anthemic swells of cathartic redemption. “Open Door Policy was very much approached as an album vs. a collection of individual songs, and it feels like our most musically expansive record,” Finn says of the new album, which was released on February 19. Same Spark: Another stalwart rock act with a loyal following, roots heroes Lucero made its new album When You Found Me at the famed Sam Phillips Recording studio in the band’s hometown of Memphis. Willie Nelson That’s Life (Legacy Recordings) The great news ﬁrst: Willie Nelson, 87, has been vaccinated. Now the good news: the country legend is releasing his 71st album this year. That’s Life is Nelson’s second collection of Frank Sinatra covers,

following 2018’s My Way. Nelson has said that Sinatra had a big inﬂuence on his singing style, and he made part of his latest tribute to the late crooner at Hollywood’s Capitol Studios, where Sinatra recorded many of his beloved standards. The songs of Ol’ Blue Eyes sound relaxed and comforting through the mellow voice of the Red Headed Stranger, especially the well-known title track and the breezy “Cottage for Sale.” It’s a record perfect for chilling out during our remaining days of hunkering down at home. Same Spark: Singersongwriter Pete Yorn also went the covers route on his new LP, Pete Yorn Sings the Classics, a Bandcamp exclusive release that features takes on the Pixies, Bob Dylan, and The Beach Boys. Julien Baker Little Oblivions (Matador) Julien Baker is known for her confessional indie rock songs usually delivered with sparse guitar arrangements and disarming vocal crescendos. Following a long touring cycle supporting her acclaimed 2017 album Turn Out the Lights, she took a break from music to ﬁnish college and reassess her

priorities. When she returned to the studio to record Little Oblivions, Baker’s vision expanded, and new tracks like the standout “Hardline” feature crashing drums and emotive keyboard layers. The full sound adds new depth to her unﬂinching lyrical revelations. Same Spark: Danielle Durack offers similar intimately intense songcraft on her new album No Place. Valerie June The Moon and Stars: Prescriptions for Dreamers (Fantasy) Valerie June’s breakout album, 2017’s The Order of Time, was a roots-driven project, with tracks featuring the singer-songwriter’s alluring voice placed among primitive banjo tunes and jangly blues cuts. The Moon and Stars: Prescriptions for Dreamers—the muchawaited follow-up made with producer Jack

Splash (Kendrick Lamar, Alicia Keys)—finds June honing her stylistic leanings into celestial R&B that fits the record’s searching themes. The album’s opening threesong sequence, “Stay” / “Meditation” / “You and I,” is a sublime astral-soul suite that contemplates relationship dynamics. “With this record, it finally became clear why I have this dream of making music,” June said in a statement previewing the new album. “It’s not for earthly reasons of wanting to be awarded or to win anybody’s love— it’s because dreaming keeps me inquisitive and keeps me on that path of learning what I have to share with the world.” Same Spark: Lake Street Dive went into the studio with Mike Elizondo (Dr. Dre, Fiona Apple), who helped shape the band’s next set of retro-minded soul-rock tunes. Obviously will be out March 12.

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THE END

The Quest to Save Music

Supporting local record stores is in our best interest.

“If I was a billionaire and had my time all over, I would invest all of my money in setting up a factory to produce vinyl records again.” –Roger Daltrey Music can save a person from going into darkness or from going mad, especially when we’re still under orders to limit social gatherings. That is why supporting local joints serving up old-school vinyl and new artists that recog34

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nize their appeal is paramount. In an effort to support local business and do our part to keep these rare and beautiful stores open, below is a look at where to buy when it’s safe. Some are open and some are selling online or through social media. No matter how you do it, support them. Orlando: Remix Record Shop, 1213 N Mills Ave.; Rock & Roll Heaven, 1814 N Orange Ave.

Miami: Sweat Records, 5505 NE 2nd Ave.; Lucky Records, 143 NW 23rd St.; Yesterday and Today Records, 9274 SW 40th St.; Museo del Disco Records, 1301 SW 70th Ave. Tampa: Sound Exchange, 14246 N Nebraska Ave.; The Clearwater Record Shop, 1610 Hercules Ave., Suite G, Clearwater. Gainesville: Hear Again Records, 201 SE 1st St.

PHOTO BY SAÚL GRANDA VIA TWENTY20

TEXT ELI DUPIN

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